What was your last concert you went to ?

Last night I had probably the worst ever live experience or I really rather should say the saddest. My friend had an extra ticket for a Chuck Berry concert so I went to see him. However, he was ill with fever and had not slept over several nights (that was told us) but still his tour management rather put a sick 87 year old on stage than cancelled the gig which would have been the honourable thing to do. He could not play or sing and yet he tried for an hour.

At one point it seemed that he had had enough and was about to leave the stage but the man guarding the exit talked him back to continue which was painful to follow.  I do not know what was going on in his mind since it was clear that Chuck was not fit to perform.

My only hope is that Mr. Berry can recover soon – I did not lose any of my respect to him but the persons with whom he is touring should be ashamed of themselves (including his son who was playing the second guitar). When I managed to get home I was really upset and I guess I still am. These kinds of things should not happen…

Get well soon and thanks for all the great music!

Stacey was playing in Portimao when we we there 2 weeks ago. I was going to get tickets but the concert didn't start until 10pm and we were playing golf at 8am the next day. Unfortunately my sleep seemed more important at the time. 

Steve

I saw Mr Gabriel and Co in Vienna, Austria at the beginning of October. He introduced his set (in impeccable German) as "a three course menu, An acoustic hor d'oeuvre, a meaty electrifying main course, and for desserts, So "from start to finish for the first time in the original order", There then followed a very entertaining two and half hours, where Peter gave his best, and yes, at times he was gasping for breath, but in view of his energy levels and output, he puts most men in his age bracket in the shade. Yes, the girls did a great job, Jennie almost went flying into the audience after tripping over the rails that encircled the stage. After which point, she went barefoot....

Excellent concert, despite the sound being rather muddy and the bass too prominent, but heh, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Interesting you mention boxing George. The RAH was a popular venue for boxing when I was on the BBBC panel of doctors. I officiated at a number of boxing events there in the '80s. For atmosphere though I didn't think it was that good as the sound of the audience just seemed to dissipate into the cavernous roof. Smaller venues like York Hall Bethnal Green and Battersea were much better.

I met one of my childhood boxing heroes in Joe Frazier there when he was with his son Marvin who was fighting that night. He was the most charming friendly man and gave me a pair of signed boxing gloves which I gave to my father to auction for one of his charities.

I've been to a number of concerts there and the SQ of the auditorium is very variable depending on where you are seated.

ATB

Steve

Maybe not strictly a Concert, but The Threepenny Opera (Weill/Brecht) at The Gate in Dublin last night was almost perfect. 

I recommend it to any music lover who happens to be in the vicinity,  I think it runs for a short time yet. A fantastic group of performers who can act, dance and sing, backed by a fine band of musicians. A real treat!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Brighton Dome 24th October.

An excellent gig , NC is not my favourite artist but he and the BS gave all for 130 minutes. It's very difficult to get any flow with his type of music, more poetry with music, but it was too bloody LOUD.

Thank heaven for my ear defender plugs, although there were also free plugs being given out.

Upsetting, no doubt, but how do you know it wasn't Chuck's stubborn insistence that "the show must go on" instead of pressure from his management? The will to keep performing is almost impossible to suppress.

When I saw Mavis Staples the other night, although in terrific voice she was on a cane and apologized to the audience for not being able to run up and down the stage because she had just had a knee replacement. She explained that "the devil been gnawin' on my knee."

For artists who have been performing for decades, it's usually pressure they put on themselves rather than from management that results in the sad sight you saw. And how can his son tell him not to play? Chuck Berry is exactly the kind of person who would say, "Don't you tell me what to do ... I brought you into this world and I'll take you out!" Or similar.

Jake Bugg - Brixton Academy

A 5 hour round trip fighting our way through London traffic for a 1 hour & 10 minute concert and it was certainly worth all the effort.

It was so refreshing to see a 19 year command the stage playing guitar music with a packed Brixton loving every minute of it. It has been a long time since I have been to a gig with that much excitement in the air, there was a real energy with plenty of screaming, I can only imagine how exciting it must have been seeing the Beatles at their height, it was a very young crowd, well except for me and the missus, but it gives you hope that a crowd this young is listening to proper music, does that make me sound old?

