Biffy Clyro, Brighton Dome, Monday 26th October 2009.

So another venue is brought up to the firing line to be metaphorically shot down, judged and critiqued... this time it's the Brighton Dome. Although it may look like the sort of place where some middle aged man takes to the stage in green tights pretending to be Peter Pan (yes, I'm talking about a pantomime) it's actually a pretty decent building. Clean and looking newly refurbished, I particularly enjoyed the complete lack of a queue outside. It seemed that they opted for the 'let's just let the fans stand wherever and hope they don't crush us when we open the doors' option, which worked for me as it meant I was only outside for a few minutes. 7/10... However, I may just be biased because I love Brighton.

Tubelord: the first supports of the night. Now, this band completely divided my opinion for a number of reasons so I'll sum up the good and the bad. The bad: From the glittery sequined top the bassist was wearing to the downright dodgy jeans the guitarist/vocalist wore, they looked like they were more focussed on becoming characters from the Mighty Boosh rather than musicians. Commenting on the bassist, I couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not. He vaguely resembled that scene from Alien when the alien bursts out of that poor man's stomach. And one more point to bring up; the vocals didn't really work live. However, the positive: They can play their instruments well and the music was pretty darn good. Also, their drummer held everything together. Respect to the drummer. 39/100. http://www.myspace.com/tubelord

The second support band came in the form of Pulled Apart By Horses. Not knowing what to expect, I decided to sit out for this one but I'll admit I was extremely impressed by their bold, energetic performance. Not only did they manage to get the first mosh pit of the night started but they also got everyone down the front simultaneously high-fiving as well as naming everyone sitting down at the back 'boring people with piles'. A good sense of humour always goes down well in my opinion. 65/100. http://www.myspace.com/pulledapartbyhorses

As the curtain falls, the crowd gets their first glimpse of the stage. Layer upon layer upon layer of lights fill the background and even before Biffy take to the stage you can tell it's gonna be a good set, simply because they've made the effort. When they do take to the stage they immediately dive straight in with That Golden Rule and the previously mentioned lights blind every member of the audience. I must say, although there was not much interaction between the crowd and Biffy, the fact that they didn't really talk did not come across as rude or arrogant but gave this heightened mystery which makes you think 'What are they going to play next?' What they did play next is Puzzle almost in its entirety, old favourites such as Joy. Discovery. Invention, Justboy and Glitter and Trauma and new single The Captain. They really did play an excellent set and the only criticism I have is that it took a lot to get the crowd going. There was a lot of singing along and clapping but nothing really exiting like a decent mosh pit... Highlights of the set include Who's Got A Match?, Machines and set closer Mountains. Based entirely on Biffy's efforts, their amazing live performance and good sound quality they get an 82/100. http://www.myspace.com/biffyclyro

NOTE; Gemma was not at this gig either :(

Bowling For Soup, Margate Winter Gardens, Wednesday 21st October 2009.

I will open this blog with one statement: The venue IS important! The venue has to be right. It creates an atmosphere. It adds to the whole night. And I'm going to be honest here because that's what I do... Margate Winter Gardens was (to put it simply) a bit crap. From the complete lack of a cloakroom and the dodgy seating lurking at the back, to the old-people-convention style of the building... it just wasn't working for me. Not to mention the completely overdone security (including members of staff watching the crowd from the balconies like some giant birds of prey wearing bright yellow jackets). The whole thing just wasn't right. 3/10.

