Once a year I play golf, as I get together with old friends for a reunion. Mostly we are are in Oxfordshire. The golf is a bit of an endurance test and the scores get worse with the passing years, but when we are lucky with the weather, as was the case this year, there are compensations. The sun starts to go down at around 3,30pm, and there are some wondrous views. These are a few from this year – the course was Kirtlington, a few miles out of Oxford. It’s where we play at least once most years.
It’s not so long since I saw Catherine McGrath at an invitation event at Cambridge Audio in Borough, South London. That was great. Tonight, she was supporting the American country pop duo Dan + Shay. I managed to persuade my friend Dave to come along – the pre-concert meal at Sushi Salsa in Camden Lock was part of the attraction!
Catherine is a really talented singer and has written some beautiful songs, which are some of my favourites of the year. As the support act tonight, she only got half an hour, but that was enough time to play a few of her best tunes, like “Just in Case”, “Hell Would Have to Freeze Over”, Starting from Now”, and my favourite, “Cinderella.” It was also a chance to showcase her two recent singles, “Talk of This Town” and new release, “Thought it was Gonna be Me”. She got a really enthusiastic reception from the crowd, which had already filled much of the venue. Not all support acts get that. She also had a full band: guitar, drums and bass. The songs worked well with that backing. They retained their tunefulness and subtlety, but got an extra slug of rhythm. It took her further on the path towards the Taylor Swift sound – no bad thing, but quite a competitive field.
We didn’t stay for Dan + Shay. I’m sure they would have been pretty good live – they packed out Koko for a start. But I’d checked them out on Spotify and it wasn’t really my thing, so we found a pub and watched the second half of Watford v Man United.
Catherine is headlining a show at Camden Assembly on 5 March next year. Definitely one to be at – I will.
On Friday evening I went up to Alexandra Palace in North London for the second time in a couple of weeks – the first being The War on Drugs. After mistiming it completely last time, and keeping my friend Jon G waiting in the bar, I got there super early. There were a couple of interesting support bands in prospect. Superfood, who I saw at the Goose Island concert in Shoreditch a while back, and then Sunflower Bean, who are getting good reviews. They were at Latitude, but another band I missed because of the clashes. Naturally, because I was early, Jon was unavoidably late this time! Gave me a chance to get a couple of beers in. Eventually we saw a bit of Sunflower Bean, who seemed pretty good. The last tune really rocked. Superfood will be for another time – sure they’ll be on the festival circuit next year.
I’ve seen Wolf Alice a couple of times before. Once at Latitude in 2015 and then at the Forum in Kentish Town in 2016. They were terrific both times. Their first album, “My Love is Cool” was the thing then. That was an album I grew to love, but not in time to give it a slot in my 2015 top ten. And now we have the second album, “Visions of a Life”. This one has been another slow burner – apart from “Yuk Foo”, which is just an awesome piece of angry noise, with Ellie Rowsell lashing out at everything. I did a bit of mugging up before the concert, so the tunes were at least vaguely familiar. The first four on the album jumped out: “Heavenward” providing the same sort of dreamy start as “Turn to Dust” did for the first album; “Yuk Foo” blasting away for a couple of minutes, “Beautifully Unconventional” almost dancey, but very 70s too; and “Don’t Delete the Kisses”, a lovely swirl of a chorus set against verses that could have come from the Pet Shop Boys. I was really looking forward to the show, to enjoy the old favourites and see how these new songs played out.
And yes, it was an amazing show. This is a band that has really found its groove now. Able to translate their sound and performance to the bigger stages. Ally Pally is a cavern. The War on Drugs got a bit lost in it, I thought. Wolf Alice bossed it totally. They started with “Heavenward” and “Yuk Foo”. That got things going. But then we had “You’re a Germ” and “Your Love’s Whore”. Couldn’t get much better! And the concert then wound its way through both albums. “Planet Hunter” emerged as a real favourite – great melody and chorus. “Don’t Delete the Kisses” too. “Beautifully Unconventional” rocked.
And there was a lovely moment towards the end when the band invited on to the stage a 15 year girl from Kingston (or somewhere from that part of the world) who’d won a competition to play guitar on old pre-albums favourite “Moaning Lisa Smile”, while Ellie just sang. And she was great! Really confident on the guitar.
