A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To (and from) Hammersmith.

Last Saturday was the first time I had been to London for about ten years. The trip was simple, one tube journey out to Hammersmith, and another one back. London is a huge city with lots of people living in it and lots of people visiting it every day.

On the first tube journey I glanced along the length of the carriage and saw a chap with a guitar, he looked familiar and I commented to my friend Paul that it looked a lot like someone I know from twitter but In wasn't sure and usually lack the confidence to ask in case I am wrong. Once I had a phone signal I tweeted about and after we got to Hammersmith I discovered it was indeed Matt Stevens who I know from various social media. Imagine the chances of that!

The journey back involved an unexpected change of line, as we boarded the Circle line tube at Edgeware Road, I glanced along the length of the carriage and saw a chap with a guitar....you guessed it, it was Matt again. So I took a deep breath and walked over to say hello. It's a phenomenal coincidence that we were on the same tube trains twice that night. I'm so glad I plucked up the courage to speak to him too.

Anyway Matt makes great music both solo and with the band The Fierce And The Dead. Follow the links below to find out more.

http://www.mattstevensguitar.com
http://www.fierceandthedead.com

Status Quo Reunion - Return of the Frantic Four

I have had an incredible week. Getting to see the original Status Quo lineup twice has been quite simply amazing. Quo are a band that have just always been there. Watching the Hello Quo film brought that home, there was just so much that I remembered watching on TV at the time. I grew up in a household where interests were (still are) actively encouraged, so I must have reacted to Quo's music as one day I was bought a video box set featuring stuff from the original lineup - all that hair flying around obviously made an impression.

Fast forward many years later and I'm idly wandering around HMV when I come across a box set of four early Quo albums on CD. It was only tenner and worth every penny as it rekindled the relationship with their stuff of that era. This inevitably has led to more purchases and then came news of the reunion. Did I want to go? Too bloody right!

They say the waiting is the hardest part, but finally March rolled around. I filled in a lot of that waiting time explaining that the version of Quo I was going see wasn't the current version. They wouldn't be performing songs about being in the army or burning bridges. I was eager to know what they would be performing, so couldn't resist a peek at the set list when the tour began. Although there are other songs I would have hoped to have heard played live by the Frantic Four I was not disappointed in the least.

Both of the gigs were amazing. At Manchester I was seated and had a great view. Hammersmith was a different beast, I was standing. Despite the sloping floor I was a tiny bit too short to see them well, but to be honest the atmosphere made up for that.

The sound was amazing. It wasn't polished, it was a raw and loud onslaught on the eardrums - it was marvellous! The audiences were brilliant and bounced along, even on the balcony! It pumped you full of adrenaline and made you feel good.

I'm so glad I was able to go more than once. It doesn't matter that the set list was the same each night - that just meant that I knew when to take a deep breath because a favourite track was about to begin and just had to be sung and danced along to! My personal highlight on both nights was Big Fat Mama. I expected to be hoarse after Hammersmith, I sang along that loud!

I have already posted links to videos and photos for the Manchester gig here. 

Some Hammersmith Photos -

Here's a link my unedited Hammersmith photo set on Flickr.

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Status Quo Reunion Tour Manchester 12th March 2013 (photo links and video)

 I'll write up about the gigs after I've been to Hammersmith on Saturday. In the mean time here's some photos

Click  here for my concert photos on Flickr

Click here for more photos (not by me) 

Video playlist of some of the gig.

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I wrote about the Manchester and Hammersmith Quo experience here. Clickety! 

My Top 20 Tracks 2012.

List based on scrobbles to my last.fm profile. (Number of plays in brackets)

1 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – From The Beginning (21)
2 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Jerusalem (17)
3 Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding (17)
4 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Nobody Loves You Like I Do (17)
5 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Lend Your Love to Me Tonight (16)
6 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Still... You Turn Me On (14)
7 Asia – Bury Me In Willow (14)
8 Asia – Only Time Will Tell (13)
9 Status Quo – What You´re Proposing (12)
10 Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love (11)
11 Michael Nesmith – I Am Not That (11)
12 Mini – Let It Go (11)
13 Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas (10)
14 The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star (10)
15 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Nutrocker (10)
16 Jon & Vangelis – I'll Find My Way Home (10)
17 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Knife Edge (9)
18 Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Lucky Man (9)
19 Michael Nesmith & The Second National Band – Wax Minute (9)
20 Mini – Since Yesterday (9)

Greg Lake–20th November 2012 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

To say I was looking forward to this concert would have been a big understatement. It was one of the first of my 40th birthday gifts to be bought and one of the last I got to experience. (Thank you Stephen!)
The evening began with a quick blast of Kanye West’s track Power which features a sample of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man. This obviously led into it being the opening song from Mr Lake himself.

