One of the best things about going along to see any band live is to observe how the crowd and the band interact.

It can make the difference between simply a good gig and a great gig.

Green Day in the O2 was a great gig.

Back to aforementioned crowd. It’s rare to see such diverse age groups mingle together to pay homage to the same band. All at once I was made to feel both young and very very old.

It seems that at some point over the past 20 years Green Day have become one of those few bands who can retain their long term loyal fan base while still attract the young ones too.

Arriving fashionably late circa 8.15, Green Day were already on to what I would expect was their second or third song of the evening. Squinty had got wind of the early start but Gigsoc don’t do 8pm starts (I thought 9pm gig starts was the unwritten rule around these here parts?) so the fact we made it by 8:15 at all was a big bonue.

Nevertheless, we were then treated to a blistering 2.5 hour performance from a band that must now be considered the most entertaining live band in the world.

I’ll leave the set list reviews and in-depth descriptions of the bands every move to the young ones.

For the older of us there – Green Day – you brought us back to our youth and made us forget all talk of recession, strikes and winters of discontent for a few hours.

For that you alone you get a big fat 9/10.

Green Day Encore O2 Dublin

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anyone looking for some last minute entertainment for tonight could do a lot worse than heading along to Crawdaddy to catch Conway Savage – long time keyboard/piano player from the Bad Seeds. Doors are 8pm.

Mr. Savage has released a Live in Ireland album recorded in Leitrim last year. I’ve not heard it yet but it’s supposed to be pretty good.

Should be a good ‘un

Enjoy

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Right we kicked off the gig season last night in Tripod. gigsoc  are definitely a little ring rusty after a few months of a hiatus but sure we’ll soon knock that out of us!

Only a short review for now. More will follow.

Venue – packed to the rafters – seemed like every second person there was directly related to Imelda who also found time to thank most of same crowd for coming.

Crowd and Atmosphere – definitely a homecoming gig. A very celebratory mood.  I still can’t fathom why some people bother their arses going to gigs. You are not supposed to try to drown out the singer talking to your mates about some absolute shite in the middle of a gig. It’s not a nightclub people! Shite talkers were two-a-penny last night! Have a word with them Imelda – they’re your mates after all!

Performance – After only a very slightly dodgy start (more down to the sound engineers than the singer) Imelda settled down nicely and delivered a fantastic show. Imelda May has some voice. Surely she must be the most promising female talent to come out of Ireland in years?

The band were also excellent. In particular, the double bass and lead guitar. Most importantly, this was  a well rehearsed, tight show – no one put a foot wrong.

Overall verdict

A hugely enjoyable gig. Something tells me this one is destined for big big things.

Imelda May is playing Vicar in mid June – definitely get your hands on a ticket as soon as you can.

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Right, kicking off the new gig season for Gigsoc is Imelda May tomorrow night in Tripod.

Rather than spout any shite about what we should expect, check out the vid below from her performance on Jools,

’nuff said.

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Well it’s been a quiet start to 2009 for Gigsoc but I thought I better post something before we get into March. First off I can confirm that we will be attending Imelda Mays gig in Tripod on the 12^th of March. I’m sure by now everyone knows who Imelda is and what she does but just in case some of you don’t I am posting this short excerpt taken from her website.

Having fallen in love with rockabilly and the blues as a nine-year-old in   Dublin – the only kid in her class who wasn’t into a-Ha and Wet Wet Wet – she’s turned them into a cool, swinging fusion that’s both classic and oddly modern. That’s not just PR fluff: though her musical heart lies in early rock’n’roll (she’s partial to the clothes, too – her wardrobe is stuffed with leopard-print cardigans and tight bad-girl jeans), she puts a 21st century spin on things. Her debut album, “Love Tattoo,” is lusciously retro, but as fresh as 2009. And her live gigs, where she sings and plays bodhran, are fierce.

Also while I’m here I want to recommend a new compilation album that I’ve been listening to. Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National have assembled practically every indie-rock (I hate labelling bands!) act out there to contribute to ‘Dark Was the Night’. It’s charity album raising money to fight AIDS and I know what you’re thinking – “charity albums are never any good!” But there’s an exception to every rule and this is one of the exceptions. Check out just one of the reviews here.

And finally, where’s the new hoodie CT?

Squinty

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Well it’s another new year so time for a new and exclusive Gigsoc Hoodie. These little gems are very exclusive items with only 3 being made in 2008.

The 2009 edition will be unveiled in the next few days so stay tuned for more details.

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A very belated Happy New Year to all you gig fans out there. January has been a very quiet month for gigsoc as it traditionally is. We’ve been taking time to relax and hibernate after the whirlwind finish to the year. With February just around the corner no doubt the gig scene will be winding back up – fuck the recession – the live music scene in Ireland will grow from strength to strength in 2009.

