Last night was my 5th gig in 7 weeks. I do go to quite a lot of gigs but it has been a while since I had such a concentrated batch. I thought it might be nice to compare and contrast my experience at each event. I also thought it might be nice to share that with you, I hope you agree.
All 5 were at different venues and they were, in chronological order:
- Bill Callahan – New Century Hall, Manchester 26/9/24
- Crack Cloud – Gorilla, Manchester 30/9/24
- Anna Erhard – Yes Pink Room, Manchester 9/10/24
- Interpol – Apollo, Manchester 2/5/24
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – AO Arena, Manchester 5/5/24
Many of you may be familiar with Bill Callahan from his previous incarnation Smog. I am a very late comer to this particular party. I only started to listen to him on his 2022 album Reality. He has a very distinctive baritone voice and his songs don’t tend to follow the standard verse-chorus format. This was one of my sit down gigs (I am starting to enjoy these a little too much!) and at the New Century Hall which is one of the newer venues in Manchester (although it has been there for a long time it has been refurbished quite recently). I went with Anne as the date coincided with our 37th wedding anniversary. We made a night of it – cocktails, meal and gig. I really enjoyed the feel of the night. There was just Callahan on his guitar and a drummer, the name of whom escapes me I’m afraid. The set largely consisted of songs from Reality, which was nice as I knew them. I was prepared to hear a lot I didn’t know. I have an ambivalence about an artist playing songs I know – it’s great if they are the ones you like – and hearing things for the first time that they have chosen to play for you. My only gripe was that he went on too long. The sweet spot for me at a gig is 60-90 minutes and no encore. Callahan was doing well on this score but he just had to throw in a few extra to take us to the 2 hour mark. I can partially forgive him as he did play ‘Cold Blooded Old Times’ (my favourite Smog song) as the final song of the night. So I left happy in the end.
Crack Cloud are, I am guessing, new to most if not all of you. They are from Canada and their Wikipedia entry includes this:
Formed in 2015, Crack Cloud started as the solo project of lead vocalist and drummer Zach Choy while he was living in Calgary, Alberta. Soon after, the project moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2018, where most of its members met through various addiction recovery and mental health programmes both as participants and as support workers.
They are part of a broader multi-disciplinary artist collective. I don’t know about you but I love a collective. The looseness of the term implies much stronger artistic bonds than the more commonly used band or group, both of which are too exclusionary and elitist and, consequently, trying too hard to convey a togetherness. I have no idea how I came to listen to them originally. Often times it’s Tom that introduces me to new music but I have a sneaky feeling it was one of those Spotify (other streaming services are available) songs-you-might-like playlist. They were right if that was the case. I loved the album ‘earth is one tough baby’ and play it a lot. They have a new album out at the moment – Red Mile – hence the tour. Fronted by the drummer, they perform with little fuss to great effect. There is obviously a limitation to the movements of the ‘front man’ when sat behind a drum kit which brings a different dynamic to a bands’ performance. They sang quite a few from the new album which is well worth a listen. It is a lot more accessible than ‘earth’ but retains a lot of the freshness of the earlier recording. I have left a few artists that have done something different or experimental in their early work, that has drawn me in, only for them to pursue a more mainstream approach once they start to establish themselves. Crack Cloud remain outside the mainstream which I still enjoy but they might prefer not to be. Gorilla has had a facelift, or rather a roof drop, since I last went. Works well, beer wasn’t too expansive though these things are, as I have found to my considerable cost recently, relative.
Anna Erhard is just lovely. She is lyrically whimsical – a tough act to pull off without being twee – and musically solid. She is, I have just found out, Swiss but based in Berlin. I honestly thought she was German just from trying to work out her accent. She sings in English about all sorts of amusing ideas and themes. Her last two singles were about how she was taller than her friend (170) and the reviews she read from visitors to a botanical garden. The latter is the title of her latest album ‘Botanical Garden’. It’s fun but made funner by her somewhat germanic, deadpan delivery. I smiled throughout the gig and enjoyed it almost as much as she appeared to. Originally down to play the Basement at Yes she was promoted to the larger Pink Room. The night was only marred by the early closure of the Burrito Bar on Oxford Road and the lack of Seven Brothers Honeycomb Ale. We got over both disappointments with Anna’s, not inconsiderable, help.
The next gig took me back to the Apollo for the first time in a number of years. The scene of my first ever gig back in 1977 when I saw 10cc on their first tour sans Godley and Creme. I have seen The Clash, The Skids, Stiff Little Fingers, The Style Council, Bob Dylan,Nick Cave, The National and PJ Harvey and many, many others there. One of the highlights was seeing Elbow play their home town the night after they won the Mercury Music Award for ‘Seldom Seen Kid’. It’s part of the Manchester music landscape and this night it was to be graced by one of my all time favourite bands Interpol. For all their undoubted success Interpol still fly under most people’s radar. I met Tom in the pub before the gig and the bar staff were asking what the music was like and would they know any of the songs. These are two of the worst questions that I get asked on a very frequent basis. I have now adopted Tom’s response by just saying it is ‘Rock’ (I used Rock ’n’ Roll on Saturday) and no, they wouldn’t know any. This tour is a full rendition of their second album – Antics – with a few other bangers thrown in at the end. I did once think this was my favourite Interpol album but I am now in the ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ camp. The first album has more texture and depth I feel and I was disappointed to miss the tour they did with that one a few years ago. My problem with whole album gigs is the lack of jeopardy over what they will play. You know what is coming next and this does take something from the experience for me. It also smacks of a tribute band as well. As a tribute to themselves though, they were pretty good. The bar queue was ridiculous (as were the prices) but I had a thoroughly good night.
The final gig of the run was the biggest by far. Where do I start with Nick Cave? Well I know where I want to end. I have suggested to Anne that at my funeral as the curtain is drawn and my coffin disappears into the heat of the crematorium furnace, the full 15 minutes of ‘Babe I’m on Fire’ blasts from the speakers. A literal and metaphorical tribute and a banging tune. One he didn’t play somewhat unsurprisingly. I have seen Nick Cave 4 times now, I think, and he has never once played that song. If you are reading this Nick perhaps you could rectify this glaring omission next time you are in town? Give the stature of Cave and his Bad Seeds, he could really only play one of two venues in Manchester, We are no blessed with not one but two whole arenas!! The recently opened (then closed then opened then closed etc.) Co op Live has a capacity of 23,500 and is the largest indoor arena in the UK. We weren’t there though, we were at the older and more established AO Arena (cap. 21,000). The name has changed many times but the experience remains largely the same for me. Big, cold and bloody expensive. It takes something, or someone, special to fill this space and fortunately for us, Nick Cave is that special someone. You know the drill, thin man in a suit with the blackest hair serenades you as he assaults your senses with a series of anthems, ballads and songs from his back catalogue and his latest album – Wild God. The new songs are so arena-friendly, the band so tight and the backing singers so stirring, it is impossible not to get drawn into the performance. I submitted willingly. From the opening power of Song of the Lake, driving through The Mercy Seat and arriving, seated and solitary, at Into My Arms, Cave didn’t miss a beat. His patter was playful – he was having as much fun as the rest of us and for someone who has been through the mill as he has in the past 10 years that is something to celebrate. 9 quid a pint though!!! I mean FFS, was it worth it?
What do you think?
