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Concert Reviews : By You

The Arcade Fire
Atlanta Civic Center
May 1st, 2007- 8:00.

Overall Concert Score- I'm Shitless

The Arcade Fire Ruled Live

Opening act- The National- they were interesting- the lead singer kind of did a Stuart Staples/ Ian Curtis kind of thing. The drummer was awesome, and they did have some cool moments, but the appetizer was blown away by the main course. During the show, I kept track of the setlist by use of notepad, pencil and cellphone (for light). Asterisks (*) indicate a personal highlight

Black Mirror
No Cars Go (*)
Neighborhood #2 (Laika) (*)
Haiti
Black Wave/ Bad Vibrations
My Body Is A Cage (*)
Windowstill
The Well And The Lighthouse
Ocean Of Noise
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) (*)
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (*)
Rebellion (Lies) (*)
Keep The Car Running
(First Encore:) Intervention
(Second Encore:) Wake Up (*)

As you can tell by the setlist above, the Arcade Fire did not disappoint anyone last night. But the Arcade Fire were something more than just a band with great songs: They were an explosively powerful live band. They accurately replicated the sound of the albums on stage, and they all looked like they were having the time of their lives, like I was. Plus, their anthemic choruses gave us all opportunity to sing and shout along, which only made their songs better. Everyone around me (including myself) knew when to "Hey!" during "No Cars Go." And with every "Hey!" spotlights went on. A lot of us knew the lyrics and sang along. Highlighting moments were when, during Laika, the percussionists smash drums and crash a cymbal together, also that moment during "Black Wave" when the guy who was playing a metal upright bass banged on it, "Rebellion (Lies)" when one of the main guys (William Butler, I believe) climbed the banister on the left side of the venue while banging his drum, and "Wake Up" the perfect closer to an awesome, AWESOME night. One thing interesting to note- from Windowstill through Ocean of Noise, Regine Chassange took over on drums while usual drummer Jeremy Gara played keyboards.

If the Arcade Fire ever come your way, SEE THEM. Their albums are awesome, but live is truly the greatest Arcade Fire experience one can have.

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Bellowhead
Posted: 30th Sep 2007

Set list: (Original album: E = E.P.onymous, B = Burlesque)

Prickle Eye Bush (E)
Jack Robinson (+ 2 other jigs I didn’t catch the names of) (E)
Outlandish Knight (B)
Across the Line (B)
London Town (B)
Haul Away (From the Spiers & Boden album ‘Bellow’)
The Spectral Review (New song - A german folk song (translated) about Napoleon's ghost reviewing a company of soldiers)
Rigs of the Time (B)
If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go (New Song as far as I can tell – but I do have a version on Eliza Carthy & The Kings of Calicutt)
Death and the Lady (B)
Hopkinson’s Favourite (B)
Fast Company (B)
Rochdale Coconut Dance (E)
Fire Marengo (B)
Sloe Gin (B)

(encore)

Jordan (B)
Frog’s Legs and Dragon’s Teeth (B)

Band members and instruments:

Are you kidding? There are 11 of them and most of them played several instruments! If you want the details go to HERE and look for yourself!

The venue:

The Rescue Rooms is a small(ish) club in Nottingham, owned by the much larger Rock City. I can’t find an exact figure for the capacity but I estimate somewhere around the 500 mark tops. The room is narrow with a (not to unreasonably priced) bar to the left. The stage is not huge, so how all of Bellowhead managed to squeeze on to it was a mystery! The sound was crystal sharp and all of the fuck-knows-how-many instruments found their own place in the mix – big respect to the sound crew, makes one wonder how many, much smaller bands manage to completely screw up their sound though!

Missed the support, so I have no idea who it was – “Some guy with a guitar” apparently – or what he was like. (Sorry whoever you were, my taxi was late and I had to get a pint before the main event!)

