Gigs with Ivan

The Charlatans: live in Bournemouth 2021 (with memories of Later with Jools Holland 1999)

The Charlatans + Martin Carr on 30.11.21 at O2 Academy Bournemouth

A gig from late November 2021 that I didn’t include in my blog episodes. It was a good gig with some decent photo opportunities to accompany it but it was a busy period and I just parked it for a bit. I’ve only just realised that the end dates on The Charlatans tour were lost due to Covid in the road crew.

It was down at the O2 Academy Bournemouth again. Pretty full but not sold out. Top tier ‘Gods’ seats not open.

I sat down upstairs in a corner bar during support act Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys. Nothing stirred me from the big leather settee. I was saving my legs at the time 🙄

This gig came within a busy period for me – relentless – but I’ve always liked The Charlatans, having seven of their albums – couldn’t miss it given its proximity…and it was a 30th anniverary Head Full of Ideas ‘Best of’ tour….renamed 31st, unavoidably.

Later with Jools Holland

I had the first album Some Friendly (1990) but it wasn’t until 1999 that I saw them live, and that was a weird one: BBC Later with Jools Holland.

If you get to go to a recording of Later with Jools Holland, you don’t know who’s on. It was the case back then anyway and also your free tickets don’t even guarantee you entry – I lived near Reading at the time so the gamble was not so great as it might be with it being at the Shepherd’s Bush BBC studios (it’s filmed in Maidstone these days). Queued up and got in and was then led to the waiting area – with a bar. Again no guarantees about getting in. You had numbered tickets and the bar was free – well it was then and I enjoyed it, with enthusiasm.

People were called in by ticket numbers over the next hour or so and hopes were beginning to wane as those of us left in the holding area becames less and less. A few more beers to make the most of the trip eh. They were manoeuvring the crowd around the set and finding spaces for extra audience members to fill the right spots for visual excellence. I’d given up hope. A few more beers then, why not , they were only little bottles – about 10 of us left in the holding area by then – downed those… and then our numbers were called. Where’s the gents? No time. Hmm. I needed a piss. Oh…it’ll be fine.

Oh well we are in. We get placed in the audience and told not to move. Several artists perform their first songs including Jeff Beck and Bernard Butler (Suede)…. and then… “ladies and gentlemen…The Charlatans”. (By this time my bladder was really nagging at me). The Charlatans were a lovely surprise. The album Us and Us Only was just out….. but after their first number my bladder was bursting. Another order of ‘please no movement’…another Jeff Beck song….an infeasibly long guitar solo. I’m sweating, surveying the options and clip board wielding stage managers. It was no good, I had to go….. I dived off through the black curtains and down a long corridor in a restricted area. Eventually I found some bogs without surprising any celebs or being rugby tackled by eager security guards and was able to return red faced through the black curtains without becoming a showstopper. What a relief.

A more relaxed rest of the show – three Charlatans numbers in all. Quite an experience. My first Charlatans live experience. Here’s a YouTube clip of one of the songs from that 1999 show: Forever. (No you can’t see me escaping through the curtains.)

Earlier gigs

My first proper Charlatans gig was Brighton Centre in April 2000, with them touring that late 1999 album Us and Us Only, one of my favourite 90s albums and I’d say the best Charlatans release.

It was 16 years before I caught them again: at Southampton Engine Rooms of all places. I’m not sure how they came to be playing such a relatively small venue and I must have just been lucky on a fasted finger first booking website game. That was a packed and steamy gig.

Next was a Glastonbury slot in 2019 on ‘The Other Stage’. A relaxed performance in the afternoon sunshine and I was right in front and to the left of the stage – with my bigger camera.

And on to 2021, Bournemouth O2 Academy in a post Lockdown period of going out enthusiasm, before the Omicron variant and rising disruption from Covid infection. I don’t think they can have been to Bournemouth much or I would have seen them. It’s only in the last 10 years or so that I have travelled far for gigs very often.

And what did they start with? Forever. Great choice. Tim Burgess had gone for the festive jumper – a bright one.

So many songs to pick from and I’m probably not yer average ‘Charlies’ fan but I love a couple of the more recent albums: Modern Nature (2015) and Different Days (2017). Those and Us and Us Only are my top three. Hence the mid-set back-to-back of Different Days’ title track and Plastic Machinery from that one were most welcome.

Down left, front and under the side balcony was a good spot for the pocket zoom to come out. Downside was I picked up a new grey haired gig goer’s ailment. Strained neck from peering up from a stooped position – one of those things you don’t notice at the time and makes you suffer for a week afterwards 🙄

Tim Burgess was taking mobile phone pics and selfies from the stage, social media king that he is – he really quite into his phone and kept getting it out – must have been adding to his regular Tweets.

Later in the set the gems are North Country Boy and Trouble Understanding, before the final return with the warmly welcomed Sproston Green from the first album Some Friendly.

This later backdrop featured changing nostalgic photos back through the years – a very absorbing distraction. Lots of mops of hair, trainers, hoodies and sportswear.

A wonderful selection of tunes drawn on by the band. A reflective wander through over three decades of material. Burgess leads it all with cheer – he seems a nice man eh.

