What was your last concert you went to ?

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Denis,
I bet that was one hell of a good gig.
Great line up.
Stu

It was a great gig and moves a previous Fav out of the top 5, if I could remember which one

I remember seeing Thomas Dolby around the time of the Golden Age of Wireless, just him, a drum machine, and a bunch of synthesizers, in an arts centre in New Cross.

A great show at the time, I wish I could have seen him again this weekend.

D

quote:

Originally posted by DavidJL:
I remember seeing Thomas Dolby around the time of the Golden Age of Wireless, just him, a drum machine, and a bunch of synthesizers, in an arts centre in New Cross.

A great show at the time, I wish I could have seen him again this weekend.

D

David,

I'm sure Thomas will tour again when he completes his new material. Might not be until next year of course, but you never know.

In the meantime I recommend The Sole Inhabitant - CD + DVD...

Pollini - excellent - see Chopin thread for comments.

Tonight. In nice Dad mode and after a big campaign from my 10 yr old son I scalped some ebay tickets and went to see Mika for the second time in three days Really enjoyed going out with my eldest - we had some fun and we finished it all off with a lads night out Brighton kebab

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Adrian,
Kebab
Thats him off school tomorrow then.
Stu

Won't be easy getting him up for school - know that much

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
I am Taking Noah to the Nick Drake thing on Sat.
Stu

You've got to start them off young. Hope he enjoys it and manages to stay awake - my two always used to fall asleep at concerts in the dark and late of night.

The Philharmonia orchestra last night at the De Monfort Hall, Leicester. The highlight of which was Nikolai Lugansky playing the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor. Superb.

Stu,
Just be careful of his ears, man.
Probably not a problem with Nick's stuff but AM would probably be.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Stu,
Just be careful of his ears, man.
Probably not a problem with Nick's stuff but AM would probably be.

It is a very good point you make there Howard. We have always made our boys wear ear defenders - they look like headphones - as their ears are so sensitive at this young age. We picked ours up at a DIY store in Oz for a few bucks. They wore them for the Air show this weekend as it was loud but we let them off the hook for Mika.

Seth Lakeman Crawley Hawth 4/3/10. Another very good performance form Seth and his band, the bassist is excellent. 2 x 45 minute sets , a little better than last time, several tracks from their forthcoming album, nothing revolutionary he is sticking to his style.

Chris Rea next, 13th.

Richmond Fontaine - Bush Hall last night.

Great venue, great band.

John Hiatt last night.

Exceeded my expectations which were pretty high to start with. Great band and great show.

KISS at the O2 Islington - a good, fun night.

John Cale (with The Heritage Orchestra & Band) – Paris 1919. RFO

Performed with a (really quite large for this sort of thing) orchestra. This is one of my favourite albums of all time, so to say I was excited at the prospect is the understatement of the year so far.

Not disappointed – Cale looks incredibly well for a gent of 68, though when he launched straight in to the album with Child's Christmas In Wales his voice was a little uncertain and you did wonder for a moment. However, he warmed up quickly and the rest of the album was superb with hair-raining moments such Paris 1919 itself and Antarctica Starts Here. There were odd balance issues between the band (tucked at the back) and the orchestra, but they were slight.

So, standing ovation, off for a quick break, then back for a brief-ish middle set as a four-piece band, where Cale really let rip with that strange and eerie loping segue of Femme Fatale and Rosegarden Funeral of Sores and a belting Fear, but the highlight of this section was the monstrously deconstructed and heavy Heartbreak Hotel (only the lyrics remain really). Magnificent.

Back came the orchestra for a couple more songs, ending with a tremendous (and lengthy) version of Hedda Gabler.

More deserved standing ovation and (after long, long calls for an encore) the four-piece finished up with Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll.

For anyone unfamiliar with Paris 1919, just buy it – it’s a classic of orchestral rock with wonderful tune after wonderful tune and arrangements to die for.

Basia Bulat at the St James' Community Hall, Vancouver.

Really very good indeed.

Mumford & Sons, Newcastle University.

The last time I was here was to see XTC, so how old do you think I felt?

Good show from Mumford & Sons who seemed to try and vary what they have done on record, which to my mind is all a bit similar. The crowd were very happy with the stuff they knew, but more subdued with the stuff they did not.

