What was your last concert you went to ?

Humphrey Lyttleton and his Band at Norwich Playhouse last Friday evening.... still going strong at 86!!

A great fun evening.

Well here we are and a little earlier than I expected I will do a brief resume of the three concerts we have just seen in L.A. (the basis of our trip). Jet lag has presumably kicked in as I can't sleep, wide awake at 3.30am!! By the way, L.A. is one COOL place, really enjoyed it!

First up were The Pogues at The Wiltshire Theatre. For fear of repeating myself later on I will say at this point that they were the highlight of our musical adventure and were just so good. The originqal line up belted out all my favourite songs (which will always receive a positive vote!) but everything just seemed so 'right'. Anyone who is going to see them on the Winter U.K. tour will not be disappointed. I have seen them many times over the years but would say that this was the best! The Wiltshire is also a fantastic place to watch gigs, an old Art Deco building that has gone through many ups and downs but now appears to be on the up. Definitely recommended, please support the place if you ever get the chance. It's worth it. Sometimes I feel the venue is just as important as the band and on this night everything just came together.

Next up was quite a change of scene, Anita Baker at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. Both my wife and I have been big fans for many years - indeed "Caught Up In The Rapture" was our 'Wedding Song'. Aaaahhhh!! Anyway, due to the fact that she very rarely does any concerts at all (forget about it in the UK!) we jumped at the chance to visit this brand new venue, just over the road from the Staples Centre. Anita put in a storming performance (not bad for a nigh on 50 year old!) but unfortunately the sound was awful. My wife described it as "tinny", I said "distant". It did improve slightly as the concert went on but overall we were a tad unhappy with the experience (I did actually email them today but received a basic standard reply). So Anita was great, the venue (sound quality wise) poor. Perhaps as it has only been opened for a few weeks things will get better? Basically a shame though, for someone who deserves better.

Lastly we went to see Rodrigo Y Gabriela at the Henry Fonda Theatre (Music Box) on Hollywood Boulevard. A small place that is showing signs of its' age, but fun nonetheless. A standing area downstairs, seated upper - just reminded me of a few good old days at The Royal Court in Liverpool. I digress, they were simply "awesome". It's not something that one can easily describe but to produce THAT sound from just two acoustic guitars is truly magical. I suppose to anyone that is familiar with their music I will not be saying much new - except go and see them live! We caught the last night of their U.S. Tour, so anyone going to see them soon back 'home' is in for a treat. ENJOY!

Well we had a lot of fun in L.A. (considering we were virgins!). There are always really good shows going on every week - surprisingly some of our pereceived bigger stars play the relatively smaller places out there. Gosh - I wish we were staying longer! We are already looking at going out there again next year!!

One other point, which may relate to some other comments/threads present on this forum - we both found the American people we encountered to be nothing less than exceptionally polite and courteous, really easy to get along with and to be honest a pleasure to be with. Obviously being where we were (Sunset Strip, West Hollywood) there were Americans from all over the country but we found everyone to be extremely friendly. Then again, "what you sow you shall reap". Just be polite and genuine.

Mark

Great write-up Mark. Really pleased that the trip was such a success. Jetlag is just one of those things that it's hard to escape. It took rachel and I a week to get back into a UK rhythm last month after our Arizona trip.

You have made me look forward even more to seeing R&G next month at the Apollo Hammersmith.

quote:

You have made me look forward even more to seeing R&G next month at the Apollo Hammersmith.

Us too on the 9th.

Saw Kyle Eastwood Band at Ronnie Scotts last night

Rolling Stones in Frankfurt last spring

Jan Garbarek Group at the Sage Gateshead with my 11 year old son, who got it straight away. Dead proud of him.

The line up was Garbarek on sax, with Rainer Bruninghaus on piano, Yuri Daniel on bass and Manu Katche on percussion.

Fantastic ensemble playing with great interplay between the group members and some outstanding solos.

They played four long pieces, without an intermission, each being about 30 minutes long, but were persuaded to come back on for an encore at the end.

Absolutely fantastic gig, do not miss the opportunity to see them if you have the chance.

Other UK gigs: 14th Nov Liverpool Philharmonic, 15th Nov Coventry Warwick Arts Centre, 17th Nov Manchester RNCM, 18th Nov Royal Festival Hall.

Regards

Nic

Arcade Fire Saturday, Alexandra Palace. Pretty disappointing, sound was dreadful, a barn like hall with a few curtains hanging about 2/3 back is not enough to make a concert venue IMO. Just for a change the staff confiscated all drinks going in not just the tops, "it's OK there's free water inside", yeah tap water.
Our kids sounded like they had a better time at the Foo Fighters O2 gig.

Megson last night in Rugby (where we have recently moved to)

I came across this fine (soon to be husband and wife) duo a few months back. I picked up their 2 CDs (both excelllent and I particularly recommend the latest Smoke of Home)

Thanks to Debs and Stu for a great evening & for the recently discovered Rugby Roots for laying the event on.

http://www.megsonmusic.co.uk/
http://www.rugbyroots.com/

Last night... Floyd tribute band called 'Breathe' playing the whole Wall show.

Very good considering the budget they must have had and they played 1.5hrs straight, in tune along with effects. Acting was by a school drama class......

V. good!

Jon

Foo Fighters last night at the O2 - absolutely stonking! I'm in my early 40's but enjoyed every minute - and they played "Weenie Beenie", guest appearance from Brian May & Roger Taylor - incredible!

