Venue:

Lichield Garrick Theatre

Date: 18/10/2019

Quietly re-forming in 2011, it may come as a surprise this venerable warhorse of a band is still in existence. Arising out of the mighty ‘Rise Up Like the Sun’ incarnation of the Albion Band, notable mainly for having a full brass section, their peak period was near 40 years ago, a full on fusion between a pit band, folk rock and broadsheet ballads, often penned by then front man, John Tams. Tams retired in 2015 and was replaced by John Kirkpatrick, a masterful choice, given many of the band had been in his own eponymous group at one time. This year they decided to do a series of gigs entitled the Grand Reunion, with Tams back in the fold. This was the second of such, prompted by Tams being patron of Lichfield Festival of Folk, and served as the opening concert of a series of events in the city. Bang on 7.30(!!), down came the lights and the band strolled on. Now decidedly mature in years, they looked more a collection of elderly teachers on a night out, even down to the once trendy teacher defiantly maintaining his 1970s haircut, this being Graeme » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Sydney Opera House

Date: 09/10/2019

I like jazz a lot, but wouldn’t call myself a jazzer or jazzhead.  I have no idea who played bass on session 4, take 3 of Charlie Parker’s blah blah blah album, or that you can hear the sound of Elvin Jones clipping his toenails in 7/8 time while Coltrane takes off on his own on Giant Steps.  But I do like a bit of jazz, or in Washington’s case, a lot of jazz.

Washington and crew came on stage at the ungodly hour of 9.30, half an hour late, and generally about the time I’m nodding off in front of the telly.  Wife and offspring (and me if I’m honest) weren’t overly impressed with this tardiness, but we’re here now, so let’s strap ourselves in for an evening of hurdy gury existentialist spiralling jazz odyssey.  And that’s pretty much what we got. 

I saw him here last year, and the line-up and vibe were the same.  Two drummers, trombone, keys, bass, sax and other assorted wind instruments, plus Patrice Quinn on vocals.  A big big sound from a very talented band.  if you base your gig value-for-money on the number of » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Brighton Dome

Date: 04/10/2019

Rather than being lost in music at gigs these days, I often find myself asking ‘How can they afford to be playing?’ and this was certainly the case with PF support act The Wendy James Band. Rather than having some young computer whizz-kid intern emulating the sounds of a full combo, the former Transvision Vamper had five big lads, all, one assumes, on per diems, and including drum semi-legend Jim Sclavunos, backing her. She has a new, presumably crowd-funded, album out soon, and the set touched on that, with enough TV hits to keep some interest going. They ended with the best known one. The one that, perhaps appositely for this audience, ends ‘I don’t care’.

It’s 40 years since The PF’s debut single We Love You, though they don’t play it tonight and rarely do. Tonight’s a run through their various phases, from the debut album’s Sister Europe and India to Midnight To Midnight’s Heartbreak Beat via Talk Talk Talk’s Dumb Waiters, Mr Jones, Into You Like A Train and Pretty In Pink, Forever Now’s Love My Way and President Gas and Mirror Moves’ The Ghost in You and Heaven. I say run-through, but » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Hamer Hall, Melbourne

Date: 04/10/2019

I first saw The Lips in Sydney 15 years ago at a stand-up gig in a smallish theatre. They showcased Yoshimi and the Pink Robots. Lots of colour, beach balls, streamers and band members in animal suits. It was a lot of fun.

Fast forward they are doing one of those anniversary tours. Soft Bulletin is being showcased. This time I am in Melbourne and it is at a plush concert hall. But the show is pretty similar only more so. Masses of streamers and beach balls hersald Race For The Prize and a massive rig of thin lighting strips provide an endless array of colour effects. Grateful Dead eat your heart out. Wayne Coyne has a frail “half voice”. He sings entirely falsetto though I’ve heard some of their earlier proto punk stuff and his voice is lower on those. It must be hard work. His voice is undermixed. This is surprising given it is night 2 in thois concert hall. Perhaps it is deliberate. 3 guitars with 2 also playing keys/synths, bass and 2 drummer plus Coyne. They do well at reproducing the multi layered studio album Soft Bulletin.

The » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, Victoria,Australia

Date: 25/09/2019

I may have written about Derek Gripper previously. A white South African highly accomplished classical guitarist who came across a recording of Toumani Diabate’s Kaira and , without having held a kora let alone seen it in performance, sought to imitate the sound on classical guitar. Toumani Diabate was staggered when he eventually heard his work and, upon hearing it, classical guitarist John Williams put him on a bill at The Globe in London. The rest, as they say, is history. He now travels the globe performing at festivals and collaborating with various musicians. He was played and stayed with Toumani Diabate in Mali and played before the nation’s griots in Bamako.

The album that broke it for him was “a night on earth with Derek Gripper” hence my headline. That album was put out by friends of mine on the wonderful Matsuli label, so when he was to appear at a guitar festival in Melbourne, contact was made. He had a grab bag of gigs at the festival some country theatres and home performances. I offered to drive him to Castlemaine – the grand old gold rush town in Central » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Royal Albert Hall, Kensington

Date: 30/09/2019

What a night. What a phenomenal night! How to celebrate this extraordinary man who has spent more than 50 of his 70 years writing extraordinary songs of apolalypse and redemption, and coupling them with unmistakable guitar playing to the acclaim and adulation of far too few? Stick on a big gig at a prestigious venue and bring along a bunch of family, friends and acolytes to help out, that’s how.

From the get go we were promised an evening of song, friendship and nepotism by our MC Jack Thompson (Richard’s youngest, you see what he means?) and that’s what we got in spades. It is in the nature of a guest list show, with every performer getting one or two songs before making way for the next, that you hope for a collection of highlights rather than a consistent narrative, so I’m going to lean heavily on the setlist which someone stuck up on Setlist.fm with admirable speed and comment on each one, rattling through the songs and guests off the top of my head rather than tackle the evening in themes. The result is far too long and barely edited » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Crawfurd Arms, Wolverton. https://www.thecraufurdarms.com/

Date: 31/08/2019

The charmingly named Newcassel-based “Pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs” (Pigs7) have made a name for themselves as an art-grebo sludge metal band (don’t stop reading here). Throughout this reassuringly loud and intense gig I couldn’t but think I was watching a band inspired by the earlier Black Sabbath and Hawkwind albums, managed by Damian Hurst, and fronted by Derek Smalls, a shrunken Henry Rollins and Owen Jones. They played maybe 7 songs in an hour, and it was unclear where drones and riffs ended, and music-concrete started. The art-metal was preceded by, if anything, the charmingly-named “Godspeed, you Peter Andre”, which, as I don’t get out much, I was not quite sure how to describe. The Sleaford Mods after an art college make over and in touch with their female side, perhaps

The audience:

Hipper, younger, and squarer than I expected for the darlings of “The Quietus”. Rather fewer Tommy Saxondales than you normally see in rock pubs and gigs, quite a lot of old punks. A full room, and an appreciative audience who certainly accepted in-your-face difficulty positively, rather than a call for “More Heep, more Quo, more » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Sjöhistoriska, Stockholm

Date: 17/08/2019

It had been a few years since Robyn played a proper gig in Sweden and her hometown, so when it was time to end her current tour with a final gig in Stockholm, she invited some musical friends and collaborators to join her on a mini festival bill. A DJ booth in the sound tower opposite the stage was used to give four DJs up to an hour each to play a set while the stage was being set up for the next artist to perform, so from 4pm until midnight, the audience is treated to music non-stop. Slightly cheesy latin-flavoured chill-out disco from DJ Dea Barandana is followed by a slightly hit-and-miss performance from El Perro Del Mar on the stage, wearing a dress that looks part Sacco sack, part Catholic nun, part trenchcoat. Then an inspired DJ set from Zhala get many up on their feet to show their most abandoned moves, before Kindness take to the stage with an all female three piece band, a bit rusty from apparently not playing live in five years, but appreciated by the audience. Although when Robyn herself join him for two songs things dramatically » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Aylesbury Odeon

Date: 10/08/2019

A coming of age drama set in the 1980’s featuring a Springsteen obsessive. Hmmm I’m naturally inclined to like this and having seen the trailers online the rest of the family were thankfully up for it as well; the only question then was when to go. So in the midst of a family road trip and having had an early evening meal we were pleased to find that Blinded By The Light was showing at the cinema opposite our Travellodge.

Javed is the put upon teen weighed down with family commitments, the expectations of his traditional father and about to start 6th form college. Whilst he’s fulfilling the role of the dutiful son he’s also going through the growing pains of trying to maintain a friendship with his more popular childhood friend and neighbor Scott and avoid the increasing number of skinheads and racists that seem to be frequenting Lutons streets.

