Q: What makes for a great live performance - apart from the music itself?

A great lightshow that relates to the music,
An atmospheric crowd with much whooping and screaming,
A good old sing along, (perhaps even better when the frontman lets let the crowd sing on their own?)
A great soundsystem,
An appropriately sized venue for the artist,
Any homecoming gig,
The performers looking like they genuinely care or are truly moved by the moment,
The band having an emotional relationship with the crowd causing one of those magical connections,
A brilliant frontman,
Stage invasions and crowd surfers,
A packed house,
Massive lasers,
Not one but two encores,
A band at the peak of their powers,
Bands lower down on the bill stealing the show,
Giant inflatables/A mass of bubbles/An explosion of confetti/Balloons falling from the ceiling etc,
A walkway that stretches out into the crowd,
The artists unexpectedly improvising something totally original into a song for the hell of it,
Giant screens,
Even bigger speakers,
A guitarist with a jetpack.

You see there’s loads of amazing stuff that can happen apart from hearing the artists latest album played out live. I’ve been lucky enough to pretty much witness all of these at some point in the thousands of gigs I’ve been to over the years…except perhaps the jetpack…

Here’s a couple of examples of a truly fantastic live set, that ticks plenty of the boxes above. Enjoy…

1) ETIENNE DE CRECY - An outstanding light show, that’s a great example of timing it with the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzil8S7tUeY

2) U2 - It’s not all bands that can afford to appear out of a giant, floating lemon, in the centre of the crowd!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdxLRyDq7aU

3) KASBIAN (LSF) – The best singalong I’ve ever been involved in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tKPhiV0cCQ

4) DAFT PUNK – Lights, banging dance music, and the use of a giant pyramid – perfect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj9AYdsb5Kg

5) FLAMING LIPS – You want balloons and confetti – you got it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlnPML3WQXI

It’s also worth noting that there is plenty of awful things that can occur to ruin a gig too, so please leave a comment, or your own clip/link, with your thoughts on what makes a good or bad live set …

Thanks.
Mike

OK, time for another tidy little mini-post…

I will be doing this when something, no matter how random, passes past me that I cannot help but share with you. Could be from any genre in any format, just so long as its blindingly brilliant…and this one is!!!

A couple of years ago I saw the band KASABIAN live. Now I’ve been to a shit load of gigs, (13nr Reading Festivals and 4nr Glastonbury’s amongst many, many others), and seeing Kasabian pretty much reset the bar for everything I’ve seen live since. That’s everything, ever.

I cannot recommend an Indie band more than this lot when it comes to a right show. I came across this Youtube post and it took me back there. The way frontman Tom Meighan draws you all in and involves the crowd is one thing, but above all, its the way the whole band seem to give it their all and genuinely get wrapped up in the moment as much as the crowd.

I challenge anyone to give me an example of a better ‘show-closer’ than LSF. Here it is live from a gig last year. Enjoy it – particularly 3mins and 18 secs in when he lets the crowd go for it. Brilliant, just totally brilliant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tKPhiV0cCQ

Hi Everyone

OK here is the first ever edition of ‘THE GIG LIST’ on my blog. The aim of this is to simply point out a couple of upcoming gigs, local to Brighton, that I believe will be well worth your investigation.

The rest is over to you – Check out the bands, locate the tickets, get to the venue, etc. My aim is only to make you better informed. Nice.

This week I’m pointing out two gigs that should prove to be outstanding.

The first is a pair of giants in the dance industry and kings of the remix -SOULWAX, or as some of you may also know them – 2 MANY DJs. The Belgium duo have been experimenting and chopping up dance floors like nobody else across the world for years now. Thank your lucky stars you have a new opportunity to see them once again in Brighton…

ACT: SOULWAX / 2 MANY DJs
VENUE: Concorde 2
COST: £ 17.00
DATE: Wednesday 23rd April 2008
WEBSITE LINK: www.myspace.com/soulwax

The second gig is an NME promotion coming to our town. It is part of their ‘New Noise Tour’. This Brighton leg involves four upcoming bands, one of which is the Toronto two-piece, CRYSTAL CASTLES, a fantastically brilliant electro-punk outfit. Another on the bill I am particularly fond of is new indie band, FRIENDLY FIRES. Well worth a few pounds of your money.

ACT: CRYSTAL CASTLES, FRIENDLY FIRES, TEAM WATERPOLO, WHITE LIES
EVENT: NME New Noise Tour
VENUE: Concorde 2
COST: £ 9.00
DATE: Monday 5th May 2008
WEBSITE LINK: www.nme.com

I hope this helps fill at least one night out for you, (if not two!). Remember, I’m always interested to hear if you are joining us.

If you’re really keen on finding out more about my musical tastes and recommendations, then please go to : www.myspace.com/miguelos

Until the next time,
Mike