Gigs with Ivan

Declan McKenna live in Bournemouth

Declan McKenna at O2 Academy Bournemouth (14.4.2024) with Wunderhorse supporting.

My first Declan McKenna encounter was in the Glastonbury June sunshine, 2022, led by my wife and our friend (Ann P) who had heard of him, to The Other Stage. We sat in our camping chairs with pint cartons of chilled white wine, around lunchtime (if we have ‘lunchtime’ at festivals). The songs were original and varied and he was putting in a shift and grabbing attention. I think the surroundings influenced me.

It was Glastonbury where he appeared in 2015, winning an emerging talent competition.

When his Bournemouth gig was mentioned I thought, go on then – tickets bought – I’ll give it a go – a bit of pre-gig ‘revision’ with top picks and latest album, What Happened to the Beach, on Spotify. I was still wondering if this was the right thing. Still, it’s local and I like the venue. More on the 02 Academy Bournemouth on this link.

I’m a bit the worse for wear after standing for five hours plus at The Vive Le Rock Magazine Awards event two days before, in Islington – great night that was with sets by Theatre of Hate, Ruts DC and Sham 69 and a range of appearances with the Vive Le Rock band for the evening. Hence I was relieved to find ‘The Gods’ open up the top of the O2 Academy Bournemouth, after a swift entry via the O2 phone contract queue jumping line – it doesn’t seem fair breezing passed a queue stretching a quarter of a mile down the road.

Support band Wunderhorse are on at O2 Academy Bournemouth

What I did find a few days before the gig was that a band called Wunderhorse were supporting. Playing their first album, Cub (2022), I realised that this lot were a band for me – I loved it, first hearing.

Lead singer, Jacob Slater sounds almost Lou Reed-like, hampered it seems by his ailing throat. He mentions this but the sound is still good. A few songs sound a bit early and earthy REM; shades of the solid rocky sounds of the likes of The Gaslight Anthem. Americana indeed.

The downstairs was packed. I’d already figured out I was just about the oldest person in the place – not just old enough to be mistaken for a supervising parent but possibly grandparent. Even for Wunderhorse they were singing all the words to a few songs.

Whether its Slater’s throat or just time pressures as support slot, they only do about five or six numbers. Although these were not, aside from Teal, on the album I’d been listening to, they offered familiar and appealing sounds. When they finished they were straight off. My first thought was when do I get to see them again then.

At a quarter to nine the mountainous backdrop is lit and one hell of a high pitched scream rises up from the crowd below – the screams tonight are louder than the music and demand the ear protective plugs for that alone. I can only remember McFly inducing such noises (I know, I’ve seen them twice somehow).

McKenna is something of a musical genius – he can play pretty much everything and does so on his albums, majoring on stage with guitar and keyboards. He dances around like a lad playing guitar in his bedroom – different styles come out, all with such enthusiasm – poppy, rocky, even glam – and matched every bit by the crowd. He really does look like he is enjoying himself massively onstage – no posing – no attitude – super lively. Complex guitar pedal arrangement, no doubt with baffling looping going on…..but he has the air of someone without a care in the World.

This was the last night of the tour and having played Ally Pally the night before it must have been a bit of a squeeze getting all those fake mountains onto the O2 Academy stage – unusual. This latest album is his third. He’s 25 and being writing songs for 10 years with the other two albums being released in 2017 and 2020. Nine tracks from the newest album tonight, interspersed throughout the set – the audience knew all the stuff anyway so no notable lulls for newer material.

The early part of the set had me bemused at times – I felt like I’d gate-crashed a student party – but the anthem of Brazil from his first album is quite irresistible (captured here on my zoom camera video: Brazil YouTube @grey-hairedgiggoer) (The Key to Life on Earth can also be found here, from earlier in the set).

As the steam heat rises from below (it’s not usually this warm in here) Declan McKenna’s jacket is eventually discarded. He leaps over for some songs at the piano – a bit calmer. With ten songs from the first two albums adding to the nine from the new one, there’s a good mix there which has sent everyone wild – I don’t feel involved in the wildness from my position up in the Gods but no way I was going down in there tonight.

After the main set he and the band return. He announces Paracetamol – quite apt as I’ve been popping a lot of those this weekend – from the first LP (What Do You Think About the Car?) and the first time they’ve played it on the tour. Then there is a new one, Phantom Buzz, before the 2019 song not on any albums: British Bombs. Dancing and jumping while singing the chorus of ‘Great Britain won’t stand for felons; Great British Bombs in the Yemen’, apparently written about the hypocrisy or the British arms trade.

Bit of an eye-opener this one. Maybe I strayed a little from my comfort zone but an enjoyable evening and an insight into some even younger appeal music than any others I have tried in recent years.

