21/12/2024 A little delayed for health reasons mostly, but here’s the final gig review of the year, a fairly riotous SPRINTS gig with a ‘Fairytale’ ending.
15/12/2024, SOV Porridge Radio link finally available, an external review of HOTS (but Manchester not London) added as well as a side story link in the main text, created the Gigs 2025 page…and disabled comments just on the main landing page, see if it gets me rid of the tens of mostly Russian bots posts I get every day, mostly on that page.
8/12/2024 The Hope Of The Stages gig review. I say gig review, but it hardly is. Just a fabulous evening in the context of an incredible gig. (Bob Vylan and Porridge Radio photo links added).
6/12/2024 A very pleasant surprise for me, Porridge Radio at Le Trabendo, in trying circumstances for the band. External Royel Otis review link added.
27/11/2024 More fun again with Bob Vylan at Petit Bain, now reviewed.
22/11/2024 A good gig, I think, but one that really isn’t for me: Royel Otis at Le Trianon reviewed.
18/11/2024 Been Stellar. Stellar album, not far from a stellar gig.
17/11/2024 Just a few photos from Lancaster (another work trip), along with hotel recommendation there.
3/11/2024 Gurriers external review added.
1/11/2024 A less good evening but en even better gig with Gurriers reviewed. External review link for English Teacher added.
26/10/2024 An excellent evening/gig with English Teacher reviewed.
19/10/2024, not much of an update, just finally remembered to add the Camera Obscura external review. Some proofreading, I thankfully checked further back to The Mission as it seems some of the edits for this and CO were lost maybe in a laptop restart or something, or because I edited from the iPad more likely and never refreshed the page on the laptop after. Oh well, minor, temporary irritation, not a lot of work.
14/10/2024 Another superb gig reviewed: DEADLETTER at La Maroquinerie.
12/10/2024 An impromptu gig reviewed (short review!) but not indexed. Featuring TV Cult and Nerves, so you’ll have to find it in the appropriate page.
2/10/2024 The lovely Camera Obscura gig reviewed, external review for The Mission added.
24/9/2024 The Mission gig review: packed with classic tunes, but with a little bit of aggro on the side. Also just three photos from a work trip in Italy earlier in the month, coming along with a restaurant recommendation.
22/9/2024 Finally a new ‘blog’ page, this one is about silence. Mostly.
1/9/2024 Fine-tuning, proof-reading and links done (8/9 Blonde Redhead setlist available now)
27/8/2024 I still need to perhaps fine-tune, definitely proofread (the AP gig also on that score) and post links, but essentially, the review of a great Saturday at Rock en Seine is there.
16/8/2024 The incredible Avalanche Party played yesterday, for free, and the gig review is here, incredibly also already with an external one too.
20/07/2024 At long last, I think I’ve finalised the Brussels page! Added photos from the following weekend near Marseille too.
11/07/2024 An unexpected update? Reviewing a little arty film from Lush at cinéma St André des Arts, in the gigs section. The Brussels photos will still have to wait a little bit, though I’ve at least now more or less sorted which to use.
23/6/2024 Small note added at the end of a 2023 gig (MBT), 2024 gig reviews page split into two.
22/6/2024 Gig review of an interesting live band, Bar Italia. Added a Cherry Glazerr external review…for the Paris gig.
18/6/2024 Finally got round to proofreading the June gigs (well one left to go on Thursday), SOV review available for the Block Party, and a couple of setlists from that evening too.
9/6/2024 Double gig review: the excellent Cherry Glazerr at the amazing Witloof Bar, the ever-dynamic Dream Wife in a strangely subdued Petit Bain on a gorgeous evening. Belatedly found some photos from the CMAT gig of February.
5/6/2024 Mannequin Pussy energetic gig review. The B&S SOV review is available.
2/6/2024 A fantastic evening with the final night of the second Supersonic Block Party, featuring seven bands (well more, but I saw seven).
29/5/2024 The joyous Belle and Sebastian gig review.
20/5/2024 They took their time, but Still Corners external review is available now.
19/5/2024 Mitski gig, or rather show, review. Link to Still Corners photos added.
15/5/2024 Dreaming away with a Still Corners gig review.
14/5/2024 Cranes in London gig review: a great but slightly frustrating event. And the Patron external review.
5/5/2024 HighSchool gig review. Low key but very good.
