GIGS I MISSED IN 2010

I love going to gigs.

There will be a posting over Xmas/New Year which will boast about how many different Glasgow venues I've paid into to see bands over the years - there were a few new ones added this past 12 months as well.

But sometimes, for very good reasons, I don't make it along. Sometimes I'm a bit slow off the mark and don't get a ticket in time and decide I wont pay over the odds via a tout. On other occasions, two or more potentially great shows will be in town on the same night and its impossible to be in two places at once. Sometimes I will have a ticket that I just don't end up using for some reason or another - it might be I'm a bit under the weather, that work has to take priority, that travelling to the gig proves difficult or I'm just too plain tired to make the effort.

Here's just a few I'm annoyed at missing this past 12 and a bit months:-

Malcolm Middleton - Glasgow Oran Mor, December 2009 (I was on holiday)
Frightened Rabbit - Glasgow ABC, December 2009 (No trains cos of bad weather)
Tindersticks - Edinburgh Queens Hall, March 2010 (too tired to travel through)
James Grant/Friends Again - Glasgow City Halls, June 2010 (away on holiday)
Airborne Toxic Event - Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre, October 2010 (too slow to get ticket)
iLIKETRAiNS - Glasgow ABC, October 2010 (family reasons)
Lloyd Cole - Glasgow Friuitmarket, October 2010 (family reasons)
Meursault - Glasgow Stereo, November 2010 (too bloody tired!!!)
The National - Glasgow Academy, November 2010 (family reasons)
The Wedding Present - Glasgow QMU, December 2010 (too busy at work that day and next)
Paul Smith - Glasgow, Classic Grand, December 2010 (hurt my ribs in a fall and scared I'd damage them further)
Arcade Fire, Glasgow SECC, December 2010 (see reason for Paul Smith)

The list is by no means exhaustive - they were just the ones that sprung to mind most easily.

It was missing The National that hurt more than anything. I didn't originally have a ticket, but Comrade Colin found one for me via a friend of his - and I was getting it at face value as well (not like the pair in the photo above which went for £90 incl postage via ebay.....I really hate how that site has legitimised touting).

I had no choice but to miss it. It clashed with being in Ireland attending the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the sudden death of my brother in a car crash earlier this year. What was particularly painful is that three years ago, when I was living in Toronto for a few months, I had a ticket for The National but was unable to go along as an emergency at work meant I had to work through the night. So that's been twice I've missed what by all accounts have been blinding gigs....I just think I'm fated never to see them.

And I do think High Violet is one of the albums of 2010.....

mp3 : The National - Afraid Of Everyone

Oh and I dont know how I can sleep easily at night when I think that I missed out on the Bizarro anniversary tour:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Crushed

The only thing that consoles me is that I did get to more quite astonishing show than the ones I missed. Including three shows in the past 5 days......which I'll try and write about tomorrow.