What was your last concert you went to ?

Frank,

Tell me more about the March Violets reunion gig.  

Regards

Nic

Brian Wilson in Glasgow on 11th September. It was absolutely superb. Brian was in fine voice and the band was on fire. Despite what I've read elsewhere the Gershwin stuff was ecstatically received with a long standing ovation and no wonder as it was so beautifully played and sung. The second part was an unbeatable greatest hits selection and the whole show was close to two hours and forty five minutes long with a twenty minute break after Gershwin.

This tour isn't a sell-out so if you're anywhere near try to see him. He's 69 now and won't be touring forever.

Public Enemy last week in Glasgow.

Just back from June Tabor and Oysterband at St Georges Church Brighton. This is the first of their on  the road tour dates,they had a warmup gig a few weeks back.

Very tight and very enjoyable, a good mix of their joint stuff featuring the new album, some Oysterband and a couple of June solo.

All round a fine show, maybe just a bit too short.

Meadow at the Turner Sims, Southampton, a week ago.

Wonderful stuff, the drums were the voice. I could have watched the drummer all night.

Chris

K T Tunstall solo, last night in Belfast Ulster Hall, Brilliant really conntected with her audience.

Amazing acoustics in the Ulster Hall.

Off to see Elvis Costello tonight at the Waterfront Hall Belfast!

Just back from Elvis Costello at the Waterfront Hall,I thought K T Tunstall was good  last night  ,but Elvis was amazing ,how does he hit those high notes? Solo performance with no interval for almost 2hours & then 8 encores, including an outstanding version of Shipbuilding.

Brighton Dome, 29/10/11 Steve Earle and the Dukes(and Duchesses). Amazing  gig , a real talented bunch of people, good sound , apart from Steve occasionally.

A varied set old and new, soft and loud, fast  and slow, great!

Earlier this evening, Paul Lewis playing Schubert. Fantastic concert - based on his CDs I thought I knew what to expect but here was a man who played with white-hot intensity, heart-on-sleeves, huge dynamic range (nearly pounding the Steinway into the floor on occasion), and all-out virtuosity - but always to the service of Schubert. This was part I, looking forward to part II tomorrow.

I went for an autograph after the concert, and despite that we're nearly the same age, I felt like a 10-year old boy when I shook the man's hand. Great feeling, doesn't happen enough! He seemed very kind, by the way.

Cheers,

EJ

Part II was as good. He brought the house (and nearly the piano) down with a white-hot Wanderer Fantasie. You could argue with Lewis' sturm-und-drang view of late Schubert, but piano recitals don't get much better than this.

Cheers,

EJ

Alison Krauss at the Waterfront Hall Belfast   Fantastic Musicians pity Alison's vocal was off!

Well after giving a glowing report on the last Yes tour, sadly I can not do the same for the current one. Last night in Sheffield was pretty dismal.

While Steve Howe played with his usual brilliance, and Benoit David's voice has strengthened, Chris Squire merely played OK, but without a great deal of discipline. The main problem for me was Alan White, who couldn't be bothered, even on 'Drama' tracks the drumming was simplified to a backing with little flourish, a drum computer might have given more energy.

For me the return of Geoff Downes was not something to celebrate. He looked like a man desperately in need of a pack of suppositories, and played little better. There wasn't much effort to replicate the sounds of the old tracks, including the Drama ones.

The highlights of the set were again the two Drama tracks played 'Tempus Fugut' and 'Machine Messiah' (thanks to Howe), the three tracks from 'Fly from Here' left me dead, including enduring 20 minutes of the title track. Most of the rest of the set was from 'The Yes Album', as with Downes in the band, much the the Wakeman, or even Moraz tracks are too hard to reproduce, although we did get 'And You and I', a poor 'Wondrous Stories' and a by the numbers 'Roundabout'.

Best not to mention their stage attire and the projections. When at their best Yes can be excellent (if you like them anyway), but when it doesn't gel it can be pretty pitiful.

Last week's Steve Wilson gig gave this show a difficult act to follow, in terms of presentation, great musicians playing at the top of their game, and feel for the songs played Yes failed in all three categories. The T-shirts weren't as good either.

I am very sorry if my past report of the 2009 Yes tour has encouraged anyone to get tickets for the rest of this tour, perhaps it will improve, but I doubt it.

Thanks Jamie I am really looking forward to Tuesday now. 

I have only seen them once before and that was when the Buggles (Trevor Horn) joined.

Shellac (Steve Albini).  SIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And solo Uri Caine about a month ago.

I wish I had seen that tour.

Maybe they will raise theur game as the tour goes along, or maybe others will enjoy the set and new material more.

I hope so.

Jamie

Magazine, last night at a packed Shepherd's Bush Empire. No Barry Adamson but the guy standing was a very good facsimile, sound-wise. Four new tracks which, while lacking the magic of the classics, were pretty good. Apart from that, the pick of Devoto & Co's fabulous back catalogue, including a seriously sinuous "Thank You". I don't know if it was because the guitar was mixed up so high, but they were definitely heavier than they were in 2009.

Blackmore's Knight: Medieval folk rock bliss.

Just back from Alison Krauss & Union Station gig. A great show, not much more ad to Lontano's post, a special group of people.

A real bonus for us as we only got tickets at about 11:30, standing,at the side, great view, very slightly compromised sound as we were under the boxes which blocked the stage upper left speaker array.

There must have been a few no shows because we could see about a dozen empty seats, and were told when we rang for tickets the standing were the only available.

Made even more annoying by the jobsworth who wouldn't let us us 2 vacant seats because we hadn't paid for them , I did point they had already been paid for and the seats wouldn't know it wasn't me.

Blow me, about 10 mins later the couple who had been standing next to us sat in those seats and nothing was said.

Saw Kings of Leon in Edinburgh in July. Took my daughter, she loved it.

Next will be Clapton and Stevie Winwood at Budokan in December! If it's half as good as the last time I saw Eric there (2007 I think), it will be a good one.

Mr and Mrs Winky attended the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum last night.

• Conductor / Performers

  Carlos Miguel Prieto - conductor

  Yossif Ivanov - violin

• Repertoire

  Barber - Symphony No. 1

  Mendelssohn  - Violin Concerto

  Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances

Guest conductor and violinist were very good, as was the whole orchestra. Our friend Beth plays English Horn and Oboe. She was great as usual.

Enjoyed the Mendlessohn more than the Rachmaninoff, possibly due to the outstanding talent on display from Yossif Ivanov. His instrument is a 1699 Stradivarius. Did the great instrument makers of Cremona ever imagine that their instruments would still be in professional use over 300 years later?

I enjoyed the Barber less so, but the opening passages were very well played. Some later passages descended into a cacophonous "noise" that was perhaps more Shostakovich-like in parts than was my expectation. 

http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/concert/11MWG02/