As for Jake Bugg, how can someone that young be that talented, some rip roaring guitar solos's and some of his new material really is quite brilliant, there was some real goosebump moments, being a huge Springsteen fan I could certainly see similarities with a young Bruce.

Hopefully once he has got another couple of albums out he could do a 1 1/2 hour set, but it was certainly quality over quantity, highly recommended and maybe there is hope for the younger generation of music listeners.

Fred, you are correct I don't know and based on what I have read during the years I can fully believe what you said about the possibility of Chuck's stubbornness and the sort character he apparently is. I also don't know what role Patrick Rocher, his tour manager, had in the decision to allow the show to start/continue. However, what I saw was a sick old man in need of bed rest (if not medical care) so I still feel that something should have been done. Yet maybe it was not as bad as it looked since at least for now his gig for tonight has not been cancelled.

I have previously seen other elderly artists performing (and some greatly - speed might not have been there but style and nuances have usually more than compensated that) and I fully understand the limitations the age might bring. I also understand the importance of the music (and performing) for the people with talent. My late aunt who played piano (not professionally but at very good amateur level, she had her own Steinway in her living room) entertained us by her playing every time we visited her until the last year of her life.

So I am not saying that the son should say his father stop playing but he should see when he is not fit to perform. I would say that on Wednesday the point could have been after he had re-tuned his fathers guitar twice. He could have said "Dad, let's call it the day and try again on Friday". The answer probably could have been according the lines you suggest but still sometimes tough decisions have to to be made. One of the worst for me was when I had to took my father's car from him since he was not fit to drive anymore and he didn't see it (not the same thing I know but similar anyhow). 

What I felt on Wednesday night was not disappointment about missed performance but really sadness of life...  

I was there on Tuesday and really enjoyed it a lot. My first ever visit to the O2 and it was better than I feared it would be. I thought the lighting and staging were excellent and for the most part so was the music.

That opening "song" has been a work in progress for more than a year, based on reviews of the Back to Front tour which I have read, so I think we need to treat its "unfinished" status with a pinch of salt!

Have to say we missed the first set as we lingered over some very nice food at Gaucho, but I think the girls did a fine job during the PG concert.

Did you guys have the director of the video come up on stage immediately before the start and have you doing things like look grumpy and shout "Turn off the lights!"? Will be interesting to see the movie when it is released!

Not the last, but the next concert !!

Yes we had to do some setups, shouting, looking miserable, I guess some managed that better than others  and a minute of enthusiastic applause. I have never done this before at a concert but have at some TV show recordings.

Floyd are you wearing your Star Trek engineering red uniform shirt in your avatar pic?  

Yes BigH47, and I´m not shure what planet I´ve been beamed down to 

Over the course of six nights, I attended Four concerts. The music and enjoyment varied as one might have expected, so I will post as Four separate reviews.

The artists were - Anneke Van Giersbergen; Steven Wilson; Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.

#annekevangiersbergen @jazzcafecamden

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/...ngland-63c7022b.html 

Anneke played a fabulous gig at the Borderline earlier last year, but sadly the Jazz Cafe acoustics created a wall of sound for her band. One exception was the band playing the Gathering’s – ‘Saturnine’. Anneke played two beautiful acoustic guitar version’s of ‘Beautiful One’ & ‘Circles’ and a wonderful piano accompaniment for the Gathering’s, ‘Broken Glass’. Anneke’s voice can take your breath away and I would think benefit from finding an edge to her writing rather than the driving pop/rock songs she’s written over the recent years.

YT versions of songs from the setlist to introduce Anneke…

Saturnine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t8pJJNlnzg

Beautiful One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf1a3k8rfD0

Circles - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmob87Zxdlo

Broken Glass - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJwOM6Ip3hE

Over the course of six nights, I attended Four concerts. The music and enjoyment varied as one might have expected, so I will post as Four separate reviews.

The artists were - Anneke Van Giersbergen; Steven Wilson; Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.

