LIVE REVIEW : NICK LOWE AT UNION CHAPEL 09/05/2014

What a change from my previous Nick Lowe gigs, just being able to board the tube and 40 mins later I'm in front of the venue. The gig was was the first of a series of 3 shows that Mr Lowe was playing at The Union Chapel (described by our host of the night as "The Ryman auditorium of North London". It was a rare occasion to catch Mr Lowe in solo mode as when he tours the UK he usually performs with his wonderful backing band.

We managed to find nice seats at the balcony top of the venue after I had purchased the limited edition poster made especially for that run of 3 shows (100, all signed by Mr Lowe himself). Opening act was american country singer John Doe who's signed to same record label as Nick Lowe in the US Yep Roc Records. I had watched a couple of videos on YouTube and was expecting to like him a lot but I was left a bit disappointed in the end. Maybe it was a combination of an early start (7.30pm), a set list relying quite heavily on ballads and a guitar sound that was a bit too quiet (in comparison to Nick Lowe's one later on). I must investigate his records to make a definite opinion.

Lowe came on stage at 8.45 and launched straight away into "Where's my Everything" followed by "Heart", a song first released on Rockpile's Seconds of Pleasure album. The song selection didn't stray too much from the one Lowe has been playing for the last few years but he kept it fresh with a few new additions. We were treated to "I'm a Mess" from The Convincer and a really good cover of "Travelin' Light" originally played by Cliff Richard and The Shadows. There was quite a few instruments set up on stage and even if the red Nord keyboard on left gave a clue that Geraint Watkins would be joining the proceedings at some point, I was wondering who would be playing the guitars on the left. The question was answered mid-gig when Lowe invited John Paul Jones to join him on bass for "Stop Light Roses". Jones stayed till the end playing bass, mandolin and guitar on all the songs (adding a really good mandolin solo to "Checkout Time"). Geraint Watkins joined on "House for Sale". The main set finished with a rousing version of a "I Knew The Bride When She Used to Rock'n'Roll". Watkins and Lowe came back on stage to play "Only A Rose" from Watkins's excellent "Dial W for Watkins" album which was followed by a surprisingly good cover of "Everybody's Talkin" (which Lowe introduced by saying "no safety net on this one") were Lowe and John Doe shared the lead singing. Last song of the night was Lowe's most famous tune "What's So Funny About Peace , Love and Understanding"

  

LIVE REVIEW : GRUFF RHYS AT SOHO THEATRE 05/05/2014

A three day weekend, beautiful weather and two gigs, what more could you ask. I thought I would enjoy The High Llamas more than Gruff Rhys but the exact opposite happened. I came out of the gig really impressed by the guy and his musicianship. It was my first time at Soho Theatre, and a wonderful place it is. They do simultaneous shows at the same time. The Gruff Rhys performance (you'll see while I use that term later on) was due to start at 9.15 pm in the Theatre that's located upstairs while a comedy night was running downstairs from 8pm. The venue has a n ice bar area and you can get a good pint of Czech beer for a reasonable price so all good for me.

The show was the first of a 5 night residency that Rhys was playing to promote his latest project American Interior. A multimedia offering (movie, record, book and app), it tells the story of John Evan's, a distant relative of Rhys who lived during the 18th century. Welsh born, he immigrated to America to find an Indian tribe who were said to have been descendants of a mythical Welsh figure of the 12th century called Madoc. Madoc is said to have discovered the American continent before Christopher Colombus. The night opened with a corny beginning of the eighties documentary on Madoc featuring a silver haired and over-enthusiastic Welsh Historian recounting the tale of Madoc. After the movie finished, Rhys came on stage wearing a hat made out of toy wolf. The screen used for projecting the documentary was also used for a slide show (displaying low battery warnings towards the end of the show) that Rhys used in between songs to narrate the story of John Evans quest through The United States. A mixture of tongue in cheek humour and genuine affection for his ancestor provided a very entertaining evening. Playing Solo, Rhys used a myriad of low tech gizmos to accompany him and looped in own voice to create beautiful sounding harmonies on several numbers. The chord structures of his songs are really simple but the vocals he puts on top are simply astounding. He really is a fantastic singer and storyteller. He was accompanied for the whole show by a puppet representing John Evans (quite heavily featured in the slideshow too).

LIVE REVIEW : THE HIGH LLAMAS AT THE ISLINGTON 03/05/2014

I must admit that one was a bit of a blind buy. The Llamas are a band that I kept putting on the "I must check them out list" but other bands kept coming and they were being put back at the end of the queue. I had missed the tickets for the first show at The Islington but managed to grab one for the second night before it sold out. I went to the gig with no knowledge of the bands back catalogue (something I tried to avoid usually) but still managed to recognize a couple of tracks from their latest LP Talahomi Way that I had listened to on YouTube (shame on me). It wasn't my first time at The Islington as it was there that I saw Jason Falkner a couple of months ago. It's a nice little venue with a set-up similar to The Half Moon in Putney where the venue is separated from the bar area. The stage was a bit small for a band like The Llamas but they managed to squeeze everybody on it.

