Rammstein

Easily the best concert that I've ever attended and I saw Rammstein in this same venue when they played in 2005.

You would think that there would be more people leaving Manchester during rush hour, but for some reason the roads that are usually are quite clear were grid-locked. Luckily I was still in plenty of time to get to the M.E.N. Arena and have a wander around before heading inside.

Quite why the venue security insist on everyone sitting down I don’t know but I guess it’s a chance to rest your legs in preparation for the next 3 hours. Strange that we all stood up at the same time. There didn’t seem to be a signal we just did it. I was stood about mid-way between the stage and the mixing desk, dead centre.

The stage was already set for Combichrist so there wasn’t the usual roadies running around checking microphones with the compulsory 1-2 1-2. They have to do that as part of their union regulations. You could tell from their setup that they’re a good match as support for Rammstein. Two drummers either side of a keyboard player with a singer prowling the front of the stage. I hadn’t heard any of their stuff previously and may checkout a track or two of theirs on iTunes. As always with support bands there is always one or two people in the crowd who are total fans. Bouncing up and down and shouting along whilst the rest of us just nodded gently.

When Combichrist had said their goodbyes a woman, who was obviously the worse for drink, moved into the spot in front of me. She was already shouting ‘Rammstein’ in that delightful cracked wail that only the completely inebriated can manage. She kept swaying around and putting her hands in the air making these strange gestures like an Indian belly dancer. At least it provided a diversion during the set change.

Because I'd stopped reading Kerrang! magazine a couple of years ago I didn’t know what was in store this evening. I'd bought the new album, Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da, and to be honest I wasn’t that taken with it. I'd even bought the ticket just thinking that I wouldn’t want to miss Rammstein considering that they may only tour the U.K. once every 5 years.

I have certainly never seen a rock concert like it. It was simply amazing. I think not knowing what was going to happen made the whole experience much more enjoyable. So I won’t even try to describe the whole show. But the lights and the stage would usually be enough for most bands but the flames were simply astonishing. Fire shooting up from the stage and down from the lights. How they manage to remember where they have to be at a given moment is remarkable. One step too far and any of them could be toast, literally. Parts of it were just completely mad :– the dolls, the bath, the petrol pump, Till singing at a table next to a floor lamp, Flake ‘walking’ for most of the show, the foam ‘cannon’, the wings, which other band would have the keyboard player ‘sail’ over the crowd in a dingy.

It was just the most amazing spectacle that I've ever seen. I can’t wait to get the live DVD, or Blu-Ray, when it comes out to re-live it all over again.

Related Links
A Gallery of Photos by lodge28 (Warning – Show Spoilers)

Black Gives Way To Blue

Considering the recent weather, torrential rain and strong winds, I really didn’t fancy queuing outside for long if it was going to be typical Manchester weather. Luckily the rain held off and I was outside The Academy at about 7:00pm. Finding ‘a’ queue wasn’t fun. A huge trench had been dug in the pavement and instead of the usual boards covering the gap they'd just put barricades along the full length of it. It also didn’t help that there was a vast amount of people outside the main student union building for another gig, or two. Long and short of it I'd joined the wrong queue. This was eventually pointed out to us by a man shouting for tickets who seemed either drunk, or high, or both so his first announcement fell on deaf ears. A group of us left the queue, which was the ticket collection queue, and walked past the front doors and around the side of the building to where the buses were parked, to the end of the real queue.

It is kind of saddening that you have to be searched before you enter these places. We’re all there to listen to the music and see the band surely? Possibly some aren’t. They’ll have airport style security next.

The audience certainly seemed about the same age as me, maybe older. I bought Dirt back in early 1993 after Kerrang! magazine voted it album of 1992.

The support act was a woman on guitar and vocals and a bloke on drums. Even now I don’t know who they were. You'd think they'd say “we’re The Support Band, goodnight” at the end of their set.

With only a mic stand and a small drum kit to remove from the stage the change over should have been really quick. At least that’s what I thought. I wonder if someone keeps a list of the amount of times a microphone is checked by a roadie?

Set List

It Ain't Like That

Again

Them Bones

Dam That River

Your Decision

No Excuses

Check My Brain

A Looking In View

Rain When I Die

Heaven Beside You

Got Me Wrong

Black Gives Way To Blue

What The Hell Have I

Acid Bubble

Angry Chair

Man In The Box

Encore

Would?

