The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

Tom Petty at BST Hyde Park

by 28 Comments

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.

Club Wino 12

by 3 Comments

08/04/2017

After a short sojourn, Club Wino is back and now we’ve made it all the way up to number twelve.

This one will take place downstairs at The Roadtrip and Workshop in Old Street on Saturday 8th April.

As the venue is what some might call bijou, there will be a slightly smaller bill than usual featuring your hosts, Neil Gowans and The Winos (featuring this board’s TrypF and Turtleface) and our particular brand of countrified power pop ‘n’ roll. We’ve even got a couple of new tunes.

We will be accompanied by The Bakelite Space Programme, who can rustle up a hell of a din, despite being just the two of them.

So, come join the fun at Club Wino 12, it’s been a while and we’d love to see you.

Can the Can

by 4 Comments

Apparently Heinz are in trouble because their advert might cause people to beat razor edged tins with their hands until they bleed. While this is unlikely, and is simply a great opportunity for a) Heinz to get some free publicity and b) little Englanders to froth about ‘elf’n’safety gone mad’, I’d like it to be kicked into a pit and molten lead poured on it for completely different reasons.

One: It’s the soft-focus, grab-a-ukelele, twee guff that really boils my soup. Two: It’s close to theft. Theft of another theft, really. Remember Lulu and the Lampshades and their ‘Cups’ song? It was championed by David Hepworth in his blog some years ago, and in the old magazine. It’s quite charming. LATL even played a Word in Your Ear gig. Here’s the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWCOYJg9ps4

This was then borrowed (ahem) for the film Pitch Perfect, in a scene starring Anna Kendrick. Here it is, at 1:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSbXsFE3l8

A few months ago, I was at some arts centre evening of entertainment (a freind dragged me), and a shit-awful ‘Glee’-style acapella group did their turn. You can probably guess what their centrepiece of the set was. The most annoying thing was they didn’t say » Continue Reading.

A sideman leaves us…

by 3 Comments

Eddie Harsch, late of the Black Crowes, died the other day. One shouldn’t speculate at why he left us at 59, but I have a sinking feeling based on his, and the band’s, history of hard drugs. Nevertheless, he helped to give us some wonderful music and on their night, they were very hard to beat.

I could link to something from a live recording, but this from the Crowes’ second album is my idea of the apogee of his playing. At 3:56, after a wonderfully lazy drum fill from Steve Gorman, Eddie goes gospel, and Thorn In My Pride finds a new gear. Off you fly, Ed.

Roger Hodgson

by 1 Comment

Venue:

London Palladium

Date: 28/04/2016

I’ve always had a soft spot for Supertramp, and in particular Roger Hodgson’s yearning, questioning songs. Although my venue of choice normally has me standing in a dark, sticky-floored Camden venue, I took a punt on a comfy seated nostalgic journey. Roger and band (more of them in a bit) started on the dot of 8 with Supertramp classic ‘Take the Long way Home’, followed by an endearing spiel about how great is was to be back in England, how lucky he is to be blessed with such a career and so forth. As Rog said at one point, with so much awfulness in the world this was a chance to escape it for a couple of hours. I believe he means every word, but we got quite a lot of these homilies through the evening and I had to fight my inner cynic a mite. So to the tunes: The ‘Tramp ones were excellent, played by a very talented band who had all come dressed as Vegas magicians. The solo years stuff was variable, and you could hear the room deflate when the animal rights anthem ‘Death and a Zoo’ was announced, and » Continue Reading.