Rolling Stones 5/7/69

This was the last of the free Hyde Park gigs I went to - it all seemed so exciting and natural at the time to have free gigs as the old order was apparently being overturned.

This was huge - much bigger than the Blind Faith gig the previous month and though I found myself a good niche position up against a tree which afforded me a little space and height, I was a long way from the stage.

There were a number of support acts but the only one that made an impression on me was Family - Roger Chapman's distinctive vocals and stage presence always commanded attention
King Crimson also supported but my memories of their performance are very hazy.

Jagger as usual was dressed to impress in a sort of white tutu thing. Mick Taylor was on guitar, maybe for the first time in public. For me this was a transitional moment as regards the Stones - adding a young blues guitarist with Mick Taylor's rep had to be a big musical step forward. At Hyde Park he was still finding his way with the Stones but nonetheless his contribution was distinctive.

As for the set; Jumping Jack Flash featured and a countryish version of Honky Tonk Women. The only other track I am sure was played was Street Fighting Man and that was possibly the highlight for me.

Seth Lakeman 3/7/09

Seth was playing at the National Forest Folk Festival and the venue is less than five miles away so it would have been rude not to go. I saw him once before and immediately took to the rhythmic modern folk music he delivers. The subject is often folky - cornish mining disasters, sea rescues, weird nightime phenomena on the moors, but the music is full of energy and pace. He has a distinct violin sound providing an edgy but driving rhythm to the songs.

Hand on Heart Band and The Monster Ceilidh Band provided the support.

Seth Lakeman's set majored on "Poor Man's Heaven" CD with some tracks from "Freedom Fields" and "Kitty Jay" all delivered with gusto.

The stand out track for me was "King and Country" - one of the slower songs and a powerful swipe at the effects of war. "Colliers" and "Poor Man's Heaven" were also memorable.

The audience responded energetically to the music and there was a lot of dancing at the front and the band seem to be enjoying the atmosphere.

I felt slightly short changed by the length of the set - I wanted more than an hour and ten minutes of music but no complaints about the quality.

Blind Faith 7/6/69

This was a gig I was very excited about. I was still smarting from being unable to get a ticket for the Cream farewell gig the previous year and the formation of Blind Faith was a great outcome if Cream had to disband. Effectively Jack Bruce had been replaced by Rick Grech on bass and Steve Winwood on keyboards and vocals but musically this was a very different band..

Unlike the previous Hype Park gig this was a massive affair and I was some distance from the stage. There were support acts - Third Ear Band, Edgar Broughton, Richie Havens and Donovan. The usual suspect really and I don't remember anything that distiguished them on this particular day. Blind Faith I loved although some of the music was new to me. Nothing stands out in the memory as regards the specific songs except for "It's All Right" which they did early on. I think I was into Buddy Holly at the time. But every track was a joy, it was a gorgeous day, Clapton and Winwood were playing and all was well with the world. The music had a laid-back feel to it but Winwood's voice was as strong as ever and the music just seemed to fit the day. I was exhilarated and looked forward to more Blind Faith gigs - alas that was not to be as they broke up not long after.
It was to be the last time I would see Clapton play before his drug problems took him out of the public view and the next gig I saw with him was at the Rainbow in 1973.

Lucinda Williams 29/7/09

Before I talk about the gig I just need to rant for a minute. This was my second visit to the Leamington Assembly and my impressions from my first visit two weeks ago were very favourable. Good sound, nicely done out, bars without queues - all good stuff. This time there was some sort of problem with either the tech or maybe the artists but we were kept queueing in an increasingly crowded and hot room for more than an hour past the advertised door opening time. The issue is this - complete and utter lack of explanation or apology even when asked. Amateur hour or what? Rant over.

Support was from Buick 6 who are Lucinda's current band. They played a guitar based set built around changes in rhythm. The groove kept changing and it was good to listen to. I am always a sucker for a bit of pedal steel or slide guitar and the that featured in a few tracks and just once or twice I got a small hint of Allman Brothers.

