That's what records are for. The amount of mastering that goes on the average guitar track means you'll never get anything like that live if only because people can't afford to bring out plate reverb on tour. Gigs are for performing music, not recitals of the exact notes that were once played. The total opposite of musicianship.

Off to see Stealing Sheep in Mancland. Preferred them more when they were nu-folk rather than their current disco re-invention. 'Sheep also don't accurately reproduce their record sound, mainly because their main guitarist is always guaranteed to have a 'wobble' moment about halfway through their live set. Think Father Ted and "wait, I can do this bit !" . It's part of their charm.

Just discovered that I missed the Beach Boys, complete with Brian Wilson, on the 22nd of June in a tiny theatre just around the corner from my house. 35€ a ticket. I mean what the fuck.

Can are great, but the drummer is dead, and he was the linchpin.

Actually, while I'm in this thread, at the moment I'm in the middle of a field at a country and western festival. Waylin Jenning's son is playing but I forget his name.

Does he have his cowboy hat?

And yes, he has a cowboy hat. Shooter Jennings was actually pretty good.

What are Rancid doing there?

That's a tautology surely.

LADS!

KLF ‘three day situation’ in Liverpool.

£100 per ticket, limited to 400 tickets. Whatever the fuck they’re up to, they’ve never, ever, been boring.




Bear in mind though that their current website does say “WARNING: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu in any of their various past, present or future guises will not be performing music.”

Bet you it sells out.

Just got me a Sunday ticket to Indietracks.  Had completely forgotten this was on, glad I found it again and bagged a day pass.   Vintage Steam Engines and Cate Le Bon.  Might just blow a gasket....

However indietracks is normally quite the blast used to pop up from Derby when I was there, always a cracking line up, family friendly, should be a great day

I liked the KLF. Apart from the music.

Indietracks was wet. Very very wet. By the time I walked there from my travel tavern of shame, the site resembled the fun day from season 2 of Phoenix Nights. All it needed was a penis size inflatable and Jerry the Berry rolling across the mud to complete the scene of utter devastation. Most people had sheltered from the torrential rain in one of the train out houses where The Tuts were playing. Harmless riot girlll indie pop. But fair play to them for trying to whip up some enthusiasm in the rain soaked crowd by asking people to form a 'Wall of Death', where the crowd split into two and then ran into each other, much to the chagrin of the yummy mummy brigade that insist on bringing their offspring to gigs.

Cate Le Bon was a bit weird too. You could tell they were hesitant due to uncertainties over crowd size because of the  the abysmal conditions, but a slow start soon gave way to a rousing We Might Revolve. She remains every bit as beguiling as the Velvet Underground's Nico, only Welsh. And alive. Spurred on by the fact that this was going to be their last gig 'for a while',  their triumphant encore of Are You With Me Now?  dispersed the worst of the rain clouds. 

There are few other festival sites where you have to catch a rickety old carriage train to some long forgotten side junction to see bands that few others care about - I enjoyed the quirkiness of the setting but would desperately  like some Sun next time around please.