So, “what were Bellowhead like live?” I hear you all cry. Well give me time, I’m getting there – I have no time for people without patience! Basically, Bellowhead live are very much like Bellowhead on record – but with dancing. And this is a very good thing because Bellowhead’s music demands dancing. If you haven’t heard them, why not? Didn’t Adrian tell you they were brilliant a year ago when Burlesque was released? And isn’t that good enough for you? Go out and buy it now! They played all but one track from Burlesque and all but two from E.P.onymous, along with a few new ones (if you can call a traditional folk song new that is.) The audience was a complete mix of ages – from student up to grey-bearded, folk-veteran – but we were all jigging on the spot from the start (as were the band for that matter – even on that crowded stage!) This music is just soooo infectious. Just like on album, the traditional folk songs were injected with a bewildering array of different styles: funk, soul, latin, New Orleans jazz, reggae, you name it. Everything except death-metal (expect that on the next album.) John Boden was the perfect frontman: a fine folk voice, Jarvis Cockeresque demeanour and a mean fiddlist to boot. Although he didn’t dominate things – several of the other band members got to introduce songs and add a little banter.

It is hard to pick highlights from the set – it was all good – so I suppose it comes down to personal favourites. For me these were: Outlandish Knight – a tale of a murdering rogue getting his comeuppance from his intended lady victim London Town – by contrast, the tale of a rogue robbing a prostitute (according to fiddle, oboe, vocalist Paul Sartin, autobiographical about at least two members of the band!) Prickle Eye Bush – a traditional version of Led Zeppelin’s Gallows Tree (but with a happy ending) Fast Company – with its burst of trad jazz at the end Rigs of Our Time – A gloriously danceable indictment on swindling tradesmen. If I have a criticism, it is that I would have liked to see a little more deviation from the album versions on occasion, with room for the musicians to let themselves go and show what they could do. But that would be picky of me really. They were great live – if you get the chance to see them, take it.

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Eliza Carthy
At the Buxton Opera House
Posted: 09 Sep 2007

First of all, Buxton Opera House is a beautiful building to stage any event. It dates from the turn of the 20th century (opened in 1903) and is an impressive example of late Victorian excess. The decor is predominantly white and gilt and well worth a look even if there is nothing going on there. Secondly, and disappointingly, the audience. Most of them also appeared to date from a similar period to the Opera House! I thought that the average age at the recent Richard Thompson concert was high (mid forties) but it was teenage compared to this place. I have never seen so much blue rinse outside of a toilet cistern! These people were not Eliza fans - not even folkies (unless folkies age faster than the rest of us by a factor of 10! They sat there immobile and clapped politely between numbers (that is the only way that you knew that they were alive at all.) My theory is that there were a large number of "Friends of the Buxon opera house" present, that buy a season ticket for all performances every year and always turn up because they are too tight not to once they've paid for something.

Whatever the explanation, the atmosphere was shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!!! There was a group of folkies away to my left that tried to clap along to the more jaunty numbers. And there was me, bouncing in my seat and trying to do similar. The rest of the bastards just looked at us like we were freaks. I hate all-seater gigs at the best of times but it really doesn't work for a turn that gets your dancing feet itching as much as EC. Anyway, enough about the venue - what about Eliza?

Well, lets get the most important part out of the way first, hair colour!
Sadly, I have to report that it was her natural shade of brown - another huge disappointment! Luckily I was actually there for the music and not as a fashion correspondent!

The ticket said 7:30 and I arrived at 7:33 to find that the gig had already started and that I had missed the first song!!!!!!!!!! (Must be an opera thing - normally, 7:30 means, "Get there at 7:30 and spend your beer money here - the gig won't get going till quarter to nine at the earliest." Warning: THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN BUXTON!!!)

Here's the track-list as far as i have been able to work it out (unknown tracks in brackets):

* (First track - not a fucking clue because they didn't wait for me!!!!!!!!!!)
* (Second track - A long, vocal piece, sung by Eliza and accompanied by John Boden on concertina. I don't know the song but it involve the tale of a girl called Susie (Suzy?) in London and mentioned the statue of Eros - I think that she was a prostitute but I'm not sure - anyone know the song? It was brilliantly performed anyway, even though I missed half of it.)
* Little Gipsy Girl
* Gallant Hussar
* (A couple of instrumental pieces (jigs) - didn't catch the names.)
* Sweet Hope of Glory - A hymn type thing, sung a capella in harmony.
* (I think this track is an American folk tune called Pesky Serpent. It involves a couple dying because of snake venom and mentions the wife haqving a "hollow-tooth".)
* Pretty Ploughboy

---------------------
INTERVAL
---------------------
* Napoleon's Dream. SEE THIS LINK (A capella Vocal duet with John Boden)
* King James Version
* Worcester City
* (More jigs)
* Pace-Egging Song
* (More jigs)
* Adieu Adieu (The Flash Lad)
* Willow Tree

---------------------
ENCORE
---------------------
* Maid On the Shore
* (Slow instrumental - I think it might have been Dr McMBE - but I'm not sure - it was certainly of a similar pace.)