This show was very much a solo performance with Greg playing along with a pre-recorded backing track. It’s impossible to recreate these songs alone on stage so this was a reasonable solution which also allowed the concert to retain a very intimate feeling.
Stories were shared about each song including a fabulous tale of seeing Elvis in the 70s which led into an  impassioned rendition of Heartbreak Hotel.
For me the highlight of the first half was a rather lovely version of the King Crimson track I Talk To The Wind which was then followed by a singalong version of The Beatles’ Hide Your Love Away that took us to the break.
Part two brought us a couple of ELP classics including Still You Turn Me On which I’m more than a little partial too, before Greg took on the Q&A portion of the evening. I don’t think any of the questions stumped him very much and all led to great tales about various aspects of his career. In the middle of this bit we got an acoustic rendition of I Believe In Father Christmas. I’m a sucker for a good Christmas tune and this is one of my favourites.
Other highlights of the second half included the sublime C’est La Vie and the inevitable, but still fab, Lucky Man before Greg took to the keyboard to close the main part of the show with a cover of People Get Ready.
The encore made full use of the haze and onstage lightning rig with we were treated to Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2 to end the evening on a fairly triumphant high for the audience before we all disappeared out into the night for our various transport home.

Click here for flickr set of photos from the evening.

Michael Nesmith–29th October 2012- Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.

It’s taken me a while to pen this review. I think I wanted to continue to just revel in the moment and not get too over analytical about it. After all I never thought I’d ever get to see a Nez solo show, let alone one in my home town.

So right now the concert is, in my mind, in a weird place in time. I know it was only just under two weeks ago, but it’s already hurtling far into the past as I try to hang on to it all in my memory.

Before I list my own personal highlights I feel compelled to comment on the amount of technology on the stage. It was interesting to see computers and ipads in use in a concert context.  I was intrigued as to what was sampled, pre-recorded and played there and then. I know there was a few people who have found this not to their taste but I have to say that I didn’t really mind at all. Maybe it is because I am used to electronic sounds, loops, samples and keyboards that sound like lush strings or stinging brass rather than just plinking out a tune. I will concede that the percussion track occasionally felt intrusive but only occasionally, and I was putting that down to the fact that I was on the front row and that’s not exactly the best position for sound at concerts. Other than that the stage sound was really well mixed and produced.

Something that did strike me with all the tech on stage was that the musicians all had proper music stands with proper paper sheet music on it, which added to the feeling that was an evolution in performance methods rather than a revolution.

On the way back from the gig I posted to facebook that “He had me at Propinquity.” This wasn’t strictly true, but it sounded good and I like the word Propinquity. He had me from the opening number. Papa Gene’s Blues was a regular tune on the playlists I would create to accompany the editing and printing processes of my now defunct 60s fanzine, Brand X.  It was one of a brace of Monkees tunes we got that night, the other being Tapioca Tundra.

I said I’d list my personal highlights didn’t I? I don’t think I can. It was all a highlight! I liked the idea that we were given a scenario to envision as each of the songs were played. I had avoided looking at set lists for the pervious two gigs but could work out what song we were about to get from these little scene setters in most cases.

It was lovely to be reacquainted with songs I hadn’t heard for a long time, such as Casablanca Moonlight and the trio of songs selected from The Prison, as well as getting to hear familiars friends like Grand Ennui, Tomorrow and Me and Laugh Kills Lonesome.

The encore of Thanx For The Ride included a sample of the late Red Rhodes on the Hawaiian pedal steel guitar, which was a rather nice touch.

As with any concert by an artist with an extensive back catalogue there’s a plethora of tunes that could have been on the set list, but the selection we got was more than satisfying, besides there are a few tunes that would have simply reduced me to a small emotional mess – *cough* Wax Minute *cough*

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Songs on video playlist – Tomorrow & Me, Different Drum, Tapioca Tundra, Cruisin’ and Three Songs from The Prison.

The Fierce And The Dead – video and tour details

This is the video for 666...6 by The Fierce and The Dead

The band are on tour this month with Knifeworld and Trojan Horse – details below.

Visit the tour website here.