Venue:

O2 Academy 2, B’ham.

Date: 16/02/2019

I suppose my expectations were never set too high, given Evan Dando’s reputation, and, on that basis, I got my moneys worth. Overall I liked it, despite the chaotic and seeming unrehearsedness of the show, the atrocious sound balance and the often cluelessness as to what he was actually playing. (His? Mine? The band? The soundman? A little, perhaps, of each.) Yet, every so often, and tantalisingly randomly, the clouds parted and a song would emerge in an eye blinking fragile beauty. One such was the opener, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, the sole contribution from Varshons 2, the release thereof being purportedly the rationale of the tour. Dando’s agreeable tenor has deepened a little, with the country-rock jangle of the band pitched just as you would imagine how Dando would tackle this standard, and I drew a sigh of relief. But this was clearly the lull, as there followed a storm of short and squally songs, some recognisable and some not, mainly emanating from the early Lemonheads songbook, guitars all ramped up to 11, feedback screeching, whether or not invited, both probably. Where discernible, memory kicked in to sweeten the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Colchester Arts Centre

Date: 24/01/2019

The term “Nice blokes” doesn’t do this duo justice at all. Pre show, Damian walked around the hall personally shaking hands and chatting to the gathering audience. A giant of a man with a voice to match that normally competes with heavy metal exponents “Headspace”, is on the road with Adam Wakeman (son of Rick) an acoustic guitar and a grand piano.

The pair work together in a number of guises with other bands and line ups, but this time it is just the two of them. Hot on the heels of their album “The Sun Will Dance In It’s Twilight Hour”, this tour steps through their catalogue with the addition of some acoustic covers, most notably Iron Maiden’s “The Evil That Men Do”. Less expected were a couple of show tunes from Les Mis which represent a Damian’s stint in the show. For his part Adam Wakeman commands a few solo spots including a Jazz rendition of Black Sabbath material.

The show is very informal with plenty of banter and chat between themselves and to the audience. Lovely chaps certainly, but they really overdid this, particularly with a not terribly funny routine about » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Hawth, Crawley

Date: 16/01/2019

Bennett,Wilson Poole brought a touch of sunshine to a damp and chilly Crawley last night. I, and I’m sure many others (from the remarks I heard whilst leaving) let the venue feeling uplifted by a set of wonderful songs beautifully sung and backed with fine guitar playing (especially Tony Poole’s exquisite jangly 12 string Rickenbacker). The band performed the whole of their debut album plus tracks from their previous bands Grand Drive,Dreaming Spires and Starry Eyed and Laughing. They also previewed a couple of tracks which have been cut for their eagerly awaited follow up album due later this year. They finished with a rousing version of the Wilburys “Handle with care”. It’s only January but I may well have seen the best gig of the year

The audience:

Mainly men “of a certain age”

It made me think..

What absolute joy can be gained from listening to accomplished musicians doing something they love and at which they shine. I floated out of the venue

Venue:

Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath, Birmingham

Date: 10/01/2019

Well I wasn’t originally going to review this show, feeling it might prove even a bit too niche for the AW f***ies, few as we seem to be. But I couldn’t let it lie, not after listening to their superb and imaginatively titled 3rd album, III, purchased for a princely tenner at the gig. So peel back your senses or pass on the other side, oblivious in your ignorance. I first came across two of this trio, Tom Moore and Archie Churchill-Moss, fiddle and melodeon respectively, a year ago, they being (new) members of Jim Moray’s False Lights, reviewed here a year ago. (Look it up!) Some years before, in 2011, in conjunction with Jack Rutter, they had won the 2011 Folk on 2 Young Artists of the Year, producing a couple of well received albums, I and II, before diversifying into other work, both musical and breadwinning alike. Now they are back in this original format, still looking improbably young to my ancient eyes. So to the concert. The Kitchen Garden Cafe is tiny, seats crammed into the tiny space, ahead of a small ground level stage area. Tonight, » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Sunflower Bar, Belfast

Date: 30/12/2018

The audience:

I had a few friends in the crowd and doubtless Petesy had many, many more there. Certainly, the room seemed to be awash with ‘old punks’ – ‘Trouble Songs’ author Stuart Bailie, Rudi mainman Brian Young and various other characters from Kyle Leitch’s days as the guv’nor at Caroline Records, Anne Street. The bonhomie was terrific. I was wearing a Mahavishnu Orchestra T-shirt – I was the guy the punk wars were fought over – and nobody punched me on the nose. That can only be a good thing. We sorted out that old Harp Bar/Pound Club antipathy last night. Now we just need to sort out Stormont.

It made me think..