3/5/2024 A few pictures from Athens, and mostly videos from the Olympic Handover Ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium.
1/5/2024 Patron+two thirds maybe of Alain Johannes gig review.
30/04/2024 Celebrating a sort of un-wedding anniversary, after ten years of common life and two six-months separation trials (it’s a metaphor).
13/04/2024 Another excellent if short gig reviewed: Francis of Delirium at an unusually accessible POPUP! Plus a final timed run reported on a page if you can find it.
7/4/2024 Another great gig, with Yard Act this time, and in a new venue for me. SOV review (good but a little incomplete) and photos from Talk Show linked. And in fact SOV review already available too for Yard Act!
31/3/2024 The tremendous Talk Show gig review is here already. My favourite concert in a long long time, on so many levels.
29/03/2024 Took me more time than I thought to publish despite being all pretty much written live between November and March, but the half-marathon training diary is now out. With plenty of graphs.
20/3/2024 Finally got round to editing photos and data from the Half-Marathon race. Also, SOV review for IST IST at last. Late and not very good.
17/3/2024 A little blog relating the experience of running a half-marathon with a target, 18 years later. Photos still to be added. Also, external review of DIIV gig added.
14/3/2024 IST IST gig review. Difficult physical circumstances. But best gig of the year so far? I think so.
11/3/2024 Hannah Jadagu and DIIV gig reviews.
7/3/2024 Amaarae concert review. Or rather, a lot of reflections on the evening rather than a proper gig review.
2/3/2024 In lieu of a Pip Blom gig review, as I couldn’t go, I wrote a little report on a work trip (but it’s in the photos section of course), just to keep writing content…(I may stop sometime).
15/2/2024 SPRINTS+ET External review (not SOV!). A very good but slightly frustrating CMAT concert and a dreamy Art School Girlfriend one reviewed.
11/2/2024 SPRINTS+English teacher gig review. And a setlist for TORRES materialised.
3/2/2024 TORRES gig review
28/1/2024 While no gigs are happening, time for another pseudo-blog, wondering about hot and cold things.
21/1/2024 SOV review and photos for Slowdive. Also found old reviews for A.A.Williams 2023 and the first Metric gig in 2023 too, now linked to.
18/1/2024. The gigging season has properly started. Two contrasting evening reviewed, with first the surprisingly popular Sarah Kinsley, then the magical Slowdive.
9/1/2024 First concert review of the year, a little earlier than anticipated. A classical music concert? There’s no reason after all to see it that differently from a rock’n’roll concert. I found the approach to be naturally the same.
31/12/2023 It took a lot more time than I thought to write this over two days, but the 2023 in Music page is there in the Music Musings section at last. Plenty of cracking tunes, so get listening.
30/12/2023 Proofread all the 2023 gig reviews. It took a long time, next year’s resolution: proofread at least once a week when gigs happen. Hundreds of typos corrected, very many stylistic howlers, and some edits to help desriptive understanding as you’re not in my mind!
29/12/2023 A final (?) addendum to the 2023 post.
26/12/2023 I’m on a roll (and on hols) so there’s a post about the 2023 that just was, hoping I don’ t need to write anywhere near as much in 2024.
24/12/2023 The second instalment of the Mental Me wasn’t any easier to write and maybe gives too much away. But it all pretty much happened that way.
23/12/2023. A scary(?) blog post about the near-destruction of my ‘self’ aka ‘Mental Crisis number 1’. Also, looks like I had forgotten the Black Honey SOV review link. Another one where I seem to be in agreement with the reviewer on both the gig and the album.
18/12/2023 The last gig of the year reviewed. It ended wonderfully with the lovely Beth Orton at Café de la Danse. SOV review (and RG photos) of Ash+The Subways now also linked: very fair, you can see we were at the same gig, actually one thing I’ve noticed this year, is for all the ‘personal’ touches of my mood, my impression of concerts very very often matches that of other reviewers/gig-goers, meaning there is truth to be heard in every live performance.
12/12/2023 Fire in Le Petit Bain, with the tremendous rock’n’roll of Ash and The Subways. External review of The Big Moon finally arrived.
10/12/2023 One last book ‘reviewed’ (sort of) in the MH books section.
9/12/2023 The Rural Alberta Advantage gig reviewed: wow, what a live performance!
7/12/2023 First gig of December reviewed: another happy moment, with The Big Moon.
