I've never bought a record from Michelle's, but it seems like a great place to buy one from. They…read morehave a really great selection of vinyl, from new stuff to a large selection of second hand (or at least they looked that way to me). They don't stock any metal, but hey, i guess no-one really cares that much.
So why write a review of a record store you've never bought anything from? Jose Gonzales. He played Hamburg today, but unfortunately it sold out before me and my friends got around to getting one. Luckily for us one of our friends is on the Michelle's Records email list and got a message from them today saying that Jose would be playing a secret gig at the store today at 6pm.
We got there at 5:45, meandered around for a bit until noticing a sign saying that he'd be on at 6:30. At this point we decided to go next door for a beer. Upon arriving back at 6:25 the place was completely packed, but oddly the later you arrive the closer to the front you get (pretty much), so we were at the front.
Jose came on pretty much on time and started with Hints from his veneer album. Then the Instrumental from the Australian Tour EP, then the international Sony-bouncing-balls-advert hit Heartbeats. Then we got an incendary version of Down the Line from his new In Our Nature album. It was at least twice as good as the album version. He finished with another oldie, Crosses.
Unfortunately 5 minutes plus of ovation couldn't convince him back onto the stage. Poor guy actually looked quite embarrassed. He seemed pretty humble. Actually I'm pretty sure he played another song, but I'm not sure which one from memory. We certainly got an awesome free gig. Better than most of the gigs I've paid for.
If you look at the uploaded photos you'll see what my mate took on his mobile phone. We were literally 2m away from him. Heck, you can see the detail where his guitar is damaged from his percussive hits in songs like Down the Line. It was awesome.
p.s. I'm thinking that the other song was Suggestions. Anyone confirm this?
