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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 12, 2024 8:05:13 GMT
When was Windmill ever played on the Tallulah tour!? I would have bloody loved that! First night of the tour in Portsmouth, according to setlist.fm
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 12, 2024 10:26:20 GMT
Yeah as per above, saw them in Oxford last night (on stage at the standard 9pm for anyone wondering).
I remember having the same opinion after their last Brixton show back in 2022 - there just seem to be a few too many new songs in the first half which prevents the crowd from really getting going. In the first 9 songs, we got Feeling a Moment and Just the Way I'm Feeling, but the other 7 were either from Black/Red (which no one's heard yet) or Tallulah, which the casual fan probably isn't massively familiar with. I don't think I'll ever understand the logic behind their setlists though to be honest, less than 2 years after its release and we didn't get a single song from what is technically their most recent album, Torpedo!
I was delighted to have Come Back Around back as they didn't play that in Brixton last time, and it was from then on that the crowd really got going. Bit disappointing to only get 15 songs for the second show in a row though? I kind of expect it to a point as they tend to save the longer/better sets for the latter shows of the tour, but considering we got 21 last time I saw them in Oxford just over 4 years ago, it's a bit of a step down!
Minor quibbles in the grand scheme though, had a brilliant time overall and even after my 11th time seeing them, I'll just simply never tire of jumping up and down like a loon for Buck Rogers and Just a Day. I've seen there's still a few available, so I'm tempted to get a ticket to their London show in a couple of weeks, but I might see how the setlists develop over the next couple of shows. Seems like so far I've only really missed Tangerine and My Perfect Day. I dare say I think their sets might be missing some of the recently dropped staples like Seven Days in the Sun for a bit more energy!
EDIT: I'm not sure why it is, but again even after the 11th time, Feeder are the only band I see live where I can't listen to anything but them for the following day or two afterwards. It's almost like the revive some sense of nostalgia in me - probably why I can't resist buying tickets to see them every single time they're in the South East!
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Niai
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Post by Niai on Mar 13, 2024 19:21:49 GMT
Oxford was alright, a bit of a step down from the last few times I've seen Feeder but one of the pluses was that my wife and I got as close to the front as we've ever been (2nd row) (Apart from one intimate gig in Camden, 2008). Later on when the crowd pleasers came on we got a little bit shoved around but it's what you've gotta expect in prime mosh location!
Yeah, so overall it was a short gig and I thought the sound was disappointing, but I guess the length was expected and the performance was good if you consider the fact that Grant was ill, so that's fair enough. 15 songs is a step down from how they started the tour though, and yeah as WaitingForChanges predicted, Grant's set only gets safer and safer. Nothing considered a rarity - I was pleased we got Eskimo but that was the least expected track of the set. Yeah, Eskimo and Come Back Around were the two 'pleasant surprises' (I can't believe I'm calling CBA a pleasant surprise! Such a staple for years). It was good to hear Kyoto for my first time live - but it was totally expected - Grant really seems to hold value in that track; not a single from that album yet it's just appeared consistently since release. A track I love but one I find surprising gets kept. Also - just one encore song! The obligatory. Again, surely because how Grant was feeling. (Just the Way he was Feeling)
The Black / Red tracks were good but I won't have made my mind up about if I really love them until I'm used to the album, come release.
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 14, 2024 10:10:43 GMT
Oxford was alright, a bit of a step down from the last few times I've seen Feeder but one of the pluses was that my wife and I got as close to the front as we've ever been (2nd row) (Apart from one intimate gig in Camden, 2008). Later on when the crowd pleasers came on we got a little bit shoved around but it's what you've gotta expect in prime mosh location! Yeah, so overall it was a short gig and I thought the sound was disappointing, but I guess the length was expected and the performance was good if you consider the fact that Grant was ill, so that's fair enough. 15 songs is a step down from how they started the tour though, and yeah as WaitingForChanges predicted, Grant's set only gets safer and safer. Nothing considered a rarity - I was pleased we got Eskimo but that was the least expected track of the set. Yeah, Eskimo and Come Back Around were the two 'pleasant surprises' (I can't believe I'm calling CBA a pleasant surprise! Such a staple for years). It was good to hear Kyoto for my first time live - but it was totally expected - Grant really seems to hold value in that track; not a single from that album yet it's just appeared consistently since release. A track I love but one I find surprising gets kept. Also - just one encore song! The obligatory. Again, surely because how Grant was feeling. (Just the Way he was Feeling) The Black / Red tracks were good but I won't have made my mind up about if I really love them until I'm used to the album, come release. I partially wonder if the crowd were responsible for us only getting one encore song? As they went off stage and everyone started chanting the 'do do do do' from Just a Day shortly before they came back on, almost would've felt weird if they'd then played something else? Or yeah, could quite feasibly just be that Grant was still a bit 'Under the Weather'. But then just checking and Norwich still only got 16 last night and you'd have to assume he's feeling close to normal by now, so who knows.
