Saturday May 19 - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Newish to me but clearly much loved by this fanatical crowd and a delight from start to finish. I need those choruses in my life and the only problem now is choosing which album to buy first. No doubt Louise will put me right on that. How good it is too, to be back in my favourite gig venue. There is nowhere to beat Brudenell Social Club. Fair drink prices, great acoustics and no corporate bullshit.
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Friday May 18 - Katzenjammer at Academy 3, Manchester
They're basically mental. They can all play pretty much any instrument ... and they do. They can sing 4 part harmonies from heaven. There's no single vibe on offer from Katzenjammer so I'm settling on a made up word to describe how they sound ... rockapunkyfolkabilly. It's their first UK tour and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for their second.
Incidentally, I'm deriving particular pleasure from posting this video. The petty corporate control exercised by Carling Academies means I'm ordered to check my HD video camcorder into the cloakroom before we go in. Never mind, eh, my bog standard digicam does great video too. So stick that up your corporate arses, Carling - you're swimming against the technological tide. As well as damaging the artists who play in your venues and get great exposure from their fans sharing their material online. And while I'm on the subject of corporate contamination of the musical experience, I'm reminded of how Laura Marling was distracted by the video advert loops at Leeds Carling Academy in March. Rant over. Here's the ridiculously entertaining Katzenjammer.
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Thursday May 17 - Gaz Coombes Presents at The Ruby Lounge, Manchester
A cast-iron strength thesis can be presented to support the contention that Gaz Coombes is one of the best songwriters in Britain. The 'retirement' of Supergrass in June 2010 felt like a personal loss, so the return of Gaz Coombes is one of the best things to have happened for me in music so far this year. It's a classic 'low key' return, with the set consisting of a performance of his new 'Here Come The Bombs' album and nothing else. Low key and brilliant, is what it is. He isn't trading on former glories either. There's an electro element to the new songs and there's not a guitar break in sight. So the sound is new and my Supergrass superfan friend Annie is thrilled at how well he looks. What's not to love about all of that.
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Tuesday May 15 - Newton Faulkner at Holmfirth Picturedrome
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Wednesday March 28 - John Bramwell at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
He drinks, he sings, he drinks, he talks, he drinks, he laughs, he sings a bit more. His songs are from the gut. Absolutely priceless. If there are still troubadours, John Bramwell is their leader.
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Spiritualized - Manchester Academy, Sunday March 25
Somehow I've never seen Spiritualized until now, despite a 15 year acquaintance with their music and the presence of 5 albums on my music shelves. How to describe the experience of this evening ...
Imagine a mix of swampy blues and long psychedelic dirge workouts, peppered with a bit of occasional gospel, and you're halfway there. I'll do what Jason Spaceman (who doesn't speak a word to the audience throughout the set) does and leave the images and sounds to speak for themselves.
There's a photo of the setlist for this show here
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Saturday March 17 - Letz Zep at Manchester Academy 3
I recall bunking school to see Led Zeppelin's film 'The Song Remains The Same' one afternoon at the Odeon in Chester. Me and my mate Steve were slightly awestruck just to see them almost in the flesh. It was in the days when we didn't have an internet serving us up all the content we could wish for on our favourite music. Led Zeppelin were never on TV. Video recorders did exist, but only in places like schools or the homes of really wealthy 'early adopters'. And they were always broken anyway. So seeing Page, Plant, Jones & Bonham actually moving around on a big screen, making their Herculean brand of rock n roll was an amazing experience.
And there's one observation Steve made that has stayed with me down all those years.
He said, afterwards, something along the lines of "I expected them to look ... er ... kind of bigger ... but they just looked normal."
I knew exactly what he was saying. In our minds, Led Zeppelin weren't just a band we loved. They were a semi-mythical colossus of music. Not quite human, maybe. But there they were. Just 4 blokes. Rocking, quite unlike anyone else before or since. But still, just 4 blokes.
Not long later we were to see them for real, at the huge Knebworth Festival, on August 11 1979. Once again, on that occasion, they would assume God-like proportions in our eyes. But that was to be our only time ... the last British show ... less than a year before it would all end with the death of John Bonham.
Fast forward nearly 33 years and Steve's comment in the cinema pops into my head, mid-way through Letz Zep's set. And I think 'this is what it would have been like to see Led Zeppelin in a small venue.' It's a fantastic show. It always is, with Letz Zep. They play worldwide and they've got it nailed. And, funnily enough, they're like the real Led Zeppelin ... just 4 blokes. With ridiculously great riffs.
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The Australian Pink Floyd Show - Halifax Victoria Hall, Thursday March 8
Steve Mac regularly has one of the most high pressure jobs in music, starting every time the G minor synthesizer pad begins its doleful unchanging 2'27" journey at the beginning of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. In the audience you're suddenly aware of the intense anticipation of this moment above all others in the set. Because every single person in the room is waiting for him to play some notes that are so indelibly and deeply inscribed in their brains they can hear them even before they're due. And then there's the 'iconic' (in this case, appropriately termed) chiming 4 note figure that signals the start of the song proper. In these moments a lot of us are also feeling his pressure so I always imagine the audience cheers of delight that punctuate his performance are tinged with a tiny bit of relief too. Certainly, my gig partner says the same when we're enthusing over yet another fantastic show from the world's greatest tribute band afterwards.
I saw the post-Waters 'real' Pink Floyd once and I've seen the 'Aussie Floyd' four times. And I've enjoyed the latter most, every time. And I'm always impressed not just by the technical quality and musicianship on display - and the spectacular visual show - but by the fact that they still seem delighted at the reaction they get. And it's great that while they take the music very seriously indeed, they don't take themselves too seriously at all. So you get lots of 'aussie' references throughout the show - including little bursts of the themes to 'Neigbours' & 'Skippy', clever graphical mergers between original Floyd imagery and the Aussie Floyd's antipodean origins. Best of all, there's the giant inflatable kangaroo - complete with a roadie sitting behind and bouncing it. Now we've lost Rick Wright there won't be another chance to see the original thing. So thank goodness for these guys. I love the Aussie Floyd and I'll keep coming back as long as they do.
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Friday February 17 - Cherry Ghost at The Wardrobe, Leeds
It's been 5 times of seeing Cherry Ghost. I never tire of these songs.
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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Cockpit, Leeds, Monday January 30
It's taken a long while to catch them live, but at last I have. And they're just as good as I'd hoped. You can keep your Coldplays and other artists who make their fortunes through 'fans' who buy about 3 CDs a year. Being in a room full of people enraptured by a band like this is where it's at for me.
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