Venue:

The Union Chapel, Upper Street, London N1

Date: 08/11/2019

It’s so hard to put your finger on what makes a great performance. You see and hear it, right in front of you, but defining what it is exactly that elevates the playing of the songs you’re hearing from being merely good to the absolutely brilliant is immensely difficult.

There is a focus and intensity, building on the foundation of great songs. There is togetherness among the band members and a togetherness between the performers and the audience – a bond between us all; from us in the audience to them on the stage that further elevates things.

It’s certainly nothing to do with theatricality, though I guess showmanship is a different thing – it’s that ability to communicate the music and the lyrics.

Certainly there is little theatricality from The Delines, yet for this performance my eyes were riveted to the stage and my concentration was total and my enjoyment was unbounded. This was a great, great performance. One of the very best gigs I’ve been to for many years. One of the best I’ve been to in my life.

I only discovered The Delines earlier this year. » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Union Chapel

Date: 08/11/2019

Every once in a while I see a gig that completely surpasses my expectations. This gig on Friday night at the lovely Union Chapel was one such gig. I really like this band but on record it would be easy to misinterpret the stately pace of most of their songs as something that wouldn’t translate to the live setting. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The music is surprisingly intricate – it is their skill as musicians that makes it appear less so. In lead singer Amy Boone they have a voice that is so pure yet so soulful that comparisons to Dusty Springfield are inevitable. The difference being the lyrics of Willy Vlautin. He is one America’s best young novelists and he brings a cinematic experience to the songs. Peopled by losers, petty thieves, heartbroken and down and outs there is always something interesting happening. I particularly like the songs where keyboardist Corey Grey doubles on trumpet which lends a melancholy air to songs when needed which given the subject matter is quite frequent. Drums were from another member of Richmond Fontaine Sean Oldham. Richmond Fontaine were probably too austere at times » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Fox Lowe Arts Centre, Leek

Date: 06/11/2019

Oh the irony. Chip Taylor is a hero of mine and I found out he was doing a short tour of the UK. His Birmingham date at the Kitchen Garden Cafe was on Monday night and I couldn’t go because it clashed with tickets I had for Dawes in London. As it was I couldn’t make the Dawes gig due to work but could have made the Brum date. As it was I had the bonus of a gig in a splendid venue I not been to before but which I will certainly go back to. Lovely acoustics, friendly people and great beer. Chip is something of a legend in my house – writer of Wild Thing and Angel of the morning are enough to have earned him a decent living but variously he has been a professional gambler, an attempt at being a professional golfer and a Whiskey Salesman which is the title of his most recent album. For 79 he looks in good shape. Accompanied by that youngster John Platania at a mere 71 and a Norwegian keyboard player Goran Grini who is a whippersnapper nearer to half their » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Islington Assembly Hall

Date: 04/11/2019

It is 3 years since Dawes have been to the U.K and 4 years since I last saw them. Boy, have they been busy while they’ve been away. A growing fan base in the U.S (us Brits ‘got’ them first, which is why they played here a lot in the early days), a support slot with ELO and hundreds of gigs has meant that the band which almost sprinted on stage last night are now a tight, confident unit. Lee Pardini has developed into a wonderful keyboard player (one of his piano solos even had singer Taylor Goldsmith applauding), the rhythm section of drummer Griffin Goldsmith and bassist Wylie Gelber have become a rumbling steam train and Taylor’s guitar playing has gone up several notches. In short, this band have paid their dues in spades, and are now reaping the rewards.

The 1200 capacity venue was sold out and the roar after the first song told the band everything they wanted to know about whether the London audience was still there for them. Taylor bounced around the stage like the Duracell bunny, the harmonies were straight and true and the audience sang their » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

Date: 03/11/2019

Having repeatedly told myself that the last time was the last, usually following some phoned in and lacklustre concert, here I was back in front of the Oysterband eating my words. OK, this was with the added wonder of June Tabor, whom, apart from a Big Session Tour aeons ago, and amongst many other guests, I had never caught in the full majesty of a joint concert. And this was fully majesterial. Her presence seems to have kicked a renewed sense of purpose into the band, their playing up a several few notches from the increasingly limpid back-patting of recent gigs, drenched in semi-acoustic easy listening. (OK, that’s harsh, but, possibly having seen the band more than any other, RT perhaps apart, I know the difference between them on fire and them on a low simmer.) Hell, Alan Prosser even played some guitar solos, something I have never knowingly witnessed in near 40 years, as well as plugging in on choppy electric more often than has been the case for a while. And when Prosser was on his acoustic, adding his hypnotic metronome, head ever a’bobbing, the chances were that Al Scott, » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Hackney Empire

