What's the last gig you went to see?

[Mr Larrington]

John Mayall is immortal.  I shall be very sad if I am ever proved wrong about this.

Before the show he was actually sat in the foyer on his actual lonesome actually flogging his own CDs   My grate frend Mr Woolrich bought one and reminisced briefly about JM playing the Royal Festival Hall an æon or two ago.

I just mumbled...

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Salisbury City Hall.  Great gig.  Not my favourite venue.

[Torslanda]

An excellent set by Peter (OTVP) and two friends at the Tim Bobbin in Milnrow, on Saturday night.

Peter on guitar and vocals, one friend on fiddle violin and the other on bass. Great tunes by Hank Williams, Beatles, Woody Guthrie and many more. Looking forward to the next one  . . .

[scott]

Robyn Hitchcock at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, a couple of weeks ago.



They spelled his name "Robert" on the announcement in the restaurant next door. 

[Mr Larrington]

Git!  I've lost count of the number of times I've seen Mr Hitchcock but it's been a while since the last one (with John Paul Jones that time).

Miss von Brandenburg tried to persuade me to divert on the way back from Battle Mountain this year, that I might see him in Nashville.  Northern Nevada -> Nashville -> Denver?  I think not.

[scott]

Ummm.....no. Not  even gmaps would create a route like that.

This was only our second time, about 18 years after the first. :-P

[TimO]

Bellowhead, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, last Thursday.

I got to see them, because a friend couldn't get hold of a baby sitter, and no one wanted to buy the tickets off of her.

I hadn't heard of them before, but they are suitably insanely fun and impressive!  An eleven person contemporary folk group, with both a brass section, and at one point four fiddlers playing on stage simultaneously.

[fuzzy]

Linkin Park supported by Of Mice and Men at the big plastic tent in Grenwich on Monday evening.

Lots of loud and bass and aaaaarrrgggghhhhhhy type 'singing' followed by a several of hours of roooned hearing.

'Twas great

[Ruthie]

Saint Saviour and Bill Ryder Jones at the Georgian Theatre, Stockton.

Watching an artist of such mighty talent at a venue like this is a privilege. Bill Ryder Jones made a good crack: "Stockton. You seem just like Becky (St. S): Rough as fuck and always ready for a laugh."

The audience were rough as fuck and noisy with it. Becky herself backed by the Manchester Camerata Orchestra and Bill Ryders Jones's band Nantes was impeccable. Her dreamy, beautiful Kate Bush inspired vocals, her songwriting virtuosity, all about nine inches from where I stood with my friends, made for a superb evening. She sang most of the new album but also did a real favourite of mine, Fallen Trees, which is a heartrending plea for environmental restoration.

How come Dido is so famous when Becky isn't? Bonkers. A tremendous musician and performer. So glad I went.

[Peter]

Great place for an album cover.....

[Ruthie]

Great place for an album cover.....

Good idea, Peter!   

[Deano]

Last night, Martin Carthy at the Black Swan in York.

He was excellent, as you'd expect.

[perpetual dan]

Fields of the Nephilim at Shepherds Bush last night. Very jolly.

[L CC]

Rodrigo y Gabriela at the Birmingham Symphony Hall.
I was/am iller than I've been for years but the tickets weren't cheap and it's been the-thing-I'm-looking-forward-to for quite some time, so despite losing half my lungs' surface and having to pause for breath and energy between New Street and Broad Street I risked being the most hated audience member and sucked cough sweets hopefully.
The support was alright despite being Norwegians singing in American but Rod and Gab were fab. The audience was, I think, an older and more sedate demographic (symphony hall) than they were used to, and it took a long time before they got the feedback they were hoping for.
Ace. I'd like to see them again, in a different venue, where we were standing (& I was  well enough TO stand for an hour or two, with even maybe dancing).
We got a taxi back. 

[Aidan]

I saw Rod y Gab at Manchester Apollo and they were fantastic. Would deffo go see them again.

Went to see Paul Heaton and Jaquie Abbot last night at Brid Spa.  The supports were awful. Not helped by my total and utter dislike of country music, I actually found myself thinking during the second support act "I wonder if this is what having stroke is like"   they nearly got animated with bit of country boys for about 30 seconds but fuck it was dull. I can't remember anything about the first support other than it was a bloke with a guitar singing crap country songs to a formula.

Anyway , Paul Heaton and Jaquie Abbot came on and were brilliant from the first bar.  had great report with the crowd and were really on form, not one dull moment and it seemed over in a flash. Two encores with the last being an acapella version of Caravan of Love   which was perfect.   Absolutely brilliant.

