Not throwing stones at you anymore

Monday 29 July 2013 - It's been a while since I last went to a gig, and even longer since I blogged. There's no excuse, apart from being just too busy at the moment. So apologies in advance for brevity, errors and omissions but I'll try me best...

Tonight we were off Fibbers in York to see Kids In Glass Houses. Hailing from Cardiff their music is somewhat aligned with the likes of Lostprophets and Hundred Reasons, with a sprinkling of You Me At Six. Indeed, they've played support to these very bands as well as supporting Sterophonics in 2010 at the Cardiff City Stadium and even been a headline act on the main stage at Bingley Music Live in 2012.

I was first introduced to the band's music back in 2009 when Haz, who was accompanying us for this outing, recommended that I got a copy of their debut album Smart Casual. He also recommended the follow up, Dirt which was released in 2010. Chatting to Haz as we waited outside he said that their third album, In Gold Blood, had taken the band in a different direction that he personally wasn't keen on but that he understood that they had returned to form based on tracks he'd heard from their forthcoming album, Peace, due for release in September this year.

I have to admit that it's been a long time since I had to queue outside a venue to get in and Mr H was being a tinker pretending to examine our ticket documentation in minute detail before saying "OK Roj", laughing and stamping the back of our hands.

The first band, Summer City, were already in full flight when we got inside. Bit of a pop rock/punk outfit, I think they're from Ripon. The lead singer reminded me of 'Jay' from The Inbetweeners and he had a bit of hair that keep flopping in his face. Musically they were a bit like I imagine Blink-182 to have been when they started out. There was a strong dance element to some of their tracks and they even managed to do a cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, which was a bit weird.

The second support band were a much more polished outfit. Verses are a band from Brighton formed in 2010 and they play heavy rock in the vein of Puddle Of Mudd. I particularly liked the track Who We Are and Haz was so impressed that he purchased a copy of their CD Come To Life. Highly recommended.

Due to a very enthusiastic crowd we only managed to get a third of the way to the front and slightly left of centre but had a pretty good position for KIGH who after opening with Artbreaker I, then launched straight into Youngblood (Let It Out).

Vocalist Aled Phillips was practically redundant as the audience sang along to almost every song. The set was mostly taken from the first two albums but also included Drive, the first single to be taken from the new album, Peace. There was quite a bit of moshing and at one point a 'circle of death' but the crowd were largely good-natured and obviously enjoying themselves. They closed with Matters At All and there was no encore. I was slightly disappointed that the set lasted less than an hour but mightily impressed with their live performance. Superb.

Thunder over Nottingham

25 May 2013 - Now I've tried an arena-sized gig before, the NEC in Birmingham, and it was just too big and impersonal. It could have been anyone on that stage and if it wasn't for the huge screens at the side I wouldn't been able to see much at all. That kinda put me off. Since then I've not tried anything bigger than the Manchester Academy, until today when five of us descended on the Nottingham Capital FM Arena to see Journey, Whitesnake and Thunder.


To be perfectly honest, as dyed-in-the-wool Thunder fans, we were really only there for the support and they didn't disappoint. Roaring on-stage to the strains of AC/DC's Thunderstruck, there was no messing about as they launched into a condensed greatest hits lists; Dirty Love, River of Pain, Higher Ground, Low Life in High Places, Backstreet Symphony, The Devil Made Me Do It, Love Walked In, I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll. The audience were on their feet for most of the time and singing along. The applause was immense. Danny's voice was on top form as were the performances from every single member of the band. The set was all too short though and left everyone wanting more.


There then followed a very strange exodus which we later figured out was a large number of fans who were just there for Thunder and weren't bothered about watching the other two acts. That would have made for a very expensive night out!

The stage crew were very efficient at removing Thunder's gear and setting up for the next act and it wasn't long before the arena filled with The Who's My Generation and Whitesnake came on to the stage. Now, I thought that I quite liked Whitesnake after all they've released some jolly good tracks. Sadly, the sound quality rendered it difficult to make out most of their songs until the chorus kicked in. Coverdale's constant posturing with the microphone stand balanced on his crotch was more than a little disturbing. Operation Yewtree take note! We started off with Give Me All Your Love, Ready an' Willing, Can You Hear the Wind Blow, Don't Break My Heart Again and Gambler which Coverdale dedicated to deceased members of the band; Mel Galley, Cozy Powell et al. Love Will Set You Free and Is This Love were followed by a guitar duel between Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach. This was a complete waste of time. To me a guitar solo has to carry some tune, these guys just ran up and down their scales. Technically very deft but rubbish to listen to.

