Posts Tagged ‘rock’

6 Aug

Chuck Berry Maryport Blues Festival

Posted by vintagerock in Chuck Berry. Tagged: , , , , .

Chuck Berry

Maryport Blues Festival July 25 2008

Support Acts seen: Little Jenny & the Blue Beans and Alvin Youngblood Hart

So its a warm Friday night and I set off for the 100 mile drive to see Chuck Berry at the Maryport Blues Festival. Chuck Berry! The guy is 81 and still playing. I haven’t seen Chuck since the 70s at the Newcastle City Hall and Sunderland Empire. Another show I remember is the nightmare (but so bad it was good in its own way) Buxton 73 festival which was taken over by Hells Angels; Chuck ended up dancing with a crowd of Hells Angels on the stage. So lots of memories and a long long time since I’ve seen the guy play; looking forward to this one. I guess I am not expecting too much; it will be great just to see him again.

The drive over goes quite well. Get lost in Carlisle and stuck behind a tractor on the windy round to Maryport. It starts to pour down with rain just as I enter Maryport. The festival has moved site from the last time I was here a few years ago; its now by the Rugby Club rather than down at the harbour. The car park is a short walk from the site so I don’t get too wet. The main stage is a pretty big marquee; must hold quite a few thousand in there and its pretty full. I feel quite at home in this crowd; lots of old grey haired people round me; many of them sporting t-shirts from other blues festivals.

I catch two of the other acts on the bill who are pretty good. I have a chance to walk around the site; it has quite an impressive camp site with a lot of lovely camper vans (I make a mental note that it would be great to have a camper van and start going to festivals again!).

At aorund 10.30pm Chuck Berry and his band take the stage. The vocal mike doesn’t work for the first song; the crowd is shouting at Chuck and the band to attract their attention but they don’t seem to realise what is wrong. Anyway after the first song is finished the mike starts to work and a mighty cheer goes up from the crowd. Chuck is great. It is hard to believe that he is 81. His voice sounds good and very strong; his guitar is a little out of tune; but then as I rmember it ; it often was. He plays lots of the favourites, No Particular Place to go, Sweet Little Sixteen, etc (but no Johnny B Goode). We all sing along to My DIng a Ling. He has his son Charles playing guitar for him and his daughter is singing and playing mouth harp. She is pretty good and gets a great cheer. The last number sees Chuck inviting girls (and then boys) up on to the stage to dance with him. The stage is soon full and Chuck and the band are hidden behind a sea of dancers. And then its over. He has been on stage 1 hour (as expected) and it was much much better that I had hoped. People start to leave the marquee and the general feeling is that he was great and can still rock. Pleased I went to see the old guy again; a true legend. The drive home seems to fly over; I’m still thinking of Chuck. Get to bed aorund 2am. A good night and a nice festival.

Festival site: http://www.maryportblues.co.uk/

Chuck Berry site: http://www.chuckberry.com/

My ticket

My ticket

wristband for the main marquee

wristband for the main marquee

programme for the festival

programme for the festival

6 Aug

Tom Waits Edinburgh Playhouse

Posted by vintagerock in Tom Waits. Tagged: , , .

Tom Waits

Edinburgh Playhouse July 28 2008

This was the first time that I had seen Tom Waits. To be honest I don’t really know a lot of his stuff but I had read so much about him being the ultimate performer that I felt I had to go along and see what all the excitement was about. So Laura and I took the train to Edinburgh to see Tom in concert at the lovely Edinburgh Playhouse. We had managed to score great seats in the middle of the second row of the stalls, so we were really looking forward to this one.  We turned up early at the venue armed with our passports to prove our names matched those printed on our tickets (Tom had put special measures in place for these shows to combat touts).