Some of the supports however, made up for it. First up were The Leftovers, a band hailing from Portland who were included in the free downloads when buying tickets. Now, although the sound quality was pretty terrible throughout their set (admittedly this is not their fault), their enthusiasm and energy made up for it. Not to mention the fact that they aren't actually a bad band. They have a nice, happy sound which fit with the overall vibes of the gig. I think they need a year or two to grow a bit and improve their live performance but they will be good. 40/100. http://www.myspace.com/theleftovers

But wait, what is this? A rapper at Bowling For Soup? A rapper who starts mosh pits!?! Never. But apparently it did happen and you had to see it to believe it. Yes folks, 'self-proclaimed originator of post-punk laptop rap' MC Lars played a bloody brilliant set. A set which involved the craziest entrance I've seen before with a projected video of someone hacking up machines and everyone taking to the stage with their backs to the crowd, followed by a very creative performance involving more projected images of somewhat completely unrelated topics, like Charlie the unicorn. I don't even care that I couldn't understand what he was rapping about because whatever it was, it sounded good. Accompanied by a band, MC Lars fit in much more than he should. Different, creative and fun. That's what a good support band should be. 65/100. (And that's a GOOD mark considering I won't give over 70 to supports). http://www.myspace.com/mclars

So it would seem that (out of the three supports) everyone really wanted to see Zebrahead. I myself was excited about seeing them play live and so, in typical style, what happened? Well, obviously they were awful is what happened. The sound quality, if possible, got even worse. Guitars and bass were muted too much, so much so that I couldn't even feel the bass pounding in the floor. (Note: You should always feel the bass in the floor. It's practically an untold rule.) I'll admit they had stage presence, but it was the wrong kind; full of unnecessary swearing and a 'check us out, we're so cool' attitude. Therefore, to rebel, Laura and I took a break at the back of the venue on those previously mentioned 'dodgy seats'. Whilst there we witnessed something that I couldn't quite figure out. Amidst the crowd, fans were making hand gestures while the band shouted something that resembled a rather unpleasant word which would surely burn my hands if I typed it. Now, I'm not saying that they were saying this word but the awful sound quality implied it and so, because they were utter crap, Zebrahead get a 30/100. http://www.myspace.com/zebrahead. At the same time though, they don't sound that bad on Myspace... the power of editing of course.

And that just about brings us round to quite possibly one of the funniest bands in existence, Bowling For Soup. The fact that this tour is called the Party In Your Pants tour adds testament to this statement. Taking to the stage with The Bitch Song, they immediately get the crowd singing "You're a bitch but I love you anyway", not exactly something that appears in friendly conversation but still the crowd were singing it like it was a compliment. And so it seems only appropriate that one of the next songs to follow is named 'My Wena'. Such a crowd pleaser it was too and I'm being completely honest. The set list also included the BFS classics; High School Never Ends, Girl All The Bad Guys Want, Punk Rock 101, I'm Gay and When We Die as well as a superbly played Almost and new songs No Hablo Inglés (one of my favourites off Sorry For Partyin') and Hooray For Beer which really does include the lyrics "Hooray for beer, I'm really glad you're here'. The best song of the night however was rather unexpected I must say because it was A Really Cool Dance Song during which all the supports took to stage to dance with their beer and the crowd was told to 'shake what ya mamma gave ya' which they did. And of course, it would not be a BFS gig without any jokes being made between songs. Not only this but they even somehow managed to crack jokes left, right and centre IN songs. There also followed for the first time ever attempted in 'Marrrrrgate' a Bowling For Soup beverage break during which the band sat around the drum kit drinking beer and a photo shoot where all four members stood at the front of the stage posing for the crowd while everyone got their phones out to take photos. A really excellent set played by a band I've been waiting to see for a long time. 75/100. http://www.myspace.com/bowlingforsoup

NOTE; Gemma was not at this gig :(

Photos courtesy of LauraLoo. :)

Enter Shikari, Camden Roundhouse, Saturday 10th October 2009.

Everyone likes a bit of Enter Shikari just like everyone likes a nice clean public toilet. Luckily last Saturday we got both. Yes, if there's one positive thing I can say about the Roundhouse it's that it passed my toilet expectations. The venue itself wasn't so great. I prefer the dirty, dingy, smell-the-beer-and-sweat, this floor is too sticky to be healthy venues myself and it just didn't meet my standards. Fairly clean and rather ridiculousy resembling an overly echoey cave which pigeons COULD live in of they chose to, I'll give the Roundhouse a 6/10. (Note: there weren't really pigeons living there).

