W♥M

Blur at Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney (25 July 2015)

Blur Setlist Go Out There's No Other Way Lonesome Street Badhead Ghost Ship Coffee & TV Out of Time Beetlebum Thought I Was a Spaceman Trimm Trabb Tender Trouble in the Message Centre Parklife Ong Ong Song 2 Pyongyang To the End This Is a Low -- Encore -- Stereotypes Girls & Boys For Tomorrow The Universal Tour Dates 07/26/15 Splendour In The Grass (Sydney) 07/28/15 Melbourne, Australia Rod Laver 07/30/15 Perth, Australia Perth Arena 09/05/15 Electric Picnic 10/07/15 Santiago, Chile Movistar Arena 10/11/15 Buenos Aires Tecnopolis 10/15/15 Mexico City Palacio De Los Deportes 10/20/15 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl 10/23/15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Read More Blur Blur drummer Dave Rowntree would like very much to prove that adage wrong, as according to NME, he'll run as a Labour Party candidate for the local council election in his Marylebone …

"Sorry we haven't been back sooner, Sydney"...."18 years!". Hang on a second... it has been 18 years since Blur played the Hordern Pavilion (that's 1997 for those who need some friendly Sunday morning maths assistance).

After the release of The Magic Whip (first album since Think Tank was released in 2003), this world tour sees Blur play Australia (including the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay) for the first time in 18 years!

Playing to a very nearly sold out crowd, Blur played a mixed bag from all eight of their albums, complete with backing singers and a four-piece (at least it looked like four from where I was standing) horn section. There's No Other Way, Trimm Trabb, Trouble in the Message Centre, Parklife, Coffee and TV and of course the crowd pleasing, Song 2; all the hits were played. (No Country House... but not sad about it)

As the tour is off the back of the release of The Magic Whip they unsurprisingly played a handful of songs form the new album. I'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but although I do love the album, songs like Go Out, Lonesome Street and Thought I Was a Spaceman, really didn't strike the same chord in me as the older songs did.

I could not pick a fault with the show in terms of musicality. Each song played faultlessly.... except for the moment at which Graham managed to land a forward roll (whilst playing guitar), but had to miss a few notes whilst readjusting his strap. Damon was his relentlessly energetic self, Alex (dressed only in a t-shirt and shorts... dude! It's winter here!) was having an amazing time strutting his stuff for the pleasure of everyone right of stage, Graham's guitar playing was executed seemingly effortlessly and Dave... well, he's still Dave (face obscured by cymbal for the whole show, but i assume his only changed minimally).

I would also like to mention how pleasant it actually was being in the crowd. It was a significant difference from my last Blur experience: being 17 and frantically trying to be as close to the front as I could be; almost dying of heat exhaustion (I can only imagine how revolting i must have looked to anyone caught a glimpse - not that I cared); and being intermittently saturated by Damon's endless supply of "crowd water".

These days "crowd water" is still being widely thrown, but I felt no jostling or pushing. Just people happy to be there. There was even a "celebrity" sighting or three; with the dudes from Top Gear hanging side of stage. Didn't Jeremy Clarkson get the boot from that show? Who knows... who cares? Anyway, I digress....

After a mammoth two-hour set, one of two things were obvious from Graham's cheeky smiles and other facial expressions during the encore (where they played some of the classic singles: Stereotypes; Girls and Boys; For Tomorrow; and ending on a slow tune with The Universal) that Graham was either jetlagged and ready for a nice sit down, or he had played those songs so many times before that he had gone into auto-pilot mode and his mind was completely elsewhere. Either way, I was not disappointed (which is clearly evident, because the nanna in me usually gets annoyed during the short wait before an encore and is half way home before the band has finished).

Oh.. and support act? Sorry Jamie T, but I had to drink some beers in a pub down the street whilst you were playing; but by all reports you were pretty good and if time machines were a thing, I'd definitely turn up earlier to watch you.

http://www.blur.co.uk

http://www.splendourinthegrass.com

http://jamie-t.com

[email protected]

Blur at Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney (25 July 2015)

sally ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

Britpop 2014: Damon Albarn, Shed Seven, and [email protected]

The celebration of Britpop at 20 years continues onto May 2014.