#stevenwilson; @royalalberthall  

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/...ngland-6bc77efe.html 

I think the review of Kevin-W was pretty much spot on for his first exposure to a Steven Wilson concert. Initially, the Loggia Box we occupied provided good sight and I thought the sound should be good. Alas, the angle of vision meant the video effects were not even close to the Festival Hall gig earlier in the year. The visuals only work if you look face on, so off centre and lighting rigs interfere with the concepts portrayed. The Bass & drums were way down in the mix as observed by Kevin. The closing song to the first half, ‘Wreckage’ was an interesting development for the touring band, so a 4^th SW solo album looks likely. The energy and sound did improve in the second half of the gig and ‘Radioactive Toy’ really did take on a new life. I think Steven Wilson is a gifted musician and has a wonderful ear that old Prog artists trust enough to re-mix and bring life to older, muffled releases. The thing is, Steven is now part of the establishment, but he behaves with his stage patter as though he’s still an outsider. I would prefer if Steven just presented his new and old tunes with affection and lose the chip on his shoulder. I do wonder if Guthrie Govan will be in the band long term, as his role is mainly one of effects and the occasional solo. What would be interesting is a writing collaboration between Wilson/Holzman/Govan. Guthrie and Adam could take Steven on to a whole new level of Jazz/Rock/Fusion, as I think the Crimson influence is just about done now. I did speak to Guthrie after his recent gig with ‘The Fellowship’ and his quote that ‘there is no dead wood’ in the Wilson band is pretty accurate to say the least.

Over the course of six nights, I attended Four concerts. The music and enjoyment varied as one might have expected, so I will post as Four separate reviews.

The artists were - Anneke Van Giersbergen; Steven Wilson; Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.

#petergabriel  @theo2

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/...ngland-43c7772f.html 

Here is where I depart from the previous praise of the Peter Gabriel concert at The O2. My expectations were low after the previous O2 disappointment with Neil Young gig. I was advised that PG should be more engaging than Neil, who played like he was in his front room, rather than projecting his wonderful music to 20,000 fans (of whom, 15,000 would need the Hubble Telescope to see him on stage).

The O2 concept represents corporate greed to me on a grand scale. Venues like this should not be allowed to present a musical event. The idea seems to be one of a Social Media gathering centre that caters for people to upload their pictures and videos to Facebook and Twitter, to say ‘I was there'.

My point is made by Peter Gabriel’s FB page asking fans the following…

Do you have an eye for capturing the moment? Or are you a budding film maker?
We would like to invite fans attending either of Peter’s shows at the O2 Arena to record songs from the performance on their smart phones. In particular the songs Big Time, & In Your Eyes
We will be asking you to submit your footage via petergabriel.com on the 22nd. Please check the website on the 22nd for further details on our venture.

The vastness of the venue prevents any real engagement for people who get an emotional connection with musicians and their music. Two other Forum members felt the same as me, with one feeling that Peter was performing for the Film Crew rather than the audience. The overall effect for us, was one of a sterile atmosphere and a boring un-engaging performance. This was not helped by sitting 100 yards from the stage at an angle of 60 degrees in an uncomfortable seat.

The other surprising thing for me was that performance of ‘So’ in ‘part 3’ simply didn’t flow. I think artists need to think through their concert setlist from the audience point of view really. If you were at home, would you listen to this set of songs in that order, or would those songs to make an engaging mixtape for example. It was a performance that was played but I never felt involved, which sums up my feelings about the O2. I will never return to that monstrosity again

If you enjoyed the concert I am pleased for you.

It goes to show we are all wired differently for sound.

In the beginning it was said – “I know what I like and I like what I know”

…and everything under the O2 has no tune
but the dome is eclipsed by the kerching

"There is no dark side of the O2 really. Matter of fact it's all dark."

Over the course of six nights, I attended Four concerts. The music and enjoyment varied as one might have expected, so I will post as Four separate reviews.

The artists were - Anneke Van Giersbergen; Steven Wilson; Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.

#stevehackett  @royalalberthall

I’m guessing the Bristol setlist below is the same as RAH, as I’m not an expert…

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/...ngland-63c77207.html 

Having surprised myself at enjoying the previous Steve Hackett gig, I thought I’d join the Genesis fan boys from the Forum, for Steve’s RAH concert. I obtained a good central arena seat in row 10, so knew I was not going to twist my spine or need binoculars to see the band. A good meal and chat beforehand set up a wonderful evening’s musical entertainment. The real difference to this gig and the Peter Gabriel event was one of warmth and empathy from the crowd and the emphasis of Steve and his band to project themselves and entertain. This is what I want out of ‘live’ music and it was exactly the same experience at the Hammersmith Apollo gig. I would have loved to have heard Nik Kershaw again, but that was the only difference from another enjoyable show.

