Last Gig You Went To...

[Tim]

I love a good sprinkling of rock chicks

Me too, they just seem to attract a lot of guys - Steven Wilson often comments about it saying 'we need to change this demographic' . . . you should see the queue for the toilets!

Not really a gig as such, but I went to see Shappi Khorsandi last night, what a hoot that was.

[jostber]

Gordon Giltrap last night at the Lights Andover was a superb, intimate, concert where he played solo and displayed all his mastery of both acoustic and electric guitars. We were in row 2 and right in front of him so we could see all his fingering very clearly. GG had an easy way with the audience, regaled us with stories of his experiences and played some utterly compelling music. I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed at a concert, especially after a day's work. Most enjoyable.

Would like to check out more of his music. He contributes some fine articles to the Acoustic Magazine which I subscribe to. Might check out this one:

http://www.acousticmagazine.com/inde...=245&Itemid=44

[MartinT]

All his albums are good, Jostein, but I do particularly love Fear of the Dark, which is well worth getting a copy of, especially the LP if you're into vinyl.

[jostber]

All his albums are good, Jostein, but I do particularly love Fear of the Dark, which is well worth getting a copy of, especially the LP if you're into vinyl.

Thanks for this recommendation, and yes vinyl is my thing.

[Tim]

Elbow - Little Noise Sessions
St Giles Church, Hackney
Tues 22nd Nov

Well it was my birthday yesterday and what a treat this was for sure. Elbow were playing headline for the first of this years Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap. I managed to get to the front and was rewarded with the gig of the year without a doubt (apart from The Wall, which I don't really count, as it stands alone in time).

The set was introduced by Jo Whiley (goodness she's a tall girl!) and the packed Church was in for a night to remember, which was also Elbow's last night of their 2011 tour. What we got was a set heavily influenced by The Seldom Seen Kid, so there was lot's of singing and audience participation. A superb performance by the band, but especially by Guy Garvey - if you have ever seen Elbow, you will know what I mean, as he actually sings 'to you', as opposed to 'at you' and includes the audience as part of the show.

A top evening for sure and it's Gillian Welch tonight at the Apollo

[flaxman]

Not sure I should admit this, but I went to a sixties medley type night in glorious Swinedon last week. Watched The Dreamers (of Freddie), The Union Gap, Hermans Hermits and last but not least The Tremelos....surprisingly I quite enjoyed it.

[MartinT]

Well I'll go first on this. Rickie is clearly a woman with issues and has been through the wars. Some of her kookie behaviour could be attributed to this, but I'm fairly certain that she has always been a bit wayward. You can tell by listening to some of her earlier live tracks.

Nevertheless, I have been wanting to see her live for some 30 years and she didn't disappoint. Her lazy jazzy delivery remains, which I like but I can see that others wouldn't. Her backing group were superb, tight and very sympathetic to her timing lapses and pulling/pushing of notes. The trombonist was exceptional and we had a very good view of him.

Of course Rickie's strength lies in her songwriting, little vignettes on street life and small town America. To hear them performed was delightful and put a reality on the songs I know so well from the enonymous album and Pirates.

All in all a good night for me but Ruth wasn't so sure, except that she loved the band too.

By the way, it was great to meet Tim and Barry. And thanks for my birthday drink, Barry. Shame we didn't have more time to catch up.

[Tim]

Well I'm going to withhold commenting too much on the Rickie Lee Jones concert, as I thought it was a shocker! But I was good to say hi to a few faces

. . . so,

Beth Hart
The Brook, Southampton
Fri 26th Nov



I have never seen Beth live before, but I knew it was likely to be an exceptional performance - I wasn't disappointed one bit. It was a sold out gig, played to a packed, sweaty and clearly knowledgeable audience. Beth wears her heart on her sleeve and gives it all when she performs live. This ladies vocal range is quite astonishing, powerful but never uncontrolled. She is also very personable on stage, chatting openly about some of her life experiences (of which there have been many). Beth often got right up close as well, sitting on the edge of the stage making contact with the audience as The Brook has no safety barrier.

