Return of the Son of Now Gigging

[Tactful Cactus]

The London lot were giving out about the guitarist last year aswell. Sounds like a huge mis-step. Arthur Lee's Baby-Lemonade guitarist was a little over the top too, it just added nothing to the music but unwanted distraction. Maybe they think it'll bring the kids in or something.

[Maxwell's Golden Pickaxe]

Maxwell and myself went to see The Zombies last night, or rather Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent of The Zombies, as it was billed.

We've made the mistake before of seeing acts decades past their best, and I had feared this would be one of those nights.
Blunstone was in great voice last night, he really belted them out, although he was a little deeper than on Odessey and Oracle.

Argent also still has the chops, but his voice wasn't as strong. (Was it ever?)
They seemed to be having great fun. Last nights gig was a warm up for the London shows performing Odessey and Oracle in it's entirety, but we just got the 5 piece band, no strings sadly.
Still it was in Whelan's, to a crowd of just over a hundred punters which was fun.

Personally I would have loved them to play all of Odessey and Oracle, but we had to make do with just Care of Cell 44, A Rose for Emily, This Will Be Our Year & Time of the Season.
All sounded great, a little iffy on some harmonies at times, but on the whole worth the price of admission.

Now the rest of the gig is where it goes off the rails.
They played a few new tracks, which were pleasant enough bluesy rockers, and they also played Say You Don't Mind, which is a personal favourite but it loses it's heart without the strings.

Then the Argent stuff came out, I'm not familiar with this stuff at all, and frankly it's pretty ridiculous but the crowd got into it and just enjoyed themselves.
I'm completely prepared to accept this, they have had long careers and can play whatever they like, but....the guitarist..

Ok, he can play those widdly-widdly solos on the Argent stuff but the f*cker threw one in (complete with all that finger-tapping nonsense) at the end of She's Not There.
It's a real shame, he was playing it well, had a nice warm guitar sound for 3/4's of the song, then he threw in his best 80's hair metal solo, complete with gurning.
Bastid.

They then ended with God Gave Rock and Roll To You, which has been stuck in my head ever since.

The highlight of the night was when Rod Argent dedicated a song to Barbara and Kenneth from the tennis club.

Yeah, I'd agree with this. Blunstone's voice is fantastic, considering O&O was recorded 40 years ago. It would have been nice to hear more from One Year as well, but they said they'd be doing that stuff with the strings at the Shepherds Bush shows. The Argent stuff was a bit too proggy for my liking, and the guitarist did spoil a few moments (he was introduced as the guy who played with Nik Kershaw at Live Aid ) but overall I really enjoyed it. Got my CD copy of O&O signed by the two guys. They were very pleasant, as you would expect.

[Jumper k]

Nouvelle Vague at the Trinity in Bristol Tuesday night.

First up Gabriela Cilmi. Strong vocalist, very much Amy Winehouse territory but accompanied by very good accoustic guitarist and electric bassist. All her own material and quite funky in places. 16 years old,maybe one to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtbM6wwyA1U

Next up Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws.
Ex NV vocalist fornting her own band. Good energetic, slightly deranged rockabilly influenced garage shenanigans. She's quite an engaging performer but I was left with the feeling that its all built on an edifice of artifice. Still she had my foot tapping and head nodding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aieoBARa ... re=related

Finally NV
One trick ponies. Lounged/jazzed up punk and new wave covers. Great trick it is though.
Loved the God Save the Queen - introduced as ' a strange little song'. A never heard by me version of Girl You Want and The Cure 100 Years was odd in the extreme. Al the old faves were performed, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Richard Hell and a sing-a-long Too Drunk To Fuck. Most excellent night out.

[copehead]

Went to see The Go! Team at Cambridge Junction last night. A more rocktastic experience than I had assumed it would be, the boys love their guitars. A real multi-racial multi-cultural experience with Mungo jerry on bass, equipment swapping a go go, and so much energy that at times, as Mrs Copehead pointed out, it was like watching a cartoon.

I would thoroughly recommend the experience.

They are supported by a female, Finnish 3 piece called the Micra Girls, who are fun, and I gave them kudos for covering a Shop Assistants song until I got home and found out that "What a way to die" was by "Unkown", still they were like the Slits in the 50s which can't be bad.

I see Public Enemy are touring "It takes a nation of Millions" in May, so I may go and see that. It seems sad that one of the most radical black groups of all time earn money by replaying their greatest hits to overwhelmingly white middle class audiences, but it keeps Flav in clocks no doubt. Perhaps black rap fans don't do nostalgia.

Off to see Billy Bragg at the roundhouse next week and the JAMC the week after, it's all go at the moment

[mentalist (slight return)]

I'm seeing Ozzy Osbourne tomorrow night, for free as well.

* does the devils horns and looks for black t-shirt with metal leanings (it will have to be the MC5 one) *

[Tactful Cactus]

Sharon Jones & The DapKings

A tighter, funkier band I have never witnessed. Absolutely brilliant from the first note. Jones' voice and stage presence is magnificant, and the MC/lead-guitarist can really work the crowd. It really did feel like what one of those old school Apollo shows might be like. They can switch from 70's funky James Brown to a 60's style Motown beat in the blink of an eye. Thoroughly enjoyed it, don't miss them if they come to town.

[mentalist (slight return)]

Lovetones, Dimmer & Sonic Boom. Great gig! Sonic Boom's did a great cover of Kraftwerk's Hall Of Mirrors. And I have a headache, otherwise I'd say more.