Rooster

After what seemed like forever the stage lights lit the audience and a cameraman pointed a video camera across the crowd. Then the lights went back to the way they were before, lighting the stage for the roadies to do their job, checking microphones and shining torches on cables. The sight of two members of the road crew with their elbows resting on speaker stacks didn’t bode well at all. The crowd, growing increasingly restless, started booing and slow clapping and for a minute I thought that the show wasn’t going to happen. Then, at about 9:30pm, because I kept checking my watch, after what felt like forever, the band walked on stage.

After Layne died this is something that I never thought I'd see, Alice In Chains playing these incredible songs live. Highlights? Again, Them Bones (during which I almost lost it completely), Check My Brain, all the heavier stuff. Whenever Jerry stood centre stage everyone shouted his name. William sang and played guitar like he was born to do it. The only slow spots were the acoustic, barstool songs. Black Gives Way To Blue was so quiet that I'm sure people talking in the crowd was louder. There was a huge cheer at the end when a really short black and white video clip of Layne was played. It was just the right length and exactly what was needed, fresh faced, long curly haired, smiling and giving the peace sign.

With the technical difficulties, and the curfew, we won’t know if they would have played more songs.

William really did a great job, fitting in like the role was always his. Certainly big boots to fill but I think the crowd, like I was, was just pleased to hear those songs again. Like the man said, “This is just the beginning!”.

Somebody check my brain.

Update
Official blog entry for the Manchester show

Amazon.co.uk

Rock documentaries, or rockumentaries if you will, just don’t get any better than this.

Yes, of course I was a fan of Anvil back in the early eighties. They had Kerrang! covers, rave reviews and multi-page spreads. Hard N Heavy, Metal on Metal and Forged In Fire were the albums that I bought, listened to repeatedly and read all of the song lyrics and the liner notes. At the time I was possibly only buying one album per month out of my pocket money. I remember buying either Hard N Heavy or Metal on Metal just before Christmas when I should have been saving money for presents. They were just one of many favourite bands that I had at the time. Even though I was still reading Kerrang! magazine they seemed to disappear from my radar, from everyones radar for that matter.

When I heard that a documentary was being made about them I was surprised to say the least. Surprised that they were still going, thirteen albums and counting, and dumbfounded that they could warrant being the subject of a film documentary. Not just a TV special on some obscure cable channel but a full blown cinematic release.

They are essentially a ‘real life’ Spinal Tap, except Tap never had day jobs and extended families. Anvil get a chance to tour Europe, they get lost in cities with foreign road signs, club owners don’t pay them, they miss trains, but they play in front of any thing from 10 to hundreds of fans and that is all they’re doing it for. Not for the fame or the money, they don’t actually make any money on the tour, but just for the love of the music. Corny I know. When the tour is over they go back to their families and their day jobs. Cue shots of Lips wearing a hair-net and their bald bass player also wearing the same head-gear because that’s the rules when preparing school meals. They get to work with C.T., the record producer, but only if they can cough up £12,000 (I think it was pounds sterling). It’s Lips' sister who gets them the money and, a few twists and turns aside, they make their thirteenth album. That’s the easy part. Going ‘round record companies in this day and age trying to get it distributed was a thankless task. So they decided to get it made and sell the CD via their web-site. That’s when they get asked by a Japanese promoter if they want to play in Japan.

What occurred to me, watching all this unfold, was why didn’t they just ask their fans to contribute to the making of the album. It worked for Jill Sobule and she made California Years. Any fan making a donation over a certain limit would get a name check on the liner notes and a copy of the CD when it was made. They certainly have enough enthusiastic fans. Even some of the rock musicians interviewed could have given some money. I'm sure Slash, Lemmy and Lars would have given a buck or two. Possibly there just wasn’t enough time to organize that kind of thing if studio time needed to be booked.

One very odd thing on the disc was part of the special features. It’s the full interview with Lars Ulrich of Metallica, which is about 30 minutes long, during which he mentions Geoff Barton and Xavier Russell and that they were both working for Sounds and then for Kerrang!. He says that usually whatever Geoff said was good really was worth checking out because he would rave about obscure bands like Silverwing (MySpace). Lars says that these bands would hail from towns like Macclesfield and all the band members would work in chip shops. Now that is certainly not something you hear every day, the drummer of a huge rock band mentioning your home town.

