GARDEN 28th April 2019

GIG: Grendel (Elektrowerkz, London)

Our second time seeing Grendel and, well... it didn't start well really. Rocking up to the Elektrowerkz we realized the show was in the (smaller) downstairs room, despite there being enough people to use the upstairs room. And it was looking pretty rammed for the support band. Joy.

So we found a corner away from the door, away from the bar and for the first half of the gig it wasn't too bad. But later on the room just seemed to get fuller and fuller and space was getting shorter and shorter. At least we could see reasonably well, I'll give it that.

Grendel then, they opened the set with about 6 tracks from the new album, which was great. Having listened to that album quite a few times recently it all made perfect sense and I was enjoying it despite the close proximity of 'other people' (the horror). But I wanted to hear some old tunes as well, and this is where it started to go a bit wrong.

For some reason Grendel's old stuff sounds 'off' live. I thought this at Resistanz but put it down to a bad mix, but here again it sounds like all you can hear are counterpoint melodies from the keyboards, encore 'Harsh Generation' being particular badly affected, without the lyrics I wouldn't have recognized the song at all. Indeed, I don't know what song they played between 'Chemicals and Circuitry' and 'Timewave Zero', but I thought it was 'Timewave Zero'.... very strange.

And then there's singer 'JD Tucker', leaving aside his political bollocks ('Fuck the Tories', 'Fuck Brexit', etc...) he doesn't know when to shut his cakehole sometimes. 'Flux' from the new album was one track in particular where he kept repeating the lyrics ad nauseum before it started and after it ended. Also, why does he look like George Michael all of a sudden?

I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either, and I think we'll be thinking long and hard about travelling to London to see another band anytime soon.

MEAL OUT: The Admiral Hornblower (Oakham)

Another trip to the Hornblower, our second this year in fact, and no bad thing either really. Consistently reliable, Rose and I both had sausages and mash which were super, smashing and great. And for pud we both plumped for the vanilla cheesecake with the berry compote and ice cream which was delicious if a little rich! We definitely knew we'd eaten it... I'm sure we'll be back again in the not too distant future as it seems to stand as the best of the Rutland area places we've visited with Lee and Su.

MEAL OUT: The Grey Goose (Gilmorton)

Rose's birthday fell on a Saturday this year which meant we were at the mercy of the Goose's fixed menu... we decided to skip the starter, but were given a complimentary cupful of broccoli and stilton soup which was extremely nice as always. Given the choices on offer we both elected to go with the steak, which was nice. Slightly annoyingly the salad was dressed and inedible (despite asking for it not to be, and also no tomato!) but not a massive deal as it wasn't a very exciting looking salad anyway.

The puds were good, I had salted caramel brownie which was really nice (although it could have been warmer) and Rose had the strawberry Bakewell tart. I got some honeycomb with my dessert, which was nice but by God once you put it in your mouth it turned into a ball of glue that attached itself to my root canal tooth and I really thought it might pull it out!

Overall, it was nice enough, but maybe we need to find somewhere else for special occasions as it's getting a bit tedious to have no choice, however nice that choice is.

GARDEN 13th April 2019

GIG: Aesthetic Perfection (Wolverhampton)

Our fifth (my sixth) time seeing Aesthetic Perfection and it has to be said last time around at Infest was a little disappointing, and with a new album that we're not loving from limited first hearings, this had the potential to go South. It didn't help that our Satnav wasn't working properly and this being a Friday night, it was entirely plausible that we wouldn't be able to get in the car park opposite the venue.

Gods and Gold (Live in Wolverhampton)

Thankfully the journey was rather quicker than expected and the car park was nice and empty when we got there, although by the time we'd eaten our sticks it was getting pretty full. We got inside while Amelia Arsenic were playing, but didn't feel the need to go inside... we heard enough from the bar. Similar story for 'Priest' as well, but thankfully their sets were fairly short.

We headed to the front and stayed there for about 2/3rds of the show, basically until the people around us got too annoying to bear any longer. In front of us were two girls who were clearly having the time of their lives, which is all very nice and everything, but fucking annoying. The girl on the left must have put her hair up and down about 20 times, you can see her playing with her bloody hair in these videos which were taken by someone directly to our left. The excitement these two displayed on getting a pair of drumsticks handed to them made us feel incredibly old and jaded....

Never Enough (Live in Wolverhampton)

Aesthetic Perfection were definitely better than they were at Infest and it was enjoyable, even though the new songs haven't really settled with us as yet. Annoyingly they had copies of the old albums but not the new one, although I'm not sure I want to buy it yet anyway... we'll see how that goes. Overall, it was a good gig, good sound and the new (ex Combichrist) drummer Joe Letz is a good replacement for the guy who left whose name escapes me just now.

Tim Van Horne. That's it...

I don't think it helps that we've seen AP so many times in a short space of time, we've basically seen him at least once a year, but more importantly than that the first time I saw him he was supporting the previous album and now he's supporting a new one, so apart from the singles we've effectively been seeing him on the same tour over and over, even if he has mixed up the tracks and added the singles.

Still think the Ruby Lounge gig was the best, then maybe the one with Faderhead and this kinda falls third or fourth perhaps, maybe after the one in Bristol were he was sick.

MEAL OUT: Queens Head (Saddington)

Our first visit to the Queens Head to eat for a very long time indeed. When we first moved to Fleckney we used to eat there quite regularly, so it was interesting to return and actually we were pleasantly surprised. It's not the best meal we've ever had, but it was as good as many places we've been and the prices weren't outrageous... plus it's nice to know there's somewhere within 5 minutes drive where you can get a decent meal should the need arise.

We went to the Queens Head because Lisa and Nick were coming with us, so it was local for all of us. I had a steak and ale pie and the banoffee cheesecake, the pie was a little overcooked but I didn't leave any of it so it can't have been that bad and the chips were decent. The cheesecake came in a pot and was a bit runnier than I'd anticipated, more like Angel Delight or something, but it tasted nice and that's the main thing.

Rose had the burger (which came with nothing on it as requested) and the berry sundae (without the cream), again all perfectly satisfactory and nothing to complain about.