| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10288 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw Del Amitri last night. I'd never seen them before and really only went to accompany the other person, but they were superb. I met the singer Justin Currie outside the venue before the show. I had met him previously in a Glasgow bar in December 2001, the day George Harrison died. He's a lovely fella. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 720 Registered: 08-2005 |
The Chills are touring the UK in June. Huzzah! I'm hoping to see them in Southsea, which is a two-hour train journey, but there's a budget hotel next to Portsmouth Station, which will keep the costs down. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2050 Registered: 08-2006 |
Simon, I saw them last year here in Chicago and they were in fine fettle. Well worth the journey, I'd say. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 721 Registered: 08-2005 |
They're one of my all-time faves. Saw them on their last tour in Cardiff, and prior to that, London, my home town of Bath (they played Moles) and Glastonbury some time in the 18th century - or, in reality, 1987, which seems a life time ago. Unlike the Go-Betweens, I can't remember how I first discovered them. A school friend introduced me to the GBs when their first album came out. Odd, really, as he generally had terrible taste in both music and films, his big love!! | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 246 Registered: 09-2004 |
Rob, A thousand pardons! I forgot to tell you that I was coming into Chicago to see The Beths 2 weekends ago. (They were fab!) I'm coming in again on Friday to see Iggy. If you are going, message me! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2051 Registered: 08-2006 |
Austin, jeez, no apologies necessary! Although I was at the Beths show and it would have been delightful to meet you at last. The Iggy I have to skip. I have a damn work event. We'll cross paths one of these days. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1458 Registered: 03-2007 |
Robert Forster at Frets@StrathavenHotel on Saturday 11th March, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8g2VskH UW8 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10308 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw Billy Bragg last night. It was a very good show, but probably the least good of the six or seven times I’ve seen him. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 724 Registered: 08-2005 |
Aw, shame, I like a bit of BB. Saw him on his 1991 Sexuality tour and several times at Glastonbury in the 1980s. I still have several of his LPs as well as CDs. One of my closest friends from school was due to go to one of the three Sydney gigs but he's here in the UK seeing his elderly mum. But to make up for it his daughter's going to all three nights. She's about 20 and massively into 1980s/1990s indie, much more so than her dad! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10310 Registered: 05-2005 |
Simon, my problem with it was he talked too much, explaining the lyrics as if they weren’t obvious. Several of the explanations went on longer than the songs. I know he’s always done that, but the between song talking seemed longer than ever before. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 725 Registered: 08-2005 |
That was my issue when I saw Fairport Convention a few years ago. It wasn't explanations of songs but gags and banter, which was fine in itself, but it was out of proportion - more music, less chat! | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 368 Registered: 06-2005 |
Robert & Louis Forster at a SOLD OUT show at The Button Factory, Dublin. Robert was in fine fettle after bring Louis to Grogan’s for a pre show pint on his first trip to Dublin. It’s like seeing an old friend that you love but don’t see very often any more but when you do you realise why you love them so. Nobody even asks for a request, we’re all just happy to share the room & listen to what he’s chosen for us tonight whereas I often remember going to see Robert really hoping he would play particular songs. The songs from the new album fit seamlessly into the canon which is pretty huge at this stage which is a sign of their quality & craft. He spoke a little about Dublin being one of Grant’s favourite places & gave us Here Comes A City & a gorgeous rendition of Boundary Rider. There were a few GBs songs but mostly his own recent material and Louis proved a great side kick with some really proficient additions on arpeggios, lead lines & bass that really enhanced the performance. Robert did his showman thing with some slo-mo arch tango moves during the dramatic Danger In The Past & had the entire venue do backing vocals on Surfing Magazines. He was really enjoying himself up there, almost as much as we were. This ended a great couple of weeks in Dublin that had Robyn Hitchcock, Dean Wareham does Galaxie500 & Clem Burke, Glen Matlock & buddies to a Lust For Life Tribute show, also including songs by Stooges, Blondie, Pistols, Verlaine & Bowie….warm nights, warm nights, warm nights. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 369 Registered: 06-2005 |
Short clip of Boundary Rider here: https://youtu.be/JKMFJduvUHk | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10314 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great review, thanks Peter. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1505 Registered: 04-2005 |
Bill Callahan this Friday, Big Thief (yes again!) next week in Madrid and Yo La Tengo in Bordeaux in May. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10338 Registered: 05-2005 |
Have you seen Bill Callahan before, Andrew? If not, you're in for a treat. I reviewed one his shows a few years ago https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/j un/03/bill-callahan-review-intense-spell binding-singer-at-his-deadpan-best | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1506 Registered: 04-2005 |
