Have You Heard? – (41) “Venus As A Boy” by Corinne Bailey Rae… and Bjork

Posted on September 3, 2013 by John S

Corinne Bailey Rae is a soulful, jazzy singer songwriter who first came to my attention when she released her eponymous debut album in 2006. It was a mellow delight. At some point afterwards she made this cover version of Bjork’s “Venus As A Boy” for a Q magazine CD.  I forget when because I stuck it on a playlist and can’t find the CD now! But I”m pleased to say you can download it from iTunes.

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I was walking down Ebury Street, a peaceful street just off the bustle of Victoria, the other day. The sun was shining. This song came on my iPod. I listen to it quite often, because I have it on a couple of relaxing playlists; but even so, at that moment, as I took a breather from work, it was hypnotic. Corinne’s tender, achingly lovely voice, the gently swaying rhythm, the tinkling electronics. Sends you into a dream.

The original, by Bjork on her brilliant “Debut” album, was also superb. That bit edgier, being Bjork, but still beautiful. Pristine.

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A wonderful example of how a beautiful original can be re-made beautifully. Enjoy both!

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Lagos and its cliffs, Portugal

Posted on August 26, 2013 by John S

My family and I recently spent two relaxing weeks near Lagos, a lovely town situated towards the west of the Algarve, southern Portugal. Two weeks of full-on sunshine, temperatures hovering around 30 degrees. Very breezy at times, but consequently not at all humid. Just right.

Lagos has a rich history, having been at various times under the control of the celts, the Romans, the Visgoths, the Byzantine empire, the Moors (for around five centuries) and the Spanish. It was home to some of the first great explorers in the 15th century, like Henry the Navigator and Gil Eanes, who found a safe route around Cape Bojador on the coast of Western Sahara. This opened up trade with sub-Saharan Africa. And made Lagos one of the first major centres of the slave trade. This part of the town’s history is not trumpeted in the same way as the exploits of those first navigators, unsurprisingly.

There is still plenty of old Portuguese architecture in the town, in the backstreets off the main squares. But a fair amount of the pre -17th century buildings were destroyed by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1755. Here are a few glimpses.

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The cliffs though, and the the eroded rock formations that jut out of the sea, are what make the area truly beautiful. I checked Wikipedia to see what geology lay behind this.

The Algarve stands out as unique stratigraphic and morpho-tectonicregion. A peripheral Carboniferous unit of the Variscan orogeny, it constitutes the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary layers, deposited onto two totally distinct superimposed basins. Between the Middle-Upper Triassic to Hettangian, sediments evolved from continental (fluvial red sandstone) to shallow marine over the entire region, which included instances of evaporates, tholeiite fissural magmas, lava flows, volcanic ash and pyroclasts.

Ah, yes, of course!

Well, what I can tell you is that the cliffs were multi-hued, with deep red brown sandstone plonked on top of what looked like layers of sedimentary rocks and clays. The kind of rocks that are worn by the Atlantic winds and waves into weird and wonderful shapes. With cliff faces that slowly but surely collapse into the sea. I reckon the villa we stayed in only has a few hundred years before it meets its fate!

We were about 10 minutes from a beach called Praia de Porto de Mos. The cliffs there were classic examples of the layering and the erosion. I went down there a couple of time before the beaches became too crowded and took a few shots. Here are a few.

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At one end of the beach people had taken advantage of the smooth rocks and stones to build cairns, loads of them. It was an impressive sight. It looked quite primitive, and maybe it is. People expressing the simplest of of playful emotions.

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Some people were also taking the clays, mixing them with a little water and plastering the mixture over their bodies. After letting it dry they would plunge into the sea. I guess it was cleansing, like a mud pack. But with these grey creatures wandering about the beach and some of the crazier cairns, it looked like we’d alighted upon some strange tribe in the remote west of the Algarve!

I like this lone branch. I think it was natural, but who knows?

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There was a sandstone coloured path leading from our villa through the scrubland to a cliff path which wound its way to the next settlement heading west, Luz. This shot is looking back onto Praia de Porto de Mos. You can see, in this area, how sandstone is the top layer.

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Closer up, the beach was like this.

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We ventured out one day on a boat to see some dolphins. We saw a few after quite a search out to sea. On the way back the boat ran along the coast and we got a great view of the rocks where the sea and wind have exercised their powers. A work of art.

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Good place, Lagos…

 

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The next best thing to Prince?

Posted on August 26, 2013 by John S

A few of us went to the Jazz Cafe tonight to see a tribute to Prince. We didn’t know what to expect in terms of who was playing, but felt that the quality you get at the Jazz Cafe plus the quality of the artist’s music, would do the business. And we booked a table so we could have a nice meal and get a good view…

And yes, it was good!

Check out this song while you read the rest. “DMSR”.

Looking on the internet afterwards, the core band were the Reeldeal, session musicians who’ve played at a high level who come together for various set pieces. A business, but one that actually involves loving the music.  That came through hugely tonight – it was one big party.

The set was a nice mix of well known hits and songs that the true Prince fans would know. It was hugely funky and rocked when it needed to rock. So we had superb dance workouts like “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, “Controversy”and “DMSR” (from “1999”) that some people might not have known so well; but we also had “1999′, and “Kiss”. We had classic songs from “Sign Of The Times” like “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and “Strange Relationship”. And then there was a wonderful “Raspberry Beret” and an awesome rendition of “Purple Rain”, with the guitar down to a tee. The guitar that we would all love to play.  There were also covers of songs that Prince gave to other people: “Manic Monday” by the Bangles and “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan. All it lacked was “Nothing Compares To U”…

There was a mix of singers. A white guy in a Pork Pie hat who had Prince’s voice off to a tee. A cool man with an afro. A woman who sang and moved like Chaka Khan. Another woman with a great soul voice. And a bloke from Washington DC with a beard and a falsetto that took “Kiss’ and “Raspberry Beret” in its/his stride.  They were all superb.

Maaann, it was so good!

The encore was “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Kiss”. Can’t get much better than that. Both done to perfection – not simply copies, but given real personalty by the singers and players. Total celebration of the music.

The only way it could have been better was if the Purple One had turned up and given us a few of his best moves.

The tribute band – or collective in the case here, as the make up will change on each occasion – is now a well-established tradition. But when done well, it is not to be knocked. It is a great way of celebrating your favourite music.

And Prince most definitely counts as favourite music!

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Dadrock and Dads rock!