Towards the end of the interview Lars says to Sacha Gervasi, the director, that he has never actually met Anvil. Their paths must have continually crossed during the eighties but a meeting never took place. Lars says that he'd like to buy them a beverage of their choice and sit down and talk about music. I really hope that happens. Maybe one for a follow up documentary.

So Anvil fly to Japan to do this festival which, unlike European festivals, is inside a huge concert hall. The camera zooms in on the bill for the day and Anvil are first on at 11:35 in the morning. You just hear Lips saying that no one is going to come, they've flown all that way to play to a handful of people in a huge hall. The only thing I could think about was Jeanine saying in This Is Spinal Tap, “Oh, no! If I told then once, I told them a hundred times: put Spinal Tap first and puppet show last”.

You’ll just have to watch the film to see what happens.

Related Links
Anvil! The Story of Anvil – on Amazon.co.uk DVD & Blu-ray
This Is Thirteen – Pre order on Amazon.co.uk
Forged In Fire – on iTunes
Metal On Metal – on iTunes
Hard ‘N’ Heavy – on iTunes

Gene Simmons
Family Jewels

Having just finished watching the first season of Gene Simmons Family Jewels I have to wonder what took me so long. I love The Osbournes and have both seasons on DVD (still waiting for the last seasons to emerge) and I enjoyed the MTV Cribs show that Gene did back in 2002. I can only imagine that I was scared of it being corny, I mean I just idolised KISS when I was a teenager, what if it wasn’t any good? Honestly I needn’t have worried.

Yes, Gene Simmons is a rock god outside the home but inside his family just treat him like a father and… boy friend. The ‘M’ word gets mentioned a few times. Shannon even sets up a fake wedding, rabbi and all. But they seem happy not being married. Happier than married people do.

Watching it you have to compare it to The Osbournes but Family Jewels is certainly more orchestrated, with Gene’s intro and the sofa interviews shattering that fourth wall. But it’s only the same as the KISS Exposed ‘reality’ segments, you don’t expect the band to live in the same house surrounded by scantily clad women. As the show goes on you do start to think would Gene spend that long promping his hair, but does he really wear that red romper suit in bed? Or is that just set-up?

One thing for sure is they don’t have as many pets or visitors as The Osbournes. The only regular visitor is Tracy Tweed, Shannon’s sister, and Courtney Love look-a-like. It’s funny how they both call him ‘Genie’.

Back when I was collecting their records with my pocket money it was a very rare sight indeed to catch them on TV, which I think made any footage I did see all the more magical. I'd never think that Gene did his own supermarket shopping, let alone did any cooking. But Scott Ian of Anthrax is in one of the shows, he’s being interviewed for a magazine and is outside with his KISS records under his arm and a car pulls up to the house and Scott says, “Gene drives!”. Almost as if Simmons should be carried around everywhere on a sedan chair with women throwing rose petals into his path.

During one show Gene puts on the costume and the make-up in the house. Of course it was only since the reunion shows that I realised that they actually did this themselves. Some of the sofa chats have Shannon sat next to him in full KISS garb and she’s calling him Genie and is taking the mickey. His son Nick is probably the one who pulls Gene’s leg the most with Sophie and Shannon coming in a close second.

After the end of season cliffhanger (Is Shannon pregnant? Is Gene going to go through with the facelift?) I can’t wait for the next two seasons to arrive in the post.

This Is "Spinal Tap"

• Ethan De Seife
• Film

Glenn Gould
Some Portraits of the
Artist as a Young Man

• Jock Carroll

Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Even I couldn’t quite figure out exactly where Club Academy was. The ticket didn’t say Academy 2, where The Dresden Dolls performed last time, just Club Academy. A couple of strolls around the building didn’t help all that much. The campus signs, the ones that say “You are here, or here!”, didn’t help at all. After the third circuit I had decided that the queue at the front was THE queue, so joined the tail end of it. Those black and white striped tights are a sure indication of a Dresden Dolls fan.

The inside of the venue has been modernised since my last visit back in May 2006 and Club Academy is exactly as you would expect, underground with a low ceiling. I managed to secure a vantage point about 10 foot from the stage in front of a large pillar. The stage can only have been about 2 foot high, with a 2 foot high riser holding aloft Miss Palmer’s piano and stool.

