Tag: British rock

Live music galleries: Mumford & Sons [2013]

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date May 23, 2023
2 Comments on Live music galleries: Mumford & Sons [2013]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Mumford and Sons @ Osheaga 2013

Artist: Mumford & Sons
When: August 4th, 2013
Where: River stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: Ten years ago this summer, I attended Montreal’s Osheaga arts and music festival with my good friends Tim and Mark. It was an unforgettable weekend and we saw countless amazing performances over the festival’s three days. I’ve already posted photos* from some of the weekend’s sets and plan to share a few more of these in the months leading up to this year’s edition, which I will sadly not be attending. Some of these posts will have fewer photos than my normal galleries, including today’s, but this should not be taken to be indicative of the quality of the performances, but of the difficulty of obtaining quality pics while being so completely in the moment.

If I am being completely honest here, we didn’t stick around for Mumford and Sons’ whole festival-ending set. After all the excitement of New Order just beforehand and all the rest of the great sets we had seen that weekend, the British indie folk outfit felt a bit anticlimactic. They had just released their second album and were still on top of the world so they had amassed a huge crowd for their set and they were right into it. Live, the group really does the high energy thing well but they sounded just a little too slick. As Tim quipped: “They’re pretty good. They sound just like they do on the albums.” After the first few songs, though, the allure of sitting down in a pub and drinking something other than Molson Canadian or Coors Light was just too great.**
Point of reference song: “I will wait”

Winston Marshall on banjo

Ben Lovett and Marcus Mumford

Ted Dwane and Winston Marshall

Marcus Mumford

*Past galleries from this festival weekend have included the following:

**I’ll be getting a second chance at catching a whole set by Mumford this summer at this year’s Bluesfest.

Tags British rock, Folk Rock, Indie, Indie folk, Live, Live music, Mumford And Sons, Music festival, Osheaga

Vinyl

Vinyl love: Blur “The special collector’s edition”

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date April 23, 2023
5 Comments on Vinyl love: Blur “The special collector’s edition”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Blur
Album Title: The special collector’s edition
Year released: 1994
Year reissued: 2023
Details: RSD 2023 reissue, 2 x LP, Light blue translucent

The skinny: Long gone are the days when I would set the alarm to wake up early, drive downtown, and queue up in a massive line at one of my favourite independent record stores for a chance at purchasing one of that year’s Record Store Day exclusives. In fact, there have been some years in the last handful where I haven’t even ventured out at all and instead, tried and generally succeeded at tracking down some of the exclusives online. This year, though, I decided to head out for the festivities* in person, albeit arriving at the respectable hour of 11 am, instead of 7:30 am, when the employees at the store I chose to visit opened up early to a ridiculous amount of waiting customers. I had my own eye out for a couple of the special releases and yesterday, found one of the two at Compact Music, and so after flipping through the rest of that store’s wares on the racks**, I returned home satisfied with my limited participation. Then, last night, I gave Blur’s “The special collector’s edition” a proper spin for the first time and quite enjoyed it. Originally released as a Japan-only release back in 1994, this b-sides collection, from what I would consider the best period of one of my favourite bands, featured some tracks with which I was already familiar*** but others that I had never at all heard before. For even more fun, the artwork plays upon magazine pull out adverts for collector’s edition memorabilia that I always though no one ever purchased. Twenty-four hours and two full spins later, I am still quite pleased with my Record Store Day purchase.

Standout track: “When the cows come home”

*Unlike last year when I went out a day afterwards and still found what I was looking for.

**And finding a non-RSD exclusive to bring home with me.

***Including the above tune, a hidden track on the CD copy I had of 1993’s “Modern life is rubbish”, and one of my favourites on that particular album.

Tags 12", Alternative, Alternative Rock, B-sides, Blue translucent, Blur, British rock, Britpop, Coloured vinyl, Compilation, Double LP, Indie, Record Store Day, RSD2023

Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Flogging Molly [2013]

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date April 20, 2023
4 Comments on Live music galleries: Flogging Molly [2013]

Flogging Molly @ Osheaga 2013

Artist: Flogging Molly
When: August 3rd, 2013
Where: River stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: Ten years ago this summer, I attended Montreal’s Osheaga arts and music festival with my good friends Tim and Mark. It was an unforgettable weekend and we saw countless amazing performances over the festival’s three days. I’ve already posted photos* from some of the weekend’s sets and plan to share a few more of these in the months leading up to this year’s edition, which I will sadly not be attending. Some of these posts will have fewer photos than my normal galleries, but this should not be taken to be indicative of the quality of the performances, but of the difficulty of obtaining quality pics while being so completely in the moment.

Flogging Molly was on the River stage mid-afternoon on the second day of the festival and the three of us were unanimous in not wanting to miss it. Like the Dropkick Murphys, when I saw them two years beforehand, I knew this band’s set would be worth seeing, despite not being all that familiar with their material. Frontman Dave King set the tone early in the set with a raucous, “Alright you bastards!”, and then taking a big swig off his Irish breakfast (aka Guinness). Mining the Celtic punk sound made famous by The Pogues, they got the crowd all riled up and ready to party. After their set, Tim remarked that should have waited to have breakfast with them (referring to the singer’s can of Guinness) and Mark’s response was that he would “love a f@*king drink with Flogging Molly”. Good times indeed.
Point of reference song: “Don’t shut ’em down”