Live Review of
Marianne Faithfull
by Andrew from Hailey
I was one of a few fans to get a ticket to a private show which was being filmed for broadcast on TV.
I was up in the balcony where I guess there were around 60 people in single rows on three sides. Down below there were probably not many more... [more]
Event Date: February 18, 2009
Event Venue: LSO St. Luke’s, London
I was one of a few fans to get a ticket to a private show which was being filmed for broadcast on TV.
I was up in the balcony where I guess there were around 60 people in single rows on three sides. Down below there were probably not many more than 100 people seated among tables – special guests such as Marianne’s friends and family, record company execs, press etc. The stage was 3 or 4 steps up, quite wide and had the imposing church windows up behind it.
There were 11 musicians - organ/piano, 4 x string section, guitar, drums, bass, brass/woodwind, brass/woodwind/accordion/piano, guitar/ukulele/mandolin/viola/saw. And, of course, one Marianne Faithfull dressed in a black suit and white blouse, mostly standing but sometimes seated on a stall. This was the first time she had performed the new songs in front of people and she said she was a bit nervous to start with.
I won’t go into detail about every song - I’ll just pick out some highlights. She started with a nice rendition of the familiar ‘Times Square’ and then quickly into the songs from the new album with ‘Down From Dover’, the merits of the large band already showing with brass, strings and organ all adding their bit to create a rich backing track. ‘Children of Stone’ included some marvellous flute playing – I’m quite partial to a bit of flute. One of my favourites from the new album ‘Hold On Hold On’ moved along at pace and ended in a great fuzz viola solo (or was it violin?). Another of my favourites ‘The Crane Wife’ started up to a shout of “I love you” from the balcony, building to a crescendo of vocals, drums, guitar and accordion. ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ appeared to be a favourite of Marianne’s and her voice was a superb match for it.
Back to an old song with ‘Broken English’, not as raucous as usual but a more sinister, rumbling sound with an appropriate sounding sax solo. It was nice to hear a different arrangement which took advantage of the big band. Possibly my favourite of the new tracks on the night was ‘Kimbie’, with Marianne’s excellent vocals accompanied by guitar and accordion. It seemed like the whole audience was holding it’s breath throughout the song. Then, my most definite favourite new one, the Morrissey song ‘Dear God Please Help Me’. It was every bit as good as I hoped, with the strings really coming to the fore.
Then followed ‘Sister Morphine’ with Marianne doing a very good impersonation of Bob Dylan and threatening to do the whole song that way sometime, ‘The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan’ with an appropriate accordion accompaniment, ‘Why’d Ya Do It’, as good as ever but again a bit different with organ and sax prominent, and a special arrangement of ‘As Tears Go By’. It was apparently the first time Marianne has sung it live to the original backing arrangement, including the Cor Anglais played by one of the very versatile musicians. Strings and piano were added to make it a very special performance indeed.
‘Sing Me Back Home’ was performed as the encore and seemed an apt winding up, going home kind of song.
This was the end of a very special and intimate performance, the likes of which most of us will never see again, and I felt quite privileged to be there. I hope, for the sake of those that weren’t as lucky as me, that there will be a tour later in the year with the same band and similar set list, as I’m sure you’ll think it’s great.
Thanks to Marianne for making some tickets available to her fans and for a night I won’t forget. [less]
Live Review of
Pretty Things
by Andrew from Hailey
Pretty Things were the house band at the 100 Club in 1964 and 1965 so it was great to be able to see them play there. It wasn't quite the 'original line-up' that had been advertised but those that did show up put on a superb performance. The 100 Club's... [more]
Event Date: January 25, 2008
Event Venue: 100 Club. London
Pretty Things were the house band at the 100 Club in 1964 and 1965 so it was great to be able to see them play there. It wasn't quite the 'original line-up' that had been advertised but those that did show up put on a superb performance. The 100 Club's capacity is under 300 and it's a great venue to get close to the performers as most of the audience is within 20 feet of the stage. The sound was a bit muddy but it didn't detract from the experience.
Before the show, an old guy looking like a retired headmaster was tinkering with the guitar set-up. This turned out to be guitarist Dick Taylor. He really couldn’t look less like a rock musician if he tried and his playing style is somewhat awkward, but none of this can hide the fact that he’s an excellent rock guitarist.
The band kicked off with a rousing track from their latest album which didn’t sound at all out of place with the older material. They then went through a whole range of styles including the original R&B sound that most of these sixties rock bands started out playing via ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ and ‘Roadrunner’, a selection from their psychedelic period including ‘S.F Sorrow Is Born’, ‘Balloon Burning’ and ‘LSD’, the bluesy ‘Come On In My Kitchen’ and ‘Rainin' In My Heart’ and some later material such as ‘Havana Bound’ and ‘Passion Of Love’.
Original members Phil May and Dick Taylor have still got it and, together with the youthful rhythm section and long time guitarist Frank Holland, they put on a rousing show. With the atmosphere of the 100 Club, which doesn’t look like it’s seen a lick of paint since they first played there, you could almost imagine you were back in the sixties. Pretty Things are one of a dwindling number of classic sixties rock bands still recording and performing and, if this is a musical era you’re into, I recommend you get to see them while you still can. [less]
Live Review of
War
by Andrew from Hailey
Following on from an interest in late Animals, I was getting into the funky sounds of Eric Burdon & War. Jimi Hendrix performed with them just before his death so their place in history was assured on that account alone.
The day of the gig came around and I once more... [more]
Event Date: April 23, 2008
Event Venue: Royal Albert Hall, London
Following on from an interest in late Animals, I was getting into the funky sounds of Eric Burdon & War. Jimi Hendrix performed with them just before his death so their place in history was assured on that account alone.
The day of the gig came around and I once more entered that iconic concert hall the Royal Albert Hall. I purchased a groovy t-shirt sporting a youthful looking Eric and a suitably retro War logo, and sat down in anticipation.
I was disappointed. The first section of the gig was War – just War and no Eric. I quickly decided that I don’t like War, although it was interesting to discover that the instrumental excerpt that I recognised from several commercials was actually a proper ‘song’ called Low Rider and was performed by – War.
After a very long 25 minutes, the opening riff of Spill The Wine started up and the short, stocky figure of Eric Burdon took the stage. The rest of the show lived up to my expectations. There was no attempt to modernise or improve the old songs, which was fine by me as I just wanted to imagine it was 1970 and this was all being done for the first time. These were excellent songs performed by a bunch of very good musicians and Eric put his heart into it, appearing to enjoy performing all these songs together I presume for the first time in around 35 years.
One minus point. I speak as an ex-drummer when I say that I used to think that the most boring thing at a gig is a drum solo. I now know that this is only the second most boring thing, the first most boring being a percussion solo seguing into a drum solo. [less]
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