Gig Reviews

Pitfest 2022, Netherlands, 12-14/5/22

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The two or three year withdrawal symptoms from Euro festivals showed up in the ache in my bones when I shouldered my rucksack and tent to set off to Liverpool airport for the short hop over to Amsterdam. As soon as that was dumped on the conveyor belt and pints were sunk though I was completely looking forward to the adventure again, especially to a new destination. Friends had spoken highly of their 2019 pre-covid visit, the line up for 2020 was pretty stunning for a cheap price and at a small intimate scale, so I’d snapped up a ticket. That initial goldmine had been somewhat ravaged by the time the twice postponed event has come around, with the loss of the likes of Repulsion, Dropdead, Slapshot, and Grave, but there was still more than enough to appeal as well as the trip in itself.More

GIG REVIEW – John, Alffa @ Live Rooms, Chester

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[orig posted on Louder Than War]

Such is the saturation of pure talent within the scope of genres I love and follow, both JOHN and Alffa have somehow passed me by. I have John’s 2017 debut album ‘God Speed In The National Limit’ but have only played it once. In a world where time to actually sit, enjoy and absorb the brilliance bands and artists produce is at a premium, something has to give. Unfortunately for me, it was JOHN. Thankfully, that wrong has well and truly been righted and I have been properly Johnned.


Alffa hail from Llanrug, which is an enclave of Caernarfon. Nothing ever happens there, I mean, nothing… Determined to change that, Alffa deliver their own brand of Goriadau Du (Black Keys) and Strepiau Gwyn (White Stripes). It’s a two-piece garage-blues guitar and drum formula that is mainly stripped down to accentuate Dion’s six-stringed prowess. His palpable semi-gravel vocal ranges from subtle to whipped fury in both Welsh and English. Alongside him is drummer Siôn, a trusted beatmaster, ensuring the whole thing holds together.

I was impressed by the performance, but on buying the album Rhyddid O’r Cysgodion Gwenwynig’, I was blown away – buy it, you’ll understand why. Expertly placed across the road from the train station in Chester, The Live Rooms have quietly been going about their business of booking great bands. Two stages cater for the big and the bigger, and tonight, the smaller room is pretty full of gig-goers eager to embrace and be educated.

If Alffa were the appetiser for a night of two-piece frolickism, then the main course of JOHN was something to gorge on. Both John and John with their relaxed demeanour gave us all a lesson in how to make an incredible wall of sound with only a guitar, an array of pedals and a drumkit. Far from being a racket, this was not only exciting and frantic, but it was also thought-provoking and life-affirming.

There was absolutely no need to apologise for playing songs from the latest album ‘Nocturnal Manoeuvres’, and on hearing the implicit enormity of Austere Isle and Jargoncutter, there was no option but to own that recording.

JOHN are thinking man’s (person’s) punk rock, they have humility, yet they provoke you, they enrage and enlighten you. Praise be to JOHN…

GIG REVIEW – Sparks @ The Albert Hall, Manchester

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Twice in a week I’ve been to a gig and been among the youngest in the audience…

Someone couldn’t go and I ended up with a ticket and hotel room and watching Sparks at the magnificent Albert Hall in Manchester. Plus the added bonus of being chaperoned along the M56.

Sparks are not a band I’ve paid much attention to since being scared to death as a schoolkid watching Top Of The Pops. The image on Ron Mael’s staring eyes and inscrutable countenance as he sat rigid at his keyboards would leave ‘us kids’ terrified. His Adolf Hitler ‘tache and flick had you both laughing and being scared at the same time. His younger brother, Russell would be prancing about the stage as they mimed Beat The Clock.More

Day Of Misery III @ The Fenton, Leeds

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There’s no way I can calculate/remember but Leeds must have over taken the NW staples of The ‘Pool and Manc-land in terms of the number of gig trips for me.  Aided by the draw of bigger festivals like Damnation and underground belters like Dreadfest and Break The Chains, as well as decent independent venues that support a thriving local scene of good folks it’s well worth the extra less-than-an-hour to get over the Pennines.  And with my son now handily placed there too for free accommodation!More

GIG REVIEW – Spam Javelin, Glitchers, Crapsons, Parker @ The Pavilion, Colwyn Bay

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The last time two members of Parker played over here it was a few days before we went into national lockdown. They were called Gas Hands then, but now, with a new bassist, the band from Derry are on a UK tour, and fair play to them. Perhaps they are soothsayers, as by the time you read this martial law will probably have been reinstated (in Wales anyway). (‘Lock your doors, close your minds, only the elite may gather in numbers, you scum can die alone’).More

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