The last two songs of the main set were a contrast. First, “Visions of a Life”, a seven minute epic from the new album. Full of time and melody changes. This was the moment when I thought seventies most of all. A bit of Zep definitely, touch of Sabbath, and, I don’t know, something like Jefferson Airplane. Ellie as Grace Slick. She’d gone a bit 70s in her dress for the night. The slicked back hair was punk, same as the “Yuk Foo” video; the long white dress was definitely from another era. But then, for the last song, a reversion to the Wolf Alice we know and love: the awesome “Fluffy”.
The encore was “Blush”, another old one, and then “Giant Peach” from “My Love is Cool”. That gave them a chance to rock out, and it all ended on a high. This was a really well-paced show, making great use of songs from throughout their catalogue. A band that really know what they are doing, but who also feel humbled by being able to play to 5,000 people on their home turf.
Could they be headliners at Latitude in 2018? I really hope so!
Aldous Harding is a singer from New Zealand who has been described as psych-folk. In other words, the foundation of her music is folk, but it twists and turns into something quite different. Her second album, “Party”, came out this year, and the only question for me is whether it is No 2 or No 3 in my top ten of the year.
The music on the album is extraordinarily beautiful in places, but also quite weird at times. It’s the mix of the lyrics – listen to the title track, “Party” – and the range of Aldous’s voice, which goes from jazz torch singer, to something quite child-like. It is an engrossing concoction.
The gig was the last leg of a great weekend. I went up first to Leeds with my son to see one of my daughters, who is at Leeds University. I also managed to take in Leeds Art Gallery, which is a great space, with a fascinating collection. It has recently been refurbished, and the splendour of the Victorian roof restored. There’s a splendid green-tiled cafe too. Check it out if you are in Leeds.
And on Sunday, after having a look round the University (last photo above is part of the Uni), I moved on to Manchester. The views from the train of the Pennine hills and the grey stone towns set into them were spectacular. In Manchester I took the opportunity to visit the Manchester Art gallery, where the highlight was the exhibition of Edwardian paintings. And the best of all, just like when I visited in March, were the Adolfe Vallette paintings of a Manchester in the early twentieth century tinged in fog – or smog. There were four in the exhibition. I find them entrancing and bathed in a kind of melancholy. I studied the technique. They are painted with oil on jute, or linen. They give the paintings texture, as well as absorbing the colour. I suspect this helps give the smog effect. Paradoxically they become clearer and brighter as you step further away. The opposite to real life.
I couldn’t not wander up to Albert Square afterwards, and to my delight, I found an absolutely buzzing scene. A Christmas market, German style, as well as an extravagant Santa, perched on the front of the town hall. The entire square was rammed with people, and quite a large part was taken up with bars serving German beers. Outside you could get excellent German Wurst. A dream combination.
And so to Aldous Harding at Gorilla. Not far from the canal. It was sold out, and the crowd was referential as she appeared. Much shushing, because the delicate fabric of her music brooks no interference. So it was nice to hear a singer in silence. She was amazing. The opening songs, “Swell does the Skull” and “I’m so Sorry” were sparse, beautiful, moving. She moved on to the more electronic ones on her new album like “Blend” and “Imagining my Man”. They got a great reception – deservedly so. She had backing from a keyboard player and bassist, on and off. Occasionally she relinquished the guitar, and gesticulated instead. It was captivating.
But towards the end it went slightly awry. During the wonderful “Party” a loud discussion broke out at the bar. She looked disturbed – though, to be fair, she had an intense stare quite a lot of the time. At the end of the next song*, the equally wonderful “Living the Classics”, she ended abruptly. She explained she’d got the pedals wrong. And then an air conditioning machine on the ceiling, not far from where I was standing, started to rumble. Gorilla is quite small – similar to the Scala in Kings Cross – so she could hear it. She said very little all evening, but did ask, “who invited that monster?”
The show went on, but I suspect Aldous was affected by all these things. She did come on for an encore, but just played a new song called Pilot. No “Horizon”. I wondered whether that had something to do with the disturbances, but she doesn’t seem to have played it on the British leg of her tour. Now she is a singer who clearly doesn’t stick to the tried and trusted, but I was surprised that she’d ditch her best known song when audiences are still getting to know her.
So, a fantastic concert, wonderful music which I recommend to you, but a rather odd ending. Gorilla’s venue is in a basement, and it’s good it doesn’t swelter, but it needs to sort that machine! As for the people arguing at the bar, think of everyone else, including the singer, for God’s sake.
