i'm pretty sure 99% of you will have heard about the Drummer Incident at Patrick Wolf's MisShapes show in New York.
Patrick posted a letter on his website on Sunday night telling his fans he is quitting music. "I have made a decision, my final concert will be this november, a retrospective with an orchestra in London. I am not sure wether there will be anymore public communications after that, Infact I am pretty sure there will be none." quotequote.
how gutted am i? unbelievably so. but then again i have hope. i really don't see him staying away from the limelight all that long, and once he calms down and sees that music is life (because it is, right) he will come back better than before. i think the recent (from around new year) exposure, touring, promoting his album and obviously struggles within his band have just been getting a little too much. so he snapped. sadly. lets just hope he comes back quick. he's possibly one of the greatest musicians around at the minute, and maybe even for a long time. it would be massively dissappointing to lose such a wonderful person from our world.
i'm determined to go to the London November gig, although i can imagine getting tickets will be like trying to find red sand.
Patrick Wolf - Empress
last night i went to see GoodBooks. i've seen them twice before, and so i kind of knew what to expect. i must say that i think their live performances are a million times better than what they sound like on record. i can't quite work out why that is (possibly over production?) but they were very very good again last night.
the first support was from a band called The Redwings. errm. no comment. no, actually, fuck it. they were shit. beyond shit. they just made a fucking awful post-Libs noise. each member of the band must have been playing a different song to the others. they asked the crowd if anyone was going to be reviewing the gig, and when no one replied they said "good". so they are aware they are shit? or that the sound was dreadful? or that everyone was bored? when i say everyone i must mention that that does not include the two girls who were dancing.
but people do that, don't they? they dance. even when the music is shit, when it's absolutely horrifying. why though? i guess music is in the ear of the beholder, just like beauty is in the eye. but there seriously should just be some things in music which are banned.
we don't want your Libs impressionists with boys in bands who look like Pete/Carl and dress like Pete/Carl and dance like Pete/Carl and sing like Pete/Carl and are cocky without justification.
well i don't want any of these things. there's such a massive difference between taking inspiration from and just completely copying. knock it off, yeah?
back to the gig.. next onstage were Last Gang. i'd only heard a couple of tracks before i saw them last night. they follow in the footsteps of all that is The Cribs-esque northern "we come from up north 'n this is our tuuuune like" indie rock. they were good. they definitely know what they are doing, and they have a clear cut sound. i just don't know how much pushing it will take for them to get out from under the shadow of other similar and bigger bands like The Pigeon Detectives. they deserve to though, i was more impressed than i thought i would be.
Last Gang - We Don't Care
finallyyyy GoodBooks! there's something about them that sets them apart from the majority of other bands around at the minute. every now and then there's just something ever so slightly haunting about their music. i asked Leo (the drummer) how the rest of the tour had been and he said not so good, and that most places had actually been pretty empty. i was suprised because of their recent jaunts on the Vice Tour and supporting The Maccabees. plus, their album is due out sometime this summer (i think?).
at the end of their set singer and guitarist Max had a little bit of a hissy fit after telling the crowd he couldn't be bothered. he jumped off stage at the end and went straight backstage. i couldn't help but giggle. i know, i shouldn't have. me & the girls i was with went "oooooooh!" and everything. i can understand why he was pissed off. they only sold 25 tickets in advance, and there was about 30-40 people in in total. playing for weeks on end to pretty much empty rooms must get quite frustrating.
GoodBooks - Passchendaele
i'm currently suffering from tonsillitus, so if i'm not dead (or drowned in ice cream) by tomorrow i will finally get round to that Sir Yes Sir post. wooo.
ps. feedback is ace, so let me know if you like this type of "gig review" post. there's not much point if you hate them!
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