If they are going to survive beyond the first album they will have to maintain the variation in their output. I quite liked the new stuff.

Overall a good show, nice to see the level of enthusiasm from both the band and the audience.

Regards

Nic

Jethro Tull at the New Theatre Oxford.

It would have been 1987 the last time I saw these guys (well 2 of them anyway) and the musicianship is still excellent. Ian seemed to be struggling with the power in his voice - as I say I haven't seen them in a long time so maybe this is an age thing and he's been singing this way for a while now but I found it a little bit distracting.

Didn't spoil the gig though and he is still extremely mobile and witty with his delivery.
They played tracks from the earliest days right up to something they wrote while in India last year.

This was a new venue to me and I've got to say the acoustics were very good - we were Circle Row C centre with excellent views.

I found this setlist for last nights gig in St Albans and it looks the same as the one we saw. If you go to the link they have linked each track entry to a video (when available) for that track. Cool stuff.


1. Dun Ringill
2. The Water Carrier
3. Life Is a Long Song
4. Eurology
5. Nothing is Easy
6. A New Day Yesterday
7. Songs from the Wood
8. Fat Man Play
9. Bouree Play
10. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll
11. Birthday Card at Christmas
12. A Change of Horses
13. Bug
14. Budapest
15. Aqualung
16. Encore:
Locomotive Breath

Cheers
Scott

I'll see if it's the same set on Wednesday week, some others here will find out earlier.

Nik Bartsch's Ronin @ The Sage Gateshead.

Unreserved seating, which meant tables and chairs a few feet away from the band with a pint and a bottle of wine while enjoying a superb set.

Got to meet and chat to all the band afterwards, while they signed CD's and talked about their music.

Diccus, you must come and see these guys the next time they play. Took another mate along, who is not a big jazz fan and he was absolutely mesmerized. It all makes sense when you see them live.

They have two more gigs in the UK, Bristol tomorrow and then London. They were saying that they play every Monday night in Zurich and have now notched up over 250 gigs there. Highly recommended, see them when you can.

Regards

Nic

The friend I went with to the Nik Bartsch concert last night spotted this blog, by the chap who was sitting on the next table to us. It refers to the last time I went to see Nik play at the Sage. Amazingly he also spotted a picture of the back of my head while queueing up to get my CD's signed. Picked up another 4 last night, which were all signed by the band members. Great bunch of musicians and very friendly.

Regards

Nic

Nic - glad you enjoyed Bartsch again. I really enjoyed it last year when I saw him. I had a good chat with him after and he added some nice artwork/signatures to all the CD's I bought off him. I cannot make tomorrow's gig in London as Mrs Lontano is away so I have kid duties. Maybe I'll get to see them in Zurich sometime!

Cheers

Jethro Tull - Brighton. Very good evening.

I was a little disappointed when they announced over the tannoy that the support act started in ten mins when the ticket said No Support. But being a good camper I went along and watched and was well and truly pleasantly surprised. Firstly, Mr Tull Ian Anderson himself came out to introduce the support (respect) and then various members of the Tull clan came out to play their instruments to be the backing band to the support, even Ian Anderson. That made the support pretty special and it felt very integrated into the complete show as a result - nicely done and she was rather good as well

http://www.myspace.com/saorijo


The Tull concert was excellent. I have never been a big fan but the whole set and musicianship came across very well indeed. Glad I went to see them, will now get their CD's out and give them more attention. I am very impressed with Ian Anderson's ability to stand on one leg whilst playing the flute.

quote:

Originally posted by nicnaim:
The friend I went with to the Nik Bartsch concert last night spotted this blog, by the chap who was sitting on the next table to us. It refers to the last time I went to see Nik play at the Sage. Amazingly he also spotted a picture of the back of my head while queueing up to get my CD's signed. Picked up another 4 last night, which were all signed by the band members. Great bunch of musicians and very friendly.

Regards

Nic

Sounds excellent bud - I really should move to Gateshead

Nic - a review of the Sage show has just been published over at the Telegraph
Sage review...

quote:

I am very impressed with Ian Anderson's ability to stand on one leg whilst playing the flute.

He's the same age as me, I struggle to stand on one leg ,let alone play the flute.
Looking forward even more to next week.