Everyday Robot Warner Bros. Read More Damon Albarn Damon Albarn playing for DirecTV. Very melancholy new material. One minus of shows like this is portions of the crowd have no clue who he is, or could care less … Britpop For all the month of April 2014, we are celebrating Britpop at 20. "Britpop at the BBC" ran for about two weeks so far, and recently (April 10th), they aired put …

DAMON ALBARN
damonalbarnmusic.com

As seen in a viral video, Damon Albarn recently sang Blur's "Parklife" in a rowdy pub. This is one of the big Britpop anthem song from 1994.

This was a smart move, at least on a promotional standpoint, because Albarn recently released his debut solo LP, Everyday Robot (which came out on April 29th.)

When asked about his more popular musical project, Gorillaz, Albarn had this to say, "I think there's a very good chance I'll make another Gorillaz record. I think there is, yeah. But you've got to understand, making a Gorillaz record doesn't require anybody else to do anything. I like making that kind of record. I love electro music – I haven't done a lot of it for a while, and I really enjoy that. It gives me an excuse to buy loads more weird and wonderful synthesizers, which is always a good thing."

Albarn on tour:

05/30/14 Bristol Trinity Centre
05/31/14 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
06/06/14 New York, NY Randall's Island
06/08/14 New York, NY Irving Plaza
06/09/14 Boston, MA Royale Nightclub
06/10/14 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live!
06/14/14 Bonnaroo Music
06/27/14 Down The Rabbit Hole
06/29/14 Malta Festival
06/30/14 Berlin, Germany Astra
07/01/14 Hamburg, Germany Grosse Freiheit 36
07/03/14 Rock Werchter Festival
07/04/14 Roskilde Festival
07/05/14 Nuits de Fourviere
07/06/14 Festival Beauregard
07/09/14 Days Off
07/12/14 Exit Festival
07/14/14 Brescia, Italy Teatro Il Vittoriale
07/15/14 Rome, Italy Cavea Auditorium Roma
07/17/14 Montreux Jazz Festival
07/19/14 Latitude Festival
07/26/14 Fuji Rock Festival

Let it Ride Polydor Ltd Shed Seven We were talking about Shed Seven and that they were still together (please see Cristina's article). At one point in the conversation, Mel got up and said, "I have to leave!" and storms out of the room. …

SHED SEVEN
shedseven.com

Britpopster Shed Seven were recently announced to be one of the "indie" headliner at Shrewsbury Fields Forever Festival 2014.

Festival Director, Dene Edwards, said: “Shed Seven are an absolutely fantastic live band. They were massive in the 90s during the Britpop era, they have been together for over two decades and are still firm favourites on the festival circuit. Rick has his own radio show which is proving very popular. They are one of those bands where when you are standing in a field singing along and dancing, you realise they had A LOT of hits and you know them all! We love to have bands of this size and strength performing at our festival. They are indicative of the genre and ethos we set out with. John Power of CAST and Superfood are two brilliant acts that we can't wait to see perform. John has such a strong and distinctive voice and both CAST and the LA’s were so influential to the music scene. Superfood are tipped to be massive. No one had really heard of The 1975 before last summer and they had a Number album just a week before performing at Shrewsbury Fields!"

t Wondering what Shed Seven's Rick Witter has been up to? He's a DJ on Disco Down at 104.7 Minster FM.

Shed Seven 2014 Tour

08/01/14 - 08/03/14 Pikehall, Derbyshire Y Not Festival
08/08/14 - 08/10/14 Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire Lakefest
08/24/14 Southsea, Portsmouth Victorious Festival
08/29/14 - 08/31/14 Bingley, Yorkshire Bingley Music Live
09/12/14 - 09/14/14 Shrewsbury Fields Forever Festival 2014

Crash '14 Nuisance Recordings and Post/Pop Records

[email protected]
menswearband.com

Nuisance Recordings and Post/Pop Records recently released [email protected]'s first single since 1996, called Crash '14. Originally the song was a b-side to We Love You, but the song (Johnny Dean's favorite [email protected] song) got re-worked and re-recorded with a new lineup.

Crash '14 will be out May 26th as a special limited 7" and limited cassette. You can pre-order it at postpoprecords.com.

