"Charlotte Cooper of The Subways at Southside Festival 2014 in Neuhausen ob Eck" by Markus Hillgärtner, http://www.markushillgaertner.de. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Be My Little Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen

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Music writers. A species often considered a puffed up bunch of ostensible cognoscenti of refined sound. Usually self-absorbed guys, passionately driven by the tunes that rule their own private Idaho. Never veering in one’s opinion, particularly not when pressured by the glamorous limelight of popular recognition. Extremely suspicious when it comes to music people other than their nerdy friends like. Rejecting any hype as it is regarded a threat to their own journalistic integrity and musical expertise, hence often retreating to the omniscient pedestal aka the speakers’ corner of the modern music writer: the private blog.

You may have wondered how we at LeipGlo towers keep it real, and sadly we’re no different. But hey, we’re the good guys, so let us reveal how we came up with this week’s gig suggestion, The Subways – reason enough for you to spend a good musical night out in Connewitz, Leipzig’s venerable alternative suburb.

To start with, get your songkick sorted so you know what’s going down in Leipzig’s glocal world of music. Sift through the list of gigs coming up in your hood and look for names you know. Ignore Kraftwerk since you’re a) not willing to spend €130 on 2 tickets, it’s b) sold out anyway, and there’s c) no reason to stuff this type of money down the wrinkling throats of a band that peaked in 1974. If you must, get the CD for €7 on eBay instead.

Well, and then you find out that tickets for British indie icons The Subways at Conne Island are a mere €21.50 a pop. We like. It’s not that The Subways reinvented indie music; quite the opposite. Their anthemic guitar melodies include sing-along numbers like We don’t need money to have a good timeKiss Kiss Bang Bang and Shake! Shake! – just jolly good tunes to spend a jolly good evening at one of Leipzig’s best and most down-to-earth concert venues.

Oh yes, we promised a more telling insight into the box of tricks of a music writer. Once you figure out that The Subways are being backed up by a band called Die Mannequin (a band you’ve never heard of), the thing gets really interesting. You go to YouTube to check them out, only to see that their biggest hit Do it or die has accumulated some 213k listeners already, so you proceed to conduct more thorough research on Wikipedia, only to learn that they’ve been around since 2005 already. Blimey. You’re shocked and happy at the same time, and you spend the rest of the afternoon listening to their back catalogue. By the end of the day, you as the music writer finish your article with the following paragraph:

It’s great to see The Subways being supported by Canadian indie band Die Mannequin, the latter of which we’ve been fervently following since their debut album ‘Autumn Cannibalist’ was released in 2006.

So, dear LeipGlo readers, look forward to witnessing some of the best contemporary indie pop music from either side of the big pond, and be sure to get your girlfriend or best mate a ticket as well. And if you’re still reading but you should be an aficionado of a somewhat more crass turban, go watch Bane play their new album at Conne Island the night before (12/12/2015). And why not warm up with Bane and party with Die Mannequin and The Subways the day after? Your eardrums will zing it for you.

The Subways, Conne Island, 13 December 2015, 8:30pm. €21.50. Be sure to get your tickets the week before, or order them on eventim for more €.

A cosmopolitan butterfly that feels at home where people are friendly and coffee is strong. As a person with a wide range of interests and a low attention span, he succumbs to the charm of novelty all too readily. Literature, film, photography and politics on Mondays, playing dead and g(r)ooming dogs on Tuesdays. Hand him a beer and he’ll talk about football, tell him a lie and he’ll tell you two.

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