|
|
Post by dorsethelen on Oct 15, 2016 10:53:48 GMT
Not our next gig, but if anyone is interested the Dohl Foundation are playing the Electric Palace in Bridport on December 21st . Christmas pressie to yourself?
|
|
|
|
Post by standing stone on Oct 17, 2016 12:08:46 GMT
..clashes with Grayson Perry, but have applied anyway: you may like to too... Enter now to win tickets to the #PlanetEarth2 premiere in Bristol - featuring a special Q&A with David Attenborough bbc.in/2efW3Is |
|
|
|
Post by calndel on Oct 17, 2016 22:34:08 GMT
Justin Currie and the RNSO was mesmerizing
as the performance with in Paisley Abbey, the set list was slow and mid tempo as the echoy acoustics of the abbey would turn up tempo songs in to a mess
what we did hear was wonderful and we loved every note
|
|
|
|
Post by digitalmonkey on Oct 23, 2016 19:18:03 GMT
Had a couple of gigs recently which were both superb. I went to North Wales with my walking group for a week (staying in a small village between Caernarfon and Llanberis). On the first evening three of us went to the local arts centre in Caernarfon and saw Bendith (folk) perform. Not familiar with the act but they were excellent, not only they sang but also spoke entirely in Welsh. The three of us looked like a set of lemons as everyone else was reacting to between song banter while we sat in eerie silence!
To cap it off the barman didn't understand what beer I was asking for so another customer helpfully translated into Welsh!
Last Friday went to The Bullingdon in Oxford to see the every superb Stray Birds (country/bluegrass/Americana). Not been to the venue before, it is a cracker albeit with sticky floors. A pain to park close to venue but eventually found a side road that wasn't residents permits only.
|
|
|
|
Post by calndel on Oct 23, 2016 21:14:12 GMT
got to love a venue with a sticky floor
|
|
|
|
Post by calndel on Oct 23, 2016 21:14:36 GMT
Del has the wonderful Jah Wobble on Wednesday
|
|
|
|
Post by sc on Oct 24, 2016 8:26:39 GMT
Del has the wonderful Jah Wobble on Wednesday Loved Jah when he did Maidstone, earlier this year? maybe last? Great night  |
|
|
|
Post by nigenet on Oct 24, 2016 11:29:33 GMT
Flit tonight at the Sunny Buxton Opera House |
|
|
|
Post by Rendrags on Oct 24, 2016 19:04:34 GMT
I'd love to se Mr Wobble again. Really enjoyed his Chinese dub set at Womad a few years ago. What sort of stuff does he play now?
|
|
|
|
Post by calndel on Oct 24, 2016 21:03:05 GMT
this and it great
shame he's on the WOMAD black list for saying naughty things about Peter G
|
|
|
|
Post by nigenet on Oct 25, 2016 8:35:12 GMT
Flit was good. A couple of problems with some of the sound earlier on but it seemed to get fixed. Looked and sounded amazing. Back to Sunny Buxton's Opera House on Friday for Miles Jupp Saw him there a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Also realised that I'll be seeing him on stage half an hour after the News Quiz has finished!  |
|
|
|
Post by olirow on Oct 25, 2016 20:55:52 GMT
A few thoughts about Musicport which I attended last weekend.
Overall there were enough stand out performances to make it a thoroughly enjoyable event.
I particularly enjoyed -
Geoff Berner - a unique performer with a warped point of view, no compromises, not sure that everyone in the audience sang the 'fuck the police' chorus at the end of the set with quite the hoped-for enthusiasm. Geoff also skulked around for the remaining two days of the festival, often on his own, which I found quite endearing.
Blockheads - were amazing. A reminder again of the talent of Ian Dury. A slice of Essex in the north east. Not always PC, again no compromises, totally authentic
Moscow Drug Club - a perfect end to Friday, cool music delivered by a cool band.
Lemn Sisay - not quite sure what to make of him, but highly entertaining. Having seen him once though, I didn't fancy seeing him again the following day.
Kathryn Tickell - quite simply brilliant, beautiful music, enchanting people. Special shout out to Amy Thatcher for clog dancing, great to see something so deeply unfashionable go down so well.
Jeremy Hardy - spot on political observations, and very funny too.
Sarah Jane Morris - possibly my personal highlight, she had flown in from Italy at 3am, had a stinking cold, and was still totally awesome. And I have not really come across her music before. The fact she was married to a Pogue for 25 years must say something!