Red Rum Club live in Bournemouth

Red Rum Club at The Madding Crowd, Bournemouth on 21 January 2022 + Ed Cosens

It was just three months ago that I went to see Liverpool’s Red Rum Club live for the first time, blogged here at Exeter’s Cavern. I was surprised to see they were out on tour again so soon after and pleased to see that The Madding Crowd, Bournemouth had them booked in.

With some National Lottery funding to help revive the live music scene emerge from the hard times of Covid Lockdowns, the tickets were 2 for 1: £16 a pair. Irresistible.

My first visit to The Madding Crowd out of the seated only gigs. Interesting to see it in a busier new light after previous visits to see Matt Cardle – gigs were hard to come by – The Hoosiers and Toploader .

It’s a 300 capacity and there’s about 100 in by the time the bands are on. We are early enough to grab a table and stools to the back but central of this side on to the stage set up. Good spot – the venue is only about 25 metres deep. Stand when you want – sit when you don’t. Beer table. Sorted. I like this place. Decent ale.

First it’s singer songwriter Ed Cosens, from Sheffield, with his guitar. More crowd noise and the chatter of arriving punters than the Lockdown sit down affairs so it was hard to appreciate.

Red Rum Club‘s new album is now out: How to Steal the World (I pre-ordered a signed CD after the Exeter gig). This is their third studio album, with an acoustic Lockdown extra The Hollow Sesssions also available. These two are what I’ve mainly been listening to in recent weeks. Favourite new album tracks? Nightcalling and Love me Like you Want to be Loved so it’s good to hear those.

The trumpet is rampant again tonight….. charging in just when I’m wondering where it is. It gives them their unique sound.

It’s a more expansive stage than when I last saw them last so a good view of the band. Good sound and great set. There isn’t much to add to my last RRC blog – once again a fab night out and I’d go and see them again anytime soon. There’s some idle beer talk of driving down to Plymouth for the next gig on the tour which doesn’t come to fruition.

I forgot my pocket camera this evening so just a few phone snaps as a marker of my attendance. I just let the performance wash over me, beers flowing. A thoroughly enjoyable Friday night out, with some hopes of normality. returning.

The big song near the end was Angeline but my pick is still Kids Addicted. Hope to see them again soon. If the lottery numbers come up I’ll be looking to head to Chicago to see them support the also excellent Lathums on 6 March. Could this break them I wonder?

The K’s live in Southampton

The K’s at The Joiners, Southampton 27 January 2022 + The Radar

A late decision for me to drive over to Southampton and catch the start of The K’s eight date tour, much of which falls in Independent Venue Week. And what a fine example of a classic independent venue to start in.

I’m here in time to catch most of local indie rock band The Radar, one of two support bands tonight – some guitar work sees them up the rock end more than the indie – an almost retro rock sound at times for a new young band.

The Radar – one of two support acts – I missed the first

A Thursday night in the bowels of Winter and it’s busy busy busy: even the bar is pretty full and you can’t see the bands from there. Another Covid milestone is reached today as the ‘Plan B’ restrictions were lifted yesterday – I forgot my mask anyway. I could feel an essence of personal celebration even if it seems a bit premature. ‘Do it while you can’ is my thought: I doubt we are out of these weird and scary woods yet.

This my third visit to Joiners in four months – I’d only been once ever before that – and more observations on this cracking micro-venue can be found in my blogs for Fatherson and Spear of Destiny .

The K’s – yes The K’s not The Ks – The Joiners Southampton

The K’s are an unsigned four piece band from Earlestown, Merseyside – between Manchester and Liverpool. No albums but a smattering of singles can be found on Spotify and YouTube. How am I here? Two years ago they were one of the support bands for The Rifles at a Roundhouse gig and one song in particular leapt out. Have a listen: Sarajevo . A belter.

They played at The Madding Crowd in Bournemouth a few months back but I was elsewhere. I was chatting to a bloke at the bar in the Madding Crowd last week and he mentioned this Joiners gig was on – I was grateful as it had passed me by. I need a gig secretary I think to keep an eye on everything.

As The K’s get on the stage and finish putting their gear together a lively bunch at the front start the ‘up the K’s – up the f’ing K’s’ chanting. When the band are ready there’s some obvious pent up excitement. The accents in the chanting suggests some followers have travelled down from the North West… but could be students down here I guess – halls up the road.

It’s a fast and punchy start. Tight and aggressive power pop that any Jam fan would get the kick from.

Lead singer Jamie Boyle plays guitar as well, switching to acoustic ocassionally. Ryan Breslin (to the left on stage – classic mod striped jacket) plays lead guitar and he’s got some pedigree with K’s website noting his previous session musician roles with bands including The Who and The Killers. On bass is Dexter Baker with Jordan Holden on drums.

The 200 capacity venue is a perfect size for the mobile audience. Hard to believe Wolf Alice played here recently as a special. I’m not sure I would have survived long down the front tonight so perhaps best I was a late entry.

The first song I know is Glass Towns another single on Spotify. Spotify has it’s value, even if the royalty model is a national – international – disgrace. Surely some market intervention is needed before the UK loses its special relationship with live bands and decent music.

The fast and more familar songs get more rigorous activity going – some shoulders mounted – pretty impressive reaction on a Thursday night in January for an unsigned band.