Any ideas/corrections on the tracklist - especially the missing tracks - welcome.

Plenty of chatter and patter from EC and the boys between songs, including lots of info on the provenence of the tunes (most of which I failed to record for the review - naughty Phil!). The trouble was that she never gave the names of most tracks - just saying, eg. "This is a traditional song from Lincolnshire about a couple that never should have gone out together." - this was the intro for Worcester City.

Running time: 7:30 - 9:40 (Interval 20 minutes)

The band was:

Eliza - Violin / Vocals
John Boden - Violin / Concertina / Bass Drum Pedal / Vocals / Chris de Burgh looky-likey! (But a much better singer.)
John Spiers - Accordion / Concertina / vocals
Ben Ivitsky - Guitar / Viola / vocals
Gideon Jukes - Tuba (At least he should have been! Except he had another gig in Vienna - a fact that was mentioned several times by Eliza and the boys!)
The two Johns and the missing Gideon are also in Bellowhead. I will be seeing them agin in about 3 weeks time.

The sound was crystal clear but seemed to be lacking in something - that something was BASS. I think that this would have been filled in by Gideon Jukes and his tuba had he been there - but he wasn't! Having said that, you couldn't fault the musicianship or vocal talent of the band. Everyone in the auditorium should have been clapping / dancing / moving to this music. As I already mentioned - they were barely aware of it. Fuckers! If you get the chance, go and see Eliza play live - she is well worth the effort. Just don't go see her in Buxton (or anywhere else where you have to sit down) - not if you have the choice.

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Bob Dylan
Concert at the Zoo
Posted: 13 Jul 2007

70 dollars for tickets!! Seventy, I couldn't believe it. Of course this meant lots of things I traditionally don't like, such as, a seat, and a wealthy crowd, an old crowd, and of course, no smoking signs. This is most unfortunate as it is alot easier to be caught smoking your weed when you are the only one smoking anything. Well, I was with my dad anyway. I'm a huge fan, so this will be biased, and no, I don't care what you think about Dylan's voice. ( I realize most are Dylan friendlies on this forum.)

He opened with Cat's in the Well and I have to admit I do not care for this song too much. There's much better songs to open with in Dylan's catalogue, I realize that Subterranean is probably out, since there is no way he could ramble off words that fast. I've checked the set lists and he usually opens with either Cat's, Rainy Day Women, or Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat. I guess I just got on unlucky. Oh well, the song wasn't bad. Then we have something so lucky, so awesome, When I Paint My Masterpiece was gorgeous. He was able to change a few things around so he can sing it, and no he can't hit that note on Co-Ca- Co LA, but he craftily dodges it and keeps it interesting. The drums on this song were particularly good. Watching the River Flow is next, it was mediocre, not interesting not dull, but he finished nicely.

I didn't think Dylan was going to play It's Alright Ma (I'm only Bleeding) and it didn't have the same effect translated into an entire band. But the lyrics of the song are so strong and potent that he delivered this with some conviction. "sometimes even the president of the united states must have to stand naked" got a particularly loud applause. He not busy being born is busy dying. Of course there's the last verse as well, which if you do not know it, go listen to the song. This song was less about the music and more about the words. Maybe a protest song, not protesting the government so much as a way of thinking. Last time I saw Dylan he played a very similar, Masters of War, I'm going to assume from seeing his set lists that he plays one song like this at every show. Captivating, but musically lacking.

Lay Lady Lay was next, a fan favorite I learned, and why not? It's an incredibly engaging song and easy to hear and a good introduction song to Dylan since it has its own sound. By the way I'm beginning to realize most people in this crowd are the kind that hardly know Dylan. The amount that people are leaving their seats and going to the bathroom/refreshment is testament to that. However, there were some true fans there singing and dancing the whole time, including some very attractive young girls, I was surprised. But anyone who looked like a lawyer or doctor's wife, and there was quite a few, definately brought the crowd down, and talked the whole time, and the band did not play deafeningly loud. (is that a word?) Anyway, this was a good song.

