Report Blog Entry
i miss black midi they were my favorite band <3
cataloging some things slowly updating as time goes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1l7wOdtuUc
dec 1 2017 - point FMR, paris
one of their first live performances i could find a recording of
same turtleneck as the boiler room performance lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJBn856x8IE
apr 27 2018 - NTS radio session
bm play talking heads (the song)
i love how morg's drum kit sounds in this recording a lot, esp the snare it's so punchy
also why are geordie and cam twinning in this video lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GefBruDkJeU
aug 2 2018 - marc reiley session 2018
this recording is so fucking crunchy and full of energy i love it
they also apparently did a version of sweater (named untitled #3 at the time) during this session which wouldn't come out as a single until like two years later?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMn1UuEIVvA
nov 9 2018 - the first KEXP performance (still one of the coolest things i've ever seen)
matt breaking a guitar string and restringing it in time for the next song and morgan hitting a cymbal so hard it fell off the stand is still burned into my memory i absolutely love this recording
i also always forget about cam in this era having bleached hair. i love that they to near dt mi first bc he's easily the calmest on stage during early bm so it's surprising to see him scream like that
also love geordie's dancing (???) perambulating around the floor during break downs
still can't remember why matt was wearing a hard hat during ducter, i swear there was some inside joke behind why
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYBy2jQIOXg
jun 19 2019 - steve lamacq BCC 6 live session
not really a fan of this session, i like the marc reiley sessions way more. idk if it's the mixing or whatever but they just sound weird here. cool video anyway though and i love a performance of of schlagenheim whenever i can get one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVKXfcs_mM0
jun 20 2019 - rough trade
just played a great version of talking heads and then signed some records before schlagenheim release day
jun 21 2019 - schlagenheim release
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN_mEd4hc9E
july 7 2019 - Боль (pain festival)
just discovered this performance recently, and whoever recorded it got amazing video/audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhXR5OjKHtE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSoMGQ7XSgU
july 19 2019 - canal street NYC
free show in chinatown manhattan inside of a shipping container
first half of the set is just improv, then breaks into a rare performance of crows perch of all songs, then ducter and bmbmbm
a limited vinyl run of a recording of this set was released and the vinyl sleeve is designed like a pizza box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDr6ioyRtmE
july 21 2019 - pitchfork festival 2019
the fact that this was only two days after canal street is crazy
can't really find a full recording of the whole set but the ducter and bmbmbm performances on youtube are insane. matt screams into his guitar pickups during the end of ducter and i always love when he does that in early performances but i'm never sure if it actually does anything. i've tried it with my guitar and haven't gotten any results (maybe i just dont have the right kind of pickups)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3LSW_XTwI
sept 19 2019 - mercury prize
still so cool that they got nominated for best album, bmbmbm is a crazy song to play at this ceremony, they could have played it safe and gone with speedway or near dt mi but i'm really glad they didn't.
also if matt landed that front flip they would have won just saying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxcRiPApBZQ
oct 29 2019 - boiler room set
i always focus on geordie's red turtleneck he was wearing here lol i can't imagine how hot it must have been in there
they played a really early version of john L during this set, like two years before it was released
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0wrLzG34M
https://wgntv.com/morning-news/black-midi-performs-on-wgn-morning-news/
nov 7 2019 - WGN news performance
no clue how or why they were booked for this but i love this performance to death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFZlyCqAV48
nov 12 2019 - first unitarian church
set in philadelphia with a great live bootleg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCgQVU9104k
nov 28 2019 - marc reiley session 2019 (BBC 6 radio)
super interesting versions of chrondo and john L with matt rather than shank and kaidi, which were at the time known as number 4 and number 5
they talk about deerhoof, brit school, and then go into a very short cover of suck my kiss by red hot chili peppers. they also do an all too rare live rendition of western
the host, marc brings up matt's flip from the mercury prize at the beginning of this set and you can hear him go 'oops' in the background lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpegm3h79y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwBz9wujAJc
dec 19 2019 - black midi, new road christmas extravaganza at the windmill
limited footage of this one online but according to setlist.fm they played last christmas, all i want for christmas is you, and goodbye yellow brick road (??? for some reason). geordie gets on the drums about 20 minutes into the opening jam thing they do
https://archive.org/details/bm2020-03-06
mar 6 2020 - BBC 6 music festival
the final performance with matt, super rare instance of a performance of slow with matt still in the band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVwFz0ykoHM
dec 29 2020 - christmas at the windmill
recorded during the lockdown
this has my favorite performance of dethroned ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebrpRKUMcss
apr 6 2021 - second KEXP performance (KEXP at home)
