NOS Alive Day 2, 12th July 19

Hallelujah; I had something approximating a decent night's sleep. Still a bit jaded but we all ventured out for a trip to the Alfama district of Lisbon which is the old town situated on a steep hill.  They have quaint antiquated trams which admirably drag themselves up the hill, though we walked up. The roads are narrow and winding with spectacular views of Lisbon's surrounding scenery. The city in general is not that pretty but the people are very friendly. An old castle is situated on top of the hill and it costs 10 Euros to go inside, which we declined in favour of a meal and wine.

Back to the festival in the evening for Primal Scream on the main stage. Bobby Gillespie is wearing a bright coloured suit that Ruth assures me is fuscia pink. They tend to be a bit hit and miss as a live act in my opinion and we thought this was a bit miss as the powerful sonic assaults of their records seemed absent. We decided to go and see Johnny Marr on the second stage and as we walked away the sound suddenly improved with Higher than The Sun sounding incredible. The sound is obviously awful near the front of the stage and we were tempted to stay but Johnny was beckoning who is a much more reliable prospect.

Glad we did as Johnny Marr absolutely rocked the second stage. His shows are always celebratory and positive events, notable highlights included: How Soon is Now? Getting Away With It (a disco song from Manchester, UK according to Johnny), Get The Message, Easy Money and the closing There is a Light That Never Goes Out which inspires a mass sing-a-long. The sun was setting over the hills during the last part of the set and it was a perfect festival moment.

We wanted to stay for Grace Jones who was on at midnight which was over a 2 hour wait. Unfortunately due to the site being so small it's impossible to sit anywhere without hearing the music from at least 3 stages cross-polluting into an unholy racket (music these days is so loud and you can't understand a word they sing, where's my slippers?).  Ruth and I were exhausted again so headed back to the campsite for a couple of beers and an early night.

NOS Alive Day 1, 11/12th July 19

After finally arriving in Lisbon we made our way to the campsite, got our festival wristbands and supplies from the local supermarket and we are too late to catch Weezer. Bit cheesed off about that and not the greatest of starts though Steve seems content as he thinks Weezer are soft pop crap. Coaches run from the campsite to the festival every 15 minutes or so and is normally full of Portuguese people singing at top volume.

The next band I want to see is Mogwai at 2230 so we hang out at the chalet for a while and drink water and beer.  We are trying to rehydrate but I think the water/beer ratio will shift to unhealthy proportions before long. It is unbelievably hot and was in the mid-30s this afternoon. Might just be Mogwai and The Cure tonight which is not to be sniffed at but I was hoping to build up the number of bands seen at a more prodigious rate.

We went to the Mad Cool festival in Madrid last year and this site out does Mad Cool in the ugly stakes. These urban festivals have a lot of benefits but unending beauty is not among them. These city festivals have left me hankering for the countryside and I've also struggled to adapt to the Mediterranean hours, as when the main bands come on I'm ready for my Horlicks. The festival is located in an industrial area by the docks and is decked in astro turf that is as comfortable as a barbed wire bed. Despite the heat we could not find any water points which is surely unlawful and reinforces my decision not to come to this festival again. In fact, if I can help it I won't come to the Iberian peninsula again which is a barren, characterless part of Europe. My favourite cities in Europe are Stockholm, Turin and Amsterdam.

I only got to see Mogwai and The Cure and both were, fortunately, really good. Mogwai's front man Stuart is wearing a Neu! t-shirt and it is easy to hear the Krautrock influences in their brooding, pulsating soundscapes. I'm not sure that the locals warmed to them, most who were probably waiting for The Cure who came on at just past midnight. Ruth and I had both been up since half 3 so criminally didn't last to the end. The hour or so we had was great and Robert Smith's voice still sounds incredible. You can't beat a sing-a-long to In-between Days and Just Like Heaven on a Friday morning in Lisbon.

Mogwai

I have seen The Cure once before at a one day festival in Finsbury Park, London in 1993 called Great eXpectations that was something to do with the launch of XFM radio I think. It had a pretty amazing line up: Levitation, Catherine Wheel, Guy Chadwick (who was constantly booed for some reason), Senseless Things, Frank & Walters, Belly, Sugar, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, and of course The Cure. All for the princely sum of £18 50. Myself, Jay, another friend Adam and my sister Caroline went. Caroline was at university in Norwich at the time and we picked her up on the way from Manchester and had a unmemorable night out in Norwich before heading off to London the next morning.

