Recent gigs

[mickf]

Justin Hayward, New Theatre, Cardiff last night. A lovely evening, with plenty of highlights. My personal favourite was 'You and Me', which I hadn't seen him do solo before.
His voice sounded a bit wobbly at first, but he seemed to improve as the evening went on - and there was a lovely few minutes when he paid tribute to all of his old Moody Blues bandmates, all of whom have now died. He sounded and looked quite emotional when he spoke. I particularly liked when he said that Mike Pinder 'made my songs work'.
He had some great help from those on stage with him, including Mike Dawes, who had his short support act moment. He's doing a tour next year. I've seen him with Justin before and he is is a very talented guitarist, but I don't know if I'd want to see a whole evening of him playing.

A great way to spend a Sunday evening.

[Andy]

Sounds great. I babysat his daughter for him in the 1970s when my then girlfriend was asked to do so and I went with her. Nice chap.

[PJayBe]

Just had a good week.  Pete Roth Trio, Cats In Space, Peat and Diesel & Dervish.

[davidmjs]

Just had a good week.  Pete Roth Trio, Cats In Space, Peat and Diesel & Dervish.

In general, I'm not a jazz fan, so apologies if I'm missing something obvious.  Do you reckon anybody would be going to see the Pete Roth trio if they didn't have Bill Bruford on drums?

[DarrenWilliams]

Just had a good week.  Pete Roth Trio, Cats In Space, Peat and Diesel & Dervish.

In general, I'm not a jazz fan, so apologies if I'm missing something obvious.  Do you reckon anybody would be going to see the Pete Roth trio if they didn't have Bill Bruford on drums?

I think it's fair to say most people are there to see Bill. Me and my two mates certainly were.

[David V B]

The Van Morrison Alumni Band at Lowther Pavilion, Lytham. Brilliant musicians playing wonderful songs without the risk of the singer having a strop. What’s not to love?! A better set list than you get from the man himself too as they play many of the songs he doesn’t play any more and no material off a new album. All in all, a super evening.

[davidmjs]

The Van Morrison Alumni Band at Lowther Pavilion, Lytham. Brilliant musicians playing wonderful songs without the risk of the singer having a strop. What’s not to love?! A better set list than you get from the man himself too as they play many of the songs he doesn’t play any more and no material off a new album. All in all, a super evening.

How was the singing covered?

[mickf]

Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts, at Cubanas, Barry. Nice evening, with an appreciative audience and some great music. Support act was Julian Dawson, former Plainsong member, who also joined Iain and Andy for the encore, when he revealed that he's been doing the driving on this tour.
They started with a nice version of Reno Nevada and continued to cherry pick some great tracks from their back catalogue. They also played several songs from one of their heroes, Richard Farina. I must admit I wasn't aware of his history, but his songs, as presented here, were very special indeed.
All in all, I'm glad I went - nice to bump into Bridget of this parish, too.

[David V B]

The Van Morrison Alumni Band at Lowther Pavilion, Lytham. Brilliant musicians playing wonderful songs without the risk of the singer having a strop. What’s not to love?! A better set list than you get from the man himself too as they play many of the songs he doesn’t play any more and no material off a new album. All in all, a super evening.

How was the singing covered?

Georgia van Etten and Jo Harmon, both excellent. I think having a man would have prompted unwanted comparisons and possibly impersonation. This meant focus was firmly tribute to the material and not the act.

[Chris from Fieldtown]

Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts, at Cubanas, Barry. Nice evening, with an appreciative audience and some great music. Support act was Julian Dawson, former Plainsong member, who also joined Iain and Andy for the encore, when he revealed that he's been doing the driving on this tour.
They started with a nice version of Reno Nevada and continued to cherry pick some great tracks from their back catalogue. They also played several songs from one of their heroes, Richard Farina. I must admit I wasn't aware of his history, but his songs, as presented here, were very special indeed.
All in all, I'm glad I went - nice to bump into Bridget of this parish, too.

That sounds like the sort of gig I would travel for. Really great songwriters together and I guess acoustic, which suits me more and more these days.

[Alan2]

Gwenifer Raymond /Neville  Clay.

I've seen Neville before and he was good as always.

Ms Raymond was powerful  and original.  Clear influence of John Fahey, as people have said.- i  used to listen to  Fare Forward Voyagers and was reminded of that.

I only wish she had played more slow pieces. The set was about an hour long and very intense.

[Tasha]

Boomtown Rats! Absolutely fantastic!
Some great harmonica playing from his Bobness

[mickf]

Fairport at The Acapela, Pentyrch, last night. Great fun. A sell out crowd (mind you, it's a small venue) were entertained with songs from across the repertoire, along with what seemed to be a contest to mention the word 'Banbury' as many times as possible. All the usual suspects were there, including Ric's messages from the old jokes' home - they really are truly awful, but I always titter!

The usual excellent musicianship was on display, although, after a couple of songs needed to be restarted, Simon admitted that, " I seem to be having trouble starting songs tonight." I think in these small venues you can really hear the subtleties in certain accompaniment. Peggy's bass playing was excellent, for instance.

Great fun.

[Poor Will (Bill)]

Suzanne Vega with Katherine Priddy as support at Brighton Dome

Katherine Priddy must have one of the purest voices around at the moment.
A beautiful set from her, but at only 25 minutes it was far too short!

Suzanne Vega was backed by guitarist Gerry Leonard and cellist Stephanie Winters.
She gave us all the favourites and a few from her new excellent album “Flying with Angels”.
There was also one cover version in the encore, Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side”
To be honest, I thought Leonard was overdoing the electric guitar on the first few numbers (think early Billy Bragg), but I either got more used to it or he toned it down a bit.
Vega was in great voice and the new songs are every bit as good as the classics.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening.