Hypnotica's Gig Reviews
Having just reached my 40th birthday it's seems increasingly obvious to me that almost every gig I go to these days is a group which formed in the 80's or before...I am '80's man!
There are loads of bands which I deeply regret not seeing live in that decade too. Depeche Mode, The Human League, OMD, Yazoo, Japan and many more were at their most creative and most popular, but I was 'just' that 'bit' too catch them in their prime. It's something I still agonize over as there's nothing I can do to about it but such is life...
Luckily however, many of these 'well known' bands have recently come out of retirement, riding on the wave of new interest in 80's groups and are touring again, some even with the original line-ups.
This is great news for fans like me and definitely the next best thing to a time machine. I know that some of these groups (OMD for example) deliberated over whether reforming and touring was a good thing to do or not, but rest assured it definitely was!
Sounds corny, but such tours are a dream come true and judging by the crowd response at recent gigs I've been to, I am not alone in thinking that.
I don't think it's just the fans enjoying the nostalgia trip either. To quote Andy McCluskey (OMD) recently; "If we'd known it would be like this we would have come back sooner!!". I have read similar comments from Vince Clarke about Yazoo getting together again too
In my desperation to retrospectively see all my 80's heroes in concert, I have therefore been booking gigs like there's no tomorrow!
I guess there will always be some groups who are too obscure, long disbanded, unwilling to reform due to artistic differences or simply unlikely to ever come to the UK, which I would 'love' to see live but probably never will though. Examples include Hardcorps, Yello, YMO, Severed Heads, New Musik, Japan, Telex, Logic System, Visage, Japan, Art of Noise, Icehouse, Roxy Music, Steve Roach ... the list is endless
When I first started gigging I tended to see the same groups over and over (mainly Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk!) so I guess if I hadn't of been so obsessed with them I could have seen a lot more groups. I don't regret going to any of those gigs they were great (especially Tangerine Dream 1986 - just breathtaking).
Dragging myself kicking and screaming out of the 80's there are of course still plenty of modern groups I would like to see live. The trouble is, without endless financial resources and free time to travel the country seeing gigs, I've had to 'cherry pick' the best gigs I can realistically make it to.
This section is an ongoing project with the aim of documenting current gigs from now on plus retrospectively adding reviews for all the gigs I have ever been to! (if my memory hasn't faded too much...). Adding photos, flyers, posters, tickets, promo postcards and lots more is happening but it's a slow process so please bear with me
I think that everyone gets something different from going to a gig. We all hear the same music and yet interpret the whole experience in a completely different way 'personal to them' which is why gig reviews can differ so much.I hope you enjoy my reviews. I'm hoping it will give people an idea of what the gigs were like if you couldn't make it yourself or you might find it interesting to hear someone else's personal opinion of a tour you went to or maybe even the same gig!
