Posts Tagged ‘folk’
9
Jul
Posted by vintagerock in Morrissey. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Morrissey Middlesbrough Town Hall 8 July 2011
Great show from Morrissey last night. Middlesbrough Town Hall is a wonderful venue and just the right size and atmosphere for Morrissey. Laura was looking forward to this, having missed his Glasto set by going to see Radiohead on the Park stage. Good mix of solo and Smiths songs. The crowd was a little subdued, but Mozza seemed in relatively good spirits. At one point there seemed to be a problem with the sound and the whole band left the stage while it was sorted out. I found Meat is Murder particularly good; Morrissey has changed the lyrics to something like Eat Meat Murder. It took me back many years to seeing the Smiths on the Meat is Murder tour at the City Hall. It was a powerful song then, and still is now. Laura was pleased that There is a Light was the encore.
Setlist: Panic; First Of The Gang To Die; You’re The One For Me, Fatty; Shoplifters Of The World Unite; Everyday Is Like Sunday; I Want The One I Can’t Have; I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris; You Have Killed Me; Action Is My Middle Name; I Know It’s Over; Satellite Of Love; People Are The Same Everywhere; Alma Matters; One Day Goodbye will be Farewell; Ouija Board, Ouija Board; Meat is Murder; Speedway; Irish Blood, English Heart
Encore: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
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9
Jul
Posted by vintagerock in Roger Daltrey, The Who, Tommy. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Roger Daltrey plays Tommy The Sage Gateshead 4 July 2011
Tommy was one of the first albums I ever bought. I can picture myself in Binns record store looking through the album sleeves. I remember choosing between The Crazy World of Arthur Brown lp and Tommy, and taking the Who album home and playing on my uncles radiogram.
I wasn’t too sure how this was going to be. I’ve seen a couple of Who shows over the last few years where Roger’s voice hasn’t been too good, so I must admit I had doubts about how he would cope with a full Tommy show. I needn’t have worried. This was so much better that I hoped for. There were a few times when I wondered if Roger’s voice would hold out, but it seemed to get stronger as the night went on. Roger was clearly enjoying himself and has assembled an excellent band who truly do justice to the Who’s rock opera. Simon Townsend (Pete’s brother) is a great sideman for Roger, and at times sounds (and looks) like his elder brother.
This was a marathon two and a half hour show, with Roger going on to play some great Who tunes. Not sure when I last saw the Who play Pictures of Lilly or I Can See for Miles (my favourite Who song), but its certainly a long time ago and it was great to see and hear them played again. Simon took vocals for Going Mobile and did a great job of it. A great night. I could go and see him again tomorrow and wouldn’t be bored. Made me realise just how great the Who were, and how much they still mean to me. Hope Pete returns and I get to see The Who again one day.
Set list (Tommy): Overture; It’s a Boy; 1921; Amazing Journey; Sparks; Eyesight to the Blind; Christmas; Cousin Kevin; The Acid Queen; Underture; Do You Think It’s Alright; Fiddle About; Pinball Wizard; There’s A Doctor; Go to The Mirror; Tommy Can You Hear Me; Smash The Mirror; Sensation; Miracle Cure; Sally Simpson; I’m Free; Welcome; Tommy’s Holiday Camp; We’re Not Gonna Take It
Who classics and others: Who Are You; Pictures of Lily; Tattoo; I Can See for Miles; Behind Blue Eyes; Real Good Looking Boy; Days Of Light; Going Mobile; Young Man Blues; Baba O’Riley; Red Blue Grey
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9
Jul
Posted by vintagerock in Leon Russell. Tagged: blues, concert, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Leon Russell The Sage Gateshead 29 June 2011
A good show from a true legend.
I arrived just after 7.30 and was surprised to find Leon already on stage, singing Delta Lady. I took my seat at the end of the front row. The hall wasn’t that full (a shame); I’d only bought my ticket on the day. Leon has amazing hair and beard and truly looks the old rocker that he is. He’s also clearly frail and walks badly, but his voice has held up and he sounded great. You have to admire the guy: he’s played with them all, starting with Jerry Lee Lewis and then working with Dylan, Joe Cocker etc. Great to see him. A privilege; he’s someone I’ve wanted to see for ages and ages. He finished around 9pm (he is an old guy), and I was home around 9.30pm; an early night!