Dylan finally puts his guitar down. I was thrilled to see him on the instrument seeing as the last time I saw him he was only on keys. Here comes The Levee's Gonna Break, finally, some Modern Times. These are the songs that Dylan can really sing on, because they were written with him in his current state. There were no syllables cut out or cut short because of a lack of wind and scratchy voice. He really brought the house down with this song and it was received well. The next two songs were somthing called Floater and High Water featuring some banjo and mandolin. I must admit, these were dull, and I wished he could've played Quinn the Eskimo, or anything. Well, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. And I did, I Don't Believe You was next. This is a beautiful song, and without a voice, and with a band, (instead of just guitar) this song is still beautiful. I don't have a favorite Dylan song, but this is as close as it gets. Gorgeous. Now it was time for Dylan to bring it home, so he did, Every song from here on out was him at his current best. Spirit on the Water was very well received and deservedly so. When, "they think I'm over the hill..." came on the crowd went nuts, even the lawyers wives, (i like to think) were screaming, or at least smiling.

Highway 61 was next, and critically the bands best song that night. They hit every cue and hook and Mr. Zimmerman did a superb job. Then we get When the Deal goes Down, how nice was this, very nice. Once again, Dylan's voice, at first glance, was completely shot, but its been back fora bout 5 songs now, ever since I don't believe you. My favorite of the show, Summer Days, wow the band really played its heart out here. You know the song, just dance to it, with a couple thousand people, and you get the idea. To most people's surprise, Like a Rolling Stone was next, people enjoyed it but it didn't get the kind of attention it should have. No problems on this one. I almost thought he wasn't going to come back, thats how long. Most aforementioned bitches were leaving and sitting in the aisle, this pissed me off, just like everytime they went to the bathroom. They were leaving to avoid traffic, thats like, well I can't really think of a metaphor that makes sense. So we'll just say, I dunno, sticking your head up a camel's ass. They came back, Thunder on the Mountain was excellent, and then All Along the Watchtower saw Mr. Zimmerman's most devoted performance, determined to leave us with something to remember him by, and "the wind began to howl" sent shivers down my spine.

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Richard Thompson
Posted: 21st Oct 2007

My second time seeing Richard T this year and I didn’t expect that many changes in the set list (and wasn’t too bothered about that, I could watch the same set every day for a week gladly.) But there were a few changes and a couple of them proved to be real highpoints.

So without further ado, here’s the list:

Needle And Thread (Sweet Warrior)
Bad monkey (Sweet Warrior)
Take Care the Road You Choose (Sweet Warrior)
Dad’s Gonna Kill me (Sweet Warrior)
I Still Dream (Amnesia)
I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight)
Al Bowley’s In Heaven (Daring Adventures) (Interestingly, Al Bowley actually played Colston Hall back in 1940 – there is a list of bands that played there on the wall of the bar and his name is there alongside the likes of Louis Armstrong, Led Zeppelin, The Libertines, Pink Floyd and Paul Robeson.)

Richard Solo

Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (Unhalfbricking)
1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Rumour And Sigh)
One Door Opens (Old Kit Bag)
I’ll Never Give Up (Sweet Warrior)
Hard On Me (Mock Tudor)
Mingulay boat Song (Rogue’s Gallery)
Man In Need (Shoot Out The Lights)
Guns Are The Tongues (Sweet Warrior)
A Bone Through Her Nose (Daring Adventures)
Wall Of Death (Shoot Out The Lights)
Read About Love (Rumour And Sigh)

Encore 1

Sunset Song (Sweet Warrior)
Mr Stupid (Sweet Warrior)

Encore 2
Tear Stained Letter

The band was the same as the previous review - see page 1 of this thread – which is a very good thing indeed! And the overall performance was every bit as stunning from all 4 of them. I will concentrate here on what was different. Tracks missing from the last set were: The Last Heartbeat, The Sun Never Shines on the Poor, Too Late To Come Fishing and Gypsy Lovesongs. These were replaced with: Who Knows Where The Time Goes? – Richard’s homage to Sandy Denny (complete with forgotten words in the second verse – but nobody minded. A funny thing about this song is that, in spite of it only having three short verses, it is incredibly hard to remember the words – I play it myself (not that I would dare to live – some things are sacred!) and I always get it wrong.) Just as Richard was tuning up his acoustic prior to his solo spot, someone near the front shouted something. Richard looked at his watch and said, “I don’t know. Oh! You want me to play it? You’re getting a bit pushy aren’t you? I’ll see what I can do.” He then went on to comment that seeing as the music buying public was finally coming around to Nick Drake 40 years too late, there might be hope for Sandy Denny as well, “This is one of her songs. I can’t do it justice. No-one can!” The round of applause before this song started was almost (but not quite) as loud as the one which followed – I think that most of the audience knew this one! It was great to hear the song played with a similar arrangement as Richard plays on Unhalfbricking – only the voice was missing. I am listening to Sandy’s version now – tearful as always.