Tommy Aldridge had his solo opportunity during Steal Your Heart Away and his skills certainly came to the fore as he hurled his sticks away and continued bashing away on drums and cymbals with his bare hands. One of the best tracks of the evening, a rare diamond among the wall of noise, was Forevermore which left me seriously considering the purchase of the album. Quite beautiful. Then it was back to the muddy, crunch-heavy songs; Best Years, Bad Boys / Children of the Night, Fool for Your Loving, Here I Go Again, Still of the Night. Thankfully, that was it. A a very poor performance in terms of the quality of the sound, and a testament to the fact that Coverdale simply can't hold a note anymore, all he can do is high-pitched screams.

I'm not sure what I expected from Journey. I have their Greatest Hits and it all sounds a bit bland and same-ish to me. Maybe I should listen more carefully. Lead singer Arnel Pineda certainly has enough energy to light a small town and a fantastic voice to boot. The band started off with Separate Ways (Worlds Apart), Any Way You Want It, Ask the Lonely, Only the Young, and Stone in Love before drummer Deen Castronovo took over vocal duties on Keep on Runnin'. It was difficult not to get carried along foot-stamping and clapping to Edge of the Blade, Lights, Open Arms, One More, Escape, Dead or Alive, Wheel in the Sky, Be Good to Yourself, Faithfully. Finally, and obviously, they peaked with Don't Stop Believin' before showering the audience in paper bits and stringy stuff. An excellent performance and a complete and pleasant surprise to me at how good they were.

Overall, I think I prefer the intimacy of a smaller venue. Nottingham still felt too big, even though I could see all the performers. The sound quality was also too variable; Thunder was excellent, Journey OK, but Whitesnake was muddy and indistinct.

Cult of The Octopus

18 March 2013 - First gig of the year for us, which is really not good enough, but hey ho. Support for tonight was from Charlie Barnes. We were up the front against the barriers when Charlie appeared behind us, acoustic guitar in hand, in the middle of the audience. He started gently strumming then, with some massive foot stamping, launched into an string shredding song with howling vocals, extremely impressive. I have no idea what he played. At the end of the song he clambered onto the stage where he remained for the rest of his act.

Charlie hails from Huddersfield and, live, he makes his music by using live looping, beatboxing and vocal layering via his laptop. His voice soars like Chris Helme's, his compositional constructions remind me of Radiohead, Bjork, and Martin Grech. I was so impressed with his performance that I bought his album, Geekk which also included his five track EP home//live//. It's difficult to reconcile the live performance, which was raw, exciting and edgy, with the polished product of the CD. It's almost as if they are different artists. Except the last two tracks from the EP, Balloons and Final Call, which do manage to capture some of the live act. These are, I suspect, the newer versions of his music. Apparently he is currently working on a new album.

The main event for tonight were prog/psych rockers Amplifier. They are currently touring their new album Echo Street which is on my birthday list. I already have two of their previous albums and this was my first time of seeing them live, but I was wondering how they would be able to re-create their sound playing live.

The vast array of guitar effects boxes and pedals on the floor gave us a clue and the band came on in smart black shirts and ties bearing The Octopus logo everyone of them clutching distinctive Hagstrom guitars. Charlie Barnes has joined band for this tour playing keyboards and guitar, alongside the usual band members; Sel Balamir (guitar/vocals), Matt Brobin (drums), Alexander Redhead (bass) and Steve Durose (guitar). The band immediately launched into Mary Rose off the new album. God, it was loud but by George it was good. This was followed by two tracks that I recognised from The Octopus album; The Wave and Interglacial Spell. We then had another couple from the new album; The Wheel and Extra Vehicular. Knowing that the new album had only just been released and that many in the audience might be unfamiliar with it, they proceeded to play some old favourites; Motorhead, Interstellar, UFOs, Fall Of The Empire, and Panzer before ended with another new one, Where The River Goes.

Sel came back and said that this was the hardest gig that they'd ever played because all they could hear through the monitors was a wall of white noise. The audience convinced him that we could hear them just fine and it hadn't impacted our enjoyment so the band played a final old favourite for the encore, Airborne off the eponymous Amplifier album. Afterwards Sel came down from the stage and was shaking people's hands. They were incredible and utterly superb. Very highly recommended.