Though his Dad is concerned with academic success as a route to a good job ( He’s allowed to choose Doctor or Lawyer) Javed is already secretly drawn to writing and once introduced to Springsteen through some loaned cassettes it’s Bruce’s music that serves » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Norwegian Pearl, Mediterranean Sea

Date: 08/08/2019

This will either be your idea of heaven or hell. Four days on a cruise ship in the Med., with Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, Camera Obscura, Teenage Fanclub, Buzzcocks, The Vaselines and a host of others. Spoiler alert: for me, it was the former.

This was essentially a floating festival. The ship had several different venues, with different bands playing concurrently around the ship. The major bands played more than once, giving people the chance to plan to see everyone at least once.

I’m a huge Belle & Sebastian fan and I was well catered for with 3 gigs over the 4 days, with 3 completely different setlists (including a complete performance of Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant.) Other headliners opted to repeat the same set, on the basis that people would probably see them once.

Other highlights for me were The Vaselines – I’d never seen them before and fell in love. Been singing “Monsterpuss, Monsterpuss miaow!” to myself all day. Saw them twice and would cheerfully have done so again. Moving return of Camera Obscura. French Navy on the main (pool) deck in the sunshine was » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Cherry Hinton Park, Cambs

Date: 01/08/2019

I think this was the nicest festival I have been to, including my first visit here, 5 years ago. A belated report, the time needed to collect my thoughts eaten by too abrupt a return to work, and I know ‘nice’ verges now on a code for twee, but, skip that thought, nice it was. Civilised, good music, good food ‘n’ fluids, good company. Good weather, even, missing the downpours besetting the midlands on the day of arrival. Tent duly up, off I plodded to explore, swiftly finding @jorrox and losing my programme, in that order. My thursday order was kicked off well by the Rails, a lively electric set by Kami Thompson and James Walbourne, in demand guitarist for the Pretenders and Edwyn Collins amongst others, and their band. I had time for a bit of Sam Sweeney and his WW1 fiddle, aided by a number of familiar folkie friends, like Jack Rutter. But my dance card was already marked for Rura, the scottish band of the moment: bagpipes, fiddle, guitar and bodhran, the latter doubling on flute, with the piper equally adept on atmospheric keyboard. I like » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Barbican, London

Date: 27/07/2019

A 16mm home-movie of the Williams family flickers on the screen at the back of the darkened stage, where the unseen Buick 6 create a skeletal soundscape of slide guitar blues notes, bass pulses and scattered percussion, which all precede a prerecorded spoken introduction from Lucinda. Anticipation builds until she emerges into the light to introduce this celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the release of Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. She seems incredibly nervous, moreso than I have ever seen her before. After a spoken introduction she launches into Right In Time. Musically it’s a straight version, played as on the album, but she’s changed the phrasing, which keeps throwing the version I’m singing along to myself in my head. The album is played in its entirety and the sequence of songs remains unchanged. Pretty much every song gets an introduction, talking about the inspiration or the circumstances of its creation. A lot of the information is new, some of it I’ve heard before. I won’t repeat anything here, to avoid spoiling anything for anyone going to other UK dates, but it all adds to the pleasure of hearing these songs » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Forum, Bath

Date: 18/07/2019

Well, what a blast! My mate and I decided to go to this when the tour dates were first announced months ago, and neither of us wanted to venture a guess as to how well the show would go. I’ve been a CSN/CSNY fan since the first album with the band on the porch at Cass’ house, and I’ve got pretty much everything they’ve ever done, together or singly, brilliant, bad or indifferent. I love their voices together more than any other band, and the back catalogue is bursting at the seams with gems. My old pal Mike is (was!) much less familiar with the canon; a battered vinyl of Four Way Street and maybe a couple of Hollies 7 inch singles. So Mike didn’t want to cast doubt over my enthusiasm, and I didn’t want to big the gig up so much that he’d maybe be disappointed.

We had front row seats in this exquisite venue, maybe 20 feet from the front of the stage, pretty much in the middle. It’s an old art-deco building which still has its original seats, beautiful wooden internal doors and so on, and is a » Continue Reading.