Paul Weller back in Poole

Paul Weller live at The Lighthouse, Poole on 4.4.2024 with Barbara supporting.

This is wonderful to see: Paul Weller in Poole, embarking on his 2024 UK tour – second date after Shepherd’s Bush a few nights ago. This is no ‘strange town’ for Weller: The Jam played at the Poole Arts Centre as it was then and I was at the Paul Weller gig here in December 2006.

Since I moved here 12 years ago, the Lighthouse hasn’t had too many gigs of my tastes to really rave about – a few decent ones a year but it has been off the obvious circuit (Simple Minds and Nick Cave notable special ones).

This year, things are booming – we’ve had Noel Gallagher here a few weeks ago and another sell out gig tonight, in the main concert hall, the one that is home to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The floor level moves to suit and the gently sloping terraces of seats can become a large flat standing area, with balcony seats above, giving a total capacity of around 2,400. It was brilliant to see the queues outside and the packed hall tonight.

My ticket from up the road in Bournemouth 19 years ago

I never saw The Jam before their 1982 split. A big, big regret. (They are selling a classic Jam t-shirt on the merch stand tonight – see he hasn’t forgotten). I just never tried hard enough to go and see them in my early gig-going of 1979-1982, when they were still around and in their last year (1982), The Gift album didn’t grab me like the others. I didn’t warm to The Style Council after that but Weller’s Wild Wood album (1993) brought me back. That and Stanley Road are still my favourites amid the huge amount of material that Weller has put out, and a lot of which I bought on CD.

This my eighth Weller gig, the first being in Wolverhampton in March 1994, which was recorded with tracks appearing on the Live Wood album. Then there was a Pheonix Festival headliner appearance later that year, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Here in Poole in 2006. A few gigs at the Bournemouth BIC in November 2005 and 2010 – I remember being disappointed with the BIC gigs – then a crowd pleasing Victorious Festival set in Southsea 2018, and my favourite Weller gig yet at the Westonbirt Arboretum in the summer of 2023.

Paul Weller at Westonbirt Arboretum 2023

Support band tonight is Barbara, an excited indie-rock/pop band (two brothers from Brighton but full band tonight) that I was perked up by and they quite impressed. I’d like to see them again. To be honest I had to save my ailing leg and go for a sit down so just saw half their set. A knackered swollen knee was hampering me and I limped down here this evening with a crutch – this grey-haired gig going lark is hard work at times. Could have sworn we were seated for this one. A lean on the mixing desk barrier pen was my chosen spot, and often is.

Beautifully full – it was a fast sell out this. The old favourites are all here: Ben Sherman and his mate Fred Perry; the Weller haircuts, the parkas, the odd striped blazer. Happy aging faces. Happy grey-haired (and no haired) gig goers in large numbers.

The 29-song set is opened with Rip the Pages Up from the 22 Dreams album. Usual full of depth sound, including Steve Cradock of Ocean Colour Scene and two drummers, without losing Weller’s vocals, guitar and piano.

The first song from Wild Wood hit the note: All The Pictures On The Wall – this remains my favourite Weller album, alongside Stanley Road. The title track gets aired later and Hung Up – great tracks – great album. There was a documentary on Sky Arts recently, called Record On: Paul Weller Wild Wood, that underlined the album’s place in history.

Other early highlights were album title tracks Fat Pop and Stanley Road. Weller looks happy but doesn’t say a great deal. “Good to be back – this is Poole Arts Centre isn’t it?”, remembering previously visits. When he says “this is something really old” ears prick up; necks stretch. It’s Style Council classic Shout to the Top. The famous wooden floor starts to shake. The mixing desk area starts to move like it’s at sea.

My dodgy knee was complaining too much by the end of that one and I clawed my way out for a sit down and pain relieving alcohol top up. After a bit I hear a guy say, “I can’t believe we’re sitting here when he’s playing this”, and I can hear the distant but familiar sounds of one of Weller’s best: You Do Something To Me. I guess every person sat out in the bar at this point must have an injury, ailment or a story.

I return and don’t get much beyond the doors before progress is too difficult, so I settle for that and Jam classic That’s Entertainment is next. Brilliant – Weller’s voice and acoustic guitar so clear above the accompanying sounds. Then Wild Wood. Wow.

Poole Lighthouse – Paul Weller – a view from the back

The other Jam song tonight isn’t far behind – Start. I have got beyond being bothered about how many Jam songs are played at Weller gigs, but it’s hard not to note – a From The Jam gig is the place to go for a Jam song feast and I am happy with Russell Hastings singing them.

Peacock Street from the Heavy Soul album (1997) rounds off the main set. Another very good album to my ears.

I disappeared for another leg rest and propped myself up by the merch stand, listening and peering through the doors. So busy that once out of the auditorium many aren’t up for battling back in at this stage. Not a great way to enjoy a band but needs must – I wasn’t going home.

