Tag Archives: gig

Oct 27 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Gogol Bordello, again

Sunday 26th October 2025, 9.15pm (day 5,176)

Gogol Bordello, 26/10/25

Happy birthday to the wife: I shall leave the exact number unstated (though you could work it out from looking at past October 26ths on this blog if you really felt like it). One of the weekend’s organised entertainments was to see Gogol Bordello at the Albert Hall in Manchester; they therefore become the first rock band (or should we say Ukrainian-American gypsy punk rockabilly band) to appear on here twice. Until I looked it up I was recalling our first encounter happening in 2017 or something like that but their first appearance turns out to have been 14th December 2013; nearly twelve years ago. Blimey. I’m impressed they have sustained the energy levels all that time. But I suppose Eugene Hütz (putting in a second personal appearance, on the left) is younger than me. (Although he’s older than Clare.) Well, good luck to you my friend — perhaps we will catch up again in 2037, if you’re still leaping about the stage at that point.

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Oct 06 2024
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Owter Zeds: 40th anniversary gig

Saturday 5th October 2024, 10.15pm (day 4,790)

Calling a band an ‘institution’ is something of a double-edged compliment, as it suggests they have been around a while — and the local Hebden Bridge institution that is (or are) the Owter Zeds were, indeed, celebrating their 40th anniversary at the Trades Club tonight, a gig I came all the way back from London to attend. And plenty of fun it was; if you like a bit of ska, you could do worse. The sax player gets on the blog for the second time, the first being over 10 years ago, when they were mere striplings of just 30 years’ experience.

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Sep 25 2024
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Gig crowd (or, the zombie apocalypse)

Tuesday 24th September 2024, 8.55pm (day 4,779)

Zombie crowd, 24/9/24

My mediocre kit is never going to take crystal clear photos in very low light, even if I do crank the ISO setting up to 1600 or whatever. But here, the lack of clarity is just the point. Surely the gentleman to the left is about to emerge from some horrible transformation and begin consuming human flesh. Although in the end, he recovered, and we all got on with watching the evening’s entertainment (Tom McRae, as it happened).

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Aug 22 2024
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Daily Post, Portrait

The Pixies

Wednesday 21st August 2024, 9.10pm (day 4,745)

The Pixies, 21/8/24

My 2023 Christmas present off Clare — the ticket for this gig — finally pays off. I guess you either know this band or you don’t: most likely it will be the track “Where Is My Mind” that rings bells, particularly if you’ve seen Fight Club. Having thought they were firmly on the “disbanded band” list, it turns out they reformed in 2004 and have been happily touring and releasing albums for the last 20 years without my noticing, but hey. Nice to finally make their live acquaintance. Here, the bassist seems to be consciously avoiding the limelight.

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Jun 03 2024
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Jane’s Addiction

Sunday 2nd June 2024, 9.15pm (day 4,665)

Jane's Addiction, 2/6/24

So that’s another one ticked off the list of ‘Bands I Have Liked for Thirty-Plus Years But Never Before Seen Live’. Then again, Jane’s Addiction did their first ‘farewell tour’ in 1991, have still only ever managed to scrape together four studio albums, and the original four members have only just decided they are still prepared to talk to each other and go on the road again before one or more of them dies. Which in singer Perry Farrell’s case, has always seemed likely to happen imminently. Therefore, I never really had the chance to break the duck before tonight. But I’m not complaining — they were worth the wait.

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Aug 27 2023
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Daily Post, Portrait

Johnny Marr does “How Soon is Now?”

Saturday 26th August 2023, 8.25pm (day 4,384)

Johnny Marr, 26/8/23

My 54th birthday. The title of this blog is now 12 years out of date, but never mind. A chance to celebrate this anniversary at the Piece Hall, Halifax, where The Charlatans were doing their own latest ‘Not Quite Dead Yet Tour’ (Tim Burgess is 56: we’ve both still got a couple of decades on Roger Daltrey, admittedly).

But they’ve been on here before, so let’s feature instead the Unexpectedly Decent Support Act, Johnny Marr — who dutifully did deign to perform the one and only Smiths song I really do give a toss about. Altogether now: “There’s a club if you’d like to go…. you might meet somebody who really loves you. So you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry and you want to die.” Ah: How Soon Is Now? It does take me back.

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Jul 10 2023
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Roger Daltrey does his scream

Sunday 9th July 2023, 9.35pm (day 4,336)

Roger Daltrey, 9/7/23

The Who should have already appeared on this blog one way or another. I had tickets to see them in Manchester a few years ago and then couldn’t go for reasons I don’t even remember properly. In March 2020 we were one week, literally, away from seeing them in Leeds (Live in Leeds!) when Bojo The Clown decided that the rest of the country (but not him) had to cease all this entertainment rubbish — postponed a year, that gig was eventually cancelled too. BUT — here we are, finally, in Edinburgh Castle, watching Daltrey and Townshend do their thing. At 79 years old, Roger Daltrey understandably doesn’t leap about the stage as much as he used to but he can definitely still sing, and right at this point he is reproducing one of the best screams in rock history — the one near the end of Won’t Get Fooled Again, which is up there in my ‘top 5’ all-time great tracks.

So yes…. all in all it could be said that I had a good evening.

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Jun 26 2023
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Daily Post, Interior

The Monday singer

Monday 26th June 2023, 5.10pm (day 4,323)

Monday Railway gig, 26/6/23

Lately every Monday in the Railway there has been a singer on in the afternoon, starting around 4pm. This seems an endearingly pointless activity, done just for the sake of having music on at a quiet time of the week — I sure don’t see how anyone in the pub makes a great deal of extra money from this. But who cares, the guy today picked up a small and select audience who seem interested enough. I like this shot because it’s one of those that turned out exactly as intended when I pressed the shutter, and we can’t ask for much more than that.

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May 22 2023
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

At the back of the Loop gig

Sunday 21st May 2023, 7.50pm (day 4,287)

At the Loop gig, 21/5/23

Attended a gig for the first time in ages. A sign of how it has become, as I have aged: gig behaviour now is to arrive early and grab the seats (or in the case of the Deaf Institute, ‘seats’) at the back, out of the way but with a good view. The guy on the left is reading a book for heaven’s sake. But like me, perhaps he has been waiting some 32 years to see Loop play live. This is a band that last year, released their first studio album in 31 years, so they attract a patient crowd.

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Jul 03 2022
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Daily Post, Portrait

Modern worship (Paloma Faith)

Saturday 2nd July 2022, 10.20pm (day 3,964)

Paloma Faith, 2/7/22

Our 23rd wedding anniversary. I took Clare to a non-league football match and she took me to see Paloma Faith. I have no idea who got the better of the transaction. Photography opportunities were better at the gig, even if musically this is not my thing. A couple of thousand other people seemed happy enough with it all, though.

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