Guns Are The Tongues – A candidate for the best song on Sweet Warrior. According to the RT website, they were having trouble arranging it for a live performance. Well, I am very pleased to announce that those troubles have been well and truly overcome. The version was stupendous, building from a quiet ballad into a rocking crescendo and then subsiding back into silence, with Pete Zorn playing a beautiful mandolin line throughout. It was introduced as, “A song about a female recruitment officer for a terrorist cell – one of those upbeat, cheerful numbers that we are so well known for!” Richard! You wag you! A Bone Through Her Nose – According to Richard (and he wrote it, so he should know) this is a comment on the London fashion scene. A quirky little number, in the best tradition of RT’s complete disdain for writing ‘ordinary’, radio-friendly songs about tried and tested subjects. Including some expert sopranino sax work from Mr. Zorn.

All in all, the three new songs made up for the four that were missing and the show was equally as good (and as long) as Sheffield in June. Some of the arrangements were changed a little but not dramatically. Richard’s epic solos in Hard On Me and Tear Stained Letter were every bit as blistering, surprising and inventive as the last time. The band was as tight as ever – Michael Jerome continuing to amaze me on the drums – his hands are windmilling everywhere as he plays the most incredible fills. If you ever get the chance to see any band with Michael in it – go, don’t think, just go! Sunday night was actually my second trip to Colston Hall over the weekend. The day before I was there to see ‘Paul Merton’s Celebrity Improv Chums’ – a recreation of Whose Line Is It Anyway to raise funds for the silent film festival that Paul Merton is a keen advocate of. Joining Paul were several other comedians, including Jim Sweeney, Richard Vranch, Lee Simpson and Suki Webster, with special guests Phil Jupitus and Neil Innes.

Neil Innes (ex Bonzo Dog Band, Rutles, Innes Book of Records and Monty Python collaborator) played a solo set at the start and again after the interval which was a highlight for me – having been a fan of his for decades. The show was hilarious from start to finish – other high points included: Phil Jupitus having to be restrained from attacking the audience member that suggested that he continue his sketch in the style of Riverdance, the tactful way in which the guys apologised to a fellow astronomer for not naming a new star after him (again) – “I’m sorry Professor Cunt but I’m afraid that the Naming Committee just won’t go for it.” And Merton ‘translating’ the utterances of an Outer Mongolian Yak expert. Not a bad weekend!

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Richard Thompson
Live in Sheffield
Posted: 08 Aug 2007

When I arrived, the sound system was playing Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Pusherman’. I knew it was going to be a special night. The Plug in Sheffield is a decent venue. A long, low, black-walled warehouse of a place, complete with exposed ventilation ducts. It was very dark inside, coming in from an early August evening, and full of middle-aged and not-so-middle-aged folkies feeling their way towards the bar. Once pinted up, I took up position about 4 folkies from the stage and waited for the Man to appear. The large stage was already set up and so I played the usual game of “How many are in the band?” – I guessed 5 – wrong! At 8:30 on the dot, Richard and the boys emerged. By then the place was pretty much full to its 1600 capacity and we made a lot of noise for oldies! The band was:

RT – guitar & vocals (obviously)
Danny Thompson on upright bass
Michael Jerome on drums
and Pete Zorn on everything else – including: acoustic guitar, mandolin, Baritone, alto & soprano saxophones and bass flute.