Onto the music then. First support came from True Tiger; a band described on their myspace as Garage/Grime/Hip Hop although the general phrase passing round that evening was 'S***'. Their set involved a mosh pit which appeared to involve more beatings, tramplings and just general physical abuse rather than actual moshing, a sit down protest when the crowd got bored, a never-ending stream of glowsticks being thrown towards the stage and to top it all, True Tiger were finally asked to leave the stage amidst a chanting chorus of "OFF! OFF! OFF!" from the crowd. I think they suffered worse than anyone in the mosh pit that night. But let me ponder why... Were they really that bad? To be honest, yes they were. Their music sounded like one continuous, half an hour long beat with a little man onstage shouting 'Put your hands up!' which people mostly chose to ignore. 32/100. (The 32 comes from sheer effort). http://www.myspace.com/truetigerrecordings

Next up were The Devil Wears Prada. You can guess from the fact that the crowd allowed them to play a WHOLE set without being booed offstage that they weren't that bad. In fact, a lot of the crowd seemed to be partially there to see them. Standing at the back of the venue for this set due to a bad stomach ache and energy loss (revived by some Red Bull and pain killers) I got a pretty good look at the crowd's reaction. Mosh pits galore, what looked like some nasty injuries and a whole lot of screaming... they played their set well. Not exactly my cup of tea (for I do not drink tea) they didn't have enough structure for me and sounded a bit all over the place but on the few occasions that they did pull themselves together I can see why half the crowd were going mental in the pits. 50/100. Don't be offended by the 50 if you are a fan, I predict they'll get better. http://www.myspace.com/tdwp

The lights dim, there's a huge crowd rush towards the stage, people are crushed, people are bruised and Enter Shikari take to the stage to Common Dreads. "Here tonight I clock a thousand heads. Here to unite through Common Dreads!" and then as Solidarity begins, the whole place explodes. (I'll give you some advice here: Don't worry if you get split up from your buddies, if you enjoy the music you'll have a good time anyway!) nd so I did. Being on the barrier can be quite a predicament, especially when Enter Shikari decide to play songs such as Zzzonked, No Sleep Tonight and The Feast which they did. Bring on the sweaty crowd! Crowd pleasers also included an excellently played Gap In The Fence in which a deafening chorus of WOAH's issued from the crowd, Havoc B and of course Hectic as well as old favourites Mothership, Labyrinth, Sorry, You're Not A Winner and OK, Time For Plan B. However, the definite stand out of the night was obviously The Jester. During this one song about three different mosh pits ensued, covering practically most of the ground floor with about 50 people in the biggest one. It all got a little bit chaotic and because I still had my glowsticks I decided to have a mini rave in the middle of a BIG mosh pit. That might explain why I have a huge bruise covering my shin... An encore also followed opening with the crazy Juggernauts which led to a number of crowdsurfers looking half dead with exhaustion falling on people's heads. Anyway, to conclude Enter Shikari played as usual with their never ending energy, humour and talent. It was a VERY good set. 77/100. http://www.myspace.com/entershikari

For some actual 'professional' footage (ie. Rory with a camera) check out this link.

NOTE; Gemma's ratings;
Venue: 7/10 due to their very good paramedic service :)
True Tiger: 25/100
Devil Wears Prada: 65/100
Enter Shikari: 85/100

Howdy All...

Right, so this is how this blog works...

Gemma and myself will be attending all the best gigs throughout the year. Whether it's just one of us or both of us, we'll be bringing back tales and photos right from the crowd. Let's be honest, although we're not exactly professionals we are fans and that's the important part.

Anyway, once we've recovered we'll be posting up the photos along with a review of the venue, crowd and of course the music. Marks out of 10 will be given to the venue while marks out of 100 will be given to each band that plays a set [supports included] because I like to be detailed.

Feel free to leave comments.

Holly and Gemma.