Recent gigs

[JJ (Joanna)]

Lovely show at Birmingham Town Hall on Monday. Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis and Mary Chapin Carpenter promoting their collaboration album. Fantastic vocal harmonies, and a very sympathetic band, all very gentle, which combined with the warmth of the room caused a few people to nod off  

 

[Alan2]

Soft Machine at Band on the Wall last night,  on the first night of their short UK tour. They played a few new tracks which they are planning to record in April. The rest were split roughly equally between more recent albums and 60s/70s tracks. Theo Travis was on particularly good form.

Excellent...anything from Bundles (my fave)?

I like Bundles very much too, although it's almost politically incorrect to not like 3rd  etc. more.

[davidmjs]

Soft Machine at Band on the Wall last night,  on the first night of their short UK tour. They played a few new tracks which they are planning to record in April. The rest were split roughly equally between more recent albums and 60s/70s tracks. Theo Travis was on particularly good form.

Excellent...anything from Bundles (my fave)?

I like Bundles very much too, although it's almost politically incorrect to not like 3rd  etc. more.

You know me...contrary to the last, Alan, contrary to the last  Soft is good too, but I draw the line at Land of Cockayne, which hovers around 'execrable'.

[John From Austin]

Sons of Cream, Empire Theater, San Antonio - March 6, 2025!

Kofi Baker, Malcolm Bruce, and Kofi's cousin Rob Johnson played tons of Cream and a snatch of Blind Faith. To be honest, I missed Will Johns on guitar. However, Rob has a lovely tenor singing voice, and Malcolm of course sings and plays just like his Dad. They jammed a lot, with shifting tempos and a lot of "searching" or wandering about looking for a groove. They played pretty much everything you'd want to hear except "Strange Brew" and "I Feel Free." A lovely time, and I was particularly happy to see Malcolm back. (Years ago he publicly shared that the group's manager had discharged him after the previous "Music of Cream" tour.)

Good sized crowd of about 200-250. I previously observed that Kofi and Will drew fewer than 30 people in Austin a couple of years back. We could learn a thing or two from San Antonio about supporting live music.

[John From Austin]

Rod Stewart and Cheap Trick, Moody Center, Austin - March 7, 2025!

Cheap Trick were very loud and raucous, which is always fun. Robin Zander can still hit the high note in "Eternal Flame."

Rod was awesome, as usual. He apparently had an attack of allergies when he arrived in town, and he name-checked the Austin allergist who got him past the cedar fever that afflicts this whole area. He was in pretty good voice although the high notes weren't really there.

I would have liked to have heard "Gasoline Alley," "I'm Losing You," and "Stay With Me," but otherwise he covered all the bases. I do not expect we'll see him again, so I'm thrilled he came back around.

[Kevin M]

Two gigs this weekend, the ever reliable Ian Prowse with a 2 hour show in Stourbridge on Friday - first night of the tour and exceptonally good. Followed by the Mary Wallopers in Birmingham on Saturday. Not sure why, but I don't quite get these guys - on paper they sound great - irish trad / punk, but somehow they come across as a cabaret act to me, also the strong Donegal accents are very hard to hear clearly. They must be doing something right though - 2500 people can't be wrong - can they?

[Andy]

John Spiers and Jon Boden, at the penultimate gig of their brief Spring tour, at the Welfare, Ystradgynlais.

Enjoyable as always, Jon Boden looked rather tired although his musicianship was consummate as ever.

John Spiers was, as always, excellent.

[John From Austin]

John Fogerty, Stubb's BBQ and Amphitheater, Austin, March 11, 2025!

Standing room show for John Fogerty last night! He has enormous energy and joie de vivre, and he played everything you'd want to hear (I'm putting the setlist up at setlist.fm in a few moments). He literally toasted his wife with champagne right before the encore. He credits her with "beating every bush, knocking on every door" to secure ownership of his songs. All of the nasty saga with Saul Zaentz and his bandmates seems to be in the rearview mirror, and he expressed joy that he could perform his songs for us (without paying someone else for the privilege). A great night! And I'll bet you've never seen a flannel guitar, or seen a man play a baseball bat before.

[John From Austin]

Cropredy 2012 veterans Larkin Poe, yesterday at the funky little bar "Half Step" in the Rainey District, downtown Austin, Texas! Twenty-five years ago we delivered Meals on Wheels to old folks in that neighborhood. Now most of the houses have been razed and replaced by high-rise hotels, whereas the remaining homes have been converted to funky little bars. Time is marching on...

This was a live broadcast on Sun Radio, so the sound was amazing. They performed six songs from their new album "Bloom." I haven't heard the record yet, but it sounded sublime with just two guitars and voices.

