I took a slight departure from my regular gig going this evening and went and saw Live at The Astoria. I say 'a slight departure' because I don't really listen to MOR (Middle fo the Road) Rock and haven't really ever done apart from the occasional band such as Nickleback (oh, and bands like Bon Jovi but that was back in the 80's! :p). But goldmoonrj wanted to see them as they've never played Brazil and who am I do deny a damsel in distress...

The first band of the evening were Kharma 45 whom I've never heard of before. They had some good tunes and some not so good tunes. They also tended to  repeat lyrics quite a bit in a couple of their songs which wasn't the most interesting of options they could have taken. I did however quite enjoy them. They were a kind of rockier version of Kasabian - mixing in backing tracks, with almost chill out beats, rocky guitar and singing. They are apparently going to playing Reading in August so I may stop by and have anotehr listen. In anycase I'll be keeping an eye on their Myspace site to see if they are playing London again and may catch them as I think they are a band with potential if they can work on the lyrics a bit more (certainly the music was very good).

Now I've actually seen Live before. I'm not sure when exactly (and I'm too lazy to check right now) but I think it was between 1992 - 1994. They played Brixton Academy back then and I seem to remember thinking it was an 'alright but not great' gig. I've also not heard any of their material since that period (which was I believe their debut album - which I do have somewhere in one of my many stacks of CDs that have sat in the same place as I put them when I moved in here two years ago!). They do have some 'anthems' which most people will probably recognise even if they are not familiar with the band as they were quite popular at the time (or I should say would probably recognise if you were into rock music in the early 90's ;p). Personal taste aside for a moment I will say that the band are really, really good live. They are tight, charismatic, play every song with the passion as though it was the last song of the encore and they want to leave the crowd on a high, very chatty and they really got pretty much the entire crowd going. If you like them, or rock in general, then I would seriously reccommend going to see them. They are certainly worth it. Personally, whilst I thought they played a blinding gig they are not my 'cup of tea'. I guess I'm just not that kind of 'rock kid' anymore. Apart from a few tracks (pretty much the hits from early 90's) I thought the music was pretty samey and if I'd been at home I'd have certainly changed the CD or channel surfed to something more to my taste. I'm very glad I went, but I wouldn't go and see them again. If you are a Live fan (which 99% of the crowd seemed to be) I'm sure it'll be your 'Gig of the Year!'. I know goldmoonrj really enjoyed herself which was great to see. I just like a bit more 'alternative and innovation' in my rock music.

I'd also like to say that they were very loud and I now seem to have lost partial hearing in atleast one ear but maybe both. Certainly one more than the other for sure... :p

Well I did mention earlier that I'd write a bit about the gig last night after I got back. Well I've been back for a few hours now but had to muck around on ogame (yes, I *had* too :p) and also watch the Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 1 repeat on BBC3 as I wasn't around last night.

So it was in early hours of the evening on Saturday 15th April that weaselbitch and myself ventured forth, still in daylight, to the place of Angels. Upon arriving we trod familiar paths of that hole in many a nights memories called "The Slimelight", there to be entertained by certain troubadours both familiar and unknown.....

Sunday saw me head over to Wembley Arena to catch Depeche Mode live in concert. It was my first trip to the Arena since January '99 when I saw Garbage play supported by Moloko. It was my first time at the Wembley Complex since they knocked down the old Wembley Stadium and started building the new one which is now terribly overbudget and overdue. I remember being at the last ever England football match at the old Stadium (we lost to Germany but hey, at least we kicked their ass in the return match ;p) and remember the fans saying their goodbyes to the place. But I digress. DM were playing the Arena not the Stadium. Although the Arena has undergone rebuilding work as well and now sports a nice fountain and foyer area . The ends have changed too as the 'front' is now where the 'back' used to be. Confused me a bit there to start with too....

Anyway, I met up with snesgirl and bumped into a load of other people at the show including the ever lovely cookwitch, d_floorlandmine, colin_boyle and club_slut to namedrop just a few.

First up were The Bravery...or what I'll call The Bravery II as I'm 90% sure that they have a new lead singer and a new guitarist or bassist since last time I saw them. Certainly the lead singer was a lot less agile and charismatic on stage, didn't have as a good voice as the original and let the original guitarist do a lot of the talking to the crowd. I don't know if there's been a split in the ranks or if the singer was just having an off night (and with my eyesight I couldn't be 100% definite he was different). In any case they weren't as vibrant as early last year and the set didn't really kick off until half way through when they played 'Honest Mistake' which ws their breakthrough hit last year.