Preview the song at soundcloud.com.



[email protected] Upcoming Dates:

06/05/14 Bristol Louisiana
06/07/14-06/08/14 Sportbeat Festival, Gloucester
08/24/14 Victorious Festival, Portsmouth

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Britpop At 20

Britpop at Maida Vale Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq Read More Britpop April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, so all month we're dedicating our show to the wonderful movement. NOTE: This was originally shot on video, so if you want the visuals …

For all the month of April 2014, we are celebrating Britpop at 20. "Britpop at the BBC" ran for about two weeks so far, and recently (April 10th), they aired put a new original 30 minute compilation special called Britpop at Maida Vale. This program includes Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq presenting original live performances from Damon Albarn, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Gaz Coombes, and Josh Record (who?!?).

Damon Albarn performed Blur's "For Tomorrow" and "This is a Low", Ellis-Bextor covered of Pulp's "Do You Remember the First Time", Coombes' performed Supergrass' "Caught by the Fuzz", and Josh Record cover Cast's "Walkaway".

If you live in the UK, you can access the program via iPlayer or on the web.

Steve, Louise, and Jo

In other Britpop coverage, check out Sleeper's Louise Wener on BBC Radio 2. Listened to an excerpt. Again, if you live in the states, you're not allowed to listen or watch their programming. Boo to the BBC.

The bbc.com reports that "Common People" by Pulp was the #1 Britpop anthem (as voted by fans), followed by "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve and "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis. Personally, I would have also ranked Elastica's "Connection" and even Sleeper's "Inbetweener" or Echobelly's "King Of The Kerb".... but there were no "female-fronted bands" on the Top 10 list. What gives? Even the Bluetones and Ash made it. I don't even like top lists, but maybe if I feel inspired at the end of April, I will put together a Britpop W♥M Mixtape for you.

Speaking of Echobelly, they are now called Calm of Zero. The duo (Sonya Aurora Madan and Glenn Johansson) announced that they're reissuing Echobelly's first two albums (Everyone's Got One and On) with extra tracks and extra discs full of previously unreleased material. Well worth looking into if you never got the albums the first time around... they are both very excellent albums. All pre-orders will guarantee autographs from both Sonya and Glenn.

Anyway, I've been really pleased at all the Britpop coverage in the media. As a fan of the music movement the first time around, I hope this new generation will like what they hear and be inspired by this short-lived music genre.

As Jarvis Cocker would put it, "Do you remember the first time? I can't remember a worse time."

Sophie Ellis-Bextor remembers the first time...

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Chrisbritpopher writes:
Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 04:25 AM

...The Maida Vale vid isn't a show that was "aired" as such - basically Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq did 5 Britpop special radio shows, each one had someone in doing a live cover version, these were filmed, and have just been added in to the single compilation of cover sessions. In fact they only showed a single thing on TV - this: Britpop at the BBC

Shame really. They could have put a load of Glastonbury stuff up from 94-95, but copyright would all be owned by Channel 4 (who were covering it at that time), not the BBC, so guess they couldn't afford to do that.

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell (36 mins) Read More Britpop April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, according to BBC6 and Radio 1. This whole month, we are devoting W♥M Radio to our love of Britpop. …

April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, so all month we're dedicating our show to the wonderful movement.

NOTE: This was originally shot on video, so if you want the visuals, you'll have to see it on YouTube. Because of YouTube's overly aggressive copyright policies, the music portion was taken out. Absolutely no thanks to Geffen Records.

Here's the Britpop timeline for consideration:

Suede: Suede (Mar 1993); Dog Man Star (Mar 1995)

Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish (May 1993); Parklife (Apr 1994)

Pulp: His n Hers (Apr 1994); Different Class (Oct 1995)

Lush: Split (Jun 1994)

Echobelly: Everyone's Got One (Jul 1994)

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Aug 1994); Morning Glory (Oct 1995)

S*M*A*S*H: Self Abused (Sep 1994)

Shed Seven: Change Giver (Sep 1994)

Sleeper: Smart (Jan 1995)

Elastica: Elastica (Mar 1995)

Salad: Drink Me (May 1995)

These Animal Men: (Come on Join) The High Society (May 1995)

