Musings of a middle aged man

rock n roll

28/11/2014

Friday 28th November. 229 The Venue. James Hunter Six. If you like you R n B and Soul of a fifties vintage then James Hunter is the man for you. It’s only our second time at the 229 The Venue and assuming room in the basement of a sixties style high-rise near Great Portland Street station.

It’s me and the missus tonight and after a good Turkish meal nearby it’s a short trot through trendy Maryleb...one to the venue. A sparse crowd meets us with the room about a third to half full. Ordinarily I’d have concerns about the atmosphere but tonight it’s all about great soul music and plenty of room to boogie.

And boogie everyone did. It’s a rattling set taking in highlights from his last three albums with ‘Chicken Switch’, ‘Minute by minute’, ‘Jacqueline’ and ‘Let the monkey ride’ all standing out. The horn section tonight was particularly great with a beautiful balance between bass and tenor sax. All accompanied by a brilliant organist who keep the rhythm going throughout.

James Hunter has one of those classic soul voices in the style of Sam Cooke which is made even more surprising as he’s a middle aged white guy. The band covers the 5 Royales ‘Baby Don’t Do it’ who Hunter proclaims as the inventors of Soul.

It’s over in a flash and it’s time to put the dancing shoes to bed and make our way home.

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Its mould with a touch of sugar

18/11/2014

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18th November 2014. Village Underground. Bob Mould. This is going to be loud was the first I said when I met Graham before tonight’s gig. Recent set lists show it’s a Husker Du heavy set with a sprinkling of Sugar and the new album.

The Village Underground is a relatively new venue. It’s a long narrow room with bare brick walls and skylights. A sold out show meant we were quite near the back and for what was to follow it’s just as well.

We were treated to a full on assault of... our senses. Bob clearly turned everything up to ten skipped over eleven and went straight to twelve. It’s a nonstop blast of the simplest of rock setups, bass, drums and guitar. No time for banter as they career through 24 songs in a little over an hour and fifteen minutes.

The oldies in the audience left happy with nine Husker Du songs from all over their back catalogue with a little Sugar thrown in while there enough quality from Bob’s current and last album to keep the newly converted interested.

Highlights too many to mention but ‘Hoover Dam’ and ‘Something I learned today’ stand out for me. It’s exhausting to watch and so how a 54 year old can perform like that on stage every night is impressive. A rockin good night.

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it's all iron and no wine

16/11/2014

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16th November 2014. Adelphi Theatre. Iron and Wine. No sign of Gemma Arterton and the Dagenham girls in the theatre on a wet Sunday night. That said it was nice to be greeted with a firework display as we walked over the Thames. Nice touch The Adelphi. It’s Mr Head and The Burgess Boys tonight and rarely I have probably seen Sam Beam aka Iron and Wine the least out of the four of us. Fourth time for me and it’s the first solo acoustic.

I am a big fan of the first three albums and so am hoping for some real oldies and I wasn’t to be disappointed. Sam Beam has a quiet honeyed voice sometimes barely a whisper but delivers moving tales of religion, country folk and Americana that has you captured till the last note.

It’s a slightly disjointed night though with little in the way of a set list but just responding to calls out from the audience. This works to a degree but does disrupt the flow of the evening a little although we probably wouldn’t have heard live rarities such as Jesus the Mexican Boy in the normal run of things.

Towards the end of the set the support act Jesca (?) Hoop joins him for a few numbers. She looks like Andy Pandy with an added giant bow on the front of her blouse. It’s pleasant enough but doesn’t add anything for me to the evening and I would much rather have heard three songs without her.

Highlights are the hushed ‘Upward over the mountain’ and ‘Resurrection Fern’ both of which followed Ms Hoop’s removal from stage. A good night but with a few tweaks could have been a great one.