Posted on August 21, 2013 by John S

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I’m writing a chapter on Britpop for my music book at the moment. And great fun it is too, remembering the escapades of Oasis, Blur, Pulp and all the rest, with Paul Weller, ex of The Jam and The Style Council appointed honorary head of class.  A music which, at its best, was rooted in the past but also fresh, sharp, optimistic – in sound if not always in word.

The music and the movement was at its height between 1994 and 1996. Oasis’s concerts at Knebworth in the summer of 1996 symbolise the peak of Britpop and also its descent into what the media started to call Dadrock. It wasn’t a compliment.

This is what I had to say about Dadrock… and Dads rocking, beyond when they were supposed to.

I do of course have to declare an interest. I’m a dad and I haven’t stopped loving pop and rock music, in all its forms. Even in my fifties.

So here goes. With “Champagne Supernova” to keep you company. One of Oasis’s finest, with Paul Weller guesting on guitar.

“So is this a Dad defending Dadrock?

The traditionalist side of Britpop – Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, The Charlatans, Kula Shaker amongst them, with Paul Weller the honorary head of class, the mentor – started to attract oppopsition in the media as the music entered its Mannerist phase. It became Dadrock, with Weller the Modfather. All good press fun, but with a sinister intent – at least to dads. People like me. Age about 35 plus, I guess. Enough to suggest that we were looking back twenty or even thirty to identify the golden age, the halcyon days. At the height of Britpop that would imply the mid-sixties and the Beatles and Stones, and then in the late sixties the psychedelia and blues rock, R&B. Actually, having just become a dad in 1995, my golden age was a decade later: punk, new wave, drifting into the new Romantics, with David Bowie and Roxy Music striding imperiously across the whole period. But it’s fair to say that the Britpop bands, while referencing that period, rooted their music in the earlier period. Maybe it was their own dads the press were referring to. If the average NME writer was, say  20-25, his or her dad might be 45-55. Now they would be looking back to the sixties, maybe even Elvis.

I googled “dadrock” and got lots of American definitions, strangely enough. One wrote of a Holy Trinity comprising Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Well, as guitar heroes go, that makes sense. And America has always been more into guitar heroes and rock than us here in the UK.

So when the term arose, it was mainly about harking back to the second half of the sixties and a little bit of the seventies. The heyday, perhaps for Rock. Even though Britpop itself was indie and was pop. It made the mainstream. It wasn’t full of hairies playing long guitar solos. Apart from Kula Shaker….

And so now, even today, Dadrock has become a term of abuse. On the one hand it denotes musical conservatism. On the other, I think there is a bit of why do these people still like pop music? They are too old. If they like it, how can we, the younger generation like it? In the media anyway – I don’t think any other young people care. They are too busy enjoying their own lives.

I care, of course. I’m writing a whole book about the music I love, and love as much now, aged 54, as I did aged 14. The world has changed. Back in the 70s, our parents mostly hadn’t moved with the times. They’d look back to jazz, or Sinatra, or Elvis and would acknowledge The Beatles. But I doubt there were many 30 or 40 somethings in 1973 who were into Slade, or many Bowie or Pistols fans in 1977. A few, but not many. There was still the expectation that you would grow up  and shake off your pop leanings. Leave it to the youngsters. All just noise. All look like girls. All sounds the same…

Well, yeah, it’s just not like that anymore. Or doesn’t have to be. My generation, and the ones coming up behind me, have enjoyed our music and have the means to continue enjoying it: the technology, the concerts (and the money to pay for them), the festivals, and the longevity of the bands. Many splitting and then reforming when there is a chance to make serious money from the nostalgia. And we don’t all give up on new music either. If you grow up excited every week at what’s new in the NME  or on Radio 1, why should you lose that excitement later? It might be the Guardian and BBC 6 Music that you get your information from, or the web, Twitter, Facebook and countless other forms of communication. But you are still excited. About the new as well as the old.

Dadrock (which must now mean reverence for the 1980s and even 90s) and Dads – and Mums – rocking, are here to stay!

I remember another stereotype, conjured up in the 2000s, which was quite amusing. The Fifty Quid Bloke. David Hepworth, music journalist amongst other things, and one of the founders of The Word magazine (which sadly gave up the fight in 2012), is said to have invented the concept. Probably because he was that very bloke. It was the man who might go into HMV, or Virgin, or Borders to buy a CD, and come out with a CD or two, a DVD, a book, a magazine, mostly bought on impulse. Because he could. This stereotypical figure was keeping the music industry, the music (and DVD and book) industry alive. He had more spending power than teenagers, even if teenagers ultimately dictate where pop music is heading. He was both saviour and threat, because his love for the past was also leading to more conservative musical choices by the industry. Allegedly.

I had to laugh. Because I was one of those fifty quid blokes. In fact fifty quid was an underestimate.  I was pleased to be the saviour of the music industry and I was quite satisfied that I wasn’t holding it back.

But like so many people, I deserted the traditional retail model with the advent of Amazon and iTunes and all the rest. I stopped spending hours browsing in HMV and gave my money to Apple instead. I felt a bit guilty for a while. But we all have to move with the times…

The Dads moved on-line and so too did the music industry. It had to even if it didn’t want to. At least the Dads still paid for their music, unlike their sons and daughters. So they remained the saviours.

Yes, you can’t do it without the Dads.  They rule!”

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Sportsthoughts (81) – Premier League predictions 2013-14

Posted on August 16, 2013 by John S

So tomorrow it’s back. The sports monster that sweeps everything else aside once it gets going. More money sloshing around than ever, now BT Sport has arrived on the scene. It has been a great summer of sport again, after the magnificence of 2012, with Wiggin’s Tour de France, the Olympics and Paralympics, and more besides. This summer we’ve had Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, England winning the Ashes in cricket, Chris Froome winning the Tour de France, a great British Open golf tournament with Phil Mickelson winning brilliantly with a surge on the last day, the Lions winning in Australia, and just this week, Mo Farrah winning the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the athletics World Championships. But the monster will quickly devour our memories and have us hanging on every result, debating the decisions, wondering if/when Rooney goes to Chelsea, Suarez to Arsenal, Bale to Real Madrid, before the transfer deadline.

We’ll be drooling in front of Sky Sports, or BT, or the BBC highlights. Unable to resist. The summer but a hazy memory. The rugby will compete – I’ll be back at Quins, cheering them on – but there is no way of resisting the Premier League football. You must succumb.

