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Your Top Live Music Experiences By Venue


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12 minutes ago, choffer said:
1. Bar / 2. Nightclub - TJ's Newport. Two mighty years of seeing so many great gigs while living in Newport. J. Mascis, Green Day, Hole, Daisy Chainsaw, Therapy?, Bikini Kill, Die Toten Hosen. So many awesome bands but my favourite would have been the Drop 19's as I pulled one of the singers who I was always slightly in love with.

I went to Uni with a lad from Pontypool, who would regale me with stories of the bands he'd seen at TJ's. I'm sure he told me that Kurt Cobain said it was his favourite venue to play.  

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2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

I'm trying to think of a 'worst' gig, and I'm struggling. Not sure I've ever been to one that I really hated. 

Same here, there's been some awful support bands down the years - Chicks on Speed always stand out there for me. But cant say I've ever been to a gig I didn't enjoy in some way. Even Level 42 at Hereford Leisure Centre :)

Nightclubs however. Endless tales of being dragged to stuff I have no interest in. Especially Paul Oakenfold in some club on Union Street in Plymouth in the 90's I was basically nonplussed, got bored and went home early. Not coz there was anything particularly wrong either - just that was the night it dawned on me I was supposed to do something different to all this.

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27 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

Completely unrelated but randomly about 3 weeks ago I dug out Crooked Rain Crooked Rain for the first time in about 15 years and have been steadily introducing it to everyone that will listen after I got annoyed that no one around me had heard of Pavement. ;)

It's a great album, although there isn't a Pavement album I don't like. On a gig related theme, I saw Pavement at Brixton Academy. Decent gig, but the PA could have done with turning up a smidge.

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Cellar / Basement - White Mice & others @ Next to Nowhere, Liverpool, 2007.

Imagine my delight when, as a student in the city who had already enjoyed the delights of AIDS Wold and An Albatross in the city, word came that another truly noisy band were coming to play a show - White Mice, label mates of the much more famous Lightning Bolt.

This was a most of the day affair, with many bands supporting, amongst them bPatT, an offshoot of the city's own aPatT of whom I was already a fan. Not only that by DJ Scotch Egg was also on the bill! Incredible. So I went along. The venue is the basement of a somewhat notorious bookshop, and I believe it's now a vegan cafe. It might even been at the time, but I'd never been there. It was small, smelly, warm, and there was equipment and wires all over the place.

The bands started playing, and it was really **** loud. Seemed like the bands were trying to one up each other in the loudness stakes, but the band at the top of the bill blew them all out of the water. My ears are still ringing to this day. Unlike Dave's experience with Wolf Eyes (who do kinda suck tbf), I love noise so was in my element here.

There was really good coffee and cake too, and even though Scotch Egg never made it cos he missed his train, it was an unforgettable experience.

Edited by hogso
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4 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

I went to Uni with a lad from Pontypool, who would regale me with stories of the bands he'd seen at TJ's. I'm sure he told me that Kurt Cobain said it was his favourite venue to play.  

I don't think Nirvana ever played there ?

Hole did and the rumour is  he proposed to Courtney Love there , but that may be more Urban legend  

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1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

I don't think Nirvana ever played there ?

Hole did and the rumour is  he proposed to Courtney Love there , but that may be more Urban legend  

I think I'm probably remembering it wrong. Now you mention it, I do recall that story. It was university, so I was probably out of my mind on goofballs.

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25 minutes ago, choffer said:
Not sure all of these necessarily fit into the categories outlined but 

1. Bar / 2. Nightclub - TJ's Newport. Two mighty years of seeing so many great gigs while living in Newport. J. Mascis, Green Day, Hole, Daisy Chainsaw, Therapy?, Bikini Kill... 

Ah man, jealous. Would give my left one to see Bikini Kill. 

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5 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

It's a great album, although there isn't a Pavement album I don't like. On a gig related theme, I saw Pavement at Brixton Academy. Decent gig, but the PA could have done with turning up a smidge.

In the middle of 5-4=Unity my missus asked "what's this?" I said "this is what my brain sounds like" :D

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4 minutes ago, hogso said:

The bands started playing, and it was really **** loud. Seemed like the bands were trying to one up each other in the loudness stakes, but the band at the top of the bill blew them all out of the water. My ears are still ringing to this day. Unlike Dave's experience with Wolf Eyes (who do kinda suck tbf), I love noise so was in my element here.

I don't mind a bit of noise, and I'm not against being out of my comfort zone, but Wolf Eyes were a bit too much. On the other hand, one of my favorite gigs ever, was seeing Boredoms, who make a wonderful racket.

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6 hours ago, Seat68 said:

on the drive home I remember other gigs

So many great gigs springing back to mind:

Scroobius Pip at a Record Shop In Store mini gig.

Selector Dub Narcotic at an In Store in front of 15 of us giving the gig of his life.

Primal Scream at Maida Vale studios, full band giving it the full rock experience in front of 90 of us.

