Last Gig You Went To...

[TCats]

Acoustic Music Festival, Uttoxeter Race Course great three days. The Move; The Animals; Katrina; Glen Tilbrook; Mike Peters Joan Armatrading any many others. http://www.acousticfestival.co.uk/

[Tim]

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Hammersmith Apollo
Sunday 3rd June 2012.
Ticket: £40.00 (+ fees)
Rating: 10/10

This was the first time I have ever seen any variant of Lynyrd Skynyrd, despite having tickets to see them at Knebworth Festival in 1976. My boss at the time wouldn't let me have the day off, so I never got to see them and the ticket went in the bin. After the death of the bands core in 1977 I have not really paid them much attention, apart from still playing their early music and I've not bought an album since Street Survivors.

I had no preconceptions prior to this show and did wonder when I bought my ticket, if I was going to be wasting my time...... how wrong was I! What I got on Sunday was an absolutely stonking rock show, the like you don't often witness these days, performed by some very professional and entertaining musicians, with the emphasis being on the music and a really gutsy performance - Southern Rock at its very, very best.

The Apollo was packed to the gunnels on Sunday with an extremely varied audience, which in itself was very interesting and illustrated that the band has not only retained its aging and original loyal fan-base, but also has a very young one and unusually at a rock concert of this type, a female one too. We had lots of cowboys hats, long grey beards, confederate flags and biker style jackets - the audience was as colourful as the band and went a long way to adding an extra dimension to the nights entertainment.

Despite only Gary Rossington remaining from the original band, you really did get the feeling you were watching a Lynyrd Skynyrd show. Difficult for me to judge I know, but I have seen countless videos of the band over the years and this just worked, with Johnny Van Zant really pulling off a performance that I'm sure brother Ronnie would have been immensely proud of. What stood out for me was the energy the band produced on stage. The four guitars all had wireless control systems, which allowed them to be very mobile around the stage and they made the most of this, getting up close and personal to a very appreciative audience. They were loud, flamboyant and appeared completely comfortable amongst themselves and their adoring fans. Johnny was also very talkative between songs and adept at stirring up the crowd, I don't think anyone in there didn't have the biggest grin on their face for the entire show - the band included. We had a great spread of music too, with a good smattering of Skynyrd crowd pleasers.

Setlist:
Workin' For MCA
I Ain't The One
Skynyrd Nation
What's Your Name
Down South Jukin'
That Smell
I Know A Little
Saturday Night Special
Simple Man
Gimme Back My Bullets
Whiskey Rock-A-Roller
The Needle And The Spoon
Tuesday's Gone
Gimme Three Steps
Call Me The Breeze
(J.J. Cale cover)
Sweet Home Alabama

Encore:
Free Bird

Toward the end of the show the backdrop became a pseudo Confederate flag and the entire room sang along to Sweet Home Alabama, which was very moving and uplifting. They left the stage to one of the biggest roars I have experienced at a rock concert, which continued until some torch lights flickered in the dark, signalling the bands return. Johnny marched to the front of the stage and yelled they had time to play one more song and asked what that song was going to be..... I swear every single person in the Apollo screamed at the top of their voice "Free Bird", the roar when the first bars played and an American Eagle appeared on the backdrop was deafening.

I have become quite critical over the years as I go to a lot of gigs and will walk out if the artists are not giving it their all. I have stated before that the majority of the gigs I go to are good, some (not many) are poor, a few are very good and every now and then you get treated to an exceptional performance - this night falls firmly into that category and I'll be on the lookout to see them again if at all possible - a truly fantastic live band.

I don't take a camera to gigs, but I had to take a couple of shots of this night with my phone.

[Macca]

Brilliant write up - I'm a big LS fan, wish I had been there.

[Tim]

Brilliant write up

Thanks Martin, I thought it deserved a bit of effort on my part as the show was so good. I have been playing LS all day today too - its a Southern Rock day for me

[MartinT]

This is the third time I have seen her perform and she just delivers in her own way, adapting to a large variety of musical styles. Her piano playing gets better and she is the master of off-beat and syncopated styles. I'm not sure about music from the new album, preferring her upbeat jazzy numbers to be honest. Her voice remains smoky and sultry, just perfect, and she spoke to the audience in her usual personable manner.

Two negatives about last night: the audience was a bit flat and took some time to warm to her; the film footage was bizarrely inappropriate and frankly distracting. I mean, clips from Stingray were used for one of the songs! Once I learned to avoid looking at the screen all was well again, but the stage director should be given a good talking to. She doesn't need that crap!

So a mixed evening but I came away still admiring her confident skills.

[Tim]

Glad you had a good (ish) night Martin. As you know I was in two minds about this one and the deal was sealed when I saw her on Jools Holland and decided against it. I reckon I made the right choice - I think I will keep her for at home, as I'm not sure she would do it for me live based on her JH appearance.