Backed by a three piece band, who are all accomplished musicians in their own right, especially the drummer (Todd Wolf). We were treated to a lot of material from her album with Joe Bonamassa (Don't Explain) as well as some of her well known songs and although her guitarist Jon Nichols is no match for Joe B, he certainly didn't disappoint. She also played my personal favourite 'Leave the Light On', so I was a very happy boy. A truly great night from a very capable blues singer and one of my gigs of the year. I was a little disappointed she didn't make it out after the show to mingle, but her husband Scott said she was worn out, which I totally understand as she really did give it her all. However, he did take items up to her for signing, which was thoughtful and I managed to blag a set-list and get a few of my CD's signed as well



Here's the set-list in case anyone's interested?



P.S. She's playing a one-off in London in February - still some tickets left.
Beth Hart tickets >>>

[DanJennings]

Lots of catching up to do....

On 18th November I saw The Darkness at Birmingham Academy.

Love em or hate em they put on a cracking show, tight performance and thoroughly entertaining great fun. I even excused them playing that Christmas song in November.

The day after (19th November) I saw Smashing Pumpkins also at Birmingham Academy.

Very good, if a little self indulgent and noodly at times, still packed a punch and played some old favourites towards the end. Also we randomly met the bass player from Pop Will Eat Itself in the audience, who was a thoroughly nice bloke.

Into 2012 now and we saw Fairport Convention at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury.

This is becoming a regular thing for me now, this is either the 3rd or 4th year running I've gone to Tewkesbury to see them in January. They had 2 new CDs to promote, but as one was a collection of fan selected songs rerecorded by the current lineup ('By Popular Request') and the other was a live recording of the Babbacombe Lee album from the previous tour, they pretty much played a bit of everything. They seem to get better every time I see them, so I shall definitely be getting my Cropredy tickets for the summer soon. We met them afterwards and as always they were kind, friendly and happy to sign anything you thrust into their hands.

Next I saw Half Man Half Biscuit at the Robin 2 in Bilston.

They were hardly going to top last time (during which while they were playing the opening chords of 'The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman, Dean Friedman surprised the singer by popping on stage and singing a song that implied that singer Nigel Blackwells mother had had an affair with a gingerbread man and was therefore half a man and half a biscuit) but they had a bloody good go. Plenty of songs from their great new album too.

And we're nearly up to date. Last night I went to see Mastodon supported by Dillinger Escape Plan at the HMV Institute in Digbeth.

Dillinger Escape Plan for the uninitiated, play insane jazzy mathrock metal. Not for the faint hearted, but very entertaining, and an extremely energetic show, with a large mosh pit and members of the band jumping of speaker cabs etc.

Mastodon were note perfect, blisteringly heavy and absolutely amazing. If you get a chance to see this tour, you must.

[snuffbox]

Glad to see theres a section on this forum for the appreciation of real live music,which is my reall love.
Last Friday mywife and I went to the Cadogan Hall to see Martin Taylor with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra playing a selection of Django Reinhardt.
He was accompanied with violinist Florin Niculesco,what a monster player.
He also had with him on violin Ola Kvernberg,guitarJon Larsen and bass Diego Imbert who plays with Bireli Lagrene.
Last gig before that was the amazing Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and I think our next gig we're off to will be The Fishermans Friends next week or the week after.
We've got a visit to the theatre to see Katherine Kelly in She Stoops to Conquer which has had some great reviews.

I keep meaning to get down to our local(The Half Moon,South Harrow) where they have some great jazz combos, on Wednesdays we have what was the Dudley Moore Trio without Dud alternating with a guy called Frank Griffith and his combo,he's a terrific sax player and brings some great supporting players with him.
Google him and you'll see he's no slouch,well respected connected and a great musician.