The Cure

The trip to Norwich didn't have the most auspicious of starts when I knocked on the door of the student house, next to Norwich City's football ground, and the knocker fell off. Caroline had probably been fretting about our arrival for weeks and we'd already made a good start in confirming her worst fears in front of her new Uni mates. Next up, I sat on the end of the sofa and the arm fell off. Caroline is having a full on panic attack as her student friends all look at her in horror, probably wondering who this bunch of clumsy scallies are she's invited.

Caroline hurriedly took us all out to the pub and we returned later to get some sleep after having to suffer the worst ale ever, which is relevant. When we woke in the morning the room was covered in puke, which I got the blame for as I'd been feeling ill. I'm convinced it wasn't me but no one else was owning up and we had a concert to get to. We were behind schedule so left the vomit for the students to clear up, much to Caroline's understandable horror. The students wouldn't be forgetting our trip in a while but I suppose if they were that bothered they could write a dissertation about it. Funnily enough, I saw one of the house members at Caroline's wedding (she got married to Jay incredibly) a few years ago and she was still so angry at our antics that she threatened to beat me up. I think we liked to annoy students because deep down we were jealous as, in general, we had poorly paid jobs with few opportunities, whilst them lot seemed to have the world at their feet. A bit churlish really as they all must have worked really hard, as I found out when I ended up going to Uni in my late 30s.

The gig itself was memorable for the awful sound quality which was so atrocious that Bob Mould, the singer from Sugar, stopped their set until he received assurances that the set was not being recorded. Fair play to him, who would want such a poor representation of their creativity marked for posterity?  Sugar's Copper Blue album was a classic record and I felt short changed but I guess sometimes things go wrong.

When The Cure came on, as if by magic, the sound problems disappear. The difference is like switching from a tiny transistor radio to a state of the art, stereo system with the volume whacked up. Pretty shoddy trick by whoever was responsible which smacked of insecurity, but at least The Cure were so good as to offer a measure of compensation. We lost sight of Caroline at some point but then thought we'd seen her being passed over the crowd to the security which happens when someone has passed out. As The Cure finished their set with Simon Gallup crashing through his bass strings for the climax of A Forest we headed back to the car minus Caroline. Ten minutes passed, then twenty:

"Do you think Caroline's alright?"
"Who knows?"
"She'll probably be in the medical tent "
"Guess they have a responsibility to look after her."
"Long drive back to Manchester isn't it?"
"Right, let's go."

That was how easy it was to convince ourselves that leaving Caroline in Finsbury Park on a Saturday night was absolutely the right thing to do. Adam turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared into life, he selected reverse gear at which point Caroline's face appeared at the window. "Hi Caroline, we saw you coming so thought we'd get the engine warmed up".  When Caroline and Jay got married years later this story was brought up in the best man's speech and I think Caroline thought we were joking. No, I'm afraid we were really that selfish and irresponsible.

11th July 2019 - All The Way to Faro

We booked the tickets for the NOS Alive festival in Lisbon before we knew the line up and in all honesty it's a bit underwhelming. The acts I have on my wishlist are: Weezer, Mogwai, The Cure, Hot Chip, Primal Scream, Johnny Marr, Vampire Weekend, Grace Jones, Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever, Idles, Bon Iver, Smashing Pumpkins, Thom Yorke and The Chemical Brothers. To be fair that's a lot of talent and should keep me going.

There's a lot of bands that I'm assuming are Portuguese and whilst it doesn't pay to be prejudiced, I can't think of one Portuguese musical act of note. Typically, some of the bands I want to see clash and I'm still debating if to see Primal Scream or Johnny Marr. I have brought my Johnny Fuckin Marr t-shirt with me and it might look a bit odd if I'm wearing it whilst watching the Scream and Johnny's playing on the other stage at the same time. Probably go for Primal Scream as not seen them live for a few years and get round the t-shirt problem by ingeniously not wearing it.

Ruth and I are mid air currently, heading towards Faro where we have a few hours before getting a coach to Lisbon. Steve and Juls are already there and we are all staying in a chalet on a campsite that is apparently the size of a dog kennel. Should be fun as Steve snores like a rhino.