So the very least I can do is make some predictions. Here’s my first: the top four will be the same as last season. It finished: Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal. This season I’m going for this order:

1. Chelsea

2. Man City

3. Man Utd

4. Arsenal

How boring! But I just can’t see any of the other teams breaking into that four.  Tottenham could, if they held on to Bale, but he is as good as gone. Spurs have already bought ambitiously – Soldado will score a lot of goals – but I can’t see how it will do much more than keep them where they are. Likewise Liverpool. If they hold on to Suarez and he’s happy, they could threaten Arsenal. But in the end I think they’ll falter… again.

Within the four, it is exciting. Three have new managers: only Arsenal have the manager from last season, good old Arsene. And they have the same squad as well. So far they have brought in one young French player and that’s it. They’ve bid for Suarez, but that is looking unlikely to come to fruition now. The team will improve, and if Wilshere stays fit, I think they could challenge for higher than fourth. But it’s likely that the old defensive vulnerabilities will remain, unless they get a good defensive midfielder before the close of the window and another centre back. Most likely Wenger will buy another wide attacker with potential, to add to his collection.

Man Utd are now managed by David Moyes. His main job so far has been trying to keep Wayne Rooney, who is in another massive sulk. The team is obviously high quality and knows how to win the league. But it hasn’t been improved so far, whereas Chelsea and Man City have. Three attempts to land Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona have failed – thank God! It was bad enough seeing RVP in a United shirt. Seeing Cesc in one would be intolerable. Moyes did a superb job at Everton, although he never won anything. Can he cope with Utd? I would say yes, but there may be a transitional season. He has already started whinging about the hard fixtures at the start. Getting excuses in early?

Man City have bought better than anybody, and bought early. Fernandinho, Jovetic, Navas, Negredo. Their attack will be awesome. Their new manager, Manuel Pellegrini, is hugely respected in Spain and committed to attacking football. They will be fun to watch. One question: what will they do if Kompany gets injured? They are short on centre back cover. That may be rectified before the window closes. But the defensive doubts, plus just a bit of a question about whether Pellegrini will adapt to the Premier League, is why I have put them second. I could easily put them first.

Which leaves Chelsea. A strong team already, improved by the addition of German international Andre Schurrle and the return of Belgian striker Lukaku, from loan to West Brom. But far more important is the return of Jose Mourinho as manager. He is the best, isn’t he? In which case, I think he’ll take the excellent raw materials at Chelsea and turn them into the supreme team again. Could be wrong, but I just can’t bet against them.

And so what of my own favourites, West Ham? We ended up a very creditable tenth last season, on return to the Premier League. There hasn’t been much transfer activity, although quite a lot of money has been spent. The big man, Andy Carroll, has been signed permanently from Liverpool, for £15m – a massive sum for West Ham. And to ensure that the crossses are landed on his head, Stewart Downing has been signed, also from Liverpool, for £5-6m. For an established England international, that is a bargain. Whether we need him when we already have Matt Jarvis, Joe Cole and Matt Taylor, I don’t know. But Downing will bring new quality to the team, so I trust Big Sam’s judgement.

We have also signed Radzvan Rat, the captain of Romania, a left back.  The sub editors will have fun with his name. I’m sure he’ll be a success. He’s a multi-linguist and spent a day in the office selling season tickets recently. Shows he’s rounded and grounded. Let’s also hope he’s good at football!

It will be hard for the Hammers to improve much on last season’s position, with such strong competition around them. I’m going to stay optimistic, though,  and say we’ll advance to eighth.

Surprise success of the season? I’m going to punt for Norwich. They have shown some intriguing ambition in their signings. Two Dutch internationals, Fer and van Wolfswinkel. Englishman, Gary Hooper from Celtic, who scored plenty of goals in Scotland. A solid defender, Olsson, from Blackburn. Young English player Nathan Redmond, who starred for the U-21s when they thrashed Scotland 6-0 this week.

The only prediction which I know will be right is that hardly any of these predictions will be right. But it will be engrossing to see how it all pans out.

So engrossing that if England fail to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, we’ll hardly notice…

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Have You Heard? – (40) ‘Leap Of Faith” by Bluey

Posted on August 11, 2013 by John S

Just back from two gloriously sunny weeks on the Algarve, Portugal. Stayed in a lovely villa just outside Lagos, to the west of the region. Still in the summer mood, how about a bit of breezy-jazz-soul-funk?

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Got back home about 7.30 last night and as I emptied my case I was listening to  BBC 6 Music, with DJ Craig Charles interviewing Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick, leader of the jazz-funk band Incognito, who’ve been doing their stuff since the eighties. “Always There” was their big hit way back when. A great dance record., with wonderful memories for me of a good friend’s wedding in Antwerp, when it was the musical highlight of the evening.

Bluey has a solo album out, released in March. I had no idea about it until I switched on the radio last night. The tracks they played in between the talk just sounded so good, so right while I was still in my summer mood. Shades of Luther Vandross, Al Jarreau, George Benson… and of course, Incognito. Nothing to change the world, but perfect for the summer beat.

If you have been attracted to this blog via my top ten air guitar classics it’s possible you won’t like this. But then again, relax, chill, and give it a try!

 

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Latitude Festival – my second – July 2013

Posted on July 22, 2013 by John S

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I’m sitting down to write this at 6.15 pm on Monday 22 July, back from Latitude this afternoon. I’m cracking open my first beer of the day – feels odd. It’s not Tuborg and it’s not lunch time. The four day escape into a different time and space continuum is over!

I’m listening to Japandroids on Spotify to hear if their albums are any good before I download them. Read on to find out why…

Latitude Festival takes place in Henham Park, Suffolk, near-ish to Beccles and Southwold. But pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It’s a festival of all the arts, though I find it hard to get beyond the music, with so much on offer. Last year I wrote about it twice I was so excited!  (See the concerts archive). It was my first full festival. The prospect of camping had always put me off. I loved it, so was back, with friend Jon and my son Kieran, but without the girls this year, Connie and Annie, who were abroad after finishing their A levels.

And was it as good as the first time? You bet it was. And in one respect, even better. The weather! Last year rain and mud, mud, mud. Thus year sunshine mostly… and dust, dust, dust.

Compare and contrast this path from the campsite to the festival area, this year and last.

