i'm actually writing this the thursday after, but last bank holiday weekend i went to dot2dot in nottingham as i did last year and it was pretty fun
that friday i agree'd to go see a band of a friend of a friend of a friend. so after the king of time keeping finally arrived on my street a couple hours later, we found ourselves 5 man deep in a yaris, barelling adauciously towards stamford. seems like a nice place tbf (didn't get into spoons since the aforementioned rex temporis forgot his incessus licentia).
the gig was pretty sick.
a pub cellar packed with more 20-somethings than regulation would reccomend, bounced and spun to indie rock anthems until we were forced to stick our head out the back door for a bit of welcome fresh air. fire alarms wailed at what I assume was the human condensation cloud hovering above us.
and we barelled home again...
feeling a bit worse for wear, i spent the day doing nothing very well, and feeling bad about it. games night at toms in the evening where we watch mr bean, and played exactly 0 games after my switch wouldn't work and sitting through Tenet (2020), the plot of which totally alluded me. "what are they saying?? idk what's going on man"
hooo boy lets go. well, actually i didn't really feel up to it. the thought of the quantity of small talk i'd have to make to the great crowd of peers i knew were going, scared me. but suprisingly, most of that dissipated as i immediately recognised a friendly face, queued for my wristband outside rock city, and nipped to spoons to rondevous with the rest of the gaggle
okay, enough of the superfluous, what was i listening to?
well to warm up we saw Arcy Drive at the recently rebranded 'Palais' (Pryzm), a four peice from Northport, New York. they have a tune called 'Louie' so, ya kno. they seemed amused at least my the british gig goers who steadily grooved to songs they didn't know
i then missed Thistle who were playing at The Bodega, as they were at capacity, gutted. so i tagged along to see HoneyGlaze at rock city who i don't even remember, followed by the horrors, a band from the 2000s who i didn't really care about
surrounded by people i'd just met who i didn't really feel like talking to, i left on my own to 'Metronome' to see Pity Party Girls Club play to a crowd of maybe 100 people?
very aware that they hadn't been dealt a healiner spot, they put on a really entertaining show, playing all the songs i like
i ping ponged to Palais for a few minutes to hear Kate Bollenger before returning to see Japanese artist Kanekoayano play. she makes really good shoegazy noise rock, with improvised shreddy outros and the best bongo man i've ever witnessed. that guy was ride or die hitting things with other things
i actually found a few friends from down south in the crowd, who i had no idea would be there, and hung out with them for the rest of the night. a welcome break from the friends i kind of knew but didn't talk to much
now i'd been for some drinks with the southerners and seen a few more acts, i would've called it. but following an emergency spoons meeting, i'd been informed that the indie darlings Sports Team were playing at bodega at 1am, the same band i was seeing 11 hours later for a gig and signing.
undeterred by my waining mental capacity and ouchie feets, i pushed on and dragged my friend syd to the absolutely packed top floor of the pub. and waited like a cop on a stakeout.
i wasn't really feeling it, but i dragged myself to nottingham after not sleeping nearly enough.This time Alex Rice's gooey tones soothed my aching bones without me having my head bashed against the back wall of the venue. wahooo
i have a bit of a parasocial relationship with sports team. easy done i think when all your mates are keeping up with them too, reading the newsletters, going to the shows (that was my 4th of theirs), buying the limited edition socks
go listed to their new album too, it's good as.