Recent gigs

[Kevin M]

Merry Hell tonight at Red Lion FC in Brum. Pretty good as you’d expect, but interesting Swarb’s nephew Simon on fiddle, he definitely adds more subtlety to their sound.

[William]

Bellowhead at Ipswich Regent last night. 50% music 50% circus. 100% entertainment plus a tear jerking tribute to Paul Sartin. Tickets @ £42.50 each combined with the type of venue (seated theatre) meant that there was a preponderance of enthusiastic grey-heads in the audience. ie middle class pensioners still with a disposable income. That said the reformed Bellowhead remain an awesome live act.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Bellowhead at Ipswich Regent last night. 50% music 50% circus. 100% entertainment plus a tear jerking tribute to Paul Sartin. Tickets @ £42.50 each combined with the type of venue (seated theatre) meant that there was a preponderance of enthusiastic grey-heads in the audience. ie middle class pensioners still with a disposable income. That said the reformed Bellowhead remain an awesome live act.

I suspect Cardiff on Sunday will be the same!

[Will S]

Yeah, I'm not sure how it's going to be, sitting up in the gallery tomorrow night. Sitting at a Bellowhead concert just seems wrong somehow!

[Phil Perry]

Well, when we saw Bellowhead at Cambridge Corn Exchange on Sunday, the band noted with satisfaction that finally they had arrived at a standing venue on the tour. Certainly, I agree with those of you who noted the amazing exuberance of the whole thing. But just to strike a (very minor) negative note, we couldn't help noticing that Jon was struggling with his vocals just for the last 2 or 3 numbers. And, strangely enough, at the previous gig we went to, Joshua Burnell had a similar voice struggle at exactly the same point of his (excellent) gig. Can't help wondering if some of these lead vocalists should be a bit more ready to cede the microphone to a colleague at some point earlier on so that, when they return, they are able to make it through to the end at full power ...

 

[Will S]

Yes, it felt wrong to be sitting, but by about two-thirds of the way through the Bellowhead gig at Plymouth on Saturday, a number of people were using the quite large free space at the sides for dancing, and certainly by the end almost everyone was standing anyway.  It was wonderful to see the band back in action, full of energy and vim.  Sam Sweeney did a good job with his small band as support, and then was back in the band and (almost) matching Jon Boden for showmanship for the rest of the gig.  The tribute to Paul Sartin was very well done, too.  Definitely worth a two hour plus round trip to see them.

[wayne stote]

Well, there was no need to have been concerned about the new line-up of The Trials Of Cato. They were excellent last night at the Brudenell, in Leeds.

It was a little different, as one might expect after a losing such an important member but newbie Polly Bolton has fitted in really well. Sound-wise, they have added a touch of psychedelia to the mix, increased the instrumentation to include occasional electric guitar and keyboards - courtesy of Tomos Williams - and replaced Will Addison's foot drum with electronic percussion pedals, but there's enough of a link back to the old sound that it doesn't feel like a seismic shift.

The songs and tunes from the new album, Gog Magog, were all strong and it was nice to hear a few old favourites as well. Great night.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Bellowhead last night in Cardiff was an absolute joy  

Sam Sweeney's band were the perfect start to the evening with melodic, uplifting music mostly from Sam's new album Escape That. I can't believe he's 33! where did those 16 years go since he first joined t'heads?   strongly recommend this album if you can get a copy (checkout Sam's website)

Then onto the main event! I don't have enough superlatives to explain how it felt to see them again, but they were everything I wanted and needed and more. Bags of energy, tomfoolery, crazy light-up trainers - the lot!   Jon Boden is still the consummate front man and the tribute to Paul Sartin was beautiful.

I understand this tour is a one-off but the fact that every night is either a sell-out or damn close must tell them something!!  

[mickf]

Squeeze at St David's Hall, Cardiff (last Friday) with John Cooper Clark as support. Very enjoyable night. Only the second time I've seen Squeeze live and I thought they were superb. John Cooper Clark was both biting and hysterically funny. He, of course, finished the set with 'Chickentown' (still f***ing good! )

Squeeze had the crowd on their feet right from the first number - the wonderful 'Take Me I'm Yours', followed by one of my personal favourites, 'Hourglass'. Song after song was rattled through to rapturous applause right up to the inevitable 'Cool for Cats' before an encore that went on for about twenty minutes. Fantastic night.

[Andy]

Bellowhead at St David's Hall, Cardiff, Sunday 20th.

Bloody marvellous. The audience loved just about every minute, except the tribute to Paul Sartin, which brought tears to the eyes. Sally Hawkins did him proud as stand-in.

Apparently last night brought the cumulative audience for this tour to about 72,000. Certainly all bookable seats were sold at this gig. If that doesn't encourage them to resume being a full-time entity, I don't know what will.

[davidmjs]

I don't understand fully seated Bellowhead gigs.  It just seems like half of all that they are about is missing.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

I don't understand fully seated Bellowhead gigs.  It just seems like half of all that they are about is missing.

There are no other non-seated venues of this size in Cardiff. It was all seated or no Wales gig. And most of us stood and danced for the last few numbers, as my hips, knees and ankles will testify!  

I hope they will continue as a band, but I'm not holding my breath. I think Mr Boden's aspirations lie elsewhere

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Sorry to double post but I've seen a lot of live music lately!

Saturday was Los Endos at Acapela, a Genesis tribute act. I give them 6.5/10 with the drummer and bass player responsible for most of that. OK but wouldn't go to see them again.

