What was your last concert you went to ?

quote:

Originally posted by Lontano:
Last weekend I went to see the Pat Metheny Group at the Barbican.

A class act. Stupendous musicianship. Drumming beyond belief from Antonio Sanchez - he has to be as good as it gets.

The setlist was fabulous - all the old faves were there. Standing ovations from all in the house and when the houselights came on at the end, half the audience refused to budge and kept cheering and asking for more. The band duly obliged.

Pat is a genius and this was far better than his Orchestrion concert earlier this year. Worth every penny of the £65 ticket price.

I hope they recorded it. A DVD of the concert will sell like hotcakes.

quote:

Originally posted by irwan shah:
I hope they recorded it. A DVD of the concert will sell like hotcakes.

It would be good if they recorded one of the Italian jazz festival gigs, outside in one of the lovely venues. Apart from a few gigs in Tokyo a couple of yrs ago, this is the first time the Group in quartet format has been on the road for 30 yrs. Let's hope there is a DVD.

quote:

This might be a nice thing to see - Petworth Park Aug 6th, La Boheme or Aug 7th The Magic Flute. Two very nice, easy operas.

I might even have given one of those a go , Sally showed interest, we are in Greece for a week from 31/7 so it's academic.

Re the other discussion , good points well made, I have no idea how popular the jazz stars are, they just seem expensive.
As I've said before life's too short to worry too much about jazz and opera, there is enough other music out there to satisfy my needs.



Tori Amos at Victoria Theatre tonight 18/7, OK but difficult to hear all the words, just her and piano (Bosendorpher) and electric keys of some sort. Manic audience, really enthusiastic in a sort of scary way.
Not the best gig I've ever been to. 6.5/10

Battle Proms on the south lawn of Blenheim Palace, Sat 17th. Tickets were £30 for those interested

Fantastic evening with Napoleonic era Cavalry re-enactment, Spitfire display and then a concert featuring cannons, fireworks and muskets (wehere appropriate). The finale was a "last night of the proms" type thing. All very enjoyable and we were lucky with the weather too.

The Spitfire display was extrmely poignant given that Blenheim Palace is the birthplace of Winston Churchill and was extremely well executed to the music of Elgar - just a shame they didn't let us hear that engine without musical backing for at least a couple of minutes (but that is a minor annoyance).

Cheers
Scott

Tom Paxton at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
A real professional whose recent songs are just as good as the old standards.

Bombay Bicycle Club Acoustic Set at Union Chapel last night. Most enjoyable.

Gateshead Americana Festival yesterday. Saw Rachel Harrington (ok) Dayna Kurtz (good) and a wonderful set by Elizabeth Cook, who sounds like a young Dolly Parton, she was a fire cracker and signed a cuple of cd's too.

The Handsome Family on the main stage were funny. Nice day out for very little money. Sadly I missed Howe Gelb.

Diccus, If I had not been in the Lakes for the weekend, I would have seen you there. Sounds like another good session at the Sage.

Regards

Nic

We saw Prince last night play the Nikia in Nice.

It was mesmerising, I had no idea he was such a good guitarist. I don't have any of the records, and wouldn't normally be interested, but concerts are not everyday happenings here, and loads of people told me he tends to put on a good show. Which he did, played everything I had heard of and a great deal more besides and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously.

Great fun.

quote:

Originally posted by nicnaim:
Diccus, If I had not been in the Lakes for the weekend, I would have seen you there. Sounds like another good session at the Sage.

Regards

Nic

twas canny bud

I was lucky enough to be invited to the High Voltage festival on Saturday. An excellent day out, topped off by a storming set from ZZ Top.

Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble - Academy 2 Newcastle.

Defies description, but worked extremely well in parts and brilliantly in others, with a few dips in between.

Certainly shook anything that was remotely loose with some incredible bass lines. A very strange blend, but great musicianship all round that just seemed to work really well on stage.

