The Rolling Stones Hyde Park July 13th 2013
When I walked out of the O2 in London in August 2007 after seeing The Rolling Stones at the end of the Bigger Bang tour I really thought I had seen them for the last time. Even I, as a life long Stones fan, couldn’t have imagined that they would be back five years later and that they would deliver a series of concerts which would easily match, and in some ways eclipse, their concert tours of the 70s and 80s. But as David and I walked out of Hyde Park last night I felt I had seen them do just that. In whatever way you measure it this 50 and Counting tour has been a massive success and the Stones legacy remains intact, nay enhanced, by the stunning performances that Jagger and co have delivered. I have had the privilege of attending three shows on the tour: the opening night at the O2 last November, their overwhelmingly successful Pyramid stage debut at Glastonbury a couple of weeks ago and the last night (for now? 🙂 ) of the tour in London’s Hyde Park, their home town and the setting for their iconic show of 1969.
I took the train down to London on Saturday afternoon and met David at Marble Arch at 6pm. I was staying at the Cumberland hotel just over the road. We had a drink in the hotel bar and then wandered over to the park. Jake Bugg was on stage as we made our way in through the crowds. The weather was hot,  almost unbearably so; in fact this was the hottest day of the year so far. I’d been invited by Barclaycard to try out their new contactless wrist band which I had loaded with £20 to spend in the park. We spotted the Barclaycard Unwind stand and wandered over to ask which food outlets accepted payment through my wristband, and how we could access the Unwind bar. The lady assured us that most food stalls took it and directed us towards the bar which was behind the stage. Now our tickets were cheap (£100 ! 🙂 ) standard GA which didn’t actually allow access to the bar or the areas close to the stage. Still we followed her directions, and walked through a couple of gates without being challenged and ended up in the backstage bar and with access to the Tier 2 area close to the stage. Result! We had a burger and a coke each which just about used up the money on my wristband and found a spot to watch the Stones.
The Rolling Stones hit the stage around 8.30pm with Start Me Up. One thing struck me about the crowd last night. I would say the majority were in their 20s or 30s. Sure there were some old guys like me but not too many. And everyone knew all the songs and sang along and danced. This was much more a Stones crowd than at Glastonbury and you could feel the difference. The sound, the visuals and the atmosphere were all much better. No guest, but what we did get were Ruby Tuesday and Emotional Rescue, both of which I haven’t seen played for some time. For me the highlight of this tour has become Paint It Black along with Gimme Shelter and Sympathy For The Devil; but Ruby Tuesday was equally stunning last night with the whole place signing along. 
Oh and a mention for Doom and Gloom which is fitting in well and has become a favourite of my friend John. I voted for Street Fighting Man on the Stones website and was pleased to see them play it. You just can’t fault this band. They really are at the top of their game at the moment; Jagger is so fit and so confident; Keith is so cool and yep he does fluff some riffs now and then but hey he is Keef and he is allowed to now; anyway Ronnie more than makes up for any of Keith’s shortcomings and shines through as the musical backbone of the band along with Charlie who is just Charlie and who actually said Hello to the crowd last night. Oh and I can’t forget to mention Mick Taylor who must feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now and who pushed the band to greater heights in Midnight Rambler, which has also become a highlight of the tour. Which ever way you look at it this is the greatest rock band in the world. No question. As David and I left the park, the riff from Satisfaction still ringing in our ears my wondering started again. Could this be the last time? This time I think not.
Setlist: Start Me Up; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Tumbling Dice; Emotional Rescue; Street Fighting Man; Ruby Tuesday; Doom and Gloom; Paint It Black; Honky Tonk Women; You Got the Silver (Keith); Happy (Keith); Miss You; Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor); Gimme Shelter; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Sympathy for the Devil; Brown Sugar. Encore: You Can’t Always Get What You Want (with choir); Satisfaction
Thanks to David for the photographs
Posts Tagged ‘music’
14 Jul
The Rolling Stones Hyde Park July 13th 2013
13 Jul
Japan Newcastle City Hall 1982
Japan Newcastle City Hall 1982. 
By 1982 Japan were popular enough to command two shows at Newcastle City Hall. Support came from Sandii And The Sunsetz, who were on their debut tour of Britain, and were a five piece Japanese band. My enduring memory of this gig was a simply mesmerizing version of “Ghosts”. David Sylvian sat centre stage on a stool, just pure cool. Japanese guitarist and keyboardist Masami Tsuchiya performed with the band on this tour. Sadly Japan were already disintegrating and the band split shortly after this tour. 
The tour culminated in six sold-out nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon; these were their last UK shows. These final Hammersmith concerts were recorded to produce Oil on Canvas, a live album and video released in June 1983. Set list: Burning Bridges, Sons Of Pioneers, Alien, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Swing, Cantonese Boy, Visions Of China, Nightporter, Canton, Ghosts, Still Life In Mobile Homes, Methods Of Dance, Quiet Life, European Son, The Art Of Parties, Life In Tokyo, Fall In Love With Me. Now David Sylvian is another guy that I really must see again, if and when he next plays in the UK.
