Venue:

Hampton Court Palace

Date: 18/06/2024

Sheryl Crow is an artist that won me over by osmosis. When her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club came out, the ubiquity of All I Wanna Do (and its adoption by an irritating student housemate) muddied my interest somewhat. The opening lines to Run Baby Run ‘She was born in November 1963/The day Aldous Huxley died’ seemed rather arch and there was something contrived about the first album’s gee-we’re-just-a-group-who-meet-once-a-week shtick, especially when that gang fell apart so publicly.

Some years later, my girlfriend’s CD collection unearthed Crow’s second, self-titled album. It had a more direct, less glossy production, with lots of fuzz bass, loops and double-tracked dry vocals. More importantly, a few listens revealed that it’s a fantastic set of songs, only losing steam in the final few tunes. My time in a female fronted covers band showed what absolute crackers If It Makes You Happy, A Change Would Do You Good and Everyday Is A Winding Road are. When you add Maybe Angels, Sweet Rosalyn and Redemption Day (which Johnny Cash deemed good enough to cover), it’s a staggering achievement for someone who had been written off after the bitter split » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Cadogan Hall

Date: 12/01/2024

There’s a soubriquet in country music – the ‘triple threat’. This means someone who not only can sing beautifully, but can play their instrument (almost always the guitar) and – most rarefied of all – also write great songs that engage not only the heart but the postman’s whistling muscles. On a YouTube trawl last year, I came across Molly Tuttle, a fantastic bluegrass flatpicker, playing with fellow youngster Billy Strings on a clip that has reached over 6 million views. A deeper dive uncovered Molly’s own songs and her lovely singing voice, mainly with her band Golden Highway. Best of the lot was her song Crooked Tree, a touching ode to growing up physically different (as she did) – the straight trees go to the sawmill to be turned into ‘toothpicks and twenty dollar bills’, the crooked trees don’t fit into the mill machine and live ‘wild and free’. I became a bit of a fan of this new triple threat and when I saw she was supporting Tommy Emmanuel on his UK tour, I snagged a sole ticket.

The Cadogan Hall is usually a classical venue and, what with its Sloane Square » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

Date: 29/06/2022

It all started with another gig. a couple of weeks ago. A friend had bought tickets for Beck at the Brixton Academy many months ago. I’d been expecting the gig to showcase a colourful array of fantastic musicians, all interacting, showing off and bringing the funk for all they were worth. What we got, good though it was, was Beck Hansen, downstage on his own, smothered in purple smoke, while his musicians toiled right at the back, in the dark, on a ten-foot riser. If you’d been seated in the circle, you might well have assumed he was playing to a load of backing tracks. So, though we pogoed and hollered through ‘E-Pro’, ‘Dreams’, ‘Loser’ and the rest, one question nagged at me all the way home: What happened to the band?

A quick look online told me: two of them had decamped to St Vincent’s latest tour, possibly in search of more onstage excitement. Checking out St Vincent’s Glastonbury highlights on iPlayer, I decided this was the kind of show I’d been after when I went to Brixton. Full of Bowie-style theatre, it crammed in a wonderful selection of songs, all played » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Islington, London

Date: 09/10/2018

Many Afterworders will know The Islington well, home of the Word podcasts and hosting as it does many Massive-approved acts. I’m here to see my friends (and occasional clients) Jimmy Regal and the Royals – so, interest declared, take my review of them with as much salt as you fancy. Jimmy Regal play old-school blues without a bass player. Where most modern blues guitarists echo Stevie Ray Vaughan or 60s Clapton, guitarist Corin channels ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, T-Bone Walker and Hubert Sumlin – clean-toned and heavy on the rhythm. Singer Joff Watkins has the authoritative bark of a Howlin’ Wolf and, most impressively, has The Gift when it comes to playing harp. Jimmy Regal come onstage to about five people and leave a room full and happy.

I thought I’d stick around for the headliners, and this turns out to be a good choice. Until they replace Jimmy Regal onstage, I had never heard one note of Jeremy Porter and the Tucos. The first effect is visual – the rock’n’roll look that tells you synth solos and sequenced beats will not be forthcoming. The Tucos’ bassist is called Patty Two Shoes, which also bodes » Continue Reading.

Venue:

100 Club, London

Date: 01/09/2018

Here’s a funny one. An old friend texts out of the blue and wanted to know if I fancy going to see Modern English. ‘They used to be called the English Beat’ he writes ‘And had a hit with a song called Melt With You’. I haven’t seen him for a while and could do with a night out, so I sign up.

One out of two ain’t bad. OK, it is pretty bad – Modern English were not The English Beat (or just The Beat) – a shame because it would have been nice to hear ‘Save it for Later’. This happens with people I know – one left a Cowboy Junkies gig disappointed they hadn’t played ‘Perfect’. Never mind: here I am, in the 100 Club, watching a band I know nothing about. So here’s a completely objective review – other than the name, Modern English ring no bells whatsoever.

What strikes me first is the disparity between four of the band and their guitarist. Singer, drummer, keys and bass are wearing the regulation Musician Of A Certain Age uniform of black suits and black T-shirts. They have short, or no » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Richmond Theatre, Richmond upon Thames

Date: 03/06/2018

If the phrases Yellow Car, The Travelling Lemon or Since You Ask Me For A Story bring a smile to your face, you may well be one of the thousands going to see John Finnemore and his regular gang on this early summer tour. If they don’t, you’re not in the minority. This isn’t Peter Kay, but a much niche in comedy – almost completely confined to Radio 4 until now, building an impressive back catalogue of humour since 2008 in John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme (the sketch show) and Cabin Pressure (the almost legendary sitcom).

This production is a broad selection of mostly the former show – mainly due to the availability of Finnemore’s sketch team, and a thoroughly brilliant gang they are. Laury Lewin, Margaret Cabourn Smith, Simon Kane and the endearingly daffy Carrie Quinlan all play to their strengths, all playing stage personas within the acting and not many unfunny bones among any of them. To the faithful, it feels like a greatest hits set – Pooh’s Intervention, The Ice Cream Van Painter, The Short-Sleeved Shirts Team Talk – but there are new items, some reasonable audience participation, the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Hyde Park, London

Date: 09/07/2017

There’s a song from a lesser-known Tom Petty album, 2002’s The Last DJ, which rails against large outdoor gigs. “They sat in golden circles/And waiters served them wine … And way up in the nosebleeds/We watched him on the screen/They’d hung between the billboards/So cheaper seats could see”. This is the Hyde Park experience, and Tom Petty has become part of this – not that I blame him. He last came to the UK in 2012, and may not play here again, so he’s playing to Hyde Park sized places. My £65 ticket (plus fees) gets me the basic admission, which gets me about 100 yards from the main stage at best. If I were to empty my wallet further, I might get in the silver section, a crescent nearer the acts, or the gold section, nearest the front. My friend who works in the city got a ticket in the still-more-rarefied VIP garden, a grandstand slightly to one side of the stage, commanding a raised view of the stage, and possibly featuring butlers, caviar on ice and executive relief.

Back in the plebs’ area, we have the option of a huge amount » Continue Reading.