What makes a good gig?

[amazingtrade]

I have come to conclusion that the audience is just as important as the band.

Last sunday Morrisey almost broke down in tears as he singing Everday is like sunday and the crowed were singing so loud it was amazing.

If the crowd were not singing to all his songs the attompshere wouldn't have been the same and the night wouldn't have been so legendary (as that gig has to go down in history).

The same thing happened when Barney sang Bizzare Love Traingle with the Doves at FAC511 at the Ritz.

I find the problem with smaller gigs is that the attomsphere is never the same so I find it difficult to spend £10 on seeing a new band like Hanky Park.

I know I will be going to quite a few music festivals next year, I have got the live bug really heavily now.

I just seem to care about music now, I don't care what cable I use to connect my CDP to my amp anymore.

 

[Saab]

I dunno,re smaller gigs,I have seen a lot of small gigs,the best was Def Leppard (when they were fully limbed) and Magnum,with no more than 500 fans,but the bands were just electric,they just went for it and really engaged the crowd.I think the most important thing is the effort the band put in,its easy to make a track sound dour,they just need to put no emotion into it,you can also work the crowd,get them into the gig (Phil Lynott was great at that)-witness Page and Plant mullering Stairway to Heaven at the Wembley gig,they couldn't give a shit and it showed

 

[johnhunt]

I suppose the most memorable gig i've seen on the last few years was Gil Scott heron in a pub in New Cross. Seeing Squeeze in another boozer around the corner from there comes close too.

I also saw new order at a club in brighton in the 81/82 (can't remember exactly) , which at the time I understood was the first time they had ventured outside manchester since the death of ian curtis.

 

[lordsummit]

The best venue in Manchester AT is the Apollo when they take the seats out downstairs. The Inspirals, Blur and Starsailor were all fantastic there. I didn't get my finger out for the charlatans and had to sit upstairs. I've got tickets now for Keane and Paul Weller there. Much prefer it to MEN or a stadium. The cricket ground is quite good though. The acadamy can be a laugh. Saw the Stranglers there not long since

 

[amazingtrade]

I don't like the sound of the MEN, it sounds too big. The Apollo is great because you get a good view where ever you're sat. The Acadamy is good, I had tickets to see the Killers there but I had to have an operation so I missed them.

I assume you're saw the stranglers at the Move festival. I was there on the Sunday.

 

[TonyL]

I find the problem with smaller gigs is that the attomsphere is never the same so I find it difficult to spend £10 on seeing a new band like Hanky Park.

Its not such a simple equation as bands tend to be at their best early on. I hardly ever still like a band by the time they are at the 'stadium rock' phase of their career ââ'¬â€œ James are a good example, I saw them many times when they could barely get 50-100 people in the audience and they were utterly superb. By the time they had thousands singing along in the stadiums they had IMHO totally lost what originally made them so good.

The Fall are another great example, I've seen them many times over the years, and they never fail to deliver, but the one that sticks in my mind was the first time I saw them in about 1980 at Brady's in Liverpool. A phenomenal gig and totally unlike anything I had witnessed previously.

Would you honestly not prefer to have seen Morrissey fronting The Smiths around the time of This Charming Man when it was all raw, new and exciting?

Tony.

 

[domfjbrown]

Its not such a simple equation as bands tend to be at their best early on. I hardly ever still like a band by the time they are at the 'stadium rock' phase of their career ââ'¬â€œ James are a good example

Were James good once then? Sorry for the blatant swipe but I don't think I've ever heard a track of theirs that I'd consider good. Mind you, I've not heard their really early albums, so I could be wrong. "Sit Down" is spelt with a silent "h" after the "s" if you ask me

Would you honestly not prefer to have seen Morrissey fronting The Smiths around the time of This Charming Man when it was all raw, new and exciting?

Man - that would have been ACE! One of my colleagues saw them in 1984 when Moz still wore the flower in his trousers - apparently he was amazing!

Once he'd warmed up at Glastonbury this year, he wasn't bad at all either! As AT mentioned though, both him and PJ Harvey seemed to find the Pyramid Stage a bit too large; last year, however, Jimmy Cliff got the entire audience eating out of his hand - and you could tell he was loving it too!

