What was your last concert you went to ?

The Cruel Sea at The Northern in Byron Bay.

I'm not aware that there is a new album to promote and their web site made no mention of a tour so I think this may have been a one off - I spotted posters for it at my favourite bakery where I buy my lunch each day and there were no other dates mentioned.

Anyway they were on great form playing a mix of stuff although avoiding tracks from "The Honeymoon is Over" until well into the show when they played a sizeable chunk of the album very faithfully.

What spoiled the show a bit (at least for us and their guitarist Dan Rumour) was at encore time when Tex Perkins (vocals) remained off stage to allow the band to play a couple of instrumental tracks. The bass player took the opportunity to get the sound guy (who should know better) to crank the volume up on his bass. It was so obvious and Dan even commented that he would like the original levels back - no chance mate. Luckily they had played most of the greats before this and it wasn't enough to spoil the whole evening but why do they do this - you can't hear anything else. Never trust a bass player to set sound levels


Cheers
Scott

Just in from seeing Gary Louris & Mark Olsen of Jayhawks origin playing at Union Chapel Islington. A bit of a blast from the past with some great music and singing - acoustic set only with an Icelandic lady on percussion.

Really enjoyed them & a great venue.

Peter

The Fratellis at the UEA last night - good show.

Fish, supported by The Reasoning at York Opera House.

The big man is still a great showman.

steve

Last night I saw the Greatest Living Englishman, Jarvis Cocker, at the Shepherds Bush Empire. It was billed as "part lecture, part gig" and so it was.

The man is a genius, funnier than most standup comedians and the new material is very strong.

On Sunday I saw Todd Rundgren at the Forum, mostly playing the new "Arena" album (which has grown on me) and a handful of classics. His voice is in great shape and the female bassist was very foxy.

A couple of weeks ago I saw (for the fifth time this year!) the mighty Goldfrapp at the Brixton Academy.

Lontano, no update from your last concert?

A rather enjoyable evening with Sting and Edin Karamazov at the Sydney Opera House.

'Songs from the Labyrinth'

Keith Jarrett at the RFH yesterday evening. The man is a true genius. I'll even forgive the short lectures he gave about coughing and taking photos.

Phil

The Damned, Sunday night at the Academy Newcastle. Just recovering from the hangover. Good night out, band sharp, good crowd.

Regards

Nic

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Ward:
Keith Jarrett at the RFH yesterday evening. The man is a true genius. I'll even forgive the short lectures he gave about coughing and taking photos.

Phil

Would have loved to be there, still waiting for Lontano to report back.

Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House.

Viennese Classics
..........Beethoven - Symphony No.1 in C, Op.21
..........Mozart - Oboe concerto in C, K314
..........Schubert - Symphony No.6 in C, D589

Conductor: Lothar Zagrosek
Oboe: Diana Doherty

Over the past 5 days:

Jools Holland at the DMH at leicester.
Roisin Murphy - manchesta Academy
Kings of Leon - Trent fm Arena.

All of em good, for differing reasons. Would go see Jools or KOL again easily!

l[/QUOTE]

Would have loved to be there, still waiting for Lontano to report back.[/QUOTE]

Well in Lontano's absence Miles, a quick review.

Jarrett started slowly but by the end, a completely packed RFH (I saw one empty seat) wouldn't let him go. I don't think I've seen an entire RFH audience standing and cheering so enthusiastically before (wasn't quite so enamoured of the guy in the circle who kept shouting, "I luv you keef" at the top of his voice). He did four encores including a version of My Song (I died and went to heaven) and an utterly sublime Somewhere Over The Rainbow. The show was much longer than I anticipated. He started just a little late and had a 15 minute break, but I wasn't walking back across Hungerford bridge till just before 10.30. So he must have played for around two and a half hours. He played five roughly equal length pieces in each half. No long marathons, just beautifully structured and resolved explorations of wildly differing styles from blues through folksy melodies and rhythmic work-outs to atmospheric, sometimes almost atonal, tone poems. Technically he was jaw-dropingly good and if you factor in that he's making it up as he goes along, as I said, the man's a genius.

Phil

Guys as Phil has said a good concert from Jarrett. It has received a good review in the FT, The Times but the Telegraph gave it 2 stars. I enjoyed it and had a great view from my seat of Jarrett doing all sorts of funny dances, groans etc as he played.

It is not easy listening and I am not sure that I would want to repeat it too often but it was a spectacle and he did not let us down with a moan about coughing and another on cameras.

But when he gets it right, well it is so special - My Song and Over the Rainbow.

On Friday I saw another spectacle. Mrs Lontano was otherwise engaged so rather than waste the ticket I took my youngest son, aged 8 to see Leonard Cohen. He got plenty of attention being by far the youngest there and we both had a great night.

The concert exceeded expectations and for a man in his seventies he played for a very long time. his backing band were superb. A great night out.

So those two concerts wrap up my 2008 concert campaign in Sydney and the UK. It was a high quality year but my vote for best gigs goes to

1. Air - Sydney Opera House
2. Porcupine Tree - O2
3. Stevie Wonder - O2
4. Leonard Cohen - Brighton Centre

Adrian

Guys, many thks for the update on Keith Jarrett.