The musical connections, camaraderie, positive energy and good vibes (no pun intended) apparent in all these adventures thus far can only lead to more great things down the line.

Venue:

The Garage, Highbury

Date: 21/12/2018

I’m a relative latecomer to the mighty Cardiacs – in fact it was through this very site that I was lead to reconsider the band I only previously knew from the knockabout video for ‘Tarred and Feathered’ and gradually became obsessed with their unruly, unhinged and hugely entertaining take on Art Rock – basically a supercharged, absurdist hybrid of XTC, King Crimson and Madness. Alas this was too late to see them live because, as is well documented, front man Tim Smith suffered a stroke & heart attack in 2008 which left his mind entirely intact but physically severely debilitated and unable to speak or walk due to a rare and complex condition. However, interest in the band continues to grow, and indeed there’s been a successful crowd funding campaign this year to raise money for Tim’s rehabilitation. Meanwhile. it’s becoming a bit of annual thing for some of the bands that sprung up around Cardiacs orbit to have a festive shindig in celebration of the music. It’s a bit close to Xmas to be heading down to the big smoke but I can’t miss this one. It’s a an early start (first » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Black Box, Belfast

Date: 22/12/2018

There’s a saying where I live: ‘Dublin never got into punk, Belfast never got out of it.’ Certainly, Belfast was one of the epicentres of punk in the 1970s worldwide, and a very distinctive brand of punk flourished here. Punks in Britain liked to posture about being underdogs – but *everything* about Northern Ireland – socially, culturally, politically, geographically, employment-wise – was beneath the underdog at that point. To an extent, it still is. Sham 69 could nudge the kids into being united, Belfast punks could rage about the adults being disunited. And if you look at Stormont – a regional assembly that hasn’t functioned for two years – they’re still disunited.

I was at secondary school (well, okay, grammar school) from 1979–86, so while I saw the odd punk act on ‘Top of the Pops’, and while one or two people in my year had ‘punk’s not dead’ type slogans written on pencil cases, it wasn’t part of my lived experience; it already history. So, I never saw any punk bands in the 70s. I popped my head through the door of a venue hosting Stiff Little Fingers in the late » Continue Reading.

Venue:

St. Georges, Bristol

Date: 19/12/2018

What a very special evening! Entrancing from the first number to the rousing encores.

We witnessed a perfectly judged sequence of songs and instrumentals conjuring up all aspects, secular and religious, of this profoundly felt time of year, as the planet begins to turn us once more towards the warming days of the next year.

The night was magical, reflective, human, spiritual and deeply rooted in the natural world of music, people, and the world in which we all have to rub along somehow; a real morale booster in troubled times.

If you want to hear most of what we were treated to last night, you can buy their album ‘Upon A Winter’s Night’, which will warm your very cockles. Alternatively, if you are very lucky, there are a small number of gigs left on this tour – so get yourself there if you can; it’s a real cracker.

The audience:

The usual crowd at St. Georges, liberally sprinkled with Cara & Sam’s fans of course. Sold out, I’d say, with only a few empty seats – the foul weather or other circumstances had left only a couple of gaps in the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Echo Arena, Liverpool

Date: 12/12/2018

How do you review a Paul McCartney gig? What metric do you use? The size of the crowd? The length of the set list? There’s no precedent for how the most successful songwriter in history should be presenting himself at 76.

The pre-show “support” is simply a one-hour build up to the great man appearing on stage. The first part is a DJ who mixes stems and loops from McCartney’s 60 year recording career, where nothing lasts longer than 60 seconds before segueing into another song you know like the back of your hand. The DJ then leaves the stage as the screens come on and a slow scrolling vertical digital montage of McCartney’s life rolls down the screen, soundtracked by more McCartney songs. It’s hard to know how long it’s going to be – turns out it’s over 20 minutes. The montage starts with a boy at a window on Forthlin Road, gradually moves through the stages of life, before ending with the image of a CGI Hofner Bass rotating on top of skyscraper with surrounding fireworks. At this point the imagery is matched by a soundtrack of the orchestral crescendo » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Birmingham Symphony Hall

Date: 25/11/2018

Concerns had been raised that given the horrible album and unhappiness in Captain Brock’s starship, these orchestra concerts would be a creative and commercial flop. Not at all; live, this was Hawkwind doing what they do best, with a few orchestral flourishes and sweeps to replace the synths, with a spectacular laser show and slyly witty back projections (the “Sonic Attack” sequence, done like a public information film, was perfect). It wasn’t loud enough for me, but I think it was a good call sonically, as you could hear everything, including the lyrics that brought me back to reading “Science Fiction Monthly” and having Bruce Pennington pictures on my walls in the years before self-abuse and cool. The new band members (Dibs having left due to irreconcilable musical differences) did a good job, with the new bassist wisely adopting the middle name, “Rickenbacker”, and living up to this. Mike Batt was channelling Jocky Wilson, if his shirt was to be anything to judge by. Given the jocularity amongst the band, I reckon he could have got away with a bar of a Wombles song. If only he’d been involved with “The Clangers” – » Continue Reading.

