I want to write more about music on my blog but I’m in an awkward position where (I imagine that) almost no-one who reads my blog cares what music I’m into, and almost no-one who is involved in the same sort of music scene as I am cares what I think about it. Nevertheless, inspired a little by Zoe and Lily‘s ‘soundtrack to my life’ YouTube tag, I’ve decided to do it anyway as it is what I spend around half my life preoccupied with. Now, it is very difficult to write about a show/gig/concert/etc, without sounding embarrassing, so I’m going to try to keep each little section short and sweet and keep my adjective usage to the bare minimum. I hope this interests at least a few of you, and please let me know if you’d like to see similar in the future!
One thing that 2014 lacked in for me has been hardcore shows. I enjoyed Twitching Tongues early on in the year, and I did see Turnstile again in the summer. I also saw Stick Together, Take Offense and Cold World at Outbreak Fest – none of which were mind-blowingly great, but pretty cool nonetheless. Fingers crossed for some better things in 2015!
Other honourable mentions of the year were Merchandise (incredible band but oddly hardly anybody went), Headroom‘s first show, Citizen, Nothing, Taking Back Sunday, Balance and Composure, Seahaven, Diamond Youth, Nai Harvest, Walleater and last but by absolutely no means least One Direction(!!!!) (VIP courtesy of BooHoo!), which was a truly excellent experience. There were other bands too, who I’ve either forgotten about or just weren’t quite worthy of a mention. Next year I’m already looking forward to American Football, Mineral (again), Alvvays (oh somebody sell me a ticket for Manchester in January, please?), and hopefully some better hardcore shows. Bands I’m gutted I missed this year include Lust For Youth, Iceage, Slowdive (what is up with bands who only play in London??).
The absolute worst band I saw was Bam Margera’s Fuckface Unstoppable, a somewhat spontaneous evening thanks to a hookup by a friend, and an absolute assault on my ears, but I met Bam Margera so it was all worth it for my 14 year old self.
So all in all, 2014 hasn’t been a year in which I’ve been to many particularly ~cool shows, but one during which I have thoroughly relived my youth (a phrase which sounds ridiculous coming from a 21 year old, but you know what I mean) and also had some musical experiences I never thought would be possible thanks to the magic that is 90s bands being short on cash. Were you at any of these? I’ve linked to the Bandcamp or Lastfm pages of some of the more current bands I’ve mentioned here, do go and check them out. I wanna talk about music, so please let me know your thoughts on this post!