Gig - Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

On Monday night (after a heavy wekeend) I went to a gig at Koko with Andrew, Tony, Dan, Dan, Val, Bill & Tony's Polish friend whose name escapes me.

The headliners were Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, a politically minded electronic spoken word/rap duo from east London. Andrew, Tony & I had caught them another time opening for Billy Bragg.
The guys put on a really good show, they pull off a good mix of wit, politics & stage performance. Their stage set up was effectively the entire contents of somebody living room...

The opening acts were Producers with Computers and Gideon Conn. The former were borderline alright, I could see a bit of promise but they are obviously newbies to the whole performance thing.
Gideon Conn however, he was really entertaining, definitely one of most interesting acts I have seen in quite a while. His music is described as Folk / Hip Hop / Pop. I would through in the term Shoreditch eccentric as well, he definitely fits that mold. That being said he was very entertaining and I would like to see him again.

Good night out by all accounts, bring on the Hives on Friday!

BTW, no photos because I left my camera in my bag, which I checked in. Whoops

Madrid

A couple of weeks ago I made my first foray onto Spanish soil. My friend Betul & I went to Madrid for Easter weekend.
We skived off work on Thursday and caught the red eye flight from Gatwick to Madrid. Our hostel 'Los Amigo's Sol" in the centre of town was possibly the most conveniently located hostel I've stayed at.
Betul gave her high school Spanish a bit of a dust off which greatly improved over the weekend, it was much better than my farcical attempts at communication. I am such a ignoramus as far as languages goes. (I do feel spurred on to learn Spanish now though, I did pick up bits and pieces whilst there and enjoyed the challenge)

We spent a morning in the Reina Sofia Art gallery which was really cool, I've decided I quite like contemporary/pop art. Seeing all the Picasso works was interesting - I had no idea how prolific an artist he was & how many mediums he worked in. A highlight for me was seeing some works by Rafael Solbes, unfortunately it was a no photos zone and his work doesn't seem to be widely published on the net so this is an example of his work that I didn't actually see:

That afternoon we made our way to Stadio Bernabeu - the stadium of Real Madrid. This was really cool because of the sheer size of it and all the legend surrounding the club (and all the trophies!). Did you realise they were officially named club of the century by Fifa?! I sure didn't (not that I'm an avid football fan)

Panorama

Trophy Room

Betul & I holding a press conference...

We spent another morning in the Prado Museum, the Prado houses mostly 12th - 19th century works, mainly of Spanish origin or influence. In general it didn't really float my boat that much - there's only so many different representations of the crucifiction or the virgin Mary that I can look at in one sitting. There were some pretty cool works though, I especially liked some of the Goya collection, here's a goodie:

Here are some photos taken of the street art outside:

That evening we went to a Flamenco evening with an Argentinian couple staying in our dorm, it was cool, but short. Worth it depending on how much value you put on culture!

I spent my last afternoon looking for serenity in the Botanical Gardens while Betul went shopping (final haul: 3 pairs of shoes & 2 handbags. I will never understand women!). Unfortunately about 5 thousand other people were in the park (possibly looking for the same serenity) so instead I wandered around aimlessly, here are some photos from on the way:

That's about it really, Madrid was a really cool place to visit, there's enough to do for a weekend - whether you are looking for culture, shopping, food, boozing or just plain relaxing. I think I'll be going back to Spain at some point...

Gig - Velvet Revolver

Last week, I was also at the Brixton Academy, this time to see Velvet Revolver (ex-G'n'R members Slash, Duff McKagen & Matt Sorum and Scott Weiland from STP).
The gig was an awesome rock concert, they played some of my favourite old Guns n Roses & Stone Temple Pilots songs (my personal highlight was STP's Plush followed up by GnR's Patience).
I didn't know much of VR's stuff apart from the singles but it was good to see the old buggers in action!
And... They have just broken up so I got to see one of their last shows ever! And on the upside STP have just reformed!

Here is a few photos:

Scott Weiland & Slash

Gig - Gogol Bordello

I went to a gig last night at the Brixton Academy in south London, Gogol Bordello - a New York eastern European-influenced gypsy punk band. One word to describe them - fantastic!

They were one of the most energetic and entertaining live act I have seen in a long time. it was well worth the £20 that we paid to get in and the tiredness I felt this morning!

The band are made up of a mad lead singer/guitarist, bass player, drummer, 2nd guitarist, an accordion player in his 40's, a fiddler in his 50's, and a couple of dancers/cymbol bangers. Quite an eclectic mix once they're all up on stage doing their thing.


If you get the chance go and see them, you won't regret it.

here are some pictures: