Gigs and concerts

[Harry Wiseau]

2 hours ago, gmoney said:

I saw them on their last tour and they were great fun. It's ridiculous how much energy Russell still has. Ron's was sitting down the whole show, as is his right. 

Not the WHOLE show. He got up for Shopping Mall of Love to add his "yeah's" and couldn't contain his excitement during Number One Song In Heaven and had to have a dance. Well he did every night I went anyway. Bless him.

[gmoney]

You're quite right, I did the great man a disservice. 

[cobra_gordo]

Went to see Paul Heaton give a masterclass of a set at Bramall Lane on Sunday night. My wife loves The Beautiful South and The Housemartins so I got her tickets for mother's day.  30,000 packed in there ("mOrE tHaN tHeY tOoK tO wEmBlEy"- all Facebook comments sections after the gig) was a surprisingly friendly atmosphere, seemed to be no pissed up dickheads despite it being the daybefore a bank holiday.

Missed the first couple of The Lightning Seeds songs but they sounded tight. Three Lions, as naff as it is, sounded brilliant in there. Biggest surprise of the night was how good Shed Seven were. A band I never really got in to but turned out I knew four of the songs really well. Solid set and would definitely see them again. Got to witness a really lovely moment between a ad in his mid-forties and his son who looked 13 or 14, arms round each other singing along to Chasing Rainbows. The dad was in floods of tears at the end, it was really touching.

Paul Heaton sounded incredible. His voice sounds as good as it ever has and he seemed, as a lifelong Blade, to be genuinely touched by the reaction from the crowd. Rianne Downey plays off well against his voice, the newer songs sounded great but from about halfway through it was banger after banger. I mean, look at this for a setlist- 

 

Just Another Family
Bow Down (The Housemartins song)
Old Red Eyes Is Back (The Beautiful South song)
Sheepn(The Housemartins song)
Bell Bottomed Tear (The Beautiful South song)
Quicksand
Five Get Over Excited (The Housemartins song)
I'll Sail This Ship Alone (The Beautiful South song)
I Don't See Them (Paul Heaton + Jacqui Abbott song)
Fish 'N' Chip Supper
Song for Whoever (The Beautiful South song)
Me and the Farmer (The Housemartins song)
Small Boats
A Little Time (The Beautiful South song)
Don't Marry Her (The Beautiful South song)
Heatongrad (Paul Heaton + Jacqui Abbott song)
Build (The Housemartins song)
Pretenders to the Throne (The Beautiful South song)
Happy Hour (The Housemartins song)
Perfect 10 (The Beautiful South song)
Let Love Speak Up Itself (The Beautiful South song)
Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)  (The Beautiful South song)

Encore:
One Last Love Song(The Beautiful South song)
You Keep It All In (The Beautiful South song)

Encore 2:
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) (The Beautiful South song)
Caravan of Love (Isley Jasper Isley cover)

The memory of the crowd singing along to I'll Sail This Ship Alone and Caravan Of Love is genuinely giving me goosebumps now.

[Panhead]

We Are Scientists at the Crookes Social Club in Sheffield last night. What an absolute hidden gem of a venue! 

[johnnyboy]

Kylie Minogue's Tension tour should be available on the NHS.  My heart is still going "Padam."

[Arch Stanton]

On 5/28/2025 at 8:13 PM, Panhead said:

We Are Scientists at the Crookes Social Club in Sheffield last night. What an absolute hidden gem of a venue! 

I was at this too! I live five minutes walk from the place. Seeing such a great band on my doorstep was a real treat. They are always such a fun live act, too. Guaranteed a good gig with them. I was especially proud to see that they took to Instagram afterwards to say that Crookes Social Club might be their favourite place on Earth!

 

[Bruce85]

I’ve got jimmy eat world, trophy eyes, and nine inch nails coming up in the next couple of weeks. Going to cost a fortune in travel, pints and merch! 
 

On the subject of merch, I hardly ever see anyone outside a gig selling bootleg merch these days. When I was younger they used to be everywhere, even at smaller shows, only see them at the odd big show now. 

[SuperBacon]

14 minutes ago, Bruce85 said:

On the subject of merch, I hardly ever see anyone outside a gig selling bootleg merch these days. When I was younger they used to be everywhere, even at smaller shows, only see them at the odd big show now. 

Brixton Academy was the best for this. You'd have 10 lads outside after the gig all selling different designs, probably a choice of 50 shirts all for a tenner.

I had a Spineshank hoody that lasted me about 15 years. Happier times.

[Merzbow]

Last time I saw this was at Godspeed You! Black Emperor which is a weird choice to sell bootlegs at..

[CTXRussomark]

32 minutes ago, Bruce85 said:

On the subject of merch, I hardly ever see anyone outside a gig selling bootleg merch these days. When I was younger they used to be everywhere, even at smaller shows, only see them at the odd big show now. 

They're still around for most of the midsized gigs I've been to over the past few years, which is a godsend considering the price of tour merch thesedays.  My general rule of thumb is if the gig ticket is under £50 I'll buy actual merch, otherwise it's the £10 specials on the way out.   Completely arbitrary but I can't justify paying more for a T-shirt than the actual gig. 

[cobra_gordo]

Nottingham Arena still has it, it's always the same lads and they always have olive green shirts which look ace and are good prints. There was a few outside the Paul Heaton gig and they'd done their own version of the football shirt he was selling inside for god knows how much.

[Panhead]

10 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

I was at this too! I live five minutes walk from the place. Seeing such a great band on my doorstep was a real treat. They are always such a fun live act, too. Guaranteed a good gig with them. I was especially proud to see that they took to Instagram afterwards to say that Crookes Social Club might be their favourite place on Earth!

 

It must be great having it so close to you! Me and my mates have been looking at what gigs are coming up there. Great venue! 

Busy month for me is June. I've got Fright Years, Soot Sprite, Deftones, Weezer, Bright Eyes and a local festival. 

[Statto]

On 6/2/2025 at 9:17 AM, Bruce85 said:

On the subject of merch, I hardly ever see anyone outside a gig selling bootleg merch these days. When I was younger they used to be everywhere, even at smaller shows, only see them at the odd big show now. 

Last time I saw it was Extreme last January. One of the guys I went with bought a t-shirts, it had all the tour dates on the back but throughout the whole listing, every time there was supposed to be a lowercase B there was a lowercase L (IIRC). Proper nostalgic bootleg stuff. 

[SuperBacon]

13 minutes ago, Statto said:

Last time I saw it was Extreme last January. One of the guys I went with bought a t-shirts, it had all the tour dates on the back but throughout the whole listing, every time there was supposed to be a lowercase B there was a lowercase L (IIRC). Proper nostalgic bootleg stuff. 

More than (lowercase) words. 

[Egg Shen]

I do miss bootleg merch, from memory I think I only ever bought one shirt (an Ash shirt outside Hereford Leisure Center...the print came off after one wash), and a few posters, but I always loved seeing it on sale after a show. The odd time I see it now it always gives me a little nostalgic buzz. 

Edited June 4, 2025 by Egg Shen