Gene: Olympian (Mar 1995)

Supergrass: I Should Coco (May 1995)

Cast: All Change (Oct 1995)

Bluetones: Expecting to Fly (Feb 1996)

Marion: This World and Body (Feb 1996)

Space: Spiders (Sep 1996)

Ash: 1977 (Jun 1996)

60ft Dolls: The Big 3 (Jan 1997)

Catatonia: International Velvet (Feb 1998)

Here is the video:

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Oasis at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco (04/13/1996)

Tour Poster Setlist The Swamp Song Acquiesce Supersonic Hello Some Might Say Roll With It Morning Glory Cigarettes & Alcohol Champagne Supernova Noel Gallagher's Acoustic Set Slide Away Cast No Shadow Whatever (Ending with Octopus's Garden) Wonderwall Don't Look Back in Anger Live Forever I Am the Walrus (The Beatles cover) setlist from: setlist.fm Read More Oasis Internet time moves so quickly. If I had mentioned something about Noel Gallagher quitting Oasis on Friday, that would've been accepted. But it's been three days later and now I feel like people …

Twenty years ago, Oasis released "Supersonic" (April 1994), their first single. It was brilliant and the band quickly became the face of Britpop.

I interviewed Liam Gallagher for KFSR 90.7 FM in Sacramento, California (September 27, 1994). They weren't that well-known back then, and you can easily approach any of the band members and talk to them.

Definitely Maybe (Autographed)

As I mentioned in the podcast, Noel Gallagher flat-out refused to sign my Definitely Maybe CD (which hadn't officially been released in America yet, but we got a promo copy for the radio station). Anyway, their tour manager persuaded Noel (basically forced him), and he eventually signed the album.

Later that evening, after the interview and watching their soundcheck, we caught the band at Melarky's, with opener Trace (which I think we missed them because we grabbed dinner).

As I recall, we only stayed about half way because this was a school night and we had about a three hour's drive back to Fresno. But it was worth it to get to meet Oasis in the flesh. Songs on their full set were: "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Columbia", "Fade Away", "Digsy's Dinner", "Shakermaker", "Live Forever", "Bring It on Down", "Up in the Sky", "Slide Away", " Cigarettes & Alcohol", "Married With Children", "Supersonic", and "I Am the Walrus".

A few years later, I would see the band again, fresh off their massive hit song, "Wonderwall". I bought tickets for both San Francisco and Los Angeles shows, but unfortunately, the LA show was cancelled due to Liam's illness.

Thankfully, we got refunds and it wasn't a full loss because I did see their full show at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on April 13, 1996, with Third Eye Blind as opener. I'm not entirely sure if I actually showed up early enough to catch that band (as I was not a fan).

The thing about the SF show was that the venue was much, much, much larger than their Sacramento show in 1994. In fact, I was standing next to a guy at the balcony and he brought binoculars (which, at my young age, had never seen anyone with binoculars to see a show).

I'm sure their setlist is well documented, but from my memory, they did a great cover version of "I Am The Walrus" as a closer to their set, which had the entire audience singing along to the "cuck-koo-ca-choo" part. You had to be there.

Oh yes, there was a middle break with just Noel on acoustic, as the band all rest up in the back stage.

After heading back to the dance floor, which was extremely crowded, I had lost my Timex watch! When the show was over, I spent the entire time looking at the floor for my watch. I found it, and it was still working after being stomped on by Oasis fans. Since then, Timex was always my choice of watch (although I will confessed that my current watch is a Casio because of the solar power technology).

That's my story (morning glory) with Oasis. I never caught the band again, and by 2009, the band had split. According to Noel, they broke up because his brother, Liam attacked him (and could have killed him) over a disagreement about Liam's clothing line advertised in the Oasis program book. I haven't heard Liam's side of the story, but this story sounds plausible.

Anyway, these days, Oasis are divided between the two brothers. Liam with Beady Eye and Noel with the High Flying Birds. Unfortunately, based on the brother's bitter history, I do not think they will re-unite as Oasis, despite all the rumors.

