The Bull and Gate has been a stalwart on the London gig scene for 30 years with bands such as Blur, Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, Muse, Coldplay, PJ Harvey all played this venue. But it was also the first opportunity for countless less successful bands. I suspect if you know somebody who has played in a band in the last 20 years, they probably played this venue.

I have to admit, I didn’t use the venue as much as I should have. I’d occasionally drop in to see a random band and always pop in for a pint before a gig at the Forum. But I have fond memories of friends’ bands playing here. So I was sad to see it go.

Maybe it’s a sign that the music landscape of London has shifted westward towards Shoreditch, or more likely it’s a sign that there’s more money in ‘gastro pubs’. But it’s sad when a venue with such a strong history is closes.

The pub closed in May to be gutted and re-open as a ‘foodie pub’ in the autumn. Sadly, when I walked past the venue in November, it was still closed and there was no sign of any work having started.

Sad day.

Barabica – A friend’s band playing at the Bull and Gate in 2004

The Ukrainians in 2011

The Naturals in 2012

Cold in Berlin in 2012

The Chapman Family in 2012

Ultrasound playing the closing evening

Ed Harcourt closing the evening with a good old sing song

I’m not sure how many bands I saw this year, but as I saw around 100 at SXSW, I must have seen at least 200 when taking into account support acts. Overall, it’s been a very good year. I can’t think of too many bad gigs. But as is customary, I’m going to run through the highlights and lowlights of 2013.

As usual I saw British Sea Power the most, seeing them six times. But this year they were closely followed by Bo Ningen and the Savages. Two excellent live bands.

This year was also a poor year for missed gigs, missing Alt-J, Veronica Falls, The Chapman Family, the Quietus Party, the KVB, Laura Marling (twice), Islet, Parquet Courts, Ruen Brothers, Loom, and the Dead Skeletons. Probably the one I’m most annoyed about missing is Parquet Courts as most of the other bands I managed to catch up with at some other time. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to catch up with them in 2014.

My 2013 Best and Worst

Best gig: British Sea Power at Bournemouth Arts Festival

What constitutes the best gig? The performance? The venue? The crowd? Probably something of all of these. The greatest gig may not necessarily be the best performance. This year there were a number of gigs in the running. Not necessarily the best performances but the overall package produced memorable results.

If you’ve read my blog, then you’ll notice British Sea Power feature prominently, so it’s to be expected that one of their gigs might feature on my ‘top’ list. This year two, feature prominently. The first, a trip down to Bournemouth, the second, a performance under the Cutty Sark. In both cases the venue contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the gig. Having a 900 tonne ship hovering overhead is not something that occurs regularly, so such an unusual event is going to feature highly. The other BSP gig, was also due to a combination of venue and sunset, hearing BSP practice on Bournemouth pier as the sun set made for a fantastic evening.

Another interesting gig, was the Bo Ningen, Savages joint performance of a ‘sound poem’. With each band situated on either side of me at times it did feel like I was being pummelled by a wall of sound.

But the gig of the year for me was BSP at the Bournemouth arts festival. Sitting listening to the band practice ‘Man of Aran’ while the sun set was a sublime experience, so that I went into the gig in such a good mood that it was always going to be a good performance.

Band of the year: Savages

A strong year for the Savages seeing them five times. Starting at the beginning of 2013 with a gig at the Electric Ballroom. At the time, this was a big venue for them. But as the year progressed and their year gigging on both sides of the Atlantic, the venues got bigger and bigger. Some bands are unable to grow their sound and performances. So by the time they were playing the Forum at the end of the year, their performances and stage shows had matured to fill the space.

Biggest disappointment: Babyshambles

I can’t stress how awful this gig was. Babyshambles were as their name suggests, a shambles, coming on late and completely drunk. I’ve never heard so many bum notes played in a single gig and the less said about Pete Doherty’s ‘performance’ the better. It was ‘sub-karaoke’ level.

A drunk Doherty performing karaoke

A notable mention to Frank Turner. If there was an award for blandest band of the year, he’d have won.

Best new band: The Wytches

Simply the best new band I’ve seen this year by a country mile. Love their sound and the lead singer’s cracked voice. Really think these could be big next year.

Best venue: The Lexington

Even though I went to several new venues this year, the Lexington continues to be my favourite venue. Just love the sound quality and the US beer available. Food’s also decent.

Best new venue: Shacklewell Arms

Great little venue in Dalston. Sound’s decent, beer selection’s not great, but it has football on in the main pub. Unusual for a gig venue but perfect for keeping me entertained between bands.

Parlour playing the Shacklewell Arms

Most Interesting venue: British Sea Power playing under the Cutty Sark

A 900 tonne hull hovering over your head. It’s not something you experience every day.

Best Festival: SXSW

Love this festival. 1800 bands, great films, and some work related stuff (not that I attended any of it), lots of opportunities for free food and beer, and generally great weather in one of the best cities in the USA. What’s not to love about it.