Another six songs as an encore, including Style Council song Headstart for Happiness. The lights don’t come up after that and Weller and his band reappear, so I go forward to poke my head in again for The Changingman which ends the show. Good finish, but I did notice there were two more songs on the mixing desk, including A Town Called Malice which they didn’t get to.

So good to see this type of gig here in Poole…again. More to come later in the year (including Dexys, Elvis Costello).

Mr Weller is 66 in May and his album 66 is released to coincide with that birthday. I shall be 61. Maybe I should go for a Weller grey-haired mop top.

Jesus and Mary Chain live at Easter

The Jesus and Mary Chain live at The Roundhouse, London (30.3.2024) with Deathcrash supporting.

My second trip to The Roundhouse this month, seated this time, in the balcony with an excellent ‘between the pillars’ view. More on the venue and pre-gig options can be found here in my Lathums blog.

There are about 10 rows of balcony seats, curving right round between two private viewing areas, one to the left of the stage being the members’ bar – I watched support band Deathcrash from up there. I could see why they were picked to support. Interesting and maybe best listened to alone in a darkened room. Slow and shoegazey.

I was so keen to get to this one tonight. Over the years I have had several attempts to see The Jesus and Mary Chain (J&MC) thwarted by cancellations and aside from their set in the John Peel tent at Glastonbury in 2022, I haven’t seen them live before.

I love the J&MC general naughtiness – and they have a history of rocking the boat – walking off, late starts, short sets and the chaotic feedback and fuzz of their sound.

I first noticed them when they appeared on 7″ EPs free with NME music papers…yes actual vinyl records with actual hardcopy newspapers. I bought their 1985 single Never Understand but never added more to my collection. Lots of evening radio play I remember but it never tripped any purchases. Having listened to the new album, Glasgow Eyes, several times I think this could be the prompt for a J&MC vinyl LP… I’ve waited long enough…since the mid-80s.

This was a masterful performance by the Reid brothers, Jim (lead singer) and William (guitarist and main songwriter), and their current band. The setlist was a near perfect selection covering many bases, with 10 singles and just four tracks from the Glasgow Eyes album.

Happy When It Rains makes an early appearance – a lyric underlining the band’s darkness eh. My pick from the new LP is The Eagles and The Beatles and that gets played – almost a pop song in there. All four new album tracks bed in well to the set.

The sound was as clear as fuzz pedals and feedback could be – there must be some benefit to be had from playing a second consecutive night at the same venue. A night for imaginary guitar playing – maybe a small one up in the balcony.

From my vantage point I did grab a video selection which I have saved on my YouTube channel @grey-hairedgiggoer which included Amputation, Sidewalking and the final track if the encores: I Hate Rock’n’Roll. I love Sidewalking. A few songs before that one was Some Candy Talking.

I have waited far too long to see The Jesus and Mary Chain on their tour, but it wasn’t too late. Maybe it was better for the wait. The time honoured test when you leave the venue, how much do you want to see them again… well I would have gone again the next day, and I’m sure some people who went on Good Friday did just that.

Noel Gallagher live in Bournemouth

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at O2 Academy Bournemouth on 18.3.2024 with Adam Zindani supporting.

As the smallest of three warm-up gigs (Portsmouth and Poole were the other two) for Noel’s March Royal Albert Hall show, he played at the 1800 capacity O2 Academy Bournemouth (my venue blog link). He must like it – we all do eh – as he played here last year as well.

This was my fourth gig in four nights so a seat upstairs beckoned. I was going to wander down later on but had a great view so thought I’d stay put, having been greeted to ‘The Gods’ seats by an ex-work colleague Russell, now doing some Show Sec security work. He still let me in anyway. (This top tier is not always open and when it is, is usually capacity restricted by the issue of free wristbands.)

Support was from Adam Zindani to ease everyone in gently. Adam is rhythm guitarist with The Stereophonics, playing tonight with a keyboard player. Sounded very good and his cover of the brilliant What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding was appreciated by my ears.

There are flowers lining the back of the usable stage, behind are the amps, the Manchester City emblem and a cardboard cutout of City manager Pep Guardiola. There was a time that football and rock’n’roll didn’t mix.

Noel Gallagher on his Manchester City badged stage

The first part of the set is Noel’s High Flying Birds material and the latter part Oasis. The first five songs are all from the last High Flying Birds album Council Skies (2023), and it’s the title track that’s best for me.

The Chasing Yesterday album (2015) section has In the Heat of the Moment as the stand

out piece. Noel’s not saying much, just ploughing on with the songs. Great sound. Great delivery. The only time he gets a bit animated is when he picks up some football banter and has a dig at AFC Bournemouth up the road, feigning ignorance of their league position in the shadow of his oil sheik powered Manchester City.