Front man Jamie appreciates the reaction and the fact people have come out. They’ve had a month off and given the recent restrictions they are bounding with energy. He has to slow it down a bit, he says clutching his chest, with Valley One with a bit of acoustic guitar.

The penultimate song is their anthem Sarajevo (snippet from my phone). I love it. The guitars get a finger ripping thrashing. Hard to imagine they could play a gig without this song but I still had that sense of anticipation. It’s what got me here instead of sat in watching The Apprentice 🙄

They finish with ‘a new one’…didn’t catch a title.

Well worth a trip over. Ten quid to get in. A nice pint of Roadie on tap. I wander up the street to go home – two fellow ‘grey haired gig goers’ in front – well one no haired – and I heard them reflecting happily: “three bands tonight and then four tommorrow. Seven bands in two days. Not bad eh”. Not bad at all gents. Goodnight. Keep rocking.

Jah Wobble live in Exeter

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart at Pheonix Arts Centre, Exeter: 15 January 2021.

A grey haired gig goer outside Exeter Pheonix

A new gig going year gets slowly underway with an overnight trip to Exeter to catch bassist and experimental musician Jah Wobble and his band, the Invaders of the Heart. This is my first gig for over a month with a bit of a quiet time to endure a bout of Covid, which took me out for a couple of weeks. Let’s face it, it’s a barren spell for tours anyway and the Covid Omicron variant has seen the need for cautious cancellation and isolation for some bands and roadcrew.

To be honest until a few weeks ago I hadn’t heard any of Jah Wobble’s varied music, beyond his old Public Image Ltd bass lines – he left in the early 80s after two albums – and his reworked dub version of The Metal Box album. But a chance to meet up with a couple of fellow gig goers who had a ticket spare enticed me over.

The Pheonix Arts Centre would be great facility to have on the doorstep… it’s a couple of hours drive for me unfortunately. Plenty going on in here including dance, arts workshops, cinema and regular decent smaller gigs.

The building (1911) used to be part of the University College of the South West, with Law School being the last discipline to leave in 1967.

Capacity of the gig venue is 450 with room for another 60 up in the balcony, where we are perched in the glass fronted front row. This is my third visit, the others being Spear of Destiny last year and Half Man Half Biscuit a few years earlier.

No support act this evening but a set of two halves with a break ‘to give the bar some support’ in these difficult times. A good selection of beers and a staggeringly good range of low alcohol brews… I settled for a my favourite big brewer stout: Mena Dhu, from the St Austell Brewery. It’s good little bar with an outside terrace as well – maybe not in January eh – and you don’t need to have a ticket to go in.

As you’d expect the bass sound is up front but the other band members get their moment, a keyboardist and a great guitarist to the fore at times. Jah Wobble has worked with so many different people over the years.

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart

It’s relaxing stuff that gathers pace through the set and gets some dancing going down the front later. It’s busy enough with a bit of room and not many up in the balcony.. a few hundred all told maybe.

Jah Wobble’s real name is John Wardle. The story is that the name stuck after a drinken Sid Vicious met him for the first time and misheard the name and thought he said Jah Wobble.

Mr Wobble plays seated for some songs but is up and on walkabout to check on the band with a special place for that drum bass connection. One track illustrates that more than any with bass and drums speeding up throughout to a frenzy.

This is a bit of an experimental one on my part and a worthwhile one but where the set was gathered from remains mainly a mystery. One song was from Public Image Ltd’s Metal Box album, and my perhaps obvious highlight was Public Image itself.

Several numbers see Jah Wobble losing himself in his drums in the front right corner of the stage while the main drums are still thumping away – full on African music drum sound.

I see the band played Ronnie Scott’s recently and I can see how this mainly bass and drums led instrumental performance, with improvisation opportunities throughout, would lend itself to the jazz club approach. Bet that was a good ‘un.

An enjoyable start then to my 2022 personal tour. Something different and new to me. After an encore for an engaged audience it was back out to the less relaxed atmosphere of a cold, wet and fairly wild Exeter city centre on a Saturday night.

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart – Pheonix Arts Centre, Exeter

My Top Gigs of 2021

Very much a year of two halves, split by Covid restrictions which lifted for normal gigs in July. Four barren months to start the year, kept sane by livestreams and TV live recordings then a trickle of socially distanced gigs.

These socially distanced events were hugely significant in the context of Lockdown. In the case of Kirk Brandon in Bath it was reorganised several times and I built a week’s holiday around it.

Toploader at the Madding Crowd, Bournemouth was as near a normal gig as one could get sat down and spaced out. Then there was the surreal and emotional experience of a folk club in rural Hampshire seeing The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s Phil Odgers play solo following the recent sudden death of co-frontman Stefan Cush.

Phil Odgers (Men They Couldn’t Hang) – North Boarhunt Social Club

I appreciated the efforts made to get these events up and running againts all odds…the artists, the stage crew, the bar staff, the promoters, the venue managers, security… the lot.

From July onwards I made the most I could of the free for all. 43 gigs or days of festivals; 106 different bands: eight of them twice and two of them (Kirk Brandon/Spear of Destiny and Peter Hook) three times.