Setlist (something like): Delta Lady; Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms; Stranger in a Strange Land; Sweet Little Angel; Lady Blue; Kansas City Woman; Dixie Lullaby; Let the Good Times Roll; Baby What (Do) You Want Me to Do; Back to the Island; Wild Horses; A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall; Hummingbird; I’ve Just Seen A Face; Tightrope; Georgia on My Mind; Prince of Peace; Out in the Woods; I’ve Got A Kind Hearted Woman; A Song for You; Jumping Jack Flash / Poppa Was A Rolling Stone / Paint It Black / Kansas City
Encore: Great Balls of Fire; Roll Over Beethoven
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9
Jul
Posted by vintagerock in B B King, Beyonce, Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Glastonbury, Morrissey, Paul Simon, Pulp, Radiohead, The Wombles, U2. Tagged: blues, concert, festival, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 1 comment
I’ve taken a long time to get round to writing anything about this Glastonbury; I seem to have been catching up on things at work and home since we got back.
We (Me, Marie, Laura and David) all made the journey to Pilton Farm this year, again hiring a campervan. This year’s weather was quite a bit different from last year, with lots of rain earlier in the week, making the site very muddy. Our van got stuck deep in the mud on arrival and, after lots of pushes from staff and others, we were finally towed into the field by a giant tractor. As last year, we studied the clashfinder and made lots of plans of who we were all going to see; however the reality was very difficult, with the mud making it very difficult to make great trecks across the whole site from stage to stage. I’d particularly wanted to see the old-timers on the 71 stage, but in the event, didn’t get much of a chance to do so.
Friday was pretty wet and all of the walkways were deep in mood. It was really hard work walking through the mud which was very sticky; wellies were coming off and people were falling over…..
71 stage: managed to wander over through the mud and saw Martin Stone playing some pretty solid blues/rock. David was over there earlier and caught Noel Harrison singing Windmills of my Mind.
B B King: Some great guitar from a legend. Much better than I thought he might be.
Radiohead: Laura and David went over to the Park stage to see Radiohead do their special guest spot. They returned quite disappointed; apparently the sound wasn’t great, and the set focussed on the more recent albums.
Morrissey: Marie and I watched Morrissey’s set while David and Laura were at the Park seeing Radiohead. He was pretty good, although he didn’t seem in a great mood, telling the crowd “I know you’re all waiting for U2; I’ll sing fast”
U2: By now the rain was really coming down. The set had a good selection of old favourites, and Bono was out to impress. Fraid the rain got the better of us in the end, and we retired to the van.
Saturday was much better weather wise with no rain at all. The mud was drying out, but still very deep and sticky on the walkways over to the Other Stage and Arcadia.
Pulp: The highlight for us. When we heard Pulp were reforming I promised Laura (and myself) that we must see them. So when we heard that they might be Saturday’s special guest at the Park stage, we had to go over and see. And Javis and crew didn’t let us down. The field was rammed; they had to close the gates. Everyone was singing along, and I was surprised how many songs I knew. Started with Do You Remember the First Time? The whole field went mental and sang Disco 2000 and Common People like their lives depended on it.
Coldplay: OK; not my favourite band but seemed to go down well with the crowd.
Chemical Brothers: Laura and David went across to the Other Stage for The Chemical Brothers and seemed to have a great time too.
Sunday was red hot.
The Wombles: This was the highlight for Laura. Mike Batt and co played Avalon in their suits. Started with Remember you’re a Womble and finished with the Wombling Song. The tent was packed; everyone determined to have a great sing-a-long. Shame we missed out on getting a Wombles mask, but Laura bought a t-shirt.
Paul Simon: A good set.
Beyonce: I just didn’t get this. Laura thought she was great, but Marie and I weren’t too impressed. Yet when I got home, the first thing everyone I saw said to me was “did you see Beyonce?” and then told me how great she was on the TV coverage. It seems to me that it may have looked better on TV than from the field itself. Everyone around us didn’t seem to be getting into it.
We left straight after Beyonce and, after getting the van pushed out of the mud by a group of friendly guys, we drove all through the night and were back home at 8am on Monday. It took Marie and I 3 hours to clean the mud from the van, before we returned it to the hire company….
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19
Jun
Posted by vintagerock in Cayte Webber, Ringo Starr. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 1 comment
Ringo Starr & his All Starr Band Liverpool Empire 18 June 2011
I’d been looking forward to this for some time. Its been 13 years since Ringo last toured the UK with his All Starr Band; I remember regretting not going to see them on that tour. Since then Laura and I saw Ringo at the Capital of Culture Opening concert; he sang three songs. So this was my first full scale Ringo concert experience. This visit of Ringo to Liverpool was quite controversial as a result of his comments on the Jonathan Ross show; where he in effect slagged off his home city. I’m sure Ringo wanted to make amends and saw this concert as one way of doing so.
