Sunday 7 August 2016

Adventures in music

One of the things that me and Hubbie most enjoyed before we became parents was watching live music. We also took Brown Bear to a few gigs when he was still cooking, he enjoyed the Primitives and Billy Bragg amongst others. I like that our boys love music as much as we do and hope to cultivate that interest as they grow.

In the past few years we've been establishing our own traditions and have a few regular gigs that we go to without the kids. The one that we always go to is the Edge of the Sea in Brighton - a two day festival created by Dave Gedge of the Wedding Present. By far the greatest band we've seen playing this event was a close run thing between Dream Themes in 2015 and Art Brut in 2014. I think Eddie Argos definitely wins it for Art Brut though.


I thought we'd missed out on the Pixies earlier this year when their gig sold out in minutes. We've seen them before at Field Day festival and (pre-children) at Alexandra Palace supported by the Futureheads. They were amazing at Field Day and I can't wait to see them later this year in a smaller venue as Hubbie managed to get tickets for us - yay !! 

We took a break from Field Day last year and were tempted back this summer by the headliner PJ Harvey. It was the first time that either of us had seen her live and it was a vibrant - if odd - performance. Still, she's pretty spectacular to witness in real life. 


I've always wondered what a gig at the Eden Project would be like and earlier this summer we found out when we saw Manic Street Preachers there. I've seen them a few times before, but it was Hubbie's first timea nd they were amazing. Despite it pouring down with rain the whole night we had a fab time - and burittos so not all bad eh ? 


So, in this year of rediscovering our love of live music we also have the band I discovered aged 16 and that we finally saw live for the first time a couple of years ago. Jesus and Mary Chain have a cult like following, but at my school I was the only one who even noticed them and I played psychocandy obsessively to anyone who would listen. Most tolerated this with a kindly smile, but no one shared my appreciation. I was chuffed to get tickets to see them in a teeny tiny venue in a few weeks time. 


The final band on this odyssey of musical memories is Killing Joke. I first saw them at Digbeth Institute - probably around 1991 - and was blown away by their live show. I had tickets to see them in 2010 and they had to reschedule the gig for Oct. As I was due to deliver a baby in September I took the decision not to commit to a gig immediately after giving birth. As a result I'm very tempted to go and see them in November, but I'm not entirely sure they are Hubbie's cup of tea. Still, you never know I might be able to persuade him to give them a go. 


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