RIGHT THEN!

Wellity wellity wellity, if it isnt Blogger! The forgotten website amongst my list of favourites. How have you been? I thought I should stop by, say a few words while im here, and see what the crack is. 3 months is a long time inbetween posts, so forgive me if i repeat things I may have already mentioned. Im not really sure where to start, so heres a song. Its the new single by Tame Impala! And, its pretty effing good if you ask me. Over 200k hits on youtube suggests to me that since they first popped up on my radar 2 or 3 years back, they have caught the attention of quite a few other sad mother fockers who love nothing more than re-hashed 60's psych rock'n'roll. Hazzar! Hopefully there 2nd album, Lonerism, will make some big waves when its released in October and I wont be "a loner"........ Fucks sake...... Sorry. A band not making as big an impact on the youtube world as those pesky Australians, are The Magic Castles. They are another throw back to the whimsicle era of the 1960's. Chock full of plinky plonky twangy guitar, tons of feedback and a hazy fucked up vibe goin on, they could nestle in quite nicely with Tame Impala. Kind of like there more laid back American 2nd cousins....or something. Anyway, they have just released there first album on Anton Newcomes A records. Its basically all there EP's put on 1 disc.....but its great. Check out the melody Speaking of Anton Newcombe, I saw The Jonestown live in Manchester the other week. Its the 2nd time I have seen them live, and both times I have come away thinking its the best show I have ever seen. The HMV Ritz was packed to the rafters, full of people from all walks of life. Haggard old hippies were rubbing shoulders with young student types, all coming together as one to go FUCKING MENTAL for a band that still to this day can shock, suprise and excite those willing to give them a chance. The gig was superb. The band played stuff from nearly every album they have released, including 3 or 4 new songs from there latest long player "Aufheben", which has to be said, is there best album in 10 years and very much a contender for album of the year. Below is a clip of the gig which gives you an idea as to what the atmosphere was like, a beautiful mixture of peace, love, intensity, anger and dedication. The band gave the people what they want and in turn the people responded by showering them with huge applause, flowers and on a few occasions, beer (you will see what i mean below). Anyway, fuckin brilliant gig.

Its actually been an amazing few months as far as gigs go. I may of already mentioned I saw The War On Drugs in Liverpool? If not, i did. At the Kazamier (i think thats how its spelt?). Its next door to Cream. Anyway, if you ever get a chance to catch these lot, they put on a brilliant gig. A mixture between Bruce Springsteen and Krautrock. Great little venue to. Just sayin....

But it has to be said, I dont think anything could prepare me for what I saw at the start of June..... THE STONE ROSES - LIVE - IN AMSTERDAM That happened. Im still not sure how, but I was in Amsterdam, unaware the Roses were playing a few warm ups before there gigantic weekend in manchester. I was extremely hungover after watching England draw 0-0 with france in our opening game of Euro 2012 (which feels like years ago doesnt it?). The sun came beaming through my window and I lay there for a good 5 minutes, trying to decide if I was going to get up and meet my mate at the station at 9am like we had arranged, or if i was gonna just stay in bed and sleep off the Amstel & Kali Haze. I eventually grew a dick and dragged my haggard body out into the sunshine to make the 10 min walk to the station. I was still unaware at this stage that I was living one of the best days of my life. I met jamie at the station and we strolled back to the apartment. Jamie explained to me how he nearly missed the plane, and I might be making this up, but im sure he told me he fell over while running to catch it and hit his head on the floor. And how his pants ripped infront of a dead fit chinese bird while he was walking up the steps, and as they ripped, he farted and some poo actually came out, through the whole he had ripped, and into the fit girls mouth because she was yawning at the time because jamie had just told her the story about him nearly missing the plane..... Anyway, I might of got confused with a different conversation, but after he had told me about all of this he started bangin on about the people on the plane all wearing Stone Roses T-shirts. As Jamie got talking to some of these people, it soon dawned on him that they were all going to a gig. A Stone Roses gig. "arent you going mate?" they asked him. "Why are you going Amsterdam and not seeing the Roses when they are playing?" Jamie, who is 42, remembers the Roses in there pomp, but never got to see them. "WHEN THE FUCK ARE THEY PLAYING?" he asked. "Tonight" came the reply. It was at this moment in the story that I cut him off. "The Stone Roses are playing in Amsterdam? Tonight? Where? When?" Jamie didnt know the details, so we picked up our pace and ran up the stairs to the apartment. "Get the fuckin internet on, now!" I yelled. I probably didnt yell, I probably didnt say anything, just kind of strolled in like a nob ed and turned on my laptop. I then probably made the lads guess what news me and jamie had heard, which would of really annoyed everyone. So while everyone was trying to humour me and my stupid guessing game, I went onto the dutch ticketmaster website in search of confirmation. And there it was. In black and white. The Stone Roses live, at the Heineken Music Hall. Tickets - available. This was when I confirmed to everyone what was about to happen. I was about to buy tickets for the 4 of us to go and watch a band we had grown up idolising, but thinking we would never ever see perform as a group. The tickets were bought. We double checked them. Tripple checked them. It was them. It wasnt the Clone Roses. It wasnt Ian Browns travelling band. It was Ian, John, Mani & Reni. And we were going to see them that night. Beers were cracked open. A joint was rolled. High fives all round. As we let the realisation sink in, we went straight to the pancake house to get some breakfast. Bacon and syrup pancakes have never tasted so damn good. The rest of the day is a blur. I was spent touring The Dams many pubs bars and coffeeshops before catching the train to the venue which is right outside The Ajax Arena, about 10 miles outside of the city centre. Im not sure I can explain in words what happened for the rest of the day, so Im not going to try. I saw The Stone Roses live. Thats me done for the time being. Oh, and Alan McGee is following me on Twitter. Rock and fuckin roll.