That’s my overall prediction for 2009.

Now if Tripod could just sort out the smell of the seats we’d all be a little happier.

Talk soon.

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Hey there sports fans, any Tom Waits fans out there can get the full audio of the Glitter and Doom tour final night from a link provided over at Eyeballkid.
Not hotlinking direct as I don’t want to have record companies lawyers chasing me!
You’ll find it on this page if you look closely enough
http://eyeballkid.blogspot.com/2008/08/dublin-setlist-third-night-tour-finale.html

Excellent quality complete with custom artwork.

Enjoy:)

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ok so following on from squinty’s excellent review of the best gigs of 2008 and deportivo’s similarly inspiring review, I bring you my own 10 cents.

It was a strange but excellent year all at once.

The early part of the year was certainly quiet as has been the norm for many years now. We also saw a lot of gigs which would normally be a shoe in for the Olympia take up new residence in Tripod. I’ve never been convinced by Tripod as a venue – especially the bloody smell off some of the seats in the place! Here’s hoping they get their own act together a bit more in 2009 as it certainly looks like it’s been a commercial success.

We also close out the year with the arrival of the Point 2.0 – or “the o2″ as we’ll all now have to get used to calling it.  From what we’ve seen so far, it looks like they’ve got the sound right which is a major plus.

Right, enough of that – down to business. In reverse order no less – oh the suspense is killing you all I’m sure!

10. – Aimee Mann – Tripod

Aimee just snook in at number 10 and beat off some pretty stiff competition to scrap into the top 10.

Having originally being pencilled in to be held in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, the septic tiger looks to have got the better of that wonderful idea, (Duke Special was brilliant there in ‘07) and the gig moved to where else but the Tipod! Quite possibly one of the later gigs of the year, Sharon Shannon and the mighty mighty Mundy kept us all waiting until nearly 10pm for Aimee to appear. But ’twas worth the wait and Aimmie put on a show with a great mix of old and new. The new material stood up particularly well to it’s live airing If you’ve got your hands on @#%&*! Smilers you really should just go get it as it’s one of the best of the year for me.

9. – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dublin Castle

We’ve had the pleasure of catching Mr. Cave and his cronies live more times than we care to remember now; stretching back to such exotic locations as Bonn in ‘98, Paris in ‘03 to the ultra exotic Marquee in Cork in more recent times.

As a result we ave very high standards when it comes to a Bad Seeds show. While this gig certainly was not the best one we’ve seen from them, I think my fellow gigsoc members have been a little over harsh on this one.

The new album certainly was a grower this year and has done exceedingly well in many best of 2008 album reviews.  While the show might have lacked a certain spark that has been present in the past, the atmosphere and the unique surroundings of Dublin Castle made it a memorable night and a bad night for Mr. Cave is still a thousand times better than a good night for many many acts out there today.

Here’s Stagger Lee from the night

8. – Eels – Vicar St.

We’d been really looking forward to this one for some time and Mr. Everett and co. did not dissapoint. It was quite a unique gig in that the support act was a documentary about Mark Everett’s father, the Hugh Everett , a mad scientist of some reknown who came up with the theory of paralell universes (I shit you not).

Anyway, it was a really well put together film that set the scene nicely for a stripped down Eels show where the man himself was in excellent form. It’s nights like these that really make Vicar St. work as a venue (take notes Mr. Tripod!)

It would have nice to hear Souljacker with the full band or catch some of the blinking lights stuff with the full string section like on their last tour but it was a treat all the same.

7. – Richard Hawley – Vicar St.

I’ve been a big fan of the ex-pulp Sheffield based crooner for a long time and first discovered him on Donal Dineen’s Here Come’s the night back when it used to be on at a sociable hour (it’s aptly called the Small Hours now).

Richard put on an excellent show not short on that unique Sheffield wit of his and gave us a set that blended the old and new. You don’t see him that often in these parts for some reason but he is one to catch for sure the next time he is touring.

6. – Muse – Marlay Park

What can I say about Muse Live that hasn’t already been said? Best live rock band in the world? Most definitely. Marlay Park has never sounded better. Interestingly the moved the stage to the other end of the park for this years gigs. It’s definitely had a positive impact. The sound and the atmosphere for Radiohead here a few years ago was…ermm…shit.

Muse never do things by half. Their shows are getting increasingly bombastic with over the top light shows, giant satellite dishes and laser seams and other crazy shit.

But they manage to pull it off every time – in no small part to the consistently brilliant vocals and musicianship of the threesome that is Muse.

To this day, I’ve never seen anyone leave a Muse gig dissapointed.