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We set up on Thursday evening as we wanted to catch the DJ sets from a couple of BBC Radio 6 DJs – Mary Ann Hobbs and Craig Charles – In The Woods. That was just about the only music on that night so it was packed. The atmosphere, the anticipation was thrilling. But on to the main days…

I thought about doing a best ten moments, but there were too many, so I’ll stick to a narrative. With a few ropey pics from my trusty digital camera.

Friday 19th

Friday was blazing sunshine all day. The music tents were cool and airy, even when pretty full, as long as you didn’t leap around at the front. I gave that up when I was about 18. I like to observe and absorb. Watch and listen as well as move (a little).

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We started in the BBC 6 Music tent – the second in the hierarchy, with 6 Music taking over sponsorship from the sadly departed Word magazine – with a new band called Theme Park. They had a sharp, funky, indie sound, which drew comparisons with Vampire Weekend and Franz Ferdinand for me. I liked it.

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One of the great things about Latitude is about how many new bands you discover. How many you want to follow up with when you get home. I was thinking about this over the day and thought there are two things that mark a live band. Do you want to hear more afterwards, and do you want the concert to end? Let’s call hearing more (or going back to play the songs if you know then already) A. And wanting the concert to go on, B. Marks out of 10 for each.

So Theme Park rated A8/B8.

We then wandered into the woods to the iArena – a guarantee of interesting music – for Irish band Young Wonder, who were described in the guide book as mixing a hint of the traditional Irish sound with dubstep and R’n’B. Intriguing. And they were. Singer Rachel Koeman was described as having “sugar-sweet” vocals. In fact they occasionally verged on Sinead O’Connor being strangled, and for some reason she wore what looked like an animal skin on her head while wearing a white fairy dress. The beats were certainly there. The songs were about extra terrestrials and similar. Classic Latitude lunchtime music! There were some good beats in the mix and some wild guitar solos. I felt the three elements – beats, guitar, voice – were all distinctive but hadn’t quite melded yet. Worth keeping an eye on. A7/B6.

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Afterwards I took in a bit of Willy Mason for a bit of country Americana at the 6 Music tent. It was slick, a rich sound, but a bit dull. A5/B3. Then into the sunshine to see Oxford folk rockers Stornoway (I’d thought they were Scottish!) perform on the main Obelisk stage. I think if they had been in the iArena before 200-300 people they could have been captivating. On the main stage in the sun, they were worthy, but their impact was diluted. They might be more authentic than the Waterboys were in their raggle taggle days, but Mike Scott gave the Waterboys a bit more edge. A7/B4 (they were on for a while).

Back to the iArena for Deptford Goth – great name. Singer Daniel Woolhouse, backed by melancholy violin and synth. Bon Iver and Anthony Hegarty sprang to mind. A7/B6. Kieran and I then broke briefly with music and went to the Literary Arena, to see a conversation with Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman, whose writing I always enjoy. She didn’t turn up. They sent on a young comedian who did his best. But we gave up after 45 minutes. Turns out all the trains from London were delayed by someone on the line. Oh well, I just wasn’t meant to branch out of music at Latitude…

Chvrches (not a typo) were next, at the iArena. Packed it out for their indie 80s style synth beats. An up and coming band. Reminded me of Human League and Erasure, but I’m an old geezer and I can’t help it. Good stuff. A8/B7. I listened a bit to MO (need that Norwegian line across the O) on the Lake Stage (which faces the central area of the grounds) while I ate a luxury meat tapas platter – which was OK.  Floaty Scandinavian rock/pop. A5/B5. Then stuck around the Lake Stage for York singer/songwriter, Benjamin Francis Leftwick. He had a big and young following. Easy option would be to compare him with Ben Howard. Less intricate guitar; deeper, resonant voice.  Very good. A8/B7.

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Then, for last act of the night, a choice between Bloc Party at the Obelisk, Texas at 6 Music and Japandroids at the iArena. Any of them would have been good, but I needed a shot of rock’n’roll after a day of mostly sensitive souls. The boys at the Little by Listen website like the Japandroids so I went for them. Wow! So glad I did.  Wild, raw, punk, hardcore rock’n’roll. Just a drummer and guitarist, David Prowse and Brian King. They made some extraordinary noise. Exceptional playing. Amazing energy. The crowd at the front were surfing. It brought the first shiver to my spine. I just love this stuff. A10/B10.

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I kind of knew, when I listened to their recordings, that it wouldn’t be as powerful, as primal. And yeah, it’s good, but the drums are mixed down a bit and the sound is more akin to the likes of We Are Augustines, Foo Fighters and the Hold Steady. All good stuff, whereas the live sound was absolutely their own. The inspiration of Jack White of the White Stripes perhaps… and that is a very good thing. Anyway, I’ve downloaded their latest album, “Celebration Rock” as a momento. But this is a band who are all about the live experience.

Japandroids finished at 10.30, so I popped up to Texas, a band I have a bit of a soft spot for, from the 90s. After the intensity of Japandroids, it just didn’t work for me and I could see the lasers in the sky at Bloc Party, so I went over to the Obelisk for the last couple of songs. Familiar sounds from their first album, “Silent Alarm”, staccato and dancey indie guitars. And Kele Okereke emotional as he hinted that the gig was their last. They’ve had a turbulent time in recent years. If it was their last it was a storming finish.

Saturday 20th

We woke up on Saturday with some light drizzle falling. It was almost a relief after the heat of Friday. It stayed cool all day, and damp until mid afternoon, but the mud didn’t return.

So, after the rocking energy of Japandroids, I started Saturday lunchtime in similar vein with young English duo, Drenge. They got some rave reviews at Glastonbury and I can see why. Another awesome noise. Got a bit dirgy towards the end, but otherwise they showed promise. I was hearing White Stripes, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, even Black Sabbath. A9/B8.

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Kieran and I then went up to the Film and Music Arena, where Jon was already, to see a film called “From The Sea to the Land Beyond”, with music, live, from British Sea Power, no less. There was fascinating film from the British Film Institute archive, and BSP’s music backed it beautifully. And being BSP, they played with their backs to the audience! Trouble was, standing at the back, it was so hot and cramped, that Kieran and I decided to call it a day halfway through. Which kind of makes it a B zero! But music was A9.

The early retreat gave us a chance to wander back to the iArena to see Serafina Steer. She played harp – but wasn’t like Joanna Newsom. She was accompanied by bass and drums and sang wistful pop songs. The harp quite upbeat. Dare I say she looked a bit like a young Stevie Nicks? Well she did. A8/B7.