There’s a fair old crowd in Noel’s High Flying Birds: up to 13 on stage at time, with backing singing trio. It gives so much depth to the sound, behind Noel’s acoustic guitar and vocals.

I was hanging on the intros to grab a video clip and settled on If I Had a Gun from Noel’s first album. (@grey-hairedgiggoer YouTube channel)

It must be frustrating that Oasis material always gets the best reception, but he doesn’t fight it. All the Oasis material is in the latter part and there are nine songs, broken up only by the last song of the main set: a cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. Nothing added to the song but a Manchester tribute I guess.

The three Oasis encores are pretty tremendous to hear live, still: Stand By Me, Live Forever and Don’t Look Back in Anger but Little by Little and The Masterplan run them close. I really like The Masterplan.

Great opportunity this one. My gig of the year to date. I’ve only seen Noel with his High Flying Birds a few times – Bournemouth BIC in 2012 and at Glastonbury in 2022. I saw Oasis three times plus a festival but I wasn’t right there at the beginning. I prefer the kick arse snarling of Liam, if pressed to choose, but they both have their distinct talents and tonight was a real good ‘un.

Judas Priest live and loud in Bournemouth

Judas Priest at Bournemouth International Centre on 17.3.2024 with Saxon and Uriah Heep supporting.

My very occasional diversions to some heavy metal or heavy rock really had to include this local bill, but there’s nothing I can tell a diehard metal fan about tonight. I’m just on a musical excursion, tonight on my own, well aside from 6,500 other ageing gig-goers.

Bournemouth International Centre for Judas Priest

It’s a really big venue, especially when you get the full balcony view. In the 80s I would have said too big but with the monstrous halls that now pass for a gig, I guess this is almost ‘intimate’. I can see the faces on stage. No big screens required.

I won’t dwell on the BIC now, beyond remarking on the astonishingly poor toilet provision for all of the balcony seats, and you can’t get into the downstairs without tickets – I don’t ever remember it so bad downstairs, for men. Not a place to want a drink mind so I suppose we shouldn’t worry.

I was exposed to NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) around 1980, thanks to my mate Rich and a mutual friend ‘Curly’ who ‘transitioned’ from punk to metal at a Reading Festival around that time. In terms of record buying, I still just have two Motorhead singles, Iron Maiden’s first single and a UFO EP I received in a swap when I was maintaining it was better to have something new than a single you already have on an album. (Foolish lad – that cost me Buzzcocks’ Every Fallen in Love, picture cover.)

Of those schoolboy metal indoctrination sessions, Saxon and Judas Priest were right up there in my usual choices. I really had never listened to any Uriah Heep, until Spotify tastings after buying my ticket for tonight.

Early start, 6.30pm doors on this Sunday evening. A huge snake of leather and denim wound back and forth from the BIC doors. I don’t recall this off-putting start from other gigs here. Maybe I’m never here this early. I wait with a pint in the 1812 bar of the hotel over the road – far preferable to the BIC for a pre-gig drink anyway. The queue has only grown since I retreated, so I have to join or miss the first band. It moves, with muttering and scowls.

A thirty-minute, seven song set from Uriah Heep is a great start. Formed in 1969(!), with 67-year-old, Canadian born, Bernie Shaw taking over on vocals in the mid-80s. His voice is still excellent – classic heavy rock sound. (Original guitarist Mick Box is still in the band. Rock on man, rock on.)

They share their pleasure at being on the bill, promising to see everyone again with a longer show another time. “We’ve got 150 years of rock on this stage tonight”, bellows Shaw, referring to the line-up they share. The audience is no spring chicken mind I can tell you and they are loving it. It’s beautifully loud.

Some intricate keyboards come to the fore at times which brings that real late 70s vibe.

The balcony is a good vantage point for unobtrusive and unobstructed video clips and the one I dive in on is here on my Grey-haired Gig Goer YouTube channel: Gypsy. (Over 2k views in the last week so there are some fans out there.)

“We ain’t goin’ nowhere without playing this one”, screams Bernie Shaw. A cheer and they finish with the recognisable, dare I say hit, Easy Livin’.

It’s Saxon next, who get a full hour, and every bit as good at the headliners for me.

Still fronted by Biff Byford (from Barnsley), a regular name to jump out of the pages of my weekly copy of Sounds when at school. The whole band have fantastic headbanging hair, used to full effect at stage front, and with the standing crowd reciprocating in pockets, with varying degrees of vigour.

Well into the set, frontman Byford stops to suggest some choices to the audience and solicits cheers for three options – I like that and wonder if every crowd chooses the same – this time the band oblige with Crusader.