Oasis at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco (04/13/1996) Ticket Stub

vu ♥ weheartmusic.com

W♥M212: Britpop in the USA

W♥M212: Britpop in the USA (53 mins) Read More Britpop The second part of the show is all about British magazines. We touch on some of these: Select Magazine, Q Magazine, Vox, NME, Melody Maker, The Face, Word, Uncut Magazine, Mojo …

April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, according to BBC6 and Radio 1.

This whole month, we are devoting W♥M Radio to our love of Britpop.

Vu and John discuss the story of Britpop, the short-lived movement from 1993 to 1997.

pre-Britpop

Start of Britpop

Important album: Blur's Parklife (Apr 1994)

Britpop in Mainstream

Britpop "Time Line"

Suede: Suede (Mar 1993); Dog Man Star (Mar 1995)

Blur: Parklife (Apr 1994)

Pulp: His n Hers (Apr 1994); Different Class (Oct 1995)

Echobelly: Everyone's Got One (Jul 1994)

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Aug 1994); Morning Glory (Oct 1995)

Sleeper: Smart (Jan 1995)

Elastica: Elastica (Mar 1995)

Gene: Olympian (Mar 1995)

Supergrass: I Should Coco (May 1995)

Cast: All Change (Oct 1995)

Death of Britpop

Politics: Labour Party was elected

Record labels merging in 1997

Oasis: Be Here Now (Aug 1997)

Death of Princess Diana

Life after Britpop

There are a lot of exciting new British bands emerging and making it big in the U.S.A... including the 1975

Most of the old 90s Britpop bands are no longer around, but the few surviving ones are worth checking out if you've never seen/heard of them.

BONUS: A bunch of Britpop-era bands and snippets of music.

Vu and Select Magazine (Apr 1993)

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vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M206: Britpop SXSW

W♥M206: Britpop SXSW (51 mins) Read More Honeyblood In the meantime, some news on the opening band, Honeyblood, I wanted to share. The duo had a car breakdown in North Dakota, while driving from Seattle to Minneapolis. …

Brody, Orlando, and Michael are our guests on W♥M Radio!

Three old dudes waxing nostalgic on 90s bands, while Brody struggles to bring us back to SXSW.

Orly and Michael are hosts of Music for Listeners radio, they have a three-day SXSW day party coming up (lineup details below).

Here are some topics we talked about:

The secret reasons why Orly and Michael book shows: 'so bands comes to us'.

How the two met: at a Lush/Ride show.

Radio hero John Peel, RIP (1939-2004)

Britpop bands (Radiohead, Oasis, Lush, James, Verve)

Spotlighting some bands on the Music for Listeners showcase

Whatever happened to the Inspiral Carpets?

Tips for booking bands

British bands and their VISA problems

Guest Programmers/DJs (Wedding Present, Fanfarlo, Art Brut)

The Cribs

The Stone Roses

Temples

The story behind Sleeper's cover of "Atomic".

Song of the show is Honeyblood's "Choker".

Music For Listeners and the El Chile Group have announced their six straight unofficial SXSW day party. This year will be held at El Sapo on 1900 Manor Road. Details on musicforlisteners.com.

Here is the current lineup (all acts subject to change):

Music For Listeners poster

Thursday, March 13, 2014
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM -- AM Transistor Ghost (San Antonio, Texas)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM -- Thoughts Detecting Machines (Normal, Illinois)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM -- The Melodic (London, United Kingdom)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM -- Chalk and Numbers (Brooklyn, New York)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM -- Eros and the Eschaton (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM -- Blessin' (Denton, Texas)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM -- Withered Hand (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Selected cuts in between bands provided by MFL - (San Antonio, TX)

Friday, March 14, 2014
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM -- The Crookes (Sheffield, United Kingdom)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM -- Triptides (Bloomington, Indiana)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM -- September Girls (Dublin, Ireland)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM -- PINS (Manchester, United Kingdom)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM -- Traams (Chichester, United Kingdom)
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM -- Dead Gaze (Oxford, Mississippi)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM -- Honeyblood (Glasgow, Scotland)
Selected cuts in between bands provided by DJ Apollo (San Antonio, TX)