Jason Webley was first on with just about the loudest accordion that I've ever heard, and I've heard two, and a hat that spent most of it’s time either over his eyes or on the floor. He was really entertaining and funny. I mean how many times have you been instructed to hold your finger in the air and spin around 12 times. Obviously I didn’t… I like to stay in control. He looks like a younger, thinner, Chris Cornell, so it came as no surprise to hear that he hails from Seattle.

Zoë Keating was on next with a new cello. It makes a great, rich, sound which is then repeated and doubled with the aid of a MacBook pro and a bank of foot pedals. I wish I had been closer to the stage to see what pedals Zoë hits as she plays. I was also a little curious as to why she had to click her fingers into the microphone before she started.

Oooo ahhh!! And so to the recently departed Amanda Palmer. Draped in a veil and carried, for obvious reasons, by The Danger Ensemble across the front of the stage and then onto the piano stool. The veil removed Amanda started to play Astronaut from the new album Who Killed Amanda Palmer. The rest of the evening just flew by in a blur. Ampersand and Guitar Hero were other tracks from the new record as well as the one that name checks Google. Coin-Operated Boy, Mrs. O and Half Jack were the Dresden Dolls songs that I remember. A Smiths and a Regina Spektor cover, then Oasis, the rather contradictory Livin' On A Prayer with Jason, Zoë and Lyndon, the violinist, all joining in. Then back to the piano stool for the last song Leeds United.

Considering, by her own admission, Amanda had had a pretty crummy day I think that by the end of it she had cheered up considerably. We certainly made enough noise to turn her mood around.

Amanda Palmer Rest In Peace.

Related Links
Amanda Palmer photos by Man Alive! on flickr
Astronaut on YouTube
Ampersand on YouTube
Let Me Get What I Want on YouTube

Slash: The Autobiography

• Slash with Anthony Bozza
• Autobiography

I heard Henry Rollins say on his radio show, Harmony In My Head, that a band that he likes called The Prids had been involved in an automobile accident.

I've never heard any of their music. From what Henry said they sound in a bad way. There’s a Paypal link on their web-site. I gave some money… if you’re a fan of touring musicians then so should you.

GHOSTS I-IV

Trent certainly looks to have the formula right this time.

After the majority seem to have downloaded NiggyTardust! for free things can’t have been looking that good. I doubt there was any way that Trent would have gone back to a bricks and mortar record company after the trouble he’s had in the past. The Closure video set still hasn’t been released after what must be two or three years after it was first mooted. I bet all the record companies were hovering, hoping against hope, that Reznor would fail. After what seems like a month of teasers on his web-site the music is finally out. Trent has truly embraced the internets. Blogger, flickr and YouTube all have official NIN content and if you dig deep you’ll find official torrents.

This has to be the right way to do things. Offer your fans what they want. Not just the usual mass produced CD for £15, closely followed by a ‘special version’ some months later, just to rip the fans off one more time. Offer downloads in whatever format they want, download now and get a CD in the post, special packaging and even vinyl.

I chose the $10 download and CD option. With the servers going into meltdown getting at the content after paying did prove a little difficult. The download link would expire after the zip file hits my hard-drive. Clicking the link showed the file downloading at a snails pace then crashing out. Waiting for the US to go to bed helped and I managed to get the zip file after an hour or so this morning.

Unzip it and you find, the cover art, a PDF file containing 40 photos and what would in normal circumstances be the liner notes, extras like two different sizes of wallpaper and all kinds of graphics for your web-site and avatars, and also the MP3 tracks themselves.

The music is just totally instrumental and experimental. If you've enjoyed the non-vocal tracks from The Fragile and the like then you’ll love this. I knew that Adrian Belew had a role in this project as a little video clip on the web-site showed him at work with his pedal wrangler hard at work, but I was surprised to see Brian Viglione, the male half of The Dresden Dolls, appear on the credits. Not a great shock to me as I first saw The Dresden Dolls support Nine Inch Nails a few years ago.

The package as a whole is just incredible. The attention to detail. The fact that each song has its own album art just shows the care that has been put into this project. Trent can certainly put more of his energy into this kind of thing instead of fighting with record companies.