I have looked back and I enjoyed every single gig, all to varying extents of course (and a few terrible support bands). I didn’t come away disappointed from any gig…even Jethro Tull. (I enjoyed the voyage of discovery but won’t be seeing him again.) It’s been a great period to see any live band due to the surge of enthusiasm and increased mutual appreciation of audience and artists in the post-Lockdown period.

Yes there were a few times I felt uneasy – the trip to the Greenwich O2 (Gorillaz) with such a big crowd and some tight smaller venues in the earlier post-Lockdown weeks – but didn’t catch anything. 43 maskless gigs and not a sniffle. After all that I went on an abortive trip to Bristol Airport to try and see The Skids in Glasgow and contracted Covid at some point in the subsequent days.

As I say I enjoyed them all but there are always favourites. Of course this can be based on a performance, the atmosphere, the crowd, the place, the company or it just being a bloody good night out and from this I have arrived at my top five gigs of 2021… in order (links to the blogs).

The magnificent Peter Murphy – Bauhaus at Ally Pally

1. Bauhaus (Ally Pally)

2. Skids (O2 Islington)

3. Wolf Alice (Bournemouth O2)

4. Martin Rossiter (Kentish Town O2)

5. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (Poole Lighthouse)

It’s hard to get down to a top five and Scritti Politti (Birmingham); Big Country (Liverpool); Heaven 17 (Bristol) and the newer Red Rum Club (Exeter) were all in the running.

Green, Scritti Politti – Birmingham Town Hall

There are also some magnificent live moments – single songs that make the whole trip worthwhile. These were some of them..and yes I’m a sucker for a surprise cover:

Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Bauhaus)
Blinded by the Sun (Chris Helme, Seahorses)
Altogether Now (The Farm)
What a Waster (Libertines)
Atomic (Sleeper)
Kids in America (Kim Wilde)
Wood Beez (Scritti Politti)
Life of Riley (Lightning Seeds)
Sheena is Punk Rocker (Ramonas)
Kings of the Wild Frontier (Adam Ant)
Love Will Tear Us A Part (Peter Hook + the Light)
Alcoholic (Starsailor)                      Haunted by You (Martin Rossiter, Gene)
Cosmic Dancer (Nick Cave)
Complete Control (Skids)                   Liberator (Spear of Destiny)
Ziggy Stardust (Bauhaus)

I feel a new Spotify playlist coming on.

I’ve just about finished my Covid bout – done my 10 days isolation – and there is a natural breather even if there isn’t an enforced one. Lots to look forward to. Next stop Exeter Pheonix Arts Centre.

Happy New Year 🤞

Rock on 2022 🎶🎵

Trip to Liverpool to see Big Country live

Big Country + Gabi Garbutt 10.12.21 at Grand Central Hall, Liverpool

Over the years I’ve been to Liverpool for football matches on numerous occasions, mainly at Everton’s ground, but not to purposefully look around the city centre and certainly never to see a band. After this trip I will return for more, undoubtedly…although you have to say that with slight hesitancy right now, in the resurgent Covid gloom.

I took the train up from Birmingham (another gig the night before) with gig buddy Dave, arriving in the morning to give us some time to look around. Bags dropped off and a few pints in the Doctor Duncan pub to dodge a heavy shower and we were soon heading for The Cavern, and up the Beatle Street of fab four nostalgia, passing legendary band spot Eric’s.

Given the touristy reputation of The Cavern I wasn’t expecting much but we enjoyed hours in there – for a fiver entry – watching three local live solo performances, drinking some decent ales and eating unhealthy food. Loads of interesting photos, old posters and displays – loved it.

In this underground venue you couldn’t even tell it was a rainy and gloomy December day outside. What a great hideway.

One of the Cavern performances that continue all day

A second stage in the Cavern – the guy played Golden Brown by The Stranglers as we walked in

The Cavern walls have framed photos and posters everywhere

The site is only yards from the original Cavern but knowing it wasn’t THE original site I’d expected something less absorbing.

Before the evening’s Big Country gig there was time for a wander down to the Mersey ferry port (Pier Head), with the Beatles statue and the Liver Building. The commuter ferries weren’t restarting until after dark so left the ferry across the Mersey for another visit.

The Liver Building with Christmas stalls

We dropped in to The Vernon Arms on the way back up from Pier Head, drawn in by a welcoming after work Friday afternoon babble, heard from the street. Next stop the gig.

My Big Country previous

It’s 38 years since I first saw Big Country, with the late Stuart Adamson fronting them, after his breakaway from The Skids in 1981. The first time was more by chance as they supported U2 at Birmingham Odeon on 27 March 1983.

Later that year it was Reading Festival with old friend Big Gra (GGu). They were special guests on the night The Stranglers were headlining. It was two main stages back then and they alternated between the two to allow set up time, with a metal barrier down the middle so for going down the front you had to choose early. We opted for Big Country and, being near the front, that took us close to the pyrotechnics incident during Fields of Fire which flame grilled the band and the front rows of the audience. The flames shot up and out from the stage front and we clutched our faces. Some fell to the floor clutching their faces but all was OK.

