Venue:

Brmingham O2 Institute

Date: 11/02/2016

Small stage and a scruffy venue seemed somehow wrong for a performer with a catalogue as long and varied as Jacksons, but nonetheless, that’s where he was playing and where, delayed at work, I found, or was found by Mr (Steve) T of this site. Taller and ganglier than ever, Jackson lurched onstage shortly around 8, starting off as his own support, playing 4 of 5 songs alone at the electric piano, with an energetic It’s Different for Girls to kick things off. A couple of conventional mid period piano ballads followed, the lyrics for Be My Number 2 seeming from now a different era. (I guess it was.) But it was a masterstroke to cover Big Yellow taxi in a N’Awlins /Dr John style, which certainly delighted the 2 of us, and seemingly the rest of the hall. Another ballad was beginning to lull the raised atmosphere, when, mid song, a figure strode on, plugged in his bass, interrupting with the unmistakeable dum der-dum intro of Is She Really Going Out with Him, bringing the audience back to life. Drummer and guitarist strolled on, verse by verse, until the full band, and » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Date: 31/01/2016

Rollicking into Brum for the last night of his “new” 4 Seasons tour, Kennedy made the most of home turf, peppering his concert with references to Villa’s dire performance the day before, and to the Jasper Carrot helmed Boggery Folk Club in Solihull, where he had played a show with Stephane Grapelli some decades ago. The first half opened with the English Chamber Orchestra, string section and harpsichord, trooping on, followed by the additional musicians, making 13 in all, 2 acoustic guitars, a huge double bass and very rudimentary drums, basically a snare and a cymbal, followed by Kennedy’s shamble on, playing the opening stanzas to 4S on a mouth organ. All ill-fitting and unmatched jacket, trousers, trainers and T-shirt, lengthy introductions fed into 5 opening pieces in this first half. 4 of these were related, as being tribute pieces to Isaak Stern, the aforementioned Grapelli, a famous polish violinist whose name I can’t recall and probably couldn’t spell and, a surprise, to whom he called nashville’s finest fiddler, Mark O’Connor, getting at least one cheer from me, even if none of the pieces necessarily evoked the genres of the artist so celebrated. » Continue Reading.

Venue:

O2 Academy, Birmingham

Date: 30/01/2016

The 3rd of my what I still might call techno forays, even I knowing my terminology grates against the full live Massive Attack experience, which hardly categorises as trip-hop either, now so vast and orchestral is the bass-heavy swell of sound. The tour is to promote the new material, audio and visual, with a lot of new, interspersed with what you might call greatest hits, maybe volume 2, so all the anthemic forbodings from Mezzanine and Heligoland were there, little from the first 2 albums, bar a Karmacoma, greeted with cheers by the heaving hall. Singers included Martina Topley-Bird, who gave good credit to Teardrop and the theme from Luther, and good old Horace Andy, a little dreadlocked gnome alongside Daddy G, but in as fine vibrato as ever. A striking new voice was Azukiel, spelling uncertain, striking also in stature an appearance, a welcome new find for their sound. Less so for me were Young Fathers, who, as well as being support band, did 2 songs as the 1st round of encores, from the forthcoming new material. Maybe I am not their demographic, scarcely fitting the bill for a young grandfather these » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Barclaycard Arena (? hell, it’s the bloody N.I.A. to me), Birmingham

Date: 02/12/2015

Extraordinary, really, and not quite as expected. First time to the Indoor Arena without seats and it’s a corker, like a decent N.E.C., as droves of the Faithless faithful arrive, in all ages, sizes, shapes and forms, the atmosphere of a revivalist meeting. The arena so big and roof so high it feels like outside, with party coats laid out on the floor as support band ‘Until the Ribbon Breaks’, no me, neither, came on and did their stuff, a fascinating blend of electronica and beats fuelled folky-blues with occasional trumpet and lots of percussion, electronic and otherwise; largely well-received and one to hear their recorded stuff for clarity, I felt, the sound a bit muddy. Bang on 9 the lights go down, the floor fills and bank upon bank of lasers come up to, sorry, euphoria, the biggest cheers reserved for Maxi Jazz, diminutive and suited, a white T under the jacket. Bravely banging off with signature tune, ‘God is a DJ’, alternating between the quiet rappy bits as it builds inexorably to the chunky bits that sear the room with joy, this seemed » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Steve T’s house, somewhere in the west midlands

Date: 21/11/2015

Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish, aka My Darling Clementine, each with long track records of credible music, produce canny and aware modern country (and, hell yes, western) which deserves better than the radar they meet, but, it’s 2015, this is how it is. And house concerts, huge in the states, are perhaps the sway forward. So, perhaps 35 or 40 of us meet for a party, and the band play. No microphones, acoustic guitar and vox humana, with occasional low amped electric piano. Actually, man from boy stuff, as Mike and Lou blew off the roof, showing for real the skill and expertise built on the back of natural talent. 10,000 hours of experience, playing a mix of songs from their 2 LPs and the recent roadshow with crime-writer Mark Billingham. With never a song ever having a thing good to say about that crazy little thing called love, they bickered delightfully through songs of distress and dismay. Adding an occasional cover from Hank Williams, Jackie Leven and Costello, E, via George Jones, OK, ‘Good Year for the Roses’, written by neither, split into 2 sets, this » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

Date: 20/11/2015

The squeeze is a big fan, so here we are, 3rd Steve Harley gig in 18/12, this time in the school assembly ambience of W.A.C.s Butterworth Hall. Following on from last years faithful run-through of the first 2 albums, with a symphony orchestra, this is the original line-up, bar the deceased George Ford, reformed to run through L.P. no. 3, ‘Best Years of Our Lives’, arguably when the band was at its peak. Getting lost in the single tracks around Kenilworth blunted our start, 3 songs in, missing ‘Her Comes the Sun’. Thankfully this was the first half, supposedly fan chosen songs, but, as Harley depracatedly pointed out, no-one bothered, and he was always going to play what he liked anyway. So, amongst a number of, to me, lesser known tracks, we had his new single, out for 6 weeks and known by no-one, as well as ‘A Friend for Life’, covered on Rod Stewarts latest (‘number 1’) album. (Or kerching, as Harley commented!) An elegiac, extended ‘Sebastian’was the highpoint and always is, building ever up into glissandos of ululation, tightly pegged in by Stuart Elliotts sturdy and precise drumming. Jim Cregan, » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Town Hall, Birmingham

Date: 28/10/2015

Rarely have I seen this venue as a -buzzing ahead of this gig, Marcus Miller, bassist extraordinaire showing off his new LP, Afrodeezia. Unfortunately we had first to sit thru’ 45 minutes of the worst sort of cruise ship cacophony that gives jazz a bad name, all scat and uncooked noodle, the sort of stuff people think you mean if you admit a like for the genre. However, any hearts dampened thereby were swiftly elevated to the roof as Miller and his band hit the ground running, playing the first 2 tracks from the new record, sharing the accolades between Millers astounding technique and sax, trumpet, keys, guitar drums and, a special mention, percussion, the astonishing Mino Cinelu, last associated with Miller on Miles Davis’ Tutu, in 1986. The songs portray the journey, spiritual and temporal, of the slave trade between subsaharan Africa and the U.S., by way of Brazil and the caribbean. So, as well as bass, we were treated to forays onto ngoni, and in a remarkable slow piece, bass clarinet. Despite almost exclusively instrumental music, mostly hard driven and rhythmic, the solos never descended into look at me, the melodies » Continue Reading.