Posts Tagged ‘dance’

21 Aug

Ozrik Tentacles the Crescent York 18 August 2023

Posted by vintagerock in Ozrik Tentacles. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

ozric0 - CopyAnother trip to the lovely community venue the Crescent, York. I feel alive and alert again after a short period without any concert experiences. Our friendly taxi driver takes us (me, and carers Jan and Joanne) to Durham station, and an equally friendly passenger assistance guy is waiting with the ramp to get me onto the train to York.

ozric1At the other end another passenger assistant is waiting with a ramp and I am quickly on the platform. No sooner said and we are snug in the York Station Tap for a swift drink (mine is a large red, thank you) before the short walk to the Crescent. The venue is already full.

ozric5I must admit, and to my shame, I am not very familiar with the music of Ozrik Tentacles. But I have read about their connections with Gong, the alternative music scene, the free Stonehenge festivals, Glastonbury and other similar events. Imagine some sort of mash – up of Hawkwind, Gong, Steve Hillage, psychedelic rock, trance, dance and space rock and you are getting there.

ozric7The mainstay of the band is guitarist Ed Wynne who is well practised in Steve Hillage glissando guitar which he plays to great advantage alongside another guitarist, a flute player and a keyboard player. Add throbbing drumbeats, liquid lens 60s/70s light shows and lots of crazy dancing by the crowd and you get the picture.

ozric6I can’t pretend to have known the songs but the music is enticing, enthralling and encapsulating. Magic. And no drugs (they wouldn’t mix well with my medication anyway). Our view is not great as the venue is, quite appropriately admittedly, standing although Jan and Joanne do manage to sneak a couple of chairs in from the bar. We all enjoy the experience and I look forward to seeing the band again, this time with Gong as support in Newcastle next year.

ozric3A short wet walk up to the station and I have a chat with a guy from Newcastle who I last spoke to at the Cluny and another new friend from Northallerton. We all share notes on progressive rock band experiences. Great crack. Hope you both read this blog entry. Soon another friendly face helps me up a ramp onto the train and, as if by magic, the same happens at the other end. Thank you passenger assistance.

ozric2Our friendly taxi chariot awaits and whisks us back home in no time at all. I watch Coronation Street on recording and then drift off to sleep. Another fun time had by all. Many thanks to Jan and Joanne for the pictures and to Ozrik Tentacles for a hippie, trippy evening. It was almost the 1970s all over again 🙂

ozric8Ozric Tentacles are: Ed Wynne: Guitars / Keyboards; Silas Wynne: Keyboards; Brandi Wynne: Bass; Tim Wallander: Drums; Saskia Maxwell: Flutes.

Setlist (based on published previous set lists it could have been something like this; but then maybe not!): Eternal Wheel; Blooperdome; Sliding and Gliding; Kick Muck; Lotus Unfolding; Dub Jam; Sploosh!; Jellylips.

The Ozrik Tentacles logo/image is from my ticket

28 Dec

New Order Sunderland Mayfair 1984, Newcastle Mayfair 1986 & Newcastle Academy 2006

Posted by vintagerock in New Order. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

New Order Sunderland Mayfair 15th August 1984
neworder1984I have a theory that, during the 80s, you could judge the success of New Order by how low Hookie was carrying his bass. Each time I saw the band that bass seemed to slip further down his leg, reaching a point around his knees, where I guess it couldn’t get any lower. I spent the night at the Sunderland gig staring in wonder at Peter Hook and that bass. I swear he was wrestling and fighting with his guitar, as if it had a life of its own, and was trying to escape his clutches. He was definitely becoming a fully fledged rock star; indeed the entire band seemed to exude a level of confidence way above that which I had witnessed on the previous two occasions I saw them. They were riding on a wave of success; Blue Monday had propelled them to another place, and the Mayfair was packed. The ticket it pretty impressive too :). Setlist: Face Up; Thieves Like Us; Age of Consent; Your Silent Face; Sooner Than You Think; ICB; The Village; 5 8 6; Sunrise; The Perfect Kiss; Blue Monday (cue for major dancing).
New Order Newcastle Mayfair 10th September 1986. neworder1986New Order released two albums before I saw them again; these were Low-Life (1985) and Brotherhood (1986). Their set at Newcastle Mayfair in 1986 drew heavily from their most recent release. I recall being disappointed, largely because they didn’t play Blue Monday, and because there were few songs that I recognised at all. This gig certainly wasn’t one of the best times that I have seen New Order, and to be honest I remember little about the gig. I think Hookie’s bass remained at knee height. It was 20 years until I saw them again. Setlist: State of the Nation; Everything’s Gone Green; Way of Life; Angel Dust; Paradise; Weirdo; Confusion; Subculture; Age of Consent; Bizarre Love Triangle; The Perfect Kiss.
Newcastle Academy 11th Oct 2006. newroder06Roll on 20 years and David and I were in Newcastle Academy to see New Order. This was their first visit to the North East since the Mayfair concert of 1986. In the interim the band had released 4 albums including the highly successful Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, which came out in 2005, and was generally recognised as a return to form. Gillian Gilbert left the band in 2001, and was replaced by Phil Cunningham. The rest of the line-up (Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris) remained unchanged. Over the 20 year period, there had been long gaps between releases and concerts, with New Order spending a lot of time in America. Their UK shows were mainly restricted to appearances at festivals, a small number of shows in Manchester and some arena concerts elsewhere. As a result, this Newcastle return was hugely anticipated, and tickets sold out immediately they went on sale. The Academy was completely packed; we were on the floor close to the stage and couldn’t move, and the band didn’t let the crowd down. New Order played a long set drawn from across their career, including a handful of Joy Division songs. That night they played with a passion, and seemed to be in a good mood. A great concert. Hookie’s bass still remained at knee height, which was comforting. The ticket price had risen from £5 in 1986 to £32.50 in 2006, which was less comforting. Setlist at Newcastle Academy in 2006: Crystal Regret; Ceremony; Who’s Joe?; These Days (Joy Division); Transmission (Joy Division); Krafty; Waiting for the Sirens’ Call; Your Silent Face; Guilt Is a Useless Emotion; Bizarre Love Triangle; Temptation; The Perfect Kiss; Blue Monday. Encore: Shadowplay (Joy Division); Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division).
Sadly New Order split in 2008, the other members fell out with Peter Hook in a very public manner, and ultimately regrouped without him. Laura and saw their Newcastle Academy concert in 2012, which I blogged about at the time.

