return of the live gigs

[Hugh]

The Raghu Dixit Project











E

[Hugh]

Kapil Seshasayee

[Hightea]

Floored tonight.
Saw the 4 bill prog tour here in USA
Asia/Focus/Marvin Turners WA/ Curved Air
Curved Air opened with no drummer - Sonja sounded great. Great short set.
MT- nice set and Thijs sat in on a song.
Focus- amazing set by a band I’ve been wanting to see since the 70’s, they never cone to USA. Thanked them after.
Asia- walk out after a few songs

Pictures to come.

Focus






Marvin Turner's WA

[Hightea]

Counting Crows

[Hightea]

Beck with Orchestra
Great show and Beck seemed to enjoy playing his songs with Orchestra.
He has multiple songs with string arrangements so stated he always wanted to play them with an orchestra.
He did a few songs just with his band for the encore.



Paper Tiger Snippet

[C]

Curved Air opened with no drummer - Sonja sounded great. Great short set.

Pictures to come.

Sounds like fun.

CA without tubs…? That’s odd

Is that Kirby Gregory? He used to be in a 70s band Stretch.

I saw them once supporting somebody or other

Looking forward to the photos



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[C]

The Raghu Dixit Project











E

Nice photos Hugh



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[Hugh]

Otway

[mudshark]

Wow, John Otway, that must have been fun!

No fancy pictures (didn't take any, and if I had, I would have been too embarrassed to post them underneath Hugh's works of art), but a brief review of the 'twofer' we attended last night at the Cynthia Woods Pavillion in the Woodlands TX. After a short warm-up (as if that was necessary with triple-digit temperatures at this open-air venue) by singer-songwriter Hannah Wicklund, it was up to Yes to give it their best. If that's what they did, Steve Howe really needs to start worrying. They started with a song named Machine Messiah and they couldn't have made a worse decision: what a load of proggish drivel. Roundabout was out of tune. The singer is a Anderson soundalike who lacks reach and persona. Yours is no Disgrace was palatable. The rest was absolute rubbish, except for Starship Trooper which I quite enjoyed, but maybe that was because of the sense of relief I felt, knowing it was the encore. The main course was Deep Purple. First of: nothing but Deep Respect for Paice and Gillan. What a voice at 79/80! He still could do most of Highway Star. Thankfully they didn't attempt Child in Time. After a blistering start including the aforementioned Highway Star, and oldies like Hard Lovin' Man and Into the Fire (all segued!), the old lads had a bit of a lie-down and the new lad, Simon McBride strutted his stuff for 10 minutes or so. He's excellent, nuff said. Maybe no Ritchie, but as good as Morse. The audience was well fired up and ready for more highlights from yesteryear (the wife and I felt quite young in this crowd), but the band felt it necessary to fill the next 45 minutes with 'new music', interrupted by "Lazy" and the odd semi- classical organ cacophony Jon Lord style that the band used as an excuse for another little siesta. Just before I lost complete interest, they burst into Space Trucking and so they should!, considering the concert was announced as "Machine Head: 50 years". The inevitable final song (you know it) put the crowd into a frenzy, including my wife who today has not been feeling all that well after dancing too much in the turkish bath we were in. I've had a huge dislike for the song for several decades now (not a great one to begin with and, moreover, criminally overplayed), but knew I had to endure it, of course. The encore was a wonderful surprise. They played Hush and it was a great rendition. It was the highlight for me, which is a bit ironic since only Ian Paice was in the band when they covered the song for DP's first album. It was followed by a decent Black Night and then it was all over. I'm glad I was there. No doubt it will be the last time I see Deep Purple. Good memories and they've still got it, somewhat. Ian Gillan, who turns 80 today (Euro time) still is a very good singer. Fun fact: if he were bald, he'd be a John Cleese lookalike.

[Hightea]

Andrew Bird at the wonderful Rooftop at Pier 17, NYC

[Hugh]

Ute Lemper

[Hightea]

Very Busy September :

Pearl Jam at MSG


Peter Hook and the Light


Cat Power playing Dylan's 66 concert at Royal Albert Hall


St Vincent

[Hugh]

Andrew Combs

[C]

Nice photos/vids lads

Very nice



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[Hugh]

Seckou Keita

[Hightea]

Pulp!






Escape-ism

[Hightea]

Sea Here Now Festival - Day 1




Guster


Grace Potter






Black Crowes covering White Light/White Heat

[mudshark]

I was told that Kool & The Gang were the highlight of the festival.
Do you agree?

[Hightea]

Was a bit surprised by the Kool & The Gang set. Will post some videos soon.

But this was Bruce Springsteen’s show. Sure Bruce always plays a good set (I’m not a big fan) - but Asbury park beach is where it all started for him and playing to a crowd of 35,000 for the first time on his home beach he brought another gear. Playing basically any song about Jersey and the shore including multiple songs from his first album. Telling stories of songs he wrote (one he pointed to a spot on the boardwalk ) .

Adding to my experience was a sad feeling as one of my friends got attack in Asbury park on Labor Day and is still in the hospital. Cried everytime he mentioned Asbury.

Loved Trey and Grace potter’s sets and liked the black crowes set too.

[Hightea]

Kool and the Gang




Trey Anastasio



Trey with Bruce - Trey told us he was a Jersey boy and his first show live concert was Bruce in 78 (first year I saw Bruce too)


Bruce Springsteen