Date: 02/11/2019

After the previous night of the band’s Grand Tour, a train back from Newport to London, the RWC Final on the radio and a great meal in our favourite fish restaurant we finally arrived at The Old Ship in Hackney for the Passengers meet-up. Loud, friendly and beery, the band’s followers are a lovely bunch, even rolling out a birthday cake for one of the Italian travellers (fans had also flown in from Seattle, Vancouver and Auckland for these rare gigs by BBT.) It was our first time at The Empire and it is a beautiful old theatre. The excellent merch desk was doing a roaring trade, as was the main bar. Support act was Sweet Billy Pilgrim and, both nights, they were fun, quirky and tuneful. So, to the reason we are all here. Regular readers will know that I adore Big Big Train so, when I say that Saturday night was one of the best gigs I have been to, in 48 years of gig-going, you may not be surprised. But it really was. And the sound. I grabbed the band’s producer and live engineer, Rob Aubrey, as we left and told » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Odeon, Maidenhead

Date: 28/10/2019

This film of Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars album started out as a simple ‘concert’ film of Bruce playing the album live, in his barn……with a 30-piece orchestra, a 10-piece band, 4 singers and his wife, Patti. Oh, and some friends for the audience. It was filmed, by Thom Zimny, in May 2019, over 3 days, each song being played twice, to get the best version.

As Thom and Bruce were editing the film, Bruce realised that here was a chance to introduce each song, to dig down into what he was thinking and where the characters were going, and to do it as a voice-over. One night, in front of the TV, he wrote the script.

That then sparked the two of them to add so much more to this film. Bruce wrote some music to go underneath his words and Thom filmed scenes with Bruce around the Springsteen property and then out in the Southern California desert. Finally, they added in some archive film from the 1950’s and 60’s of scenes of American family life and celebrations.

So, what do you get?

Simply put, one of the most captivating, intoxicating and emotional » Continue Reading.

Venue:

O2 Academy ‘2’, B’ham

Date: 24/10/2019

Lamb have always somehow passed me by, they being more my wife’s bag, and this is the 2nd time we have had tickets to see them. Unfortunately circumstances prevented the first and a rocking dose of sinusitis for her meant I was flying solo tonight. (I sent her a clip and her opinion follows……) My hatred of the O2 Academy is on record, or at least of the main hall. I have, however, come to quite like the smaller ‘2’ and the even tinier ‘3’, tucked elsewhere in the same building. I had somehow thought Lamb a bigger draw, slightly surprised the attendance to be quite sparse, perhaps a hundred and fifty souls. Suits me, mind, no lover of crowds. Expecting the core duo of the records, Andy Barlow (keyboards/programming) and Lou Rhodes (vocals) to be all there were, I noted the drum kit, basses, upright and electric both, guitars and fiddles at the back of the empty stage, alongside the rack of keys, modulators and ubiquitous MacBook. Promised an 8.30 start, it was only moments later the lights dimmed, and 3 burly fellas bounded out, followed by a smaller female, keeping » Continue Reading.

Venue:

T-Mobile Park – Seattle, Washington, USA

Date: 19/10/2019

An occasional post from your (far) North West corespondent here. It’s a long drive from Portland to Seattle – a bit shy of 200 miles, but these guys aren’t getting any younger and my step-daughter, at 16, is a big fan of late 60s-early 70s rock, and that is to be encouraged, so the pair of us made the trek north.

This tour was put together by Daltrey, using the theory that you could pick up a local orchestra, have them rehearse up the set during the day, and slap a rock band in front of them on the night. Townshend was skeptical and there seems to have been a certain amount of arm twisting to get him to come on board.

I’m getting ahead of myself. The venue was T-Mobile Park, which is where the Seattle Mariners play “baseball”, which I’m informed is some sort of cricket/rounders like game. It must be quite popular as the stadium is huge. Being “up North” the climate is challenging, so the building has a retractable roof, and mercifully, it’s fully extended tonight, covering about half the stadium. The stage is set » Continue Reading.

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.