Flamin Groovies – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 20th April 2016

I’ve been waiting been waiting 40 years to see the Flamin Groovies so the potential for disappointment is huge. From the start though it’s clear to see that the band are enjoying playing and and are glad to see a reasonable, but not sold out, crowd has come to see them on a Wednesday night.
The set list is drawn largely from their three Sire albums,released between 1976 and 1979 together with a smattering of songs from earlier in their long career.
The line up of three long standing members Cyril Jordan, George Alexander and Chris Wilson, and relative newcomer Victor Penalosa, and their enthusiasm prevents them becoming a tribute to themselves.
They say it’s good to be back in Leeds, although I don’t remember them ever playing here before. I hope they do again.

Decent support from Nervous Twitch and, particularly, The Breakdowns.

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Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott – Leeds Arena, 19 March 2016

After 31 years of releasing records, many of them hits or fan favourites, it must be difficult putting together a set list. If you’re Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, wanting to persuade the concert goer who only knows The Beautiful South or, at the older end of the demographic The Housemartins, to listen to the two excellent albums you’ve released since getting together as a duo in 2013 it must be even harder.

Tonight only a quarter of the setlist is from the period after The Beautiful South – one song from What Have We Become, eight from Wisdom, Laughter And Lines and nothing at all from Heaton’s three solo albums. I think that’s a shame because that means not hearing a lot of good songs.

Having said that the audience are treated to some lesser known Housemartin and Beautiful South tracks – Heaton says he hasn’t played Anxious for 29 years!

A great show then, excellent songs played by a first class band, what more could you want?

Support is from Trudy, a young three piece who have clearly never played to an audience of this size before. They hold their own and the tracks on their Soundcloud page are worth a listen.

Setlist: Wives 1, 2 & 3; Pretenders to the Throne; (Man Is) The Biggest Bitch of All; Have Fun; The Horse And Groom; Five Get Over Excited; Prettiest Eyes; Sundial In the Shade; The Queen of Soho; Old Red Eyes Is Back; I Don’t See Them; Anxious; Rotterdam (Or Anywhere); I’ll Sail This Ship Alone; The Austerity of Love; Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud): D.I.Y.; Happy Hour; Perfect 10; Caravan of Love.
Encore: A Little Time; Don’t Marry Her.
Encore 2: Heatongrad; You Keep It All In.

 

Blood River by Tim Butcher

Blood River tells the story of Tim Butcher’s attempt to recreate the journey of the Victorian explorer Henry Stanley to track the Congo river from Lake Tanganyika to the Atlantic.

While it is an excellent travel book, a genre I don’t generally read, it is much more than that. He examines the history of Belgian colonisation and relates it to the current inability of the post independence Congolese to create a functioning and cohesive state.

The casual violence and endemic corruption are genuinely shocking.

This book is an essential read for anyone interested in the legacy of colonialism and is highly recommended.

I really like Laura Nyro …

… a classic example of an artist who is loved by critics but doesn’t have a great deal of commercial success.

Although she never achieved a U.S. top 50 single, her highest position being No. 92, her songs were hits for other artists, particularly The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night and Barbra Streisand. Despite releasing nine studio and three live albums in her lifetime she only had one Top 40 album, New York Tendaberry. A particular favourite album of mine is Gonna Take A Miracle, a collection of covers recorded with Labelle.

Laura died from ovarian cancer, aged 49, in 1997.

Here’s a Spotify playlist of some of Nyro’s song covered by other artists, finishing with her cover of It’s Gonna Take A Miracle, originally recorded by The Royalettes.

Let’s Try Again

When I started writing this blog it was intended to be about anything that interested me. Somehow it became about reviews of live music shows. What had happened to the other things I’m interested in?

Where was the sport? Just one piece about the 2009 RL 4 Nations.

And the other things – film, books politics, and TV? It never happened.

Then I stopped. This happened for two main reasons: firstly, I thought no one was reading it; secondly, it had felt like a chore.

Recently I’ve been asked when I’m going to start again so someone must have been reading. I’m going to give it another go, and this time I will write about those other things. Let me know what you think.