12 Jul
Japan Newcastle City Hall 1978 and 1981
Japan Newcastle City Hall 1978 and 1981
The band Japan first came to my attention when they supported Blue Oyster Cult at Newcastle City Hall in June 1978. There was quite a buzz about this new band at the time, reports portraying them as heavily influenced by Bowie, The Dolls and glam. To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed by their performance that night. They seemed at the time to be all image, with little substance in terms of the music, which was pretty ramshackle punk/new wave. David Sylvian played out his best David Johansen poses, and they did have a quite fun version of “Don’t Rain on my Parade”. But the sound was poor, and they were no match for BOC, who were at the height of their success. I also recently read that Japan supported Jim Capaldi and The Contenders on his UK tour which took place in October 1977. 
Now I saw Jim Capaldi around that time at Newcastle Poly, but I’m afraid that I don’t remember seeing Japan. By the time I saw Japan again, on the “Visions Of China” Tour in 1981, they were a totally different, and very impressive band. They had released their fifth and most successful album Tin Drum, which featured the beautiful and haunting “Ghosts”. Japan were amazing at the 1981 gig at Newcastle City Hall. David Sylvian and Mick Karn were both excellent front men, and I was simply transfixed when they played Ghosts. Supporting Japan that night were Blancmange, who went on to further success themselves. Setlist: Canton, Swing, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Alien, Talking Drum, Visions Of China, Quiet Life, My New Career, Ghosts, Cantonese Boy, Methods Of Dance, Still Life In Mobile Homes, European Son, The Art Of Parties, Life In Tokyo, Fall In Love With Me, Canton (finale).
10 Jul
Joe Jackson 1979 and 1980
Joe Jackson 1979 and 1980
Joe Jackson was a cool guy when he emerged as part of the punk and new wave scene in the late 1970s. He hit the charts with his debut album Look Sharp! and the singles Is She Really Going Out with Him? and Its Different For Girls. And he wore the coolest Denson shoes, which can be seen on the cover of the Look Sharp! album. In those days you could pick up Denson winklepicker sidelacers and Chelsea boots for a few quid in sale shops. I wish I’d stocked up on them! All my pairs wore out many years ago. 
I remember the City Hall show as a great gig, playing the singles and the tracks from the album. I first saw Joe Jackson as support for a band called the Pleasers at a gig at Newcastle Poly. The Pleasers were an interesting band who modelled themselves on the Beatles and Merseybeat and yet had their own style. A typical Joe Jackson setlist from 1979: One More Time; Pretty Girls; Look Sharp; Friday; Sunday Papers; Baby Stick Around; Is She Really Going Out With Him; Fools In Love; Life Is A Bowl Of Cherries; Kinda Kute; Happy Loving Couples; I’m The Man; Throw It Away; Got The Time; Pressure Drop; Come On.
9 Jul
Elton John Brunton Park Carlisle 2007
Elton John Brunton Park Carlisle 2007
The tickets for this gig were a very kind present from work colleagues, when I moved on to another job. Laura came along with me to the gig which was another greatest hits set from Elton John. Support came from The Storys. This is my last post on Elton John. I have seen him in concert on one further occasion, at Darlington in 2008, and I have already blogged about that concert. In fact, its about time I saw him again; the concert at Leeds Arena in September looks tempting 🙂 
Setlist: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; The Bitch Is Back; Hercules; Madman Across the Water; Tiny Dancer; Daniel; Rocket Man; Honky Cat; Sacrifice; I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues; Burn Down the Mission; The Bridge; Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Bennie and the Jets; Philadelphia Freedom; Are You Ready for Love; Something About the Way You Look Tonight; Sad Songs; I’m Still Standing; Crocodile Rock; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Your Song
8 Jul
Massive Attack v Adam Curtis Manchester International Festival 7 July 2013
Massive Attack v Adam Curtis Manchester International Festival 7 July 2013
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).
7 Jul
Glastonbury Festival 2013
Glastonbury Festival 2013
I’ve already reported my thoughts on the Rolling Stones and Portishead sets at Glastonbury 2013, but I would also like to briefly reflect on my overall impressions of this year festival. We are just getting used to going to festivals again, having taken a long break from the days when we used to attend most of the festivals that took place in the UK throughout the 70s and early 80s. We have been to one day events in the years since then, but I really couldn’t face the prospect of camping and staying in a field for several days. Until 2010, that is, when Marie, David, Laura and I decided to take the plunge and go to Glastonbury. To my surprise and delight, we all enjoyed every minute of the experience, and we returned on 2011 and again this year in 2013. Glastonbury 2011 tested our faith, with a lot of rain and mud, and made me think twice about going this year. We hired a campervan in 2010 and 2011, but this year, partly as a result of the van getting stuck in the mud and having to get towed out by a tractor (which still gives me nightmares), we decided to try camping for real, in a tent (!) this time. So we bought a nice family size tent, and all the essentials: airbeds, stove, and even a blow-up sofa. We drove down on the Wednesday, arriving during the evening to get a spot in the campsite. Thursday was spent resting after the long drive, and moving all of all our stuff (we took far too much) from the car to the tent. Laura and David met some friends and left us for much of the time, joining us for the Stones and Portishead. We just took it easy, wandered around the massive site taking in the atmosphere, and caught a few bands along the way. 
