Recent gigs

[mickf]

Lindisfarne in Cardiff last night. The last time I was in this venue (The Tramshed) it was all standing, for Turin Brakes. This time seats were in abundance to cater for the majority of the audience. It was a fine concert, full of crowd pleasers from the back catalogue, along with one or two album tracks that may not have been known by the casual fan.

Dave Hull-Denholm sang his heart out, taking lead vocals on most of the songs, including a spellbinding 'Winter Song'. A finale of 'Meet Me on the Corner', 'Run for Home' and 'Clear White Light' sent everybody home with smiles on their faces.

[David V B]

Martyn Joseph at the Laundry Theatre, Bowness. First time there for us but won’t be the last - a lovely space, virtually in the round and very good acoustics. MJ on great form with a mixture of old favourites and songs from the new album, Troubled Horses. Looking forward to playing it later.

Evening made by meeting old friends whom we hadn’t seen for25 years. It was if we had been with them last week.

[Dan O.]

An expedition to the 1865 in Southampton to see a prog-tastic double bill (or so we thought) of Colosseum and Soft Machine, both in their 2025 incarnations.

The venue filled up with, to quote a review of a previous night on this tour, "97% old white men who go and watch 70's bands."

Soft Machine kicked off proceedings : the mighty quartet of guitarist John Etheridge, saxophone and keys player Theo Travis, bassist Fred Thelonious Baker and drummer Asaf Sirkis gave the audience a complete and utter masterclass in progressive jazz-rock. Such a powerful display we were left wondering how Colosseum could follow it.

Unfortunately, they couldn't. Their bassist Mark Clarke came onstage and took the mic to announce that guitarist Dave "Clem" Clempson had been taken seriously unwell, and thus Colosseum couldn't perform without him.

After exchanging a few conspiratorial whispers with the rest of Soft Machine, John Etheridge called a 15 minute intermission and informed us they'd be playing another set for us imminently.

Our disappointment at not getting to see Colosseum was ameliorated by another 45 spontaneous minutes of Soft Machine's musical excellence, and they did not disappoint.

Overall, this was the sort of live gig that inspires and feeds the musical soul, especially when events took an unexpected turn. Hope Clem makes a speedy recovery and is back in action asap...

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

The Wandering Hearts, an Americana band, singing their own compositions as well as songs from ‘Deja Vu’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young, which they recently re-recorded.

The show was called ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and was peppered with classics and more recent songs such as Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, plus staples by Chris Rea, East 17 etc…all sung in their own individual style, with brilliant harmonies and acoustic instruments. They finished off with ‘Fairytale of New York’. Enjoyable whether or not you are a Christmas fan.

[garrypbrooks]

Martyn Joseph at the Laundry Theatre, Bowness. First time there for us but won’t be the last - a lovely space, virtually in the round and very good acoustics. MJ on great form with a mixture of old favourites and songs from the new album, Troubled Horses. Looking forward to playing it later.

Evening made by meeting old friends whom we hadn’t seen for25 years. It was if we had been with them last week.

Glad to hear MJ us still on great form. Haven't seen him for a few years, but I saw him do some brilliant gigs pre-Covid

[davidmjs]

The Wandering Hearts, an Americana band, singing their own compositions as well as songs from ‘Deja Vu’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young, which they recently re-recorded.

The show was called ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and was peppered with classics and more recent songs such as Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, plus staples by Chris Rea, East 17 etc…all sung in their own individual style, with brilliant harmonies and acoustic instruments. They finished off with ‘Fairytale of New York’. Enjoyable whether or not you are a Christmas fan.

Now, I'm sure they're grand.  But please explain the concept to me.  I'm absolutely flummoxed...

https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/deja-vu-(we-have-all-been-here-before)?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20747508888&gbraid=0AAAAACmFV8XD5cEDx5pq68s97WvS7ZfYt&gclid=CjwKCAiA3L_JBhAlEiwAlcWO5xDdsGmn8wvpmS2fG594AQQwmIwjcPYh_pFxg2hZoXdUMQHXxqFq_hoCNSUQAvD_BwE

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

The Wandering Hearts, an Americana band, singing their own compositions as well as songs from ‘Deja Vu’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young, which they recently re-recorded.

The show was called ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and was peppered with classics and more recent songs such as Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, plus staples by Chris Rea, East 17 etc…all sung in their own individual style, with brilliant harmonies and acoustic instruments. They finished off with ‘Fairytale of New York’. Enjoyable whether or not you are a Christmas fan.

Now, I'm sure they're grand.  But please explain the concept to me.  I'm absolutely flummoxed...

https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/deja-vu-(we-have-all-been-here-before)?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20747508888&gbraid=0AAAAACmFV8XD5cEDx5pq68s97WvS7ZfYt&gclid=CjwKCAiA3L_JBhAlEiwAlcWO5xDdsGmn8wvpmS2fG594AQQwmIwjcPYh_pFxg2hZoXdUMQHXxqFq_hoCNSUQAvD_BwE

They only said they had been to The Joshua Tree to record this album, didn’t say any whys or wherefores…We just happened to see them because they happened to be in Newcastle when we were visiting, I have no prior knowledge but it was a nice little concert,  they are fantastic singers and musicians.

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

The other band we recently saw…I have decided to confess…was The ELO Experience!

The front man, Brian Cummings, was totally hilarious…in fact, his first joke was a bit ‘near the mark’ for me and I wondered if it was going to be like that throughout, but actually he was very funny. However, throughout they showed massive respect to the music and to the work of Jeff Lynne. The lead violinist was especially impressive, taking the solos in Living Thing and singing the operatic parts in Rockaria.

The theatre of around 1500 was sold out with mainly more mature folks, all of whom ended upsinging along and some of whom were dancing in the aisles.

So all in all, and entertaining evening, giving due respect to the originals, whom they clearly held in high esteem.

[Dan O.]

The Pete Roth Trio in Cranleigh last night.

Guitarist Pete Roth, bassist Mike Pratt and a rejuvenated recently out of retirement former Yes and King Crimson stick swiper Bill Bruford gave us two sets of beautifully complex jazz rock fusion executed with pleasure and consummate skill.

Having enjoyed Bill Bruford's expertise since I first saw him back in 1987 on BBC 2's Rock School demonstrating the then new-fangled Simmons electronic percussion, and discovering the magic of his work with Yes and King Crimson later on, it was a joy to see him at 76 years young having so much fun just being the drummer in a band again.

A tight and very entertaining unit, I'd love to see them again at some point.

[davidmjs]

The Pete Roth Trio in Cranleigh last night.

Guitarist Pete Roth, bassist Mike Pratt and a rejuvenated recently out of retirement former Yes and King Crimson stick swiper Bill Bruford gave us two sets of beautifully complex jazz rock fusion executed with pleasure and consummate skill.

Having enjoyed Bill Bruford's expertise since I first saw him back in 1987 on BBC 2's Rock School demonstrating the then new-fangled Simmons electronic percussion, and discovering the magic of his work with Yes and King Crimson later on, it was a joy to see him at 76 years young having so much fun just being the drummer in a band again.

A tight and very entertaining unit, I'd love to see them again at some point.

Pete and Mike must be pinching themselves.  BB has always seemed like a lovely unassuming chap.  Gutted I missed him with KC by a few years - first time I saw them in 2000 it was down to the Double Duo lineup.  I know he went to see the final 3 drummer lineup.  Would have loved to have seen him guest with them.