Saturday, March 15, 2014
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM -- Like Swimming (Stockholm, Sweden)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM -- Thumpers (London, United Kingdom)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM -- She Sir (Austin, Texas)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM -- Glitches (London, United Kingdom)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM -- Sweet Baboo (Cardiff, Wales)
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM -- Gulp (Cardiff, Wales)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM -- Slow Down Molasses (Saskatoon, SK)
Selected cuts in between bands provided by Heff-Ra - (San Antonio, TX)

BONUS: Pixies opened up for Throwing Music, plus Breeders (the deal with Kim & Kelly Deal), Kirsty Maccoll's Walking Down Madison, Favorite SXSW memory: Vu stalking Jeremy Jay and Brody dancing to Jonquil "with those beautiful girls", Alan McGee: 'that guy who signed Oasis', and Deaf Club.

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Echobelly at the Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco (12/08/1994)

Vu's Echobelly CD Collection Read More Echobelly Oh thank god, it already has an image! ... ok, Echobelly. Vu's blogged em before, hell I've blogged em before, but I've taken a distinct liking to one of the b-sides off their Great Things single.…

Echobelly was one of those bands that got away. I only saw them semi-live, and I'll explain that after their introduction.

As you know, I'm a big Echobelly fan. Like many bands of this era, I discover by reading Melody Maker and Select Magazine. I remember reading how, early in their career, that Morrissey came around to their apartment to meet them because he heard singer Sonya Madan and guitarist Glenn Johansson were massive fans. It's also kind of evident that Morrissey liked the band's songs as well (otherwise he probably wouldn't have bothered to meet them).

Early Echobelly songs were usually great pop songs, with a bent on women's rights. "Give Her a Gun" and "Father Ruler King Computer" all had elements of empowering women to break free from their oppression.

By the time their debut album Everybody's Got One (EGO) came out in 1994, they seemed to be on top of the world. They even signed on Debbie Smith from Curve, as an extra guitarist on their tour.

The nearest city (from Fresno) that Echobelly was playing was at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Also on the bill was Jale and Velocity Girl. I was a fan of all three bands, so I was really determined to make it to this gig - the only problem was that I was underage at that time, and the show was 21 and over.

Bellyache (Autographed) Pandemonium Records

Mel and I took the long drive to SF to hopefully sneak me in. We manage to catch Echobelly and Jale on their soundchecks. I met Sonya & Glenn and got them to sign their first EP, Bellyache, which I had to pay import prices for. The bonus was that I even got to saying hi to Jale and later met up with Debbie at the bar. She commented on my Morrissey T-shirt (which was handmade by a pen pal).

I'll get to the sad news, the bar would not admit me in for the actual show. So, Mel gave me her car keys and told me to meet back in a few hours. I sort of got a little lost (hey, this is before GPS, you know) and almost got into a car accident. I ended up sitting around at a donut place for a few hours and met back at the bar.

Mel tells me on the drive home that there were marriage proposals for Sonya from some men in the audience. There was a lot of audience interactions and it sounded like a good show. Even though I never actually saw Echobelly for a real show, I was happy to have attempted to see them.

On the same EGO tour, Echobelly stopped at MuchMusic in Toronto for some promotional live in studio earlier in the month. The photograph below was taken by my pen pal Linh, to show you what I had imagined only in my head of how they looked when they played at that stupid 21+ dive bar in San Francisco.

UPDATE: Glenn & Sonya are now called Calm of Zero. They did an acoustic Echobelly tour last year (2013) and have written a ton of new songs.

Echobelly at MuchMusic, Toronto (11/24/1994) photo by Linh

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Suede: Coming Up Tour 1997

Suede at Fillmore Poster artist: Jason Winters Suede at Fillmore (ticket stub) San Francisco (05/23/1997) May 23, 1997 Setlist She Trash Heroine Animal Nitrate By the Sea So Young Lazy The Wild Ones Saturday Night Starcrazy New Generation Picnic by the Motorway Europe Is Our Playground Beautiful Ones -- Encore -- Filmstar The 2 of Us setlist courtesy of setlist.fm Read More Suede I'm sorry, but I will never refer to Suede as "The London Suede", which they are known in the U.S. It's nice to see that the band is doing well with their release of Bloodsports, out earlier in March 2013 on their own label. …

Second only to Morrissey and the Smiths, Suede (or as they are known in the U.S. as The London Suede) was my then-all-time favorite band. Even Morrissey had to bow down, covering Suede's "My Insatiable One" on his live set.

