Gigs on a Monday?

Who thinks that’s a great idea?

Maybe Sigur Ros with the Ulster Orchestra on a Monday?

You’ll most likely get some sleep that night.

Low probability of ringing in your ears the next day.

You’ll hardly be still thinking about the gig a week later.

Not much to reflect on apart from the brilliance of the Icelandic ambient merchants.

Jack White on a Monday – not a great idea at all.

Playing the old Telegraph Building, White brought his Frozen ‘Charlotte’ tour to the North on  31^st of August.

A Monday night.

It wasn’t the best of starts to the week for me on a number of but it was good to be out and I was looking forward to seeing an act that in truth, I knew very little off.

In July 2024 I sat through my first listen of Biscuit and Ball through a 5* sound system and it blew me away.

To that point, I had been bored to death of 7 Nation Army, courtesy of numerous televised sporting events, Biscuit and Ball had piqued my curiosity.

Promoters don’t really care about support acts or communicating actual gig start times to excitable ticket buyers – too busy counting their gouged door take – and so I had no idea of who was the warm up.

Warm up?

Enola Gay were no warm up. A local Hip-Hop / grunge collective that blew the dung clean out of the place.

Brilliantly.

They reminded me of  what the Beastie Boys would have been like had they come from North Belfast.

The love children of SLF and the Beastie Boys.

Loud, intense, dramatic, rhythmic, tuneful.

They were superb – in truth I was a little bit in awe of them but it made me feel so disconnected from the Belfast music scene that I had never heard of them up to that point.

The most imbalanced stage transition I had ever witnessed was when Del Amitri supported Simple Minds at the Odyssey Arena in 2024.

The Dels played centre stage with a bunch of Marshall and Orange apps in the back ground.

After their 45min slot, the stage was transformed into a 1980s Disco for the Simps.

The Jack White Crew must have watching.

At 9.00pm sharpish, the band made for the stage and with the briefest acknowledgement to the crowd, off they went.

It was epic – true to the definition of the word.

It was loud – and I mean loud.

I was stood by the mixing desk and at one point I could feel the vibrations against the back of my legs.

Incredible.

The drummer – who I learned afterwards had played in the Raconteurs with White – was excellent, giving both himself and the audience a real workout.

White was energetic, fast-paced – a brilliant player and when it was called for, a ridiculously good singer.

I looked into the mixing desk a few times – the very best in digital kit under the control of mechanics who had clearly done this a few times.

The light show was different level – again, epic.

But for me, it all felt a little bit too big for the venue and perhaps even for the city.

The music was superb, the show was top class but it all felt a wee bit too ‘Las Vegas’ – too polished, too professional…too perfect?

Comparison is the thief of joy I know but he’s no Rory Gallagher, right?

ARE YOU WITH ME?

It was too ‘epic’ – no mistakes, nothing out of sync, the lights were glorious and the crowd loved it.

All in, they fired out 23 songs – a nice we mix of Baby Please Don’t go and Icky Thump in the encore – no Biscuit and Ball.

Bastards.

I reckon they were this good from the first night of the tour in Washington.

All polished, professional and perfect.

I’m being picky, I know.

Jack White is a rock and roll god and I was glad to have been there.

But a Monday night?