Pádraig, No never, and I don't know his music at all. But having read your review lookng forward to this evening ! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10343 Registered: 05-2005 |
Glad to be of service, Andrew. I think someone connected to the Opera House told him about the review as he mentioned it on social media a few days later. Which was nice. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1507 Registered: 04-2005 |
It was a fantastic gig Pádraig ! I went with with some die-hard fans who had seen Smog in the 90s in Bordeaux in a small bar  They all were very enthusiatic about last night too, saying that the "reconstructions" of the songs worked really well. Jim White of the Dirty Three was the drummer last night. What an amazing presence. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10345 Registered: 05-2005 |
That's great to hear, Andrew. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1509 Registered: 04-2005 |
Big Thief in Madrid ! Just incredible Seemed much more "relaxed" than in June last year. Rare that a band opens a gig with 2 unreleased songs, but they seem to have so many new ones. They performed a newie "Vampire Empire" live on national US TV a few weeks back and it was a bloody awful performance. In Madrid it sounded like a completely different song ! And "Born for Loving you" sounds like some classic Americana from the 80s that you feel must be a cover, but turns out to be another new Lenker composition. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 737 Registered: 08-2005 |
Well, not actually a 2023 gig, but I have a ticket for the Stranglers in Bristol next year as part of their 50th anniversary tour. I'm expecting an animatronic Dave Greenfield and Jet Black! Though surely by now it should just be called Jean-Jacques Burnel and band...? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1520 Registered: 04-2005 |
And the 6 monthly report on Dominque A After Bordeaux (Cenon) last December, it was a beautiful wee theatre in Cahors in January (great gig too!). And last night he played just down the road from me in Le Haillan (a suburb of Bordeaux). Part of a three day festival “Haillan Chanté” (that’s been running for 12 years), the hall was full with a very appreciative 400 people for over 2 hours of music. A great artist, still at the height of his powers. And the good news is that he’s back up and dancing! Following an injury, after slipping on some black ice earlier in the year, he had done some concerts performing whilst seated. More or less the same exemplary band as last year and a very similar set-list, largely based around the last record (“Le monde reel”) with some classics radically reworked. A big surprise was the inclusion of “22 bar” which I had never seen him perform. The drummer hit a beat and Dominique A almost rapping, repeated “Back to the 90s” several times and then into the song. Interestingly the female flutist who hadn’t sung a note all night, took the Françoiz Breut part and did it very well. There was an elongated almost “kraut-rock” outro. And he is a funny man. Very dry sense of humour. He informed us that tickets for the following night up near Paris weren’t selling that well, so seeing that we were such a good audience, he would see if Le Haillan couldn’t get buses organised for the morning to transport us all to the following evening’s gig. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2205 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ah, very envious, Andrew! Seeing DomA in a small 400-seater provincial French theatre would be my idea of heaven. Maybe next time round... He's playing Lausanne in October, but Les Docks looks like a standing room only cement block, not very suitable to an elderly gentleman with back problems. I have to remember to check on tour dates! I'll be in Toulouse in September, but that seems to be his holiday month. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10403 Registered: 05-2005 |
Simon, the older I get, the more I fear a long lag time between buying a ticket and the concert. Stuart, four years ago I saw a four band show in Auckland (The Chills/Straitjacket Fits/Blam Blam Blam/Mermaidens) in a venue with a bare concrete floor and no seating. My back was in agony by the end of the night. Still a great show, mind. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 747 Registered: 08-2005 |
As I get older I much prefer a seated venue; at standing venues I will sit wherever I can during breaks. I've had ops on both knees (a lifetime of sport and an arthritic condition don't make great bedfellows) and while walking, cycling and even running (or 'running' as it should be called) are okay, standing for any length of time isn't much fun. The Stranglers is an all-seated gig; last time I saw them it was a standing venue. And back to the subject of gigs - I'm hoping to see Australian singer-songwriter Emily Barker later this month in Stroud, which is an hour's drive from home. My wife and I are also going to see Chris Difford in December, though I'm hoping to see Kristin Hersh, Laura Veirs and Half Man Half Biscuit before then, which is a nice snapshot of my musical tastes! | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1521 Registered: 04-2005 |
I have now lost count of the number of times in the last 15 years that I have seen the pianist Yonathan Avishaï play. A few weeks ago, he played with his regular trio in a concert hall in Bordeaux, but I was away and sorry to have missed it. Last night it was 30 people crowded into a very hot room at the back of a bar to see him unwind his magic and hit some real grooves. Backed by 3 local musicians (double bass, drums, and a percussionist) we were treated to his usual eclectic mixture of original compositions and standards, with some unbelievable rhythms and sublime playing. Amongst the selection there were 3 Dizzy Gillespie compositions, Keith Jarrett’s “My Song” and a beautiful solo piece at the end of the set that turned out to be a mix of a Horace Silver composition and Stevie Wonder’s “Visions”. Here's Cole Porter's "So in Love" from a solo release, out later this month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veA6FmGs xOs | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 560 Registered: 05-2005 |