Select Magazine (Apr 1993) EMAP Metro

I was a massive fan, following their career through various newspaper and magazine covers, starting in 1992. By the time they appeared on the infamous Britpop cover on Select Magazine, published 1993, I knew the band was going to massive.

I'm almost sure I did not attend their debut U.S. tour in 1993 on account that I was still in high school and I could not leave my city to travel to Los Angeles to see the band.

Suede at FNAC Forum, Paris (11/26/1993) photograph by Mark

Instead, I heard about their Paris show from my friend Mark, who saw them on their debut tour in France. Prior to their actual concert, Suede did an acoustic and meet & greet at FNAC Forum in Paris. The four songs they played were "Dolly", "High Rising", "Animal Nitrate", and "Still Life".

Suede at Fillmore (03/05/1995) photos: Vu

I did eventually saw the band for their Dog Man Star tour in 1994-1995. I actually had forgotten all about it, but Melinda reminded that I was at the show with her Rescue Me From This Hollywood Life! article. I remember that I was on a balcony, and I heard the intro song "Introducing the Band" before Brett Anderson and company took the stage. I never saw original guitarist Bernard Butler, but this tour featured new guitarist Richard Oakes.

Suede at El Rey (05/21/1997) ticket stub Suede at El Rey (05/22/1997) ticket stub

By the time Suede came back to the U.S. for their Coming Up in 1997, we (Mel & I) bought tickets to see them on all their California dates, which included two shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Richard Oakes was the new guitarist, and they still did some old Butler songs (in particular "So Young" and "Animal Nitrate"), which I was happy with. "New Generation", the live version, was quite different in terms of lyrics by the time it had made its way on CD single. I'm going to assume that their setlist were basically the same, although I couldn't tell you for sure since only the Fillmore setlist is available online. There are bootlegs of their Los Angeles shows, but obviously, I don't have a copy to verify what were played.

I believe the Longpigs opened up for all the dates on this 1997 tour. Note that the poster misspelled the name as "Long Pigs". The British band was riding the coattails of Britpop in the mid-90s, but eventually broke up in 2000. A "greatest hits" album called On And On (The Anthology) was released last Summer, and singer/songwriter Crispin Hunt can be found on various projects, including working for Ellie Goulding, Florence and The Machine, Ron Sexsmith, and most recently, co-wrote songs with Jake Bugg (who I saw in Minneapolis last month).

Suede, of course, is still around, probably just as popular with their diehard fans as ever. They reformed in 2009 and released a new album called Bloodsports last year. Their shows (mostly in the UK) have been quite successful, but unfortunately there are no plans on touring in the U.S.

Suede: Coming Up Tour 1997 promotional flyer

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Ash at the Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco (01/30/14)

Robin sent in this photo of Tim Wheeler (of Ash) at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. The Irish band is currently on tour in the U.S. leading up to their Weezer Cruise in mid-February. Setlist photo: Robin The show was presented by Popscene, a Britpop nightclub named after a Blur's song, and features Deaf Havana and Popscene DJs as warmup acts. As expected (since their last appearance in Minneapolis), Ash played a ton of hits from their 1977 album ... well, that is, except for Robin's favorite "Angel Interceptor", which was not played. Ash's tour dates: 01/31/14 Los Angeles CA, The Echo 02/01/14 San Diego CA, The Casbah 02/02/14 Phoenix AZ, Obscura @ Rips 02/04/14 Dallas TX, Cambridge Room 02/05/14 Austin TX, Stubbs Bar-B-Q 02/06/14 Houston TX, Fitzgerald's Downstairs 02/07/14 New Orleans LA, One Eyed Jacks 02/08/14 Little Rock AR, Juanita's Cafe & Bar 02/10/14 Nashville TN, Mercy Lounge 02/11/14 Birmingham AL, The Bottletree 02/13-17/14 The Weezer Cruise, United States Read More Ash We are longtime Ash fans at W♥M so I'm happy to announce that the Irish band will be doing a US 2014 tour leading up to their appearance on The Weezer ... vu ♥ weheartmusic.com photo by robin