Harpeth Rising - heart meltingly beautiful music, brought a tear to my eye, I even bought two of their CD's which never happens. Apparently they play in Surbiton in a few days, it is a house concert, I can't find tickets for this although they said it was open to the public
Martin Alvarado and Mikko Helenius - I am not a big tango fan but this was really good fun, and the interplay between the two performers exquisite, full of pathos, as only Finns know how, in an Aki Kaurismaki style. For the second performance in a row, they brought tears to my eyes. And that didn't happen at Womad at all last year.
There were also decent performances from Baghdaddies, Black Umfolosi (pleasant but nothing special), Michael Messer, Mahotella Queens (seen them at Womad, didn't quite live up to my memories of them), Maz O'Connor (she turned up late, was clearly irritated when she started, had zero rapport with the audience, but the music was fine, and I felt sorry for her, there is quite a bit of hype around her, and I hope she makes it), Ragged Union, Arstidir (moody Icelandic melodies, perfectly pleasant but didn't really grab me), and Moussa T. I missed Lynched and Varldens Band at the end because it's quite a long way from Whitby to Kent and I had to be at work on Monday morning.
On the negative side musically, Jamie Smith's Mabon cancelled, a band members wife due to give birth apparently, surely they must have known in advance, and cancelling with no notice screws a small festival like Musicport badly. I would guess they didnt fancy the trip from Cornwall. I hope they don't get invited again. Also, and I am sorry to say this, the local bands and performers were generally hopeless, I know it's a good thing to showcase local talent but they did not add to the experience.
And a few other things...
Venue - the most discreet festival venue ever, perfectly possible to walk by Whitby seafront and have no idea there are 100's of people enjoying a festival in the same place! The building itself is old municipal style, not very attractive, not easy to build an atmosphere ( good attempt made but quite successfully).
Audience - around three quarters were ancient, the place smelt of old people as you walked in. Many seemed to be people who had taken up world music as a retirement hobby, despite having no appreciation of it whatsoever. Is this something that Saga promote? I guess it's better than other options such as Brexit/UKIP fanatacism that also seems popular with that age group. Nonetheless it totally smothered the atmosphere. The 20-30 age group was conspicuous by its almost complete absence.
Food/ Drink - two decent stalls (Indian and Middle Eastern) plus some mediocre fare served up by the venue which seemed surprisingly popular. Beer started at £2.80 a pint with a special Musicport festival ale at £3.20 a pint.
Politics - reassuringly left wing. Posters supporting Syrian refugees and a Syrian refugee family invited as guests ( who looked a bit bemused by it all to be honest).
Stalls - quite a few, not really my area of interest, but seemed OK
Non-music entertainment - again not my thing but there were some other activities including Hardeep Singh Kohli doing a bit of cooking and sporting a pro- Corbyn t- shirt.
Programme - £3, small enough to fit in your pocket, big enough to read, just enough information on the performers, Womad take note.
So that's about it and thank you if anyone bothered reading this far:)
|
|
|
|
Post by standing stone on Oct 26, 2016 7:58:16 GMT
I bothered and enjoyed reading your review, Olirow; thank you for composing and sharing. Shame there weren't more people of younger age groups there; glad the oldies still supporting the event. Clearly you really had a great time and discovered new favourites - Harpeth Rising sound to have been really worth the effort |
|
|
|
Post by hotdrummer on Oct 26, 2016 9:03:00 GMT
Thanks for your very thorough review Olirow. I was there too. Not sure if any other forum needs were there. This was my fourth Musicport. I always enjoy it and it's only a couple of hours drive for me. I too had a chat with Geoff Berner and sympathised with his third verse appeal !
Yes Blockheads, very funky, what a bass player, I had to move away as it was too loud. Moscow Drug Club were my highlight and why didn't I buy the cd? Loved the trumpet solo spots and the 'djangoesque' guitar bits. Lemn Sissay was so funny and observant. I saw him twice. SJM was a bit ott for me but my Saturday highlight were Manjula. Very jazzy. Shades of pentangle I thought. Harpeth Rising, yes wonderful. Unfortunately, at the close of the festival, Lynched on the main stage weren't a dancy band, in fact pretty downbeat but things were rescued by the Varldens Band; 13 of them; who were buzzing but inappropriately in the theatre where we were permitted to dance next to our seats.
Beer was reasonably priced but lacked a light hoppy session bitter.
It would be nice to attract a few more under 60s to the event. It's all about marketing and image. I could say lots more but I've got to finish tiling the bathroom. Catch you all soon. 😍
|
|
|
|
Post by calndel on Oct 26, 2016 22:27:51 GMT
Musicport sounds good and Lemn Sissay is an amazing talent
hotdrummer, love the new pic and we are glad your trip to Mull worked out, celtic connection tickets go on sale tomorrow!!!
|
|
