Passion Pit @ Concorde2

It must be a weird feeling being pretty much certain you'll only be famous for 6 months. Whether Passion Pit actually know this or not is another matter of course, i was just thinking out loud.

This gig sold out pretty easily as can be expected i guess and was full of "cool" parents standing at the back and "cool" 15 year olds jumping around and drinking cheap vodka out of water bottles. Oh to be 15 again...

Anyway, onto the music. Passion Pit started gettin some recognition with the release of their 'Chunk of Change' Ep last year with its "pop gems" and its perfect-for-adverts beats. Personally i was really underwhelmed and slightly irritated by the record, but that was nothing until i heard the full length LP 'Manners'. Ok, so i do like 'Sleepyhead' but since when was fusing Friendly Fires, Mika and the worst parts of Nu Rave a good idea? GROW A PAIR LAD. The live performance was hit and miss. Songs such as the aforementioned 'Sleepyhead' and 'Ive Got Your Number' werent the worst live renditions ive ever heard, and i even found myself bopping my head to songs like 'The Reeling' but mostly i stood there generally hating the general public and wondering if 3 cigarettes during one 40 minute set was too many.

Passion Pit? PASSION THE PITS MORE LIKE. MAD LOLS.

Cherbourg @ Prince Albert

Went to this gig on a tuesday after a particularly heavy Bank Holiday weekend and almost didnt go, but im glad i did as it was exactly what i needed. It was in the small venue of the Prince Albert pub and thankfully i managed to grab a chair and a couple of drinks to see me through. A band called Karran and the Wolfnotes were supporting and did their thing pretty well. It was poppy new-folk stuff as i expected, with accordians and ting. The songs were good and his voice is strong, but some of the lyrics left something to be desired. Cherbourg are a london folk-band who have toured with Mumford and Sons recently, which gives you an impression of their style of music. They opened with one of my favourite songs at the moment, Man, which was amazing and continued to play songs off the two EP's 'Into the Dark' and 'Last Chapter of Dreaming' as well as a batch of new stuff. While they do have some great songs such as 'Let Yourself Love' (some of the new ones sounded great aswell), it can all get a bit dreary and heartbroken for my liking sometimes. Thats just a side note though, all in all this was a really nice gig and perfect for my suicide tuesday...

Cherbourg - Man

Secret MGMT show @ Digital

So MGMT chose our fair city for their festival warm up show (mainly 'cos last time they were down here they were given a massive bag of drugs and "had a blast"). It was announced two days before and tickets sold out online in 10 minutes, so i guess people still care about these arrogant electro hippies. Support came in the form of 5 manc lads who's name escapes me. They played Primal Scream-esque sleazy physchedelic indie, and to be fair it was pretty good although ever so slightly underwhelming. MGMT came on to 'Weekend Wars' which is one of my favourites off their last album and it was obvious they've grown as a live band since i last saw them. All the singles sounded a lot fuller and 'anthemic' if you'll allow me to be a bit over the top for a second. This was also a chance for them to play a load of new material which was to be expected i guess. It seemed to me that they seem to have got a bit more indie-schmindie but i guess its hard to tell with live performances, especially as the production was such an important part of the last record. Once 'Kids' had finished, i assumed the set was over but they carried on for another half hour seemingly making songs up on the spot and noodling shit guitar solo's for days. Everyone got a bit confused at this and half the crowd left, and the other half just stood there wondering how long this was actually gunna go on for...It was certainly a weird way to finish a gig, but i spose it wont do them much harm. Reactions to the new stuff were mixed from what i gather, so the jurys still out on that but judging on the crowd during the crowd favourites from the first album, they could probably get away with touring that record for another year at least, and why not eh?

Photo by Sam Hiscox - http://partiepartie.blogspot.com