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White Denim, in the 6 Music tent, combined geekiness with hard rocking, but had a long slot and never really nailed it for us. A5/B5. Then Daughter, same place, who’d graduated from the iArena the year before. Singer and guitarist, Elena Tonra, was genuinely moved to be playing in front of such a large crowd. Her quivering vocals were as lovely as ever, and her and Igor Haefeli’s guitars trembled and soared, as before. This, for me, is what makes them so distinctive, though I think the young following is more attuned to the melodies and her voice. I did find moments when I needed some variety, but all in all, it was a fine show, again. A8/B6.

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After Daughter, I caught a little bit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who rocked, before breaking ranks and wandering over to the Outdoor Theatre for a bit of nostalgia. Ed Blaney’s Ultimate Bowie. What a show! Ed was a bit portly for the shiny black jumpsuit and white boots, a la Ziggy, but boy, could he sing like the man himself! And his band absolutely knew the musical lines. All I can do is list the set, all from the classic early and glam period:

Hang on to Yourself – Ziggy Stardust – Changes – Starman – Space Oddity – Moonage Daydream – Life On Mars – John, I’m Only Dancing – Drive In Saturday – The Man Who Sold the World – Suffragette City –  Jean Genie… which got everyone off their feet. And then – how audacious –  Rock’n’Roll Suicide to finish. But no, there was more: All The Young Dudes as an encore. Talk about hitting the buttons! Quite brilliant – an absolute highlight of the weekend. Funny, engrossing and moving, in equal parts.

A10 (as will always be the case with Bowie)/B10 too!

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After a brief rest back at the tents, we reconvened for Veronica Falls at the Lake Stage. I liked their choppy guitar rhythms and punk intensity. I got a bit of Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain in my usual who-do-they-remind-me-of mode. A8/B7.

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And then for the main item of the day. Kieran, quite rightly, chose Alt-J at the 6 Music tent, along with nearly all of the youth. But I had to go to Kraftwerk and their 3D show. It was an extraordinary event. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Quite a few, including Jon, left early. But I found the video graphics, the use of the 3D images (which gave a real sense of movement), the minimalist beats, the sparse utterances of Ralf Hutter (the original member), the memories of those great musical phrases in “The Model”, “Autobahn”, “Trans Europe Express”, “We Are The Robots”, captivating. “Tour de France”, though not memorable musically, had some great pictures. There was a moment of longeur in “Autobahn” where the VW on the motorway went on for a bit too long: but otherwise, it was superb. A unique experience. Laced with humour amid the robotics and the slogans.

A9/B7 – only because we’d had an hour and a half of all the classics.

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Managed a double take here

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Le Tour. Ralf is a massive fan.

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An early Tour shot.

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The Trans Europe Express approaches.Hip hop is born.

And does Ralf look a bit daft in this? Or do you just admire Kraftwerk’s poise?

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And to round Saturday off, the best of the sound systems, especially In The Woods, where the reggae dance, with the bass cranked up to max, was just brilliant. The guide says it was Mungo’s Hi Fi, but who knows. It was a youngish lad, absolutely on the groove. We wandered around the site each night and came upon all sorts of things. That’s the wonder of Latitude. On Friday night/ Saturday morning, hundreds of people were crammed into the Comedy Arena, getting down to Guilty Pleasures, mostly a succession of eighties pop/dance classics, like Lionel Ritchie’s “All Night Long”. The teenagers mostly go In The Woods. Now we knew where the thirty and forty-somethings took themselves…

Sunday 21st

A cloudy morning, but the sun won in the end and there was a lovely late afternoon and evening.

There isn’t a lot of music until about 2 o’clock on Sunday.  Jon caught a lively Manchester band called M.O.N.E.Y  at 11.30 in the iArena. The singer was wandering around the crowd kissing people and handing out cans of lager. As you do at 11.30 on Sunday! I caught a little of the classical performance at the Waterfront Stage, featuring trumpeter Alison Balsom and the English Concert, on the way to meet Jon.

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We then cheated, by getting some breakfast from the excellent Puddle Dub, Scottish buffalo burger bar – bacon roll with black pudding, haggis and onions for me! – and sitting down at a table with tea, coffee and lagers, listening to Bobby Womack at the Obelisk in the distance. I felt a bit guilty, as Bobby is one of the great soul men, but you know how it is…

Back to the iArena after that for Hookworms. Awful name, awesome band. What a noise! Hawkwind meets PiL (the singer screamed like John Lydon) meets the Cure. Pounding guitars and bass – a bit like Wooden Schjips last year – riveting drums and the singer all crazed wails and echo. Even though he looked like the ordinary bloke down the pub. The rest of the band made no eye contact at all with the audience. But they were mesmerising. I’d seen a tweet from Guardian music writer, Alex Petridis, waxing lyrical about the band. I now know why, though whether you could listen to a whole album at a time, I’m not sure. A9/B8.

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Next stop was Icelandic band Mum, at 6 Music. But there was a huge crowd at the Lake Stage. Current pop/soul sensation, Sam Smith was on. He was good, but I wanted to see some Icelandic weirdness. We got it. It’s too easy to compare the band with Sigur Ros and Bjork, but they are in the same league. Really intriguing sounds, instruments and songs. Relaxing and challenging. Definitely a band for further exploration. A9/B8.

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We then went up to the Obelisk to hear Swedish dylanesque folkie The Tallest Man On Earth. He was good and we sat in the sun with his meanderings in the background. A6/B5. I got a bit restless – it was too easy – and went back to the iArena for Temples. Billed as a neo-pysch group from the Midlands.  I enjoyed their Byrds-y guitars and early Who sound. Very Brit Pop. The iArena was packed and they went down very well, but I felt like I’d heard it all before. A6/B6.

James Blake was next, at the Obelisk. In the sunshine. Maybe not where you’d want to hear his intimate, jazzy, broken up sounds, full of unusual, but subtle twists and turns. With a voice full of sweet angst. Would it work at five o’clock on a sunny Sunday afternoon? It did, and then some. It was awesome, one of the best, if not the best things of the whole festival. The experimentalism of his sound was ramped up. The sounds exploded from the beat box, breaking up ballads, delivering dubwise sounds, techno/dubstep interludes, constantly surprising and intriguing. And all around that, his aching vocals and the subtle guitar and drums of his partners. A rich, truly engrossing performance. Kieran and Jon agreed! A10/B10.

