City and Colour, Eventium Apollo, Hammersmith, 31st January 2014

About time. "A question of space, a matter of time", you might say. I thought I'd have developed my photos by now (my phone conked out so I had to buy a disposable camera) but I think I only took about ten photos throughout entire day. 

So yeah - this gig had been a long time coming considering I'd had a ticket for ages. I decided, as I have Fridays off, that I'd make a long day of it in London, which meant a 7:45am Megabus, incl. rowdy stag do. Great start. The Natural History Museum was my first destination as I'd never been before - I spent a good two hours furreeaking out at massive scorpions and gargantuan plastic foetuses. I had lunch and a little look in Camden, followed by Rough Trade just off Brick Lane where I died and went to heaven, subsequently followed by the tragic death of my bank account. Six records later, a rather depressing amount of money gone, and a belly full of katsu curry - I'd worked up the appetite for Dallas Green and Co. I waited something like an hour in the pissing London rain in a pair of black cords and holey Vans so here was hoping I was in for a treat - boy, was I!

I've just managed to find my scribblings of the gig (rather professionally done on the back of my Megabus printout) and it's completely illegible. Surprisingly though, not tear-stained!

Now, if I had developed the photos you'd have a good idea of my seating. Up I was in the circle right in the middle, seated next to a guy who was terribly interested in the records I'd bought and liked to frequent the loo during C&C's set. Apart from that, the audience was a sea of sickly sweet couples whom I imagined would have their fucking tongues down each other's necks for the inevitable performance of "The Girl".

Haaanyway, support for the evening was Hannah Georgas, fellow Canadian and Dine Alone signee, whose vocals incorporate the deep tones of Daughter, with a poppy upbeat sound. Georgas was subject to her share of wolf-whistles which just makes me feel nauseous. I'd go on about how women's musical abilities are overshadowed by their looks or the mere fact they're women (shock horror, women don't just have babies!) but that's not the subject of this post. (If you want more on the subject of women's objectification in the alternative scene, read this brilliant article criticising this sexist piece of shit). But yeah - Georgas' sound wasn't entirely my cup of tea and reminded me of perhaps The Magic Numbers - I felt her songs to be slightly samey on the whole but I enjoyed "Elephant", the first track from her S/T. 

As Georgas was the only support act, presumably C&C would be doing a two hour set. YEAH COULDN'T WAIT. Rather strangely, an a cappella version of Soul II Soul's "Back To Life" began playing over the PA and given the key and rhythm, I had a feeling this would flow into "Thirst" or something, but it ended abruptly and DALLAS MY LOVER graced the stage in his cowboy ensemble (I like to call it that - the hat he was wearing wasn't even one of the cowboy variety) and the band kicked off with "Of Space and Time". I've found that for live performances of this song, C&C favour more of the old slide guitar as opposed to the church organ and it totally works in a country sort of way. This led into "The Lonely Life", one of my The Hurry and the Harm faves. Dallas proved he's still got rock'n'roll left in him with this vamped up version, accompanied by the ever-present terrific lighting. Honestly, whoever does C&C's lighting needs to win an some kind of award, because it's always just so dramatic and in time. The organ was back for "The Grand Optimist", which really helped this song as it's not a favourite of mine. 

Okay - a break was needed in the text here, as this marks where I got a bit emo. I always always hope D.Green plays "As Much As I Ever Could" and I'm always tremendously lucky. I've heard this song acoustically, deep and dark, high voltage... but this time it was slow and jazzy feat. brassy guitars. Totally appropriate, and yep, I was moved to tears. How lovely it was to hear a gorgeous three-part harmony at the end, including a reprise! Following this were electric versions of "Silver and Gold" and "Ladies and Gentlemen", proving thus far to be a set comprising mainly of songs from his last two albums. I was more than happy with this because there's only so much screaming for "Comin' Home" I can bear. Even though he played that.