[davidmjs]

Cropredy 2012 veterans Larkin Poe, yesterday at the funky little bar "Half Step" in the Rainey District, downtown Austin, Texas! Twenty-five years ago we delivered Meals on Wheels to old folks in that neighborhood. Now most of the houses have been razed and replaced by high-rise hotels, whereas the remaining homes have been converted to funky little bars. Time is marching on...

This was a live broadcast on Sun Radio, so the sound was amazing. They performed six songs from their new album "Bloom." I haven't heard the record yet, but it sounded sublime with just two guitars and voices.

Quadruple denim  

[Alan2]

Cropredy 2012 veterans Larkin Poe, yesterday at the funky little bar "Half Step" in the Rainey District, downtown Austin, Texas! Twenty-five years ago we delivered Meals on Wheels to old folks in that neighborhood. Now most of the houses have been razed and replaced by high-rise hotels, whereas the remaining homes have been converted to funky little bars. Time is marching on...

This was a live broadcast on Sun Radio, so the sound was amazing. They performed six songs from their new album "Bloom." I haven't heard the record yet, but it sounded sublime with just two guitars and voices.

Quadruple denim  

Nothing wring wiith denim.    I like them already.  

[Andy]

Last night we went off-piste to a gig with the Tim Kliphuis trio. Invited by friends, we weren't sure what to expect. The three musicians are all very accomplished, the tune I really connected with was Water from their Five Elements album.

Still, a good evening and it's always good to look over the wall to see what's going on elsewhere than our immediate tastes. They're on tour in the UK and I recommend the experience.

[PaulT]

EXTC in Gloucester last night... very good indeed. Only slight criticism is that neither guitarist nor bassist are particularly accurate singing falsetto (eg the "who-ooh-oohs" in Making Plans For Nigel).

Nice performance of "Farmboy's Wages" as covered by FC.

[Harbottle (Martin)]

Soft Machine at Band on the Wall last night,  on the first night of their short UK tour. They played a few new tracks which they are planning to record in April. The rest were split roughly equally between more recent albums and 60s/70s tracks. Theo Travis was on particularly good form.

I'm going to see them in Lichfield.
Last time I saw them was in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral when they were still adding 'Legacy' on to the end of the name. It was part of a jazz festival.
Hugh Hopper and John Marshall in the lineup, but Elton Dean had recently passed away and had been replaced by Theo Travis.

[davidmjs]

Soft Machine at Band on the Wall last night,  on the first night of their short UK tour. They played a few new tracks which they are planning to record in April. The rest were split roughly equally between more recent albums and 60s/70s tracks. Theo Travis was on particularly good form.

I'm going to see them in Lichfield.
Last time I saw them was in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral when they were still adding 'Legacy' on to the end of the name. It was part of a jazz festival.
Hugh Hopper and John Marshall in the lineup, but Elton Dean had recently passed away and had been replaced by Theo Travis.

2006.

[mickf]

I saw Lindisfarne at the weekend at Maesteg. Excellent concert. Rod Clements sat throughout, obviously age is starting to show, but he soldiered on. Best quote of the night, 'We've mostly played songs from the early 70s so far, but we thought we'd bring things a bit more up to date now. This next one is from the 1980s!' The audience laughed along, but I had a feeling that some really didn't like the idea of 40 year old songs rather than 50 year ole ones!

[mickf]

Thea Gilmore, last night, at The Acapela, Pentyrch. She was on good form and gave us a varied selection of songs from way back, as well a a few from her latest covers album (These Quiet Friends).

Her support act was called Dave, but don't ask me to tell you his full name, as he wasn't introduced. Nor did he say,' Hi I'm Dave (insert surname here) ....'

[davidmjs]

Thea Gilmore, last night, at The Acapela, Pentyrch. She was on good form and gave us a varied selection of songs from way back, as well a a few from her latest covers album (These Quiet Friends).

Her support act was called Dave, but don't ask me to tell you his full name, as he wasn't introduced. Nor did he say,' Hi I'm Dave (insert surname here) ....'

Dave was actually Philippe Nash   https://www.facebook.com/philippenashmusic

[Will S]

Ashley Hutchings and Blair Dunlop last night at the Plough, Great Torrington.  First night of their tour of the Southwest, and we got a mix of songs and stories. Ashley hardly played his bass - probably only on 3 or 4 songs - but we got songs going back to Lay Down Your Weary Tune up to some from Blair's new album.  We heard a bit about how the connection with Bob Dylan was made recently (via Nigel Schofield, apparently).  It was a bit chaotic - I'm not sure how much they'd really planned out what they were going to do - and I was a bit concerned when the first half only lasted about 30 minutes, but we did get a full hour or a bit more after the break.

[DarrenWilliams]

Tunng at Trades Club, Hebden Bridge. Lovely little venue, bit of a trek for us but Hebden Bridge is very pleasant, as is the Vocation brewery bar. Tunng were great, set list consisted largely of 1st and latest albums.