Awesome, radical/Awesome, totally bodacious/Awesome, radical

Friday 19 December - Part 2 - and the evening got off to a spankingly good start when six Friday-Nighters met up at Restaurant Bari for a pre-Christmas meal. The food was great and then five of us headed towards Fibbers where we were going to finish the evening off listening to a couple of new bands.

We came in shortly after Leeds-based band Pulled Apart By Horses had taken to the stage. Not that they were on for long. The lead singer, Tom Hudson, seemed to have difficulty staying behind the barriers and insisted on throwing himself into the crowd, beating eight type of... noise... out of his guitar as he flailed about on the floor. I understand that this is par for the course for this band whose members often end up in hospital by the end of the evening. Honest to goodness, I couldn't tell the difference between one song and the next. Grungy, distorted guitars and shouty vocals spat at no one in particular combined to create a driving punk/sub-pop noise didn't really float my boat at all. Ten out of ten for energy though.

The head-lining band was Leeds melodramatic indie popsters Grammatics. They started well with Owen Brinley's fragile voice weaving a tantalising spell over sympathetic melodies from cellist Emmila Ergin, but it rapidly descended into quirky time signatures and an overwhelming surge of drum n' bass (courtesy of Dominic Ord and Rory O'Hara). Even when Saltaire songstress Laura Groves joined the band for a couple of numbers, she was drowned out. I've nothing against varying time signatures, if it's done properly. In this case my body spent too much time not knowing what to do in-between the top-tapping 4/4 beats. Sorry, but I won't be queuing up to see either of these bands again in the near future.

2008 A musical retropective

Friday 19 December - As is customary at this time of year I'd like to give a quick musical retropective of 2008 from a personal point of view, both live gigs and albums released this year.

I've probably been to see at least one band every week of the year. OK, many of them were covers bands, and I saw some more than once, but there was a fair sprinkling of original bands. Of the gigs that don't make it into my top 10, special mention must go to; Black Diamond Heavies who were certainly original, Acid house crusties Alabama 3, Lecorum and Royworld who have the decency to be original sounding Indie bands, Wild Messiah for being a bit wild, With One Last Breath for being loud, and Tidal Fury and Heaven's Basement 'cos I like 'em. So here is my top 10 countdown for live gigs in 2008, in reverse order:

10 The Corrections - saw them supporting Make Model at The Junction when they blew away the headline act.

9 Yards/Runaway Sons/Jim Gipson - their combined gig at The Post Office Club when everyone was on top form.

8 Longview - did almost the entire gig at The Duchess using un-released material. Still so good that I forked out for their one (and so far only) album, Mercury.

7 Hope&Social - TAFKAFDH (The Artists Formerly Known As Four Day Hombre), perennial favourites, played The Duchess and Fibbers and I caught them both.

6 Black Stone Cherry - southern fried rock with attitude. I had their first album before seeing them at Fibbers, then got the second one as well! Brilliant.

5 Chantel McGregor - I'm running out of superlatives for this girl. OK she does covers, but; Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriana, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton... and she really does sound like them! Caught her for the first time in June at The Roman Bath and went back for a second helping at the same place in September.

4 Breathing Space - a band that have matured incredibly in this last year, Livvy's voice is superb. I caught them twice at The Roman Bath, in February and November. Thanks to Tim Hall for pointing out that John Hart (sax and Yamaha WX7 wind synthesizer) is now a full-time member of the band, I wasn't aware of that when I blogged them last time.

3 Mostly Autumn - one of a prog rock tangle of bands, Livvy and Iain from Breathing Space are also in this band. They release a fine album this year, Glass Shadows, and I thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas show in November at The Grand Opera House.

2 Mexicolas - Birmingham power-trio that released their debut album, X, in February and I saw them in March at Fibbers. Fantastic music. Volume turned to eleven but delivered with clear vocals and superb instrumental work. Incredibly, they were better live then their awesome album.

1 Uriah Heep - I really wasn't expecting this one. A bunch of '70s proggers turned in the best album of 2008 and delivered a blistering live set at The Duchess in November which has me wondering if anything in 2009 can possibly top it. I look forward to finding out!

And so to the second half of my musings, my top 10 albums. Obviously not everything released in 2008 passed by my ears so I can only rate those albums that I actually acquired. I think I only made one duff purchase this year, and even that, Elliott Minor, wasn't too duff. Mention in despatches for; Pendulum In Silico for an album that I liked in a genre that I don't, Duels The Barbarians Move In for living up to expectations with their second album, The Dodos Visiter for wearing weird on their sleeves, Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes for wearing whimsy on their sleeves, The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath for wearing surreal on their sleeves, and Sigur Rós Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust for wearing sleeves. So here is my top 10 countdown of album in 2008, in reverse order:

10 Oasis Dig Out Your Soul - the Gallagher bros dish up their finest effort since Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? A true return to form.