25/26 - A Certain Ratio and Shadowparty @ Yes, MCR. 25/05/19

Jay enjoyed ACR so much last December that he asked if I wanted to go and watch them at Yes in Manchester. I've never been to Yes before and it is just over the road from the infamous Factory Records offices on Charles Street. The offices, or a recreation of them, can be seen in the 24 Hour Party People film and it had a zinc roof and a suspended table that apparently cost £30 000, all but bankrupting the company.

ACR, who of course were a Factory band originally, were celebrating their 40th anniversary with a weekend of gigs at Yes and we bagged tickets for the Friday night with Shadowparty supporting. Shadowparty are made up of members of Devo and New Order but I was never a fan of Devo and thought them insincere, art school cartoon pranksters. Neil Young loved them though!  Conversely, New Order are my all time favourite band.  They weren't bad and did have a glamorous and talented keyboard player who didn't benefit from being obscured by four slightly overweight, middle aged denim clad men.

I have started to notice a theme when I go out with Jay, that I can barely remember the gigs as we've consumed too much alcohol. I do recall enjoying ACR but thinking they weren't as good as when we saw them at Gorilla, Ruth was there though. Interestingly the gig was on my mum's birthday, which is also Paul Weller's birthday. I'm a bit concerned that I knew that (that it was Weller's birthday rather than my mother's).

24 - J Mascis @ Gorilla, Manchester 19/05/2019

I finally made the move to Todmorden after a few of the most stressful months of my life. Not been able to get to many gigs lately and missed some events that I'd bought tickets for as I was so worn out. I gave Say Sue Me, Luke Vibert and Andrew Weatherall a miss. I did get to see/hear Stephen Morriss from New Order being interviewed by Dave Haslam at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge whilst promoting his new book. He was very humorous and a natural storyteller but I must have heard every story there is to tell about Joy Division/New Order now. There was a time when their elusiveness was part of their enigmatic charm though better out than in I guess. Predictably during the Q&A section people asked questions about Ian Curtis. I'm not a big fan of the romanticism of those that die young, much more interesting to hear about living life to the maximum.

I did however get to see J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr at my second home: Gorilla Manchester. I saw Dinosaur Jr at the Albert Hall in Manchester in March 2018 at what was quite possibly the loudest gig I've ever been to. His solo show was an altogether more tranquil experience with just J, his acoustic guitar and an array of effects. He had a noticeable beer belly which might not be your typical rock 'n' roll apparatus but it does look handy for balancing a guitar on. A beer belly was also being adorned by the bass player of The Charlatans at Glastonbury the other week so perhaps they are all the rage for aging rock stars.

It was a really enjoyable gig and J used a loop effect to repeat the rhythm whilst he played lead over it. I didn't recognise any of the songs other than a cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven which he closed the set with. I remember being at the Reading festival in the early 90s and John Peel kept attempting to play Dinosaur Jr's version of this song but it kept stopping after about a minute for some reason. Rather than giving up and playing another song he kept telling the crowd he would battle on until he played the whole song, which I think he eventually did. John Peel reading out the football results on the Saturday was an essential service in those pre-internet days and this was before music festivals became the mainstay they are today. You could just rock up on the day and buy tickets. We saw bands as big as Nirvana and New Order without pre bought tickets, not much chance of that happening these days (especially with Nirvana [unless they reformed with a hologram Kurt] {could you imagine?}). 

Speaking of The Cure, they were amazing headlining Glastonbury this year which unfortunately I only got to watch on the TV, but fortunately I'm seeing them at NOS Alive in Lisbon tonight.

Incoming

My favourites for "Bluedot 2019" are: Friday, Jul. 19 • Hot Chip • Jon Hopkins • Kelly Lee Owens • Mark Radcliffe's Une • Ruthie • Squid Saturday, Jul. 20 • 808 State • Barney Artist • Clangers 50th Anniversary: Screening + Q&A • Clangers DJ Set • Daniel Miller [DJ Set] • David Attenborough's Jungle Boogie • Easy Star All-Stars Performing Dub Side of the Moon • Jarvis Cocker [Introducing JARV IS] • Kraftwerk 3-D • TVAM Sunday, Jul. 21 • Derrick Carter's Cosmic Disco • DJ Food 'O is for Orange' • Gruff Rhys • Jerry Dammers [DJ Set] • John Grant • The Lucid Dream • New Order • The Orielles favourites generated from the mobile app available here: http://essaie.ca/app/bluedot-2019