Tom came on stage late at around 8.40 (advertised time was 8pm) to a great roar from the crowd, who were clearly all really up for it. I’ve heard some of his material before, but I was pretty suprised at just how deep and gutteral his voice is. He’s standing on top of a small podium surrounded by an assortment of stange items and he is dressed in a scruffy old suit with a bowler hat and work boots on. Each time he stamps his foot a cloud of dust rises from the podium.

I begin to realise that we are witnessing something quite unique; quite different to anything I have ever seen before. Some of this reminds me of seeing Beefheart perform Trout Mask Replica stuff in the early 70s, and that was some show too. His voice sounds similar to Beefheart and Edgar Broughton, but rougher. The songs have hints of old vaudeville, russian music, german nightclubs, scenes from Cabaret; its all here in parts, but it is much much more than that.

Half way through the set Tom sits at the piano and sings a few songs. This is the Tom Waits that I recall from seeing on TV in the 70s (probably on the Old Grey Whistle Test). Then its back onto the podium for the rest of the show.

When he leaves the stage the crowd go crazy until he returns for a few encores. Then at the end when he leaves the stage for the final time, the crowd cheer and clap until the house lights go up, and then some more. Laura and I both realise that we have just witnessed something quite special. I am not sure if it is one of the best shows that I have ever seen, but it sure was pretty different! Off we go to our Travelodge room for the night, before we return home on the train the next morning. (Also run into an old colleague in the foyer of the Travelodge the next morning; its a small world).

 

Ticket for the show

Ticket for the show

programme

programme

Tom Waits site:  http://www.tomwaits.com/

Set list:

Lucinda/Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well 5:25; Rain Dogs; Falling Down; On The Other Side Of The World; I’ll Shoot The Moon; God’s Away On Business; The Part You Throw Away; Eyeball Kid; Singapore; Tom Traubert’s Blues; The Briar And The Rose; Take It With Me; Innocent When You Dream; Lie To Me; Hoist That Rag; Bottom Of The World; Cold Cold Ground; Green Grass; Way Down In The Hole; Dirt In The Ground; Metropolitan Glide; Make It Rain; Jesus Gonna Be Here; 9th & Hennepin; Anywhere I Lay My Head

6 Aug

The Project!

Posted by vintagerock in Rock Music. Tagged: , , , .

Hi I have just joined wordpress. I intend to use this to create a blog of the many (100s of) concerts that I have attended over the years, and a record of my collection and programmes and ticket stubs. i am still actively going to gigs, and I will try an update my blog with each new gig that I go along to. Expect this to be largely coverage of vintage rock bands. I am 51 years old and addicted to going to see old bands such as the Stones, the Who, Paul McCartney, the Groundhogs, and Wishbone Ash. In the past year I have been to see Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, the Stones, Sex Pistols, Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Barbra Streisand, the Cure, Yoko Ono, John Fogerty, The Police, Neil Young, The Spice Girls, Prince, Man, Jethro Tull, Willie Nelson, Fairport Convention, Julie Felix, Sinead O’Connor, P J Proby, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, the Groundhogs, Ian Hunter, Elton John, Rush, the Hollies, Ian Brown, Portishead, the Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Paul McCartney, Status Quo, Raidohead, Pentangle, Adele, The Streets and others. I will try and write an account of these and the many many other gigs that I have been to over the past 40 years. I am doing this to create a permanent record of what has become a lifelong obsession! I am aiming to add one new review each day for the rest of my life. I am going to start with the most recent and work back, but I will also try and add some from the 70s and 80s soon.

6 Aug

About me

Posted by vintagerock in Rock Music, vintage rock. Tagged: , .

Hi My name is Peter and I have finally come clean and admitted to myself that I am totally addicted to going to rock concerts.  I have also realised that all attempts at treatment are futile, and anyway I don’t want to be cured! This blog is part of my treatment, in creating a permanent record of all of the gigs that I have ever been to (or at least those I can remember)!. I also have a collection of concert programmes from concerts that I have been to (I have almost always bought a programme) and will be scanning these in and inlcuding them as part of the site.

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