When Lucinda came on the band reverted to a a dutiful backing band at first. Lucinda strummed an acoustic guitar and the set was sounding good with her big distinctive voice dominating the sound. I love the southern US accent and I love the way that it comes through when being sung even though a lot of other accents disappear. However about six tracks in the gig just changed gear - the track was "Tears of Joy" and that was followed by "Blue" ,"Jackson", "Pineola" and "Out of Touch" (not necessarily in that exact order).
Now the band were back in the groove and the vocal was powerful and beautifully defined.
I think it was partly that she was visibly enthused by the venue and the audience, and suddenly there was extra energy and everything was a tighter and more dynamic and the gig just took off.

Towards the end of the gig I felt that Lucinda's voice was starting to struggle a bit but this is not surprising - she belts out the vocals without compromise and has been doing so for thirty years as she told us more than once.

The encore featured a track with just Lucinda singing "Passionate Kisses", followed by a couple of tracks off "Little Honey" with the full band. I am glad I eventually caught up with seeing Lucinda Williams and she delivers full-on. I'll catch her next time she is over here.

Eagles 8/7/09

I had never seen the Eagles before so this was definitely an itch scratched after a long time. In fact I had avoided the come-back gigs in the early 2000s as I had assumed it was a commercially driven thing which would have a parade of short recreations of the most popular songs and an audience drowning in nostalgia.
My change of mind had come following the purchase of "Long Road Out of Eden" which was released in 2006. I realised that the Eagles were still creating music and were doing it well.
I still hesitated as the tickets were expensive and the venue (Birmingham NIA) not ideal. I'm very, very glad I went for it. From start to finish (which was not far off three hours later) the music was fabulous. The four long-serving members of the Eagles (Henley, Frey, Schmidt and Walsh) together with Stueart Smith on guitar are all superb musicians and the show was brilliantly arranged to allow them to showcase their talent. For a start they had a second drummer so that Don Henley was not confined to drums but could spend half the gig out front playing guitar and singing front of stage. They also shared out the vocals and when your third and fourth best vocalists are Timothy Schmidt and Joe Walsh, then they need sharing. The guitar playing was a joy. I hadn't really picked up on Stueart Smith before although he features on the album "Long Road Out of Eden" but to have him and Joe Walsh on the same stage was stupendous. When they played lead guitar off each other it was perfect.

With such a huge back catalogue as well as a recent double album there was plenty to choose from and they did a brilliant job of picking a cohesive balanced set of songs
The set started with three songs off "Long Road Out of Eden" including "How Long" and "Guilty of the Crime". From the outset the tempo was great, the music vibrant and the singing sublime despite the ages of the singers.

Next up was "Hotel California" much earlier than I expected and the class of the numerous backing musicians kicked in with some great brass intro and of course supreme lead guitar from Stueart and Joe.

The rest of the first half was mainly older stuff of which "Lyin' Eyes" was simply outstanding and they closed with "The Long Run".

For once the short break was exactly that - fifteen minutes before possibly the highlight of the gig which was a short semi-acoustic set with the guys all on stools playing guitar.
A powerful version of "Waiting in the weeds" had the hairs on the back of the neck definitely moving. This is what live music is about for me - taking a great song and making it come alive in front of an audience. This mini set finished with "Take it to the Limit" and then to top that was a simply outstanding version of "Long Road Out of Eden". It rarely gets better than that.

I reckon there was another nine or ten tracks after that ranging over the Eagles and Joe Walshs' history before it was time for "Desparado" and then they were gone.
Wow.

