As expected we now have a multitude of Drills to choose from, so I guess this can be a thread for all those who wish to rotate, eddy or spin.

Will definitely get to at least one of the Garage gigs and count me in for Leeds... the Brudenell is a superb venue. I'm a bit confused by the Drill ticketing though. Will there be a season ticket for the weekend? At present there are just links for each individual day.

Can't wait for the Brudenell show, excellent venue and of course, bands! It does appear confusing on the listing, but I'm definitely attending the Saturday.

Got a text from a friend in LA that the Graham Lewis / Mike Watt band Fitted covered "Hallogallo" last night. He said it was totally awesome.

The gig on the 29th at the Casbah in San Diego is on DIME - the only difference in the setlist to the Crescent Ballroom is that "Harpooned" wasn't played. The setlist last night replaces "Harpooned" with "Pink Flag" - presumably the Orchestra..... http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/wire/2017/echoplex-los-angeles-ca-53e6ab91.html

More details of the Leeds Drill emerge. (via the Brudenell website - the official Drill site is still light on detail)

http://www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/whats-on/drill-festival-wire/

So far, Wire confirmed for just the Saturday - with Clinic also added to the bill - I note that there is already another (non-Drill) gig in the games room so I'm assuming everything will occur in the big room at the Brudenell. No mention of the PF Orchestra - the stage in the venue isn't huge but could maybe squeeze in a PF Sextet at best - we shall see. A bargain at £20 anyway. I'd pay that just to see Wire (and have paid more to see 45 mins of The Fall)

Sunday is now going to be Michael Rother + Immersion & Matt's 'Slows' - but that requires a separate £15 ticket and will be in the smaller games room at the back of the club (the awful Electric Six have inexplicably sold out the main venue - not part of Drill I hasten to add - unless Wire were planning to join them for a Hi-Voltage Drill encore- can't see that somehow)

No mention of Friday although the official Drill site still suggests it's a 21-23 April "in and around the Brudenell" so maybe there's something afoot

That is my friend Liane who posted those videos

Do Wire play a full set on each of the three nights in Leeds? Or is it only one night of the three? If the latter, does anyone know which night as I can't afford to travel and stay for 3 days/nights

I'm not going to Drill but they're playing Stockton on the 20th so I'm off there, it'll be the first time I've seen them.

I got around to uploading my own version of "Pink Flag" from Drill: LA. I was right at the stage, so the sound is a little overdriven, but it works. :-) https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=AOvi6EiT66o

Most of the night was classically concise Wire. Many of the full songs were shorter than the other clip I uploaded: a 2:40 excerpt from the tail end of 1987's "Over Theirs" that ended the main set. LOL Cameos from Colin and Graham toward the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1fYLeII4_4

I also posted a couple dozen photos of Wire, and a couple of one of the opening acts, Youth Code, at my Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/metropolitim/ Not to be a self-promoting weasel, but I think they came out really well, and the comments have been very positive. I offer them in thanks after years of lurking here for so many great conversations and so much wonderful insight.

The show itself was fantastic, and deserves its own lengthy conversation. A fan since "Outdoor Miner", this was somehow my first chance to see them in person, and it was worth the wait. :-) A life highlight.

I want to make an observation or two about Drill as a concept, and its execution. Also deserving its own thread is an excellent interview in BuzzBandsLA covering their whole career, but the festival in particular. In a way, it felt like Wire's gift to us -- bands they think are interesting that they hope we like too. http://buzzbands.la/2017/03/30/wire-colin-newman-not-looking-back-not-bored/

Because this was a bit of a drive for me (2 hours each way) Saturday was really the only night practical, and while members of the band had popped into other configurations on both of the other nights, the only performance by WIRE was headlining Saturday night. The four bands preceding them to the stage were wildly diverse, and honestly, not all that big on the local scene. I have no idea how Wire found these folks, but the bizarre breadth of styles actually worked really well.

The first two, Mild High Club and The Once and Future Band both mined veins that felt rooted in 1973-1974 Todd Rundgren (way oversimplified, but the former band toward the weirder/jazzy end of the spectrum, the latter toward the pretty/poppy end). I like 'em both, but personally give the nod to TOAFB, who almost approached Polyphonic Spree levels of prettiness (minus the choir robes and sunshine).

Taking a hard left, the lead singer of Youth Code, Sara Taylor, introduced herself as Rob Zombie, and she sings at least as loudly and intensely as Rob does, with a much harder musical approach -- especially remarkable because it's just a duo with her and her fella Ryan George. Think crazy-intense industrial that you can dance to. LOL It took me a couple of songs to get what they were doing, but I wound up really getting a kick out of them. They have a grasp of the genre's conventions that let us all the share a wink, but not as a straight-out joke, and without compromising their intensity. It's a balance that seems quite Wire-y in fact.
Sooooo, after two rounds of big-band California-psychedelic Rundgren-esque weirdness/poppiness, and a thrashing industrial duo, one more act before Wire: a solo woman and an electric piano. Obvious, right? LOL Think Kate Bush's little sister, only more sincere. LOL What the heck that has to do with Wire, I have no idea -- but it worked! She got a VERY warm reception from the audience...I think at least partly because the whole room was heating up for Wire, but honestly, she won the crowd over with her directness.

I know that the Drill concept is old hat to many of you, but I was struck when Graham asked at one point during Wire's headlining set, "Did you hear anything you like?" by how much he meant it. As one of the hosts of the party, he had a stake in our approval. I think he was also acknowledging that not every act was going to be to everyone's liking -- but really, why not? Most of us are along for ALL of what Wire offers, so why shouldn't the solo piano girl get every bit as much love as the screaming industrial girl and the bands of Rundgren-esque boys?

So I score Wire four-for-four on the openers, not one of whom was an obvious choice, nicely setting the table for the most eclectic act of them all at the top of the bill -- the three old white guys and the freakishly handsome younger one. LOL

In fact, the two most obviously "Wire"-y acts, Bob Mould and Mike Watt, were given headlining slots on their own nights. A truly perverse, yet fiendishly sensible, strategy. LOL

ANYWAY, unless anyone sees something otherwise, I think it's safe to assume that Wire is saving the last slot on the last night for themselves. I think it's also safe to say that you're gonna be at least pleasantly surprised by strangers on the bill. Enjoying the four I heard as much as I did, I'm nothing but sorry I had to miss the rest.

And Wire was terrific. :-)

"I have an audio recording of WIRE at drill la, plus Fitted, and Immersion."

Are we to hear them Alexander?