27 Dec

New Order Middlesbrough Rock Garden 17th Feb 1981 & Newcastle Mayfair 11th March 1982

Posted by vintagerock in New Order. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

New Order Middlesbrough Rock Garden 17th Feb 1981 & Newcastle Mayfair 11th March 1982
neworderOn May 17,1980, Ian Curtis committed suicide at his parents home in Macclesfield, leaving the remaining members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris shocked, and with an uncertain musical future. Ultimately they decided to carry on, initially as a three piece and under a new name: New Order. By late 1980 New Order was playing gigs at small venues in their home town Manchester. Their repertoire consisted of new songs, other than “Ceremony” (an unreleased Joy Division song which was played live before Curtis’ death) and “In a Lonely Place” (demoed in the studio). Guitarist Bernard Sumner took on the role of main vocalist and Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris’s girlfriend, joined on keyboards. New Order played a couple of concerts in the USA, and started to venture further afield in the UK. I first saw them at a gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden in early 1981. The concert was reasonably well attended, although by no means sold out. I remember being struck by how different their music was from Joy Division; much more electronic, less dark, few vocals. There was a sense that we were witnessing something very special, and very different from the direction that other new wave bands were going at the time. This was a universe away from the thrash of Warsaw that I had witnessed only a few years earlier. The songs came from their yet to be released first album “Movement”. A bootleg exists of a concert in Glasgow from the same period, which suggests the set at the Rock Garden was probably something like this: In A Lonely Place; Dreams Never End; Truth; Mesh; Procession; ICB; The Him; Cries & Whispers; Senses; Ceremony. My memory (which sadly, is quite often wrong these days) tells me that they also played an instrumental version of Love Will Tear Us Apart, towards the end of their set, possibly as an encore. However, this also seems unlikely, as the song doesn’t feature in any other published 1981 setlists. Having said that, they would sometimes play the old Joy Division classic during the sound check; so who knows?
A year later local promoters The Soul Kitchen (“The Only Fun In Town” 🙂 ) booked New Order (“Dreams Never End”) for a concert at Newcastle Mayfair. By now they were playing several new songs which would appear on their 1983 second album “Power, Corruption & Lies”. The Mayfair was quite full, and I saw a big difference in New Order, compared to their performance at the Rock Garden. This was a much more confident band, more dance, more electronica. Blue Monday and massive success were yet to come, but you could sense that this was an important band. Bernard Sumner was much more of a front man, and Hookie’s bass was slipping further and further down to his knees; they were both forming their own rock star personas. Support (or “Early Entertainment” as the ticket says) came from Scottish band The Wake, who featured a young Bobby Gillespie.
Setlist from Newcastle Mayfair, 1982: In A Lonely Place, Chosen Time, Denial, Ultraviolence, Senses, Leave Me Alone, Hurt, Procession, Temptation.
New Order line-up: Bernard Sumner – vocals, guitar, Peter Hook – bass, Stephen Morris – drums, Gillian Gilbert – synthesizers.