We get to the big singles, the first being 747 (Strangers in the Night). I’ve had the first few lines of this at the front of my mind at every mention of Saxon for 40 plus years, well frankly virtually every time I see a 747 take-off or fly over (this was a lot when I lived near the flight path to America from Heathrow – so my enthusiasm for this one is hard to quash). I took a vid of this one: Grey-haired Gig Goer channel on YouTube. (@grey-hairedgiggoer)

It’s that 1980 LP Wheels of Steel that got the plays round at my mate Rich’s house (their second album). They also played Motorcycle Man from this one, but of course it’s the title track that everyone must be waiting for and hearing Wheels of Steel live has to go in my book of rock’n’roll experiences.

They end with Princess of the Night and that set was as good as I could have wished for. My 17-year-old self would never have admitted it and would have been a bit surprised I think.

And so to tonight’s headliners Judas Priest. First thing – it was bloody loud. Loudest BIC performance I’ve seen. No challenge to my Motörhead at Southampton Guildhall experience but it’s premier league loudness. (Loudness is always a good discussion point – Buzzcocks have startled me a few times and god knows what damage Ramones gigs did to me.)

It was the 1980 album British Steel that got my ear back in the day. This is the Invincible Shield Tour, that being the name of their new album, which is in at #2 in the UK Album Chart, so the fan base is out there, with it also doing well across the World. Only three songs from the new album in the set, which is a likely relief to most, but a bit of a surprise. Four from British Steel so that suited me.

Lead singer Rob Halford stomps around the roomy stage looking every bit of his 72 years, sporting his huge ball of grey beard. How do these guys keep at it? He is often at the front the stage to lean over, singing into the crowd or head down towards a monitor, leather and stud clad as ever (Hell Bent for Leather appears in the encore).

Breaking the Law – one of the singles from British Steel – is the third song in which boosts the crowd noise and my interest. Love it. This is what I came for.

The set is all heavy and loud, without let up, and this appears to be what everyone wanted.

The band wander off periodically through some curtained openings. I was expecting costume changes or something dramatic but they just popped out for a bit from what I could see.

The main set ends with Painkiller. On their return I grab a video of Electric Eye, a belter, from 1982 which you can find at this link and join the 2,600 viewers this week.

Then Halford disappears and returns on his motorbike, on stage. Suddenly I remember this party piece. I guess most knew it was coming. Hell Bent for Leather and to finish, the big 1980 hit, Living After Midnight. The big emblem above the stage moves around again and that’s it… the show is over.

Three bands: live and loud. Job done. Heavy metal lives on.

Red Rum Club live in Southampton

Red Rum Club at The Engine Rooms on 15.3.2024 with The Bankes Brothers supporting.

Looks like Red Rum Club have jumped up a level and that is great to see. Two and a half years since a recommendation led us (wife Sally is a big fan) to CD purchases and a small gig in Exeter Cavern, Red Rum Club (RRC) have a top ten album and are selling out larger venues like the Engine Rooms tonight.

Western Approaches is the fourth studio album for the band, there’s also an album of acoustic sessions. This is our fourth time seeing them – other gigs feature in my previous Red Rum Club blog. (Venue blog of the Engine Rooms here.)

But first, support band The Bankes Brothers. When we rock up to the queue for the doors opening at 7pm, there’s a guy chatting over the barrier to some bods in the queue from Canada, soon joined by another happy Canadian and these are the Bankes brothers, the two brothers at the heart of the band.

I got here early to make sure I caught their set – I’d been impressed by what I’d heard on Spotify. It’s apparent from their exuberant chat that this is the last date of their support slots with RRC. They’ve flown over from their hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada with baggage stuffed with cables, pedals and merch; guitars as carry-on luggage, then borrowed amps and a drum kit, before setting off on a dream trip.

“Have you been to Greggs yet?” Shouts one fellow countryman. “YEAH! Three times!” We gasp. My wife intervenes to apologise for Britain’s much loved calorific food retailer

They are clearly appreciative of RRC’s role in their lucky spring break, outside with the queue and on stage. Later, Francis Doran, RRC’s frontman explains how they played in Victoria to ’20 or so’ people and afterwards went up the street to an Irish bar, packed with a few hundred people enjoying The Bankes Brothers. They invited them over to play in the UK, for just a few hundred quid a night.

The Bankes Brothers – from Victoria BC – tonight’s support

They’re an indie rock/pop band but there are some folky bits in there – vocals remind me of Jake Bugg – and I think this five piece have a great future…surely. Their set is well received, amid a notable volume of Friday night babble from the rear of the venue. I captured this one which is saved on my YouTube channel: See Me Run. (Photos not much cop I’m afraid.)

Red Rum Club

Most of the new Western Approach album is on show tonight and my standout picks would be Houdini and Hole in my Home, which comes later in the set. There always appears to be an urgency in the songs, trying to get the story out – lead singer Fran singing like he’s a storyteller – so expressive.