Here comes the bit that everyone's waiting for. 'OMGZ HE'S ON HIS OWN HE IS SOOOO DOIN "THE GIRL" OMG', when the band leaves the stage and it's solely D. Green. Dallas and his voice so pure. Newly handed guitar in place, he test-strummed to reveal a gorgeous tuning to which he played the Alexis classic, "Boiled Frogs" - one of my ultimate favourites, especially when stripped down. I've got to work out that tuning - I tweeted him but he didn't reply. We can forgive and forget, though. Dallas then told everyone to put their phones away, definitely a cue for "Body in a Box". Some douche obviously still had his phone out but apart from that, BIAB always goes down so well when Dallas makes this request. It's a reminder that we're too busy trying to capture the moment rather than experience it, and that's so important. The acoustic sesh finished with "Comin' Home" with predicted screams for 'I've seen a palace in London', followed by "Little Hell" - à mon avis the best track of the evening. Completely and utterly gorgeous. On came the band to finish off the song - I couldn't decide whether it was better acoustic or electric but either way, there I was at the edge of my seat with my jaw in the palms of my hands with tears rolling down my cheeks. This guy, man. 

Electric versions of "Sleeping Sickness" and "Waiting..." came next - which is always refreshing. Dallas likes to mix up his songs - rocking up the gems of Sometimes and Bring Me Your Love and stripping everything else down. I love it when a band gives you something completely different live - I can after all listen to a studio version in my own bed. After a couple more electric songs from Little Hell and THATH came an aggressive, emotional and intimidating version of "Sorrowing Man" - the instrumental interlude lasting a good few minutes. D.Green has something to prove and it's that he's not just a love song writer. But just to please those who think so, he ended, in his encore with "The Girl" - surprisingly to some, my least favourite C&C song. I couldn't help clapping along to the reprise though! 

As is always with a half 11 National Express home, I had to leave before the end. I figured they wouldn't do "Day Old Hate", my old time favourite, and it didn't matter - I'd had a fantastic time. For a while prior to the gig I'd been skipping C&C songs if they came up on shuffle and I have no idea why; I'm back to totally embracing them. 

Sorry it's long and I didn't proofread properly. Pics will be up when they're developed!

2013's shows that didn't blow.

Hello, friends. As promised, I've returned to comprise a list of my favourite gigs/concerts/shows/festival sets of 2013, all before the year's out. I also need to do it now as I'll only use it as procrastination when I need to do some real work. For now, I'm back in Cardiff, and thank God. I hope you all had a smashing Christmas too. Let's start from the beginning (or the best), it's a very good place to start. There were so many concerts I wanted to include, but again I encountered the same problem as I did for the previous post (they were late 2012-ers), so that's a bit of a shame. 

1. John Mayer - October 26th @ Wembley Arena, London

Sorry that this is the only photo I have. I spent the rest of the concert drowning in my own tears.

Who else? Only the greatest songwriter and guitar player of our generation. After a three year break, John Mayer embarked on a world tour and unsurprisingly sold out Wembley. I was slightly further away than my front row in Cardiff in 2010 but my reaction to his setlist was much more dramatic. As well as a fair few from Paradise Valley and Born and Raised, John played my favourite song ever, "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" and I sort of screamed, burst out crying and blurted all the words out in one go. I was glad I took my good friend Yasmin with me as we were able to sing along together (I would have done it alone anyway), hoe-down together (to "Wildfire" and "Half of my Heart") and swoon together at this fabulous man. To top it all off, we were informed that a certain Aphrodite Lady was in Landan Tahhn, so we ventured to Heaven and saw Matt Lucas, Sharon Osborne and Lady Gaga (and her lady garden, much to my brother's fangirling dismay), and that kind of made my year (as if Mayer hadn't); even if I was hanging into my green tea the following morning.

2. City and Colour - 25th August @ Reading Festival

Second in the "I cried watching this guy" list is Dallas Green and friends on a very smelly Sunday at Reading this year. I turned down Fall Out Boy (who I'd never seen before) for this lovely man and I haven't a single regret. Apart from those in the crowd who only knew "Comin' Home" and the knobs who were heckling for Disclosure, I had a fabulous time at this set. Dallas had stated beforehand that it'd be more of a rock'n'roll set and that is certainly what we got; very few songs from Bring Me Your Love and Sometimes (I rejoiced that "As Much As I Ever Could" was included) and a load from Little Hell and this year's The Hurry and the Harm, suggesting that Dallas baby is moving on. They finished with a cover of fellow Canadian Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" and I went fucking beserk. It was one of the first songs my father taught me on the guitar and to hear this live by the one and only DG was spellbinding. 