30/11/2023 Last gig of the month reviewed: Egyptian Blue.
27/11/2023 Sleaford Mods in Dublin gig review. Photos of Dublin.
22/11/2023 Stupendous A.A. Williams gig reviewed (with a bonus link to an interview), as well as the impressive Yves Tumor show. With a lot of side-drivel. Added Backstage by the Mill to venues guide.
20/11/2023 Another amazingly happy gig reviewed: Black Honey. Added Badaboum to venues guide.
15/11/2023 A little blog/essay (sort of) about armadilloes.
12/11/2023 The external (SOV) reviews from the Dream Wife and Sleaford Mods gigs. The first very much spot on (though we may disagree slightly on Pillow Queens), and led me to re-order the end of the review as I lost the sequence as I much as I was lost in the moment. And the second one, slightly odd, but I guess when you write reviews all the time, and for an official-ish online publication, you have to experiment sometimes.
8/11/2023 Coach Party external review. Two gig reviews: did I say Coach Party were fun? What about Dream Wife? That might have topped it. Sleaford Mods concert reviewed too.
4/11/2023 Coach Party concert review: quite probably the most fun gig of the year so far.
29/10/2023 Public Image Limited concert review: a very pleasant surprise.
24/10/2023 I attempted a blog on genres/sex change (sort of), and my own perhaps confusing but not confused genre identity.
20/10/2023 Double gig review: a slightly confusing Sisters of Mercy concert, and a truly incredible live acoustic moment with Metric.
14/10/2023 A blog page about personality (types).
12/10/2023 Nothing new from me, but quick update as SOV reviews for BRS and the Boxer Rebellion appeared. Both pretty much spot on too.
10/10/2023 A slightly more subdued evening last night, but the review from the Boxer Rebellion gig is available.
8/10/2023 Blood Red Shoes were back in Paris, and so the review of another superb gig is available.
3/10/2023 Another great free gig at Supersonic reviewed: Shamir.
29/09/2023 Gig review of another pleasant evening with Miki Berenyi trio + external New Order review.
27/09/2023 Gig review of an excellent evening with New Order. + external 65dos gig review.
23/09/2023 Review of the amazing 65daysofstatic gig.
13/09/2023 A relatively random post mostly advocating not to choose between style and substance.
5/09/2023 A few more photographs, walking ‘on’ water in Parc de Sceaux.
1/09/2023 Back to the concerts with The Aces gig review.
31/08/2023 Another autobiographical post about my enjoyment of sports (not on television) and digressions about feeling competitive.
19/08/2023 The second part of mostly rambling about my times at work.
18/08/2023 A blog post about studies and my start at work (more or less). Wasn’t what I expected, so it’s part 1 out of 2.
31/07/2023 A little book review added in the ‘Various Book’ section, but with a Crime (non-Fiction) link. Jackie Malton’s The Real Prime Suspect.
26/07/2023 Margaritas Podridas gig/evening review.
23/07/2023 A slightly different blog, sort of an essay on senses.
08/07/2023 A double dose of gig reviews with Wolfmother then Indigo de Souza.
02/07/2023 (Spiritualized external review) A new blog about DNA/Origins and a touch on nationality.
30/06/2023 Spiritualized gig review.
18/6/2023 External review of the Veils gig. A few more Sceaux photos added.
15/6/2023 A lighter blog about left and right. Nothing political, just about which hand to use.
13/6/2023 The Veils gig review. One of the best gigs so far.
5/6/2023 Alvvays gig review.
31/5/2023 An extremely self-indulgent, loose blog post about the dangers of perception, triangulation, and more.
28/8/2023 IST IST gig ‘review’
23/5/2023 Benefits SOV review and photos.
19/5/2023 Benefits gig review. A show of incredible intensity.
18/5/2023 A fairly messy and mangled blog about ‘Anarchism’.
13/5/2023 A rather huge set of photos from Crete, augmented with a sort of travel blog.
3/5/2023 Minor update on the lost Demos page as I unearthed a lot of notes from back in the day.
1/5/2023 The photos from Vienna are now complete with full captions! 5albums20 added to 2020 music musings.
30/4/2023 New blog page: Individualism (and other drivel, really!)