Chameleons yesterday. Too hot to go....  | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10405 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just saw a New Zealand band called Guardian Singles play in the basement of the Flying Out shop in Auckland. They are generally billed as a punk band, but their sound is a lot more subtle and imaginative than that reductive description suggests. The only truly punk song they played was Tea Lights Exploding, which was the set closer. One track from their new, second album sounded like a rockier Bats, there were also touches of 3Ds and Bailter Space. Worth checking out if any of those references hit a nerve with you. Also, what a joy it is to be back in NZ after a four year plague absence. The sky is grey and miserable but it doesn’t matter, I’m in Auckland and all is well. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4839 Registered: 03-2005 |
Lucky you, Pádraig! It turns out that Trouble in Mind have both Guardian Singles albums available on CD. "Tea Lights Exploding" does not sound particularly punk in its album version. Both albums ordered from their Bandcamp page. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 749 Registered: 08-2005 |
It's a lovely day here in the UK* and I'm off to see the Chills on Monday!! Woohoo! I love the Chills, one of my all-time favourite bands. (*This is slightly tempered by the fact I may have to take my brother to court regarding our late mother's will. Life, eh?) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10463 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw English musician Georgia play a short in store in Red Eye, and she was fantastic. I much prefer her stripped down one woman and an electric piano songs to their tricked up versions on her new album. I would like if she did a bare bones album sometime. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 565 Registered: 05-2005 |
Teenage Fanclub in Bruxelles. I found the concert a bit messy but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Their latest album is excellent. Next are Natalie Merchant and Slowdive. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10572 Registered: 05-2005 |
TROU, do they play any Gerry Love songs, and if so, who sings them? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10578 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw Perry Keyes last night for the first time since before the plague. My last attempt to see him, about a year ago, was abandoned due to awful traffic (despite having tickets). Last night was the fifth time I'd seen him and they've all been in different venues. It may well have been the best I've ever seen him. The band, which included Australian power pop legend Michael Carpenter on keyboards and backing vocals - there was also a drummer/backing vocalist, bassist/backing vocalist, lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist/accordianist/mouth organist - was top notch, and Keyes was on top form and clearly enjoying himself in their company. They played the two songs I most wanted to hear - The Day John Satler Broke His Jaw and Lou Reed and Robert Quine - as the last two, which sent me off into the night with a big smile on my face. His new album isn't out yet, but they had copies for sale last night, so I bought it and even bought a t-shirt. I think the the last time I bought a t-shirt at a gig was probably a Go-Betweens show two decades or so ago. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 763 Registered: 08-2005 |
It's been a good few weeks for gigs. Last night was Chris Difford at a small venue in Corsham, Wiltshire - a very entertaining mix of songs and anecdote. And quite a hint of Robert Forster about some of his material, which is never a bad thing, of course... I've also recenlty seen Laura Veirs at the Komedia, Bath, a Kate Bush act (Mandy Watson - very good, I've never been lucky enough to see the real thing) and the always entertaining Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 764 Registered: 08-2005 |
This should be gigs 2024 - these are what I have tickets for so far, showing my age somewhat: The Korgis (Chapel Arts Centre, Bath - maybe 150 max capacity?) The Stranglers 50th anniversary tour (Bristol Beacon, formerly the Colston Hall) Squeeze 50th anniversary tour (Cardiff Utilita Arena, half the price of Bristol for some reason) Jethro Tull, probably their 1000th anniversary tour by now (Bristol Beacon) Hoping to buy tickets for some slightly more up-to-date acts, maybe Gruff Rhys in Bristol in January. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2055 Registered: 08-2006 |
Maybe you saw this, Simon: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/d ec/05/im-only-seeing-bands-i-loved-when- i-was-14-am-i-in-a-musical-rut-or-is-thi s-growing-up?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 765 Registered: 08-2005 |
Rob, I absolutely accept there's an element of that - possibly a quite large element - but I'd really love to see more contemporary acts. But even some of the 'newer' acts I've seen live in the last few years aren't that new, or anything like: Belle and Sebastian; Regina Spektor; Portishead; Laura Veirs; Emily Barker. The latter two are at least 21st century acts in the main... And some of the other acts that are new to me go back pretty much forever: The House of Love (missed first time around but this Forum brought them to my attention); Vashti Bunyan (BBC4); the Chameleons (missed them first time around...). And I'm going to buy tickets for Hawkwind too. A band I've seen more than any other bar the Go-Betweens and their solo incarnations; the Fall are probably third. Which I think is a pretty eclectic trio... I'm open to new suggestions, and perhaps if Eerie Wanda were to tour... | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 766 Registered: 08-2005 |
I can add Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins to the above list for 2024 - young people's music... in the 1980s! |