Recent gigs

[bassline (Mike)]

 Cheers Mike! Glad you enjoyed it. Did you walk home?  

  No, mate...but it felt like it.

A combination of factors..mainly the DVT in my leg and the financial side of things...lead to me opting for making it a coach/budget guest house affair.
I've had to keep the leg elevated as much as possible for nearly six months...even at work I'm on sit down duties, and I'm not match fit at all. The dates were announced an hour before the tickets went on sale, and I'd not budgeted for it...so I went for the cheapest coach tickets - £14 there and back, and the cheapest accommodation, which worked out at less than half the price of the train ticket, and gave me the chance to rest up. And I needed it too..I was on my feet walking between tube/hotel/tube/venue/gig/tube/hotel, for longer than I've been for six months and I slept  for eleven hours straight, waking up fifteen minutes before checkout. Then I had twelve hours to kill and no money to do anything till the return journey which was at 11.30pm, last night...half an hour before my wages went into the bank..so I had money to get a taxi home the other end.
When I got home, I was pleased to find that the Essex Boy was at the gig, and he recorded the show - so I'm going to grab some breakfast and listen back to it in just a mo.

[davidmjs]

 Cheers Mike! Glad you enjoyed it. Did you walk home?  

  No, mate...but it felt like it.

A combination of factors..mainly the DVT in my leg and the financial side of things...lead to me opting for making it a coach/budget guest house affair.
I've had to keep the leg elevated as much as possible for nearly six months...even at work I'm on sit down duties, and I'm not match fit at all. The dates were announced an hour before the tickets went on sale, and I'd not budgeted for it...so I went for the cheapest coach tickets - £14 there and back, and the cheapest accommodation, which worked out at less than half the price of the train ticket, and gave me the chance to rest up. And I needed it too..I was on my feet walking between tube/hotel/tube/venue/gig/tube/hotel, for longer than I've been for six months and I slept  for eleven hours straight, waking up fifteen minutes before checkout. Then I had twelve hours to kill and no money to do anything till the return journey which was at 11.30pm, last night...half an hour before my wages went into the bank..so I had money to get a taxi home the other end.
When I got home, I was pleased to find that the Essex Boy was at the gig, and he recorded the show - so I'm going to grab some breakfast and listen back to it in just a mo.

Cripes...that sounds an adventure!  Fun times though... glad you enjoyed (and glad that some decent recordings of all the gigs are out there).

[bassline (Mike)]

It was....something...sleeping for eleven hours, and reading for twelve does not a great adventure make, but the first bit was..busy, certainly.

Lee Harris, btw, has confirmed on the Floyd equivalent of this forum, that there will be a more substantial light show and some new numbers.

[Ian_]

 Sorry about the flippant comment Mike - I'd forgotten about your health issues  

 I'm very tempted by the Birmingham SoS show, but £60 including travel costs is too rich for me these days....

[bassline (Mike)]

 Sorry about the flippant comment Mike - I'd forgotten about your health issues  

 I'm very tempted by the Birmingham SoS show, but £60 including travel costs is too rich for me these days....

No worries, dude, it made me laugh..and it probably did me good to get about a bit. There's only a couple of weeks left on the meds. I won't be 100% again, but 95 % is pretty good for a veteran rocker that needs a reminder he's a middle aged teenager now, not a whippersnapper.

[garrypbrooks]

Terrific concert by folk-rockers "The Noble Jacks" at Cranleigh Arts Centre (near Guildford) last night, really got the audience going.

They do a lot of festivals and I can certainly see why, maybe a band for Cropredy one year?

[StephenB]

Saw Don McLean in Derry last night. OK his voice is struggling a bit (in a 70+-year-old-ish way) when he does insist on going for the high notes, but all in all a rocking show with a 5-piece band who were tight as a duck's bum. It was obviously going to be the highlight, but a full and extended, and truly rocking, version of American Pie brought the house down - truly memorable. For an encore he came on alone for an acoustic Vincent. Nice one.

As an aside, I Googled away last night and came across this very detailed (albeit one person's speculative) account of the meaning of that song...
http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

[Tom64]

As an aside, I Googled away last night and came across this very detailed (albeit one person's speculative) account of the meaning of that song...
http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

I read somewhere he once said when asked what that song means. "It means I never have to work again".

[John From Austin]

Doobie Brothers / Steely Dan, Austin360 Amphitheater, May 27, 2018!  Pat Simmons, John From Austin, Tommy Johnston and John McFee backstage before the show.

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[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Doobie Brothers / Steely Dan, Austin360 Amphitheater, May 27, 2018!  Pat Simmons, John From Austin, Tommy Johnston and John McFee backstage before the show.

Wow!

[Paul]

Not a gig as such, but a stage production of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” at the Theatre Royal in Portsmouth.
The reason I am posting here is because the music for the production was composed and performed by Ollie King of this parish.
Ollie was on stage throughout playing a variety of squeeze boxes, fiddles and whistles.
All in all an excellent production which successfully managed to translate an extremely long novel into a two and a half hour play with just 9 performers.

I will fully endorse what the learned gentleman said.

Really enjoyed the show. Went on the first night, and it was criminal how many empty seats there was in the auditorium. The cast, in particular Ollie, worked their socks off.

Only disappointment was Ollie not getting a proper bow with the rest of the cast. They just waved to him on the top of the gantry.

Paul

[abby (tank girl)]

Robert Plant at bearded theory......got to be the best I've seen Plant, ever and I've seen a few. Totally blew everything else away, loads of Zep in there.  Worth the ticket for him alone.

[Bingers (Chris)]

I know he’s not everyone’s “cup of tea” on this forum but Bryan Adams last night at Wembley Arena was superb playing 27 songs. His guitarist, Keith Scott, was a bit special too

[Dan O.]

