2013 Review

19 December 2013 – so here is my musical roundup of 2013. The number of live gigs was definitely down again this this year, my own fault, nothing to do with the quality of artists at local venues. I did manage to get further afield this year, so that's a positive. I'm pleased to see that the First Direct Arena in Leeds has got off to a good start. I really hope that they can keep it up as there was strong competition from the O2 Academy in the latter half of the year. Venues in York seem to be struggling to get people through the doors. I'm not sure why this should be as there have been some excellent acts performing in the city, possibly one of the stronger years for talent.

My CD collection has swelled by another 25 albums, but that's nearly half the number from last year. Of those, 14 were released this year, 10 were older, and one was a 2013 re-issue of a 1995 album. My top ten new albums for 2013 were:

1. Dimensionaut, Sound of Contact
2. The Next Day, David Bowie
3. Opposites, Biffy Clyro
4. Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep, Spock's Beard
5. The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories), Steven Wilson
6. All Hell Breaks Loose, Black Star Riders
7. Echo Street, Amplifier
8. The World is Yours, The Union
9. Xmas Show 2012, Thunder
10. Dream Theater, Dream Theater

Some, well four actually, didn’t get in my top ten. Here they are in no particular order:

• Afterthoughts, Nosound
• A Far Cry From Home, Stolen Earth
• Oceans of Time, Touchstone
• Field of Reeds, These New Puritans

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

• The Silent Enigma, Anathema (re-issue)
• American Beauty, The Greatful Dead
• Live Dead, The Greatful Dead
• Working Man's Dead, The Greatful Dead
• Hotel Radio, The Hazey Janes
• The Winter That Was, The Hazey Janes
• The Rainbow Bridge Concert, Jimi Hendrix
• Tall Ships, It Bites
• Sounds That Cannot Be Made, Marillion
• Crossing the Line, Simon McBride
• All the Little Lights, Passenger

The Winter That Was

Thursday 12 December 2013 - Due to the timing of some errands I found myself with a spare couple of hours to kill in York, so popped along to The Duchess. I knew that The Hazey Janes were playing and that Andy might be turning up. It was very quiet when I arrived. There were six people standing at the barrier and me, so I secreted myself towards the back. The sound and lighting engineers turned up and another chap who stood next to a pillar, then three of the six at the front clambered up onto the stage to play, they were support band The Article.

I really, really liked their first track, Lost In Circulation, almost a prog track, going off in all kinds of directions, and a fantastic start. The rest of the set seemed to be a mix of their own stuff and some covers, most of which I didn't recognise except for The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've). Their vocals reminded me of early Cheap Trick but they were very muddy and indistinct, hence I never caught the name of any but the first track. The Article are very young but there is clearly nascent talent there, they just need to ditch the covers and get the vocals right.

Andy and Dan arrived a just after The Article started, swelling the number of us punters to seven. They too seemed to share the view that the band held promise. During the interval we adjourned to a nearby hostelry so that we could talk without shouting at each other, and we came back as The Hazey Janes (THJ) were mid-way through their first track. Meanwhile, the audience had increased by six, making a grand total of 13.

THJ are billed as a country-turned-indie-pop outfit from Dundee, although that description probably doesn't do them justice as their music actually spans everything from shoegazing to rock, quirky pop to balladry. Whilst they have supported acts such as Snow Patrol, Elbow, Idlewild, Brakes, Aberfeldy and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, I've never heard of them or any of their music. What was apparent, right from the start, was that this was a musically mature band, very tight, and confident of their performance. They were obviously disappointed by the low turnout but determined to put on great show and the handful of us attending were enthusiastically grateful for that.

Many of the tracks were taken from their latest album, The Winter That Was. The ballad-style tracks had an air of Del Amitri about them, but they also produced rip-roaring rock, foot-tapping country, and a frankly awesome track Everything Starts Again. And, kudos to them, even though we were a pitiful crowd, they came back and gave us two songs for an encore, one of which was a cover of a Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris track (I think it was Return Of The Grievous Angel).

After the performance we stayed behind while Andrew Mitchell (lead vocals and guitar) produced a box of CDs and both Andy and I bought a copy of The Winter That Was each which Andrew kindly signed for us. I shall definitely be checking out their back-catalogue.

I'm probably not best placed to cast stones, and it might have been due to late-night Christmas shopping, but for bands of this calibre such a poor turnout must be depressing. The outlook for live music looks bleak.

First Direct Arena, Leeds

Wednesday 4 September 2013 - We were fortunate to miss 'The Boss' doing the pre-opening opening of Leeds' latest entertainment venue, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the legend that is Elton John at the proper opening. It was also a chance to check out the acoustics to see if we might want to watch other artists/bands playing here.