Gigs in pubs are the best though IMHO - great atmosphere. Going to Exmouth's Famous Old Barrel and seeing some random band is the best way to spend a Devon Sunday - if you're ever in the area and you hear of a Chris Stuckey gig, you have to check him out!

 

[lordsummit]

Saw the Stranglers at the academy, they were great. Lots of Red Stripe may have helped with that though

 

[TonyL]

Were James good once then? Sorry for the blatant swipe but I don't think I've ever heard a track of theirs that I'd consider good. Mind you, I've not heard their really early albums, so I could be wrong.

Yes, they were once very good indeed! The stuff worth having is the two Factory label 7ââ'¬Â singles, Jimone and James 2 (these were later issued as a single Factory 12ââ'¬Â Village Fire which is far easier to find), the 1st LP Stutter and the early live LP One Hand Clapping are both truly excellent. Rest is IMHO utter pants.

Tony.

 

[lordsummit]

I love James, always have done, always will do. They get berated for being popular. The Gold mother album is one of my all time favourites

 

[TonyL]

Check out this review of Stutter from allmusic.com!

More of a manic fever rant than an album, Stutter is so grotesque and spasmodic that it rams you into a corner until you can do nothing but choke down its home-brewed indie-guitar arsenic. Thin, spiky, jagged folk music. Songs constructed like the Fire Engines having a few beers with Patti Smith as C.S. Lewis is screaming obscenities at small children. What's really at stake here is not the band's first attempts of Next Big Thing potential, but rather an extraordinary disaster of disagreement. As if a lunatic in his own home-built asylum, Tim Booth is a mere bystander to his wild vocals while the rest of the band watch Gavan Whelan have an absolute fit on -- what sounds like -- four drum kits at once. This is shoddy, shameless chaos. Nothing more than a terribly produced mess of tragic rock-star baiting and deliberate discordance. An amazing debut.

That at least proves that Stutter has nothing to do with bland stadium rock! It's also very well produced and superbly played, regardless of what is stated above.

Tony.

 

[Uncle Ants]

Interesting question.

Been to great gigs in tiny places and great gigs in big places and crap ones too.

ingredients for a great gig?:

1) A cracking good band (of course )
2) An appreciative crowd
3) a good venue - can be big - can be small

oh and 4) the band are on form

My guess is that if you have 1 and 2 you have a chance of a good gig, but for a truly great gig you need all 4, unless the band are just so brilliant they can just transcend a crap venue.

Its not the size of a venue that can make or beak it, but a whole load of other stuff - acoustics, lines of site, how long are the queues for the bar/bog and of course the undefinable "atmosphere" of a place. Of course some venues (and sizes of venues) just suit some sorts of bands better than others. All in all though I definitely prefer the smaller venue to the larger - great performers are far better able to feedback off the audience and that helps the performance even more - oh and you can see better . Generally much bigger than say Shepherds Bush Empire or the Forum and to some extent that's lost. Arenas and stadiums really don't do it for me.

Festival's are a different case altogether they're just great fun anyway and everyone'sdetermined to enjoy themselves. There are exceptions re Arenas - saw Queen at Wembley Arena back in 85 and that was just fantastic - more recently (and surprisingly) saw the White Stripes at Nottingham Ice Arena (basically a big modern barn) and they tore the place up. Both cases with ingredient 4.

Having moved up from London to Nottingham I'd also say that the crowds here are better than down there, a little less critical and not so easily bored.

There's definitely something in what TonyL says about bands being raw and exciting at the small venue stage in their careers. I've been following the Libertines for over a year now I guess and have seen them go from the Social in Nottingham - 100 or so and one of the most astonishing close up gigs I've ever seen), to the Forum which was like a transcedent homecoming, to the Brixton Academy (a bloody awful venue IMO) 4 months later which was kind of detached and bit shambolic. Mind you given the goings on in the Libs camp, maybe they aren't the best example to choose.

 

[lbr]

Interesting question... For me, the single common denominator in all the most enjoyable & memorable gigs has been the obvious joy of the musician(s). If they're not having the best time ever, neither will you.

I also love a very small venue without amplification. Taking the P.A. out of the equation makes things so much better...