filmed in SOUP studios, first recordings of many cavalcade songs with kaidi and shank, also an early recording of sugar/tzu
also filmed in the same studio are a few songs not in the KEXP set like chondro, despair, and a faster version of john L called john hell. these recordings would go into a short live album called live-cade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TtzXh7acM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZfEVqM7FVk
may 27 2021 - mary anne hobbs session (BBC 6 radio)
recorded the day before cavalcade released, really different version of john L called martin A and a cover of i can't go for that which i love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD54WmnSaTc
may 28 2021 - hackney church (cavalvade release show) (the chef outfit performance)
the cavalcade release celebration show, the version of diamond stuff from this set is especially important to me. the sound in the church is otherworldly
no clue why they were chefs though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHt1nOnqThI
jun 24 2021 - fantano interview
the interview opens with them playing back in black by AC/DC so loud it blows their microphone out
they promise morgan will have vocals on the 54th black midi album, and promote the cavalcovers set
anthony brings up ed sheeran, geordie says he's not a sharp dressed man, then rush to their instruments to play sharp dressed man by ZZ top
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5wGhSv2gzU
sept 10 2021 - pitchfork festival 2021
featured five of the ten songs on hellfire (five of eight since two of the songs are interludes) before their release
set was very weird, chairs and a couch, a rack of clothes on hangars, plants. not entirely sure what was going on here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLF46GqN_g4
oct 24 2021 - shaky knees festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hCEh4g8be0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8vueAQBLeU
oct 29 2021 - levitation festival 2021
opened their own show at this festival as the band 'the orange tree boys' where geordie sang born to run by bruce springsteen in an american accent
this show was also on morgan's birthday and they sing him happy birthday before the last song!
the version of slow from this set is incredible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kN_kHzgsh0
nov 12 2021 - pitchfork festival london 2021
apparently they had to stop 953 early during this set because the barrier was unsafe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDk23h729w
apr 23 2022 - coachella 2022
dancers from the john L video were on stage for this performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWfFxpTvKUY
may 3 2022 - lexington "secret" show
surprise show at the lexington in london a few days before the announcement of hellfire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR_NvPs6riE
jun 2 2022 - primavera sound festival 2022
the show starts with geordie freestyling over the loudspeakers from backstage
the version of slow from this performance is really fast (lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cHM2MbJCz0
jun 6 2022 - sonic bm 15 (5th anniversary of first bm show/0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsko2416NCk
jun 25 2022 - glastonbury 2022
really good set
geordie said during the show that they would be signing records at a tent nearby but when people got there it was just three of their tour crew dressed as them lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iox6V3ORDM
jul 13 2022 - somerset house
one of my favorite live recordings of theirs, god bless roustghoti for recording so many bm sets over the years
jul 15 2022 - hellfire release
https://www.nme.com/news/music/black-midi-to-man-their-own-ice-cream-van-as-heatwave-hits-uk-3272597
jul 19 2022 - hellfire ice cream truck
a major heatwave struck england the same week hellfire was released, so bm drove around and gave out free ice cream in a hellfire branded ice cream truck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gskOgyWq-QQ
jul 24 2022 - central park
free show in central park NYC, livestreamed from their bandcamp
in addition to their usual hellfire setlist they also covered daft punk is playing at my house by LCD soundsystem and played faster amaranta for the first time in a while
cam was adding in pieces of love story by taylor swift at the end of still as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flf7DOhG1CU
nov 14 2022 - old fruitmarket
a show in glasgow during the hellfire tour infamous for its performance of magician
for a long time before the new sound released, this was known as the definitive version of the magician to most bm fans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifSKKSF1N-w
nov 19 2022 - corona capital festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XbHp54a6QU
jan 30 2023 - amoeba what's in my bag interview
of course geordie got stravinsky and sinatra, shank got miles davis, cam got two scott walker CDs, and morg got an AC/DC live record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nqI77i7U44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-kEqpksk4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szDCRi-dfuI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejMllpszypM
mar 5 to mar 8 2023 - village underground residency
four amazing shows in london, each one themed around a different era of the band (first show was just "mystery" other three were each of the three albums)
mystery show has a lot of covers and unreleased songs
schlagenheim has a good western performance and a very rare appearance of the years ago riff
cavalcade show has marlene dietrich, diamond stuff, ascending forth, despair, a lot of the slow songs from that era that they don't normally play, they also cover breathe by pink floyd
hellfire show starts with john L then Harry Hill walks out, they cover i like it by cardi B, and then just continue on with the show???