*(There might have been a song in between these two. I can’t quite remember. I was too caught up in the songs and worrying about that air conditioning machine and the impact it might have. There’s no Setlist FM playlist yet!)
The War on Drugs are a great band, led by singer and ace guitarist Adam Granduciel. They were responsible for one of the best albums of 2014, “Lost in a Dream”. I made it No 2 to Royal Blood in my Top Ten, but I always knew it would be the longer lasting. The songs have real depth and emotion, the guitar soars and weeps. I still play it a lot. That year they were also one of the highlights at Latitude and in March 2015 played Brixton Academy to great acclaim.
In 2017 we have a new album, “A Deeper Understanding”. It’s a more discursive piece than “Lost in a Dream”. The tracks are all pretty long. They meander. But the formula is ultimately not that different to “Lost in a Dream”. And because of that, it suffers in comparison. There are exceptions – on my listening thus far, I really like the song “Pain” and, especially, “Thinking of a Place”, which combines the wistfulness of the track “Lost in a Dream” with some epic guitar, which has echoes of Neil Young – maybe more than ever before.
And so, on to the concert. Ally Pally is a bit of a pain to get to. The nearest tube station, Wood Green, is 20-25 minutes walk away, and up a pretty steep hill. At the top there are some fantastic views of London though. The concert space is cavernous. Good for giving loads of people the opportunity to see the band. Not so good if you don’t want to go near the front and get hemmed in. At my age, I prefer to be on the fringes, especially if that means it’s near the bar. Not that that helped much in this case, as it always looked about five deep at the bar. So it all felt a bit remote, and we had to rely on the screen a lot. Rather like an outdoor gig, without the fresh air.
In these circumstances, it took me a bit of time really to get into the concert. The early tracks were either off the new album, or takes from before “Lost in a Dream”, so less familiar. The drums were pounding and Adam was doing his routine solos. I was feeling just a bit detached. But towards the end, it moved into another gear. First we got “Thinking of a Place”, which was truly magnificent, even better than the recorded version. And then, last song of the main show, “Under the Pressure”. The War on Drugs signature tune, and as awesome as ever. And then the encore included “Eyes to the Wind” and, last up, “Burning”. Two more of the songs that made me fall in love with the music of the War on Drugs. We didn’t get two of my great favourites, “Suffering” (we got “Pain” instead!) and “Lost in a Dream”. But I went away buzzing, after that slow start.
Interesting to see where the band goes next. Do they just carry on doing similar stuff, or try something different? Does Adam want to be the new Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or Bruce Springsteen, or something altogether more radical? We shall see…
This is a bit of a companion piece to my last blog on the Prince exhibition at the Dome. After that, my mates Dave, Jon and Tony and I wandered down to Greenwich to the Cutty Sark pub for a late lunch. We had a table upstairs by the window, and had a brilliant view out over the river. After a while – we were there for some time – the sun began to go down, and Canary Wharf, on the other side of the river, revealed its various hues. I took a few snaps, which are below.
Just starting with something different, which is a view from the Clipper, which we took from Westminster to North Greenwich earlier in the day. There are are so many iconic views in central London from the river these days. This is one as we moved out of the centre.
Views from our restaurant spot, starting with one of the Dome. The rest are Canary Wharf. They are all through a window and taken with my trusty but rather limited iPhone 5S. Excuses, excuses…
Yes, that is my head!
The actual Cutty Sark.
This image sums up the latter part of the evening quite well. It’s taken from inside the Clipper on the way back. It had been a long day!
If you are a fan of Prince and can get to North Greenwich, don’t miss the “My Name is Prince” exhibition at the Dome. It’s an extensive trawl through his musical history, with 35 soundtracks of varying sorts to listen to on the headphones, a vast array of videos and concert footage and loads of his guitars and costumes.
The show brought back loads of memories, with “Purple Rain” and “Little Red Corvette” as spine tingling as ever. But the fluid funk of the early albums like “Controversy” came across well, and plenty of the later albums got their fair due too. It was a great reminder of the quality and breadth of Prince’s music, and the inventiveness within a familiar musical framework. The 80s were when it really became natural for pop, soul, funk and rock to come together, and Prince was the epitome of that.