RB don't you start I've had the kids saying all morning how good the Foos were.

Re: drinks the last couple of places we've been they just took the tops off us, we only take small water bottles with us (with water in) so no great loss.

I ain't standing again, unless I positively, absolutely have to.

I just think it's such a shame that the sound engineers can't hear, the girl in the group has a great voice and it was lost in the over-blown bass drum/guitar mush.Even the lead guy was difficult to hear even on his own. I moved to the front of the desk and it wasn't any better. Makes you wonder whether they listen on head phones and not to the PA, but even that doesn't answer all the sound problems. This seems to happen in other places so unless AP and Wembley share similar acoustics I don't know.Perhaps we should stick to smaller places,Richard Thompson and Runrig at The Anvil in Basingstoke both were loud and clear, so it can be done.

I was standing last night - by the acoustic stage (bit of reasearch works wonders!), and taking my youngest (15!) tonight but in the seats - good views though!

O2 allowed food, drinks and small cameras in - a great sound also helped for an excellent (sorry :-) again) night.

I didn't realise there were seats for FFs. My son never offers to get tickets to gigs he is going to.
He say them at Nottingham on Wednesday and bents my ears since then, last night he and his younger sister both went so I have had both of them saying how good it was.
I suppose I have to say that AF gig was enjoyable because of the live atmosphere, what really pisses me off is that it is spoilt by I think avoidable or shoddy setup. It may be that is the best Ally Pally can give I don't know.
It is made worse by the fact the stage presentation and lighting was really good.

Both kids said the sound is good in O2 Arena,mind you they listen to ipods and mp3s so may not be the best arbiters of good sound.

It will be interesting to see what the FF gig from the seats is like.

Went to see Ryan Adams at Manchester Apollo on Thursday.

He came on at about 8.30, and played an amazing set. Full of Gold and Heartbreaker tracks, and one from the rest.

Then at about 9.15, something happens to his guitar and there's a big delay. Neal Casal says 'hold on guys, we won't be a sec'.

Obviously, the silence was interrupted every few seconds by the odd "Ryan you're God!" or just "woo!" shout, but then some genius decided to do the good old "summer of 69!" heckle.

Talk about fly off the handle, Casal shouts "Ok stop saying stupid shit, dudes." Ryan walks up to the mic and he says, "I know you think that was really funny and intelligent and stuff, but you know what? Your bad karma isn't gonna affect my good karma, cos I know where I'm at and I'm ok. I'm ok with the fact you've got so much bad karma, but you're gonna get so much shit one day.

"You want everyone to know what a fucking asshole you are, so here: now's your chance. Fucking tell me what you think of me, and then FUCKING LEAVE. I'm an adult. I can TAKE it."

They played Bartering Lines and subsequently went off.

They returned, had another go at the guy, then Neal played two songs. Ryan played Let it Ride, slow, followed by Easy Plateau with a gigantic outro.

"That was our last song, bye" and off they went.

The sound from this band was absolutely stunning, probably one of the best set ups I've heard. Although being on the front row, dead centre helped.

Shame Ryan Adams doesn't think about everyone.

BigH47
Having a little Naim setup / Sondek Aro etc, trust me - the sound WAS good!

Went to see Seasick Steve (sorry for the alliteration ) what an amazing show. Very engaging with the crowd and his playing was brilliant. Would definitely go sse him again.

Ryan

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Thanks!

There were tickets available for tonight earlier on Ticketmaster.

I just found out that my son's mate has a spare for tonight,(standing thou).Too late anyway.

My wife dragged me along to see Voskresenije a Russian Orthodoox choir last night in our local RC church. To sya that they blew the roof off the church would be an understatement. Absolutely fantastic.

Dizzy Gilespie All Stars - Clarck Terry invited at the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC.... I was on clouds!!!

Zappa plays Zappa - Lyric Theatre, Brisbane. Tues 27 Nov 2007.

Fantastic concert. I'm not a Zappa geek but I think on the basis of this show that I'll have to get some live stuff at least. A mate of ours who was also there and saw Frank back in the 70's raved about the show. He has a bit of a collection so I'll mine his until I get the hang of it.

The musicianship on show here was top drawer and every 3rd or 4th song they would synch with video of Frank so that you could hear his voice & guitar but the band onstage provided the backing. Amazing stuff. Ray White sang most of the show - great voice and Steve Vai came on to provide additional guitar for some of the songs. I like Steve and I'm a major guitar fan but I don't really think his presence here added anything to the show - other than to show off is amazing guitar playing skills.

Only negative was that from where I was sitting I couldn't really make out the lyrics. When your're not familiar with them it really detracts from the overall experience if you can't hear them - especially when I know that they are damn funny.

Cheers
Scott

Bryan Ferry + Joan Armatrading + Daryl Braithhwaite. Riverstage, Brisbane.

Bit of duffer this one. I only went cos my other half wanted to see Joan Armatrading who was actually pretty good but unfortunately only second on the bill to Mr Ferry who was the headliner here.

Nothing against Bryan Ferry, he's done some good stuff over the years, but this was like watching some merely OKish tribute band going through the motions. It didn't even sound like Bryan Ferry singing.

As I said at the beginning it wouldn't have been my choice to go to this but I expected better. Don't think the venue was up to much either and certainly didn't help. I won't be hurrying back.

Cheers
Scottc

last week Joy Flemming (after two hours of a Local church choir and a singing priest )

this week Nokia Night of the Proms. Pathetic. to say the politest...

Both were presents, so you can't complain.