These two shows were the first in two years for the band and even though they did a spot on job, you could feel that a couple of extra days of rehearsals would have made them a little more comfortable on stage, especially with the number of chord changes and tricky time signatures that Sean O'Hagan seems to fit in every song. You could could see bass player Jon Fell cringing after  making mistakes on a couple of songs. Sean O'Hagan seemed to be enjoying the performance stopping at one point to shake an Italian's fan hand who came all the way from his home country to see the band's return to live performance. The show seemed to cover pretty much all their record with former guitarist John Bennett helping them out on a few numbers. I'm glad to have seen the gig but would gladly go and see them again with a few more gigs behind them (not that they tour much but hey...). Just bough Hawaii so at least attending the show finally triggered my discovery of their discography.

LIVE REVIEW : DAVE DAVIES AT THE BARBICAN 11/04/2014

After returning to the stage in the US last year, Dave Davies made his  UK comeback at The Barbican last Friday, 13 years after his last concert in this country. Following a stroke that almost cost him his life in 2004, he had to relearn to speak and play guitar.

I'd thought that the choice of venue was maybe a bit optimistic capacity wise. When Dave last played in London in 2001 it was at Dingwall's in Camden (a much smaller venue) but the stalls in The Barbican were pretty full up by the time opening act Laura Howe and Pixi Morgan came on stage at 7.30. They first met Dave Davies at the beginning of this year while they were busking on the streets of Devizes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-UUt57LJ0k&feature=share), after which he offered them the opening slot of his gig at The Barbican. Blending covers and originals over their 40 minutes slot, they displayed remarkable vocal interplay (Pixi's singing was similar to The Dubliners) and won the crowd over with their enthusiasm and freshness.  

Dave's backing band came on stage to the sound of a rather pompous intro music and then launched into a hard rock version of The Kinks 1966 B-Side "I'm Not Like Everybody Else". Dave joined them in the middle of the song and then plunged straight away into "I Need You" which was followed by "She's Got Everything". While the first song has been a live staple in Ray Davies's set list over the past few years, it was nice to hear some lesser known Kinks songs. We got to hear "Young and Innocent Days","Strangers" , "Susannah's Still Alive", "Creeping Jean". The hits weren't ignored with Dave's signature Kinks song "Death Of a Clown" getting an airing (slightly spoilt by an unnecessary dig from Dave to bass/keyboard player Tom Currier). Songs from the latest album weren't particularly great (I'd have to check the recorded versions to formulate a definitive opinion) but "Flowers in The Rain" from Dave's 2002 Bug album was as good as any Kinks song. After finishing the main set with fine versions of "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" and "All Day and All Of The Night", Dave came back to close his vibrant UK return with The Kinks mosty well known song "You Really Got Me".

LIVE REVIEW : RICHARD THOMPSON AND DANNY THOMPSON AT THE HALF MOON PUTNEY 04/04/2014

That's a show that I was well advised to have booked in advance, I bought the ticket on the 30th of October last year and the gig sold out 5 days later which was 6 months day to day before the actual date of the gig !!! The evening was part of series of show put together by double bass ace Danny Thompson to celebrate his 75th birthday. All taking place in one of London's best music venues : The Half Moon in Putney, the series of show finished last Saturday with Donovan as Danny's guest. Going to Putney from my flat in Harrow is one hell of trek and even though I had planned a little extra time in case TFL let me down (which happened) I made it to the venue 5 minutes before Danny Thompson climbed on stage to introduce the opening act Rory Butler. After joking he wasn't playing with Rory because there was no money in i for him, he left us to spend a rather wonderful 30 mins listening to Butler' great songs and neat finger picking. It's really a shame that because of  today's overcrowded music market, such a talent isn't able to gather more attention from the public. 

After a short break Danny Thompson came back on stage to introduce his friend. I'm not hugely familiar with Thompson's repertoire but being able to see him play in such an intimate setting and with such a remarkable player as Danny Thompson's for just over 20 pounds was simply too good an opportunity to miss. Thompson before starting the first song said he hadn't played at the Half Moon  for more than 30 years and than it felt good to be back. I don't know how long they had to rehearse for the gig but the interplay between the two musicians was simply stunning. Richard Thompson played two songs solo to give Danny Thompson his "statutory union break" in the middle of the show, his most well known tune "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg I don't recommend budding guitar players to watch this, might put you off slightly...) and "Salford Sunday"  from his latest album Electric. The show was warm and friendly with both Thompson's bantering on stage and throwing jokes at each other. I was standing just beside the stage door where Richard Thompson's daughter Kamila was standing while her husband guitarist James Walbourne was sitting on the side concentrating on his father's in law playing. Despite reoccurring problems with the cable on Danny Thompson's Double bass, the two of them soldiered on and the two hours flew by ending with a sing along version "I Want To See These Bright Lights Tonights" 1974 song that he recorded with his first wife Linda.

