The gig thread

[Mantis]

I wish I could go this year and catch Meshuggah again. But I'm at Arc Tan Gent the week after and I've got a stag do in Berlin the week before so not sure I'd have anywhere near enough energy to attend that right in the middle.

Definitely catch the Meshuggah set. They are amazing live.

[Rusty]

Oklies, I'll put an asterick next to their name

[Mantis]

Well, another ArcTanGent done. 44 bands seen over four days, some absolutely incredible experiences this year. Even better than last year.

Weather was a bit of a bummer on Friday which led to Saturday being rather muddy but it didn't really dampen the experience much.

[Snowy]

Ah glad you enjoyed it mate. I was thinking about it, as it is only an hour down the road for me, just too many bands I don't know on the bill

Looking at the bill, I would have gone to see:
Brutus
Russian Circles
Svalbard
Heilung
Swans
Sikth
Enslaved
The Ocean (fucking love their stuff)
Dev
Haken
Rolo Tomassi (although I just can't tune into the lass's vocals, just too much hardcore screaminess)
Dvne

Not a bad list actually, but of those I would only really want to see Brutus, Swans, Enslaved and The Ocean. Dev sure, he always puts on a good show, although I really haven't been feeling his recent output, plus seen him loads so another gig in a festival setting (prefer me a shitty fleapit venue)... Sorry Dev!

[Mantis]

I feel the same about Dev. This was my 16th time seeing him though and unfortunately the set was almost identical to the one he played on his most recent UK tour earlier in the year. It was a nice end to the weekend but frankly there were some outstanding performances that overshadowed him a bit this time around.

Heilung in particular were just phenomenal. The performance played through such an enormous PA was making my eyelids vibrate from the bass, it was incredibly intense and mesmerising being right up front for it. Other stand outs were Hippotraktor, Psychonaut, Russian Circles, Scalping, Sugar Horse and Igorrr. The latter two of which I went into blind and was really impressed by, especially how absolutely ludicrous Igorrr is.

[Snowy]

Haha I have heard a bit of Igorrr in the past, and it was just too utterly random and mental

Glad it was enjoyable live though

[OzzyMosley]

Well, another ArcTanGent done. 44 bands seen over four days, some absolutely incredible experiences this year. Even better than last year.

Weather was a bit of a bummer on Friday which led to Saturday being rather muddy but it didn't really dampen the experience much.

Yeah but come on, if you weren't dancing to Heilung in the rain you're not getting the full experience

Also loving that there were people going into Igorrr blind considering them being on the line-up were part of why I got tickets, proper amazing set and was really tickling me how much crowdsurfing was going on during Camel Dancefloor. Also was really cool seeing Devin do some older songs during his set, even if I did have it kinda spoiled for me when I went for a bacon sarnie in the morning and the sound crew were testing if Truth was gonna blow out the speaker system

[Drarok]

Went to see Funeral for a Friend last night, they're touring in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of their Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation album, and had a really good night.

First support band I'd never heard of, but they put on a pretty good show in spite of the sound desk. Up next was Dashboard Confessional who we'd heard the name of, but never listened to. They were so boring. The most middle-of-the-road, bland efforts at songs. I described one as "this is the song the band at a school reunion in a shit film would play at the end".

Main event kicked off with a bang and continued as you'd expect for a "yay our album is super old" tour. Until about halfway through everything was great, but I think the singer's in-ears fucked up or something? He ended up being out of time and kneeling down by the guitarist to see the timing during the acoustic number, and was rather off after that. The crowd made up the deficit though!

Overall 8/10, would watch again (so long as they don't bring another yawn-fest support band).

[ManBearSquid]

Cult Of Luna

Saw these guys again in Glasgow tonight, such a damn good band.

My partner is in Bristol for work, so she missed it and I took my brother instead. He didn't know their stuff but enjoyed it. I figured the vocals would be the entry barrier for him as they are pretty monotonous in their heavy delivery (I've also never understood a single word of their heavy vocals) but he still liked it.

I may not be selling it, but it was damn fine.

[Animalmother]

Was at a Nirvana tribute band called The Buzz Lovers last night. They did the MTV Unplugged set which was recorded 30 years ago to the day. It was brilliant to say the least, the lead singer had all of Cobain's mannerisms and singing style off to a tee. They then did an electric set that had a bunch of 40 something's crowd surfing and generally going wild. Great night

[Snowy]

Went to see Lindemann for the second time last night at Wembley arena. Hopefully this time seeing the band won't herald 2 years of lockdown (they were the last gig I saw days before lockdown came into force back in 2020)!

Well - while a lot of the onstage antics were the same as the first time, this time around he was playing with a completely new band. They looked...interesting. Three scantily clad ladies on keyboards and guitar, the bass player from NIN and a drummer who wore hideous looking bondage gear, fake boobs and a basque throughout the entire set. I mean, it is Till Lindemann so the whole thing was an exercise in filth, but man they were tight as a drum and it was a fantastic gig. I wasn't a huge fan of the support acts but they were OK and gave it everything onstage.

This time around, Till ditched the fish catapult and went for a fish-cannon instead for their extension of the song 'Fish on' (hint, it isn't about fishing)