Random giggage

My upcoming gig, Justin Townes Earle, has been cancelled. Justin is son of Steve Earle, and like a chip off the old block has some addiction issues to deal with. He was a little drunk the other week at a gig in Indianapolis, and has cancelled the rest of his tour (including theUK dates) to head to rehab. Always good for the artist CV. 

It's a shame as his most recent album is a bit good, and I was looking forward to dragging S up to see him.

I guess when the gig refund comes through, I can buy the vinyl instead. Mmmm vinyl.

Speaking of which, I am liking the resurgence of vinyl, Grinderman, The Weakerthans, Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree, Oceansize - all new releases on vinyl. But what is really good, is inclusion of:

- download code for a high quality mp3s (Pineapple Thief)

or

- inclusion of a CD version with the vinyl (Oceansize, Grinderman)

or

- DVD of the vinyl live gig, and mp3 download (The Weakerthans)

Smashing.

Half the A-team and I wandered to Dimmu Borgir on Tuesday night. Support was by Sahg, a Norwegian metal group - nothing stunning, with the singer sounding like Ozzy (when Ozzy could sing). We caught half their set, and that was enough.

Enslaved were the main support, another Norwegian black/extreme/progressive metal band, making this a Norwegian metal triptych. I like them, but have only heard Vertebrae, with their breakout 'single' Clouds on it. They played a good selection of their albums, and it was good. I can see myself buying more. Sound was good, nicely balanced, although I think we both would have preferred more of the clean vocals. The cookie monster stuff did detract a little from some, frankly, superb musicianship.

I've mentioned Dimmu Borgir before, many times. I like my metal, and I really like symphonic black metal. It is one of the only genres where truly progressive music can be heard. Some metalheads don't like it, finding it too slow. Which is kind of the point. And DB are the top of the genre, which showed during the gig. Superb musicianship, brutal, atmospheric, great stage presence.  Sound was excellent, not too loud, brilliantly balanced, no distortion, so no loud ringing noises the next day. Crowd was totally up for it, and something about metal crowds, no-one is there to be seen. It's all about the music - a bit rare for London audiences. Their keyboardist needs special mention, he's a monster and there was some stunning stuff coming from him - a newbie as the band replaced two members last year. There's a strong element of pisstaking by the band, stage design and song delivery is very over the top, operatic even. And the band appear to playing to that. 

Definitely recommend catching them live if you like metal. It was an excellent gig.

Currently spinning Bob Dylan, heh variety eh.

B