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We stayed at the Obelisk for Local Natives, a band in the mould of Arcade Fire and My Morning Jacket, maybe a bit stripped down in comparison. With a bit of Americana rhythm thrown in. l liked them. Jon loved them. A8/B7. Then it was the build up to what I thought might be the biggest moment at the festival: Disclosure in the 6 Music tent. First though, it was Rudimental in the 6 Music tent, or indie band Swim Deep at the Lake Stage. Rudimental, a soul collective, have had some big hits and packed out the 6 Music tent. Kieran and I listened briefly then decided to watch Swim Deep. They were sharp and engaging. They reminded me of Razorlight when they were good, in their early days. With some chiming Strokes guitar thrown in. So not that original, but likely to be pretty big, I’d say. A8/B7.

Then the moment I’d really been waiting for. Disclosure. My favourite album of the year. Like a history of House and dubstep. With some great guest vocals. Pure pop and pure dance. Expectations high. Did they meet them? Hmmm, not really. It was a spectacular hour of disco. Great lights. Pumping beats. Slick, and the crowd really giving it some. But no guest singers – they were all programmed. It was essentially the Lawrence brothers remixing the album. Made you move, great entertainment, but… A7/B7.

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That left Foals, headlining the Obelisk. Hour and a half. I really liked their early sound – those songs like “Cassius” and “Balloons” and “Hummer” – with the influence of the Talking Heads breaking out all over. The last two albums have been less distinctive, although “Spanish Sahara” is a keynote song. The set was superb, the light show amazing. It was a brilliant end to the Festival. The band are reinventing themseleves as stadium rockers. It was all a bit grandiose. Right for the big stage, I guess. But I liked that jerky indie band at the beginning best. So I admired the show without really loving it. A7/B7.

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So it looks a bit like the last two acts I saw, both of which I was really looking forward to, didn’t quite do it. That’s harsh – they were both great shows. But I guess neither brought the essence of Latitude for me: that sense of discovery, delight at something different, something you never expected. Good, but not Latitude good. Not like James Blake, or Kraftwerk, or Hookworms, or Japandroids. Or even the man who would be David Bowie…

We did the rounds of the DJs again – no memorable indie disco by the Lake Stage this year – enjoyed a bit of samba at the Lavish Lounge on the Lake side and made our way back to the tent. Another Latitude over. Buzzing, but a little sad that it was all over. Three great days, four nights, when yet again, we, I, saw so many great bands, singers, enjoyed so many great moments. And shared them with so many people. The Latitude community. No age limit either way. Everyone is invited.

I think we’ll be back to enjoy it all again next year.

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A cycle along the Kennet-Avon canal, from Reading to Bath

Posted on July 15, 2013 by John S

Alright so it’s not exactly Mont Ventoux, which the Tour de France boys were tackling on Sunday. But it was enough for me….

Over three days, from Friday to Sunday, 5-7 July, my friend Jon and I got on our bikes and cycled along the Kennet-Avon canal from Reading to Bath. In distance, nothing too arduous: about 100 miles in three days. But, as we found out, it was a bit tougher than we thought it would be.

It was brilliant experience. So much natural beauty, the sense of liberation on your bike, the challenge of the difficult bits, the overnight stays in Hungerford and Devizes, the friendliness of everyone you meet along the canal, and one superb rock’n’roll moment.

Some narrative and photos on the way…

Day One. Cruising to Hungerford.

We started our journey on the train from Ealing Broadway at about ten o’clock. We’d anticipated it would be a pretty empty train. Wrong! It was completely packed with people on their way to Henley Regatta. The men in bright jackets and chinos, the women in their summer dresses. A group of them drinking from cans of Pimms and Gin and Tonics.  Starting as they meant to go on. Excellent! My only worry was that one of the women would catch her delicate dress on my newly-oiled bike chain.

I think we avoided that and they all piled off at Twyford, for the short journey on a shuttle to Henley. A lot of people though. Hope the train services put on a decent number of trains. Experience (Royal Ascot, for example) tells me they might not have done…

We got off at Reading and walked the short distance to the Thames. A little run along that until we met the spot where it flows into the Kennet. That was our route for the next three days, Kennet-Avon. Sometimes the river, mostly the canal.

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We cycled for about 45 minutes until we came upon a rather nice looking pub called The Cunning Man. What the hell, let’s stop for a lager. Took a while to get served as we came in just after a big party of blokes all ordering meals. But the garden was lovely and we got talking to a few people – all women as it happened – who were also doing the canal run. One, possibly in her sixties, had ridden all over the world: Cambodia, Route 66 in the USA amongst her travels. Pretty amazing.

That wasn’t lunch though: we stopped at another pub, called The Rowbarge, in an idyllic spot by the canal in Woolhampton. Really lovely in the blazing sun, willows along the canal edge. Good food – I had a tomato and chorizo bruschetta which was very good  – and a great selection of beers. I had a pint of something called Gold Muddler. A nice, light, hoppy beer. Thinking about the journey ahead!

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Then it was through some lovely countryside to Newbury. I spent a few days working there years ago. It was before the controversial A34 bypass was constructed and the main street was horribly congested. Now it’s pedestrianised and at about 4pm on a Friday it was thronging with shoppers, schoolkids, and a few buskers. Relaxed and vibrant at the same time. All thanks to the banishing of the cars.

Photo of me just before we came on to the main street on the bridge ahead.

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Then it was a long run in to Hungerford. The recommended cycle way would have taken us away for the canal a bit near the end. It was clear why: the towpath became rutted, bumpy and even just grass at times. It was hard work and in bad weather it might have been close to impassable on my road bike. But in perfect weather it was OK. The saddles were very sore by the end though!

A couple of scenes on the way…

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Hungerford was pretty quiet on Friday night, but we had a few beers and a good meal in the Plume of Feathers pub, and the hotel, The Three Swans, was welcoming and pleasant.

A couple of photos of Hungerford taken on the Saturday.

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Day Two. Dreaming of Devizes

Saturday started with the Lions’ third test against Australia, which we watched in the Borough arms. See the report here. I was determined only to have one pint. So I started with a coke. A Guinness at half time. Then the match went so far in the Lions’ favour, we had to have another pint. The occasion required it. Only the two.

We’d decided we’d follow the British cycleway instructions out of Hungerford, which meant diverting off the canal onto the country roads. Bad call! We were in Wiltshire and that meant hills. Up and down. Oh, that second Guinness – I could feel it in the legs on the ascents. Why oh why? But it went after about twenty minutes, and for a while I felt pretty good going up and down. Good job, really.