some of the best recordings of the band i've seen (again, thank you roustghoti)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNDVWsI-H7U
may 29 2023 - primavera sound barcelona 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0pN7OXzjJs
aug 5 2023 - sonic jam festival 噪点音乐节 with li zenghui
beautiful live set in xi'an china with saxophone player li zenghui
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng-x-pmK8fc
nov 21 2023 - the eras show (the wiltern)
amazing three hour long show where they play pretty much every song they ever wrote. show goes on so long they have to take an intermission halfway through
they even pull out crow's perch out of nowhere (and you can hear people in the audience immediately start screaming)
in retrospect we probably should have realized they were breaking up when they announced this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO_TXCPN7RI
dec 5 2023 - blondie (final show)
first show in chile, and last show ever (hopefully just for the time being)
geordie has a little speech at the end where he thanks everyone for coming to shows and buying albums and ends it with 'for the last time, thank you so much, have a good night'
what each of the members is doing now
morgan is in a band now called invariance, with kaidi, the sax player of the last two bm albums, daniel rogerson, who is also a member of geordie's touring band as a guitarist, as well as pianist lorenz okello and guitarist john jones. he's also continuing to do work as a drummer outside the band, being on endlessness by nala sinephro, lotus by little simz, and the new sound by geordie.
geordie has started a solo career with the album the new sound, featuring former bm member morgan and touring/recording pianist seth (shank). apparently, he's working on something new, nothing announced officially, just whisperings from people he works with and comments from interviews. saw him on tour in chicago and it was so good.
cameron has released a handful of mixtapes through bandcamp, and has formed a new band called 'my new band believe'. i haven't listened to all of the mixtapes, because they are almost exclusively available on CD, not being on streaming or digital on bandcamp, but i did hear 44m50s on CD after seeing him live in chicago (only about a month after seeing geordie) and it's excellent. my new band believe features cameron as well as former bm pianist seth evans, bassist josh finerty of the band shame, and drummer king david ike-elechi. so far, their only single is lecture 25, and it's very very good. i really hope to hear more from them in the future.
matt, after leaving black midi, recorded guitar on loggerhead by wu-lu. he also released a single song on his bandcamp, a protest song against britain's support of israel through the occupation and genocide in gaza. last year, he performed a show at the windmill alongside drummer alfie.
(i'm including kaidi and shank even though they weren't technically members, they toured and recorded with the band for around three years, so i'm including them)
kaidi releases solo music now, releasing his debut album like in dreams earlier this year (which also features daniel rogerson from morgan and geordie's new groups on guitar and backing vocals, he seems to keep coming up). i haven't listened to his new album just yet, but i did hear his song texas which is really good.
seth, a member of the band HMLTD before joining bm, has worked closely with both geordie and cameron after bm's fracturing. he produced the new sound and provided piano and backing vocals, as well as lead vocals on the song motorbike. he also plays keys in my new band believe. he also seems to be working on solo music, but nothing has been announced yet, just a few performances of original songs.
since you read to the end here's a piece of black midi trivia
geordie had nicknames for all the members of the band whenever he'd introduce them onstage. seth was infamously named shank, but everyone had a nickname (except geordie himself, i think). morgan was slim simpson, cam was the machine, and kaidi was cassanova.
ok thanks for reading my ramblings about this stupid band bye
Comments
Displaying 0 of 0 comments ( View all | Add Comment )