9 Kings of Leon Only By The Night - If you like KoL, you'll like this.

8 Mostly Autumn Glass Shadows - yes it's a bit Pink Floyd, yes it's a bit Genesis, but overall, mostly it's brilliant.

7 Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid - Mercury prize winner and deservedly so.

6 Black Stone Cherry Folklore & Superstition - a fantastic follow up to their eponymous debut.

5 Feeder Silent Cry - Feeder losing the whinging attitude of their last couple of lbums and coming on much heavier.

4 Guns n' Roses Chinese Democracy - massively over-produced. Bit of The Darkness, bit of Linkin Park, but over-arching everything is Axl's distinctive vocals (well it is practically a solo project). A real grower.

3 Thunder Bang! - Thunder kicking back at a world that likes to kick them, then ignore them. Shades of the '90s, but Thunder continue to evolve their sound and songs and once more prove to be at the forefront of classic British rock.

2 Mexicolas X - a sprinkle of The Police, a pinch of Red Hot Chili Peppers choppy guitars, a generous bunch of Stereophonics vocals, and a ladleful of singalong-a-QOTSA choruses. Mix well and serve with a side salad of Feeder. Thirteen fantastically constructed tracks, packed with swagger, big riffs and gravely vocals.

1 Uriah Heep Wake The Sleeper - Their first studio album for almost ten years, produced by Mike Paxman, and it's simply stunning. Not a duff track in sight. They are Deep Purple for the '00s. Huge.

You’re not where you are/Only where you want to be

Friday 12 December - it had been a long week and to round it off I'd made an horrendous hash of organising our Friday entertainment schedule. We'd planned to see four bands that we hadn't heard of down at Fibbers; Blessed By A Broken Heart, I Am Ghost, Devils Gift, and Fei Comodo for just £6. Bargain, except it was actually £12 which is a bit steep if they turned out to be naff. So at the last moment we switched venues to O'Neill's on Low Ousegate where The Mojos were playing, a York 5-piece covers band, extremely professional and very good indeed.

The Druid fell by the wayside. Caught out by a combination of foul weather and buses not bothering to turn up, he realised that the gods were against him and shuffled back home. 'A' was a bit adrift, the band had already started playing, but he brought along his son, Dan, who is studying at Hull University. Dan knew his music and we discovered a shared enthusiasm for Australian drum n' bass outfit Pendulum. I'm a particular fan of Propane Nightmares and Granite off their In Silico album.

Anyway, back to the band in hand, who consist of: Dave (vocals and guitar), Andy (lead guitar and vocals, uses the same chip shop as me!), John (bass guitar and vocals), Mark (keyboards), and, standing in for Phil, Hannah Dickinson (drums). Hannah also has her own band, (Hannah and the Junk Funk).

Now I nabbed the set-list off Mark (keyboards) but they didn't play everything in the order on the hymn sheet and there were I few extra bits. The first half of their set comprised some or more of: I Want To Break Free (Queen), You Are All I Have (Snow Patrol), Ruby (Kaiser Chiefs), Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry/ELO), Another One Bites The Dust (Queen) with a segue into Superstition (Stevie Wonder), Valerie (The Zutons/Amy Whitehouse), and Power Of Love (Huey Lewis & The News).

They then took a break for refreshments before kicking off again with: Don't Sop Me Now (Queen), Let Me Entertain You (Robbie Williams), Summer Of '69 (Bryan Adams), Sultans Of Swing (Dire Straits), Hold The Line (Toto), Le Freak (Chic), Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry), Do They Know It's Christmas? (Band Aid), Gimme Some Lovin (Spencer Davis Group/Blues Brothers) with a segue into I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness), Sweet Child o' Mine (Guns n' Roses), Jump (Van Halen), Merry Christmas Everyone (Slade), and Rockin' All Over The World (Status Quo). Also, someone in amongst that lot I'm sure I also heard Livin' On A Prayer (Bon Jovi), 500 Miles (The Proclaimers), Beautiful Day (U2) and This Love (Maroon 5), although they did a big medley in the middle where they bombarded us with masses of riffage which filled my head with all sorts of extra stuff.

All-in-all it was an excellent performance. I'm not a big fan of funk, but the few funk tracks they played got a large number of ladies up and dancing, which is always a bit of a bonus.