The set started with ‘Needle & Thread’ from the new album; an up-tempo, singalong number which gave the crowd’s expectations a speedy confirmation – this was going to be worth the trip! RT commented that it was nice to see so many old people standing up, as it’s good for the veins and circulation! 3 more tracks from Sweet Warrior followed: ‘Bad Monkey’ (including some top bari-sax), the much slower ‘Take Care the Road You Choose’ (featuring some sweet brushed drumming from MJ) and finally ‘Dad’s Gonna Kill Me’. Those that hadn’t bought the new album yet could now breathe a sigh, as the band started digging up rare gold from that immense RT back-catalogue. ‘I Still Dream' from Amnesia – featured Mr Zorn’s bass flute – a weird looking beast – more like a bazooka with a u-bend at one end than a musical instrument – but it sounded good. ‘The Wrong Heartbeat’ from Hand of Kindness. ‘Al Bowley’s In Heaven’ – RT switching from his sky-blue, Ferrington custom electric to an acoustic for this one. A great version, playing in a soft, trad jazz style, with all of the band taking solos, PZ on tenor sax, and RT playing something sublime that could have been by Django (if Django wore a beret!) The band left RT alone with his acoustic (“some kind of industrial dispute” he quipped) and he turned out the first real classic of the night, Rumor & Sigh’s ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’. The crowd’s reaction to the intro suggested that they might have known this one! DT then joined Richard for a duet version of ‘The Sun Never Shines on the Poor’ from Richard & Linda’s Hokey Pokey – Danny showing what he can really do with a double bass as the two traded solos. Re-enter the other two for a version of ‘One Door Opens’ from Old Kit Bag, RT then switching back to electric for another newie, ‘I’ll Never Give It Up’ – complete with forgotten words and sheepish grin – but no-one cared.

It was now time for a real guitar workout – ‘Hard on Me’ from Mock Tudor provided the framework for a 10 minute exploration of every millimetre of the fretboard – very nice stuff, complete with all of those little touches that only Thompson can manage: the crafty changes of key within runs, the simultaneous, multiple melodies, the complete precision, even in the most frenzied sections. I could listen to the man solo for a week. A craftsman this in tune with his chosen tool doesn’t come along often. A liberal dusting of baby powder on his hands and into RT’s contribution to the Rogue’s Gallery collection of sea shanties, a lovely old Scottish folk tune called ‘The Mingulay Boat Song’. After another new one, the delightfully bitter ‘Too Late to Come Fishing’, Richard announced that they would play “a medley of my hits.” (laughter) “OK, my hit. My hitlet” – of course it’s ‘Bright Lights Tonight’, with that baritone sax grunting along again – nice. The classic ‘Wall of Death’ from Shoot Out the Lights was next, followed by the song that mcolville1’s dad thought was a cover – it wasn’t! – ‘Read about Love’ from Rumor and Sigh. And that was the lot – 1 hour 50 of incredible solo and band performance.

Oh, except for the encores of course! Respectful of our age, the guys only kept us waiting about a minute (except for Pete Zorn, who sat the next track out) before returning for a couple more from the Sweet Warrior: the bittersweet, acoustic ‘Sunset Song’ and another of Richard’s glorious ‘nasty’ songs – ‘Mr Stupid’. Then off they go again, only for about 20 seconds this time, before launching into ‘Gypsy Love Songs’, originally from Amnesia, and climaxing (for good this time) with another 10 minute guitarobics session, a blistering version of the crowd-pleasing ‘Tear Staned Letter’, from Hand of Kindness (and just about every live album ever since.) In conclusion, two and a quarter hours of one of the best gigs I’ve seen in years. RT was on top form, exchanging banter with the crowd between songs and never dropping a note. His playing and vocal performances get better with age. The rest of the band were as tight as a drum: Danny Thompson (no relation) was as rock solid and inventive as ever (not an easy combination.) Pete Zorn (who was the spitting image of Robert Donat at the end of Goodbye Mr Chips!) played everything he turned his hand to equally well, turning out some great solos on alto & soprano sax. Michael Jerome was a real find. He played the drums quite unlike anyone else I’ve ever seen, using every inch of his minimal kit with great invention. His brushwork was especially good. Apparently, he is touring with John Cale this Autumn – I hope that doesn’t mean he’ll be missing from the band when I see them again in October, as that would be a great loss musically – he also lowers the average age of the band by at least a decade!

There will be more later. The dreadful story of my hellish journey home has yet to be told! But that’s enough for now.

