My 2017 Gig Review: Warsaw and Elsewhere

A quick recap of my gigs of the year here.  January to May was a bit on the quiet side, although I did get to see Epica (above); Powerwolf; Trentemoller; Between the Buried and Me; Leprous; Blonde Redhead; Neal Morse; and Lisa Hannigan, a nice variety of music with all these gigs being in Warsaw.

Things started really hotting up in late June when I went over to my hometown of Bury, Lancashire, to see Blue Oyster Cult at Manchester Academy:

 

Blue Oyster Cult was probably my standout gig of the year, as the band did the whole of their first album and many other fine tunes in a 20+ song set (BOC are one of my favourite bands).  Below, the band are doing 'Workshop of the Telescopes' from their first album:

A few days after seeing BOC at Manchester Academy, I got to see Cheap Trick at the same place, so it was really like going down memory lane (I saw a lot of gigs in Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s).

After the venture into England, which included a week-long trip to Thomas Hardy's Wessex (mainly Dorset), I flew over to Ireland to see a good friend and we went to see Hothouse Flowers at Killarney INEC which was great (loved the traditional Irish tune below):

From here, my friend I flew over to Germany to go to the 'Night of the Prog' Festival at Loreley (in the Rhine Valley) to see Marillion; Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman; Crippled Black Phoenix; Gong etc.  The highlight of this trip for us had to be the David Cross Band who had ex-Van der Graaf Generator saxophonist, David Jackson, up on stage with them:

Back in Warsaw in August, I got to see the first 'Prog in the Park' Festival which was wonderful with Opeth; Riverside; Solstafir; Blindead; and Lion Shepherd.  Enjoyed all of these bands, especially Blindead (below) who I saw for the first time:

Then in September, I got to see The Pineapple Thief and Sisters of Mercy (below), both at the Progresja in Warsaw:

The beginning of October, it was the turn of the dreamscape-type sound of Slowdive at Warsaw Palladium:

And, also in October, a gig that truly amazed me for both its wonderful musical and visual impact was Polish Medieval-type band, Percival, at Warsaw Stodola:

This gig also had an incredible theatrical dimension:

In late October, it was the turn of Canadian electronica band, Austra, at the Cafe Niebo in Warsaw, the first time I'd visited this place:

In November, I got to see, amongst others, Mastodon; Russian Circles; and W.A.S.P.  Also visited the Cafe Niebo again, this time to see the Polish Jazz/Trip-Hop band Mikromusic:

November is always a great month for gigs in Warsaw (kind of signalling the end of autumn) and my favourite gig of this month this year was probably Public Service Broadcasting at the Hydrozagadka in Warsaw:

And finally, I got to see a couple of gigs in early December, starting with Icelandic band, Mammut, again at the Hydrozogadka:

And then the Polish Folk/World Music band, Dikanda, at Warsaw Progresja:

Must say that during this year of live music, I really enjoyed seeing so many different kinds of music.  As can be seen, I have an eclectic taste in music.