It's always nice to tick a performer off my 'must see musicians' list and tonight I've got a pretty big name to mark a line through - Van Morrison aka Van the Man ('VTM').
I have absolutely no idea what to expect tonight. I've heard infamous stories about VTM being a temperamental stage dweller who pays little or no attention to his audience and regularly chastises members of his band for no apparent reason - yes, I have been warned!
Tonight's show forms part of Bluesfest and as a result I am not expecting a greatest hits set. It's a bonus that my favourite VTM songs lean heavily towards his blues tendencies.
VTM appears on stage promptly at the stated start time of 8.30pm. He is clad is his trademark black suit, black hat and dark glasses (how he can see anything is beyond me as the stage lights are down low already!).
Some of the highlights were:
* The first song is one of my all time VTM favourites - Them's Baby Please Don't Go. I love the down and dirty feeling to this tune be I am always reminded of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam inviting people to 'boogaloo until we puke'. VTM mentions at the end of the song that when it was released they probably sold about 10 copies - I assume this is a noted dig at the fact that he never received any royalties from his work with Them.
* You Know What They're Writing About Lyrics sees VTM's first foray in the sax. He is, of course, known as a formidable guitar player but obviously has musical skills well above and beyond the 6 stringed instrument. It's good to see that VTM is still engaging with an instrument onstage rather than simply providing vocals (and stern directions to his band!).
* 'No Safety net, No Plan B' is VTM's new mantra. It's a great tune which echoes thoughts which perhaps should belong to a much younger man. Perhaps VTM is just touching on Leonard Cohen's invitation of "I'm old, I'm broke - follow me".
* There was only one real divo (as opposed to diva) act of the night during I'm Not Feeling It Anymore where mid-song VTM barks directions at one of his band to charge instruments and his sound. It's not something I have seen before but given warnings previously noted, it is not particularly unexpected. VTM comments with some cheek at the end of this song that 'Paul Macartney says you can't buy love and he should know'.
* I'm a relatively young member of the audience (yay!) and by and large the crowd is very respectful - well until some dufus yells out an ill-timed request for Brown-Eyed Girl. Ahh dude it's Bluesfest - get a grip!
* VTM's voice is strong and easily matches the band's verve. I personally think that is pretty impressive for a 66 year old, and seeing him on sax and harmonica at various points throughout the night (although always of short duration) indicates to me that VTM has a few more years in him yet!!
* The last song of the set is another Them classic - Gloria. It seems to me that this is played more to appease the audience than for any enjoyment that VTM is getting out of it. After his vocals are finished VTM leaves the stage unceremoniously well before the band finishes.
It is a decent set and I'm glad that I've made he effort to see VTM in the flesh. It hasn't however melted my face off or otherwise moved me to rave about his stage presence, but it is another musical 'wanted' poster that I can take off my wall.
Showing posts with label Hammersmith Apollo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hammersmith Apollo. Show all posts
Friday, 29 June 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Kylie Minogue - Anti-Tour - Hammersmith Apollo - 3 April 2012
Even before I get to this show I am impressed. The concept is genius - Kylie, no outfit changes, live band, no dancers and only b-sides, demos and rarities - this is the Anti-Tour!
Holy shit if only I could get my other favourite artists to do this!
I've never actually heard of an artist as big as Kylie undertaking something like this. Name me another artist who has sold 68 million records and successfully sold a b-sides, demos are rarities only show internationally - I freakin love it! And so do the 5000 other people at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight.
The vibe is good and the DJ who is warming us up certainly knows which buttons to push - there are some great mash ups with Kylie hits (which we are not going to hear tonight) and by the time our Kylie comes onstage around 8.25pm we are more than ready.
The main set starts off with Magnetic Electric - a bonus track from X and already everyone is singing along - behold the Kylie faithful!
Kylie then bursts into Made in Heaven (vintage 1988) straight after the opening track opening up our Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW) account for the night. Kylie addresses the crowd soon after reminding them of the purpose of the evening and thereby adjusting expectations - there will be no "La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La" tonight. The crowd do not care and eagerly await the next setlist surprise.
The upbeat Cherry Bomb and B.P.M are next. The band sound good - drums, bass, guitar, keyboards/synth and three backing singers. It really is stripped down and back to basics stuff - it makes a pretty big change from the Aphrodite extravaganza I saw at the O2 last year (complete with Kylie mounting a male angel and riding him through the air!). It's different and intimate and has pretty much sorted the men from the boys in terms of Kylie fans.
