I’m In A Rock ‘N Roll Band

…well no, I’m not, I’ve just been watching a programme of that name on iPlayer.

The show’s website asks for suggestions for who would be in your fantasy band, so I offered my opinion.

If they were all around at the same time, I would’ve loved to have seen what these guys might’ve done together:

Freddie Mercury on lead vocals

Jimi Hendrix on guitar

Flea on bass

John Bonham on drums

Matt Bellamy on keys and backing vocals

Setlists

This was originally supposed to be just a response to a comment on another blog, but it turned into bit of an essay so I decided to turn it into a post in it’s own right.

Basically, the question is: Should bands play their hits at every gig?

I’m going to see Muse for the 2nd time on Friday, and would be quite happy to hear all of The Resistance and not hear Time Is Running Out, Feeling Good, New Born & Knights of Cydonia.

But maybe this would not be fair on new fans who want to hear their most famous songs.

I saw them before (for the 1st time) at Wembley Stadium, they played 9 songs off of Black Holes, plus everything you would expect them to play (I think), except Bliss. I kind of consider myself relatively new to Muse, having discovered them at the Time Is Running Out stage, meaning songs like Bliss are actually from before my time. But by the time I got round to going to a gig I had listened to their previous stuff and decided that my favourite songs weren’t necessarily the famous ones, and Time Is Running Out has become one of my least favoured, alongside Feeling Good.

I think the idea that bands should always play their hits definitely applies to festival sets, but when they’re doing a headline tour for an album, I expect the set to be dominated by new stuff.

Having said that, I would always expect any band to play some hits, and with Arctic Monkeys only on album #3, I am surprised they would leave out Scummy; while Muse, having been around a bit longer, have a few more hits, and I think can better afford to leave out some of their famous ones. I can’t really comment on Radiohead because I don’t know what they’re famous for. I know The Bends is my favourite of their albums, but I bought it (followed by all the others) based on a recommendation without having heard any of the songs before.

Personally I wouldn’t spend around £60 (that’s a Muse ticket plus train fare) to see a band if I only knew a couple of songs. If people can afford to do that, fair play to them, they’re probably used to getting what they want.

Probably more relevant is my first trip to see Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was a relatively new fan (at the time I owned By The Way, What Hits!? and Greatest Hits), I would have been disappointed on that occasion if they hadn’t played By The Way, The Zephyr Song, Can’t Stop, Under the Bridge & Give It Away. But then, that was the Greatest Hits tour, so it would’ve been a bit stupid of them not to play the popular ones. I would’ve loved pretty much any of the songs from By The Way, which was the first ever album by anyone that I bought, Venice Queen is still one of my all time favourite songs. (My memory’s not good enough to remember an entire set from 5 years ago, I looked it up here. I still find it pretty cool that I was at the gigs where RHCP’s Live in Hyde Park and Muse’s HAARP were recorded, and I saw James Brown live.)

When I saw them on the Stadium Arcadium tour I was actually a bit disappointed they only played 5 of the 28 songs from the new album.

Both times I would’ve loved to see a Flea trumpet solo (having spent 10 years of my school life learning to play the Cornet), and songs like Higher Ground, Knock Me Down and Taste The Pain. They have quite a large back catalogue though, so I’m prepared for the unlikeliness of my ideal setlist actually occurring.

I imagine I will go and see them again when they return (apparently they’re starting work on a new album in the next couple of weeks). Hopefully I’ll finally get to see a Trumpet solo, maybe Funky Monks, Higher Ground… Funny Face would be awesome. Meanwhile I would not be at all disappointed if they didn’t play Dani California, Under The Bridge or Give It Away, but then again, they mix up their songs with extended jams or by incorporating other songs into intros, so hearing the same songs need not be boring.

I wouldn’t want to hear too many covers at a gig, and a Nick Cave song wouldn’t have meant anything to me, but I do think it’s interesting to find out who a band is influenced by, and I’ve discovered a lot of great songs via Chili Peppers covers, from artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones, Stevie Wonder, Looking Glass, David Bowie, The Meters, Bob Dylan, Sly & The Family Stone, Simon & Garfunkel, Sweet, Cat Stevens, The Chantels, The Shangri-Las, Del Shannon, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, The Chirelles, The Beach Boys, George Clinton, Funkadelic, Iggy & The Stooges, Parliament, Jackson 5, Hank Williams, Fugazi, .45 Grave.

Man’s Best Friend

I watched Marley & Me last night. If you have (or have had) a dog, I reckon it’s a great film.

It brought back memories of our dog, Chester.

He wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Marley.  Favourite memories include my 3 year old (at the time) brother being scared of him when we first got him and climbing on the kitchen table to get away. Then there’s the imitating a fire engine siren that he did once, but disappointingly we couldn’t manage to entice out of him again. Hanging one of his toys on the washing line until he managed to jump high enough to get hold of it and bend the pole as he came back down was also pretty funny.

I’m not sure my parents were quite as attached to Chester as John and Jenny to Marley though. When we moved house, in an attempt to avoid the whole house being covered in hair and smelling of dog, he was banished from the living room once we got a new carpet. There were exceptions to this rule, he was allowed in on special occasions, by which I mean spiders were even less welcome in the living room and he was brought in to eat any that intruded.

Here’s another man’s tribute to a dog:

Port Erin

I’ve just got back from Port Erin‘s launch party for their debut album ‘I’ll Be On The Common’.

I’ll be brief. They were pretty good.

I’d seen videos on youtube before I went and wasn’t that impressed. It was much better watching in person.

It was a little bit weird having been at the same church as Reuben and Jacob as kids.

To sum up how I perceived their music:

Jacob (Bass) & Cerys (Drums) were great, I reckon Chad & Flea would’ve enjoyed them.

Reuben’s guitar was also really good, but for me personally, I wasn’t sure the vocals quite fitted perfectly with everything else. His voice kind of reminds me of Jimi Goodwin from Doves. Not that the vocals are the same style as Doves, just a similar sort of voice. You can listen here to decide for yourself, it’s easier than me trying to describe it and you probably won’t agree with me anyway. Overall, although they’re not my new favourite band just yet, I look forward to hearing more.

(side note: People who had seen them live before suggested they’re a bit like Muse. I didn’t hear that at all.)

Supporting them were The Blood Choir. These guys were also pretty good, bit noisy in places (does that make me sound like a grumpy old man? I don’t mean they were too loud, I mean just noise), but they reminded me of Led Zeppelin (mainly the acoustic sort of stuff, No. 3 is my favourite Led Zep album).

The opening act was She Tells Lies, I really liked her. It was just her and her guitar. If I had to describe her to you I would suggest she sounds kinda like a female Ray Lamontagne, but you can listen to her for yourself here.

All in all, a good night, despite the guy sat next to me getting ridiculously drunk, and the feeling that I didn’t seem to get that many songs for my money, or maybe the time just went really quickly.

The bald tattooed bloke wearing sunglasses and repeatedly shouting “ROCK ON!” and other such phrases also deserves a mention.

Let The Good Times Roll

How did I only just find out about this?!

George Clinton & the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Come on guys, it’s been almost 3 years since Stadium Arcadium, surely it’s time to at least start the next one?

Please.