Gig Report
Sep. 25th, 2013 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
askygoneonfireIf you're not interested in gig reports and/or the Manics then scroll on by...
Last night I went to my 14th Manics gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire which is one of the few 'classic' London venues I haven't been to before. I arrived about 5pm and got lost trying to get from the tube station to the venue which was quite serendipitous as a woman approached me and asked if I was trying to find the Empire, I said I was and then a passer by who overheard us pointed us in the right direction. We chatted on the way and it turned out she was on holiday in London for a week and quite by chance had googled the Manics earlier that day and discovered they were playing and decided to come down and see if she could get a ticket. Once we got to the venue I joined the (fairly small) queue and she went to talk to the touts.
She got a ticket for £70 (face value; £32.50, ouch!) and we stood listening to the soundcheck through the fire escape. We got talking and it turns out she's from Thailand and had been trying to see the Manics for years - back in 2008 they were due to play a couple of days after all the protests and the airport being closed/occupied so they cancelled, rescheduled twice and then cancelled entirely so she was beside herself with excitement. Then a chap came over and started to talking to us, he was 52, from Italy and had decided to buy a ticket from an online tout (£85) and fly in from Italy that morning and was going straight to Stansted after the gig to catch a flight back again! Manics fans are nothing if not dedicated!
After that I began talking to the guy ahead of me in the queue who was wearing a pair of leopard print converse that I had been eyeing up for some time. He had been to every date on the tour so far (see: dedicated!) and at the Bristol gig the night before, had got back to his hotel to discover his ears were bleeding! We chatted and joined forces in our plan to get a good spot on Nicky's side of the stage.
Much laughter and chatter later we were in the venue.
I have a few negatives about the actual gig and I'm going to get them out all at once so I can move on and talk about the good things.
Bad things
There was a hugely aggressive atmosphere. Some lager totting-Ben Sherman shirt wearing knob pushed in front of me as soon as the support act finished and proceeding to completely obscure my view and slam into me as he danced. When he left after a few songs, there was space for three people to move forward, two women from my right moved into the space and aggressively prevented me from moving forward for no reason I could comprehend.
Later, two women who looked rough as all hell (i.e. people I would not mess with) started having a go at the nice guy standing next to me because he was pushed up against them; newsflash ladies, if you are in the 4th row at a standing gig and there have been multiple crowd surges people will be pushed up against you. I intervened after I heard him repeat for the 3rd time that he couldn't move backwards because he was squashed/there was no space. I told them there was nowhere for him to move and that we were all squashed, they were basically suggesting he was a pervert because he was pushed up against her back - poor guy was nothing of the sort.
Another woman who I had seen hanging around outside the venue (but not queuing) forced her way to the front, screamed in my ear repeatedly and completely obscured my view of Nicky by holding her massive Galaxy Note phone up to photograph him for the full length of 3 three songs - a lot of people were shouting at her, and she kept leaning on the shoulders and heads of the people in front of her which I'm sure was even more annoying than what I suffered - but she ignored everyone and just kept forcing her way forward.
Towards the final third of the gig the mosh pit which usually happens in the centre and off to the left moved right and into the area in front of Nicky where I was standing - I got smacked in the back repeatedly and about 4 blokey laddy types forced their way in front of me. I have been knocked over, shoved, kicked, fallen on by crowd surfers, squashed, lifted off the floor by the force of the crowd, and generally abused in gigs - and at Manics gigs - but I have never been so persistently and deliberately attacked and punched as I was last night. The type of men who were smashing their way to the front exclusively danced and sang to the hits and simply were not the sort of people who have been at gigs in the last few years. By the penultimate song I had been shoved halfway to the back (from my original position 2 people from the barrier this is a considerable distance) and into an area of calm. I decided to move out of the centre entirely for the final song and found myself in a group of people dancing, singing, smiling and shouting which made me really regret not moving there sooner.
So, that's out.