My first Reading Festival and first Big Country performance

It was the early albums that I listened to: The Crossing, The Seer and Steeltown but I didn’t see them again until decades later. After Stuart Adamson took his own life in 2001 I didn’t see much appeal of the return of the band in 2010 without Adamson’s vocals. But in 2015 I went to see them locally at the now closed and redeveloped Mr Kyps venue in Poole, with Simon Hough on vocals and it totally worked. Somehow he sounded just like Adamson while Bruce Watson and son took care of the distinctive bagpipe guitar sound. I remember being impressed.

Since then I’ve seen them five times before this trip, including trips to Belfast Limelight (2018); one of the hometown Dunfermline Skids double header Christmas gigs (2019); Southampton 1865 (2019) and two Butlins Alternative Music Festival appearances. These have all been excellent and the Dunfermline performance perhaps the best occasion despite not being last on.

This surge of enthusiasm in recent years has been aided by the fusion with The Skids, with Bruce Watson and son Jamie playing in both bands during the recent Skids comeback and in the last few years drummer Mark Brzezicki has also played with The Skids. This facilitates numerous double bills.

There’s a new bassist, Gil Allan who is with the band in Liverpool, another member from the Dunfermline homeland of The Skids and Big Country.

Tonight’s venue

The Grand Central Hall in Liverpool L1 is pretty special. Built in 1905 as a Methodist Hall it is a beautifully maintained Art Nouveau design almost circular in shape. It’s just a short walk down Renshaw Street from Liverpool’s Lime Street Station.

The stage is backed by a 100 year old pipe organ. There is a large seated balcony which is closed off tonight, with netting obscuring the upper floor. It quotes a total 1300 seated capacity but I couldn’t see confirmation of the standing capacity downstairs. I guess about 750. It’s quite full, without being sold out or too packed. As Covid rises again and Christmas approaches this is no bad thing. (Not that I need have worried as I caught Covid anyway a few weeks later and screwed up Christmas totally.)

100 year old pipe organ backs the stage at Grand Central Hall

One thing that was a bit odd and pretty unsatisfactory was the area of seats for those that really needed them were at the back just on floor level, so no one sat there could see through the crowd to the stage. Other than that I couldn’t fault the place. Lovely tidy venue and good sound and accessible bars.

The Gig

Gabi Garbutt and band (The Illuminations), from London, provided the support for this evening. I was quite intrigued with the retro yet modern sounds, fronted with a clean guitar sound and vocals.

Seemed quite like a late 70s new wave type band focused on Gabi and her guitar. Quite poppy with some edge to it and a full band to boosts the appeal. I was interested enough to go over and buy a CD, the debut, afterwards: The Discredited Language of Angels.

Big Country take to the stage and launch into a triplet of their finest. This could have been an encore: 1000 Stars, Look Away and Harvest Home. 1000 Stars is one of my favourites. (This YouTube clip is from one New Year’s Eve in Glasgow with Stuart Adamson doing that one). Great start.

Jamie Watson, Bruce Watson and foreground Simon Hough

Simon Hough’s voice is amazing – shut your eyes and it could be Adamson, but he’s English. The guitars are full blast with Bruce Watson full of energy – exhausting intensity – and Jamie full of enthusiasm heralding the gig as the best night of the tour and remarking on the great venue.

Bruce called out someone for a dodgy t-shirt – I didn’t catch what it was – and he was sent to the merch stand to kit himself out with a free decent Big Country replacement.

The set moves on including The Storm and Steeltown. This is the ‘Wonderland’ tour, from the greatest hits album of the same name so the selection would always be good.

I had a bit of a wander to snap some pics but the lighting wasn’t very sympathetic to a pocket camera, and a bit dark from back a bit. I was enjoying this one so didn’t try too hard having taken a few down by the right hand speaker. I did try a few phone videos which are illustrative peek into the gig more than serve as complete tracks to play.

As the set builds to a peak it’s Chance that precedes In a Big Country (YouTube phone clip), followed by Wonderland and the bouncing Fields of Fire (YouTube phone clip). Still does it after all these years – no pyrotechnics these days.

The largely male crowd, largely of an age (50s) were all enjoying this and it was one of the best Big Country gigs I’ve been to. They never disappoint mind.

At the end of the main set Mark Brzezicki comes out from behind the drums to do the announcements – the thank yous and the welcome to new bassist Gil Allan. Then they go off to cheers and applause to return with Restless Natives (another Adamson penned song of Scottish pride).

The gig was over and we were out of the door by 10.30pm, early enough to seek out one more old pub…The Crown near the station and ended up in The Shankly Hotel. A top day out in the city of music.

Postscript: That’s it for 2021

That was it. The final gig of my gig going year. Gig 43, all bar five crammed in after the July lifting of Covid restrictions on live gigs. 106 different acts in 28 venues in 14 towns and cities. A blast.

It wasn’t meant to be the last gig. We were set to fly to Glasgow on Friday 17 December to see The Skids, Big Country and The Armoury Show. That gig was postponed though at short notice but before we flew up thankfully. Two days later I tested positive for Covid – double jabbed – and spent a week coughing, sweating and aching. Christmas in solitary confinement. Rock on 2022.

Rick Wakeman: live at Birmingham Town Hall

Rick Wakeman 9.12.21 Birmingham Town Hall, Victoria Square B3 3DQ

As the Omicron Covid variant fever grows I’m on another live music led mini-tour. Friday night up to Birmingham – on to Liverpool on Saturday, armed with masks and lateral flow test kits. My gig buddy Dave got this trip sorted in the days when live gigs were a distant hope.