[fuzzy]

On Saturday evening, No.1 Son and I made our way to the O2 for an evening of entertainment courtesy of Jeff Wayne.

Here is a crappy phone pic of a Tripod popping upstairs for a cuppa during the half time break-



'Twas a damn good evening

[fuzzy]

Last night SWMBO and I went to The Barbican where we experienced Sparks performing their break through album Kimono my house in its entirity to celebrate 40 years since it was released, plus other tracks. Russel and Ron Mael were supported by a 35 piece representation of The Heritage Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley.

To experience a 70's glam rock album performed by an orchestra with nothing electric apart from Ron using a Roland electric piano (renamed a 'Ronald'  ) for a handful of tracks was very refreshing. The Barbican Hall looked to be full to bursting and everyone had a damn good time.

[Wowbagger]

I am at Chinnery's, Saarfend, for the 4ft Pimp gig. Some other band is on ATM. In order to generate the right atmosphere they have to generate ersatz fag smoke, the real thing no longer being available.

[Wowbagger]

That was very good indeed. Greg Kiss, 4ft Pimp's front man, is a very entertaining performer with an easy relationship with the audience. My older daughter asked the rather uncharitable rhetorical question "Why does Greg have his hair like that? Has no-one told him it makes him look just like Ed Balls?"

Even though this final gig was organised for the most tragic of reasons, and the band last played some 5 years ago, splitting up shortly after all but my son had left Uni and gone into the world of work, it made me rather sad to think that they won't be performing together again.

[Wowbagger]

Given that the gig I went to on 27th is the sort of thing I would never attend if my son wasn't involved, and even then it was mostly the good cause that got me out there, I have nothing to compare it to. I attended an aoccasional gig when the band was regularly active, but not often.

Dez and a couple of others were wielding cameras and microphones and Dez is in the process of producing videos of the entire gig. Here's the first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs2_yDM8d7c

I'd be interested in others' opinions.

[Deano]

A random pick at the Waiting Room in Eaglescliffe - a night of finger-pickin' Americana from "Serious" Sam Barratt and David Broad.

After about thirty seconds I realised I'd seen these lads before, performing at the same venue. Which was the other occasion that I'd been to the Waiting Room to see a random pick. They were then performing as the Leeds City Stompers, all brylcreem and suits and double-bass-tastic blues standards.

They were lacking the sharp suits and double bass, but you got your money's worth for a fiver - two hour-long sets separated by an interval.

It was an excellent night, a mix of trad tunes and their own compositions (I liked how they hammed up the American accents for the bluegrass tunes, but their own Merseyside/Teesside accents came through on their own compositions). With a gratuitous Chas n Dave reference at the encore.

Pretty good for someone I'd never heard of before (or so I thought).

[Deano]

Robyn Hitchcock at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, a couple of weeks ago.



They spelled his name "Robert" on the announcement in the restaurant next door. 

I think he was wearing the same shirt the last (and only) time I saw him.

[Mr Larrington]

Uncle Bobby, as he is known in these parts, has a quite comprehensive collection of shirts in patterns which I aten't worn since 1975.

[sg37409]

Hayseed Dixie again in glasgow's celtic connections. Great fun. Next night we went to one of the transatlantic sessions, very different experience altogether !  Bought tickets for this on the strength of Patty Griffin appearing: She was very good but a coupel of the other singers were better I felt. Rodney Cromwell and some other guy whose name escapes me.  Wasnt as fussed for some of the traditional scottish tunes. 

[Ruthie]

Not really a gig, but it doesn't really belong anywhere else.

Hoppo, in a QandA organised by DarloCC.  What a guy!  Reading out his palmares could've filled more than an hour, so the host just skated over the surface really.  He is not as other men.  (Except Teethgrinder, he's a bit like Teethgrinder).  He just doesn't listen to pain, not even when it's the pain of a broken hip, or a broken wrist.   I ended up in awe of his time management skills as much as anything else!  Fitting in a paid job, a gazillion ultra distance events every year, being a triathlete sometimes, having a partner, being a dad ... I mean, how?

PBP is on his bucket list (so he'll have to qualify for that this year), and I really really liked him for that.  And he gave some hints about his strategies as Steve Abraham's team leader, but they need to stay in the Dolphin Centre.

In twelve days he'll be riding the Sebring in Florida (which he mentioned, ooh, once or twice) and I might have to do some internet wrangling to find out if I can follow that.
Rode there on m'bike.  It was well worth £2.50.

And what a self-effacing chap he is.