Good things
Despite the aggression, there was a lot of positive energy. The crowd singing on the very first track - Motorcycle Emptiness - was HUGE. One of the loudest responses I've ever heard and from a relatively small crowd/venue. Nicky and James seemed to really thrive on the volume and energy of the crowd, there was a lot of interaction (although relatively little talking from them between songs)
The acoustic set in the middle - just James - was spectacular. One of the best I've seen him do. He completely fucked up both the lyrics and chords for The Everlasting but we sang him through. All the new tracks - of which they did many more than usual in an album tour - sounded fantastic. Richard Hawley came on to do his guest spot on Rewind the Film but it's still just not a winner for me. That was really the only song I didn't enjoy.
Nicky also did an acoustic bit - he sang the first verse of Marlon JD (much to my unconfined joy, delight and surprise) and then went into [new track] As Holy as the Soil (which made me tear up) but he was tremendous. His voice was an open joke amongst fans when he started singing but it has definitely improved over the past few years. That was a really special moment for me.
Motorcycle Emptiness and Design for Life were the first and last song respectively and were the purest moments for me with regard to immersive, unifying energy from crowd and band. I feel I missed the enjoyment of a number of songs as I was forced to concentrate on avoiding fists in the latter section of the set but overall it was really solid.
Home
I said goodbye to my new Thai friend (who, by the way, spotted my Thai language tattoo and translated it - I did get it right! - and then gave me a lesson on correct pronunciation!) and sent twitter messages to the guy to say goodbye. We both waved off a smiling Italian man too. I headed for the tube and got talking to a guy from Yorkshire who told me the last time he'd been to see the Manics was the final night at the Astoria back in 1994. Manics fans saying they were at the last night at the Astoria (Richey's last gig) is a bit like people saying they were at Woodstock - the number who claim it and the number who were documented to be there simply don't tally - but I am inclined to believe he was telling the truth.
Made the final-ish train to Brighton at midnight and walked home in the deserted streets of 1:30am. I bade good morning to a fox taking an amble down the road (he paused at the zebra crossing, apparently contemplated where he wanted to go and then resolved to carry on down the pavement on the side of the road he was on) and fell into bed - aching but basically content.
"You can't expect to be happy all the time. A few minutes everyday is all I expect" - Nicky Wire
Last night I went to my 14th Manics gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire which is one of the few 'classic' London venues I haven't been to before. I arrived about 5pm and got lost trying to get from the tube station to the venue which was quite serendipitous as a woman approached me and asked if I was trying to find the Empire, I said I was and then a passer by who overheard us pointed us in the right direction. We chatted on the way and it turned out she was on holiday in London for a week and quite by chance had googled the Manics earlier that day and discovered they were playing and decided to come down and see if she could get a ticket. Once we got to the venue I joined the (fairly small) queue and she went to talk to the touts.
She got a ticket for £70 (face value; £32.50, ouch!) and we stood listening to the soundcheck through the fire escape. We got talking and it turns out she's from Thailand and had been trying to see the Manics for years - back in 2008 they were due to play a couple of days after all the protests and the airport being closed/occupied so they cancelled, rescheduled twice and then cancelled entirely so she was beside herself with excitement. Then a chap came over and started to talking to us, he was 52, from Italy and had decided to buy a ticket from an online tout (£85) and fly in from Italy that morning and was going straight to Stansted after the gig to catch a flight back again! Manics fans are nothing if not dedicated!
After that I began talking to the guy ahead of me in the queue who was wearing a pair of leopard print converse that I had been eyeing up for some time. He had been to every date on the tour so far (see: dedicated!) and at the Bristol gig the night before, had got back to his hotel to discover his ears were bleeding! We chatted and joined forces in our plan to get a good spot on Nicky's side of the stage.
Much laughter and chatter later we were in the venue.
I have a few negatives about the actual gig and I'm going to get them out all at once so I can move on and talk about the good things.
Bad things
There was a hugely aggressive atmosphere. Some lager totting-Ben Sherman shirt wearing knob pushed in front of me as soon as the support act finished and proceeding to completely obscure my view and slam into me as he danced. When he left after a few songs, there was space for three people to move forward, two women from my right moved into the space and aggressively prevented me from moving forward for no reason I could comprehend.