Oh and it rained for about 30 days either side of this gig so it’s worth it’s place in the top 10 just for that.

5. – TV on the Radio – Tripod

The meeeja have gone into complete overdrive on the hype surrounding Dear Science this year. TV on the Radio have become something of a poster boy for the music literati who love to wax lyrical about Brooklyn’s finest – and I’m not going to argue with them one bit.

These guys are good. Very good.

Guess what? They’re even better live! They transformed the stage in Tripod into what can only be described as a make shift mobile studio to re-create the carefully crafted sonic experience from their back catalogue.

Highlight of the night had to be Wolf Like Me which left the crowd breathless.

4. – Sigur Rós – Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co. Laois

It’s Friday evening at the end of the summer. Finally the sun makes an appearance. We’re back in a field in Laois – a field that’s been transformed into a visually stunning Alice in Wonderland-esque experience.  It can only be the Electric Picnic which looks better than ever this year. Can the music match the aesthetics? With Sigur Rós headlining the Friday night – expectations are very high – could they ramp up their legendary live shows to the big open air stage environment?

The answer was a resounding yes. They pulled it off – and then some.

Iceland’s best export blew us away with an expansive setlist which stretched back over the 10 years they’ve been twisting our ears with their unique sound. No one cares that they haven’t a fucking clue what yer man is saying – it’s sounds good. He could be telling us all to fuck off but it would still be the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard.

If you’ve never caught them live – shame on you.

3. – Bon Iver – Tripod

Maybe somewhat predicatbly – Justin delivered the finest album of the year for me. No question. And Bon Iver live in Tripod was one of the finest gigs of the year. It’s not often that you can hear a pin drop for the full duration of any gig. The fact that only fuckers making noise at this gig were the bar staff says quite a lot about how fixated the crowd were to the stage.

We got the full contents of the album – with the additional instruments adding depth and layers to lift the songs to another level making their live delivery that bit of more special.

We got banter with the crowd aplenty and We got a primal scream

3. – Kings of Leon – The O2

No your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I’ve got no.3 down twice. (Therefore making top 10 actually a top 11 but I couldn’t choose between them).

Kings of Leon in the newly opened O2 was a cracker and crash landed into my Top 10 at the last minute. The new venue is a winner on the evidence of this gig.

A storming 24 song set gave the new sound system a very good stress test – and it passed with flying colours. I’ve seen these guys a couple of times before but Friday night was their best yet.

Maybe it’s the time of year, the hype of the new venue etc. But the stars definitely aligned in such a way to give us a great night out. It’s good to have a decent size indoor venue back in Dublin for these types of gigs.

2. – Tom Waits – Phoenix Park

Why Tom chose Dublin we’re still not sure. It wouldn’t really have mattered though. Gigsoc were going to see Tom Waits in 2008 – it was just a question of where. The fact that he would dropping in on our door step just made it that bit easier.

With a specially constructed Rat Cellar put in place to house Mr. Waits & Co. for 3 shows of a very limited European tour, we knew we were always in for a treat.  Oh and the results are in, Dublin night 3, was voted the best of the tour.

1. – Leonard Cohen – Kilmainham

This gig should never have happened. Leonard shouldn’t have to tour anymore if he doesn’t want to – he’s getting on now. He didn’t want to do this tour. But he was left with no choice. His accountant cleaned him out.

Still, the fact that it did happen made a lot of people very very happy – and I suspect Leonard himself might look back at the whole affair with a smile in years to come. There is plenty of life left in the old pro yet.

A man in his 70’s shouldn’t be able to come out on stage and put in 3 hours every night. He shouldn’t be capable of electrifying his audience to the point where it becomes less of a gig and more of a homage to some of the best songs and music ever written.

He shouldn’t – but he did. And he did it for 3 nights in Kilmainham in June. The man just stood there grinning for 3 hours while we sat and stood spellbound and pinching ourselves every now and again to remind ourselves that this was really happening.

I’ve never experienced a gig quite like it.

For the emotion. For the setting. For the sound. For the music. For the chance to see one of the finest song smiths showing everyone else how it’s done. There were people crying. Some people went all 3 nights. By the end of it all, Leonard himself wanted us all to come with him everywhere he went. Some people agreed and followed him to Rome.

Leonard you take the top spot.  Come back soon so you can take it again.

Enjoy some clips from the gigs.

Hallelujah

A Thousand Kisses Deep

If it be your will

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Right gigsoc’s heads are still very sore after the very very good Kings of Lron gig last night in the o2 (more on that later). Recovery time is minimal as we are off to the annual Crete boom Xmas party tonight in town.

These location for these legendary parties is a closely guarded secret with the great Sunday indo not even been given the details of the hottest ticket in town.

If you are going – see you there, if not -better luck next year!

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