LIVE REVIEW : GERAINT WATKINS AND THE MOSQUITOS AT THE WHEATSHEAF TOOTING 16/03/2014

I'd been on the lookout for a Geraint Watkins gig announcement for the past couple of months as the man was releasing "Moustique" his first solo LP in 5 years on the 17th of March. Suddenly out of the blue last week came an announcement that he would be playing a Sunday afternoon free gig on the 16th of March in a pub called The Wheatsheaf located just beside Tooting Bec tube station. The event was organized by London based Irish musician Niall Kelly who regularly plays at The Wheatsheaf. The pub is also close to Gravity Shack Studios where Neil Brockbank operates Gold Top where "Moustique" was recorded (and Nick Lowe's Christmas record too...).

The back room of the pub was almost empty when I arrived so I managed to secure a table just near the door that leads to the beer garden while Geraint and his band were finishing setting up. Niall played a short with his wife Caitlin accompanying him on fiddle. Really nice songs and some good singing from both. I'll make sure I listen to some of Niall's records in the near future. Geraint was accompanied by most of the musicians that play on the records that are made at Gold Top : Robert Treherne on drums, Matt Radford on stand up bass, Martin Winning on Tenor Sax and Clarinette and newcomer Oliver Darling on guitar. The line-up was less extensive than the last Geraint Watkins I reviewed on this blog (http://craigchaligne.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/geraint-watkins-underbelly-hoxton.html) but it was still a treat to catch such a bunch of talented musicians for the price of a couple of pints !!! Geraint opened as usual with Easy To Say Bon Temps Roulez from his 2008 album In A Bad Mood. The song started with just him and his piano and the band joined him in the middle. Several tracks from the soon to be released Moustique were aired (House On The Prairie, No Longer Required, All Around The World, Shine A light) and showed that this record might be his strongest to date but all his LP's were covered with particularly good versions of My Happy Day (from the Bold As Love album) and Champion (from In A Bad Mood). Oliver Darling took lead vocals on a couple of number and a impressed Watkins jokingly asked him if he could join his band. The rhythm section of Matt Radford and Robert Treherne was perfect as usual and Martin Winning's sax playing was absolutely fantastic. Niall made an announcement that Geraint and the band would play every two weeks at The Wheatsheaf from now on, make sure you catch them !

LIVE REVIEW : SLIM CHANCE AT THE ELGIVA THEATRE CHESHAM 08/03/2013

To celebrate the purchase of our new car the missus and I decided to make a trip to Chesham to see Slim Chance perform a gig at The Elgiva Theatre. For the people who aren't aware of Slim Chance, they were the band that used to back Ronnie Lane when he went solo after quitting the Faces in 1973. The line-up was quite prone to changes and though most the musicians playing in the band were in the band at one point or another, they hardly were at the same time !!! The band started playing again in 2010 and has been playing small venues all over the UK ever since. The core of the band is composed of  Steve Simpson on lead guitar, mandolin and fiddle, Alun Davies on acoustic guitar, Charlie Hart on fiddle and keyboards and Steve Bingham on bass. They're augmented by keyboard master Geraint Watkins and drummer John Lingwood. I invite you to check the list of musicians they've worked with over the years on the Slim Chance website (http://www.slim-chance.co.uk/pages/slimchance.html), it's pretty impressive.

The Elgiva theatre is located right in the centre of Chesham and  also doubles as a cinema. Sonia and I made it to the venue just before 8pm and had time to buy a drink before heading into the auditorium where a DJ was playing a selection of nice records to an almost empty room. Thankfully most of the punters came in five minutes before the opening act The Good Men In The Jungle started playing. Made up of Alun Davies and his daughter Becky Clowes with the help of Steve Simpson on a few songs, they played mostly sixties and seventies era covers (really good version of The Weight by The Band). They seem to be playing in this duo format or with a full band every now then in London. I will make sure I catch them before the end of the year. After a short break Slim Chance came onstage and spent the next two hours playing songs from all of Ronnie Lane's post Small Faces career. All his most famous solo tracks were played (How Come, The Poacher, Kuschtye Rye...) without forgetting his time in The Faces (Debris, You're So Rude) and his collaboration with Pete Townshend "Rough Mix" (Silly Little Man). Every band member took his turn singing lead vocals and introduced each song with a short anecdote about their time playing with Ronnie Lane. The quality of the playing coupled to these heartfelt reminiscences made this evening the perfect celebration of Ronnie Lane the musician but also Ronnie Lane the man.