Later, two women who looked rough as all hell (i.e. people I would not mess with) started having a go at the nice guy standing next to me because he was pushed up against them; newsflash ladies, if you are in the 4th row at a standing gig and there have been multiple crowd surges people will be pushed up against you. I intervened after I heard him repeat for the 3rd time that he couldn't move backwards because he was squashed/there was no space. I told them there was nowhere for him to move and that we were all squashed, they were basically suggesting he was a pervert because he was pushed up against her back - poor guy was nothing of the sort.
Another woman who I had seen hanging around outside the venue (but not queuing) forced her way to the front, screamed in my ear repeatedly and completely obscured my view of Nicky by holding her massive Galaxy Note phone up to photograph him for the full length of 3 three songs - a lot of people were shouting at her, and she kept leaning on the shoulders and heads of the people in front of her which I'm sure was even more annoying than what I suffered - but she ignored everyone and just kept forcing her way forward.
Towards the final third of the gig the mosh pit which usually happens in the centre and off to the left moved right and into the area in front of Nicky where I was standing - I got smacked in the back repeatedly and about 4 blokey laddy types forced their way in front of me. I have been knocked over, shoved, kicked, fallen on by crowd surfers, squashed, lifted off the floor by the force of the crowd, and generally abused in gigs - and at Manics gigs - but I have never been so persistently and deliberately attacked and punched as I was last night. The type of men who were smashing their way to the front exclusively danced and sang to the hits and simply were not the sort of people who have been at gigs in the last few years. By the penultimate song I had been shoved halfway to the back (from my original position 2 people from the barrier this is a considerable distance) and into an area of calm. I decided to move out of the centre entirely for the final song and found myself in a group of people dancing, singing, smiling and shouting which made me really regret not moving there sooner.
So, that's out.
Good things
Despite the aggression, there was a lot of positive energy. The crowd singing on the very first track - Motorcycle Emptiness - was HUGE. One of the loudest responses I've ever heard and from a relatively small crowd/venue. Nicky and James seemed to really thrive on the volume and energy of the crowd, there was a lot of interaction (although relatively little talking from them between songs)
The acoustic set in the middle - just James - was spectacular. One of the best I've seen him do. He completely fucked up both the lyrics and chords for The Everlasting but we sang him through. All the new tracks - of which they did many more than usual in an album tour - sounded fantastic. Richard Hawley came on to do his guest spot on Rewind the Film but it's still just not a winner for me. That was really the only song I didn't enjoy.
Nicky also did an acoustic bit - he sang the first verse of Marlon JD (much to my unconfined joy, delight and surprise) and then went into [new track] As Holy as the Soil (which made me tear up) but he was tremendous. His voice was an open joke amongst fans when he started singing but it has definitely improved over the past few years. That was a really special moment for me.
Motorcycle Emptiness and Design for Life were the first and last song respectively and were the purest moments for me with regard to immersive, unifying energy from crowd and band. I feel I missed the enjoyment of a number of songs as I was forced to concentrate on avoiding fists in the latter section of the set but overall it was really solid.
Home
I said goodbye to my new Thai friend (who, by the way, spotted my Thai language tattoo and translated it - I did get it right! - and then gave me a lesson on correct pronunciation!) and sent twitter messages to the guy to say goodbye. We both waved off a smiling Italian man too. I headed for the tube and got talking to a guy from Yorkshire who told me the last time he'd been to see the Manics was the final night at the Astoria back in 1994. Manics fans saying they were at the last night at the Astoria (Richey's last gig) is a bit like people saying they were at Woodstock - the number who claim it and the number who were documented to be there simply don't tally - but I am inclined to believe he was telling the truth.
Made the final-ish train to Brighton at midnight and walked home in the deserted streets of 1:30am. I bade good morning to a fox taking an amble down the road (he paused at the zebra crossing, apparently contemplated where he wanted to go and then resolved to carry on down the pavement on the side of the road he was on) and fell into bed - aching but basically content.
"You can't expect to be happy all the time. A few minutes everyday is all I expect" - Nicky Wire