Highlights of the acts that we did see were: Beady Eye on the Other Stage on Friday, Liam showing off his old familiar swagger, Bill Bragg rousing us all to think a little on the Saturday morning on the Pyramid stage, Elvis Costello singing all those hits on Saturday afternoon, Rufus Wainwright alone with a grand piano singing sweetly on the Pyramid on the Sunday afternoon, and Primal Scream, who seemed a little lost and didn’t quite get the crowd going before the Stones. There were a lot more acts that I had planned to see, but there are so many stages and so many things to do it just wasn’t possible to do so. And the weather was great. There was a little rain on the Thursday, which produced a small amount of the obligatory mud. However that mud soon dried up and the rest of the weekend from Friday to Sunday was sunny and hot. So we juts took things easy, rested some, walked around the site a little and caught a few bands. My main objective was to see the Stones, and that was achieved. Anything else was a bonus. We left later on Sunday, driving home before the crowds started. The vibe at Glastonbury is great; very friendly with people of all ages. We certainly didn’t feel out of place at all. So my faith and interest in festivals remains renewed, and we look forward to Glastonbury 2014 (hope we can get tickets 🙂 ). I think one festival a year of this type is probably enough for me now, and probably all I can cope with if I am honest with myself. I returned stiff and tired and have only just got over the whole thing. However, there are lots of other festival types and one day events that we intend to visit over the Summer, starting with Massive Attack vs Adam Curtis as part of the Manchester International Festival tonight and The Stones in Hyde Park next Saturday.
6 Jul
Bula Quo! Durham Gala Cinema 5 July 2013
Bula Quo! Durham Gala Cinema 5 July 2013
When I was a kid in the 60s I remember going to see Cliff in Summer Holiday, the Beatles in Help! and Dave Clark in Catch Us if You Can. They were all good clean fun, with great songs and some good humour from my pop group heroes. Then in the 70s I saw Woodstock, Slade in Flame, and Tommy. Again, all great in their own way. And last night I went to see Status Quo star in their movie, Bula Quo. Now I love Status Quo. I don’t care if people think they are naff, can only play three chords, etc. I know how awesome they were in the 70s, and how they can still rock today. But I have to say this film isn’t great (sorry Francis and Rick). Sure its a bit of fun, but with a bit more thought and some more good songs, it could have been a lot better. The plot goes something like this. Quo are playing a few gigs in Fiji. Francis and Rick slip away from the rest of the band and witness a russian roulette game, that turns into a murder. They film it, but the gangster behind it all is also one of the sponsors of their gig. 
They get chased around the island, along with some press people, their manager and an intern who is working with them called (of course) Caroline. It turns out the gangsters are also trading in human organs (?) and selling the left-overs in a restaurant (?!). Lots of chasing and stunts. The bad guys kidnap Caroline and our two heroes go to rescue her and end up playing russian roulette themselves. They escape of course. Oh and they play Living on as Island and a few other songs. I enjoyed it, along with the 5 (I kid you not :)) other people who were in the audience. But hey Cliff was much better in Summer Holiday. And there were more people there to see him too. How times changes. Roll on the Bula Quo tour, and the gig at Newcastle Arena in December. Hope I win the holiday in Fiji.
5 Jul
Elton John Durham County Cricket Club 2006
Elton John Durham County Cricket Club 2006
Laura and I went to this large open air concert which took place in Chester-le-Street at the Cricket Ground which is the home of Durham County Cricket Club. We bought two tickets for a low price on eBay, as I recall. Support came from The Stories. This was another great gig by Elton, and very much a greatest hit set. 
Setlist: Bennie And The Jets; Philadelphia Freedom; Believe; Daniel; Rocket Man; I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues; Turn The Lights Out When You Leave; They Call Her The Cat; The One; Take Me To The Pilot; Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; Tiny Dancer; I Want Love; Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word; Sacrifice; Are You Ready For Love; I’m Still Standing; The Bitch Is Back; Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting); Crocodile Rock; Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me; Your Song. I am almost through writing about Elton John, just one more concert to report on.
4 Jul
Elton John Newcastle Arena 2004
Elton John Newcastle Arena 2004
It was 2004 and Elton John released a new album: Peachtree Road. This was his 28th studio album, and Elton went out on the road to promote it, calling at Newcastle Arena iton 7 December 2004. I went along to the gig with Laura, and we had good seats quite close to the front. Tickets were again quite expensive at £50 which was becoming the norm for an Elton John gig. 
The first part of the set featured several tracks form the Peachtree Road album: Weight of the World; Porch Swing in Tupelo; Answer in the Sky; Turn the Lights Out When You Leave; My Elusive Drug; They Call Her the Cat; Freaks in Love; All That I’m Allowed (I’m Thankful); and I Can’t Keep This from You. Then Elton played a set of favourites: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Daniel; Rocket Man; I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues; Tiny Dancer; Are You Ready for Love; Philadelphia Freedom; Border Song; Levon; Burn Down the Mission; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; I’m Still Standing; The Bitch Is Back; Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!); Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Your Song.
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