Round-up of 2012

First of all, a Happy New Year to anyone who runs their eyes over this ramshackle collection of scribbling, and I’m truly sorry that I got some catching up to do to bring this blog up-to-date and that some reviews will get short shrift.

23 November 2012 – and we were at The Duchess to see Aynsley Lister. I’ve never seen him before but read good reviews of him in Classic Rock, hence our taking a bit of a punt. There was no support act, which was a bit disappointing. Aynsley played much self-penned material and a variety of blues covers; Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, and for his encore, a superb version of Prince's Purple Rain. A very impressive performance and definitely someone that I would like to see again. 

7 December 2012 – found us at Fibbers to see Hope&Social and, once more, a truly excellent performance. Basically, this was promoting their latest album, All Our Dancing Days, released on a pay-what-you-want basis. The new tunes instantly clicked and, inevitably, I ended up buying the album on the night. I cannot recommend seeing these boys too highly.

21 December 2012 – we ventured across the Pennines to the Manchester Academy to see one of my favourite bands, Thunder. There was no support but the set was in two halves, one acoustic and one electric, with a twenty minute comfort break in between.

Not having an album to promote allows the band to indulge themselves with the material they perform, both their own and covers. Pete Shoulder (of The Union) joined the band on-stage, The acoustic set comprised; Stand Up, The Moment of Truth, Does It Feel Like Love?, Weather With You (Crowded House), This Forgotten Town, Don't Wait Up, I'll Be Waiting, It's Another Day, Low Life In High Places, and Amy's on the Run.

The electric set had a few more covers; Backstreet Symphony, The Devil Made Me Do It, Until My Dying Day, Might Just Take Your Life (Deep Purple), Jet (Wings), Numb, Isn't It Time (The Babys), River Of Pain, On The Radio, Hammer To Fall (Queen), Love Walked In, and Dirty Love.

The band came back for an encore; Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen) and I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll. This was then followed by giant inflatables, fake snow raining down on us, and we all sang along to I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday (Wizzard). What a top night out and the price of the ticket included a CD of the Xmas Show, so I’m looking forward to that! 

2 January 2013 – and so to my personal roundup of the year. The number of live gigs was definitely down this year, my own fault, nothing to do with the quality of artists at local venues. My CD collection swelled by another 49 albums, 20 of which were released this year, 29 were older issues.
My top ten new albums for 2012 were:

1. Weather Systems, Anathema
2. Crown and Treaty, Sweet Billy Pilgrim
3. Map Of The Past, It Bites
4. Flying Colours, Flying Colours
5. Afterglow, Black Country Communion
6. Momentum, Neal Morse
7. Standing at the Sky's Edge, Richard Hawley
8. All The Wars, Pineapple Thief
9. All Our Dancing Days, Hope&Social
10. Not The Weapon But The Hand, Steve Hogarth & Richard Barbieri

I don’t think that I bought a duff album all year but some, obviously, didn’t get in my top ten. Here they are in no particular order:

• Concerto for group and orchestra, Jon Lord
• Rookery, Chris Helme
• Driving Towards the Daylight, Joe Bonamssa
• The 2nd Law, Muse
• Cotton Wool & Knotted Wood, Hope&;Social
• Underrated Silence, Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters
• Generation Freakshow, Feeder
• A Far Cry From Home, Stolen Earth
• Adventures in Neverland, The Reasoning
• Valtari, Sigur Ros

Of the older issues, it doesn’t seem fair to rank them as the reasons that I bought them vary so much, so I present them by artist alphabetically:

• Judgement, Anathema
• A Natural Disaster, Anathema
• Falling Deeper, Anathema
• A Fine Day to Exit, Anathema
• Black Country Communion, Black Country Communion
• Live Scenes from New York, Dream Theater
• Pour Me A Drink, Edwina Hayes
• Don't Explain, Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart
• Don't Stop Believin' - The best of, Journey
• Venus & The Sky Turns to Clay, Makana
• In Case You Didn't Know, Olly Murs
• The Middle of Nowhere, Orbital
• In Sides, Orbital
• Snivilisation, Orbital
• Orbital 2, Orbital
• Orbital, Orbital
• Out of An Ancient World, Riversea
• What Lies Beneath, Robin Trower
• The Playful Heart, Robin Trower
• Voyage of the Acolyte + 1, Steve Hackett
• Twice Born Men, Sweet Billy Pilgrim
• Revival, The Answer
• 10 Stories Down, The Pineapple Thief
• The Script, The Script
• Science & Faith, The Script
• Wintercoast, Touchstone
• The City Sleeps, Touchstone
• 1 Love, Various

