January and February gig round-up

It’s not even March yet, and I’ve been lucky enough to go to five gigs already this year. This is a brief round-up of those gigs and a little bit about them. Although I had a great time at all of them, I’m quite glad that my next gig is not until mid-March, as my body (and my wallet) are still recovering.

Enter Shikari — 17^th January @ Hippodrome, Kingston-upon-Thames

It was great to have Enter Shikari play at the Hippodrome — as a nightclub I regularly visit, it is closest venue to me that hosts live music gigs. It’s also such a small and local venue that I was surprised the band would actually play there; I had previously seen the band playing the second from top slot at Reading Festival, and also supporting Linkin Park at The O2. This has to be the most energetic gig I’ve ever been to (maybe topped only by the aforementioned Reading Festival show, as they were followed by Pendulum) — the next day, the hosts @BanquetRecords tweeted:

@ENTERSHIKARI a broken rib, 6 stitches to the head and one dislocated shoulder yesterday. Anything else?

— Banquet Records (@banquetrecords) January 18, 2012

I was lucky to get away with just some bruised ribs and sore feet. The band played a good mixture of old and new, although they concentrated on tracks from the recently released album A Flash Flood of Colour (which I wrote a review of the day before). The only downside to the evening for me was due it being a 14+ gig in a nightclub, there was only one room allocated for purchasing and consuming alcoholic drinks. This meant, due to queues at the bar, I missed the first song and part of the second. I couldn’t get tickets for their Hammersmith Apollo show, but I would definitely like to see them perform again, in a larger venue.

Thanks to Marcus Maschwitz for the excellent photos.

Feeder — 31^st January @ KOKO, Camden

I saw Feeder last in February 2011 and before that in October 2010. Although this show was before their latest album, Generation Freakshow, was released, I had heard that they were playing a few shows to introduce their new material before playing their standard sets later in the year. This show was at the intimate Koko venue in Camden, somewhere I had never been before. Handily positioned literally outside Mornington Crescent tube station, the venue had a nice bar that we stood at listening to the support band FiN, mainly watching them on the TV screens that were dotted around the venue.

They probably played about three quarters new material and a quarter of old favourites. The opening track, Children of The Sun — the last track on the forthcoming album — was performed solo by Grant Nicholas. He had to start the song again after about 30 seconds as he was thinking about his young daughter who was watching from the side of the stage. Obviously, without knowing any of the new songs (apart from the amazing current single, Borders), it was hard to get the same singalong atmosphere as their other shows, but it was great to hear some of the new tracks from the album, which as usual is set to be one I will listen to for a while.

Thanks to QRO Magazine / Eleonora Collini for the excellent photos.

Modestep — 7^th February @ Heaven, Charing Cross

When I attended the Bass Culture event at Alexandra Palace in November last year, I had planned on seeing Modestep then, but due to the queueing for over an hour to get into the gig, we consequently missed them. We vowed to go and see them when the first opportunity arose of them playing in London, which was their gig at the Heaven nightclub in Charing Cross.

Although the band have only released three songs (Feel Good, Sunlight and To The Stars), they played for over an hour and half. The set consisted of the three aforementioned songs, the new upcoming single Show Me Your Sign, a couple of B-sides and a collection of covers and remixes. They played songs from artists such as Cee-Lo Green, DJ Fresh, Bomfunk MCs, Zombie Nation, Flo Rida, and (sadly) Coldplay — yet they still managed to make the awful Paradise sound pretty good.

Thanks to Athena Anastasiou for the excellent photos.

Dropkick Murphys — 10^th February @ Roundhouse, Camden

Although I had heard of, and knew a few songs by, the Dropkick Murphys for a while, I only really got into them a few months ago. I did see them live at Download Festival 2007, but didn’t really pay much attention to them back then. I love their combination of punk rock and Celtic music — probably something to do with the Irish blood running through my veins, and had really been looking forward to this gig since I booked the tickets.

They have been playing different sets almost every show this tour, so I wasn’t completely sure what they would play. With seven albums, they have a lot of songs to pick from. Luckily they played a mixture of new and old, including one of my favourite songs by them, Forever, as well as a great cover of AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

Thanks to Jason Williamson for the excellent photos.

The Black Keys — 11^th February @ Alexandra Palace, Wood Green

The very next day after the Dropkick Murphys gig, I was out in London again. This time I had to travel to Alexandra Palace in North London — a bit of a nightmare of a journey, especially when it’s freezing cold outside. Admittedly, I wasn’t a huge fan of The Black Keys, and went with too see them with a friend who was a fan. However, after listening to their songs in preparation for the gig, and enjoying their performance, they are definitely worth going to see.

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