There are more singalongs for I'm Over Dreaming (Over You) and Always Find the Time and a song later I am rewarded with one of my favourite Kylie rarities - Tightrope. Woo hoo now all I need is for her to pull out Turn It Into love and my Kylie set list dream will be fulfilled! (I am unfortunately denied all but an acapella chorus of this later on!).
A few songs later we hit an Impossible Princess double-shot - Drunk and Say Hey. That album is my second favourite Kylie album (Fever just can't be beaten!) and then she brings it right down with Bittersweet Goodbye which is an ode to a lost friend. It somewhat sucks the 'up' vibe from the proceedings but she is well aware that is it a bit of downer and immediately heads straight into Disco Down to compensate.
We then tread back into a bit of SAW territory with It's No Secret and Got To Be Certain and Kylie gives a shout out to Pete Waterman who is in the crowd tonight. It's so much fun being back in the 80s with Kylie. Hers was the first concert I ever went to - 1989 at the Melbourne Tennis Centre - and I am pretty sure both those songs were on the set list that night!
The most hilarious part of heading way back into the 80s is that good ol Kyles needs the assistance of lyric sheets for a couple of tracks. This does not apply to the audience who assist her effortlessly - we are so KMHC (Kylie Minogue Hard Core)!!
We are then into encore time and we have a cover (Tears On My Pillow) and then a couple of oldies ending with Enjoy Yourself (the title track from the album of the same name).
This has been a brilliant night and well worth the relatively hefty price tag (£70) - I doubt that we are going to ever see such a performance from Kylie again and I am just glad to have be inside the building for it.
Set list:
Magnetic Electric
Made in Heaven
Cherry Bomb
BPM
Mighty Rivers
I'm Over Dreaming (Over You)
Always Find the Time
You're the One
Tightrope
Paper Dolls
Stars
Drunk
Say Hey
Too Much
Bittersweet Goodbye
Disco Down
I Don't Need Anyone
Give Me Just a Little More Time
It's No Secret
Got to Be Certain
Things Can Only Get Better
Encore:
Tears on My Pillow
One Boy Girl
Enjoy Yourself
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/sets/72157629370540468/
Holy shit if only I could get my other favourite artists to do this!
I've never actually heard of an artist as big as Kylie undertaking something like this. Name me another artist who has sold 68 million records and successfully sold a b-sides, demos are rarities only show internationally - I freakin love it! And so do the 5000 other people at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight.
The vibe is good and the DJ who is warming us up certainly knows which buttons to push - there are some great mash ups with Kylie hits (which we are not going to hear tonight) and by the time our Kylie comes onstage around 8.25pm we are more than ready.
The main set starts off with Magnetic Electric - a bonus track from X and already everyone is singing along - behold the Kylie faithful!
Kylie then bursts into Made in Heaven (vintage 1988) straight after the opening track opening up our Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW) account for the night. Kylie addresses the crowd soon after reminding them of the purpose of the evening and thereby adjusting expectations - there will be no "La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La" tonight. The crowd do not care and eagerly await the next setlist surprise.
The upbeat Cherry Bomb and B.P.M are next. The band sound good - drums, bass, guitar, keyboards/synth and three backing singers. It really is stripped down and back to basics stuff - it makes a pretty big change from the Aphrodite extravaganza I saw at the O2 last year (complete with Kylie mounting a male angel and riding him through the air!). It's different and intimate and has pretty much sorted the men from the boys in terms of Kylie fans.
There are more singalongs for I'm Over Dreaming (Over You) and Always Find the Time and a song later I am rewarded with one of my favourite Kylie rarities - Tightrope. Woo hoo now all I need is for her to pull out Turn It Into love and my Kylie set list dream will be fulfilled! (I am unfortunately denied all but an acapella chorus of this later on!).
A few songs later we hit an Impossible Princess double-shot - Drunk and Say Hey. That album is my second favourite Kylie album (Fever just can't be beaten!) and then she brings it right down with Bittersweet Goodbye which is an ode to a lost friend. It somewhat sucks the 'up' vibe from the proceedings but she is well aware that is it a bit of downer and immediately heads straight into Disco Down to compensate.
We then tread back into a bit of SAW territory with It's No Secret and Got To Be Certain and Kylie gives a shout out to Pete Waterman who is in the crowd tonight. It's so much fun being back in the 80s with Kylie. Hers was the first concert I ever went to - 1989 at the Melbourne Tennis Centre - and I am pretty sure both those songs were on the set list that night!
The most hilarious part of heading way back into the 80s is that good ol Kyles needs the assistance of lyric sheets for a couple of tracks. This does not apply to the audience who assist her effortlessly - we are so KMHC (Kylie Minogue Hard Core)!!
We are then into encore time and we have a cover (Tears On My Pillow) and then a couple of oldies ending with Enjoy Yourself (the title track from the album of the same name).
