Life Without the Net

It’s been years since I’ve been without the Internet at home. During those years I’ve no doubt become dependent on it for things I don’t even realise (just like when there’s a blackout and you run through a list of obscure things you can do to kill the time (that you otherwise wouldn’t bother doing) only to realise you actually require electric to do them).

Well, in the coming days/weeks I’m going to find out. Tomorrow (Friday) we move home and as a result my net access will be gone. Its only now that I’m writing this that I realise I probably should have been building up a small collection of books to help break up the TV viewing.

I also wonder how I’ll come out of it following the ‘net blackout’. In recent weeks and months I’ve almost become addicted to following tech news via sites like techmeme and bloggers such as Mike Arrington, Robert Scoble and Louis Gray. My Google Reader unread items is going to be huge with only my Blackberry to help me dent it. And its only in the past week that posting on the blog has become fun, what with people posting comments and all.

God forbid I may realise that I can actually live without the net. That would certainly free up some time, but it would be a real shame as I think I learn so much by just browsing it.

Anyway, see you on the other side…

A Wiki for Set Lists

At the end of my Elbow Set List post, I mentioned the idea of having a wiki for people to submit set lists for gigs. I assume such a site doesn’t exist as whenever I search for set lists I’ve never come across a site that is dedicated to the task. If I do find the set list I’m after, they usually show up on forums (if I’m lucky).

I mentioned in the post that it would be a tough task for anyone to create a wiki based set list site, as it would require a large number users to get anything useful going which would attract others to use and grow it.

After I wrote that post I gave it a little more thought. I took the theoretical site a step further. If you were to have a site dedicated to set lists submitted by fans you had just as well allow users to submit reviews for the gig as well – the two types of data are natural partners. I pretty much instantly dismissed that idea though on the grounds that last.fm already takes care of providing a means for fans to post reviews regarding gigs. What’s more, it’s got a pretty comprehensive list of gigs for that to run off of ……

Have you filled in the dots yet? Last.fm would be a great place to hold set lists! All the required supporting data is in place, its got a large user base and it already encourages users to update data on the site, whether that’s via a wiki, posting a journal or through other means. All it would take would be for the developers at last.fm to add a section for set lists to their page designed to document gigs and hopefully from their users will take control and populate the lists after the gigs.

The data itself has niche appeal, so all the more reason for piggy backing it on to something with large appeal: last.fm

Elbow Setlist – April 9th, 2008

This is the set list from the Elbow gig at Bristol’s Colston Hall on April 9th.

I realise this content appears elsewhere on the blog (in an update to another post), but I thought I’d give it a post of it’s own. Its the sort of content I search for on the web, so the easier I can make it for others to find, the better for people like me.

A tip of the hat to Elmoo over on last.fm

As an aside, it would be really handy if a Wiki was setup for setlists to be placed. I’ve been tempted to do it myself but I think it would be difficult to get going as it will require a large number of gig goers to get it going.

More Elbow Gig Reviews

As a follow up to my earlier Elbow review, and to backup just how special a gig it was, here are three more reviews of the show. Each of them get it and the band spot on:

Eep! – a blog
Jennifer Heidi’s Blog
This Is Bristol

Since reading these I’ve wanted to write more about the gig, as they’ve reminded me of things I’d forgotten, but you’d just as well read them as they say it all.

Elbow – Bristol Colston Hall, 9th April 2008

For me, one of the signs of a good gig is when you come out of it with a whole new appreciation for the band’s music. This is exactly what happened for me with Elbow.

I now hear The Seldom Seen Kid (their latest album) in a new light. The same applies to older songs such as Newborn (from their debut Asleep in the Back).

As I hoped, the show kicked off with the opener to The Seldom Seen Kid – Starlings – with the stage lighting up with every trumpet blast. This was followed by the second track on The Seldom Seen Kid, The Bones of You. Next up was the only real disapointment of the night for me. As my favourite Elbow track, I was really looking forward to Leaders of the Free World. And although it wasn’t a bad performance, it didn’t blow me away. That’s where the disapointments ended for the night.

