This weekend has been a brilliant time for me. As you may well know, I’m a big progressive rock fan, and while this year has been pretty slow for gigs, I just had two in one weekend.
The first gig on Saturday (and by far the best) was the legendary IQ at the Mean Fiddler - for their 25th anniversary. Wow! What a gig! Seriously, I’ve never been to a gig that good. I’ve seen IQ every Xmas for the last three years and each year they get better. £12.50 for 2.5 hours of unbelievable live music is not to be scoffed at! They played a huge mix from their vast back-catalogue of music and I absolutely loved each and every second of it. Ok, better stop there, otherwise I may not stop at all!
On Sunday, I went to see The Flower Kings supported by Frost* (Frost* have now ceased to be, as I blogged previously). Frost* were excellent, although the sound quality was a little poor. It was very bass-heavy, and the keyboards (which often lead the tune) were sometimes a little difficult to make out. The atmosphere however, was fantastic, and the guys were clearly enjoying themselves. After Frost* finished their three tracks the place seemed to empty a lot for the Flower Kings (TFK). The crowd were nowhere near as ‘into it’ for TFK and this may have been down to the setlist which I thought was pretty poor - they picked a lot of slow and, frankly, some of their poorer songs for the gig, which was unfortunate. I had to leave before the end to catch my train, but I think I might give TFK a second chance in the future because all they have to do is pick some nicer songs.