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 14, 2024 10:44:53 GMT
Looks like 'Tangerine' returned to the set last night in Norwich, but 'Polythene Girl' is dead
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 18, 2024 9:51:38 GMT
Setlists unsurprisingly seem to mostly be the same show to show now. Must admit, 17 or, if you're lucky, 18 songs being the highest so far is a little disappointing considering the size of Feeder's back catalogue? That's the lowest of any tour of theirs I've been to over the past 20ish years.
Was half tempted to get a ticket to their final show in London next Thursday, but I'll probably need to see sets pick up a bit over the next week to consider taking the plunge.
Can't help but wonder if they'd perhaps benefit from a bit of a bigger gap before their next album/tour? It's actually quite crazy that the 4 and a half years between Generation Freakshow and All Bright Electric is the longest they've ever gone between albums over the past 27 years, with most coming every 2. If we get the next album/tour again around springtime 2026 then Grant's not going to be any less sick of playing the same old hits!
EDIT: All that said, absolutely cannot fault their value for money. Most other gigs these days are upwards of £70, some often even pushing £100, but Feeder consistently charging less than £40 for their shows is amazing.
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 18, 2024 13:17:32 GMT
It's crazy that the 4 and a half years between Generation Freakshow and All Bright Electric is the longest they've ever gone between albums over the past 27 years, with most coming every 2. If we get the next album/tour again around springtime 2026 then Grant's not going to be any less sick of playing the same old hits! That's true, but in terms of music released, Grant stuck to 2 years, 'cause it was: - Generation Freakshow (2012)
- Yorktown Heights (2014)
- All Bright Electric (2016)
In terms of gig potential, Feeder have some good anniversaries coming up: - 2025: 20th anniversary of Pushing the Senses
- 2026: 25th anniversary of Echo Park
- 2027: 30th anniversary of Polythene and 25th anniversary of Comfort in Sound
Definitely time to bust out the full-album shows. I see that Biffy Clyro are gigging their first 3 albums across 3 nights soon. I saw them supporting Feeder back in 2005!
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 20, 2024 20:24:08 GMT
Looks like the set has ossified In related news, I just read that, last night, Bruce Springsteen resumed the tour he had to postpone last year. The man is 74. He had to stop for hospital treatment. They played 29 songs. According to setlist.fm, across the tour they've played 70 different songs on different nights. Kinda puts things into perspective. Best I'm hoping for now is that 'Polythene Girl' comes back for the Roundhouse show. They often play a bit longer in London, so fingers crossed.
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 21, 2024 12:40:06 GMT
Yeah considering they're even playing the same short, copy and pasted set in places as big as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, I'd be surprised if London breaches the current high of 18 by more than a song at most.
I do often think back to when I saw Feeder in Oxford back in 2019 and before a song Grant proclaimed something like 'Come on, we did the greatest hits tour last year, do you want to hear the same old songs or do you want to hear some new stuff?'. Paired with how unenthusiastic Grant's been about Buck Rogers in particular since, I do really sense a shift since then, like they're making an active point of making each tour about that album in particular?
I can understand that mindset for sure (although I'll never understand touring before your audience has heard the album in question), but why not just use that as an excuse to play some real deep cuts? Tangerine is great, but there's comfortably room for another 3 or 4 songs of that ilk every night. Imagine the exact same base 16 song set, but they add in say...Descend, Day in Day Out, Piece by Piece and yeah let Polythene Girl make an appearance every night. That way they'd basically appease everyone.
I'd go as far as to say for the casual fan, Buck Rogers and Just a Day are the only songs they 'need' to play, literally anything else could be dropped and I don't think there'd be too much backlash.
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 21, 2024 18:39:47 GMT
Totally agree. I'd add 'Just the Way I'm Feeling', 'High' and 'Feeling a Moment' to that 'must play' list as well, and I just think... play 2 out of 3 maybe. But not all 3 every night.
I wonder how broad the audience is for a Feeder live show these days. On the one hand, Grant's in a good place to give people what they want: he will have access to the numbers from streaming services like Spotify, and he sees the crowd in front of him every night. He'll see the crowd bouncing or looking at their phones.
On the other hand, I can't imagine that, at this stage, there's anyone for whom Black/Red will be their first Feeder album. We're probably into playing to the same hardcore fan base now at every tour, with a smattering of people who remember a handful of tracks from the Comfort in Sound/Pushing the Senses/The Singles era and feel sentimental about them.
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 26, 2024 11:17:31 GMT
Yeah amazingly 6 of the last 9 shows now have had literally identical setlists, song order and everything to a tee. The 3 outliers basically just adding something from one of the last two albums if you're lucky, or replacing Tangerine with one of them instead if you're not. Maybe I just haven't looked into it as much before, but I don't ever recall their sets being quite so rigid?