Voice of the Seven Woods at Theatre Brecon, the full magic of one genius man, multiple instruments and a loop machine.

Voodoo Groove with full Burlesque show at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff

 

Trying to think back to my first gig and I think it was a series of firsts. It was a band called Squire, back in about 1979. They'd have been one of the very first mod revival bands. It was also the first time I was ever offered drugs. I was approached by an older 'bloke' but in 1979 that probably just meant he was in his 20's. The exchange went something like this.

bloke: 'ere, do you wanna buy some grass?'

me at first gig: 'errrrmmm, no, no thanks'

me (thinking to myself): 'why on earth would I want to buy grass? do I look like a flipping gardener?'

 

 

 

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1. Bar - HMHB, Wolverhampton Uni Bar somewhere around the early nineties (still got the ticket so will have to double check). Little did I know they would go on to become my favourite band of all time.

2. Nightclub - Stone Roses, JB's Nightclub Dudley around 88/89. Honourable mention to Alice Cooper at the Marquee Club in London (88?)

3. Outdoor - Donnington 1996. Terrific line up at the time and two stages meant no pausing between bands. Korn / Type O Negative / Biohazard / Fear Factory et al were all in cracking form.

4. Arena - Slayer, NEC around 1991 (Decade of Aggression Tour)

5. Stadium - Drawn a blank. Can't remember ever going to one.

 

I've racked up thousands of live bands over the years and there is nothing quite like the experience of a top notch gig. I tend to try to get to at least 2-3 gigs a month these days and long may it continue :thumb:

 

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I mentioned the pixies at newcastle mayfair, probably my best gig, certainly top 3, but for the experience seeing them at brixton academy just after they reformed might have been better as my wife got to see them too. Brixton academy is a great venue for the short arses as it had a sloping floor. Unless I am imagining it. That said we were on the barrier anyway as less seasoned gig goers dithered.

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Yep, sloping floor.

I saw Goldie Lookin' Chain there. Another awesome night. They were driving golf carts around the stage, then off the stage, in to the back of a truck and away in to the night...

 

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5 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

I mentioned the pixies at newcastle mayfair, probably my best gig, certainly top 3, but for the experience seeing them at brixton academy just after they reformed might have been better as my wife got to see them too. Brixton academy is a great venue for the short arses as it had a sloping floor. Unless I am imagining it. That said we were on the barrier anyway as less seasoned gig goers dithered.

You're remembering right. Took the lovely mrs villamarv to see Ben Harper there about a year ago and due to her being short she loved that she could see everything on the sloping floor. I'd never been there before and I loved the place.

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34 minutes ago, hogso said:

 @ Next to Nowhere, Liverpool, 2007.

 

 

News from Nowhere. Mung bean munching, bearded and hairy armpitted lefty bookshop, been in existence since the seventies. Never been there in over 30 years here, don't intend to start. Smells like it needs a good wash

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I've just remembered some more gig experiences.

Loudest Gig ever. The Swans, again at the Mardi Gras, so loud my mate Dave burst his eardrum. So loud, possibly also responsible for a degree of my tinnitus.

Also at the Mardi gras, That Petrol Emotion (The Undertones minus Fergal Sharkey for those that don't know/ remember). A typical Guest List gig back then. One mate owned the place, loads of other mates were working it. The rest of the gang were on the ale.

The speaker stacks started to wobble, they weren't strapped up (elf and safety? What?) so me and my mate Jill jumped up and wedged ourselves between the top of the stacks and the roof for about an hour. Nuts :mrgreen:

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Biggest disappointment - Voodoo Glow Skulls @ The Maze, Nottingham, 2011 (I think)

As a ska punk band they were OK, not my favourite, but you can't ever be disappointed by a ska band, can you (don't answer that)? So, I went to see them. A few really good tracks off of their plethora of albums I was hoping to hear, and maybe a half hour or so of skanking.

Unfortunately, the live experience did not live up to expectations. At all. The singer was woeful, they didn't play my favourite 'classic' songs, the sound was all wrong, and to top it off the crowd was really boring. The night ska died to me (maybe).

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27 minutes ago, bickster said:

News from Nowhere. Mung bean munching, bearded and hairy armpitted lefty bookshop, been in existence since the seventies. Never been there in over 30 years here, don't intend to start. Smells like it needs a good wash

Haha yes, the smelly bit is certainly true. Next to Nowhere is what they call the downstairs though, there's a door next to the bookshop if you ever fancy a vegan cake with a side of anti-capitalism

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1 minute ago, hogso said:

Haha yes, the smelly bit is certainly true. Next to Nowhere is what they call the downstairs though, there's a door next to the bookshop if you ever fancy a vegan cake with a side of anti-capitalism

I always cross the street before the shop if I'm honest :mrgreen:

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Loudest gig was either Acid Mother's Temple at The Brudenell Social Club, or (one of the many times I've seen them) Dinosaur Jr, at All Tomorrow's Parties (Minehead Butlins). Came out of both gigs with a melted face.

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