16/4/2023 A slightly chaotic yet thoroughly enjoyable evening with the Light By The Sea Concert. Photos update Sceaux special at Hanami time. This led me also to a slight update in the Films page, as I had completely neglected some Japanese films I enjoyed.
15/4/2023 The beautiful Birdy gig review
13/4/2023 Nick Oliveri gig review
—————I did sort of advertise it (12/4) after writing the first ‘blog’ page (‘Writing’) not sure how to highlight occasional updates now, but will continue it here for now, though it’s not the main landing page anymore
09/04/2023 Not a lot left to consider the first phase of this project done (after that will only be ‘blog’ pages, but I have to rejig a few things here and there). Today I got round at last to writing the bumper page about ‘books’ that is mostly a bit of autobiography (no I don’t write books). If you actually manage to read it and make sense of it, I tip my hat to you, because the writing is confused (even after proof-reading, I know it doesn’t make for an easy flow).
05/04/2023 The fairly sizable and personal 2020 Music Musings page (in only two evenings…). Nearly done with populating all the pages!
02/04/2023 The monumental (in size) 2022 Music Musings, written in three sessions! And a little addendum to the 2021 page.
28/3/2023 One poem added (but not at the end, as it’s Verlaine) and the 2019 Music Musings page (I should edit the main page for this, I will at the end….the process really is being put into place!)
27/3/2023 (part II) Rejigged my ‘own music’ (RHG) page and added the stories around the songs and demos.
27/3/2023 We Are Scientists gig review (really, it’s a blog now…), and external reviews for Pixies and Frank and Walters(yes!) gigs.
25/3/2023 Did the series page, added three films, one (old) book and two more recent photos.
24/3/2023 A whole page about films! (so half of the Films/TV section)
22/3/2023 Added one book in the page from yesterday…and did two more pages of books of various kinds. I have one more page of more ‘specialised’ books to write, but for various reasons, it might be the hardest to write (and possibly too personal).
21/3/2023 The books page is getting populated, with the crucial books of my teenage years.
18/3/2023 The amazing Frank and Walters gig review (it’s not the review that’s amazing ;-)).
16/3/2023 Pixies concert review.
14/3/2023 Day off for car servicing allowed me to write 2018 in Music. With a lot of very personal musings…….And now a page about poetry in the ‘Books’ section. I’ve been busy today!
12/3/2023 2021 in Music in Music Musings section.
6/3/2023 Minor update with two additional external reviews for You Me At Six and Circa Waves. Working on other pages (films/books), but will have to structure them to not look like a complete mess. Some stuff might just be names of films without even a comment,…just I like them.
5/3/2023 Gaz Coombes gig review (just realised I didn’t ‘mark’ the gigs like in the old site, but really, while this would definitely be a 5 star (or 6, did I use up to 6 at the time?), it’s not necessary.
26/2/2023 Circa Waves gig review. (27/2: now with external review too)
24/2/2023 Found a review on the web for the Rina Sawayama concert. And also of the You Me At Six one!
23/2/2023 A little more about me with photos through the ages.
22/2/2023 You Me At Six gig review. Rejigging the landing page, old musings moved in the blog-ish section, without the below updates.
20/2/2023 Added plenty of photos my local Parc de Sceaux.
19/2/2023 The last of the photos. I may add a couple of non-trip related pages of photos at some point, but this section is pretty much up to date now! 🙂 Also: the Paris gig venues’ guide is there! Something you might find interesting or useful (note that individual pages layout should still be improved for readability, not worked out yet for line jumps and paragraphs organisation, seems like WordPress is not as intuitive as…Word).
18/2/2023 Some more photos from various short trips (South Africa, Vienna, Athens and a few more…). The wonderful views from Bordeaux!
16/2/2023 Rina Sawayama gig review! And photos from Canada.
13/2/2023 Found reviews on the web for the Metric, PVRIS and Sorry gigs. Photos from Doha.
12/2/2023 Sorry gig review. Substantial Photos update. US trip for a start. Sydney too! And Melbourne now.
9/2/2023 Skullcrusher gig review (and video conversion for the Chopin bit that didn’t display on all device). Also a few more photo updates (I still haven’t got round doing the big ones like US and Oz).