I love hopping between venues on 6th Street catching as many bands as possible.

I can’t afford SXSW 2014, but saving starts now for 2015!

Worst Venue: The Forum Hertfordshire

As much as I hate to write this again, work continues to win the award for the worst venue, even though it’s actually a very good venue. Sound and lighting are excellent, up there with the best. But the selection of music it plays and the overall experience of attending a gig continue to be sub-standard with poor queue handling (but usually pleasant), no food (especially out of term, which isn’t helpful when it’s in the middle of nowhere), poor beer selection (usually half the pumps are off), slow service (but usually pleasant service) and poor advertising of events.

Tips:

• Drop wristbands and use stamps
• Make sure that the other bars are opened up to support big events.
• Better selection of beer – or at least make sure that the beer isn’t going to run out during the gig.
• Better advertising for indie music.
• Better and more regular selection of bands so that people expect there to be bands playing and so regularly check listings.

Best gig photo:

My last post pulled together some of the photos I liked the most, taken during 2013. So have a look at that post for the contenders. But my favourite photo from 2013 was this photo of Thurston Moore taken at the Village Underground.

Best gig video:

Again, not too much choice as I didn’t take too many videos this year. So this wins really by default
[youtube G13KYdO0_vE 640]

Music Application of the year: Songkick

Songkick’s gone from strength to strength and again wins the award for Best App despite strong newcomers such as ‘Bands In Town’. It simply is the best source of information on upcoming gigs.

So what’s in store for 2014?

If I want to get to SXSW in 2015, then less of the same! I’m also hoping to get to some random gigs purely to take photos to improve by skills. Hopefully discovering some new bands along the way. But all in all, more of the same.

Addendum: Honorary Mention
I forgot to add an honorary mention for the extremely honest XOYO security staff who found my iPhone on Old Street one Saturday evening when I’d been attending gigs in Hoxton Square. They managed to get in touch with me through Facebook and I was reunited with my phone. Exemplary service.

I would like to take better photos. In 2014, I think I might go along to some gigs in small venues with a decent camera purely to photograph them. As I’d love to get some confidence to photograph a gig as a photographer would where I’m less conscious of disturbing the crowd and to see what I’m capable of doing.

This post gathers together some of my more interesting shots from this year and why I like them.

Trans-Siberian March Band – Taken with my newest camera, the Sony A7. I know it’s not the most interesting but I love the colours of this photo.

Rose Elinor Dougall – Taken with the RX100. Rose sounds and looks stunning and I love the way she’s looking away in this photo and gives her a vulnerability that suits her music.

The Savages – Although Gemma’s face is overexposed. I think there’s an elegance to the way Gemma’s playing her guitar that sets it apart from the usual guitarist photos.

Penny Orchards – Taken with an NEX6. Love the laid back nature of this photo and the separation of the guitarist from the background. There’s no way I could have captured this shot with my RX100

Bo Ningen (RX100) – A great band to photograph but difficult with a pocket camera as the band members move around so much that it’s often impossible for a pocket camera to keep focus. I love capturing guitarists jumping. But when I’m using a pocket camera, it’s usually more luck than skill.

Telegram (RX100) – Two jumping guitarists in one gig. I love the colours in this gig. But this is 100% luck as I was unable to move.

Spector – Taken with my A77 DSLR. One of the few gigs where I had an SLR with me. Quiet like this shot.

Japandroids (RX100) – Love crowd surfing photos. Difficult to capture with a pocket camera. Slightly overexposed, but you don’t have time to deal with settings when you’re capturing a photo quickly.

Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer (RX100) – He’s very photogenic.

Chelsea Light Moving (RX100) – Amazed to get this shot with a small camera. Converting it to B&W hid some of the noise that was in the colour photo. Think it works. Pleased with this one. Think it captures what Thurston Moore’s all about.

British Sea Power (RX100) – Like white of the bear with the black background just works.

British Sea Power (RX100) – I think it captures the anarchy of a BSP gig.

Peace (RX100) – I took a DSLR and NEX to SXSW hoping to get a chance to use them. But several venues refused to let me in with my NEX so I had to use my pocket camera. It’s rare that there’s enough light to be able to zoom in with the RX100. So I’m pleased with this shot. I love the colours.

Lucy Rose (NEX6) – This was the quality I was expecting to capture every night at SXSW. Nice separation between Lucy and the background. Something that’s difficult to do with the RX100.

Joy Formidable (NEX6) – I think this captures what Ritzy’s all about

Savages (RX100) – Rare that I can get a silhouette shot because you need to be in the right place at the right time and stuck in the crowd means they’re a rare occurrence. So was pleased to get this one.

Placebo two nights in a row wasn’t something I’d set out to do. I’d bought a ticket for the Monday night in the pre-sale and then a friend wanted to go to the Tuesday so I ended up with a ticket for the second night. But I know Placebo always put on a good night so, it wasn’t too much of a hardship.

