What was your last concert you went to ?

Midge Ure acoustic session in Bath last night - absolutely brilliant.

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Pietari Inkinen

Hilary Hahn

Tonhalle Düsseldorf this evening

Smetana: Sarka
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique

Very good orchestra, Hilary`s performance was outstanding and I got an autograph from her .

U2 in Athens, last September.

Great concert, great audience, great band !!

We had a superb time, the band performed an excellent show.

Emmylou Harris Sunday night. What a class act.

Dr Feelgood, the Cluny. What A brilliant night. Could not have got a fag paper between the band. Go and see them, it will improve your life.

Regards

Nic

Stu,

Alas, Mr Brilleaux has departed this earth, but Robert Kane did a pretty good job and I am a sucker for a bit of harmonica.

Regards

Nic

Steve Hackett, Komedia, Brighton,23/11/10.

I'm almost speechless, I'm certainly deaf. A truly stunning concert, why can't all concerts be lie this?

I don't think I've ever stood at the stage before, it's almost like wearing the music. We were right in front of Steve's amp, and could hear every nuance, whilst the rest of the band surrounded us. Bassist wore trousers this time , no leather skirt, thank god from our POV.

Superb, even got a CD signed and had a few words with the man. 9.7/10

Hopefully some good snaps from Lontano's new box brownie.

Yes, where are all the pro shots Lontano took - you can't get any closer to the stage without being on it.
BTW, the ringing in my ears just stopped.

Great show all around.

Last night after Lontano loud, MilesSmiles loud we got Steve Hackett loud Wow, that bass. I am going to buy some bass pedals to plug into the Naim system.

I loved the show and we were touching distance of the band, so it was phenomenal to get that up close impact. Loved it. Steve is such a good guitarist still after all these years and as for Nick Beggs, a master of the bass. Shadow of the Hierophant was just superb and Steve said Steve Wilson asked him to put it in the set.

After the show he said that he was thinking of asking Steve Wilson if he was interested in doing an album together - yes please.

Photo slide show here....

Great pics Adrian. Taken with the Panny?

quote:

Originally posted by bazz:
Great pics Adrian. Taken with the Panny?

Thanks Bazz - took these with a Leica M8 and Summicron 35mm f2 lens. It was a bit tricky as it is a manual focus camera. so you have to be quick before they move again but some of them are in focus!

The pics came out great.

Fortunately Steve had the volume only turned up to 11, wonder what would have happened if he went to 12.

What did you say?

Great pictures Lontano.

Mmmmm Genesis meets Porcupine Tree, I think "I'd buy that for a Dollar"!

I wonder if the 2 "camp followers" next to us have been there for 40 years?

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
What did you say?

Great pictures Lontano.

Mmmmm Genesis meets Porcupine Tree, I think "I'd buy that for a Dollar"!

I wonder if the 2 "camp followers" next to us have been there for 40 years?

Are you talking about the 55 year old groupie that almost spilled her Coke & Barcadie over me?

No the 2 standing on the right hand side of Lontano.

"55 groupie" was with the standard "Mr Uncoordinated" dancer.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
No the 2 standing on the right hand side of Lontano.

"55 groupie" was with the standard "Mr Uncoordinated"

Got ya.

Just had a fantastic double whammy in (sunny but cold) Marseille.

Tuesday was the remarkable Yann Tiersen, whose latest album, Dust Lane, is so astonishingly good I would practically underwrite its purchase for anyone open minded, confident that the beauty, melody and musicianship would please pretty much anyone with ears. The venue was small and intimate, going from freezing cold to toasty warm in a matter of a few minutes. They played out of their skins for two hours, having joined the support act ("Lonski & Classen" from Berlin, who were also very good) on stage, which was then reciprocated later in the show. A great night.

A day of walking, cassis, bouillabaisse and other Marseillan clichés and then:

Off to see Arcade Fire at le Dôme - a big venue but surprisingly not-that-big for a city the size of Marseille. This was a polished, energetic performance and was a perfect reproduction of a lot of their best songs.
For encores, the French have taken to humming/chanting as well as clapping and in a never-before-experienced (for me) example the entire audience started chanting the backing vocal from 'Neighborhood' in such unison that the band remarked on it and seemed genuinely touched.

Both great evenings and even a 180km drive home late last night didn't dampen my enjoyment.

Ellie Goulding at the Norwich UEA last night - very good but a VERY young audience!!!

quote:

Originally posted by rodwsmith:

Tuesday was the remarkable Yann Tiersen, whose latest album, Dust Lane, is so astonishingly good I would practically underwrite its purchase for anyone open minded, confident that the beauty, melody and musicianship would please pretty much anyone with ears. The venue was small and intimate, going from freezing cold to toasty warm in a matter of a few minutes. They played out of their skins for two hours, having joined the support act ("Lonski & Classen" from Berlin, who were also very good) on stage, which was then reciprocated later in the show. A great night.

Both great evenings and even a 180km drive home late last night didn't dampen my enjoyment.

Great program, that's a concert I would have liked to see.

Steve Hackett, Holmfirth Picturedome, 26 Nov 2010.
Only got tickets at the last minute, just in case I was needed at home. So glad, it was a fantastic show. Looks like quite a different set from last year, a couple of old favourites I did expect were not in, but was no problem as what he played was amazing. Lots for early Genesis fans, lots of Hackett fans too.

If you have tickets for the end of the tour you are in for a treat.

As in Lontano's excellent photos, Nick Beggs really looked at home in a prog band, quite different attire this year (judging by past photos), top hat, victorian winged collar shirt, tied cravate, and a sort of cross between a dress coat and a dress. He looked like a prog mad hatter, very distinguished, very cool, but really at home and enjoying himself.

It really came over that the band were having fun, and that spread to the crowd.

The Holmfirth Picturedome is also a lovely venue, I will check its listings as the venue would swing a maybe gig into a definite. Very like The Scala in London.

I have just checked their listings and Thursdays 'Free Pork Pie' night sounds like a great concept, a free locally made pie with every pint or glass of wine - only in Yorkshire! Bit of a pity I don't red meat, but still might be worth it for the atmosphere.

Steve Harley at The Union Chapel, Islington - last night

Heaven 17 - The Ritz, Manchester

Well I'll get straight to the point - this was my gig of the year (rather unexpectedly). Penthouse And Pavement played in its entirety plus more of their hits, and then "Witchita Lineman", "Don't You Want Me", "Party Fears Two" (the highlight of the night for me) and "Being Boiled". It was just fab - you know that feeling when you walk out and you wish it had gone on for much longer..............I could not fault anything.

Paul Weller in Birmingham last Friday night. Excellent as always

Rumer at the Soul Cellar in Southampton, last night.

I'd wondered how her polished, piano driven love songs were going to translate live. I thought she started weakly. Then she started to loosen up, Aretha bringing a big cheer. But the biggest by far was for her cover of the Eagles' Take it to the limit where finally she seemed spirited and free.

Chris

Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks last night. Just about as good as he was in his prime, but a trifle over-rehearsed.

I brought five LPs for autographs--four from the 70s and "Tangled Tales" from 2009. People ooh-ed and ahh-ed when I brought them out of the bag, and two just wanted to hold them and look at them.

Dan seemed slightly taken aback when I handed him the career retrospective, esp. when I said thanks for all the great music over the years.

I wonder how often people thank musicians?