Venue:

CMAC Arts Center in Canandaigua, NY

Date: 13/07/2019

At 6:30 on the dot (or in this case, the polka dot) Buddy’s band fire up, to an auditorium that is barely one third full, out strides the man himself. If there’s one thing Buddy knows, it’s how to work a crowd. Even if it’s still daylight, most are still at the bar, and you are set up ten feet from the front of the stage.

Buddy works the “room”, exhorting one and all to sing along (and “not to f it up”). It works, and as more take their seats the better it gets. No precious promotion of the last album – he plays the songs he knows are most likely to be recognized. Opening with “Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues”, he gallops on into “Hoochie Coochie Man”, John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” ,“Who’s Making Love To Your Old Woman” and “Cheaper To Keep Her” where he points out he didn’t write it, he just sings it. Anyone still on the fence is won over when Buddy strides out into the crowd to get up close and personal -well, with those of us in the more expensive seats » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Hyde Park,London

Date: 07/07/2019

Okay lets gets the reason I was here out of the way first. I like Ms Streisand more as an actress than a singer. My wife loves her singing and since she is in her words ‘enduring’ Cambridge Folk Festival with me in August it was only fair I got tickets for one of her favourite singers. We got there halfway through the Kingdom Choir set I must have had my head under a rock because I didn’t know they sang at Meghan and Harry’s wedding – why would I come to think of it? They did a pretty decent version of the Coldplay ‘classic’ fix you and took away the histrionics that irritated me in the original. A couple of other half decent covers and they were not bad as a warm up act. Then came Kris Kristofferson. What can I say? The artist with the best songs on this particular day had the worst voice by some distance. He had Merle Haggards band providing outstanding accompaniment throughout but his voice was shot to bits. A half decent Me and Bobby McGhee but a risible Sunday Morning coming down. Help me make it » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Oxford Academy aka the old Zodiac for you 90s indie kids

Date: 04/07/2019

“Twenty two years ago to this very day we were stood on this stage” announced Stuart Murdoch, “how has your life been?”. The last of these small warm up UK shows for a US tour ahead of their Boaty Weekender cruise gave the band a chance to shake the setlist up a bit. Whereas Sheffield & Manchester got a fairly usual set with firm favourites like ‘I’m A Cuckoo’ & ‘Me & The Major’ we in Oxford were shown, what I think sportsball commentators term ‘strength in depth’.

A sizeable chunk of tonight’s set was taken from ‘Fold Your Arms Child, You Walk Like A Peasant’ – a less celebrated entry in their canon and one which I don’t actually own. Then again I’m not a massive fan of one of their most celebrated ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap’ so go figure. I am a bit of a late passenger on the B&S Express – I got on board with The Life Pursuit and worked my way backwards. An acquaintance played me Tigermilk back in 1999 and I have fond memories but I » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Jazz Lab Melbourne

Date: 03/07/2019

I didn’t know of Luke Howard but was looking for a gig to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. Jazz Lab is Melbourne’s premier local jazz club, the successor to Bennet’s Lane and not far from Ms Wells’s place. I read up on him and he has some pedigree. Fulsome praise from the BBC, commissioned work, soundtracks. theatre music, games as well as work with his long time trio comprising Jonathon Zion on double bass and highly regarded drummer Daniel Farrugia. In reading the bio I was pleased to read Daniel saying sometimes I just stop playing because the music the other 2 are playing is so beautiful I just want to listen.

I am currently listening to Luke’s 2018 release on UK’s Mercury, lush orchestrations occasional single note pieces etc. It’s lovely. But this was a night for the trio.

So, in we go on a cold Wednesday night. There are about ten people there. Well, that’d be because you mixed up show start and doors open times you dickhead Junior. Great spot secured, we wait. A good way to lower expectations is to come on stage with a croaky voice and advise that » Continue Reading.

Venue:

MASS MOCA, North Adams, MA

Date: 28/06/2019

My 2nd visit to this festival set in the former industrial town of North Adams, deep in the magnificent Berkshires of Massachusetts. It is now the home of the largest museum of contemporary art in North America, MASS MOCA. The festival, curated by Wilco, takes place every 2nd year. I previously attended in 2015 and wrote about it on this site. Unfortunately I was unable to attend in 2017 for some sad immigration reasons, wild horses couldn’t keep me away this time. I realise there was another festival on the other side of the Atlantic this weekend, the one in North Adams was on a smaller scale, about 9,000 festival goers (sold out), around 30-35 musical acts (plus comedians, authors etc), 5 permanent stages, plus several “pop up” ones inside the museum.