I know I will be badgered to get those early Genesis albums, but I’ll hold off until next year’s budget.

Glad he was so good chaps. My brother had bought me a ticket for the Bristol concert but I'm not too well at the moment so I had to cry off. Damn...

Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo @ St John the Evangelist church, Oxford. Tuesday 22nd October 2013.

Venue : small to medium sized church just south of the Cowley Road. First visit there and would definitely go to other similar events. Seriously thinking Mr Anderson's Christmas tour.

Support slot was Chris TT (and no he was not a leather clad biker but a really talented folk-ish singer/guitar/keyboard/acapella ... well you get the picture ... from Brighton. His music is not exactly my cup of tea but I can recognise some great lyrics and I've always got time for gentle self-deprecating humour. Well done Chris.

As for Emily Barker, well this was the first time we had seen her & band although we're familiar with her 1st and 3rd albums and are now getting acquainted with the middle one which we bought, on vinyl, on the night.

Fantastic voice, great guitar playing and good song writing. What a talent she is and with her band they can kick up a storm and take it down again as well as anyone. If you get the chance to see them in a small venue like this then grab it with both hands. Lot's of stories introducing some of the songs and again some nice bits of humour thrown in.

All in all a good night.

Scott

Hi Scott,

I'm travelling from Essex to Hastings to see Emily & band play @ St Mary in the Castle. I chose the venue because it looked great and wanted a change from London venues. I have seen Emily about six or seven times and always enjoyed the gig's. The band play the new album much heavier than Linn have recorded it, I'm sorry to say.

http://stmaryinthecastle.co.uk/index.html 

Hi Denis,

That does look like an interesting venue.

Did you mean you preferred the album or the live rendition of the songs? Wasn't sure but get the impression you think Linn could have done better. Maybe she should relocate to some other HiFi record label Anyway I  thought she was pretty faithful to the CD of Dear River with Letters, in particular, being an outstanding track for me. I'm sure you will enjoy the gig but that's a bit of a hike and parts of East Sussex can be amazingly remote (which is good) considering it is so close to London.

Scott

Hi Scott,

Sorry for the delay, I've been listening to this Podcast - http://www.mixcloud.com/ianfai...-113-death-dispatch/ 

I think Linn have ruined the promise of a harder / louder edge to Emily's sound that Graham & I witnessed earlier this year. I'm so surprised that Calum Malcolm produced the album in that way. It sucked the life and energy out of the performance we saw and thought of as a new direction. Music does not have to be safe or predictable. I wonder if there was pressure from the 'Suits'

Denis

 Peter Gabriel - Back to Front - Manchester

Denis, I obviously cannot disagree with your personal assessments but a few points.

I have only seen PG once before on the the disappointing New Blood Orchestra. I have the DVD of UP so it made it even more annoying.

As to the O2 show, "he was playing to the camera" yes he was to a certain extent as he was making a DVD, and with all those cameras on stage with him I think I might get a bit distracted. Whatever we and many others enjoyed it. I try to make a point of getting tickets straight in front of the stage, these may be a long way away, we were in Block 106 for NY and 105 slightly lower and closer for PG. As you say NY was away in his own small world. Earlier we had seen The Wall and again seats stage ahead and with those graphics you needed to be a bit further back I think.

Like you I prefer smaller venues, after seeing Steve Hackett at 3 small theatres/converted pubs, Hammersmith was a bit of a shock but he gave a great concert there too, we were sad to miss out on RAH tickets.

Less said about the "new" SW the better I think.

Nick Cave at the Dome (lovely venue) was too loud to be really enjoyable.

Lissie at KOKO on Monday (weather permitting ) again a smaller venue, wait to see how that pans out.

Overall given that we are still trying to catch up with many acts we missed, we are beholden to the choices of venue that their management arranges. So maybe we will still have to visit O2/Wembley Stadium type venues again, but not with any great enthusiasm. 

'til the next time, Howard.