The newer tracks still mostly have the trumpet playing as the essential ingredient that gives the band its unique style. So many tracks are lifted by the trumpet’s rallying call. The venue and sound tonight accommodates that brass element much better than more confined spaces I have seen them in.

Joe Corby – the distinctive trumpet – Engine Rooms

Lead singer Fran thanks everyone for buying the album, ‘spending 10 quid or so’ on a CD, a few pounds on a download, to make them happy people with their top ten album. (We have two CDs and a signed vinyl LP in our house due to a some over enthusiasm and under communication, so that must have helped!)

He mentions a call from Elton John to the band to congratulate them, and talk about himself and their home city of Liverpool. Fran even waved his phone about to show the pics. This the big time… well it’s getting there.

There are still some older, more familiar gems to enjoy though: just one from the previous 2021 album How to Steal the World I think and that is Vibrate – you still don’t get that many songs featuring mobile phone use. Another cracker, captured on video here, from tonight, is the singalong and leap about opportunity brought by Kids Addicted – that really gets the crowd bouncing. (Grey-haired gig goer YouTube link.)

It’s an early start/early finish gig this one and the main set is over by 9.30pm. They return, unavoidably, for a duet first, then another older favourite, Eleanor.

Lastly Fran asks if we’re ready for the Hoo Ha song… big cheers and the opening bars of Would You Rather Be Lonely, and the big ‘Hoo Ha’ chant at the beginning.

Lovely to see this energetic and original band getting somewhere. Where next?

Echo and the Bunnymen live in London

Echo and the Bunnymen at The Roundhouse, London on 8.3.2024 with Erica Nockalls supporting

A Bunnymen hits tour at The Roundhouse – couldn’t ignore it. A big part of my student years and album after album of great songs…to sing and learn. My Bunnymen history is expanded in the blog of my last time seeing them, in 2022. (Blog link to that one.)

After a relatively slow start, for me, to the gig-going year, March is blossoming and tonight is gig 9. My updates will have to be briefer for this busy period – four gigs in four days coming up. I couldn’t help it!

Supporting tonight is Erica Nockalls – she has been playing with The Wonder Stuff for nearly 20 years now and I’ve also seen Miles Hunt (Wonder Stuff) and Erica as a duo. I really like their We Came Here to Work LP that I bought in Lockdown.

The ballyhoo for The Bunnymen didn’t make this the best opportunity to absorb something new and another time perhaps.

The Songs to Sing and Learn tour badge makes this a hits tour and the result is one of the best Echo and the Bunnymen sets I can remember. Indeed, I left thinking I couldn’t recall a better Bunnies gig, and this is gig 11 on a countback that started on 9 March 1981 at Hammersmith Odeon.

My first Bunnies ticket – oh why did I write on that

So often there is a bit of I wish they did this or that. Over the years there are several occasions when I’ve been in audiences that didn’t live up to McCulloch’s expectations. He is, still is, so rock’n’roll. We still can’t understand what he says between songs but tonight he’s trying.

It’s not all about him of course – well maybe – original guitarist and songwriter Will Sergeant is stage left front, but he keeps himself to himself.

There are two Bunnymen sets of roughly equal length – different, and it’s good to have a half time break that’s just enough to do battle with the Roundhouse toilet squeeze.

In part one some early belters: All That Jazz and Rescue for instance. The best for me was All My Colours (Zimbo) – one I used to play so much on a 12″ EP in my student years. Good to hear Flowers, title track of a lesser known and later album which I think is a goodie. Part one of the set ends with Bring on the Dancing Horses – a more poppy tune.

The sound is excellent – no ear defences put in tonight – and it’s amazing how McCulloch’s talking scouse mumbling can be transformed into such clear vocals.

Part two opens with Over the Wall, another early one from the combat gear years. Nothing Lasts Forever has become one of my life anthems and I loved hearing this – it was fused into Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side to create something special for the evening.

They love a backlit, shadowy and smoky set. This usually makes for silhouettes in the gloom on photos but the lighting was a bit more revealing – it looks like I was right under Ian’s nose but that’s the zoom working and weird angle going on.

Killing Moon and The Cutter to end the main set – classics – Killing Moon being the song McCulloch says is the greatest song he’s ever written. I wouldn’t argue.

Two encores – I mean they actually went off and came back twice – of Lips Like Sugar and a calming Ocean Rain, ready for me to shoot off for the late train back to my mum’s and my old suburban stomping ground.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark live in Leeds

OMD at Leeds First Direct Arena on 5.3.2024 with Walt Disco supporting

My first gig in Leeds so I thought I’d note my attendance at this one.