I arrived at Liverpool Empire around 6.30pm and parked up in the Lime Street NCP car park. There were a smattering of Beatles fans waiting outside the stage door for Ringo. The accents around me told me that that the concert was being attended by fans from all over the world; lots of American visitors in evidence. Around 7pm they opened the doors and I joined the queue entering the venue. The Empire is a lovely old theatre with all of the original decor; the last time I was here was to see Alice Cooper on the Welcome to my Nightmare tour (1976?). I buy a programme and pass on getting a signed drum skin (£250 a pop!).
The Ringo set up works like this. Ringo has an “All Starr Band” whose members have some level of stardom in their own right and the show is a combination of Ringo songs, Beatles tracks on which Ringo sang, and songs from the band members (they get to do two each). For this tour the members are Rick Derringer (McCoys; Johnny Winter), Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Richard Page (Mister Mister) and Wally Palmar (Romantics? can’t say I remember them). Looking at some of the past line-ups, there have been stronger versions of the band; past members have included Jack Bruce, Ian Hunter, Gary Brooker, Joe Walsh and others.
I take my seat which is around a dozen rows from the front, giving me a great view of the stage; which is set up with a large star behind the drum kits. It is clear that everyone around me is a massive Beatles fan. A guy in front of me is sporting a tattoo of Paul on one arm; and the Beatles signatures on the other. There are lots of Beatles t-shirts on show. One couple have matching badges (“I Love John” and “I Love Ringo”). There seem to be hardly any scouse accents, and sadly there are some empty seats up in the gods. Did Ringo really upset everyone that much? I guess scousers don’t forgive or forget easily.
Pretty much at 7.30pm on the dot the support act Cayte Webber takes the stage for four songs which are OK and warm the crowd up. Then after a short interval (at around 8.15pm) Ringo joins us to a great reception; everyone is on their feet and cheering. First up is It Don’t Come Easy which sounds great and brings back memories, followed by Honey Don’t from Beatles for Sale and Choose Love (I assume this is a newish Ringo song?). So far so good. Next Rick Derringer takes to the front of stage and leads the band into Hang On Sloop from his band the McCoys; which knocked Yesterday off the No 1 slot in the States in 1965; we all sing along; great. Then Edgar Winter, who is a mad character, and Wally Palmer with a song I don’t recognise (guess it was a hit in the USA). Ringo is back on drums to sing I Wanna Be Your Man (from “that other band I used to be in”). Gary Wright sings Dream Weaver (takes me back to the Frampton Comes Alive tour when he was support act) which he tells us was inspired by Indian text given to him by George Harrison. Richard Page (Mister Mister) gives us Kyrie, which I recognise; a very strong voice; but I’m not too keen on USA AOR.
Ringo tells us “I love Liverpool” on a number of occasions to cheers from the crowd. He introduces The Other Side of Liverpool by pointing out that his Auntie Ev (who is 92!) remembers those days, and that she is in the audience. I look around and see an elderly lady in the row behind me wearing a laminate pass. Then we all sing Yellow Submarine; it doesn’t come much better than this; I’m in Liverpool Empire singing Yellow Submarine with Ringo (and his Auntie Ev singing in the next row!). More follows; with each member getting to do one more song.
Ringo introduces Boys as “a song I used to do with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and I’ve done ever since. I love the song.” They finish with Photograph, With a Little Help from my Friends (more mega singalongs) and a snippet from Give Peace a Chance. Then he’s gone; its 10.15pm and I’m back into the car, up the M6 and across to Scotch Corner (rainy and foggy); back home at 1.15am. A wonderful night that I won’t forget for a long time. Long live Ringo! Peace and Love.
Setlist: It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo); Honey Don’t (Ringo); Choose Love (Ringo); Hang On Sloopy (Rick Derringer); Free Ride (Edgar Winter); Talking In Your Sleep (Wally Palmar); I Wanna Be Your Man (Ringo); Dream Weaver (Gary Wright); Kyrie (Richard Page); The Other Side Of Liverpool (Ringo); Yellow Submarine (Ringo); Frankenstein (Edgar Winter); Peace Dream (Ringo); Back Off Boogaloo (Ringo); What I Like About You (Wally Palmar); Rock N Roll Hootchie Koo (Rick Derringer); Boys (Ringo); My Love Is Alive (Gary Wright); Broken Wings (Richard Page); Photograph (Ringo); Act Naturally (Ringo); With a Little Help From My Friends (Ringo)
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19
Jun
Posted by vintagerock in KIngs of Leon, White Lies. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Kings of Leon Stadium of Light Sunderland 17 June 2011
Support came from White Lies.
