We're gonna build something this summer

Published on Mon 28 Feb 2011

I went to 3 great gigs in the space of 4 days the week before last, though admittedly 2 of them were the same band.

On the Tuesday it was Dolorean, who I only heard for the first time the week before. They were at The Lexington, which is a venue I'd not been to, but hopefully somewhere I'll go again (I signed up to the mailing list to get 10% off, so presumably I will) because it's a really good room above a pub - not unlike a smaller version of The Luminaire. They also serve very nice burgers, and a selection of imported American beers, which is an, er, interesting idea. The support act, Richard Walters was very polished in that London way, but not quite my cup of tea. I don't know why the things I do get called depressing while people who are making music that even I find depressing get called arty. Maybe it's to do with having lyrics that overtly make sense (or don't). I have a nagging doubt I was missing something so I might try him out again at some point. It was fun to see the classically trained cello guy looking quite so uncomfortable in hipster gear.

Dolorean have been a bit of a revelation, and given that I'd been listening to them non-stop for the preceding 5 days I was worried that the gig couldn't live up, but it did. Unfortunately my enjoyment was slightly spoiled by a bunch of Australians who I think had gone there for someones birthday and talked loudly throughout the show. Well, maybe not that loudly, but once you notice that kind of thing it's really hard to ignore it. People kept shhhing them, and they'd shhh back like schoolchildren. My favourite bit was one of them saying during a quiet bit, "it's just a difference in culture - it's always like this at home". Right, well shut up then! You wouldn't catch me going out to dinner in Sydney and loudly insisting on using cutlery. Or wearing trousers. (jokes) Anyway, Dolorean make wonderfully bitter, spiteful and yet absorbing and uplifting music (check out Country Clutter if you've got spotify) and were obviously having a good time being on tour. I didn't know how many people would have heard of them, but it was fairly busy, though there's another, newer, trendier, more famous band at the moment called DeLorean and at least some of the people were there for them. Must have been annoying. It's been quite some time since I've seen a really good band at close quarters - it reminded me of some of the things I saw at The Borderline in its heyday. Probably with a lot of the people that were at this show... I've said it before, but American bands that make it over here almost always seem to sound much better than the British equivalent. I wish I'd had my camera. iPhones really aren't the best.

Talking of great bands at close quarters, I went to see The Hold Steady at The Junction 2 days later and somehow ended up right at the front. I'm not sure why there weren't more people there. It was wonderful. They didn't bother with the stand in keyboard player this time, and I don't think he was really missed on the whole - it made it a bit more rocking. I'd not appreciated before quite how crazy Craig Finn is on stage, always running around and mouthing the last line over and over and pointing at people and jumping up and down. The hummingbird dance during Stuck Between Stations has turned into more of a seagull now.

Wintersleep were good again - a bit rowdier and less atmospheric than I remembered, but still good, especially the folky one about the ghost.

I was seriously deaf the next day, which was unfortunate as I was seeing the same show in London (they announced the Cambridge date the day after I got my London ticket - kind of annoying, but good really), but I took my earplugs and by a few songs in I was fine. We missed Wintersleep apart from the folky one about the ghost, and were queuing for the outrageously expensive beer they have in The Empire, but we again managed to be fairly far forward. The setlist was quite different, and I enjoyed it even more. Possibly because of a slightly increased beer consumption, possibly because I was wearing earplugs so it didn't physically hurt, possibly because it was just better.

Sorry to anyone who asked for a free CD and hasn't got one yet - I ran out of envelopes and was away all of last week. The next lot will be sent tomorrow.

It's good to see that Sky Sports haven't let things slip since the whole Keys Gray fiasco.