I'll stop here a moment and say I'd forgotten what good large 'Arena' shows are like. Most of the bands I see play to crowds of upto about 4-5,000 I'm guessing (Festivals aside). I don't know how many people the Arena holds but I'm guessing it's more in the 15-20,000 range. It was packed out last night. Apparently the tickets had sold out in two hours upon being made available last year. Depeche Mode's stage set was brilliant. As was their light show, as was the useage of six giant tv screens set at angels at the back of the stage. Visually they were one of the most exciting bands I've seen in ages and you can really tell the difference - in quality as well as everything else - between them and most other bands around at the moment. Dave Gahan still looks fantasic and IS A GOD (and let no one tell you otherwise). He was certainly a lot more camp this time round, strutting his way around the stage, going topless and showing off his fine physique..ahem. Anyway, with a back catalogue going back 26 years you can guarantee that there are plenty of hits to be rolled out at shows like these. They didn't disappoint either with a host of past hits with four (I think) new tracks from their latest album sprinkled in for good measure. The most glaring omission, for me at least, was the lack of 'Master & Servant' which is one of my all time favourite DM tracks.

Anyway, to round off it was an absolutely cracking show. I hope everyone who is going to tonights gig has as much fun as I did last night. Depeche Mode go down as one of the truly brilliant bands to have ever graced this planet. I'm so glad I got another chance to see them. May I get many more.

Went and saw Boy Kill Boy at Kings College this evening with Mel, Louisa and Leanne (heh - felt like a sugar daddy surrounded by gorgeous women...;p). Ended up in the guest lounge for most of the night (ok, all of it apart from a couple of trips to the toilet and a bar that actually sold pints and not just cocktails!). This was largely because of the following:

1. The View
The bar overlooked The Thames and you could see everything from Canary Wharf all the way to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. London's vista was stretched before us in all of its wonderful noturnal glory. Things like this remind me that I live in one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. I've always been a sucker for London at night.

2. Less Crowded
The gig was a sell-out and it was packed everywhere else! Plus we had seats and a table. Nuff said.

3. The Company
Apart from the three young ladies (Louisa and Leanne actually wandered off to see the band properly as opposed to through the balcony window - but then Louie has a crush on the lead singer who she met in the lift on the way up and also spoke (very briefly) to at the after party) there were a number of promoters, etc, there. One of the guys is convinced that I was actually drinking with him a few weeks ago in Soho as when I introduced myself he said "Yeah I know, don't you remember Garlic & Shots a couple of weeks ago?". "No." I replied "I've not drunk there in a bout a year." "Yes you have, think about it, we were there a couple of weeks ago". Hmmm....I certainly know I wasn't drinking in Soho a few weeks ago so I've no idea who he's talking about (although he did know my name) - I just hope we had a good time and I was interesting company a couple of weeks ago!!!! Another guy I ended up chatting to loads was really nice and we ended up reminiscing about loads of old goth/industrial gigs from the 80's and early 90's. It turns out he used to promote many of the bands I used to see around that time (Fields of the Nephilim, Ghost Dance, Skinny Puppy, Front 242, etc) and still knows many of them. That was a very interested chat!

Anyway, Boy Kill Boy were pretty good. They were a lot more rockier than I thought they would be (admittedly I've only heard one or two of there songs before tonight and whilst noticed them hadn't really "listened" to them) and a couple of there tracks reminded me a bit of some of Terrorvision's songs from years ago. Don't know if they'll break into being one of the Big Three new acts this year but no doubt I'll listen to the CD when it's released as Louisa will certainly be picking it up.

All in all a very, very nice evening (even if Leanne didn't end up flashing her tits at me - shame...:p)

I went and saw Bauhaus this evening down at Brixton Academy. I was vaguely thinking about missing it due to my throat still not being 100% but then I thought f**k it and went anyway. You only live once and all that...

This is actually the second time I've seen bauhaus live as I was lucky enough to catch them back in '98 when they did a reunion tour. They were absolutely fantastic back then and, I'm very pleased to say, eight years later they are still fantastic live. I missed the very beginning of the set this evening as I arrived at the venue a bit late but I still managed to catch about 1hr40 of the set, which included loads of the old favourites and my favourite - She's In Parties. They even covered "Transmission" by Joy Divison which was stunning - and quite amusing watching Pete Murphy mimmick Ian Curtis' erratic dancing style.

I'm so glad I went and after reconfirming Bauhaus as one of my all time favourite acts I now can't wait to see what the new album is going to be like when they finally get round to releasing it. It'll be there first in about 23 years so God knows what it'll actually sound like!

The Brixton gig was also utterly rammed. It'd sold out ages ago and the guest list was even suspended a few weeks back due to the demand. Just goes to show there are still a hell of a lot of goths out there somewhere!