Sunday was Bellowhead.

Last night was Jazz Sabbath - Adam Wakeman on grand piano (why did I hear that in Viv Stanshall's voice?  ), Ashley Soan on drums and Jerry Meehan on upright double bass. A superb evening of exactly what it says on the tin - Sabbath played jazz. Loved it  

Those who don't know the history of the band should seek it out - such plagiarism!

[davidmjs]

Last night was Jazz Sabbath - Adam Wakeman on grand piano (why did I hear that in Viv Stanshall's voice?  ), Ashley Soan on drums and Jerry Meehan on upright double bass. A superb evening of exactly what it says on the tin - Sabbath played jazz. Loved it  

That sounds fun.  Take some for it to be as good as this though.  Genuinely one of my favourite albums...

https://www.discogs.com/release/5110011-Rondellus-Sabbatum-A-Medieval-Tribute-To-Black-Sabbath

[Andy]

I think Mr Boden's aspirations lie elsewhere

Yes, they did when Bellowhead split. Didn't go that well for him.

[davidmjs]

I think Mr Boden's aspirations lie elsewhere

Yes, they did when Bellowhead split. Didn't go that well for him.

On what do you base that, Andy?

I know Sam has been bemoaning the audiences that he gets with his own band and solo whilst Bellowhead can pull thousands in, and yet there's so many members in Bellowhead that I do wonder how much more they earn than they do when they're chucking a few instruments in the car and heading off to play a much smaller show?  Sometimes less really is more...  And some people just aren't built to be the face of a 'brand' like Bellowhead.  Lots of stuff comes with that...

[Andy]

I think Mr Boden's aspirations lie elsewhere

Yes, they did when Bellowhead split. Didn't go that well for him.

On what do you base that, Andy?

I know Sam has been bemoaning the audiences that he gets with his own band and solo whilst Bellowhead can pull thousands in, and yet there's so many members in Bellowhead that I do wonder how much more they earn than they do when they're chucking a few instruments in the car and heading off to play a much smaller show?  Sometimes less really is more...  And some people just aren't built to be the face of a 'brand' like Bellowhead.  Lots of stuff comes with that...

I base that on comments I have heard.

As to Bellowhead, they play large venues, charge ~£40 a seat and don't pay merch percentages to venues. Although I don't know what the arrangements are for paying venues, but if you take Sunday, there were about 1900 seats in use, which is roughly £76,000. If you take away half for venue costs and travel etc, that leaves £38,000 for 11 band members and ~8 crew, which would equate to £2,000 each per night, except of course they don't all get paid the same amount (even if the band do, the crew don't). This 18 gig, one month tour would equate to £684,000 which would equate to £36,000 each (except of course they still don't all get paid the same amount).

All the above is pure conjecture and impure maths.

[davidmjs]

I think Mr Boden's aspirations lie elsewhere

Yes, they did when Bellowhead split. Didn't go that well for him.

On what do you base that, Andy?

I know Sam has been bemoaning the audiences that he gets with his own band and solo whilst Bellowhead can pull thousands in, and yet there's so many members in Bellowhead that I do wonder how much more they earn than they do when they're chucking a few instruments in the car and heading off to play a much smaller show?  Sometimes less really is more...  And some people just aren't built to be the face of a 'brand' like Bellowhead.  Lots of stuff comes with that...

I base that on comments I have heard.

As to Bellowhead, they play large venues, charge ~£40 a seat and don't pay merch percentages to venues. Although I don't know what the arrangements are for paying venues, but if you take Sunday, there were about 1900 seats in use, which is roughly £76,000. If you take away half for venue costs and travel etc, that leaves £38,000 for 11 band members and ~8 crew, which would equate to £2,000 each per night, except of course they don't all get paid the same amount (even if the band do, the crew don't). This 18 gig, one month tour would equate to £684,000 which would equate to £36,000 each (except of course they still don't all get paid the same amount).

All the above is pure conjecture and impure maths.

I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if the band members are earning £36k each from this tour.  Divide by ten might be closer to the reality I'd have thought, but yeah...all conjecture.  And if Boden has had an unsuccessful time since they split then every other folk muso in the country might as well pack up and go home....

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Last night was Jazz Sabbath - Adam Wakeman on grand piano (why did I hear that in Viv Stanshall's voice?  ), Ashley Soan on drums and Jerry Meehan on upright double bass. A superb evening of exactly what it says on the tin - Sabbath played jazz. Loved it  

That sounds fun.  Take some for it to be as good as this though.  Genuinely one of my favourite albums...

https://www.discogs.com/release/5110011-Rondellus-Sabbatum-A-Medieval-Tribute-To-Black-Sabbath

Well, IMHO it's better, but that is rather wonderful!

[Andy]

As to Bellowhead, they play large venues, charge ~£40 a seat and don't pay merch percentages to venues. Although I don't know what the arrangements are for paying venues, but if you take Sunday, there were about 1900 seats in use, which is roughly £76,000. If you take away half for venue costs and travel etc, that leaves £38,000 for 11 band members and ~8 crew, which would equate to £2,000 each per night, except of course they don't all get paid the same amount (even if the band do, the crew don't). This 18 gig, one month tour would equate to £684,000 which would equate to £36,000 each (except of course they still don't all get paid the same amount).

All the above is pure conjecture and impure maths.

I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if the band members are earning £36k each from this tour.  Divide by ten might be closer to the reality I'd have thought, but yeah...all conjecture.  

Please illustrate where my calculations are flabbergastingly, obviously, wrong.