This year I opted to stay in town in (extremely basic) student accomodation where rooms were made available for the festival duration. It meant that I parked my car on Friday and didn’t use it again until Monday. Also I got to see more of the lovely town and could see more time on site including the museum (the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Met, Bury

Date: 22/06/2019

An eclectic array of instruments, banjo, harp, accordion, glockenspiel, voilà sit on a bare stage surrounding three unassuming blokes who are grinning from ear to ear as the packed room lauds them. They are Harp and a Monkey and for almost two hours they have entertained delighted the audience with their unique Northern Folk Experimentalism and storytelling.

The future is built upon the past they’d sung earlier and so it is, using various connotations of the instruments mentioned plus home made backing tapes that add extra of said instruments as well as beats and grooves, they’d performed both original and traditional songs . Their music at times conjures thoughts of David Thomas, Music Hall, The Orb, Lenny Cohen, Jacques Brel, Bjork and The Oldham tinkers but it is always, uniquely their own.

Singer Martin Purdy had a begun the show by saying they were probably “committing commercial suicide” as they would be playing the new album,( due November) in it’s entirety during the first half the show. Yet such is the craft, the sheer excellence of this band and the strength of the material that each new song was greeted at as » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Manchester Apollo

Date: 22/06/2019

Ever since she was a young girl, Gladys Knight has sung songs of life and love with elegance and grace. A natural contralto, age hasn’t diminished her vocal powers. In fact, over time, she has grown even more elegant and beautiful. She looked every inch The Empress of Soul, on Friday night, sparkling in a plumb trouser suit.

She had a wonderful, note perfect band to support her, drums, bass, guitar, two keyboards and percussion, plus three outstanding young backing vocalists. The stage was replete with flowers, the lighting tasteful and understated. The audience was fully aware it’s in for a night of romantic nostalgia. After all, when they were hits in the sixties, seventies and eighties, her songs knowingly harked back to better, more mature, respectful times. Her lover caught the Midnight Train To Georgia to go back to a world he once knew. If I Were Your Woman and The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me paint an old-fashioned picture of domestic bliss. The Way We Were speaks for itself. The most dramatic performance was for the definitive Bond theme, Licensed To Kill, a traditional style dating back many decades. Even » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Hampton Court Palace

Date: 19/06/2019

Hampton Court Palace is a stunning setting for a concert. The courtyard was big enough yet somehow intimate too with no one to far from the action. Lorde’s cover of “Everbody Wants To Rule The World” was a haunting intro to the drama that followed. With the muggy atmosphere and dark looming clouds the scene was set for something epic and Tears For Fears did not disappoint. Starting with the crowd pleasing “ Everybody Wants to Rule The World” I was thrilled by the sound quality along with Curt’s voice which had seemed to find some strength and power since the recent Radio 2 set.. Everyone was on their feet and then we had a run of songs that for the Tears For Fears fans showcased why they remain the gold standard for 80’s synth pop duo’s. These boys know how to put a song together and perhaps more surprisingly know how to transfer that onto the stage. Roland’s turn next and we were treated to “Secret World” a lesser known song but perfect for the occasion reminding us that Roland was always more than the one doing the strange dance in the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Royal Albert Hall

Date: 19/06/2019

The stage is set with three large and quite beautiful drum kits at the front, with the rest of the band’s gear behind. I’d heard about the three drummers, which was a concern (two drummers almost always being one too many) but I needn’t have worried. The band come on stage promptly at 7.30 after an amusing plea not to take pictures during the performance read, I’m fairly sure, by Fripp himself and immediately the drummer thing makes sense. These are drummers like Ronaldo kicks a ball. They all play the kit musically and like well drilled artillery, but also a range of percussion, gongs, octoplus and rota toms – if you can hit it, you can be confident these three did between them at some point. And it is utterly gripping to watch and hear as textures and grooves float across the stage and back. We’re only 2 minutes in…

The percussion fest settles into “Larks Tongues part 1” and “Cirkus” then “Lizard” follow swiftly. The flexibility of this Crimson lineup becomes clear when I realise the middle drummer is also a keyboard player, and in fact probably plays keys more then » Continue Reading.