The Zombies in a school gymnasium last night...one of my gigs of the year so far, and that's up against some stiff competition !

Playing prime extracts from "Odessey & Oracle", a couple of hits, a couple of choice covers culminating in a rousing version of Argent's "God Gave Rock & Roll To You", Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent and the guys * played with the energy and enthusiasm of men far younger than their (Rod & Colin's) 72 years apiece would suggest. Would definitely like to see them again...

*guitarist Tom Toomey, drummer Steve Rodford and new bassist Soren Koch

[Ancient Muse (Andy)]

Last weekend we went to the fabulous Fishguard Folk Festival where nearly everything is free. For four days many of the local pubs, cafés and other venues (including the library and a brewery just outside town) are full of music, dancing,  singarounds, workshops and lots of lovely noise!

And do you know what?  We didn't go to any of the free stuff! (Yes we did feel that we missed out, but there was only so much we could do and I'd paid the £80 for four concerts at Theatr Gwaun.)

So, it being our 37th anniversary on the Saturday, we treated ourselves to Ange Hardy, who can do no wrong in my opinion, and Granny's Attic, who all seemed about 15 but had been playing together for several years. What accomplished musicians and they really could sing - especially Cohen the concertina player. I want to see them again!

Saturday evening's concert was Welsh folk group Allan yn y Fan, an 8-piece ensemble of multi-instrumentalists who are palways good value, followed by the calming influence of Devon's Jim Causley. I say calm, but that's more a reference to his west country accent, which is like a cuddle. He told stories, sang songs based on the poems of his relative Charles Causley and we came away having been thoroughly well entertained!

On Sunday the midday theatre performance was really interesting - Louise Jordan presented her project "No Petticoats Here", stories of feisty, heroic women who took on responsible roles in WW1, as nurses, despatch riders and in traditional roles as soldiers and drivers etc, which ultimately influenced the campaign for women's suffrage and some women being able to vote from 1918. She used framed photographs of the women, audio presentations from their diaries and other writings, and her own songs, playing guitar and piano. If you get a chance to see it I really do recommend it.

Sunday afternoon we went back to our campsite and lazed around in the sun, playing with the dog, so we missed loads of pub sessions and a guided walk, but back at the theatre in the evening we were treated to the energetic bouzouki, mandolin and guitar playing of The Trials of Cato. I'd never heard of these guys before, but they were my second "discovery" of the festival and I'll definitely seek them out in the future! They were followed by the ever-reliable Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, so that was a particularly enjoyable evening.

At midday on Monday we trooped to the theatre for the last of the paid concerts. I'd never heard of either band before, so approached it with my usual open-minded interest. As it happened, I would have happily paid double and wished both bands could have played double the length of set!

Rumblestrutters on first were described in the programme as a jug band, playing authentic 1920s blues. Featuring mandolin, guitar, mouth organ to rival Paul Jones at his best, and the "jug bass". It was bouncy, familiar with lots of audience participation, and fabulously tight musicianship. There's quite a bit of them on YouTube and I can really recommend them for a fun festival session. I don't know how well the three South Wales lads would go down at Cropredy, but they hadthe audience in the small theatre in tge palm of their hands.

They were followed by a band who could definitely rival Bellowhead for sheer energy and theatricality, if not numbers - Pilgrim's Way. Their latest album, Stand and Deliver, features songs of highwaymen and their women, and they dressed the part as well. Featuring heavy percussion, oboe and unusual wind instruments and a throbbing bass, they sang traditional and modern songs, including their own arrangements of Adam Ant's song and Birdhouse In Your Soul.

[Paul]

Last night I saw the All Things Must Pass Orchestra at The Spring. Absolutely astounding.

I always admired George Harrison, but only really knew his Beatles stuff and the solo singles. I hadn't heard a lot of his album stuff. It was really group, and there was such musicianship in the band.

Paul

[GubGub (Al)]

Last night I saw the All Things Must Pass Orchestra at The Spring. Absolutely astounding.

I always admired George Harrison, but only really knew his Beatles stuff and the solo singles. I hadn't heard a lot of his album stuff. It was really group, and there was such musicianship in the band.

Paul

They are great aren't they. They come from my neck of the woods more or less so have played around here a few times. I love that they are not a tribute act in the usual sense of the word. They just focus on the music and play it their own way. Highly recommended.

[John From Austin]

Paul Simon, final(?) show in Austin, Texas, at the Frank Erwin Center last night!

Great review and setlist here: http://music.blog.austin360.com/2018/06/05/farewell-paul-simon-parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow-at-the-erwin-center/

I hope he comes back, but I doubt he will.  He's 76 years old, for heaven's sake.

[Paul]

Last night I saw the All Things Must Pass Orchestra at The Spring. Absolutely astounding.

I always admired George Harrison, but only really knew his Beatles stuff and the solo singles. I hadn't heard a lot of his album stuff. It was really group, and there was such musicianship in the band.

Paul

They are great aren't they. They come from my neck of the woods more or less so have played around here a few times. I love that they are not a tribute act in the usual sense of the word. They just focus on the music and play it their own way. Highly recommended.

Yes excellent. Two came from Austria, and I chatted to them about the Austrian exchange lads we have staying with us at the moment.

They can't be a tribute band. One of them played on the original album.  

Paul

[Jim]

Paul Simon, final(?) show in Austin, Texas, at the Frank Erwin Center last night!

Great review and setlist here: http://music.blog.austin360.com/2018/06/05/farewell-paul-simon-parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow-at-the-erwin-center/

I hope he comes back, but I doubt he will.  He's 76 years old, for heaven's sake.

It never stopped Frank