This has been a brilliant night and well worth the relatively hefty price tag (£70) - I doubt that we are going to ever see such a performance from Kylie again and I am just glad to have be inside the building for it.
Set list:
Magnetic Electric
Made in Heaven
Cherry Bomb
BPM
Mighty Rivers
I'm Over Dreaming (Over You)
Always Find the Time
You're the One
Tightrope
Paper Dolls
Stars
Drunk
Say Hey
Too Much
Bittersweet Goodbye
Disco Down
I Don't Need Anyone
Give Me Just a Little More Time
It's No Secret
Got to Be Certain
Things Can Only Get Better
Encore:
Tears on My Pillow
One Boy Girl
Enjoy Yourself
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/sets/72157629370540468/
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Sting - Hammersmith Apollo - 21 March 2012
So I've managed another unplanned gig within the space of a few weeks. I have 'come to the rescue' of my mate Rachel who has found herself without a gig buddy when her husband-to-be was unable to extract himself from work to get to the Hammersmith Apollo to catch singer/songwriter/forest saver - Sting.
I had the opportunity to go and see the reformed Police a few years ago at Twickenham but I frankly could not stomach the price tag and took a pass. I've never seen either The Police or Sting so was more than happy to tag along and get an opportunity to see whether this infamous 60 year-old still had something to give live.
Looking around the Apollo, Rachel and myself were pleased to be amongst the youngest in the crowd as it's normally the opposite for me! The tour is called Back to Bass and I wondered whether this entailed acoustic interpretations of his songs - it didn't! His show started at 8pm (there was no support) and was accompanied by a full band - two guitars, drums, female backing vocalist, violin player and of course Sting on bass.
Two classics open proceedings - All the Time and Police tune Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - sounds pretty good to me so far. There has always been a persistent allegation that Sting is, well, boring. I've never been subjected to this personally, but to be fair I haven't taken a huge interest in his solo career since The Dream of the Blue Turtles (which was his first solo album from 1985).
A few further songs in we get two tunes of Sting's which he says have been covered by none other than Johnny Cash (I Hung My Head) and Toby Keith (I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying) - neither song really does it for me but the band sound good and I'm not bored so we push on.
Next is one of my Police favourites - Driven To Tears - I actually think the song is underrated by many and it is good to hear the original writer and singer perform it - there is also a mad fiddle solo tacked on which I love.
It occurs to me that Sting's extra-curricular activities outside music have somewhat overshadowed his rather significant song contributions. The fact is the man is responsible for a decent amount of very good songs - I just hope that I'm going to get to hear them tonight.
I am almost instantly rewarded following this thought with my favourite Sting solo song - Fortress Around Your Heart. Given that I know sweet fuck all about writing songs I always give bonus points to songwriters who can entwine unusual words within their songs. For this song, the bonus scrabble word is 'chasm':
"And if I built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you with trenches and barbed wire,
Then let me build a bridge,
For I cannot fill the chasm,
And let me set the battlements on fire"
'Chasm' - tidy work Sting - although certainly not as good as Neil Finn's unbeatable triple word score use of 'cumulonimbus' (from When You Come).
Another big Sting track in the form of Fields of Gold then follows. It is introduced as a track written whilst walking through the fields surrounding his "fucking big castle" - well at least he's not going to lie to us!
This honesty continues further on when discussing the ability of his wife (the lovely Trudi Styler) to completely destroy him whilst simultaneously save him at the same - apparently this aptly describes the balance of their marriage - mmm ok did I really need to know that?
This is where the evening starts to slip somewhat away from me. We are subject to a run of tracks which delve into subject matter which can only be described as bizarre - one is written from the point of view of a petty thief stealing the car of a wealthy businessman and the another is written from the point of view of a fox whose mate is killed by hunters - ok now I'm bored. This is indulgent even by my standards and the songs are nothing to write home about - so not even the music can save them!
The last song of the main set is subject to some mixing problems - he's really gonna have to pull it out to get this show back on track. This silent challenge from me is apparently accepted and the first song of the first encore is crowd-pleaser Desert Rose which is a lot more robust live and really sounds great. This is followed up with probably Sting's most well known song - Every Breath You Take - it remains a lesson in songwriting for anyone.
This very decent double shot is only surpassed by the last song of the night which forms the third encore - a completely acoustic (Sting & guitar only) version of Message in a Bottle - it is magnificent and makes me wonder why the whole show hasn't been similarly presented.
Overall the 'Sting experience' is ok - the great songs have made up for the over-indulgence and I'm glad to have seen the original in the flesh. I can't say I would be forking out £75 myself to see him again - he has enough castles in my view!
