Thought it could be a cool thread to have. What have you gone to see that moved you or irked you. Small town band that is passing the world by or big city act that plucked from their habitat is worth a heckle. Maybe the best antidote to egg punk esque internet driven hype, let's get to the meat on what is really going on out there!
Live show reporting, Town Crier to the www masses.
A recent one of note was chik white and Naomi McCarrol-Butler in a church mess hall in Halifax. chick started the set off on guitar and voice, osscilating between jackass laughter and gutteral recitation. He played his guitar like he'd never held one before in his life, and by that I mean perfectly. Then Naomi took over and blasted the room with one of those masterful circular sax arpeggiation assaults you read about but rarely get to witness, quickly leveling the whole place out to the point of near-collapse. They played together too, for most of it actually, on little bells and whistles and those fucking disgusting jaw harps. I bought a tape:
Home Front w/ Neighborhood Brats. I've wanted to catch Home Front for a couple of years so that was cool. Also, two women got in a fist throwing, hair pulling, headlocking scuffle right in front of me. This woman (who I don't know) is standing next to me was watching the show. A few women walked by and the last one saw the woman next to me and her eyes lit up and she started throwing. Bouncers broke it up and threw out the instigator. There was blood. The bands were great.
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Haven’t seen a show since this thread started so here’s a list of the best ones I saw in 2024, because y’know, why not?
BRAIN TOURNIQUET @ Le Sample (Bagnolet)
FAUCHEUSE @ Anti Club (Paris)
GLOWING ORB @ Under a bridge (Montréal)
GEO + SUN COUSTO + SURFACE TANGIBL' @ GZ (Vaulx)
HOME FRONT @ Le Chinois (Montreuil)
LÜLÜ + PARSNIP + KORIDOR + NAG @ GZ (Vaulx)
NOCIF + BIÈRE SOCIALE @ CICP (Paris)
NOHZ @ Trokson (Lyon)
UNSANITARY NAPKIN @ GZ (Vaulx)
SPLEEN @ Turbo Haus (Montréal)
SPLEEN + UZU + PERSONA @ Casa Del Popolo (Montréal)
STRAIGHT ARROWS @ Le Sample (Bagnolet)
TYVEK + TUNNEL BITCH @ GZ (Vaulx)
ratcharge can't believe you managed to see Spleen twice in the week you were here and I still haven't seen em... honestly not into that Glowing Orb band, saw em once and thought it was super schticky.
here is half done review of a show I saw on the weekend:
Local Randy Holden disciples Population ii got in the mix at some kinda Quebec cinema event, and if I were to take the temp of the room, CRAVE tv mighta been in part responsible for the proceedings. For the U.S.ers et al, it’s the HBO streaming partner up north, so with such a healthy sponsor 9 dollar domestic beers were hard to understand. Simply not an issue for us as we were imbibing off the forest floor if you pick up what I’m dropping. Spores on spores was the name of the game and what got me to the second most seat in the house. Off to stage left my vantage point was best described as bass to the face. Have you ever heard les Sinners or Champignons? Watching Pop ii shimmer on a QC culture stage really highlights the regional tradition of Franco progism in la belle province. Panopticon Eyelids lead the punkified hawkwind angle some 10 odd years back, and pop ii , who procured a castle faced lump at some point, sure as shit blast off even if on a smoother tip. The instrumental parts are the whig flippers. Unexpectedly, the guitar took a back seat almost the whole performance, maybe the bass was so melty that the twang box rang ambient, but it all made for a funky/moody foundation layer. These guys are whippersnappers and organs and space echoes were icing on the cake. It only took 3 of em, each with a laboratory station (well the drummer sang and his hands were already full, psynchopating the hard rocking groove), knob twiddle here, muted strum there, feedback gone rogue, feedback reigned in. Looks like a real collection of vintage gear, and I’m not suggesting this is a band to rob, but I heard they leave their rehearsal room unlocked on weekends, and they are rather scrawny. From the scant recorded material I've heard, they would still be better off bootlegging a show like this.
Ruby I'd like to see Chik White if he comes through Montreal, the videos he posts of his improv are mesmerizingly odd.
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11th hour stubble honestly not into that Glowing Orb band, saw em once and thought it was super schticky
Yeah it was not the band as much as the crowd. Such a fun show, under this big bridge with skateboarders behind us and trains passing by like, 2 meters from us, and people throwing all these fireworks and these huge orange plastic stuff up in the air etc etc. It could have been pretty much any band and still a killer a show if you know what I mean.
ratcharge oh man, shows there are a blast! I saw them at fattal, this kinda crust punkish beacon in the south west of the city (did you go when you were here?) opening for Black Dog, who while completely outside of my general listening were amazing and intense.
11th hour stubble I saw them at fattal, this kinda crust punkish beacon in the south west of the city (did you go when you were here?)
Note sure, is that a bar?
Saw the Spits w/ Generación Suicida & the Okmoniks last night. Crowd was great (18+ show); show was packed (maybe a little surprising since it was Tuesday night). Okmoniks were good, not the best show I've seen them put on but good. First time seeing Generación Suicida. Good set, I need to check out their records a bit more. The Spits played all the hit. People were all over the place. High energy crowd, lots of stage diving, huge pit, whatever. A little disappointed they didn't have a "theme" (last time I saw the Spits was in 2018; they had mohawks - except the drummer - and wore tan trench coats for a Taxi Driver "theme").