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De..lightful

12/11/2014

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Wednesday 12th November. Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen. The Delines. It’s a wet Wednesday night with the Burgess Boys (like the Venga boys but taller), Graham and Anne. It’s been six years since the first time I went to this venue and it’s fair to say the area has gone a bit up market. It’s all trendy bars and boutique restaurants now instead of pubs where they issued you with a weapon if you were...n’t carrying before.
The Delines hail from Portland (definitely on the list of US cities I need to visit) and are led by singer songwriter Willy Vlautin from Richmond Fontaine. However the main vocals are handled by Amy Boone who I had never heard of before this band came along. He voice has a silky smooth country tone that places her somewhere between Carpenters, Karen and Mary Chapin.
We’re set for an evening of hushed tones, gentle guitars and story based songs. And that’s exactly what we got. Vlautin specialises in songs that take you on a journey through American life and Boones vocals perfectly capture this essence giving a different spin on Vlautlns own voice.
One album in and expecting a short set it was filled with most of that album plus three new ones (two of which sounded very good) and a cover of Ode to Billie Joe where Boone comes on stage solo with just an acoustic guitar.
It’s difficult to pick a highlight in amongst the night but 82nd St and State Line shone through for me. This was not a night for rock and roll and moshing as the music just seemed to envelope you and suck you in like a warm duvet with Boone’s voice acting as a soft pillow in which to rest your head. I am guessing that Bob Mould next week will be a little livelier.

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small sound for a big band

7/11/2014

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Friday 7th November. Shepherds Bush Empire. Spoon. I have been looking forward to this gig for weeks. I have all of their albums but have never seen them live. I have persuaded Graham to join me and is day two at the bush.

Despite the fact that it’s my most visited venue, over fifty times, I don’t really like it. It’s a relatively low stage and a flat floor which means that unless you are near th...e front the view is a little ropey.

We push our way to a reasonable distance and await what I hope will be classic English influenced power pop from this Texan outfit.

They open up with a couple from their new mighty fine album ‘They want my Soul’ but tonight is very much a game of two halves. I’m not sure what the sound man was listening to but it certainly wasn’t what was being played in front of him. The sound is awful and all you can here is a heavy bass. The lead guitar is buried somewhere in Hammersmith and Britt Daniels beautiful vocals haven’t even made it to London.

Eventually either someone’s had a word or he’s remembered to engage his ears and what follows is everything I like about this band. Great songs played by a talented bunch of musicians and sung by a quite unique voice albeit with shades of Glenn Tillbrook thrown in.

The new albums stands up well but it’s the oldies from my favourite album ‘Kill the Moonlight’, ‘Small stakes’ and ‘The Way we Get by’ that win me the day.

On the whole a good night slightly spoilt by poor early sound and a certain cleanness and polish by the band that lacked the energy of the night before with Delta Spirit.

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these boys have some spirit

6/11/2014

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Thursday 6th November. Bush Hall. Delta Sprit. A last minute decision to go tonight and the three amigos meet at the rather quite good Defectors Weld in Shepherds Bush. It’s been over five years since we last saw Delta Spirit at the ICA touring their fine debut ‘Ode to Sunshine’. A couple of OK albums in the interim before this year’s rockier ‘Into the Wide’.

Bush Hall is a medium sized venue with an ornate ceiling and masonry on the walls and a carpet! It’s a beard and plaid... shirt night for the audience. The band come on stage and it’s obvious from the opening chords that this is not going to be naval gazing math rock evening. It’s all guns blasting and after a couple of numbers where they sort the sound out and a call for the room lights to be dimmed it’s a full on rock show.

They rattle through most of the new album with highlights of ‘Push It’ and ‘From now on’ and oldies of ‘People come on’ and ‘People turn around’. The band are excellent and lead singer Matthew Vasquez is clearly up for it thrashing his guitar like it’s the last night on earth. Its breathless stuff. They seem to be an amalgam of all of the great American rock bands with touches of Creedence, Bruce and even a little Steve Forbert.

The band go off after ‘Hold my End Up’ but the crowd keep singing the refrain until they come back on for a couple more.

It seems like record company issues may have kept them away for so long but they promise to be back soon and I for one will be there. A great night spent with a band right back to form.

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rock n roll

Its mould with a touch of sugar

it's all iron and no wine

De..lightful

small sound for a big band

these boys have some spirit

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