I first saw OMD in Battersea Park, London in 1985 as part of a Greater London Council funded festival. Those early singles – Messages, Electricity and of course Enola Gay – have always been on something of a pedestal but the latter was the only one I bought.

It wasn’t until 34 years later that I saw them again, in Bournemouth, and my blog on that and looking back can be found here: 2019 Bournemouth gig

As time has gone on, I think OMD’s place in music history has blossomed. Quite unique in the UK charts in the 80s, while paying homage to the sound of Kraftwerk – they still set up like them for part of the show.

The First Direct Arena opened in 2013 and the stated capacity is just under 14,000. Tonight, it has areas of the steep curved bank of seats blanked out with black covering, with a large standing area in front of the stage. It’s more D-shaped so you get a decent view from anywhere: not bad for an arena. Maybe it expands its floorspace for some events but this D-shape works better than the long arenas that leave too many gig-goers way back from the stage. This is a pretty big crowd for OMD to pull in despite not selling out.

It is an arena mind. Inside it’s still like an airport car park in the concourses and bar areas outside the main auditorium. It’s still a ridiculous price for a drink and eating should be seen as an expensive survival activity only.

But it’s great to be in Leeds, seeing a live show as part of our spring tour up north.

Tonight’s support band is Walt Disco. A short set, cut shorter by a stoppage for a medical incident down the front, but appealingly 80s. Yes very 80s pop, even the big trousers. I enjoyed them and would happily go and see them in a smaller venue sometime.

OMD get off to a bright start with Messages played after the opener, followed by Tesla Girls, so familiar sounds there.

Andy McCluskey is a good crowd rouser and is the only really mobile band member, bass playing for large parts of the set. Other original member Paul Humphreys does leave his synth to lead the vocals, stage front at one point. McCluskey makes reference to Leeds United’s home game possibly distracting some this evening – a murmur of cheer – but they’re here for the music.

There’s a new album: Bauhaus Staircase and I gave it some Spotify plays in anticipation – yup, sound – and seven tracks are played this evening, including the title track which I recorded and saved on my YouTube Channel here.

The setlist (link here) notably includes Joan of Arc, and Maid of Orleans. I grabbed another video of the single If You Leave , also saved on that YouTube channel.

(I tend to just record one or two, using zoom camera, and ditch if no good. Some venues just lend themselves better to do this without getting in the way, waving a device about.)

But it’s Enola Gay that is the standout OMD song to hear and see played live. With the added backdrop film and the better sense of the history now, than when it hit the charts, it’s an emotional piece.

That was the last song of the main set. They return for three encores which include Electricity. The 1979 single being the theme tune of OMD I guess. A fine way to end a really good evening and another track which is so enhanced by being clearly amplified and played loud.

Nouvelle Vague à la 1865

Nouvelle Vague live at The 1865, Southampton on 29.2.2024 with DeLaurentis supporting

My mate said how about this one. I’d never heard of them. Completely passed me by. I checked them out and realised this was a French group, or rather a concept, based around an original core which involved playing songs from my post punk and 80s records in a bossa nova style – a cabaret lounge feel.

First was the synth sound of DeLaurentis, also French. The short set had some heavy electronic sounds with at times a quite clubby sound. Well received and atmospheric.

A stage reshuffle and Nouvelle Vague open with Love Will Tear Us Apart. There’s a start eh.

Two female singers, a bassist (frequently armed with double bass), guitarist, keyboardist and drummer come intricate percussionist, but who anyone is, I don’t know. This outfit revolves the singers and always has…. I haven’t sorted out who is who on the current tour. (I have now identified Alonya!)

Both singers are excellent, playing off each other and giving a visual angle to the party.

The familiar songs in an unfamiliar style roll out: Making Plans for Nigel; Only You; Girls on Film and Cure classic A Forest (a video clip of that one saved here on my YouTube channel – the mid-song dancing has to be seen).

Cohen’s Marianne buts up against Teenage Kicks and the hits keep coming, in that sophisticated night spot way. This would be enhanced by little tables and glasses of wine.

Maybe the best of the evening was Bauhaus’ She’s in Parties. Took me a while to cotton on to the intro. Like so many of their versions there is a bit of disbelief at what emerges.

Guns of Brixton is another high spot, before an extraordinary rendition of Too Drunk to Fuck by The Dead Kennedys – the two singers sparring for their bit of stage and loving those lyrics.

Maybe Look of Love is less removed from its original feel than most songs in the set and perhaps less added value for that.

There’s a long version of The Specials’ Friday Night, Saturday Morning with some Eartha Kitt-like talky bits. Oh Terry, RIP.

The half-full 1865 enjoyed it all. A different crowd to many I find myself in. Some flamboyance in the clothing and some French students.

The encores includes Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen in Love and Smiths’ This Charming Man, to end this wonderful jukebox in a different style.