As you’d come to expect after hearing his radio show on BBC 6Music , Garvey himself was a very down to earth, dry, extremely funny person, with excellent in between song banter. Pitting the stalls against the balcony, he generated an excellent atmosphere. The crowd was up for bantering with him, laying up some great responses from him. He was so quick off the mark at times it even left me wondering if they were planted. I highly doubt it though.

As the night went on, the atmosphere got better. The first big response was for recent single Grounds For Divorce. Given its slow plodding beat, the song has a superb energy about it. It felt like the whole room was encompassed by the sound.

Lead singer Guy Garvey’s voice is sublime, on the night sounding as though it had gone through hours of studio production. He effortlessly belts out song after song. Certain songs, such as set closer One Day Like This come alive when you see the passion put into it by Garvey. The slightly annoying strings rift in the background now takes on new meaning as the song sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest day of your life.

Other tracks benefiting from the live treatment are Newborn and The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver. The performance of Newborn reminded me of why I first associated Elbow with Pink Floyd. They gradually build the song up, moving from one section to another, eventually culminating in a mind blowing ending (think Mogwai ).

There is no other way to describe the live performance of The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver than magnificent. Garvey explained the story of the song, dryly dedicating it to all those in the audience who works in the heavy construction industry to much laughter. During the song the stage remained entirely green at all times, as the song grew and grew in intensity and emotion.

Before announcing the final song before the encore, he points out that its obvious that they are going to return, so he’d like to put a twist on it. He asks that we sing a song in return. Amongst the suggestions from the crowd is I’ve Got a Combine Harvester. He opts for this to much applause and laughter from the crowd.

The final (final) song of the night is Grace Under Pressure. Perhaps not as great live as it could be, its still extremely powerful.

I believe I’ve seen Elbow twice before (both at Glastonbury). On both occasions they didn’t exactly set my world on fire. Tonight however, is a different story. I look forward to seeing them again.

If anyone has the setlist for Weds night, please post a comment. Cheers.

UPDATE:

I posted this review on Last.fm and someone kindly posted a photo of the set list on there. I love the web!

The CDless Home

There has been a great deal of talk in the media these past few years about the CD becoming extinct due to the Internet and the fact music is freely available (or at the very least more convenient to get than a CD from Zavvi). Well, due to the fact we’re moving home I’ve been living that dream for the past few days, and let it be said that its not all that convenient. I should say now that I’m a big fan of the CD – or rather I’m a big fan of owning music you can hold – so I am bias.

As it stands, all my CDs are packed away ready for the move (which has now been moved back to next Thursday for those that are interested). I listen to music in about 4 different situations:

• When I’m out an about/in work on my iPod
• Sat at my PC using Winamp.
• When I have 10 minutes to kill whilst I’m at home (eg. getting ready)
• When I’m in the kitchen spuddling around. Its true!

The first two examples don’t come into this as they involve the iPod and Winamp, but its the second two that suffer. They are both examples of where I just need a quick fix for music and I don’t really want to have to boot up the PC or setup my iPod to play out on the Dolby Digital system down stairs. Its in those situations where i just want to grab a disc and put it on. No messing around.

You don’t realise how much you do this until you can’t do it. I’m now forced to listen to the radio in both situations. Sometimes that’s fine, other times its nice to have a choice.

So until the TV and stereos make it easy to just put a tune on, I think we still need CDs convenience’ sake.

Hello New World

Welcome to the latest incarnation of my blog. It started on Blogger, then on to my home server and now WordPress.com.

Why the latest move? I originally moved from Blogger to my home server as I wanted complete control over it. I wanted to integrate it seamlessly into my site. And I did just that. The problem is, the moment I completed doing that I realised that heck, people had found my old blog on Blogger and posted comments! I didn’t expect that at all.

I started this blog simply because I wanted an outlet for my views on music. Several times a day I hear a tune and want to tell someone about it. The blog enabled me to do just that. I didn’t expect anyone to read it. Just friends and by chance, family.

The reason people found my site was because of Technorati and the fact the Blogger blog followed certain standards. The one based on my server did not.

So here I am – standards and all. Maybe, just maybe someone will find this blog and might even find it of interest.

And “hi” to my family who’ve just thwarted yet another attempt by me to lose them.