…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead + Violent Soho @ The Zoo

When it comes to live music, I’m usually a ‘stay ’til the bitter end’ type of gig-goer.  For the most part I can never fathom why people would purposely walk out of a gig after only a few songs; maybe it’s just the optimist in me that hopes however bad it is it will get better, that the band might impress me, even if they only manage it in the last 30 seconds [Note: since drafting this post last week Swells has sadly died and whilst I think you’d be hard pushed to find a music fan he hadn’t managed to wind up and infuriate over the years, the vim and vigour which he approached his writing makes it a sad loss for music journalism].  I will admit to leaving The Drones opening of The Hi-Fi after only half a dozen songs due to its late starting, and I did leave Sloan’s show at The Globe last year well before the end, but it was 12:15am on a Thursday night when I left and I had a photo deadline as well as work on the Friday, but from memory the only show I’ve walked out of due to anything other than acute tiredness was a Spin Doctors show at Newcastle’s Riverside back in the early 1990s – they were so desperately dull and even some mid-show games of pinball at the back of the room couldn’t improve the sense of utter boredom from their workman-like, emotion-draining, insipid, early1990s college rock.

As much as I wanted to, I don’t stay for the whole of tonight’s Trail Of The Dead show, bailing about half-way through, the night another victim of a long day and getting up at 4am to watch the Barcelona football master-class in the Champion League Final.  It’s a sad excuse really as the Trail Of The Dead’s show is such a extreme case of sensory overload, both visually and aurally, that if they couldn’t keep me awake and alert then nothing would.

From a photographic point of view, I assume my normal position at the front stage left, although it means that I’m in a poor position for action shots but in a good place for the obligatory Rave portrait shot.  They definitely are a band that I would love to shoot from a photo pit.  And preferably on a day when I haven’t gotten up at 4am. 

Violent Soho supported, in their last gig before heading overseas and to Download.  Was an ok show from them but far from their best, with the band not as finely tuned as they normally are when playing shows more regularly.  The new songs they played at the Tym Guitars Zoo car park gig were given another airing and were a lot more intelligible than when they were played on the aurally abusing p.a. system they used in the car park. 

More photos on Flickr.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead

Violent Soho

One Response to “…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead + Violent Soho @ The Zoo”

  1. Nice work Ed! Thanks!

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