Setlist
All this time
Every Little Thing
Seven Days
Demolition Man
I Hung my Head
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
Driven to Tears
Stolen Car
Fortress Around Your heart
Fields of Gold
Sacred Love
Ghost Story
Heavy Cloud, No Rain
Inside
Love is Stronger than Justice
Hounds of Winter
The End of the Game
She Was Never Coming Home
Encore
Desert Rose
Every Breath You Take
Second Encore
Next to You
Third Encore
Message in a Bottle (acoustic)
I had the opportunity to go and see the reformed Police a few years ago at Twickenham but I frankly could not stomach the price tag and took a pass. I've never seen either The Police or Sting so was more than happy to tag along and get an opportunity to see whether this infamous 60 year-old still had something to give live.
Looking around the Apollo, Rachel and myself were pleased to be amongst the youngest in the crowd as it's normally the opposite for me! The tour is called Back to Bass and I wondered whether this entailed acoustic interpretations of his songs - it didn't! His show started at 8pm (there was no support) and was accompanied by a full band - two guitars, drums, female backing vocalist, violin player and of course Sting on bass.
Two classics open proceedings - All the Time and Police tune Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - sounds pretty good to me so far. There has always been a persistent allegation that Sting is, well, boring. I've never been subjected to this personally, but to be fair I haven't taken a huge interest in his solo career since The Dream of the Blue Turtles (which was his first solo album from 1985).
A few further songs in we get two tunes of Sting's which he says have been covered by none other than Johnny Cash (I Hung My Head) and Toby Keith (I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying) - neither song really does it for me but the band sound good and I'm not bored so we push on.
Next is one of my Police favourites - Driven To Tears - I actually think the song is underrated by many and it is good to hear the original writer and singer perform it - there is also a mad fiddle solo tacked on which I love.
It occurs to me that Sting's extra-curricular activities outside music have somewhat overshadowed his rather significant song contributions. The fact is the man is responsible for a decent amount of very good songs - I just hope that I'm going to get to hear them tonight.
I am almost instantly rewarded following this thought with my favourite Sting solo song - Fortress Around Your Heart. Given that I know sweet fuck all about writing songs I always give bonus points to songwriters who can entwine unusual words within their songs. For this song, the bonus scrabble word is 'chasm':
"And if I built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you with trenches and barbed wire,
Then let me build a bridge,
For I cannot fill the chasm,
And let me set the battlements on fire"
'Chasm' - tidy work Sting - although certainly not as good as Neil Finn's unbeatable triple word score use of 'cumulonimbus' (from When You Come).
Another big Sting track in the form of Fields of Gold then follows. It is introduced as a track written whilst walking through the fields surrounding his "fucking big castle" - well at least he's not going to lie to us!
This honesty continues further on when discussing the ability of his wife (the lovely Trudi Styler) to completely destroy him whilst simultaneously save him at the same - apparently this aptly describes the balance of their marriage - mmm ok did I really need to know that?
This is where the evening starts to slip somewhat away from me. We are subject to a run of tracks which delve into subject matter which can only be described as bizarre - one is written from the point of view of a petty thief stealing the car of a wealthy businessman and the another is written from the point of view of a fox whose mate is killed by hunters - ok now I'm bored. This is indulgent even by my standards and the songs are nothing to write home about - so not even the music can save them!
The last song of the main set is subject to some mixing problems - he's really gonna have to pull it out to get this show back on track. This silent challenge from me is apparently accepted and the first song of the first encore is crowd-pleaser Desert Rose which is a lot more robust live and really sounds great. This is followed up with probably Sting's most well known song - Every Breath You Take - it remains a lesson in songwriting for anyone.
This very decent double shot is only surpassed by the last song of the night which forms the third encore - a completely acoustic (Sting & guitar only) version of Message in a Bottle - it is magnificent and makes me wonder why the whole show hasn't been similarly presented.
Overall the 'Sting experience' is ok - the great songs have made up for the over-indulgence and I'm glad to have seen the original in the flesh. I can't say I would be forking out £75 myself to see him again - he has enough castles in my view!
Setlist
All this time
Every Little Thing
Seven Days
Demolition Man
I Hung my Head
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
Driven to Tears
Stolen Car
Fortress Around Your heart
Fields of Gold
Sacred Love
Ghost Story
Heavy Cloud, No Rain
Inside
Love is Stronger than Justice
Hounds of Winter
The End of the Game
She Was Never Coming Home
Encore
Desert Rose
Every Breath You Take
Second Encore
Next to You
Third Encore
Message in a Bottle (acoustic)
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