8 Jul

Massive Attack v Adam Curtis Manchester International Festival 7 July 2013

Posted by vintagerock in Adam Curtis, Cocteau Twins, Elizabeth Fraser, Manchester International Festival, Massive Attack. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Massive Attack v Adam Curtis Manchester International Festival 7 July 2013
massive attack This was a very different sort of performance. Adam Curtis is a film and documentary maker, whose work explores politics and philosophy. For this event, commissioned by the Manchester International Festival, he has worked with Bristol trip hop legends Massive Attack to produce an experience which explores power and politics and their impact on all of us. Adam calls the performance “a Gilm” – “a new way of integrating a gig with a film that has a powerful overall narrative and emotional individual stories. The show will be a bit of a total experience. You will be surrounded by all kinds of images and sounds. But it is also about ideas. It tells a story about how a new system of power has risen up in the modern world to manage and control us. A rigid and static system that has found in those images and sounds a way of enveloping us in a thin two-dimensional version of the past.” David came up from London especially for the event, and we drove down from home via Leeds, where we picked up Laura who had been attending a friend’s birthday barbecue celebrations. The venue for the event was the Mayfield Depot, Manchester, which is a disused and somewhat spooky old building, right next to Piccadilly station. We arrived at the venue at 8.15pm and waited in anticipation for the start which came at 9pm prompt, at which time, we were all directed along with 1,500 others into a dark space completely surrounded by giant screens on three sides. The screens then showed Curtis’ new documentary Everything Is Going According to Plan, while Massive Attack played at the end of the room, from behind a translucent screen. The film took us through a story of how politics, the advent of computers and the proliferation of data, war and the financial crisis have all set out to control and plan our destiny and how ultimately “The Plan” has failed. This was achieved through a mash-up of news images and some quite bizarre selections of scenes from Bambi, Mary Poppins, and Jane Fonda’s work-out video (? :)). Massive Attack’s soundtrack ranged from their own doomy, deep bass-laden soundscapes which rocked and vibrated the very foundations of the space, to a series of quite off-the-wall covers performed by guest vocalists and long-time collaborators Elizabeth Frazer (formerly of the Cocteau Twins) and reggae singer Horace Andy. These covers included Nirvana’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Burt Bacharach’s The Look of Love and Baby Its You, The Archie’s Sugar Sugar and Barbra Streisand’s My Colouring Book. The highlight for me was Elisabeth Frazer’s performances of The Look of Love, and My Colouring Book; the latter is one of my favourite songs. Elizabeth stood centre stage behind a screen; a giant image of her own face projecting over her, softly wringing the emotion out of each word, in that haunting etherial voice. Rarely have I heard and seen such a passionate and authentic performance of a song. She was simply stunning; it was worth attending the event for her performance of My Colouring Book alone. The “gilm” concluded with an upbeat message, reaffirming that we were in control of our own destiny and that we could change the world. The final slogan displayed on the screens told us to “Now Find Your Own Way Home”. We were directed out of the building in a quite different direction to the one in which we entered; guided only by one extremely bright searchlight. As we passed through the derelict building, we were watched over by a guard with an alsatian dog; the dog barked loudly at us. All quite strange. Did it work? Yes in part. It was certainly a unique and impressive experience. I felt that some of the images were a little too bizarre, and some a little too obvious, as were some of the slogans. But I’m pleased I attended, and I am delighted that I had the opportunity to witness Elizabeth Fraser’s haunting performance; it is some 30 years since I last saw her perform in the Cocteau Twins.
“This is the room that I sleep in and walk in; And weep in and hide in; That nobody, nobody’s seen; Oh, colour it lonely, please” (My Colouring Book; Ebb and Kander, 1962).

13 May

Shift-Static The Cluny 2 Newcastle May 12th 2012

Posted by vintagerock in Shift-Static. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Shift-Static The Cluny 2 Newcastle May 12th 2012
So Shift-Static returned after a gig hiatus, the members regrouping from various corners of the UK to play a show in The Cluny 2, along with Houses, Baskin’s Wish, and Euan Lynn. A healthy crowd gathered to see this home gig, some having travelled especially for the show. Laura ventured from her normal situation behind keyboards, taking front of stage to deliver her haunting vocals. The set consisted of five songs, and lasted around 30 minutes, featuring some new tunes and one old favourite. Crowd members were shouting for recent online release Sky Burial, which proved to be a big hit. The songs are a sublime mix of electronica, dance, and guitar jangles, Gordon concentrating on the beats and the electrickery, Will on the jangle guitar, Charlie master of the samples and further beats, Joe pounding away on the rhythm bass, and Laura overlaying her textured, haunting vocals. The band received a well deserved positive reception from the assembled Cluny crowd, the new set hitting the right spot with everyone. Shift-Static next perform at Newcastle Miners Institute on Friday 25 May. Setlist: Intro; New Song; Father’s Footsteps; Five Bar Gate; Sky Burial.