Video: Dave Rave "One of a Kind"

I am, as ever, extremely biased when it comes to Mr Rave - Is it May yet? This video was released over Christmas.

Check out the official Dave Rave site here.

And check out his stuff on Amazon here.

Crosby Stills and Nash - Manchester Arena 12th October 2013

The day didn't pan out quite as planned. Graham Nash was meant to be doing a book signing on the day of the concert and this got changed to the day after. This meant I couldn't go, but to be fair, there's probably a good reason and it's not like I hadn't met him (and Crosby) before anyway. (Always willing to tell the tale of Dublin Airport, just ask ;-))

My gig buddy for this adventure was my best friend Ellie. We grabbed some food and swift pint and headed off to the Arena nice and early. It was quite lucky we did as the lady on the door scanned the ticket and told us we were being upgraded. We had cheap seats at the back of the lower part of the Arena, but all of those had been covered over and we were upgraded to a block closer to the stage. I'm assuming that it didn't sell out and we were moved so we weren't all sprawled out all over the place.

Opening with Carry On/Questions, it was so lovely to hear these guys singing. The harmonies are lovely, particularly from Graham and David with Stephen Stills adding a more edgy vocal lessening the softness. (But in a good way)

Military Madness followed and then came a bit of heckling from the audience, mostly aimed at Crosby not being loud enough. (The sound was perfectly fine, so I've no idea what they were on about.) One of the responses from the stage was simply to "listen louder!"  So we did!

Two more classics were followed by a Crosby and Nash tune called Lay Me Down.

The song that got the audience on their feet in appreciation down on the floor of the arena was Bluebird. I guess there was a few Buffalo Springfield fans in that night! Super version.

A trio of new songs followed this - Crosby's being the strongest (from an album due out in February) and Nash's being the weakest. It was still good, but I tend to find a lot of these nostalgia trip type songs sound the same to me.  Stills dedicated his to his wife as it was her birthday.

Before launching into a rather sublime Deja Vu, Crosby informed us that his role in the band was to "write the weird sh*t"

Stills then powered us into the interval will a full on audience participation version of Love The One Your With.

Part two brought us Helplessly Hoping and Just A Song Before I Go.

I am always in two minds about Guinnevere. A lot of the time I find myself skipping it, but then sometimes when I'm listening in the dark with the good headphones it becomes a song that I can get lost in.

Treetop Flyer sounded pretty awesome and obviously pleased the Stephen Stills fan in the audience.

A short interlude of What Are Their Names was followed by another new song called Burning For The Buddha about Tibetan monks setting fire to themselves in protest.

Ellie had to leave after this in order to catch her coach home. From this point on my time was limited too. It was getting late, I had a lift back and to leave them hanging around outside till the very end wouldn't have been very nice.  It was a bit hard to enjoy the last two song I was able to stay for as I was clock watching then. As the final notes of Our House died away I made for the door and headed home.

Sadly I missed some of the tunes I enjoy hearing live the most, which are the last three songs before the encore and I can only imagine that the audience fully appreciate For What It's Worth.

I hope I get another to chance to see them, for various reasons it had been twenty years since I saw them last.

Unedited Photo Set
Cropped and Edited Photos

Something New from McCartney

Rumours were afoot there was a new album coming from Paul McCartney, and then suddenly in the aftermath of Beatle Week a new song appeared, appropriately entitled "New"



Produced by Mark Ronson the track bounces along quite merrily, sounding a bit like a throwaway b-side from the early eighties. It's quite catchy, the harmonies are nice and it contains elements that many are describing as Beatle-esque. Personally I think it's more like Pet Sounds/Smile era Beach Boys in places than the Beatles and it lacks a killer middle-eight to enhance it's catchiness (something I don't feel I've heard since the days of Flaming Pie) but it's a jolly good tune and if the rest of the album follows these lines it will be worth a listen or two.

Special Davy Jones Event In Manchester this October

There's going to be an event celebrating Davy Jones in Manchester on October 19th 2013.
It's being organised by family members and all the proceeds will go to the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation set up by his daughters to help look after Davy's horses after his untimely death. It promises to be a very special event for Davy's fans.

You can find out more about the event by clicking here.

And you can find out more about the DJEMF by clicking here. 

Additional Info - Just found out that The Shorty Blackwells will be performing at the event. Visit their facebook page by clicking here.

Details of the John Walker Tribute show in October

Click for ticket sales page.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

I was supposed to be seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse this evening, but the gig was cancelled due to injury.

I shall just have to seek consolation in YouTube then....

Live Review Jon Anderson - Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester 4th August 2013

It's always a pleasure to see Jon Anderson in concert, his exuberance and sheer joy is infectious. The venue was small, intimate and in the round. This meant that for some of the time Jon performed with his back to us, but he did his level best to include everyone in the show.

The set list leant heavily to the Yes side of things which wasn't surprising really. I got to hear yet another live version of Starship Trooper and that's not a bad thing.  A highlight for me was him talking about working with Vangelis before launching into I'll Find My Way Home. I am still amused that he does some of the sound effects!

The stories between the songs didn't sound laboured, they flowed from him showing he was happy to share them with us all, though maybe he needs to work on some of his jokes.

Other stand out moments - breaking briefly into One Love after his reggae version of Time and Word and the audience singing along, America, Your Move/All Good People with audience participation, getting everyone on their feet for Roundabout, needing a prompt when he forgot the words of And You And I, and a cracking rendition of the Beatles' A Day In The Life on ukulele.

Click here for all my photos from the night.

The YouTube playlist below features Sweet Dreams, One Love, Flight Of The Moorglade, I'll Find My Way Home, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, You Got The Light, And You And I, talking about seeing the Beatles, Turn Of The Century, A Day In The Life and Wondrous Stories.