David and I went along to see Kings of Leon on Friday. We arrived in time to see White Lies who sounded OK; very Joy Division or Editors ish. KOL were very late in coming on stage (around 9.30pm); I think they were delayed in arriving. But that didn’t put a damper on it. From the word go they had the crowd singing along. Lots of stadium anthems. The Sunderland crowd loved them. But different to Take That!
Setlist: Four Kicks; Taper Jean Girl; The Bucket; Radioactive; My Party; The Immortals; Fans; Back Down South; Birthday; Crawl; No Money; Charmer; Mary; Notion; Closer; Pyro; California Waiting; Molly’s Chambers; On Call; Knocked Up; Use Somebody; Sex On Fire; Black Thumbnail
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29
May
Posted by vintagerock in Groundhogs, John O'Leary, Sugar Kane. Tagged: blues, concert, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
The Groundhogs Barnard Castle Blues Festival 29 May 2011
Festival Line up: TCR Band; Andy Yeadon; Tantrum; Sugar Kane; Groundhogs
David and I went along to see The Groundhogs at the Barnard Castle Blues festival, which is a free event held as part of the Barnard Castle Meet over the May bank holiday weekend. We arrived in time to catch the last couple of songs from Sugar Kane, who are a blues band fronted by John O’Leary on vocals and mouth harp. John comes from a strong blues pedigree, having been a member of Savoy Brown and the John Dummer blues Band in their early days, and he plays some nifty blues harp; the guitarist in the band is good too.
Its been a year since I last saw Tony McPhee and the band, and I was interested to see how Tony was getting on. He had a stroke a couple of years ago; his speech has been affected and his wife Joanna has joined the band on vocals. Last time I saw them at the Cluny, Tony sang one song (Still a Fool). Tonight he managed two songs: Eccentric Man and Still a Fool again. Joanna’s dancing is as manic as ever, she’s backward and forward across the stage like a dervish. She was sporting a nifty hat for the first song. Tony looked well, and his playing was pretty good, although his guitar was seriously out of tune in Split 2 (too much use of the tremelo arm methinks). Good to see them again, and to hear a set of old favourites.
Groundhogs Setlist: No More Doggin’; Eccentric Man (Tony vocals); Garden; Still a Fool (Tony vocals); Split 1; Split 2; Split 4; Natchez Burning; Mistreated; Cherry Red
Encore: Down in the Bottom
The current line-up of The Groundhogs is: Tony McPhee (guitar), Dave Anderson (bass), Carl Stokes(Drums) and Joanna Deacon (vocals).
The Groundhogs website: www.thegroundhogs.co.uk
Sugar Kane website: www.johnolearyb.com
The Groundhogs at Barnard Castle Blues
Tony McPhee
29
May
Posted by vintagerock in Shift-Static. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, electronica, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Evolution Emerging The Star and Shadow 27 May 2011
Shift-Static played a great set at Evolution Emerging on Friday. They were first up, but still managed to draw a decent size crowd into the Star and Shadow. This is likely to be their last gig for a little time as some of the band are off travelling for the summer.
Line-up: GRANDFATHER BIRDS; PILOTS; WE BEAT THE SYSTEM; SHIFT STATIC
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Laura Smith of Shift-Static
28
May
Posted by vintagerock in Marianne Faithfull, Wayne Kramer. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Marianne Faithfull The Sage Gateshead May 23 2011
Who is the real Marianne? The innocent young convent-school girl, led astray by Jagger, The Stones and swinging London in the 60s; the broken, junky girl cast aside and living on the Soho streets of the 70s; the reborn punkier reinterpreter of songs of the 80s and 90s, or the respected elder stateswoman survivor who stood on the stage of The Sage this week? Sadly the Sage was pretty empty but those of us who were there witnessed a riveting performance by a lady who has lived a live like few others. She wears her 60 something years with elegance and grace and talked to us, in the way that only Marianne can, as if we are all her friends.
The set was a mix of songs from her new album and old favourites. Great to see Wayne Kramer (MC5) who played some stunning guitar work. Marianne’s voice is deep and rough, but she sings the songs in the way that only she can. Favourites for me were As Tears Go By (still moving), Sister Morphine (dark and chilling) and Ballad of Lucy Jordan. Marianne also (as she does) name-dropped throughout the show, telling us how Keef and Gram Parsons taught her Merle Haggard’s Sing Me Back Home, how she stole Incarceration of a Flower Child from Roger Waters and how she wrote The Crane Wife with Nick Cave. She also (always the rebel) smoked a few ciggies on stage and mocked some guys in the audience who had to go outside to smoke. A great evening, spent with a true legend.