6/2/2023 Some more photos (Warsaw…)
5/2/2023 Slow progress this weekend I’m afraid. Metric photos from RG added. And a start on the photographs pages on this site (Rome…)
4/2/2023 Metric gig review added. Inspired by the venue, I think I’ll try to make a page about Paris gig venues, not much of a write-up but links to wiki maybe, because of the history behind some of these places…
2/2/2023 PVRIS gig review. Working on photos pages but it will take a while I’m afraid, sometimes I just need a rest. 🙂
29/1/2023 First gig review of the year is up, an epic show from Royal Republic. Some revamping with the initially planned front page…. (though with all I’ve done since writing it, it’s also somewhat obsolete…)….and now gigs list index is working.
28/1/2023 Quite a productive day website-wise, links page up now!
28/1/2023 Later….I think I’m finally getting somewhere with the layout….it’s not that complicated, just a different logic.
28/1/2023 Menus on WP are giving me a headache, my logic is not the software logic. Think I might find a solution without actual ‘menus/submenus’ but just a hierarchy of pages like on the old website for now…..but picking up on some old tricks, I think I’ll get more or less where I want to me. One of my favourite phrases is : there are no problems, only solutions, remembering I’m quite decent at that……… :-)… the ‘CONTACT’ button now goes to a form. 🙂
27/1 Now, bits of a new song I’m working on. Just the basic keyboard thing (started to work on other bits, but not satisfied with most, particularly the rhythm track in its current form, so it’s not there).
Thinking about a few things if this ever gets more than a handful of readers, inviting music/gig/books reviews from people as the more I think the less I want this to just be my story.
26/1 trying with the layout a bit, but I’m not getting anywhere near where I want to be. Probably need someone to show me the ropes, I’d gain a lot of time…Also updated some of the pages…..which shows my haphazard current way of doing this site is not right: I should publish the pages only when satisfied….but like everything around, it takes a lot of refining…where do you stop? Bottom line, for all the fluff, I’m really happy with some of the old music, whether I have the motivation to re-record the ones I liked…there’s also a brand new one I’m currently working one, might put its current state online soon. I am nowhere near writing lyrics though………….and with the year restarting properly, I risk being lost in other people’s music too, I just like music, all sorts, it’s just the emotion, the way it makes your soul or your body move, sometimes both.
update: now the hyperlinks for the proper reviews in the gigs pages are active
24/1 a little later, well I did add the links as it felt like something to do while physically and emotionally slightly tired and feeling less like an idiot than yesterday
though it’s currently useless as the links are just text not hyperlinks or embed..that’s for another day.
soooo. PLEASE don’t bother checking anything but this page for now? Everything is a draft but as this is my amateur thing, you might stumble across the process. It’s not important, the destination is. So yeah, I wanted to finish the gigs thing before the first concert of 2023…but really, next progress has to be in the layout for real (sure I’ve said that for a week or more but I wanted to finish some of these write-ups first).
IT’S ALL DRAFTS really, feel free to have a look around and comment, but it will look better at some point. Maybe I should have just reimported the old site, after all basic html should still work. 🙂 . I thought tools would help, but I will remain an amateur at heart (well no money will be generated :-D).
24/1 progressing with the ideas. The trap is to get too self-indulgent or self-centred, so I think I should put links to the actual gig reviews from good or various sites, as it will entice you more than my personal ramblings. Short version of the entire reviews: favourite gigs of 2022 were The Cure, I Like Trains, Lust For Youth, Arab Strap, Blood Red Shoes and Desperate Journalist. But we all have different tastes and preaching to the converted might be useless… :-). Yeah, forgot to say but I actually finished the Gigs Part 2 on the train yesterday, so it should be somewhere, if visible yet…
22/1 Tried to implement a template…it’s all over the place…is all the content even accessible? Work in progress…and progressing.
21/1 Another page, this time with my music output from the past. Now all available including some stuff only I have ever heard so far… I’ll try to do the second part of gig reviews next before my year of concerts restarts and then I should get going with the bloody layout before getting to publishing travel photos etc…….I’m not sure why the pages don’t even appear listed in the order of publication yet….
Update 16-17/1. Something New. I’ll have to work on the mise-en-page at some point, but I have not gone around where to start with this yet.
Hopefully sometime in the future, it will at least be similar-ish to the old site in the sense that gigs will also be indexed. Anyway, same way (see below where you can still find the introduction page), there is now the first part of the gig reviews from 2021-2022. They aren’t really gig reviews, these would be available more competently on the web. Just little life vignettes of concert evenings.