Venue:

02 Institute3, Brum

Date: 23/11/2018

Well this was a treat, a full 28 years from the last time around. And just down the road from where I saw ’em last time, the long gone Mr Bill’s Bier Keller. So how had the decades fared them? I’m no fan of the Institute, but this was in the 3rd room, even smaller than the Institute2, a bijou basement box with a capacity of maybe a couple of hundred. No queues, a walk straight in to a sauna of steaming mannus middleageicus. First on, and worth a shout, were the Stone Mountain Sinners, a rabble of rootsy rockers with more than a hint of cowpunk, minding me a little of the Tansads in their pre-Merry Hell prime, courtesy the male/female counterpoint vocals. A gap nearly sufficient for the solitary barman to serve the thirsty hordes and on marched the Men. 6 of them with the front line of Cush, Swill and Paul unsullied, on guitar/vocals, guitar/vocals and mandolin, augmented by lead electric, bass and drums. No fiddles or whistles this night, this was a pedal to the floor, full-on plugged in music. The bass and the brand new drummer made a » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Scala, King’s Cross, London

Date: 22/11/2018

One of the preconditions for a great gig is that the artist/band are actually enjoying themselves on stage. Israel Nash was having absolute blast.

This was the final night of their European tour, which may have given a supplementary boost to proceedings as Israel and his band didn’t have to save anything for tomorrow. Against that friends in Holland saw him Nijmegen a couple of weeks ago and they reported he was brilliant there too, so maybe he’s giving his all every night.

This was my gig of the year. I’ve seen some top-notch gigs in recent weeks, (Kacey Musgraves, Bruce Cockburn, Over The Rhine) but much as I enjoyed them, they lacked was the joy, exuberance, ecstasy and intensity of this gig.

Whatever, Israel was over to promote his last album, the excellent Lifted and most of the set was focussed on songs from that, but there was plenty from earlier albums too.

The band was smokin’ hot and for people who like guitar duels (that’s people like me) Israel and lead guitarist Joey McLellan had a couple of really storming battles over the evening. I should also acknowledge the » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Halcyon Gallery, 144-146 New Bond Street, London

Date: 10/11/2018

This show will probably be old news to the more on-the-ball Bob-cats among us, but I confess I might never have heard about it if I hadn’t seen mentions on Penn’s (of Penn and Teller) Twitter feed. Consider this my alert for anyone else who would regret missing it if I hadn’t written about it on here. You’re welcome.

This exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery gathers several dozen hand-written Bob Dylan Lyrics, each of them accompanied by a pencil sketch by Bob, along with several of his acrylic on-the-road paintings and, this came as a surprise to me, some examples of his ironwork. The selection is broadly greatest hits, and I don’t think there are any lyrics here which will be unfamiliar to the casual admirer. The more trainspotterish fan will delight in reading every word and spotting subtle changes to lines, the rest of us can just enjoy the art and juxtapositions of word and image.

Regarding the art, there is no doubt Dylan can draw. Time and again I found myself enjoying the fold in a piece of clothing or the flow of a limb » Continue Reading.

Venue:

St. George’s, Bristol

Date: 08/11/2018

Last night I had a religious experience. It happened as I was sitting in the cosy surrounds of St. George’s in Bristol, my favourite venue, somewhere we’ve come to count on for transcendent evenings of great music. I sat six feet from Ryley Walker there when he played with Danny Thompson a year or two back, I saw the soles of Rick Wakeman’s sneakers, heard a squeak from a Steinway’s pedals as he regaled us with solo piano versions of Yes tracks and told us wondrous stories. I’ve danced in the aisles with what seemed like every Asian family in Bristol to the joyful sounds of Alaap, and wept quietly to countless orchestral moments of joy over the years. St. George’s continues to deliver the goods, and last night’s event was another absolute joy. Last night we went to see a singer and her band. She first came to my attention back in the dancing days of the nineties, when she added another layer of exotica to the international conglomerate of music that called itself Transglobal Underground. I bought her first couple of solo albums. She was still finding her way to an » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Robin 2, Bilston

