October 2011

10 October – The last time I saw Roddy Frame it was just him and an acoustic guitar at the City Varieties in May 2006. Tonight he’s opening his first tour with a band for 10 years at The Brudenell.

Opening with The Crying Scene he proceeds to mine his rich seam of material, from Aztec Camera classics like Killermont Street, We Could Send Letters, Oblivious, Walk Out To Winter and Pillar To Post to later solo songs like Western Skies and Sun. If there is a consistently better Scottish songwriter I’ve yet to hear him or her. He plays one new song, White Pony, which stands comparison with anything else he plays tonight and admits that he should write more.

He starts the encore acoustically. Taking a request from the audience for On The Avenue he promptly forgets the words but, unfazed, he soldiers on to the end. Then he plays Down The Dip, How Men Are and closes with a band version of Somewhere In My Heart and the sold out crowd go home happy!

11 October – The following night I’m at Sheffield City Hall to see two more classic songwriters, Crosby & Nash. Seasoned campaigners – both have been doing this since the early 60s – they know how to give an audience what they want. Tonight’s song list is primarily material one or both of them wrote or co-wrote whilst in The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) or for their solo or duo albums. Many of them are classics. Generally Nash writes the pop songs –  Marrakesh Express, Our House and Teach Your Children – and Crosby the “weird shit”– Almost Cut My Hair and Deja Vu. They don’t play a bad song and even the one new song they play, Slice Of Time, meets their high standard. The real highlights for me are What Are Their Names? and Orleans, both from Crosby’s first solo album If I Could only Remember My Name, and possibly my all time favourite song, Guinnevere.

First Set: Eight Miles High, I Used to Be a King, Marrakesh Express, Lay Me Down, Old Soldier, Just A Song Before I Go, Slice Of Time, Don’t Dig Here, Critical Mass, Wind On The Water, Long Time Gone.
Second Set: Simple Man, Guinnevere, Almost Cut My Hair, Our House, In Your Name, They Want It All, What Are Their Names?, Blackbird, Orleans, Cathedral, Broken Bird, Deja Vu, Military Madness, Wooden Ships.
Encore: Teach Your Children.

15 October – I first saw Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes in 1977 when they supported Graham Parker & The Rumour at St George’s Hall in Bradford and then again not long after when they headlined at Leeds University. A nine piece band including a four player horn section, they had been signed by Epic on the coattails of the success of fellow New Jerseyite Bruce Springsteen. That made sense as they were pals and Springsteen wrote songs for them, as did Miami Steve who also produced their first three albums. Those albums, particularly the third Hearts Of Stone, were fantastic. Unlike Springsteen they were much more of a R&B/soul band and although live they were fantastic that, as with so many other bands, didn’t translate into record sales.

So with memories of those two shows I persuaded the GLW to accompany me to Holmfirth to see them again. I really wish I hadn’t bothered! The sound was awful, far too loud and muddy. Unusually for me I left after 40 minutes so it must have been bad. I still think they were great in the 70s so I’ll stick to playing those first three albums in future.

28 October – Bluegrass is a type of country music I love so I’m not going to miss the chance to see one its finest exponents Chatham Co. Line at The Brudenell. I saw them for the first time at the same venue in September 2010 with the GLW and she needs no persuading to accompany me again. Luckily, given the disappointment of Southside Johnny, they’re on top form and she has a great time. They’re not promoting a particular album this time around so they play some songs from earlier in their career that I hadn’t heard live before: Route 23, Gunfight in Durango, Parlour Light. They don’t neglect their more recent songs and play my particular favourite, The Carolinian, which was my introduction to them when I saw their appearance on Later. Here‘s a clip of them playing it. Great songs, performances and funny between song chat – what’s not to like? I can’t recommend them highly enough.

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September 2011

3 September – At the moment there is no one I’d rather see than Ron Sexsmith so a chance to see him  & his band at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall is not to be missed. Still riding the wave of success following the showing of the Love Shines documentary on BBC4 and radio play on Radio 2 Ron is starting to play bigger venues. The Bridgewater Hall is an excellent place for Ron to play as the acoustics are so good. As ever his band: Tim Bovaconti (guitar), Jason Mercer (bass), David Matheson (keyboards) and the returning Don Kerr (drums) provide a sympathetic support. Tonight’s set list is a well-balanced mix of old favourites including  Secret Heart, Believe It When I See It, Lebanon Tennessee, Cheap Hotel and Hard Bargain and songs from Long Player Late Bloomer including Get In Line, Nowadays, Late Bloomer and Love Shines. Tonight’s surprise cover version is Sam Cooke’s Cupid. A fantastic evening’s entertainment.

8 September – My mate Dave keeps going on about Caitlin Rose so when she announces a date at The Brudenell Social Club I decide to go test his judgement, and embarrass him in to coming along. Twenty-four year old Ms Rose is the daughter of two movers and shakers in the Nashville music scene. Luckily for her and us she has the talent as a singer and songwriter to justify the critical acclaim she’s receiving. On this tour she has a four piece band who provide a fine support for her songs. These are written in a classic country style and she sings in the tradition of Country greats such as Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells and Emmylou Harris. After the show I buy a copy of her EP, Dead Flowers, and I recommend it wholeheartedly, I can’t get the title track, a cover of The Rolling Stones song, out of my head for days and this causes my one regret about the show – that she didn’t play it.

13 September – brings a trip to the O2 Academy in Sheffield to see The Bluetones farewell tour. They’re playing Leeds later in the week but I’m not able to go and I refuse to miss a last chance to see them. The Bluetones are, in my view, the great underrated  band of the Britpop era. Every movement in rock has its greats, its underrated and its  bandwagon jumpers. For example, Mersey beat had The Beatles, The Searchers and Freddie & The Dreamers. So Britpop had Oasis, The Bluetones and Menswe@r.  It’s a shame that somewhere in the shuffle The Bluetones got lost after their outstanding debut, Expecting To Fly.

Tonight they play songs from across their career and five albums. Standouts are Bluetonic, Slight Return, Cut Some Rug, Sleazy Bed Track and Never Going Nowhere. They return for their first encore and play a cover of KC and the Sunshine Band’s Give It Up. The audience had a great night and, while Mark Morriss continue to pursue his solo career, I for one hope they change their minds and play an annual tour but, if not, they leave me with some great memories.

21 September – Richmond Fontaine have taken the brave step of releasing a ‘concept’ album, The High Country, that links songs, spoken pieces and snippets of sound to create a musical novel. It succeeds admirably. Augmented by singer and keyboardist Amy Boone, from Austin band The Damnations, they start by playing the new album in its entirety. Boone’s vocal provides a welcome contrast to Willy Vlautin’s throaty delivery. After a short break they return with a selection from their earlier albums, including Post To Wire a particular favourite of mine. Afterwards I buy Willy’s latest book Lean On Pete. Another excellent night at The Brudenell.

27 September – sees me back at The Brudenell to see Danny & the Champions Of The World finally headline a show. They’re touring in support of their new album Hearts & Arrows and play pretty much all of it. The album is more of a straight ahead rock album, with Danny showing probably more than ever his Springsteen influence, and this show reflects that. This new version of the Champs has some great players in it, none more so than guitarist Tony Poole, formerly of Starry Eyed and Laughing. Stand out songs tonight are Brothers In The Night, Too Tough To Cry, Every Beat Of My Heart and Can’t Hold Back.

The chances are that in six months or so they’ll be the best live band in England so it’s a pity there weren’t more here to see them tonight.