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But after a while it started to get hard again. Really hard. It was the slopes, the heat and maybe the aftermath of the Lions game. We decided to get back onto the canal, even though it was still bumpy and rutted.

The journey was hard, and I was always worried about getting a puncture, but we progressed. The compensation, always, was the scenery. So beautiful. The heart of England.

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Me and Jon above. Kindly taken by someone we met on the way.

We were pretty knackered at this point and needed a watering hole. A pub, to refuel. In time one appeared. On Pewsey Wharf. As we approached, the sound of music greeted us. The sound of T.Rex, joyfully rendered in West Country accents. ” “I Love To Boogie”, “Ride A White Swan”. It was an “Apocalypse Now” moment. Struggling along the river, suddenly you come across a show so unexpected, bizarre. Except there were no rioting soldiers here, just people enjoying the music. Dancing to the music, on a summer’s day.

It was brilliant. we stopped, and got some cans of Coke and Snickers – didn’t dare have beer at this point – and watched the band. Two middle aged blokes, with a great self-deprecating humour, playing rock’n’roll classics: T.Rex, Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and more. Oh yes, and more. They warned us: “You might not like this one, but don’t worry, there’s always the next one”. And launched into a prog classic, Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. And then “Hotel California” by the Eagles.

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Oh, wow, I just loved it all. A band in a gazebo, on the Kennet-Avon canal, playing classic rock”n’roll and a bit of prog. On a sunny Saturday afternoon. In front of the grannies and the kids. A few of the mums dancing. The Dads drinking. I think it was a rugby club do. There were all sorts of interesting barrels of beer and cider, which we couldn’t try given the remaining miles to Devizes. (So sad!). The Waterfront Inn.

I choked a couple of times with the love. I gladly shook the hand of the purple faced man in front of us who had been most taken with the Stones song, “It’s All Over Now”. She used to love me….

Really, I sat there, slightly euphoric, thinking, this is what makes England great.

Really, I’m so proud of my country and its people. My people.

It was a long run from the Waterfront Inn to Devizes. The countryside was inspiring.

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This bridge was a screen for the dappled light reflecting from the water. It was quite extraordinary. One of those lovely quirks of nature.

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Ah, but it was so hard!. The bumps and the bangs. Where was Devizes? I was was dreaming of Devizes!  How glad will I be when we get there. My bum was aching with the impact, my legs totally drained.

Near the end I wasn’t so much dreaming of Devizes, as saying to myself, with every bend in the canal, where the f*** is Devizes? I need Devizes. 

Eventually it arrived. We cycled off the canal and took the roads to the centre of town. To the Castle Hotel.

The relief was extraordinary. I hadn’t felt that physically tired since… I don’t know when. Lying on the bed was a pleasure beyond words.

Blimey, what do those Tour de France boys feel every night? I’d only done thirty miles, albeit on some bumpy towpaths. A different world.

A couple of beers a bit later and I was feeling fine. Not the cure for the Tour rider though!

Day Three. A stroll from Devizes to Bath

The journey from Devizes to Bath was a doddle compared with the first two days. All along well constructed towpaths. Some stunning scenery. And some feats of engineering which took the breath away.

The first of those engineering feats was just outside Devizes. Downhill for us. Uphill for the canal, and therefore a need for locks. Lots of locks! Fifteen in swift succession on one hill, Caen Hill. I wonder how long it takes to get a barge through all of those. I did also wonder why they din’t build the canal around the bottom of the hill. Maybe they couldn’t. These photos only begin to capture the sight available to the human eye.

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This scene a few miles further along was just lovely. So tranquil.

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We then made our way through Trowbridge and onto Bradford on Avon. A lovely town. Just before the New Year we walked from Bath to Bradford along the canal and river. Around 8-9 miles. It was grey, windswept and magnificent. There was flooding everywhere. I never got around to posting any photos. Maybe I will sometime. here’s a taster.

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This time Bradford was woozy in the summer heat. We stopped at a pub called the Barge Inn (not an unusual name for a pub by a canal!) and sat in the garden along the canal, watching the barges go by. It was pretty congested. Not that many venture onto the Caen Hill locks, I guess, so the stretch from there to Bath gets a lot of traffic.

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The stretch between Bradford and Bath is spectacular and includes two amazing aqueducts, which take the canal from one side of the River Avon to the other.

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As we moved closer to Bath, houses sprung up along the canal. I like this one.

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And then we were in Bath. A magnificent Georgian city. I didn’t get to take the tourist shots this time. But here’s where we ended up for refreshments before going down to the station for the journey back to London. A nice cafe with a good vibe: Same, Same But Different.

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And goodbye to Bath.

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A great weekend. Sometimes an endurance test, but full of memorable moments, and with a backdrop of beautiful scenery in the heart of England.

My England.

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Sportsthoughts (80) – Brilliant Lions!

Posted on July 9, 2013 by John S

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The third test, the decider. The Lions, pretty lucky winners of the first, Australia deserved winners of the second. The momentum, therefore, seeming to be with the Aussies.

Selection bombshells delivered by Warren Gatland. Brian O’Driscoll dropped, not even on the bench. That it was to accommodate the return of Jamie Roberts as inside centre not questioned, but preferring Welshman Jonathan Davies was. Even though the latter had been one of the outstanding players of the tour. It just seemed like sacrilege. BOD. One of the greatest. Not even on the bench.

In the furore over O’Driscoll, hardly anyone seemed to notice that Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip had also been dropped as No 8, after playing the first two tests. Wales’ Toby Faletau was his replacement.

It felt like Gatland had pulled up the drawbridge, and inside were mostly his Welsh friends. Ten of the starting fifteen.

The media vultures were hovering, in expectation of an Australian victory…

In the office on Thursday I voiced confidence that the Lions would win ugly – forward power – to an Aussie colleague. But I didn’t real believe it. Those Aussie backs were just so good, and the Lions scrum hadn’t really asserted their strength over a whole game.

My friend Jon and I went on a cycling trip between Reading and Bath along the Kennet-Avon canal from Friday to Sunday – more of that in another blog. On Saturday morning, therefore, we found ourselves in the Borough Arms, in Hungerford, West Berkshire, watching the game. With free bacon rolls laid on by the landlord – good man!

And what a game it was! 41-16 to the Lions. All doubts blown away by a brilliant performance. Took time to take shape, but in the end we were celebrating with an air of incredulity. Did that really happen?

