3 posts tagged “gigs”

I have so had it here. I don't want to be at work anymore. Everybody just makes me want to scream at these twats everywhere. Bah.

Arcade Fire cancelled their remaining Euro dates so I wont be going to Cologne this weekend. Maybe I'll be able to compete the horse instead. Speaking of, I did just that last weekend and Solon and me did quite well. Not well enough to score 60%, but not bad either. He was quite sweet as well, though the canter and gallop is still a problem. I'm not sure how to solve that, other than by sheer mileage. We had a saddlefitter out last Friday and I bought a KN Tango, which hopefully will fit better than his current saddle. It's a little ironic to think the saddle now almost cost me more than the horse did when I bought him 5 years ago.

In the meantime a few more gigs got added to my schedule. Scissor Sisters on my birthday this year, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Cat Power and now the Stones are playing Holland too in June. The old geezers list is growing! I did manage to sell off most of my The Police tickets, which is a relief, since I'm really strapped for cash at the moment (what's new?). For some reason most of them are in June, which is a bummer, since I'll just have started my new job and it will be difficult to take some time off.

I'm very glad to have the last two weeks of April off. I'm planning on maybe taking the horse away for a few days to a place with as few people as possible. That just sounds so tempting right now.

And... Jarvis is curating the Meltdown Festival. I'm not entirely sure how I missed that news. Very unlikely that I'll be able to go, but it'll be interesting to see what kind of line up he comes up with.

Browsing around the net, I came across the All Tomorrow's Parties lineup, which has yet another name added. Nick Cave, Grinderman, The Dirty Three, Cat Power, Tren Brothers, Einstuerzende Neubauten and now also Nina Nastasia. And then of course a zillion other bands that look promising and interesting. Quite a lineup.

While I'm on the gig subject anyway. There seems to be a bit of an Oldies but Goldies theme going on in my giglife the next few months. The average age of Lou Reed, The Who, The Police, Patti Smith and Nick Cave & band is mindblowing. And then there was John Cale a few weeks back, but I'm excluding Bowie since he's not playing High Line after all. Of course Kasabian pulled the average age down with about twenty years or so, since they're all about 12 years old, but still. It's a bit scary. Am I starting to show my age? Is this the Three OH! angst people always seem to refer to? Hell, I even have a school reunion lined up now...

Oh my god. Next thing you know I'll be pining about having babies.

Joan at the FNAC in store rocked. It was the weirdest little place, with plastic folded chairs and a tiny little stage. Joan seemed a little frustrated about not getting anything from the audience who were very polite, French and non English speaking and didn't get any of her banter.

I called Stuart on the phone to let him listening to one of the songs, because he keeps missing her concerts for some weird reason. I did get to talk to her a little after the show, which was kind of neat. She's a genuinely nice person and funny too, which helps.

My last night in Paris was a blast. I ended up sharing a room with Oliver and Mandy, both American but vastly interested in foreign culture, France specifically so. It's always nice to meet people like that, who blow the lousy American stereotype to pieces. We talked art and history and the beauty of things in general. Somehow we ended upall together sitting on the sidewalk in front of our hostel. Everybody chipped in with a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, juice, chocolate and so forth. A grand little, very spontaneous kind of party, in the heart of Paris. It was a perfect ending to a perfect break.

Back at home, things didn't look so up. My eldest dog, Sammie, is very, very sick at the moment. Alright, she's not the youngest anymore at 14, but she's always been doing quite well upto now. That seems to have changed almost overnight. She basically refuses to eat anything and just lies around being miserable. At the same time, she still gets excited whenever I come in, and will cuddle up to me, but only momentarily. The way it looks now, she's starting to slowly slip from our grip. She seems to be suffering from a problem with her liver, which basically makes her feel miserable. The problem is that we don't really know what's wrong with it, and my mother doesn't want to put her through unnecessary suffering where the treatment gets worse than the cure. She's an old dog, and too much doctoring might prolong her life a little, but "a little" is frankly not good enough. So now there's not a lot we can do, but wait and keep our fingers crossed that she'll pull through.

I did go to Antwerp sunday and monday to see Nick again. I've been to Antwerpen a few times, but for some reason never quite realised how small it really was. I wandered around quite a bit, not sampling the Belgian beers, but enjoyed watching the sights and walking along the Schelde river. The show was alright, but not great. I think it's mostly down to me hating the venue and the Belgians being a bit quiet.

Nick on the other hand... I don't know what's come over him. I don't think I have ever seen him so laid back and forthcoming. He'll walk onto the stage and spend the first couple of minutes of the show shaking hands and signing stuff, being really spontaneous about it. He almost seems.... happy.

A happy Nick Cave. There's an interesting concept. What next? The pope having sex with another man? What's this world coming to?

Next thing up is the Came So Far For Beauty thing in October. And what a stellar line up it is. I initially get excited because Gavin will be on stage, but I'm getting Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed and Nick Cave thrown in as well. What a setup! Now I'm not big on afterparties, but I bet this one is going to be hot.

A few more gigs lined up after that. Looking something like this:

04/10 - Came So Far For Beauty - Dublin
05/10 - Came So Far For Beauty - Dublin

03/11 - Cat Power - Paradiso
09/11 - Nick Cave - Nurnberg
10/11 - Nick Cave - Stuttgart
11/11 - Nick Cave - Mainz
16/11 - The Killers - Paradiso
28/11 - Muse - Brabanthallen

19/12 - Muse - Sportpaleis Antwerpen

Not sure if I'll be going to see even more Nick Cave shows... Im tempted, but I've got this cash flow thing going on at the moment (not surprising at EUR80/ticket). The Killers will be cool too, probably one of the last times we'll see them in such a small venue. Going with loads of friends too, so should be a nice night out. Somewhere in between the Crossing Border Festival is on as well, and Joan is playing a few more gigs, so I'll see if I can go to some of those. So yeah, pretty booked up right upto the end of the year. Very exciting times, but I have to keep an eye on the funds with regards to coming to America next year.