The costumes were dazzling and they reminded you how small Prince was. Couldn’t have been much more than five feet. The high heels too – no wonder he developed knee problems leaping around on those.
It was a geeky pleasure, too, to take a close look at all his weird and wonderful guitars, and to discover that his favourite, which he used a lot for recording, was a Hohner Telecaster copy. He bought his first ever model for $30 at a local store. No doubt he modified them over the years, but those Hohners provided the funk.
He was always a trouper, and well known for his after-show sessions. He played 21 nights over August and September at the O2 in 2007, so the place has a special association with him. And one great example of his show-must-go-on attitude was his performance at half time at the 41st Super Bowl. The exhibition has some great footage of that show. It was played in a thunderstorm. Forked lightning was shooting out of the clouds, the heavens had opened, but Prince and band played on as if it were a balmy summer’s evening. Maybe a bit less dancing, but a truly awesome solo on “Purple Rain”. The perfect song for the occasion.
I had the pleasure of seeing Prince live three times. Twice at Wembley Arena in the second half of the 80s, and then in 2014, at the Roundhouse, with Third Eye Girl. What an amazing concert that was. Still going strong, still restless and inventive – some of the versions of old songs that night were remarkable. And that was why it was such a shock when he died, in 2016.
The exhibition doesn’t dwell on the circumstances of his death. Nor does it say a lot about the absurd business of changing his name and claiming he was a slave of Warner Brothers in the 1990s. He lost his way at that time, and made some pretty substandard music. But this is a show to celebrate the greatness of the Purple One, and it does that very well.
If you love the music – and the spectacle – of Prince, then you will love this exhibition. If you are just vaguely familiar, it will still entertain you, and maybe whet your appetite for more.
On Thursday night I took the short journey down to Shepherds Bush Empire to see Julia Jacklin – again!
I first caught a glimpse of her at End of the Road in 2016, in the Tipi Tent, which was packed because of the rain. Didn’t hang around that day, but it sparked an interest. I downloaded the album, “Don’t Let the Kids Win”, and loved it. I made it No 7 in my 2016 Top Ten, and haven’t stopped playing it since – especially the beautiful ballads like “Motherland”, “LA Dream” and “Don’t Let The Kids Win”. I saw her play at Koko, supporting Whitney, in November 2016, headlining the Scala in March this year, and then she was at Field Day, Latitude and End of the Road (though I missed this one, as we skipped Sunday because of the rain).
Having booked tickets for tonight, I then found out that Girl Ray were at the Scala the same night. Damn these clashes! I decided to stay loyal, and I’m sure glad I did. It was her best show yet, the culmination of her biggest UK tour to date. The Empire wasn’t sold out, but there was a decent-sized crowd to help her and her excellent band celebrate a successful year promoting the album. Back to Oz, via the US, for a bit of proper summer weather.
I went onto the Empire’s Facebook page to check starting times and they helpfully had links to all the artists. There were two support acts: Faye Webster and Nilufer Yanya. The latter had been at Latitude, but I’d never heard of Faye Webster. So I clicked on the link and the video of her singing, unaccompanied, her song “Alone Again”. What a lovely song! So that decided it – had to go along to see her live.
She came on at about 7.45 with a reasonable number of people near the stage. I’d got a seat in the balcony and could take my pick, apart from the front row. Pint of San Miguel and space to chill. Initially it was just her and one of her band, who played what seemed like an electronic steel guitar, which gave the songs a lovely country twang, without being actual country.
At this point the only song I knew was “Alone Again” and she played that once the bassist and drummer had come on stage. I’d say the drums were a bit too thumping for the fragility of “Alone Again”, but were fine for most of the other songs, which were a mix of indie, easy listening and country. I saw Faye’s music described as “alt-folk”, which I guess will do as a description. A couple of times the bass and drum intros made me think were about to be treated to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, and Faye has the same sort of dreamy voice as Stevie Nicks. Another artist I was reminded of was Josh Rouse. He made some excellent albums like “1972” and “Nashville” in the early 2000s, which combined melodic pop with that country twang. Faye Webster is a bit more indy, and she seems to have connections with the Atlanta rap world too, but her music is coming from a similar place.
When I got home I downloaded her album “Faye Webster”, which came out this year, and I haven’t played much else since – except a bit of Julia Jacklin, of course. Songs like “She Won’t Go Away”, “I Know” and “Remember When” are real mellow pop delights – and “Say it Now” is the one with the “Dreams” bassline. Another comparison that comes to mind as I write is Whitney. Yes, a new contender for my 2017 Top Ten.
