Rest in Peace Steve Albini. Was only 61 years old. Way too young.

To me, their last two albums The Ultra Vivid Lament and Resistance is Futile are in my top 5, up there with Everything Must Go, the Holy Bible and Rewind the Film. This is a band that, like Ride, are as good as ever or better as they age. Maturity suits their music well. I’d also highly rank Send Away the Tigers as their next best and a very accessible record.

I like Know Your Enemy more than This is My Truth but both are similarly weighty albums of similar quality. Terrific songs on each but also enough filler.

Can’t really get into the first two albums apart from some of the bigger songs.

I wonder what he would have thought of Oasis if he was still around in the 90s when they were.

Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don't Come For Free by The Streets are fantastic albums. They're some of the best albums released since Millennium.

Jeff Walker in an interview:
"I was just a vocalist. I tried to learn guitar as a kid. As you know, every bass player is just a failed guitar player. Just as every music journalist is a failed musician, you know? When I got kicked out of that band I was asked by another band that hard heard I'd played the bass and they asked me to join. Playing the bass was easier than trying to play the guitar."

Is he right?

Straight up one of my favorite channels. I need to know if there’s an Oasis equivalent. This guy nailed it.

Stood in the pissing rain last night, resulting in a cold today, all for watching Bruce Springsteen in Sunderland. I was soaked through and it risked being a miserable washout. But once he came on stage, his presence lifted the mood by laughing off the weather and embracing it all. He really got in on the conditions, braving the elements for three hours and joined the crowd in getting soaked, putting on the most energetic, euphoric and emotional show I've ever seen. I completely forgot about the rain and three hours rattled by in no time.

Saw him 11 years ago in Glasgow, so a long time but I always think I'm getting older and too cynical these days to have heroes or be blown away by anything, to the point that I won't enjoy these things as much anymore. But it takes a genius to tap into youthful innocence and wonder and that happened last night. He was great. The E Street Band was great. It was without a doubt the greatest gig I've ever been to. It's everything that music is meant to be.

Here's a wonderful helicopter shot from last night.

Any M83 fans here?
I hated with a passion their 2016 album Junk, but Phantasy from last year is very, very good.

This live performance is incredible:

And.......enough said:

That's a tough one. Every song seemed to be a showstopper. It was pretty raucous and relentless. Gave us in the crowd what we needed and it was as much of a 'greatest hits' setlist that you could possibly get from him. But I thought Racing In The Street was spectacular.

The lights were dimmed, but in the terrible conditions the lighting had a haze to it and you could see it lashing sideways with the wind blowing. Bruce stood out from the stage, getting soaked and reciting the lyrics "she just stares off alone into the night/with the eyes of one who hates for just being born" was beautiful. That kind of serenity in chaotic weather just added to the whole performance, it felt quite surreal and he absolutely had the crowd, who were in silence, in the palm of his hands.

There was another moment that really really moved me on the final song I'll See You In My Dreams from his latest album. It was a solo acoustic performance about mortality. Beside me though was a mother and her son. Her head was rested on his shoulder while he gently held her, and both were in tears. They were quietly grieving for an absent father/husband while the Stadium of Light gently echoed the refrain 'I'll see you in my dreams'.

In the situation, he wisely left the heavy and challenging stuff off the setlist (e.g. Nebraska and Tunnel of Love), so the mood never dropped from one extreme to the other. Despite the scale of the show, I've never seen something so big be easily brought down to something so intimate and introspective like the moments above. He's the best showman around, but he's not just a people pleaser. That's just the cherry on the top because first and foremost he is a songwriter of the absolute elite. I can be wowed by any rock spectacle, but to be deeply moved by those songs and lyrics is another thing altogether. His all round game in music is the greatest when we take into account his artistry and, like in Sunderland last week, his epic performances. I could talk and talk endlessly about him, last Wednesday gave me no doubt at all that for me he is the greatest.

Very thoughtful reply, thanks! I love that you had such a moving experience. My friend is seeing him in July so maybe he’ll get the same.