Disappointingly, the sets for both nights I think were identical. Consisting of new songs from their latest album and songs from their back catalogue. It could have been a bad night if they got the balance wrong. But I find Placebo are one of those bands where their new albums are growers. Initially the new album didn’t grab me, but improved with multiple listens. Seeing them two nights in a row helped bed the new materials in so despite the same set, I enjoyed the second night more than the first.

For a few weeks it looked like the British Sea Power gig at the Cutty Sark was going to be 104. This would have been an appropriately magnificent unusual gig for this magic number. Unfortunately, due to some laziness on my part, I missed two gigs in November and so it at 102. Instead, gig/concert 104 turned out to be Mazes at Birthdays.

Birthdays was a new venue for me. Upstairs it’s the usual Shoreditch, Dalston hipster type place. I don’t dislike hipsters per say. I’m not far from being an old one. I’ve been working with the web for nearly 20 years. But I’ve never been fashionable or cool in anyway whatsoever and to be frank, I’ve never been bothered by this fact. I’ve always worn ‘scruffy clothes’ and occasionally I’ll go a week or two without shaving. But I’ve never set out to adopt the look because it’s the ‘hipster uniform’ – and I’ve definitely never worn trowser that are either too short or too long and rolled-up. So yes, I’m a scruffy web developer. But that’s my natural way, it’s not a uniform I’ve adopted because I work in Shoreditch. Birthdays is one of the venues that’s filled with these beardy hipster types. Crap selection of beers on tap, expensive ‘homemade burgers’ and a selection of ‘craft beers’ – but all from bottles. It’s also designed to look like a dive. You know the type of places, Shoreditch is full of them. Downstairs things are on safer ground with a pretty decent little basement gig space.

The first band tonight was the Cheatahs. This is the third time I’ve seen them and the second time in as many weeks as they supported Metz in November. They have a grunge sound right out of the 90s. Reminding me of bands like Dinosaur Jr that were around when I was at Uni. But because of this I just feel I’ve heard better. I’m afraid I don’t hear anything original in their work. They’re not unpleasant to listen to. Quiet the opposite. They just don’t excite me.

Next up was Fair Ohs. I’d never heard of them before and I’m not going to go out of my way to listen to them again. Although at times they made some interesting music, the lead singer came across as arrogant. I’m sure it’s all part of the show. I just didn’t find the lead singer’s ‘character’ somebody I wanted to watch.

Finally on to Mazes, a band I’d been looking forward to seeing. I’d really enjoyed their ‘Ores & Minerals’ album from earlier in 2013. I thought it had four of five really good tracks. I’d meant to see them support Parquet Courts in November but missed the gig. So it was good to finally see them.

Unusually, they started with one of their strongest, probably strongest track, the excellent Bodies. I think this was a blinding choice to start with. They then mixed new and old material in an enjoyable set finished with Skulking.

‘Festivus’

‘Festivus’

‘Festivus’

‘Festivus’

‘Festivus’

Trans-Siberian March Band

Trans-Siberian March Band

Trans-Siberian March Band

Trans-Siberian March Band

Trans-Siberian March Band

Trans-Siberian March Band

Tonight’s gig was something a little bit special and different. To support the release of the soundtrack of the music they composed / assembled for the film ‘From The Sea To The Land Beyond’, BSP had arranged to show the film and play the soundtrack live underneath the hull of the reconstructed Cutty Sark. Imagine watching a gig sitting underneath the hull of a 900 ton hull. I’ve seen some comments on twitter of people feeling uncomfortable, but for me it was something truly memorable.

The soundtrack for the film is a combination of reworked and new material chosen to accompany the archive clips of the changing use of the coastline throughout the 20th century. From fun and games at the seaside, through to the First and Second World Wars and then on to the running down of our industrial and seafaring heritage to be replaced by the greed of the City. It’s a fine film with many interesting, funny and moving clips. Throughout BSPs music provides a strong backbone to the film’s imagery.

I’d seen the film performed once before, at the O2 Indigo, hardly an intimate space. With the band high up and far away on stage. Tonight, sitting right behind the band, it was a much more fun and interesting performance. The band themselves seemed more relaxed. They’ve now performed the piece numerous times and they seemed to be playing with more fluidity than in April and the performance was better for it.

BSPs film performances are different from their normal gigs. They never reach the crescendo of sound of say St Louis and being seated changes the crowd dynamic. But these performance give us a chance to sit and appreciate what a special band they are. Definitely more than the sum of their parts. Woody the drummer, for instance, I never feel like he’s the strongest drummer in the world when he’s hidden at the back of the stage keeping everything simple and neat. But when he’s brought to the front, you realise how important he is to keeping the juggernaut moving. I’m not saying these are better performances than the full-on BSP experience, but they give us time as a fan to sit and appreciate the bands dynamics

So this was my last BSP gig of 2013. I wonder where BSP will take me next year. It’s great that the band want to do different things. It guess it helps them keep an interest in continuing to play together. Being a BSP fan is a good thing.

White Fence

Ty Segall

Ty Segall

Ty Segall