Nilufer Yanya was second on the bill. I had intended seeing her on the Lake Stage at Latitude on Saturday afternoon, but ended up at Declan McKenna instead. She’s from West London and has an interesting set of influences, as the Guardian article here describes. I thought she was pretty good – harder rhythms than Faye Webster and a sound that was part R&B, part indie. The music didn’t grab me in quite the same way as Faye’s – not the same instantly engaging melodies – but it’s someone worth listening to a bit more.
And then Julia.
After a year on the road, she and the band have really got it together – you can feel the confidence in their sound. In a full length show like this, she was able to introduce a couple of new songs, “Good Guy” and “Why I Love You”, while recent singles “Cold Caller” and “Eastwick” are now well-established in the set. The set order had been turned around a bit from the festival selection. The slow-burn blues of “Hay Plain” no longer opened – in fact it was a perfect song to end with, in the encore. The band started with three of the more uptempo numbers, in the same way as the album does: “Leadlight” and “Coming of Age” from the album, along with “Cold Caller”. The album opener, “Pool Party”, closed the main set, as it usually does. In between we got all the usual delights – affecting songs, played sparely and sung beautifully by Julia. I particularly enjoyed the wistful reflections on friendship in “Elizabeth” this time around, and of course “Don’t Let the Kids Win” as the light streamed streamed onto Julia, alone on stage, was a moving highlight.
I guess we won’t have Julia Jacklin back on these shores for a little while now. Maybe there will be a second album in the meantime. I hope so – from what we have heard of the new material it will be another brilliant effort. So if you still haven’t heard Julia’s music, have a listen on Spotify – it’s a treasure waiting to be discovered.
Last Saturday, I went with my friends Jon and Dave to see Steve van Zandt and his band, the Disciples of Soul, at the Roundhouse. It was his first solo tour for 25 years, although he has been in the E Street Band, supporting Bruce Springsteen, as well as making a name for himself as an actor, in “The Sopranos” and, more recently, “Lillyhammer”. A man of many talents. He and the band released a new album in May this year, called “Soulfire”. It, like the show, is a celebration of the music that inspired Stevie: rock’n’roll, soul, doo-wop and the blues. There’s a strong link to the music of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Dukes too, with the horns to the fore. No surprise about that – Stevie wrote some of Southside’s best tunes, like “I Don’t Wanna Go Home”.
So we were expecting a feelgood show, and that’s exactly what we got, for more than two hours. Stevie talked at the beginning about how his 80s shows were political, at a time when it was hard to find out what was going on. Now politics is in our faces 24/7, and it was Stevie’s mission tonight to provide us with a sanctuary.
The new album formed the basis of the show. I particularly liked “I’m Coming Back”, which was straight out of the Springsteen/ Southside song book. If you know your Bruce, think the uptempo songs on “The River”, or all the songs from the late 70s that didn’t make the main albums, but made a fine contribution to the “Tracks” compilation. The band was excellent: rocking guitars, soaring brass, soulful backing vocals and a tight rhythm section. These guys all knew how to play. So what could have been a standard run through the sounds of old really did sparkle. Never a dull moment!
One of the highlights for me was a lengthy reggae workout, which, I read elsewhere, was called “Solidarity”. Now, rock bands playing reggae are usually best avoided – the Clash and Police honourable exceptions. But Stevie and the band, especially the bassist, who laid down a languid dub wise rhythm, really captured the spirit of the music. The horns played their part like they were part of the Wailers, while the bass and guitars echoed and swayed in a way I would never have expected. I doubt Bruce could have done this, or would even want to. Top marks to Stevie.
The encore was memorable too. Second of three songs was a wonderful version of “I Don’t Wanna Go Home”, but it had to play second fiddle to the opener. Sir Macca of Liverpool – no less than Paul McCartney – only came on to play guitar and sing along to “I Saw Her Standing There”! Whoo-hoo!
Can’t remember much about the third song after those two, but what a great way to end a magnificent show. A two hour celebration of why we love rock’n’roll. We didn’t wanna go home!
And check out this video clip of Stevie and Macca from Rolling Stone magazine. With thanks to Dave for spotting.
Thoughtsfromwestfive 