Tonight it’s a return to the lovely old Birmingham Town Hall, where we saw Scritti Politti several months ago now. (There’s more background on the venue in my blog of that one.)

Tonight is a bit off piste for me: Rick Wakeman. Something very different and my knowledge is minimal. The legendary keyboard wizard of prog rockers Yes, a fan of Brentford FC, and er… one of the Grumpy Old Men from that TV series who does albums of piano playing…which I’ve been listening to. That’s it. The limit of my Rick Wakeman awareness as I walk into the Town Hall. (No I didn’t even know he was in The Strawbs.)

I did see Rick Wakeman with Yes in June 2018, headlining a day of The Stone Free Festival at Greenwich O2 and plugging a gap in a once in a lifetime 8 gigs in 8 days and 3 cities tour.

Tonight we are in on the pre-gig chat with what turns out to be a small band of Wakeman experts asking smart questions. Rick Wakeman appears love this bit, happy to expand any answer into a chat as he perches on a chair on the edge of the stage with a mug of tea. He’s a good story teller, and gag teller, which feature in his show.

He plays a piano piece by way of a warm up and special bonus after taking questions and signing stuff. It’s something he wrote for Norman Wisdom to help in charity fund raising for the kids from Chernobyl.

Then an opportunity for a few pics and wander on to the stage in this wonderful old building.

A Wakeman’s eye view of Birmingham Town Hall

Photo time: Do you remember your wife’s family’s card shop in Dorchester?

And then a bit of a break and a few beers in the bar before the main performance. No support tonight. The tour is entitled ‘The Not Quite as Grumpy as Last Christmas Tour’.

The gig is an interesting mixture of the grand piano pieces, the synth keyboard pieces and some chat, stories and jokes (or maybe they were true funny stories) in between.

Hugely relaxing and atmospheric tunes. No vocal. No other sounds or instruments. Pure Wakeman and wonderful to see it – a one off for me.

Rick Wakeman on the synth at Brum Town Hall

The setlist is here for those students of Wakeman, and my reference one day but the stand out piece for me was, without any doubt, the Bowie songs Life on Mars and Space Oddity with some added bits. (My YouTube channel clip – Life on Mars)

He played keyboards for David Bowie on these at the time and these were a few of his many keyboard contributions on the albums of various artists.

He’s not grumpy at all. Seems like a someone it would be good to spend the days with. Age is a theme – he mentioned driving passed care homes with his wife and noticing that these days she was taking notes as they passed them – she’s a lot younger than him.. from Dorchester originally and her dad had a card shop in the high street I used to go in when I started working in the town town.

He finished with Eleanor Rigby and a seasonal Silent Night – these are elaborate arrangements – layered compositions. I’m no musician and easily stunned by such works.

Rick Wakeman – he plays with his eyes shut – Birmingham Town Hall

Another evening of music over. A different and a more relaxed outing than usual. Town Hall clip from my YouTube channel.

The Sweet: ‘Teenage Rampage’ in Frome

The Sweet + Limehouse Lizzy 27.12.21 Cheese and Grain, Market Yard, Frome.

Saturday night in Frome, maybe not a ‘Teenage Rampage’ but a sell out crowd of old rockers having a good time with original guitarist Andy Scott and the current Sweet incarnation.

Note the pre-Covid date for the gig originally

I stopped over in the town at The George Hotel in the main street – seems the obvious choice, a few hundred yards from the venue, great breakfast, good beers and a bustling pub on a gig Saturday.

I’ve only seen one gig here in Frome: The Skids, with TV Smith and Charlie Harper, both as solo support acts – also with gig buddy Dave who’s here tonight. That was in June 2018. It attracts some surprises, given the size of the town, as well as tribute acts, comedians and community events. There are posters around for Aswad; The Mission are here next Spring and The Undertones, which I have tickets for…then there was the legendary Foo Fighters secret gig in February 2017 (News story).

As for my previous Sweet encounters, they are just a few and yes very far between. Teenage Rampage was one of my first 7″ single purchases, from Ashford (Middx) Record Scene in 1973, no doubt fuelled by Look-In magazine and Top of the Pops. No more Sweet records for me though – punk came.

My 1985 ticket to see Sweet, well a Sweet, Brian Connolly’s Sweet. (Ticket said to be retained – 36 years so far)

Then in 1985 I went to an event called Leicester Aid with Brian Connolly’s Sweet headlining – it was a local initiative to raise some Live Aid cash with some lesser known Leicester bands. Connolly (the one that always had the big mop of blonde hair) was drumming and singing I remember. At the time I wouldn’t have appreciated who else was in the band but by then Sweet was badly broken with originals Brian Connolly, Andy Scott and Steve Priest all touring with their own versions of Sweet. Now Andy Scott is the last surviving original member of Sweet. He’s 72 and still rocking.

Tonight’s support is Thin Lizzy tribute act Limehouse Lizzy.

A short set of half a dozen songs – I’d go to one of their own shows to hear more – I did like that Live and Dangerous album and had the single, Rosalie, from it. They played that – all very plausible – and The Boys are Back in Town was another that was good to hear them do. (My phone clip of Rosalie.)