They say – in Northern hemisphere rugby at least – that the forwards win the game, the backs decide by how much. That’s a bit unfair on the backs, who put in a huge defensive shift, but there’s a certain truth in the adage.

And it was absolutely the case on Saturday, 6 July 2013.

The game started with a bang. Jonny Sexton kicked off. Will Genia, Australia’s star, dropped the ball. Pressure. Lions scrum, piling forward. In no time at all, English prop, Alex Corbisiero, was rolling over for a try.

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Leigh Halfpenny converted. Then the fun really began. The Lion’s scrum was awesome. The front row – Corbisiero, Hibbard and Adam Jones – absolutely mangled their Aussie counterparts. The referee, Raymond Poite from France,  favoured the dominant scrum, and the Lions won a succession of penalties. Leigh Halfpenny stepped up and converted them all. The first was from 50 metres. A statement of intent.

Before we knew it, the Lions were 19-3 up.

Maybe they couldn’t even believe it, because they let the Aussies back into the game. But inexplicably, the Aussie captain, James Horwill, chose not to go for the three points in a succession of penalties, which would have pulled his team close to the Lions’ score. Instead, each time there was a kick to touch and a line out, in the belief that a try could be scored from the set piece. And yes, it happened right at the end of the first half, James O’Connor wriggling over. Seven points and a psychological blow. But only seven points. Four converted penalties would get you twelve. (Yes, of course, history would have been different after the first one, but let’s assume the Aussies would have got more chances in the alternative universe too!).

19-10 to the Lions at half time, but with the force swaying towards the Aussies. and soon after half time they got a couple of penalties, which, now, Christian Leali’ifano kicked over. 19-16. Getting worried!

Then Australia put on some real attacking pressure. The Lions were on the back foot, but defending magnificently. This felt like the key moment of the game. If the Aussies broke through with another try, they would probably win. It was tense!

But relief, the Aussies spilled the ball. Knock-on. The Lions kicked away and the pressure was off.

And soon after it all went crazy. First the Lions, getting back into Aussie territory, won a penalty, which, of course, Halfpenny put over.  In eleven minutes, between 57 and 68, the Lions scored three tries. The first involved some great running and hands from Jonathan Davies, onto Leigh Halfpenny and then to Jonny Sexton, who scored. Then a brilliant solo run from Halfpenny after a Genia kick upfield, with a pass to George North, who finished it off. And then some clever play from substitute scrum half, Conor Murray, to set up Jamie Roberts for a surge through a shattered Australian defence.

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In eleven minutes the game turned upside down. 19 points (Halfpenny, shockingly, missed a conversion). 41-16.

It’s easy to look back and think it was inevitable. The Lions’ forward power discombobulated the Australians.  No doubt about that. So victory was inevitable. That’s the story now, embellished by three superb tries. The Aussie defence cracking under the pressure.

And yet…

At 19-16 to the Lions, the Aussies were on top, and had their chances to go ahead. They blew it and things turned. Quickly. All the reports I’ve read talk of the game as if it was inevitable that the Lions would win. But it wasn’t. As ever it was all about fine margins. Until, maybe after the Sexton try, Australia’s morale sapped. Limbs became tired, tackles not quite as ferocious. And the Lions poured through.

Top level sport is almost always about those margins. Those moments in the game when, in retrospect, the tide turns. I think it was that Aussie knock-on when they were on top and pressing at 16-19.  The relief for the Lions was immense and the tries soon followed.

There’s no script beforehand. It’s all random. The narrative happens after the event.

This time it favoured the Lions. And so the brand grows stronger. Roll on New Zealand 2017!

(Photos from Google Images)

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Sportsthoughts (79) – Unlucky Lions?

Posted on June 30, 2013 by John S

Second test between Australia and the British and Irish Lions. Last kick of the game. Leigh Halfpenny has a penalty to win the game for the Lions. Just like Kurtly Beale had for Aussies last week. It’s different, much harder. 53 metres from the posts. In his own half. But he’s such a good kicker – five out of six today, and the one he missed bounced off the crossbar – that we have hope…

He runs up, strikes it straight and true. Heading for the target. But it drops agonisingly short. Doesn’t have the legs. Australia win 16-15.

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So close, for the second week running. Fortunes reversed. But were the Lions unlucky? No, not really. They were 15-9 up with five minutes to go, but a six point margin is never enough. A converted try defeats you. And that is what Australia got. Adam Ashley-Cooper – dislocated shoulder last week, playing this week – storming through, after intense Aussie pressure for what, fifteen minutes? Heroic Lions defence, but in the end they cracked.

But even then they had chances. A line out near the Australian try line lost on their own throw, with an over-ambitious throw to the back. And then that penalty…

Two evenly-matched sides. Two highly entertaining, intense games. Riddled with tension and errors. But sport at its best.

It was an odd game this one. After playing with enterprising style for most of the tour, the Lions reverted to a classic Northern hemisphere game. All about the forward battle and high kicks. Not pretty. Presumably designed to douse the fire of the Aussie back line, marshalled by genius scrum half, Will Genia.

At half time the tactics seemed to be working. Australia had most of the possession, but the Lions were 12-9 up. All penalties, not a try in sight. Not even a near miss. The third quarter of the game was scoreless, a grim struggle. Then the Lions went 15-9 ahead. Halfpenny of course.

Could they hold on? The defence remained solid, but captain Warburton had to go off with a hamstring injury. Should have been no problem. The replacement was Ireland’s Sean O’Brien, a fine player.

But it was all about holding on, not striking out for the win. Australia had the territory and the possession. When the Lions did get the ball they invariably wasted it. Even the great Brian O’Driscoll kicked away good possession needlessly.

It really was fingers crossed, and it was no surprise when Australia finally created a gap and Ashley-Cooper surged through it. Christian Leali’ifano converted – a 100% kicking record, in contrast to O’Connor and Beale last weekend. (You have to wonder what would have happened last week if he hadn’t gone off injured in the first minute.)

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16-15 to the Aussies, but to be honest, a ten point winning margin wouldn’t have flattered them.

So it goes down to the final test, in Sydney, next Saturday. I guess the Aussies have to be favourites, but it is bound to be close. The Lions need to come out of their shells, have faith in their attacking prowess – maybe bringing Tuilagi into the midfield – and take the Aussies on. Anything you can do, we can do better. Believe in their talent.

Play the Harlequins way!

(That won’t happen).

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George North forgot the ball in this one!

(Photos copied from Google Images.)

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