Date: 06/11/2018

I absolutely loved Midnight Mushrumps, me, rushing out to purchase it after hearing snippets on R4: first band to appear on all 4 BBC radio channels, they said, a bit of catnip pomposity for my indubitably then prog-pomp tastes. Bit of a Tubular Bells for mediaevalists would be a lazy way of putting it, or at least the side-long eponymous suite. (In truth I barely bothered with the other side.) So, when I got home for my lunch yesterday, and the yearly programme for this worldfamousinWolverhampton venue had dropped through the letterbox, and I spotted this band were playing there that same day. I was familiar they had reformed, and issued a new record, after a 41 year hiatus, surely a record in itself, so I duly felt it my duty to attend. The Robin I have visited a couple of times. It seems now to be a little down on its luck, though I read it has been taken over and money invested. I suspect the same might be true of the audience, perhaps minus the investment. Uncertain whether it was the carpet or the punters, but there was a distinct » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ON

Date: 03/11/2018

A chilly evening in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, which is also where I currently reside. My first time seeing any version of Fleetwood Mac, not just this rather controversial one.

Expectations were not extremely high, I was persuaded to go by a friend of mine who is no fan of the post mid seventies line-up. He is, however, the biggest fan there probably is of the sadly recently departed Danny Kirwan (a member from 1968-72 who later slid into a desperate world of alcoholism and homelessness). Just one of a number of grim tales regarding this band’s ex guitarists. Word on the street was that a Kirwan song would be played.

A decent turn out in the hockey stadium, we settled into our lofty seats in the 300 section and first up was The Chain. Instantly it seemed the harmonies were present and correct and the switch to the instrumental passage at the end ( “Grand Prix” theme music as I will always know it) was genuinely thrilling. Mike Campbell’s guitar work being superb.

A good start, next up stepped Christine McVie somewhat nervously, but beautifully took the lead on » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Glasgow O2 Academy

Date: 05/11/2018

To the Weedge, to see Portland’s top popsters. I was slightly apprehensive, as this was the longest I’ve driven since some spinal cord jiggery pokery earlier in the year, but The Decemberists seem reluctant to play in Embra, so it was that or nothing. Glad I made the trip through – accompanied by @ralph of this parish – because The Decemberists turned in a brilliant performance.

While their setlist had the usual Decemberists role call of tragedy, murders, drownings by river spirits, whale swallowing etc. it was an overwhelmingly jolly occasion. Colin Meloy makes for an effective ringmaster and the band give every impression of enjoying themselves and being glad to be there. Always helps, I find.

Meloy’s voice is, I concede, a sticking point for many. It sounds like a fragile thing yet is revealed in concert to be rather strong too. It sounds as it does not because of vocal frailty but because it is exactly how he wants it to sound. I like it.

The setlist featured latest album I’ll Be Your Girl fairly heavily, which suited me – and indeed the audience, who contributed a » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto

Date: 03/11/2018

The ticket said 8pm sharp and sure enough, at 7:58 the house lights went out and the theme music from Bonanza rang out, followed by the voice of Paul Jones “of the British Broadcasting Corporation” ushering Joe and his band onstage.

The band rip into “King Bee Shakedown”, the first of several songs from Joe’s new album “Redemption”. It’s the only song on which Joe plays a Strat, and his finger picking is something to behold live and (fairly) up close. The sound is possibly the best I’ve ever heard live; there are Joe and 7 others on stage and everyone / everything is crystal clear. There’s no pause before Anton Fig swings into the drum intro to “Evil Mama” – a total steal from the opening to Led Zep’s “Rock n Roll”.

Joe has assembled a tight, heavy hitting band. Alongside Fig (longtime drummer in David Letterman’s Tonight Show house band), ex SRV & Double Trouble member Reese Wynans plays keyboards whilst Michael Rhodes (who has played with everyone from Dolly Parton and Elton John through to Buddy Guy and Brian Wilson) provides the bottom end and a » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The London Library

Date: 14/10/2018

‘Fancy going to see Saint Etienne at the British Library ?’ Well that will be a bit different I thought and so it was. It was on one hand a very intimate gig – probably no more than 300 people. Yet it was held in the vast foyer – and I mean vast –the ceiling about 100 ft above us –great swathes of bare wall and open staircases and I’m thinking this will sound really shit! Anyway the male members of the party dutifully parked ourselves dead centre of the stage equi-distant between the speaker stacks (‘cos we know about these kind of things don’t we?) whilst the ladies went and sat on the side, behind the speaker columns and parallel with the stage – what novices, clearly no idea.

So on came the band and within 30 seconds my worst fears came true as Sarah Cracknell’s beautiful but fragile voice disappeared like smoke into the void. Three numbers in I gave up and wandered down the side to where our other halves were dancing around and seemingly having a great time. The reason being that they were right next to a smallish » Continue Reading.