Lontano, quite a year it was.

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:
Guys, many thks for the update on Keith Jarrett.

Lontano, quite a year it was.

And Oliver - there was that very memorable afternoon we had at the Basement Jazz Club watching the Bad Plus and then we finished it off with a superb meal at the Bistro by the Opera House on a warm sunny day And then the night at Don Giovanni, the night we went to see Cesaria Evora and PJ Harvey. I am sure we did some other shows as well......

Last one was Kate Rusby.

But Sunday sees start of the James tour with a 'warm-up' gig in Camden.

So that's my next two weeks (9 concerts- 12 days)

Bon Iver in the National Stadium Dublin.

Didn't do it for me I'm afraid, although the friend I went with was beguiled by it as he is with the album.


For me the faithfulness to the sound on the album made for the most mundane musicianship.

So it goes.


SJB

Just saw Oasis for the first time. Unbelievable that they are still going. Derivative they may be, but I love the music from which they derive too, so that suits me fine. I do like their new album much better than the last 3. They put on a great show, attitude and some great music. Ryan Adams opened, who was also fantastic.

Faster than a cannonball...where were you when we were getting high??

Last night we went to see the "Steel City Tour" at the Hammersmith Apollo. Heaven 17, ABC and Human League, all of course from Sheffield.

After taking 2 hours (!) to travel the 14 miles from here to there we arrived towards the end of the Heaven 17 set, so hard to say much about it. ABC were great though. I was never a huge follower of the band so have no idea how many originals beside Martin Fry were on stage. But the music was bloody good.

Then after an interval the Human League set started. Bloody hell! An absolutely stunning stage and lighting set-up, and first class sound. They were tremendous, and that from someone who was, in truth, a bit sniffy about synth-pop back in the day. I was wrong.

A surprisingly excellent night, the tickets were a wedding gift from the friends we went with which was very generous.

One moan though. Why can so many people not manage to sit through one set without needing to traipse too and fro to the bar with monotonous regularity. Or am I just a grumpy old git for wanting to enjoy the show uniterrupted?

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:


One moan though. Why can so many people not manage to sit through one set without needing to traipse too and fro to the bar with monotonous regularity. Or am I just a grumpy old git for wanting to enjoy the show uniterrupted?

Chris

That sounds like a fantastic show. I did not know they were touring. Last I saw was the documentary on the Sheffield scene on the television and they all seemed so depressed and tired that a reunion tour was the last thing I would have expected. Good on them! I was just listening to ABC and thinking how I used to turn my nose and two fingers up at them and now it sounds pretty impressive.

As far as the audience I am with you. I HATE that. But it is better than my Oasis show experience/moan. I got to the box that night and was introduced to my wifes coworker and her husband. He marks himself immediately as the original Oasis fan, "seen em in 92 in a club in Dublin" and "my names Liam, too, and I'm Irish, you know the Gallaghers, they're Irish" blah blah blah. Then just as the show is about to begin - "I'm going to get a beer" misses the f&*$in in the bushes opener and most of Rock n Roll Star. Comes back and gives me more pedigree. Then proceeds to talk to his wife through the whole damn show. "Those're my mates up there. Theyre from Ireland" over and over. Then of course Liam (Gallagher) says "Anyone else from ENGLAND out there besides us tonight?" and the twit starts jumping up and down screaming "yeah!!!!" Luckily the music was loud enough so I did not have to hear him too much.

Hate it when people will NOT shut up at a show...

John

What a total PITA. People were talking behind us quite a lot too. I try to just tune it out but the beer patrol is more tricky to ignore as you have to stand up to let them in and out!

The best was when we went to the Royal Albert Hall for an opera. We were in the stallsand there were boxes just behind us. The people in on box were drinking throughout the show (we could hear the clink of glass on glass!). As we stood up to leave a man and a woman in a box started the most almighty argument, with screaming, swearing and then a fistfight between them!! Much more entertaining than La Boheme had been!

As we filed out the guy in front of me muttered "We went to the opera and a fight broke out!".

Kings of Leon - a very packed NIA in Birmingham last night

and yes cosntant to'ing and fro'ing to the bar as well

Great show though

Meshell Ndegocello (did I spell that right?) in Portland last night.

Terrible show. She only played to an audience of about 300 people. When I got to the venue and didn't see a long line of people waiting, that was the first bad sign.

She just came out and did about an hour long jazz/fusion jam. Couldn't make out any of the vocals and she did not contact with the audience at all.

Worst show I've seen in years.... Ugh.

quote:

Originally posted by Tonepub:
Meshell Ndegocello (did I spell that right?) in Portland last night.

Terrible show. She only played to an audience of about 300 people. When I got to the venue and didn't see a long line of people waiting, that was the first bad sign.

She just came out and did about an hour long jazz/fusion jam. Couldn't make out any of the vocals and she did not contact with the audience at all.

Worst show I've seen in years.... Ugh.

You almost got it right - Me'Shell NdegeOcello.
I love her stuff from the early to mid 90s but have never seen her live. Still play Plantation Lullabies and Peace Beyond Passion quite a bit. Shame to hear she didn't deliver the goods.