Matthew Knott

On Wedesday 14th October, Therapy? played Sin City in Swansea. As a band I've been listening to since I was 14, I was desperate to catch them while they were still touring, but was worried I'd set the bar too high.

I remember the first time I heard Therapy?, the very first time. I was 14 and in my friend Alex's house, he had a CD called "Rocks Off", which I still consider one of the best, no, THE best compilation album I've ever owned. Track 8 was "Die Laughing", still probably their best-known song.

Since then I've listened intently to their first 5 albums. I never really gotten around to the newer albums, my experience of the more recent songs has mainly been the odd single here and there.

You'd be forgiven for mistaking this for apparent disinterest in the band, but I've thought about why I haven't gotten into the new stuff just yet, and I think it's more about nostalgia, the feeling and thoughts I associate with those albums, about being young. The new songs are great, and I will get round to listening to, and loving the new albums.

So anyway, the 14th October saw Therapy? visit Swansea, at Sin City. Tickets were relatively cheap and as soon as I heard about it I HAD to get tickets. I've always dreamed about how great it would be to go to a Therapy? gig. When I started listening to them, I was far too young and my parents were too strict to ever dream of letting me go to a concert, so like many other things, it's later in life when I've left home and have a disposable income that I get to go and try these things I should've been doing 10 years ago.

My list of bands I'd love to see is a difficult one, lets see, Nirvana - Kurt's Dead, Sonic Youth - Sold out, David Bowie - Not Touring. So Therepy? coming to Swansea seemed to good to be true.

As the set started, I knew one from the first four songs, not a great start and felt I'd let myself down a bit but the classics eventually came out, Screamager, Isolation, Going Nowhere, Teethgrinder, Die Like A Mother F**ker, and Die Laughing. The songs I knew were amazing to see and hear, but I was seriously over-awed by the whole occasion.

It's really strange going to see a musical hero of yours and stand a few feet away from them. You've only seen them in pictures or online and to see the flesh before you is a bit overwhelming. I started thinking about the gig's this band had done in the past, the arenas around the world they'd played and now they were here, upstairs in a small dark room in Swansea, still playing with the passion you want to see from them. 

Andy Cairns is still a devastating guitarist, and it was just amazing to watch him work. I really didn't want it to end, because as it ended that was it, item off the list. It's hard to explain as with so many complicated emotions, but I wanted to hear them sing every song I love. I knew it wouldn't happen but you're there for such a fleeting moment you want to make the most of the experience.

I think the problem may be that there is one of my dreams come true, and it's made me realise the time I've wasted not going out and realising my dreams when I had the chance. The missed oportunities, and also the shear bleakness of my life sometimes. I have so few goals and aspirations beyond financial stability that I may spend my time chasing that and not living, I guess in the end I'll be happy if I've been able to raise my children well and give them a good life.