Think I'll give London a miss at this point which is a shame, but I'm not experiencing the FOMO I'd need to get me to travel all that way on a weeknight.
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 26, 2024 16:28:54 GMT
Maybe I just haven't looked into it as much before, but I don't ever recall their sets being quite so rigid? I wonder if part of that is Dean not playing live keyboards anymore. They're playing to a click track now, with pre-recorded keyboards. I'm fine with that, given Geoff's issues keeping a consistent tempo. But it's interesting that having prepped the core set, almost all of the tracks they experimented with in recent shows ('Torpedo', 'Eskimo', 'Tallulah', 'Universe of Life') were also played last year in their first Dean-free shows, so Grant's already made the tracks to play along to. The other song was 'Renegades', which they gigged without keyboards back in 2010. But yeah... unless they pick songs without keyboard tracks and play live as a four-piece, they're limited in what they can pull off the shelf.
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Bixer
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Post by Bixer on Mar 29, 2024 9:55:45 GMT
Wow, surprisingly tame setlist even in London last night for the final leg of the tour.
Who’da thunk Torquay/Bristol were the shows to be at!
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Post by waiting-for-changes on Mar 29, 2024 16:49:26 GMT
Wow, surprisingly tame setlist even in London last night for the final leg of the tour. Who’da thunk Torquay/Bristol were the shows to be at! Yeah 😕 I took a friend last minute (my wife was ill). He's a big live-music fan, but not massively into Feeder. As we were leaving to me, he turned to me and said "They're such a weird band". It was funny. It was the first time in years that I'd seen a Feeder show with someone who's not a die-hard fan. And I could kinda see what he meant: the fact that it was a promo tour for an album that hasn't been released yet. The fact that songs like "Hey You" and "Tangerine" are in the same set, and not in a way that feels eclectic, but more... random. He said he thought it was pretty clear that they wanted to play a hard rock show, but felt obliged to chuck in some hits, and I think that's fair. As a performance it was... fine. Not the best Feeder show I've seen, and not the worst. I think the line-up has finally gelled, though. They sounded really tight. There were some weird moments, like Grant trying to get the crowd to sing the "woah-oh, hey-ey" refrain from "Hey You" for literally 2 minutes after the song finished, or bringing out a live bagpipe player at the start of the encore to play for a bit, then sending him off as the pre-recorded bagpipes for "Soldier of Love" started up (that is: they had a live player and didn't use him on the actual song). The Black/Red songs were a mixed bag for me. I think "ELF" is great, "Lost in the Wilderness" is fine, "Playing with Fire" sounds like too many other Feeder songs, and "Hey You", "Soldiers of Love" and "The Knock" are duds ("Hey You" never leaves the runway, as it were, and needs a better chorus; "Soldiers of Love" is flat throughout and has a dumb lyric, and "The Knock" sounds like a mid-2000s-era b-side). But I'm not worried about the album. It's difficult to predict what songs will resonate with fans. Grant didn't see the popularity of "Just a Day" or "Shatter" coming, for example, and was taken aback when a fan vote put "Shapes and Sounds" top for songs they wanted to hear on the Tallulah tour. (I also think that "Born to Love You" was the obvious single for Torpedo, but what do I know?) A mixed night. Anyway... here's to the album next Friday!
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Post by Stu on Mar 29, 2024 23:10:34 GMT
Next Friday? Wow that came around fast...
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Post by TheAlex Equivalent Battenberg on Apr 5, 2024 21:03:30 GMT
I've been critical of the lack of variation and rarer tracks in Feeder sets, but I do always appreciate how many new tracks played. Of the Black/Red tracks on the tour, only one hadn't been released at the time I think? The unreleased at the time was Hey You, which I loved.
Other bands have often disappointed me with how few new tracks they play. What's the point in releasing a new album then barely playing any of it? The Coral's double album, Coral Island (from 2021), is probably my favourite album by them. I hadn't seen The Coral for years so was well excited about going to that tour...they played 2 tracks from it. There was only 1 song I hadn't heard live before - and that was the only one they played from their previous 3 albums.
I was near the back for Feeder on this tour, so amongst more fans who're not the hardcore compared to my usual Feeder gigs. I think most of them only cared about hearing 5 or 6 of the big tracks - they weren't bothered about the other 10+. Feeder could literally play any 10 tracks plus the 5 or 6 big tracks, and 99% of casual fans would be happy.
So while I was disappointed not to hear Polythene Girl, it was still great to hear those new tracks.
I also love Buck Rogers etc. The reaction it gets is very special, which makes me wonder why Grant doesn't appreciate playing it. That song is a gift, and I'm glad Grant was convinced not to give it away!
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