[Evil Dave]

Gutter Twins - Manchester Academy

Me and our Martyn went on Tuesday night. Missed the support act because it took us 4 hours to get there after a traffic accident gridlocked the M60, anyway, we got there with 5 minutes to spare before the Gutter Twins came on stage.

A fantastic performance from the two main men backed up with an excellent touring band.
Lanegan stood there motionless and emotionless apart from one incident when he let his guard down as he smiled at some young fella in the audience who shouted out "SCUNTHORPE RADIO FUCKING RULES"!
As well as the Saturnalia songs, they covered Massive Attacks ‘Live With Me’.
Dulli also sang a few lines of Led Zeppelins ‘When the Levee Breaks’ to the tune of ‘I Was In Love With You’ and part way through ‘Papillon’ Mark Lanegan sang The Screaming Trees ‘Shadow of the Season’.

High point for me was Greg Dulli’s outstanding delivery of ‘Front Street’.
Thankfully his mood had changed from earlier in the evening when he threatened to have two girls ejected for filming the show. "If I see that red light again, you're fucking out of here, if you want memories keep them in your fucking head, motherfuckers! You’re not even watching the show”.
I’d read that the last gig in the U.S. (L.A. I think) the band had seen their arses with the audience and didn’t do an encore, with this in mind I wondered if an encore in Manchester was in doubt. I couldn’t have been more wrong; Greg Dulli actually walked into the audience and led the cheers for his own encore.



Contrary to the set list there was no Sam & Dave tune in the encore

[Kinkhurt]

Saw the Breeders at the Leadmill on Saturday night - late start due to unspecified technical problems, too many times round a Hank Williams compilation tape waiting for them to come onstage didn't bode well, there could have been murder in the air - but they pulled it back. Very much the Kim and Kelly banter show, a good mix of old and new stuff. The place was pretty much rammed and the audience were into it. The old stuff went down a storm whereas some the new material seemed too quiet and overlong to hold all the audience. People have been complaining of short sets this tour - we got 68mins which ain't bad considering the cockups, others have been running 50-ish, apparently, at £15 a ticket thats taking the piss.

[Tactful Cactus]

50-ish, apparently, at £15 a ticket thats taking the piss.

tickets were €30 in dublin, they played for 60mins

[JQW]

There's actually two acts I've got CDs by playing this town in the next month. First Jon Power is playing here on Saturday, followed by whats-his-face of Mull Historical Society over the May bank holiday weekend. Woot! I'll try to attend both.

[Django]

Just booked to see Stars of the Lid in the Holy Trinity Church in Leeds. Silky will have to let me kip at his.

[secondhandsocks]

Elbow
Last night in Vicar Street, Dublin.

It's a shame I can't see my review from the last time we saw them in Vicar Street, I bet I'd say the same things all over again.
A fantastic gig.

For those with The Seldom Seen Kid album, the horn stabs have put me off Starlings the opener but live it worked much better. The lights came up on a string section that I didn't expect (2 violins & a cello and all sang backing vocals) then the band lined up at the front of the stage, a snare for the drummer and the other 4 members all had trumpets for the horn stabs.
This worked really well, for a small detail it worked great as a opener, plus his voice was spot on. Aside from the lyrics I think he's got a cracking singing voice, one of my favourites in recent years.

From then on the night was all about having fun, he does a great line in banter with the crowd and the band really looked to be enjoying themselves as much as we were.
Lots of new stuff played, Starlings, The Bones of You, Mirrorball,Grounds For Divorce, The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver and One Day Like This. All sounded great, especially with the strings.
The venue was rammed and the crowd did well with the backing vocals, without turning it into an arena singalong that drowns out the band.

Grounds For Divorce was fucking spectacular live, it was great to hear that guitar lick at a proper volume. The centrepiece again was Newborn. They have good songs on all the albums, but this just grabs everyone live.

We blagged backstage passes afterwards and carried on drinking (something I am regretting now) and saw the band but were too chicken to talk to them.

A faultless gig, not that it was rehearsed to death, plenty of mishaps but these were dispatched easily by the singer's onstage banter.
One of those gigs that reminds you why you go in the first place.

Anyone else go or going?

Just remembered, instead of clapping and stamping for an encore the crowd sang the guitar solo from The Boys Are Back In Town, fucking funny at the time.

[funky_nomad]

Saying farewell to the last-ever Triptych on Sunday night by seeing Clinic in a wee dive in Edinburgh.

[Goat Boy]

Going to see My Morning Jacket in Amsterdam in July. Long weekend.

[Diamond Dog]

Saw Paul Weller at the Academy (formerly the Zodiac club) in Oxford.

A small venue, still holds no more than 1000, I'd guess.

He was on form, but I'm afraid one of the reasons for seeing him live is no longer, as Steve White is not behind the drums anymore. Nice that he's dropped a few songs I never particularly want to hear again ("That's Entertainment", "Town Called Malice", "Wild Wood" etc) but that meant we had a couple more tracks from the new album than we strictly needed.

However, hearing a blistering, ripping "Eton Rifles" ( ) more than made it worthwhile.

[B]

Clinic tomorrow night

[Arthur Crud]

Stiff Little Fingers are causing a bit of excitement for me and some of my mates - playing next Weds. Anyone caught them last few years? I'll be going whatever.....

And Malcolm Middleton a few days earlier...what could I expect?

[Jumper k]

And Malcolm Middleton a few days earlier...what could I expect?

Cheery pop ditties with a knowing grin and beaming smile. Or some miserable Scottish cunt bemoaning his lack of relationship skills.

[Kenji]

I'm going to this show tomorrow afternoon:



I'll try to write my short review about that...