3. Nils Frahm - 11th July @ St John-at-Hackney Church, London

Hands down the best classical concert I've attended. Ever. If there's anyone who puts their all into a set, it's Nils bloody Frahm. Making full use of the facilities, he began upstairs on the church's organ and ran downstairs to continue on piano, with the echo of the organ still resonating. The stage was placed in the middle of the audience, and my front row seat was perfect. I could see all the sweat dripping from his forehead and it was lush (somehow...). Now, if you're familiar with Nils Frahm you're familiar with the song "Said and Done". If you're not, you should be. Nils plays the same note in perfect rhythm throughout the entire song with one hand, fitting chords with the other - a tremendously hard thing to do. Frahm married his insane live capabilities with this already beautiful composition which left me rather tingly by the end. St John's was the perfect platform for this artist - brillz.

4. Daniel Johnston: 30th Anniversay of Hi, How Are You - 2nd June @ Barbican Centre, London

This show was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. Some special guests (and fans) of Daniel Johnston performed covers of their favourite songs in the first half, followed by Johnston himself performing some others, accompanied by the performers of the first half. Some particular highlights were (Teenage Fanclub's) Norman Blake's covers of "Mountain Top" and "Story of an Artist" and Glen Hansard's cover of "Devil Town". Some argue that you can the full potential of these songs when performed by artists such as these, as Daniel Johnston's guitar playing is obviously not all-out-Hendrix-stylee, and to some extent I can agree. It's always been clear that Johnston is unwell but seeing him on-stage upset me slightly. However, it was lovely to see him come together with the special guests who really did admire him and had been influenced by him over the years.

5. The Staves and Sivu - 23rd April @ The Gate, Cardiff
These are three lovely ladies, indeed. After I saw them supporting Bon Iver in November 2012, I kind of maybe actually fell in love a little bit. The gorgeous three part harmonies sound even more gorgeous live than on the studio album, and especially in such a lovely venue. The Gate is about a ten minute walk from my little Cardiff house and to hear such fine music at a cute venue like this was nothing short of an absolute delight. Sivu, the support act, whom I'd only heard of about a week or two before the show, played a set more acoustic than that on his EP, but it was delicious and the addition of a cello made me melt. We're all a sucker for the lower register strings (I'm talking through my arse here). I got a chance to see the Staves again at the Trinity Centre in Bristol later on this year, but the venue of this gig made it just a teeny bit better.

6. Ólafur Arnalds and Douglas Dare - 5th December @ St George's, Bristol
Above is a link to my full review of the show in Bristol this year. This beat their London show in June a million to none (despite a gorgeous duet) due to the setting, the better organisation, and the fact that I prefer a smaller orchestra. I'm expecting big things from Douglas Dare in 2014.

7. Paramore - 21st September @ Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Come on. If you've ever seen Paramore live, you'll know why they're on the list. Belter after belter after belter. Who can beat emo-phase nostalgia, right? 

8. Deaf Havana - 24th August @ Reading Festival
There's something magical about seeing a band you've seen grow and develop work their way through the stages at Reading to a set where every person in the crowd is singing along. Yasmin sent me a link to this year's set earlier and it made me feel a bit gooey inside. Love them. (See my defensive DH rant in my previous post too).

9. letlive. - 15th October @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
letlive. are notorious for their mental shows, and this show was no exception. Having seen them twice before, I knew there'd be theatrics (chucking mics in random directions) as well as the "I hate my father" rant which always bodes well... followed by another philosophical statement. If this was Soupy or something I'd want to shove my fingers down the back of my neck but Jason hit me in his words, (spoken and sung). letlive. always mean what they do and it's something I really admire. 

10. The Story So Far, Seahaven and Save Your Breath - 17th October @ The Fleece, Bristol
Here's one for all you pop punks. FFO: hometowns, pizza, stagediving, angry finger pointing (I did a lot of this). I had to leave this show slightly damp with ruined clothes because of the fact I endured a lot of hurt from stage divers, all in the name of fist pumping "TRYING HARD, REAL HARD" as close as I could to Parker Cannon's face. Of course I'm a huge Seahaven and Save Your Breath fan and I'm partial to the angry finger point to SYB's "Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy" - just for the WAYULZ love. TSSF are always loads of fun so that's why they're here. There's always too much stagediving so that's why they're no higher than double figures.
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Well, there you have it, my dears. A little top ten of sorts. I think the next post'll be some kind of "new year's musical resolutions". I don't know what that really means at the moment but wait and see. Have a glorious new year. I'll be behind a bar, crying into everyone else's half drunken double vodka lemonades.