What concert did you attend in 2018?

WOMAD at Charlton Park in Wiltshire. As it says on the tin, the best music you have never heard of. Another fantastic line up with a lot more jazz this year. The Ezra Collective, the Richard Spaven Trio, the Original Gypsies of Carmargue, Tal National, Django Django, Thievery Corporation and Leftfield were my personal highlights. I will be back again next year. 

Regards

Nic

Saw Claire Martin (voc), Jim Mullen (g), Erik Soderlind (g) last night

Most enjoyable - super guitar playing !

4th May - Heliocentrics at Hackney's Moth Club.

Jazzy funky space rock - think Sly & The Family Stone crossed with Hawkwind and the Sun Ra Arkestra with a hint of Afro-oriental exoticism thrown in.

May 8th - off to Rich Mix in Shoreditch to see Turkish sax colossus Korhan Futaci and his excellent (mostly Greek) pickup band (bass, drums, percussion, synth/guitar, various Turkish instuments) The Kara Orkestra perform. For just £8 for 90 minutes' worth of music, it was an absolute steal.

Check him out here (recorded 2017):

5th May - to The Rebel Inn, Streatham, to see Ese & The Vooduu People play, with stand-in drummer Wieland (Pharoah being on tour in America). A great show - albeit there were a lot of covers thrown in for the Saturday night crowd and shifted some CDs too...

Set 1: She said (Plan B song) - Where did I Go Wrong? - Dub - Family Affair (Sly & The Family Stone song) - I Don't Mind - Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding song) -  Fairytale - A Change Gonna Come (Sam Cooke song) - Lies - Manic Depression (Jimi Hendrix song) - Alien - Valerie (Amy Winehouse song)

Set 2: Grey - I Can't Feel My Face (The Weeknd song) - Up in Smoke - Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts/Isleys song) - Police & Thieves (Junior Murvin song) - My Girl (Temptations song) - Dynamite - I Wanna Be Adored (Stone Roses song) - Silver Spoon - Fly Away (Lennie Kravitz song)

Kevin-W posted:

4th May - Heliocentrics at Hackney's Moth Club.

Jazzy funky space rock - think Sly & The Family Stone crossed with Hawkwind and the Sun Ra Arkestra with a hint of Afro-oriental exoticism thrown in.

Now that sounds an interesting blend... 

To The Vortex, in Dalston, East London to see free jazz collective Chicago/London Underground.

This quartet comprises:

Rob Mazurek – Piccolo Trumpet + Electronics + Voice
Alexander Hawkins – Piano
John Edwards – Bass
Chad Taylor – Drums + Mbira + Electronics

It was a night of fearsome, gripping improv in one of London's best venues. Here's an example of their often incendiary music:

11th May. Back to an old stomping ground, The Hand in Hand in Brixton, for a low-key gig by Ese and the boys ahead of some big club and festival dates. Ese's guitar was some the best I have ever heard her play.

I Don't Mind - Alien - She said (Plan B song) - Where Did i Go Wrong? - Family Affair (Sly Stone song) - Grey - Fairytale - Up In Smoke - Silver Spoon

The Wicked Wednesday Jam, which local celeb and Alabama 3/Jah Wobble singer Aurora Dawn runs every Wednesday night (natch!) at the 414 Club is an important part of the thriving Brixton music scene.

On the 18th May Aurora invited Ese & The Vooduu People to come along and they played a great show there. You can see a video clip above.

Setlist: Grey - Alien - I Don't Mind - Where Did i Go Wrong? - Dub - Family Affair (Sly Stone song) - Up In Smoke (clip above) - Police & Thieves (Junior Murvin song) - Silver Spoon - Fairytale.

Afterwards there was an epic jam with around a dozen local musicians that went on until 4am!

Ese looks fabulous.

Kevin, they should be in Lollapalooza Chicago next year! 

kuma posted:

Ese looks fabulous.

Kevin, they should be in Lollapalooza Chicago next year! 

Thanks Kuma. Would love to do Lollapalooza! Any guidance about how to get on the bill most appreciated!

24th May. Thanks to a journalist mate of mine, I was able to see one of Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets shows at the Half Moon in Putney. It was great fun - the band (including Gary Kemp) was surprisingly good and the choice of songs was very adventurous (compared to Gilmour and Waters).

Looking forward to seeing them in Luxembourg and in London next month. I was talking to (bassist) Guy Pratt a couple of weeks ago and he said they were probably shaking up the setlist... with an attempt at part of "Atom Heart Mother" perhaps on the cards!

Edit this setlist | More Nick Mason setlists

Just back from a short holiday in Germany, the highlight of which was a visit to Bayreuth for the Wagner festival, I had finally managed to get a couple of tickets for Parsifal after many years of trying.

From the outside the 1925 seat theatre looks quite large but once you get inside it is surprisingly compact with very good sight lines.

The famed acoustics and the sunken pit allowed the singers to be heard beautifully over the orchestra.

This was the third year for this production of Parsifal and it has received a mixed reception from the critics but judging by the sustained loud applause, cheers and stamping of feet the audience approved.

For what it’s worth my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it and it finished early enough for us to walk back to town for some very nice German beer!

While in Bayreuth the Wagner museum at Wahnfried and the sumptuous Margravial Opera House (as photographed by Bert Schurink earlier in this thread) are essential places to visit.

Morton posted:

Just back from a short holiday in Germany, the highlight of which was a visit to Bayreuth for the Wagner festival, I had finally managed to get a couple of tickets for Parsifal after many years of trying.

From the outside the 1925 seat theatre looks quite large but once you get inside it is surprisingly compact with very good sight lines.