The Duchess and Neverland

Tuesday 16 October – We’ve not been out to a live gig in quite a while, so, sorry about that. Still we managed to get down to The Duchess for a bit of prog rockery this week. Support came from MarcAtkinson. I once knew a chap called Mark Atkins and we called him Kram Snikta, just thought I’d share that with you. Anyhoo, Marc was well underway by the time we arrived and we only managed to catch about four of his songs. He was playing them acoustically and one was introduced as coming from his time with the band Nine Stones Close, with the rest apparently from his album Out Of An Ancient World which was recorded with a full band under the name Riversea. We’ve seen Marc before, playing covers in various places around York, so it was refreshing to hear him playing original music and, indeed, I was so impressed that I bought a copy of OOAAW.

The main acts for tonight had been co-headlining on a European tour and I don’t know if this was an extension of that tour or something separate as The Reasoning seemed to be playing a support slot. Anyway, it makes little difference, the band are currently touring their latest album, Adventures in Neverland. Describing themselves as Cardiff-based, The Reasoning consist of Rachel Cohen (vocals & hand shakey percussion & virtual trampoline), Tony Turrell (keyboards & vocals), Keith Hawkins (guitars & backing vocals), Matthew Cohen (bass & backing vocals), and Jake Bradford-Sharp (drums & backing vocals). I already have a two of their albums and recognised a couple of the tracks, especially Dark Angel. They introduced a lot of new material, notable Omega Point, No Friend Of Mine and the outstandingly good title track Adventures in Neverland. The second half of the set was plagued by feedback gremlins which forced Rachel to remain fairly static when she really wanted to bounce around the stage a lot more. The vocals were a bit muddy and indistinct but at the time I put that down to my ancient ears and unfamiliar lyrics. However, I was very impressed with the new material and promptly forked out for copy of the new album from the merchandise table.

For the final act we managed to get within inches of the barrier and had a superb view of the stage and all the players on it. Touchstone I had seen before and was pretty familiar with the material from the latest two albums. Formed back in, I think 2003, by Rob Cottingham (keyboards & vocals), the current line-up also includes Adam Hodgson (guitars), Andre Moorghen (bass), Kim Seviour (lead vocals), and Henry Rogers (drums). I’m not sure what it is about their songs, but sometimes Kim seems quite awkward in her movements and singing, and at other times she really gets into it. Whilst this time there was little evidence of feedback, there was still muddiness in the vocals and Rob’s keyboards were definitely too low in the mix. Sound issues aside, they made a stonkingly good job of tracks like Wintercoast, When Shadows Fall, and Strange Days. The less than capacity crowd were enthusiastic in their applause which brought back both bands and Marc for the finale, a rousing sing-along of the classic Tears For Fears track Mad World.

Both bands play a form of theatrical prog-rock, with a touch of heaviness, which owes a lot to the influences of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes and a sprinkling of Dream Theater. A great night out, but from a sound point of view, keyboards and vocals are much better represented on their respective albums.

Cotton Wool & Knotted Wood

Saturday 31 March - It's my birthday and Mrs Woman had got us tickets for one of my favourite bands Hope&Social who were playing at The Duchess. We went for an Indian meal beforehand at the superb Bombay Spice on Goodramgate where we ordered the set meal for two and spent two hours munching our way through a mountain of food. That's my idea of food heaven, apart from the mistaking-a-whole-chilli-for-a-runner-bean incident which caused some mirth. All of which meant that we arrived a bit later than anticipated at the venue and had practically missed the entire set of Joseph & David, sorry guys. What we did catch seemed pretty good, kind of English folk in the style of The Decemberists as far as I could make out. Their final song, the only one we heard intact, was performed off stage a capella with muted assistance from James Hamilton on trumpet and Simon Goff on violin.