So, where was I? Oh, yes, I had just finished watching Richard Thompson teach the young ‘uns how it’s done. So, I left the gig on a high. An hour’s drive and I would be back home. I might even have time to knock off a quick review before bed. So I wandered over to the NCP, multi-storey to fetch my car – the really convenient, 24 hour, NCP, multi-storey that is – the one recommended on the venue’s website – I was vaguely wondering at the crowd of people standing by the entrance as I strolled past them to find…

…THAT THE FUCKING SHUTTERS WERE DOWN AND MY CAR WAS LOCKED IN UNTIL 7am!!!!

Apparently, the car park had decided that it didn’t want to be a really convenient, 24 hour, multi-storey any longer. Thirteen hours out of every 24 is plenty, thanking you kindly ma’am! The crowd of folks were in exactly the same boat as me. In one case, they had actually phoned up the venue earlier that same day, asked about parking and had been recommended to use this concrete car-prison!! The manager of The Plug could not have been more apologetic, having only found out about the change of policy at the car-park that night and he invited us all in for a free drink and allowed us to wait while we tried to phone the NCP helpline ( “All of our only helpdesk operator is busy wanking himself off to internet pornography at present. Please continue to hold and the sad fucker will continue to ignore you for as long as possible. Thank you for calling and have a nice day.”) I forgot to ask if the manager could arrange a chat with RT while we waited – your roving reporter is a little new at all this reviewing lark and missed the chance of getting a real scoop for the site – I can only throw myself upon your tender mercies and promise to try harder next time my car gets locked in a car-park!

By a stroke of fortune, 4 of the other people were also from Nottingham and were thinking of getting the train back (amazingly, there were actually trains running after 11pm) and driving back to Sheffield first thing in the morning. They offered me a lift which I gratefully accepted. So we all piled in a taxi to the station and climbed on board the SLOWEST TRAIN IN THE FUCKING UNIVERSE. It took an hour and forty minutes to cover 38 miles – twice what it took me to drive up there in heavy traffic early in the evening! So, as you know from my earlier post, I got home at about 1am. I set my alarm for 5:15am (I didn’t even know there was such a time!) and probably got about 3 hours kip max, before throwing myself in and out of a shower, getting a taxi across town to meet these other guys to drive all the way back to Sheffield to pay £9 for the fucking privilege of having my car impounded overnight, before driving back down the M1 in the fucking rush-hour to Nottingham (not much rushing – just a lot of practice in 1st gear clutch control and waiting in the lane that’s moving slowest) finally getting home about 10 minutes before I was due at work. I was too fucked, so I rang in and pleaded with the boss to let me take the day off as holiday – surprisingly he agreed and I was able to crawl back into bed.

And that is not the worst of it. Oh no! Do you know what I discovered during the drive back up to Sheffield? I found out that Eliza Carthy had been playing the Riverside Festival in Nottingham on Saturday. For your information, the Riverside is a FREE festival, with FREE bands (usually local kids trying to rap but not this time. Oh no!) and rides and stalls and shit. It is also about 10 minutes walk from my house!!!! Let me summarise: I MISSED ELIZA CARTHY, PLAYING FOR FREE, 10 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE. It was bad enough missing it. But now I KNOW I missed it!!!!

The moral of this story is: Whenever you go to a gig in a strange town, never, ever, park anywhere where your car can be locked in! In fact, go on the bus!

Share Your Views?

Richard Thompson
Live in Cleveland
Posted: 19 June 2007

Oh my. Two hours and fifteen minutes (or so) of the best concert I've ever seen, and I have seen some pretty good ones. I had to drive to Cleveland with my father for the concert which is about a 2 hour drive and since he was in surgery longer than expected, we left late. It takes 2 hours to get to downtown Cleveland from his office in Sylvania so we were going to be late... talk about stressed. Me, not my father, he had never heard a Richard Thompson song in his life. So we roll in to the House of Blues at about 725 for a 730 concert. The place is much less than packed. There is maybe 50 or 60 people in the entrance hall getting id'd and wristbanded and the like. I was the only one in the room that was under 21, by a long shot. Behind me a man who was obviously from Europe, and when he and his pal took out their passports as ID's then I sort of asked him about Richard Thompson or something and boy was he excited. "I've been following Richard Thompson since 1970 and his days with Fairport Convention, I've seen him everywhere in the world, own every bootleg etc etc," In hindsight I should've gotten this guys email so I could borrow some of these bootlegs, but whatever. The concert was labelled as "The Richard Thompson Band" and the man behind me told me this is a very good thing.

