So my recent US adventure came to a close in Los Angeles to see the mighty Ty Segall and the Freedom Band. I love Ty so much. He represents everything to me in artist. So creative, so explosive, so everything. A few months ago he announced he would be doing a weekly residency at the Teragram Ballroom. Over about 8 Friday nights he would play an album in full plus mystery songs. It's turned out the 'mystery' songs would be his new album in full. 'First Taste' came out in early August and naturally I loved it. Then it worked for me that I would be able to see 'Manipulator' in full. What an opportunity. What a night it turned out to be. 2 hours of pure rock and roll perfection.

So 'First Taste' is a departure of sorts for Ty. The whole album is devoid of guitar, instruments like the bouzouki take centre stage. But holy cow the album still rocks. And live it was explosive. The Freedom Band are just awesome live. And Shannon Lay is now a huge addition to the band. Mikal Cronin does more as well, playing all sorts of instruments and Ty himself plays drums on some songs, so we had double drumming going on a few tracks. This was especially so on 'The Fall', with Ty and Charles Moothart going head to head. I think my favourites though were the sludgy sledgehammer of 'I Worship the Dog' and the huge wigout of 'Self Esteem'. To be honest I would have been satisfied with this alone. But then we received the 2014 classic 'Manipulator' in full. The band switched to traditional mode. Ty strapped on his Travis Bean and away we went. The crowd went beserk. Crowd surfing and stage diving broke out and there was palpable joy in the room. But despite the hectic chaos it always felt safe and respectful. This was evident I thought in the amount of women front and centre. I think this is a good guide to the type of music Ty produces and also that the environment at his shows is conducive to women feeling safe. I loved every minute. What a pleasure to see this album live. It was all spectacular but my absolute loves were 'The Singer' and also 'The Feels'. The band even gave us a short encore, two covers as the clock ticked past midnight. We floated away into the night, content in the knowledge that the king had conquered.

Set List
Taste
Whatever
Ice Plant
The Fall
I Worship the Dog
The Arms
When I Met My Parents Pt. 1
I Sing Them
When I Met My Parents Pt. 3
Radio
Self Esteem
Lone Cowboys
Manipulator
Tall Man Skinny Lady
The Singer
It's Over
Feel
The Faker
The Clock
Green Belly
The Connection Man
Mister Main
The Hand
Susie Thumb
Don't You Want to Know? (Sue)
The Crawler
Who's Producing You?
The Feels
Stick Around

Cherry Bomb (The Runaways cover)
Cherry Red (The Groundhogs cover)