Currently listening to the latest CD to see how it matches the live version.

Regards

Nic

Robert Plant and Band of Joy
Mobile, AL July 28th

Mark Kozelek, Union Chapel, London, 29 July.

Very tired, just woken up after driving back through the night. Lovely show, Mark solo with just a classical guitar to accompany him. His voice was as lovely as ever, and he has really been expanding his guitar playing.

Nice to see Dennis again.

The setlist was something like:
Ålesund
Diuk Koo Kim
Moorestown
Half Moon Bay
Third and Seneca
You Are My Sun
Carry Me Ohio

A couple more songs from Admiral Fell Promises
and one of the Katy songs, but I can't bring the name to mind.

Australian Winter
Heron Blue

(encore)
Void
BlueOrchids
Bay of Skulls

Bishopla, I would love to know a bit more about the Robert Plant gig. Was it good?

Mark Kozelek, Union Chapel, London, 29 July

A great opportunity to share one of Jamie's favourite artists.

I had only heard a few tracks on MySpace and decided it would be good to go to the gig cold. The atmosphere was sombre and respectful, erupting into applause at the end of every song. The PA was pretty quiet and drew you in to concentrate on Mark's superb guitar playing and wonderful voice. One of the songs had a dancing (Ballon) effect during a guitar section and made me think of the slow mo scenes in the film 'Raging Bull'. I also thought Mark's guitar playing style had a mix of Robert Fripp's discipline & Richard Thompson's dexterity.

A very melancholic concert, but most enjoyable. It was certainly streets ahead of two depressing RFH gigs by David Sylvian & PJ Harvey a few years ago.

Thanks again Jamie, I'll sort out a gig sometime in the future.

Denis

Isobel Cambell and Mark Lanegan with band, Barbican 10/09/10. Really enjoyed this one, although Isobell was a bit high (Red Bull, she said) Mark has a remarkably good sound for a whiskey and cigarettes type voice. Could have done without the support guy coming on for a couple of numbers though.
Excellent tight band, good sound, Isobel was a little bit low in the mix, and minimal talking in the audience. 9/10.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
9/10.

High marks there Howard. I would have to pitch at 6/10. Enjoyable and very well played but nothing that would make me go back for more. Accomplished band though and Lanegan's voice is pretty unique. Just didn't have the wow of Gabriel

Maybe 8.5/10 then. I enjoyed it, whether I'd see them again, not so sure.

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Gabriel only had the wow after the break.When he got real and did his old stuff

nah. just have to strongly disagree nothing worth taking a pic of

I really enjoyed the concert, am with Howard here - 8.5 out of 10.

Bit premptive but Hans Theessink tonight. Looking forward to it since it is in a really small hall.

Harry Manx, Lizottes Newcastle. Great show, just Harry and a keyboard player.

Played all my favourites, even got a chat and a handshake.

Tonight:

YOUTH OF TODAY/SPERMBIRDS!!!!

Oldschool...

Been a bit busy of late.

Simone Felice at St Pancras Old Church 2 Sep. Lovely venue very intimate gig with Simone and friends on good form. Plastic cups of decent red wine at £2 per cup. Now that's realistic!!

Lanegan & Campbell Sep 10. Agree with most of the guys comments. Rated it at about 7/10. Shame about Willy Mason!!

Wilco 14th Sep RFH. Totally awesome. Superb sound and great band.

Felice Brothers 15th Sep Troxy. Venue too big but the brothers were on good form. Support act Adam Green was a scream very entertaining!!

Grinderman Garage upcoming this Thursday. Can't wait!!!!!

PS Forgot saw Terry Reid at Ronnie Scotts Aug 30th. Met him at Dog & Duck beforehand where he chatted signed some photos I took from a previous gig and was a general all round top man!! Gig was needless to say awesome. Had a great band including BJ Cole on pedal steel. My only regret was that I couldn't go again either of the following nights.