[DanJennings]

Wow, I'm miles out of date with this thread.... Since I last posted in February I've seen:

Chris Wood at the Red Lion Folk Club
Presidents Of The USA at the Wulfrun
Korn at Birmingham Academy
Steel Panther at Birmingham Academy
Ian Anderson at Symphony Hall
Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts at the Kitchen Garden Cafe
Guns N Roses at the NEC
Cropredy festival
Martin Simpson at the Red Lion Folk Club
Axewound at the Slade Rooms
Terrorvision at the Slade Rooms
Romeo Must Die at Scruffy Murphys
Alice Cooper & Ugly Kid Joe at Wolverhampton Civic
and
Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts at Birmingham Town Hall with The Old Dance School and Lady Maisery.

This was amazing, Gilmore and Roberts played their new album in its entirety, and it's fantastic.



Lady Maisery were a revelation too, an all-female trio with occasional instrumentation (harp, violin, accordian and weird banjo/sitar hybrid) but it was mostly all about vocal harmonies, and indeed several songs were a cappella. Brilliant stuff.



Met all the bands, and they were all really nice people. All in all, great night.

[WAD62]

A bit like Dan, I've not been posting here of late, in fact for nearly a year since Mogwai last November...so here we go

All Tomorrows Parties (Nightmare before Christmas) @ Butlins Minehead, 09/12/11 to 11/12/11

Holy F*ck
Oxes
Simian Mobile Disco
Les Savy Fav
Battles
Flying Lotus
Gary Numan
Walls
Caribou (Caribou Vibration Ensemble)
Orchestra Of Spheres
Omar Souleyman
The Ex with Getatchew Mekurya
Four Tet
Pharoe Sanders
Sun Ra Arkestra

Quantic Soul Orchestra @ Hare & Hounds, Brum 22/12/11

Wild Flag @ Electric Ballroom Camden, 01/02/12

Black Keys @ Alexandra Palace London, 12/02/12

Souvaris @ Nottingham Contemporary, 17/02/12

The War On Drugs @ Electric Ballroom Camden, 28/02/12

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion @ Scala, London 08/03/12

Spiritualized @ Hackney Empire, 19/03/12

PWEI @ Electric Ballroom Camden, 23/03/12

Peter Hook & The Light (Unknown Pleasures) @ HMV Institute/Library Brum, 18/05/12

Lou Reed @ Leamington Assembly, 09/08/12

The Cult & Mission @ O2 Academy Brum, 15/09/12

Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion @ Warwick Arts Centre, 20/09/12

Hidden Orchestra @ Nottingham Contemporary, 28/09/12

Dark Side of the Wall (PF tribute) @ Albany Social Club Coventry, 06/10/12

Walter Trout @ Leamington Assembly, 14/10/12

Grizzly Bear @ Warwick Arts Center, 21/10/12

Efterklang & Northern Symphonia @ Warwick Arts Centre, 27/10/12

Spiritualized...again! @ Warwick Arts Centre, 04/11/12

Peter Hook & The Light (Unknown Pleasures)...again! @ Kasbah Coventry, 16/11/12

Mulatu Astastke @ Warwick Arts Centre, 22/11/12

Mr Scruff @ Warwick Arts Centre, 24/11/12

Rodrigo y Gabriela @ HMV Institute Brum, 25/11/12

Coming Up...

Black Keys (again!) & Maccabees @ NIA Birmingham 09/12/12

...bit of a quiet Summer, due to rubbish weather and indecision, but things are picking up of late, particularly as they've employed a new 'booker' at my local Warwick Arts Centre.

[chelsea]

Hugh corwell-as well as his doing his new album he did all of no more hereoes.

In a small venue of around 300.
Very good night out.

[DanJennings]

Slightly smaller catchup this time:

Dave Pegg's 65th Birthday Bash (02/11/12 Birmingham Town Hall)
The Birthday celebrations of Fairport Convention's bass player Dave Pegg, featuring sets from The Dylan Project, Fairport Convention, some covers from Dave, and a few musical interludes from various guests including an audience participation 'Strawkestra' involving playing music with a drinking straw clamped into your elbow. A good fun night!

Jim Moray (03.11.12 MAC Birmingham)
An intimate solo set from Jim, a real treat, and a lovely bloke to chat to afterwards

The Albion Band (16.11.12 Huntingdon Hall Worcester)
This is the YOUNG Albion Band, featuring Ashley Hutching's son Blair Dunlop, and Katriona Gilmore, who I think I might be going to see too often (she comes over and greets me by name these days!) They were fantastic by the way, a slightly heavier take on folk rock.

Not much on youtube, but here they are doing a great cover of Richard Thompson's 'Roll Over Vaughan Willams'