Happyness at the Louisiana, 6th May

It's raining on Wednesday evening. The harbour kind of stinks, and the wind-rain combo isn't doing anyone any favours - except maybe the bar at the Louisiana. Crushed Beaks have had to pull out of supporting tonight because of an injury, and the venue isn't exactly close to the centre of town, so most of the gig-goers have been sitting in the warm of the ground-floor pub for an hour or two before tonight's one-act gig begins.

Once the doors open, everyone heads upstairs to a small room with a low ceiling, some interesting smells, and Happyness' set-up, accompanied by pink and green lighting. The room fills up a little more with a huge range of people, from teenage hipsters to over-50s to Big Jeff, and about ten minutes later, three guys walk through the crowd and onto the stage. They're all wearing t-shirts, jeans and trainers, and one t-shirt, a Doc Martens "Stand for Something" tee, has been filled in so the front of it reads "I stand for Christmas." Meet Jonny, Benji, and Ash, AKA Happyness.

Alex G at The Cube, 2nd March

(The G stands for Giannascoli, by the way.)

The Cube is probably one of Bristol's hardest-to-find indie music venues. Tucked away on a side street behind Stokes Croft, it can be tricky to get to the right entrance the first time, but once you get inside, everything feels a lot more cosy. The Cube is volunteer-run and functions as a cinema and live music venue, and once we got let into the room it felt like either one could be happening tonight. The main room has rows of old-fashioned cinema seating with red flip-down seats, and this just adds to the charm of the whole place. Although it was a little strange to be sitting down for a gig, we settled in for the first act.

New Year / New Noise 2 at Arnolfini, 17th January

Going to a gig where you know none of the acts can be a little hit-or-miss, but I’ve done it a few times now and as long as you’ve got a reliable source giving you recommendations, you’ll probably leave with something to talk about.  Generally I rely on my friend Nick to bug me into coming to shows, but this time I brought him along to Howling Owl’s New Year / New Noise 2, because I’d been following the label for a while but never actually been to any of their gigs. Plus, their shows are always really decently priced.

image from the Arnolfini website

Yann Tiersen at L'Olympia in Paris, 27th October

(Yeah, I'm still not sure how that happened.)

The Olympia has seen names such as Art Garfunkel, Air, and Elvis Costello play on its stage. (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin have played there too, if you're more of a classic rock-and-roll person.) On 27th October, Yann Tiersen joined that list of names for his final European tour date, and I was lucky enough to be there. 

Avi Buffalo & Happyness at Thekla, 8th October

Thekla always seems to manage to put on bands with just the right amount of self-awareness: they know that people will want to see them perform, but they're not big enough to overestimate how many people will be there to watch. On Thursday, I went to see Happyness, and stayed for Avi Buffalo.

By the Rivers at the Stag & Hounds, 20th September

So yesterday was the first time I've ever been to the Stag & Hounds in Bristol. I guess it's mainly because I still haven't gone to a gig at the Exchange yet, and that's right next door, but the pub is really nice. My friend Abbie and I got there for 8 - the place is super cosy, with cheap drinks and a really nice interior (we had an old lady moment where we agreed that we both "love a good beam"). The place has a Birdcage kind of feel to it: you'll probably first go there to see a band, but once you find out about it, you want to go back as soon as you can, even if it's only for drinks, because it's just so nice in there.

Green Man Festival, 14th-17th August

I went to Green Man festival for the first time last year, and worked for my ticket. This year I did the same again, but with stewarding instead of litter-picking (a little less messy). I only had to work 3 shifts, so I had a lot of time to see a lot of different acts, a lot of whom I'd never heard of.

(This post ended up being about a year long, so if you just wanna listen to what I listened to over the weekend then I'm gonna put up a little playlist soon)