Setlist (something like): Horses and High Heels; Why Did We Have to Part; The Stations; There Is a Ghost; The Crane Wife; Like Being Born; Prussian Blue; Back in Baby’s Arms; Goin’ Back; That’s How Every Empire Falls; Sing Me Back Home; Sister Morphine; Broken English; As Tears Go By; Incarceration of a Flower Child; Working Class Hero
Encore: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan; Strange Weather
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22
May
Posted by vintagerock in Pink Floyd, Roger Waters. Tagged: blues, concert, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, prog rock, progressive rock, punk, R&B, rock, rock n roll, spectacle. 2 comments
Roger Waters The Wall Manchester Arena 21 May 2011
Just got up this morning. Still tired from driving back from Manchester from last night’s show, which was absolutely fantastic. This must be the most impressive show I have ever seen in terms of visuals and production. If you get a chance to go and see it; do so; you won’t regret it.
I should start by saying that I have never been a fan of (some of the music on) The Wall album. In fact, having see the Floyd tours in the 70s (including Meddle-era, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Knebworth, Animals) I missed out on The Wall shows at Earls Court. I’d grown a little tired of their ever expanding stage shows, and I just didn’t get The Wall concept. I was also heavily into the punk/new wave ethos at that time, which probably influenced my decision to stay away. However over the years I’ve bitterly regretted missing those shows as, even though I still feel the album is not the best of Pink Floyd’s work, I now realise their significance. So I thought it was time to go and see Rogers Waters new production of his masterpiece.
I arrived at the cavernous Manchester Arena early, and took my seat in the lower tier. The Wall was partly built, and the stage set for what promised to be something pretty spectacular. I hadn’t actually given much thought to how spectacular it might be, and I was actually surprised by the scale, detail and impact of the whole production. The story of The Wall is now well known. It is one of Roger’s own isolation and draws on themes of war, injustice, politics, oppression and inequality. All of these are of course still relevant today and Roger has brought the production up to date to include representations of current political and world issues. Modern technology has also enabled Roger to produce a spectacle which just couldn’t have been done in the same way 30 years ago.
The effects are too numerous to mention. The flying pig returns, but he is much more impressive than the beast that flew over my head in Wembley Empire Pool on the Animals tour (how on earth was this modern pig controlled?). There are inflatables of the teacher and mother. Roger sings along with video footage of himself from Earls Court. The wall is gradually built throughout the first half of the show, and becomes a massive video screen, displaying images of fallen war heroes and of the album’s storyline. By the end of the first half the wall is complete and Roger and the band disappear behind it. The giant wall stays in place for much of the second half, with Roger and the band popping out of holes in the wall, and performing in front and on top of it. At one point Roger slides out of the wall, sitting in a loving room singing to us. Everyone in the arena (except me) seems to know (and sign) every word of the album. Roger is quite talkative and tells us he is different person to the young man who performed the Wall at Earls Court. The climax comes with us all chanting “Break down the wall” and the wall collapses in front of our eyes.
This must be the most spectacular show on the road; it is certainly streets ahead of anything I’ve ever seen before. I found it breathtaking, moving and utterly compelling. Although I know little of the album (apart from Another Brick and Comfortably Numb) I wasn’t bored for a single minute (and I often am at shows). Stunning. I wish I could go again.
Setlist:
First Half: In the Flesh?; Thin Ice; Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1; Happiest Days of Our Lives; Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2; Mother; Goodbye Blue Sky; Empty Spaces; What Shall We Do Now?; Young Lust; One of My Turns; Don’t Leave Me Now; Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3; Last Few Bricks; Goodbye Cruel World
Second Half: Hey You; Is There Anybody Out There?; Nobody Home; Vera; Bring the Boys Back Home; Comfortably Numb; Show Must Go On; In the Flesh; Run Like Hell; Waiting for the Worms; Stop; Trial; Outside the Wall
The Band:
Drums: Graham Broad
Guitars: Dave Kilminster, G.E. Smith, Snowy White
Bass: Roger Waters
Keyboards: Jon Carin, Harry Waters
Lead Vocals: Robbie Wyckoff, Roger Waters
Backing Vocals: Jon Joyce, Mark Lennon, Michael Lennon, Kipp Lennon
Roger Waters website: www.roger-waters.com
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