Pink Floyd 29/6/68

The first of the free concerts in Hyde Park and much smaller than the other two I went to (Blind Faith and the Stones). I was actually sitting on the grass rather than standing a long way from the stage as for the other two gigs.
Support was from Roy Harper, Jethro Tull and T.Rex.
I distinctly remember Roy Harper falling off his stool and wondering who this stoner was. I had not heard of him before the gig but about three years later I started listening to "Flat, Baroque and Bezerk" and have been a fan ever since. I am afraid that Jethro Tull and T. Rex are a bit of a blur at this distance.
The memories of Floyd are also not as distinct as for the Hendrix and Cream concerts from the previous year. The one thing that sticks is "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". The song for me perfectly captured the feeling of the times. Floyd just seemed to be unconstrained as to the conventions musically or lyrically. The Beatles and the Stones were credited with redefining pop songs but for me Pink Floyd just took that to another level. A big part of that was Syd Barrett but by the time of this gig he had already left and Dave Gilmour had taken over on guitar.

Steve Winwood 14/7/09

The most recent of a number of occasions I have seen Steve Winwood in a small midlands venue. This time is was Leamington Assembley Rooms. The formula has been much the same in the last few years - Steve mixes in songs from his most recent album with a good trawl of his more famous tunes from over the last four decades. For me the guy is a legend. The Spencer Davis Group did great pop songs and Steve was only around fifteen when he sang and played with them. Traffic were legendary in the sixties and seventies and Blind Faith were definitely one of the first 'supergroups' despite the fact they didn't last very long. To top all that Steve's solo career has delivered some great albums - particularly for me the early ones. He still has that same deeply soulful but angelic voice and he still plays with all four limbs on his battered old organ beating out the bass lines with his legs as well as playing with his hands and singing.
Much as I rate his keyboard skills I enjoy his guitar playing even more. He generally plays three or four tracks on the guitar; "Dear Mr Fantasy" as standard and "Can't Find My Way Home" pretty regularly. At Leamington he also played lead guitar on "Dirty City" from his most recent album and that was a stand-out track. As usual "Higher Love" featured as well as "I'm a man" and an encore of "Gimme Some Lovin". The other memorable track for me was "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" which segued into "Empty Pages".
All in all two hours of classic Winwood as usual.

Cream 29/10/67

My second gig - probably the only gig that could live with my first gig, Jimi Hendrix, also at The Saville. The Saville closed not long after but it was the epitome of cool as a venue at the time. At least it appeared so to this fifteen year old. The music was listened to with rapt attention and even tapping your feet was a bit edgy. I wish those days of close focus on the performance would return.

The support was Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band which was extraordinary - a full frontal exposure to Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes et al was definitely disorientating but in a nice way.

Cream's performance was breathtaking
It is a long time ago but certain elements remain etched in my memory. The first is Clapton's guitar. There had been guitarists with their own sounds before; Duanne Eddy and Hank Marvin come to mind as two that I liked as a youngster and there had been R&B guitarists before Clapton but he was the real deal in terms of bringing blues guitar to a white audience with an utterly distinctive and compelling delivery. The power and passion of his playing was unmatched.
The second thing was the band which essentially consisted of three musicians each with their unique style and it seemed that the three styles just slotted together perfectly even though with their particular sounds that seemed unlikely. Jack Bruce - a jazzy bassist with an idiosyncratic singing style, the frenetic violence of Ginger Baker's drums and Clapton's ethereal guitar.
I went to the Cream reunion concert in 2005 with worries that it would be disappointing but it took about 30 seconds to be reminded of what was so distinctive about Cream and how the three musicians just gelled.
The other enduring memory was of Ginger Baker's drum solo - I have never heard anything percussive to equal it since. A drum solo was an alien thing to me but this was long, fast and hypnotic with a mesmeric finale that got a reaction even from the Saville audience.
The first of many Clapton gigs for me but not many live so clearly in the memory.