The crowd is at the 850 capacity and there’s not much chance of wandering about – chattering enthusiasm as we wait. Tonight pretty much everyone is a grey haired gig goer, not just me. Either that or no haired or dyed hair. I’m feeling relatively youthful.

You can see from the pics that The Cheese and Grain is a practical yet attractive community hall type building in the middle of a large car park. It’s a not for profit organisation, a registered charity for the benefit of the people of Frome. To the rear, where you come in is a small bar area and tonight an extra pop up bar with some interesting stuff in the fridge.

A can of something interesting from the pop up bar – Frank Turner craft ale

Sweet come on and what is striking after the first few songs is that this is a really good rock band, no cheesey old 70s rehash, and they’re playing to old fans – no hint of a 70s fancy dress night here.

Lead singer, Paul Manzi, has a great rock’n’roll voice. Bruce Bisland is on drums – he’s played with Andy Scott’s Sweet for over 20 years – and Lee Small is on bass.

As the set list illustrates, the biggest hits are saved for the latter part and it builds well.

Yes the encores were songs I knew would be enjoyed live: Blockbuster (my YouTube clip) and Ballroom Blitz but Love is Like Oxygen possibly pips it. Of course there was Teenage Rampage, the single I bought when I was aged 11.

Andy Scott looks so rock’n’roll with his long blonde hair. It’s gig 3 of 16 on the tour so he has his fingers crossed in this Covid revival of a weekend (the South African variant threatens now). He reminds us he’s 72 and if he gets it he’s going to be in trouble. Rock on Andy…Rock on.

(As I’m writing up this trip I see on Limehouse Lizzy’s website that they had to suddenly leave the tour as the Sweet’s older members are having to take extreme caution to limit their risk of catching Covid.)

Andy Scott – the original Sweet member – Frome

All in all a friendly, small but comfortable venue in a lovely old town nostalgically appreciating a 70s glam rock legend who is keeping the Sweet blockbusters burning.

I hope they get the tour finished.

Starsailor: live in Pompey

Starsailor 3.12.2021 Portsmouth Guildhall

A miserable dark rainy evening but hey the weekend’s here and we are off to Portsmouth’s Guildhall to gig 40 of my gig year of two halves. I’m sporting a new ailment – gig goers neck crick 🙄.

(We are meeting up for this one with friends Dawn and Steve on the way stay at their place for the weekend in Chichester so this is handy gig stop off.)

The Guildhall

Portsmouth Guildhall has a very grand exterior. It was built in 1890 but it was bombed heavily in WW2 and only the outer walls survived, with the interior being rebuilt and completed in 1959. Inside there is that 60s civic building feel which doesn’t match the grandeur of outside. Perfectly good for a gig though.

It’s just a couple of hundred metres from Portsmouth and Southsea train station and plenty of parking nearby – I’ve ended up in the Isambard Brunel car park where I’ve parked before – I don’t think he built this concrete multi-storey, just 150 metres from the Guildhall. Brunel was born here and the nearby Wetherspoons on the edge of the Guildhall square also bears his name.

After logging in to yet another car parking app (it’s Ringo here) and fumbling with cards and passwords, it’s up some steps and across the square to fumble with the NHS app, declare my jab status and get in… with a real paper ticket.

A pint in the bar first and we skip the support act Joe Hicks, sorry Joe. It’s a big bright and unremarkable bar with framed photos of visiting acts all down one side. We are sat near one of Jean-Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers on stage here in 2015 – we were there.

That 2015 Stranglers gig was my last visit here, supported by The Rezillos. The three other gigs I’ve been to here are Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye (2013), The Last Shadow Puppets (2008) and Muse (2001).

The capacity here is 2,500 with downstairs standing and the seated balcony. There is also a small bank of unreserved seating to the rear of the main standing area which is quite novel.

Bank of unreserved seats at rear of standing area

Upstairs, the seated balcony extends down each side. It’s not open tonight though. The standing crowd is around a third of capacity at most – lots of room on the fully carpeted floor. The room is wider than it is deep and view and sound are good.

Starsailor

Starsailor released their first album, the one this 20th anniversary tour is marking, Love is Here, in, you guessed it, 2001. I bought it on cassette but it’s gone, presumed unravelled, to be recently replaced with a CD version. This was the first of five studio albums, the others coming in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2017.

The band are songwriter James Walsh, frontman on vocals and guitar; James Stelfox (bass); Barry Westhead (Keyboards) and Ben Byrne (Drums). That’s how they were in 2001 and that’s still how they are now.

I don’t remember seeing them back in the noughties. I’ve been at festivals they’ve played at but any clear memories have stretched and unravelled like that first album on cassette probably did.

In 2019 they popped up at the nearby Victorious Festival and I was down the front for that with my camera. That was enough to make me want to see them on tour again. Another opportunity cropped up during the heavier Covid restrictions and friends had booked us tickets to see a James Walsh solo gig in a café in Southsea – alas it was a last minute casualty of increased fear.

One noticeable thing this evening was that in the last two years James Walsh appears to have had a slick haircut, a good shave, lost a few pounds and looks ten years younger.

Starsailor tonight

The crowd may be modest in size but they make up for that with noise to greet Starsailor onto the stage.

It’s the first album 20th anniversary tour and they take us through the Love is Here album, in the running order of the album. This means, as Walsh remarks, they get to one of the best songs of their set, indeed their entire catalogue, by song three: Alcoholic. You could even pick up a t-shirt at the merch stand with ‘Alcoholic’ emblazoned across the front. An odd choice of t-shirt but a great song.

Don’t you know you’ve got your Daddy’s eyes;

Daddy was an alcoholic;

But your mother kept it all inside;

Threw it all away.
Alcoholic Starsailor

Good Souls is my other favourite from this excellent album, near the end.

The vocal is all James Walsh with no one else backing up at all – no voice mic for anyone else in the band. The sound is really good and Walsh’s voice really clear – quite a sorrowful voice and the featured album does have an air of depression about it, not that you’d think so as a happy Friday night crowd sang along, some dancing more ‘elaborately’ than others.

The band go off after playing the album and return with some more hsnd picked songs for another half hour or so. This includes the cover of the Small Faces song All or Nothing which they did for an interesting looking Warchild charity compilation of covers. (There’s also The Prodigy doing Ghost Town on this.)

Best of Me is introduced with a smile as being from ‘a lesser known album’, the 2017 release All This Life.

After they disappear again the crowd continues to roar their approval and they return once more with what’s their most successful single, Silence is Easy. (Starsailor official YouTube link to recording at this gig.) The set seemed to fly by but it was a good 90mins. I suppose we came straight in as it started and there was no hanging about and we skipped the support act.

Pleased I caught up with them on a tour after all this time.

The Libertines live in Bournemouth

The Libertines + Dead Freight + DSM IV 25.11.21 O2 Academy Bournemouth

Bournemouth’s band pulling power has turned up a notch this Autumn. My fourth visit here to the O2 in Boscombe since we were released from Lockdown. I’ve given this O2 its own blog to stop repeating myself on each return:

O2 Academy Bournemouth venue blog

I wouldn’t count myself as a Libertines fan but I couldn’t resist seeing the naughtiest boy of his generation and his orignal band when they were advertised back in a still heavily restricted Covid Spring. (I’ve driven here tonight with wife Sally and friends Tim and Becky.)

I didn’t start listening much to Pete Doherty’s music until his Babyshambles years (2003 onwards) and notably around the time of the release of the album Down in Albion, produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. Doherty went through very well publicised drug problems which led to the split from The Libertines and he came out of voluntary rehab to tour with Babshambles in 2007. I went to see them in Bournemouth and while my ticket says Windsor Hall I recall it was moved to a smaller hall in the BIC due to poor ticket sales – so I got to stand instead of the balcony seat booked. I have a vague memory of beer cups flying.

Ten years later Doherty appeared under his own name with a band, as a late substitute for The Jesus and Mary Chain, at the 2017 Victorious Festival which I was down the front for, proper camera in hand.

It was a great performance but you had to worry still about his health. He was said to have recovered from his drug problems but onlookers weren’t convinced. His backing band ended up encouraging him off the stage after he took the improvisation a bit far and lost them while going way overtime. He performed several songs laying down and sitting in a heap looking troubled, yet still knocking out the riffs and jangles of his distinctive guitar playing.

It was good to see him return tonight ‘looking well’ (I remember people using that term for me when I put on several stone) and sporting a festive Libertines jumper…. available at the merch stand but not exactly flying off the shelves.

A festive looking Pete Doherty – O2 Academy Bournemouth

I’ve been listening to the Time for Heroes greatest hits album recently in preparation and the song that seemed so chaotic and apt for Doherty’s wayward image was one anthem that stood out and I was hoping they would do: What a Waster. They opened with it. The place went nuts – beer flying everywhere. Meanwhile Doherty played on looking calm and now untroubled in his sensible jumper.

It’s the main old Libertines line up on the tour. With Doherty also on vocals and guitar is Carl Bârat, Gary Powell on drums and John Hassall on bass.

Under the cover of the balcony, avoiding the occasional flying beer, I went for a wander to take some pics nearer the front. Doherty jangles away, meandering over to Carl Bârat regularly so it resembles a jam session amid a gig at times. This is a great double fronted band – Doherty keeps mainly to one side and doesn’t hog it.

The more familiar songs from the greatest hits album come out: What Katy Did, Can’t Stand Me Now and What Became of the Likely Lads? I wander upstairs to the first balcony and get an aerial view of a very mobile crowd – not just the usual mosh pit but people popping in and out, carrying drinks, spilling drinks, throwing drinks. Frantic.

Doherty picks up his Queens Park Rangers scarf and gives a chorus of Come on You Rs. Some Cherries fans give a response… their ground is only half a mile away. I never had him down as a football fan.

The set is rounded off with the familiar sounds of Don’t Look Back into the Sun and Time for Heroes (Top of the Pops link). I think everyone’s knackered and happy with their lot.

Last time I saw Doherty I thought he might be doomed and I was pleased to see that the naughty boy appears to have taken a diversion off the road to ruin. Long may it continue. I hope the gutter press aren’t too disappointed.

They have now added a fourth date at Kentish Town Forum in December and those last two at the end of the tour should be quite a finale. Hopefully they’ll record one of them.