May 2014

11 May – It’s the first time the GLW and I have seen Glenn Tilbrook for some time and, as it always is, it’s a fine evening’s entertainment. With solo material and Squeeze classics it would be hard to go wrong. Strangest song of the night is Ice Cream from his new recording Happy Endings. The most interesting, from the same album, is Persephone which owes an obvious debt to Deborah by Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

20 May – Last year Jason Isbell‘s album Southeastern was in numerous album of the year list so I thought I’d go to the Brudenell and see what the fuss was about. With his band, The 400 Unit, Isbell treats me to what will almost certainly be one of my top five shows of the year. The set list mixes the acoustic feel of Southeastern with the rockier approach of songs from earlier albums and his work with the Drive By Truckers. Standouts for me are Flying Over Water, Decoration Day and a great cover of Candi Staton’s Heart On A String. I’m waiting for them to come back now!

 

29 May – A trip to the Leadmill in Sheffield is required to see the reunion of Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott. Their voices blend together exceptionally well and their new album, What Have We Become is a cracker and highly recommended. I’d forgotten what a great singer Ms Abbott is but am happily reminded tonight as they perform classics by The Housemartins and The Beautiful South as well as their new songs. They’re touring again in the Autumn so look out for them.

Setlist: Some Dancing To Do; Old Red Eyes Is Back; Costa Del Sombre; Rotterdam (Or Anywhere); Prettiest Eyes; Moulding Of A Fool; We’re Not Deep; The Snowman; Build; When It Was Ours; Dream a Little Dream; Don’t Marry Her; When I Get Back To Blighty; Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud); D.I.Y.; Happy Hour.
Encore: I’ll Sail This Ship Alone; Me and the Farmer.
Encore 2: Loving Arms; Caravan of Love.

April 2014

3 April – I like Simone Felice and so does the GLW. He just gets better and better, particularly as a live act, and The Brudenell suits him to a T! Tonight he’s playing as a three piece with cellist Gabriel Dresdale and guitarist/dobro/mandolin player Matt Green while Simone switches between guitar and drums. He’s out in support of his second solo album, the excellent Strangers, and plays a number of songs from it, with the standouts being Bye Bye Palenville and Molly O, as well as old favourites such as If You Ever Get Famous. The encore comprises a tremendous cover of Bruce Springsteens’s Atlantic City and Neil Young’s Helpless. If you missed him this time don’t make that mistake again!

11 April – What are Elbow? Are they, as someone said, a prog band without the solos, a great pop group or something else altogether?
Well what is indisputable is they write great songs, are excellent musicians and have a charismatic front man in Guy Garvey.
Garvey’s talent is to draw the audience in to the performance by talking to them as though he’s having a pint with them. I suspect this isn’t as easy as he makes it look but he succeeds tonight, almost making the Leeds Arena seem like a club show.
They play plenty of songs from their latest album, The Take Off And Landing Of Everything including my favourite My Sad Captains, a reflection on the nature of friendship, as well as the song many of the crowd will have come to hear, One Day Like This.

They’ve come a long way since Asleep In The Back and it will be interesting to see where they go next.

Set List: Charge; The Bones of You; Fly Boy Blue / Lunette; Real Life (Angel); The Night Will Always Win; New York Morning; The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver; Great Expectations; The Blanket of Night; Mirrorball; The Birds; Grounds for Divorce; My Sad Captains
Encore: Starlings; Lippy Kids; One Day Like This

27 April – I’m never going to miss a chance to see Neil Finn and this is also a first chance to visit the Lyric Theatre at The Lowry Centre, Salford.

Touring to promote his new solo album Dizzy Heights, which I recommend as a ‘Grower’, he also cherry picks from his back catalogue. Neil Finn could be a human jukebox but, luckily for us, he is so much more as he reinterprets many of the songs, for example playing Don’t Dream it’s Over as originally written on piano and organ.
The appearance of Johnny Marr for the encore is a surprise to those of the audience who’ve not seen Finn play in the Manchester area before.
There’s a second, solo, encore to bring the show to a fine end.

Set List: Impressions; Distant Sun; Pony Ride; One Step Ahead; Dizzy Heights; Into the Sunset; Sinner; Recluse; Better Than TV; Only Talking Sense; From a Friend to a Friend; Fall at Your Feet; Flying in the Face of Love; White Lies and Alibis; Divebomber; Message to My Girl; Don’t Dream It’s Over; Strangest Friends; I Got You; Locked Out;

Encore: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out; She Will Have Her Way; Weather With You
Encore 2: Love This Life; Chocolate Cake; I See Red; Pineapple Head; Better Be Home Soon