Spiritualized 17/7/09

This was a very different Spiritualized gig compared to the only other time I had seen them in 2007. That was an acoustic gig and included a classical string section - this one was loud with dense guitar and keyboards. The music was great but I didn't enjoy the audience who were themselves loud and generally well-oiled. The same happened the last time I was at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. I want to like the venue because they promote local bands but the arrangement is not good with a bar in the main area and the balcony is not good acoustically when people are talking upstairs.
The support act was Band of Skulls who were enjoyable at the time but the impression faded as soon as Spiritualized kicked off with an energy and pace they kept up for the whole two hour show.
"Shine a Light" came early on and it stood out for me along with the six or seven tracks off "Ladies and Gentlemen..." and "Songs in A&E" but I am pretty sure that is just because I am more familiar with those albums. The audience particularly relished "Think I'm in Love".
The encore was "Lord Can You Hear Me" and that may be a tradition as I seem to remember it was the encore from the previous time I saw them.
All in all this was a gig that deserved a more attentive audience,

Jimi Hendrix 27/8/67

The ticket was a thank you from the guy that I got a World Cup Final ticket for the previous year. My father had got me the footy tickets via a contact high up in the Wembley ticketing operation so I should thank my dad for getting to the Hendrix gig. As a first gig it's been a difficult standard to match since then but I'll keep trying.
The bill included three support groups, the first of which was Eire Apparent who I can only vaguely remember.
The second band on was Humble Pie, notable as being the band that brought Peter Frampton to the limelight who were a step up from the opening band.
Next came "the Crazy World of Arthur Brown" who was definitely memorable. This brings to mind the short list of deranged support acts which includes the Brownster and also Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (who I hadn't actually heard of before I saw them) but I think maybe the winner would be "Mr Pugh's Magic Puppet Theatre". If you have caught his show you'll know what I mean. However if you haven't I don't think it is possible to explain in mere words so I won't bother trying.
The thing that still makes me laugh regarding TCWOAB is his entrance in a dish which was lowered by chain from the ceiling whilst his head was on fire. Health and Safety - you're having a laugh.
Hendrix was just extraordinary. I am sure I sat with my mouth open for the whole show. In a way it was the same sort of effect he had when he first appeared on TV singing "Hey Joe" or when he blew the show Lulu was hosting wide open with his impromptu change of tracks to "Sunshine of Your Love". At each of those events I and many others sat with our mouths open at the audacity of the guy.
The whole playing the guitar with his teeth and the setting fire to it (again with the Health and Safety) was also extraordinary theatre. The highlight track for me was "Wild Thing" which had been a hit for the Troggs and came in the second half of the show. However the single impression burned deepest was the unimaginable sounds he made from an instrument that had previously been used in fairly limited ways in pop music. There was a whole percussive thing that he did and he also made music from feedback. And then he could hold a number of different guitar narratives in his head and play them all in the same track. It was as if the music had gone from two to three dimensions.
Luckily my next gig was to be just as memorable.......

Richard Thompson/Dave Swarbrick 24/7/09

This wasn't as I expected - but in a good way. I only found out that the support was Dave Swarbrick a couple of hours before the gig so we brought forward the arrival time to get a good seat. The venue is the 'tent' at the National Forest Waterside Centre near Moira and it's unreserved seating with latecomers having to use the very wet seats on the hill behind the tent.
Dave Swarbrick could barely walk but his fiddle playing was superb.
When Richard Thompson came on for his set, Swarbrick also appeared and did three numbers with him. In fact they were essentially more Swarbrick numbers with Richard Thompson playing guitar accompaniment. I reckon it was the highlight of the gig. I realised at this point that the gig was turning out very differently from my expectations which were based on seeing him in the same venue almost exactly a year previously.
Thompson then did his solo set and covered a number of favourites as well as taking some requests. The only request he slightly balked at was 'Hokey Pokey' but after saying that it was not in his current repertoire he then proceeded to play a one minute version which sounded pretty good.
I particularly enjoyed "Wall of Death" and "I Misunderstood" and the version of "Crawl Back" was high tempo. It is always good to hear "Vincent Black Lightning 1952" and also "Beeswing" although I've heard deliver them with more feeling.
"'Dad's Gonna Kill Me" was delivered with passion and there was some enjoyable bile as regards George Bush between tracks.
At most gigs there is a track that you clock in a new way and the track that did that for me was "Sunset Song" which he did early on.
The one other stand-out track was I think "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight". Other than that pretty standard Richard Thompson. Sounds good to me.