The Duchess was laid out cafe style with eight or ten tables in front of the stage, around which the rest of us punters clustered in a gigantic horseshoe shape. Now this is the tour of Hope&Social's new album, Cotton Wool & Knotted Wood which is basically an acoustic re-working of some of the material from their previous albums, so I was half-expecting a cut-down band. Oh no. With H&S always expect the unexpected. I believe that a lot of this material was put together during the Big Red Button event at The Crypt in Leeds in February. Anyway, it would be interesting to hear which of their songs had been re-constructed. This was a full band turnout, sans brass section, but including James Hamilton who must surely be counted as a full-time member now.

OK, so all the band were here, but they were all playing instruments other than their usual. They launched into Family Man with Rich on glockenspiel and Ed and Simon on hand bells. Ramshackle? Yes, but that's part of H&S' charm. April, Pitching Far Too High and Cotton Wool saw everyone playing musical chairs / instruments, like a pack of cards constantly reshuffling itself. Rich on double bass, with tape to show him where to put his fingers, Gary hiding behind drums and playing guitar, violins, ukuleles, you can't make this stuff up.

There was a point about half-way through when Simon came down among the tables just his voice and guitar for Looking For Answers, to which the whole audience joined in. It gives me a fantastic sense of 'belonging' to be part of a collective raising up of voices like that. Maybe I should have joined a choir, hey ho, it was brilliant.

Rolling Sideways had Gary on a tuba or euphonium, I'm not an expert on things brass, and the song segued into various covers. We had Living A Lie, Red Red Rose and a Lighter Side Of Life which Simon reckons to be their only love song. I'm not sure that's actually true but he's a plausible chap.

The encore featured a cover of Vince Clarke's Only You and a new song, Knotted Wood. This had a sing-along chorus for the audience "I will sail, my father's boat" which I was singing along to in a Geordie accent. Don't ask why, it just worked for me. The evening was brought to a close with Eurospin with most of the band disappearing then re-appearing off-stage playing brass instruments as they walked around and through the audience. Fantastic stuff. Yes, you get the unexpected but you also, always, get great entertainment and a great time. I cannot recommend this band highly enough, and all their music is available on a pay-what-you-want basis. How can you not give them a try?

Touchstone

Friday 30 March - to quote a friend "Good gigs are like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along together." Sadly, he missed both. Life sucks sometimes. Anyhow, tonight we pitched up at The Duchess for the first of said gigs, Touchstone. I've heard the name of the band on the periphery of my senses; the odd track on a Classic Rock compilation CD, a mention in magazines, winners of the Classic Rock Society Best New Band 2007, and they fall into the "prog" genre. I have none of their albums so really tonight was going to be a bit of a stab in the dark.

Not so the support band, The Heather Findlay Duo, which comprises local talent Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn, Odin's Dragonfly, and now a solo artist) and Chris Johnson (Hazzard County, Evernauts, Mostly Autumn, Fish, Parade ...). Their set consisted of a range of material from their various projects, quite a lot taken from their own Live At The Cafe 68 album. Heather's voice was in fine form and Chris' acoustic guitar playing was up to it's usual very high standard, but somehow they managed to disappoint me as I was expecting / wanting something a bit more rock to set me up for the headliners. The one highlight was The Dogs from Parade's album The Fabric which segued into Iggy Pop's I Wanna Be Your Dog.

As previously mentioned, I had no real idea what to expect from Touchstone, but was immediately captivated by the first track, really quite heavy. The set comprised about a dozen songs, of which I think I managed to work out The City Sleeps, Joker In The Pack, Wintercoast, When Shadows Fall, Strange Days, and The Witness Pt2. They play a melodic prog rock style, sometimes quite heavy, with lyrics that are obviously full of grand stories. The bass lines are fantastic with Paul Moorghen swapping seamlessly between two Thumb NT 5-string instruments, almost identical except that one was fretless, a sound that I just love. Which is not to denigrate the excellence of the other band members; Kim Seviour has a voice both poised and brittle, that breathes life into their lyrics. Rob Cottingham is superb on keyboards with a style that does more than nod in the direction of early Genesis and Yes. Adam Hodgson is effortless on guitar, pulling his influences from Pink Floyd, Yes, and Joe Satriani. Top marks also go to Henry Rogers on drums evincing a Mike Portnoy feel to proceedings.

I hadn't intended to, but I purchased their Wintercoast album at the gig and, for my birthday, I got their latest, The City Sleeps. Two highly recommended albums and a band that I would definitely see again.