The famed acoustics and the sunken pit allowed the singers to be heard beautifully over the orchestra.

This was the third year for this production of Parsifal and it has received a mixed reception from the critics but judging by the sustained loud applause, cheers and stamping of feet the audience approved.

For what it’s worth my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it and it finished early enough for us to walk back to town for some very nice German beer!

While in Bayreuth the Wagner museum at Wahnfried and the sumptuous Margravial Opera House (as photographed by Bert Schurink earlier in this thread) are essential places to visit.

Very lucky, Morton. I'm rather envious!

Excellent as usual. 

.sjb

Saw and heard Steve Turner at the Folk East festival yesterday. Superb folk singer and concertina player.. as well as some wierd looking mandolin type instrument. Really enjoyable and great presence 

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Saw and heard Steve Turner at the Folk East festival yesterday. Superb folk singer and concertina player.. as well as some wierd looking mandolin type instrument. Really enjoyable and great presence 

Not seen him for some time so had to look up what I thought may have been a bozouki, his website says it is a cittern.

Indeed thanks.. though looks a very contemporary cittern. At Folkeast saw Kath Tait yesterday.. very poignant and honest reflective  lyrics, and refreshing to hear a contemporary style folk singer singing about observations other than about social injustices from the perspective of a champagne socialist. Another standout was Luke Daniels, superb singer, singing an interesting and evocative song from the British drover tradition which was later exported to the new world and he was also performing work with his latest experiment of using an overdubbed polyphon... who said folk can not be about innovation... some very haunting and spiritual sounding work.

Saw Suzanne Vega at G-live, Guildford yesterday evening.  No support act. She played two full sessions, the first the full album of Solitude Standing (in the correct order); the second 99.9 degrees; then a four-song encore.  So her opening song was Tom's Diner, which set the tone perfectly. Her 3-piece backing band were superb.  I've seen her once before, at the Union Chapel which I very much enjoyed, but I think this performance topped it.       

At the Proms last night (19/8/18) for Mozart Clarinet Concerto and the awesome Mahler Fifth - brilliant evening.  But boy was it hot in London last night!

We saw Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite last night in Calgary. They played for 2 hours, and did "When the Levee Breaks" as their last tune. Amazing...

When we went to see the Barr Brothers some weeks back Carl, a promoter who puts the gigs on in the church Chester was there. He told us that Ethan Johns was playing at 81 Renshaw Street and the tickets would be going on sale. I managed to get two and went with Keith last night.

We turned up at the venue which looks like and is a small cafe that sells a small selection of vinyl. We got there a bit early so we got a drink during which time the place had filled to overflowing. In walked Robert Vincent and the doors opened to a room behind the cafe, so in we went. As we were going in some people pushed past, they were the band going in and Ethan Johns coming out. The main room held I guess around 150, it was a small room with a small bar at the back which where we based ourselves for the night. Keith has seen Robert Vincent 3 or 4 times and he was always solo I had seen him once at the Cavern were he did 2 songs as a guest of Garry Tallent of The East Street Band. That was what we expected last night as he was support. It was a real treat to find he had his band behind him. So he played a set pulling songs from both of his albums and as I said before, it was a real treat. He could have been straight out of Nashville but he is straight out of Crosby and has learnt his skills in the pubs and venues of Liverpool and surrounding towns. Having a backing singer a bass player and a guitarist who played slide as well as a strat added atmosphere to his songs.We were both in heaven. No wonder he won the Americana award early this year. He played for close to an hour a the music and banter was brilliant.

Then we had a short break to change the stage and on came Ethan Johns assisted by a girl on violin and a guy on bass. The first thing Ethan said was “ I f*cking love Robert Vincent” which brought a hugh cheer. It was a brilliant set with him mainly playing acoustic and the odd song electric. At times it was reminiscent of Dylan but he has his own distinct sound. We got a real polished set and I have no idea how long he was on for as time didn’t seem to matter until he had to ask how long he had left before curfew. Whilst he was on Robert Vincent came and stood alongside us and we chatted and swigged a few pints.  He supported Roger Waters in Hyde Park a few weeks back and I know Roger is his hero. Keith asked him asked whether he got to meet him, he had and said he was such a nice guy. I think I lost a few pounds (lbs not £), it was such a hot night and venue being small and full didn’t help, but I love gigs like this more intimate and far better.

 I think it goes on the list of special gigs that Keith and I have been to up there with Marcus Miller, Kamasi Washington and Little Steven. Those gigs are where we both come out and agreed we have seen something special. Next up Soccer Mummy then Richard Thompson the month after. Really looking forward to that as Joan Shelley is support artist and her last album was produced by Jeff Tweedy from Wilco who Keith is a huge fan of.

Buck & Evans, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, 23rd August 2018

First time I’ve managed to get to see Buck & Evans, and I can’t recommend them highly enough for anyone that likes the genre ‘blues-rock’. (Probably more rock than blues!)

Sally Ann Evans (piano and lead vocals- really strong voice) and Chris Buck (lead guitar - superb axemanship!) are the main protagonists, ably supported by Bob Richards (drums) and Dominic Hill (bass). Started off with a few mellower songs before building to some real classic heavyweights, covering many from their new album due to be released soon. They entertain in between songs with plenty of gentle banter and chat with the crowd, but the night was just stunning. Brilliant venue too.

Thoroughly recommended. They are playing Newcastle tonight, Glasgow Saturday, hopefully they will be back touring again once the album is officially released. Check them out.

Just got home after seeing Feeder at the Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man.

They were very good, but loud.

Their experience of playing live for 20+ years showed. Excellent musicians.

Considering I only have two albums from their long career, I knew more songs than I thought I would.