Anyway we finally got in to the stage area with a small pit and then standing room and a sort of balcony above the standing room, all in all the place could hold no more than about 1000 people, but it never got near that full. Apparently the concert was supposed to start at 830, oh well, so we had a burger came back and there were a few more people so we took our seats. I don't mean to brag but, Second Row. He came on as the curtains opened with his trademark beret or whatever its called on with a little star on the front and the people in the sitting room went crazy, people in the standing room area looked as though they were just there having a drink, by the end of the night they would be converts. A three man band, because as he explained his son Teddy Thompson was taking care of a family bereavement, or something. So this guy on his left, who I could never get the name of played something around 5 or 6 instruments including two saxophones, bass, acoustic guitar, this strange flute like instrument only bigger, and the mandolin, though I know I'm forgetting something. The black drummer, who was more than into it and always excellent. Every once in awhile a roadie who's name I can't remember either would come and play bass. Trust me when I say this roadie did not take away from the overall sound.

So our beloved RT comes out and gives sort of a nervous grin, looks back at his drummer, then launches into "Needle and Thread" with its strange intro, and it sounded remarkably close to the album, only way way better. Slightly longer with a few nice solos and were rocking. They stop, RT says nothing and all of a sudden Bad Monkey. Now I'm not the biggest fan of this song on the record, I always sort of felt it was a little below some of the better songs... not anymore. They really played the heck out of this little tune, enough so, that after, when I looked at my father, (who shows no emotion and never really gets excited about anything) he was smiling and nodding a bit. So then we get the first round of band introductions. There would be more. Then a song from the eighties which he said the title of, but I cannot remember, it was good. By the way, every song that I mention was longer than on the album and featured at least one extra guitar solo and if it featured sax, there would always be a sax solo as well, that never failed to entertain. This is where I got so into the music that my memory is sort of blurred. I believe he played Take Care of the Road You Choose and then Too Late to Go Fishing back to back, (I know he played both at one point or another), then we were treated to the other two musicians walking off stage and RT gave us a beautiful rendition of his ballad 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, and "in my opinion, there's nothing in this world Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl".

Instead of the red-headed girl I had my father, but I still had the vincent black lightning for a few minutes, and in his defense he bought me dinner. So then he played his version of a celtic folk song, that he donated for a sea shanty compilation. I think he may have played one in between but I cannot remember now. The band comes back out and I believe this is where he explained the song, "Al Bowlly's in Heaven (I'm in Limbo Now). To which an avid RT fan, I gathered, laughed loudly behind me, and before he launched into song, he said, "it's not funny, I'll play a funny one later maybe." There was about 30 more seconds of exchange that was very charming but I cannot remember. Al Bowlly was a nice song, but nothing compared to what came next. And I am truly sorry that I cannot remember this title, just know that it was about 10 minutes of the most beautiful jam session I've heard anywhere, with a gorgeous solo from Mr. Thompson. So great that people were standing on their feet everywhere following this song. From here on I can only remember that he kicked serious ass for the rest of his regular concert, about 15 minutes with no memory trying to recover from what the Richard Thompson Band had just done to me. I believe he played I'll never Give it Up in this section, and it was great I remember that. Then simple as that he took his guitar strap off and left the stage...

He would be back...
in about 15 seconds. They came out and busted right into probably my favorite RT song, I wanna see the bright lights tonight, sax and all, it was gorgeous. Then he played acoustic guitar on a song that I cannot remember the title of, just know it was great, and just like that he was off the stage again, after high fiving many front row fans. I would say it was about 30 seconds this time, I feel like this was probably a special concert as most of the time the tickets said Richard Thompson bu this was the only one with The Richard Thompson Band, also because he was back on the stage for another twenty minutes. He played a great song and I really wish I could remember more titles, my father said he thought it was a cover, and I'm ashamed that I did not pick it up. Now I remember that it was something about love. something like "I asked my father about love" then his mother and teacher, it was a good jam. Then came one of the greatest moments I've witnessed in music. Tear Stained Letter, for 10 minutes or more. With a heavenly sax solo followed by the best solo RT had done all night, then a crowd sing-a-long. Then more Tear Stained Letter then another solo and about a minute long release... nobody really wanted this song to end. Three bows, and they were off. The whole crowd was on their feet like I'd never seen.
Curtains Close.
Doesn't get much better than that.

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