The seating at the arena is fan-shaped, so a good view of the stage can be had from most sections. I wouldn't fancy being down on the flat area at the front though and the boxes and higher tiers looked a bit distant. We were on the right hand side, just below half way and the view was great.

The show started with 2Cellos , a pair of Croatians playing electric cellos attached to various effects boxes. They launched into a blistering mini-set of rock material; Smooth Criminal, Where The Streets Have No Name, Highway To Hell and Smells Like Teen Spirit. This gave the rest of Elton's band a chance to filter gradually on stage whilst providing a minimalist backing to the hand-banging duo.

After the applause had died down, Elton himself came on-stage and, seating himself at his piano, immediately launched into The Bitch Is Back. Hit followed hit as we were treated to; Bennie And The Jets, Grey Seal, Levon, Tiny Dancer, Holiday Inn, Believe, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Philadelphia Freedom, Candle In The Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time).

From his collaboration with Leon Russell (The Union) we had Hey Ahab, then I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues. Next, one of my favourite Elton John tracks, and I have a superb cover by Dream Theater, was Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding. It brings me out in gooseflesh every time and this was no exception.

From his latest album, The Diving Board, we had the first track that I was unfamiliar with, Oscar Wilde Gets Out. He certainly hasn't lost his touch. Back to the hits then; Sad Songs (Say So Much), Daniel, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, The One and Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me. By now everyone was on their feet and desperately hoping that it wasn't all over. It wasn't. He rounded off with I'm Still Standing, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting), another fantastic new track Home Again, and finally Your Song.

OK, he can't quite manage those high notes anymore but we can forgive him that. His current band features drummer Nigel Olsson (Uriah Heep, Spencer Davis Group, Elton John Band and a session drummer) and Davey Johnstone from his original line-up of the 70s. Elton's four backing singers included two who are legends themselves; Rose and Lisa Stone from Sly And The Family Stone.

Acoustically, the Arena is fantastic. We could hear every single word that Elton sang, despite the fact that some of the bass notes made the legs of my jeans vibrate. Each instrument was distinct and clear. So I highly recommend the venue and, of course, do try and catch Sir Elton on his tour.

3 September 2013 - Today's outing was to the disused platform area of Bolton Percy Station which, again, is a nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. However, I had previously spotted some bracket fungi on the road to Thorp Arch Trading Estate so thought that I might start there and also take in All Saints Church at Thorp Arch before making my way to Bolton Percy. God, that sounds so sad!

I parked up at Thorp Arch and immediately spotted a rabbit dashing back into it's burrow, so I set up my tripod and waited for about a quarter of an hour. He didn't come back of course and I took some pictures of the fungi and then made my way around to the church.

All Saints, Thorp Arch was mentioned in in the Domesday Survey and has undergone a number of rebuilds; first in the Norman style in C12, the Perpendicular style in 1485, and finally in the Medieval style in 1871/72 by the architect George Edmund Street. At the front of the church was a sundial mounted on an old looking octagonal pillar. I later found out that this was probably the support for a font presented by the mother of Revd. Christopher Atkinson in 1756. There was also a sundial on the side of the tower and a goodly collection of ancient gravestones, some looking rather Gothic in a cladding of ivy.

Then I drove to Bolton Percy, which is a rather small reserve. Most notable was a large bush just inside the entrance which seemed to be a butterfly magnet. I saw Tortoiseshells, I've no idea which variety, what I took to be Wood Whites, and a couple of yellowy Brimstones. I'm no expert so please take these identifications with a pinch of salt. Of course the trains roaring passed caused them to be very skittish and I wasn't very happy with the focus of the butterfly pictures. Hey ho.

Again, the whole set can be seen at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100919022204905244251/albums/5919683501069738609

30 August 2013 - By way of a digression, I 'ave mostly been taking some time off work and taking pictures of stuff. I started out on Friday by visiting Hetchell Woods, a nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It's a mix of woods and grasslands and has Bardsey Beck flowing alongside its edge. There were quite a few dog walkers when I first arrived so initially I just had a preliminary look around.

I started at an unusual area just south of the reserve itself, a set of earthworks associated with a Roman site called Pompocali. The location is distinctive for its many small circular features, with traces of tracks. These are thought to be kiln sites from the lime burning that took place between about 1700 and 1850. The lime was used for agricultural use and for mortar using the limestone quarried from the field close by, just across Milner Lane.

The trail through the woods took me passed quarry workings, either limestone or gritstone, and a set of rocky outcroppings known as Hetchell Crags. My path took me along the top of the crags at first and then further on was a hairpin turn and I came back along the base of the crags and adjacent to the beck.

Along the way I took pictures of flowers, fungi and insects as I went. There was a bit of a breeze but fortunately I had taken along a couple of freezer clips which held some of the flowers nice and still so that I could get some reasonable pictures.

The whole lot can be seen at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100919022204905244251/albums/5917973751674210241

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