We poured back into the black night where a sub-zero gale threatened to tear the frozen lips off our faces so we didn't hang around and swiftly made our separate ways home.

It’s not my style to crash and burn

Friday 28 November - November has been a bumper month for music this year. It kicked off with the release of Bang! by Thunder, then we had Uriah Heep playing at The Duchess, next was Breathing Space (on SpaceFace) in the Bath, and finally we are at the Grand Opera House to watch Mostly Autumn (on SpaceFace).

I first stumbled upon MA back in 2000 during the "York Live" music event when I took my three daughters to the Theatre Royal. The first act was the Lo Beams, whose lead singer/guitarist was lil' Chris Johnson (more later, just remember the name). Then we were treated to MA who only performed 4 songs, but each one was about ten minutes long. There were two lovely lady singers at that time, Angela Gordon (another name to file in your short-term memory) and Heather Findlay. Finally, we had Chris Helme doing his acoustic thang. 'Twas a brilliant gig, but back then I knew nothing about the incestuous relationships between York musicians. There's a review of sorts here.

Tonight was the comeback gig for MA's Heather Findlay who has been on maternity leave and the kick off for their latest tour. I've said it before, the Grand Opera House is a bit of a weird gig for a rock band because it's a seated venue, and I like standing up and wobbling about a bit (used to be called dancing before I got old). The line-up of MA has changed slightly since since I last saw them (I have seen them a couple of times since 2000). Angela left and had a baby, Scarlett, and lil' Chris piggy-backed with them for a while before he joined Fish's band. The current line up is: Bryan Josh (lead vocals, lead, rhythm electric & acoustic guitars), Heather Findlay (lead & backing vocals, percussion, acoustic guitars & whistles), Anne-Marie Helder (keyboards, guitars electric rhythm, & acoustic, flute, and backing vocals), Andy Smith (bass), Liam Davison (guitars), Iain Jennings (keyboards), Henry Bourne (drums), and Olivia Sparnenn (vocals and backing vocals).

I arrived bang on 19:30 and rushed straight to my seat where the other guys were already waiting. After a brief interval the show started. Now I'm not really up to speed on all of MAs work and my memory is rubbish at best, but the first half consisted of eight pieces, starting strongly with Fading Colours, then an early flutely thing, Flower for Guns, Unoriginal Sin (those two off the latest album), First Thought, Simple Ways, Evergreen, and a cover of Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas. Then there was a fifteen minute interval when I tried to convince the guys that we should buy ice-creams but instead settled for muscling through the heaving crowd at the bar to the merchandise stall where I parted with real money for a copy of their latest album, Glass Shadows.

The sound was great, but I have to say that it was only Bryan and Heather that could clearly be seen. The rest of the band were pretty much in shadows or at either side of the stage, or shoved right to the back, poor Livvy. Anyway, the second part kicked off and here I really cannot be sure of the order of play. Certainly we had Heroes, Tearing at the Faerytale (dedicated to the late Howard Sparnenn), Spirit of Autumn Past (1 & 2), Broken Glass, Pocket Watch, Above the Blue, Until the Story Ends, A Different Sky, Caught in a Fold, Carpe Diem (with Troy Donockley on mutant bagpipes - uillian pipes allegedly), and a couple of others songs. Bryan was a wizard on guitar, Andy "The Crow" brilliant on bass, Henry superb on skins, Iain outstanding on keyboards. Anne-Marie worked tirelessly on keyboards and flute, venturing onto the stage just occasionally so that we could see her. Livvy provided a haunting counterpoint to Heather vocals, and Heather was just sublime. The band went off and the audience went mad for an encore.

Now MA usually perform a Christmas show in York and that's exactly what we got for our third helping. Haether came back on stage and she was joined from the wings by none other than Angela Gordon, then sneaking in from the back was lil' Chris. Together they sang Silent Night as a three-part harmony. It was superb. Then the rest of the band piled onto the stage, it was getting crowded now, and donned reindeer deely-boppers and flashing Santa hats. The audience was on its feet and the band tore into a cover of The Pogues' Fairytale of New York with a long middle section consisting of a flute duet between Angela and Anne-Marie. The final, final song was a cover of Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody with Liam and the whole audience on vocals. Ian "The Judge" Naylor and baby Harlan (wrapped in bright red) came on stage for the big line up/bow, then we all shuffled out into the chill night. Looks like Christmas came early in York this year.

The gig finished about 22:30 so we had time to get to The Roman Bath for a swift pint before closing time and to catch the last four or five songs from Stealer who were playing. Needless to say, I didn't get to bed until about 01:00 again. Ho hum.