Category Archives: Reviews

Reflections on an excellent Summer for live music

I understand why buses come in threes. If you’re interested, it’s simply because the one at the front does most of the picking up and setting down, and the others just catch up. However, I don’t understand why live music appears to work the same way.

We normally manage at least a couple of “big” concerts each year, but we didn’t find much to inspire us in the whole of 2010. Then suddenly the famine turned to feast, and between the beginning of March and the end of July I’ll have managed a total of nine live music events! These have really covered the range: from reggae to rock, from a tiny dinner jazz gathering with two musicians to the extravagant production of Roger Waters The Wall, and from classic rock acts to classical violin.

By very weird coincidence having never seen any of the classic American rock bands apart from Chicago, we then added four more scalps in three weeks. Journey, Foreigner and Styx (see this post) were followed in short order by Toto, at the much better venue of the Hammersmith Apollo. This was an excellent concert, and the youngsters now fronting up Journey would do well to go and view the older masters at work. All the great hits, good interaction with the audience and each other, and a decent sound mix. That’s how it should be done.

However, the best of the lot, heading rapidly for a place in my all time top ten, was also one of the oddest. Superjam 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall last week was a charity concert in aid of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. The organiser is one Jackie Paice, wife of Ian, so naturally the music revolved around Deep Purple and their friends. And what a bunch of reprobates turned up…

After a lengthy charity auction (where those of us in the cheap seats got to have a distant look at the sort of people who can splash out 20 grand in a good cause) the music got going at about 9.30. The first act set the tone for the evening, with Newton Faulkener doing a version of Bohemian Rhapsody, complete with the complicated bits, as a solo with just an acoustic guitar. Various guests followed, each doing their own party piece, typically a tribute to another great musician, alongside one of their own works. Joe Bonamassa did a great version of BB King’s The Thrill is Gone, and Gary Brooker turned up with Good Golly Miss Molly, followed, of course by Whiter Shade of Pale, which I certainly never expected to hear live by the original singer.

At this point there were still two Hammond organs and a big bank of synthesisers sitting unused on the stage, but that was about to be rectified. First by Jon Lord, who after a rocky first number then produced a spine-tingling version of Sarabande, with the both talented and attractive young violinist Anna Phoebe, and then an ethereal version of his ballad Pictured Within. Jon handed over to Rick Wakeman, who amused us with variations on Eleanor Rigby in the style of Prokofiev, as only he can, and then brought Jon Lord back on for a duet for Hammond organ and synths. This work, composed for the concert, was humorously about two old men comparing their “organs”, with the wonderful title It’s Not As Big As It Was :). Finally everyone came back on stage for the first half finale, Life On Mars, which Rick Wakeman apparently co-wrote with David Bowie.

After a short break, the second half started with Bill Bailey doing a very funny, but very odd, act with a six-neck guitar (!), followed by an even odder, even funnier medley of rock anthems in the style of Chas and Dave. At last Deep Purple took the stage, and belted through several of their classics. They were characteristically generous to the younger musicians, including Joe Bonamassa coming on guest guitarist on Maybe I’m A Leo.

But they left the best till last. The finale was Deep Purple doing Smoke On The Water – “nothing new there” I hear you say, but wait … – with Bill Bailey out front playing the infamous riff – on a set of cow bells! Musically spot on, and very possibly the funniest live music performance I have every seen. 😀

Maybe this wasn’t the most polished set of performances ever, and maybe the sound quality up in the back row of “the gods” wasn’t the greatest, but who cares? The music was stirring, the evident friendships and goodwill heartwarming, and I laughed like a drain. If there’s a better way to raise some money for a good cause I’m not sure I’ve experienced it.

Location:Bicester,United Kingdom

A few weeks ago I attended a concert bringing together three classic American rock bands: Journey, Foreigner and Styx. It was not a bad evening’s entertainment, but left me with mixed feelings and musing on what makes for great live music.

The venue was Wembley Arena. It’s not our favourite venue by a long chalk. The main problem is that it’s long and thin and most of the audience are facing at right angles to a proper view of the stage. It also seems to suffer much worse than other venues from “fidgety audience syndrome” – I’m not sure whether this is related to the layout or not. What I do know is that watching a concert at Wembley is a constant battle with people coming and going to the bars and WCs, with no vestige of consideration for those actually trying to enjoy the show. This time people in the row behind us chose the middle of “Cold as Ice” to have an argument about tickets – surely they could have enjoyed the number from the side and then sorted things out?

I hadn’t really appreciated the relative ranking of the bands, so was a bit surprised when Styx led off the show, very much as the junior band working on a thin strip at the front of the stage. Another surprise was the musical style, prog rock rather like an American Yes, whereas I went in thinking of the ballads like “Babe” and Dirk DeYoung’s solo work. Even if it wasn’t quite what I expected, the performances were solid and varied enough to hold our interest. While musically I had no complaints, I was really annoyed by a bright light shining straight into my face from head level on the left of the stage, which made photography or even concentrating on the performance a real challenge.

Foreigner were simply superb. They played all their hits, the sound quality was good, the lead singer interacted well with the audience, and we even had a sing-along to “Feels Like the First Time”. The lighting effects were excellent and the band moved around using the stage and each other very effectively. Plus that stupid bloody light had been reset sensibly! This was more like it, and I was sad their set only lasted about an hour.

After Foreigner there was a big gap, well over half an hour, as the stage was completely stripped and re-set for Journey, behaving very much as the headline act courtesy of the renewed success of “Don’t Stop Believing”. When the show finally restarted the opening was very promising, with a thundering number and the voice of the energetic young vocalist soaring overhead.

The trouble is, that was it. 3/4 of an hour in I was getting tired of thundering numbers with high pitched vocals. I can’t tell you what they played, because I couldn’t distinguish one song from another. Normally even if I’m not familiar with a band’s catalogue, I could describe “the acapella one” or “the one with the great drum solo”. Nope.

There’s a musical joke on Deep Purple’s “Made in Japan”, where Ian Gillan asks the sound man for “a bit more monitor if you’ve got it”, and behind him Glover or Blackmore shouts “yeah, we’d like everything louder than everything else!” The trouble is that Journey and their sound team didn’t understand this was a joke…

Add to that virtually no interaction with the audience, and the lighting guy now shining the whole bank of lights in our eyes at regular intervals, and Journey just didn’t work. We gave up and left before the end of the show.

As a seasoned concert attendee, I’ve long realised that the success of a band has very little to do with the excellence of their live performances. It’s just frustrating to see the headline act do something so badly, when the acts further down the bill are so good.

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Next: four US rock bands in three weeks. How did Toto compare?

Location:Leatherhead,United Kingdom