They have a new album out, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, which features a good clutch of the evening’s featured songs, including the excellent She’s In Parties. It’s got to be worth a spin.

For more on The 1865, my updated venue blog elaborates: The 1865 venue blog.

From Southampton Engine Rooms to The London Palladium: a grey-haired gig goer’s week

The Libertines Vanilo outstore afternoon (Engine Rooms, Southampton, 12.2.2024) and ABC (London Palladium, 17.10.2024)

With my blogs, I realise there is a danger of running too many repeats, especially when delving back into a lifetime of seeing some bands live. Maybe it’s time to catch up with a few other gigs from last year in a retrospective way…. but not just yet.

Monday Afternoon at The Engine Rooms

Monday afternoon in my semi-retired, part-time working week, and I find myself in a queue in the bright daylight on a trading estate opposite IKEA, Southampton. This is the Engine Rooms (My venue blog here) and the occasion is one of these local record shop new album release promotions. This one is for The Libertines.

Queuing for The Libertines afternoon gig at The Engine Rooms

You buy or pre-order a new LP, CD etc and as a result get access to a special low-key show. Individual tickets can be bought as add-ons but the idea is to kick start the sales and bring some attention to a local record store, in this case Vanilo Record Store, Southampton. The new Libertines CD, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, (I still buy vinyl but not all the time) will be with me on or after the 8 March release date.

Doors open 2pm for the 3pm start. This enables us to grab a table while we wait.

My Libertines blog reflects on my last and other previous experiences. This one now is more about the novelty of my week. This afternoon sees a half-full venue (all tickets sold) with Carl Barât and Pete Doherty playing an informal and low key 35-minute set. They are playing a full show to a sellout and full venue later, and no I didn’t have a ticket for that one.

The Libertines – Pete and Carl at the Engine Rooms this afternoon

Entertaining yes and the novelty feel was there, but it felt a little bit too short: but then what are expectations? What is the benchmark when I’ve paid £21 for a CD including a ticket (then there’s the postage adding £5.95).

Run, Run, Run was good to hear, their recent single and a selection of tracks which I couldn’t name but recognised mostly. Pete and Carl play as if round a friend’s house with some mates which has its up-close and personal appeal. Four new songs in the nine-song acoustic performance, ending with Don’t Look Back In To The Sun. Another guitarist joined them for the last few, who’s name escaped me.

Back out in the blinding sun by 3.45pm thinking I wish I was going to their main gig tonight.

Saturday Night at The London Palladium

At the end of the week my ongoing tour continues with a trip to see ABC in London. The Palladium could not be more different to The Engine Rooms. The plush West End theatre instead of the bare, but functional, Engine Rooms – give me either, both bring something to my party.

London Palladium the morning after the gig

My last ABC gig was in Bath as part of gig buddy Dave’s birthday celebrations (ABC blog here) and we are back out in our sparkly jackets tonight.

Previously I’ve seen Howard Jones here at The Palladium, and Morrisey before that. So much history here but just those few visits for me. Old variety acts, comedians, legendary crooners and the big names of pop and rock playing special nights. The myriad of framed posters, photos – I even spotted a Norman Wisdom stage outfit – remind of the history. (Bruce Forsyth’s ashes are under the stage somewhere.)

A 2,286 seated capacity with two tiers of balcony, the upper one being particularly steep I remember from the Morrissey gig – stand up and you feel like you’re going to topple out. Only the very front rows of the audience can be seen from up there.

This orchestral gig was the same set up as covered in the 2022 Bath gig – orchestral backing throughout which obviously brings a different dimension to the largely 80s pop sounds.

First half is a varied selection, before the showcasing of The Lexicon of Love, the 80s pop classic. When Smoky Sings is top of those first half pops, but The Night You Murdered Love also used to provoke some humour and pointing amongst friends at the occasional drunken early 80s student disco, so that stands out as well.

The crowd are seated mainly but in the second half many rise to Poison Arrow, up in the balconies as well – no one falls! Martin Fry changes from his white jacket, black shirt and trousers into a pale pink suit – a surprising lack of sparkles but smooth as they come.

The whole Lexicon of Love album is packed with pop gems of course but Look of Love must be the winner – so 80s, yet distinct from the other bands Fry mentions in his introductions and references to the ABC time machine. There is some wonderful sax playing.

Glazed eyes and tilted heads when I look around in All of My Heart, as that concludes the album. That’s it. What next? Time for one more indulgent and orchestrally enhanced version of Look of Love. Pop classic, with strings …and the rest.

There you go. My gig-going week. From an old industrial unit in Southampton to an iconic West End nightspot.

With a Bowie tribute band up next and a not too hectic gig-going schedule maybe I will get time look back at record some of the great gigs I missed out of my blogging last year.