Caught Brainiac last month. Street Eaters (Oakland) opened. They were good. Not the most exciting band to watch but whatever. I think they were breaking in a new guitarist. Second band didn't really grab me. I'll leave it at that. By the time Brainiac played I was kinda over it. Wasn't the band, they were fine. I stuck around for half the set then left.
Planning to see the Losers (SF) on Saturday at a "punk store" that I didn't know about. It's located by several vintage / resale shops.
Saw Lee Ronaldo at some fest thing in Toronto after my buddy got free tix. You'd have thought he discovered feedback or something and was presenting it to the masses like Tesla did with electricity. Except anyone who plays guitar has experimented and noodled around similarly and usually by age 14. He even had a guitar suspended on a bungee cord. Bouncing and whirling it all around. Tapping it with sticks and other riff raff which made zero difference in sound. All while his wife projected images of him..playing guitar...with the bungee cord and all...on the wall behind him. Lewd and lascivious behavior to make us all watch him jack off like that. It was a like some failed Reich pendulum music shenanigans. Everyone seemed to lap up but my buddy and I and we split for the pool hall up the street about 30 mins in. I try not to be negative but this was almost comically bad/cringey.
I remember when I had Facebook and was friends with John Morton he posted a hilarious story about X__X opening for Lee. wish I could find it
I've seen the spits 4 or 5 times now. The last show was also in Toronto at a warehouse/skate ramp joint. Hottest day of the year and brutally hot inside the venue. They still killed but compared to every other time they seemed really kinda in a bad mood and off that night. Hope the next time is a better experience for em.
ratcharge it's a building by the train tracks that has operated sorta like a european squat for decades, people do pay rent, but the absentee landlord has essentially given crust punks carte blanche to have shows/parties/ live affordably (I don't think he is benevolant, just hands off) as the neighbourhood around changes. It goes through waves of having decent shows and then usually political/scene shifts make it crappy for a while. In any case it's an exciting place, one of a kind.
Guy Lombardont I've seen the pendulum guitar show, fully understand this reaction to it, I liked it in a way, but true enough that done by a 14 yr old discovering the potential of feedback it would have been easier to digest. And that John Morton rant was priceless.
11th hour stubble Looks like a real collection of vintage gear, and I’m not suggesting this is a band to rob, but I heard they leave their rehearsal room unlocked on weekends, and they are rather scrawny. F
tell me more about this practice space
Just went on a week-end tour with Les Remplaçants and here's a sick vid from our Bordeaux show :
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This is my list of shows i went to in 2024. first 10 was top 10....
Alambrada - Ktown festival matinee show
Judas Priest - royal arena
Big Blood - FOEG
Mephitic corpse/necropsy odor - mayhem
Timmys organism - råhuset
Tyvek - råhuset
Brainbombs - mayhem
Lao Dan vs Laser Nun - Chr.havn bebo
Tatsuya Yoshida x Risa Takeda - klein
Bathouse - Angry cat fest - basement
Jim White & Marisa Anderson - alice
M. rexen - karensminde
Hellshock - d61
Nofx, circle jerks - grå hal
Spits - plan b
Gabestock 9/11 - mayhem
teppebombe/molbo - råhuset
Gorilla angreb - loppen
toldermania - hotel cecil
Isotope soap/sphynxs/tazer/Missvnaries/ - mayhem
Josie / norm dogs - klub soja
Tubs - loppen
Gories - amager bio
Rockers By Choice/DJ Kruzh’m etc - flyers bookrelease
Caught the Losers with Cult Mind on Saturday. Great hardcore show in the backroom of a storefront. Took some good phone photos. Hand got cut up by an exposed electrical fixture. The Losers had a box of the Circulators LP for at the their table.
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^ Glad to see Gorilla Angreb is still rocking
Jonathan Richman last night was a lot of fun
Saw Art Gray Noizz Quintet a few days ago. Knife Thrower opened (ex- Skeleton Keys) - they had 2 drummers and one of them has a Hickey tattoo. Great band for Marde Graw vibes.
Art Gray NQ were great - sound like Butthole Surfers doing Roland S Howard sorta maybe. Lydia Lunch came out and a set with them (that might have actually included a couple Roland S Howard tracks & an Iggy tune + a few Lydia classics.
10 days later
Ruby managed to help set up a gig for Chik this June in Montreal, in part on the strength of your informal review here, haha.
10 days later
Saw Beak> last night. Went in completely cold, on the recommendation of my girlfriend and another friend. Really enjoyed it. Shades of Can, Silver Apples, etc. Some cool heavy but minimal moments. Difficulties in the sound department (the venue seems to have em every time) didn't even detract from the proceedings. They took the opportunity to in-fight in funny very british way, drummer was especially acting the heal, complaining about his monitor mix but joking that keeping the guitar/synth guy out of it would be a plus. It made the 500 cap venue feel more intimate, and worked to break up the long jams. Anyway, no idea what the recorded material will do for me but was a great show and brought out a lot of heads, retired show goers and local cognoscenti. Would recommend catching em.