Karl Svarc 18/12/10

Certainly one of the strangest and atmospheric venues I have ever been in - the Joseph Banks' Conservatory in Lincoln - a very big greenhouse full of exotic plants.

I had not heard of Karl Svarc before the tickets to the gig were arranged but it was a very enjoyable gig. The conditions at least were the opposite of my previous gig which was the Manics at the Birmingham Academy. From being stood up in a jostling crowd I found myself drinking red wine whilst sat a few feet from the stage next to a babbling brook and surrounded by trees and all the while indoors.

Karl was playing with an excellent harmonica player 'Easy'Bob Reid. The lead guitarist of the trio was ill but I found the combination of harp and Karl's guitar together with his understated but very musical singing just about right and it didn't need anything more. His style was sort of laid-back west coast country-influenced singer songwriter and it had a good rhythmic feel to it as well as his attractive vocals. The babbling brook gave excellent rhythm support and his son added a second guitar on some tracks. In the set was also a few tracks from a drum trio and some songs from singer songwriter Chantal who had a lovely voice and an intense style that reminded me a bit of Edwina Hayes. A good evening - roll on the next gig in a greenhouse.

Manic Street Preachers 14/12/10

This gig was postponed from October and featured British Sea Power in support. I came to them (BSP) cold and I liked the line up which saw three guitars and a violin on the opening tracks together with bass and drums. They played with energy and they had their moments which for me were the tracks that had some melodic content and a couple of songs that were reminiscent of sub-Springsteen riffs. Otherwise it was a bit uninspired, maybe even slightly anodine. There was a lot of energetic strumming but I felt they needed a bit of imagination to turn their technical expertise into something memorable.

Manics launched straight into some crowd favourites and in fact didn't really linger at any point in the gig on tracks from their excellent new album 'Postcards from a Young Man'. Despite some awful watching conditions (peering between peoples heads)the band played a selection from their whole career at some pace and it was all good to hear. James Dean Bradfield showed that he is a really good guitarist live and in fact he sounded better live than on record. The odd thing for me was that the audience was very enthusiastic and voluble down in the standing area but there was an inverse correlation between the songs I thought were outstanding and the audience's enthusiasm. For me 'This is Yesterday' and 'Faster' from 'The Holy Bible' were outstanding as well as stuff from the new album and also 'If you tolerate this'. Another highlight for me was the first of James' two solo acoustic numbers 'You Stole the Sun from My Heart'. I'm guessing the audience was brought up on late 90's manics rather than the earlier stuff. The band also played a Wham cover 'Last Christmas' - slightly strange even though it is nearly Christmas but I can say it was a lot better than Wham doing it. I was glad to see that the Manics hadn't lost their enthusiasm and energy from when I saw them in 92. I would have preferred a better environment to hear them in but maybe the two things don't go together.

Seth Lakeman 26/4/08

The gig was branded as 'English Originals' and as well as Seth Lakeman it included Tunng and Sharon Krauss. I was intrigued by the rootsy nature of this new folk, particularly as the roots were not from the usual regions but in Seth's case the South West.

I don't remember much of Sharron Krauss but I remember liking her set without being particularly inspired. Tunng didn't really do it for me although I caught them as part of a hybrid band the following year and liked them a lot more. On this ocassion I found them a bit disjointed.

Seth however was excellent. His fiddle and guitar playing was supremely energetic and positive and was at the same time rooted in regional tradition. There were songs about mining disasters and lifeboat disasters and dark nights on moors. The whole band was good with his brother playing fiddle and other instruments and a dynamic upright bass player who added to the energetic tempo of the gig.

He played a stack of songs off " Freedom Fields" which was the only album I knew and they really resonated as live tracks. 'King and Country' was amazing as was the final track 'Setting of the Sun' - both deeply poignant. 'Lady of the Sea' and 'Colliers' delivered a more dynamic energy. Good stuff all round.

Alison Krauss/Robert Plant 5/5/08

As a long term fan of Alison Krauss and also of Robert Plant as one of the best of the 70's vocal frontmen, this was a tour not to be missed. I was aware that Buddy Miller was in the live band but was overjoyed to find that T-Bone Burnett was also on stage with them. Now that is a band line-up.

The support was an overawed local band

From the moment the band struck with a typical swampy T-Bone Burnett rhythm and the two vocalists entered from opposite sides of the stage the gig was top class. Individually Krauss and Plant are great singers but their voices combined beautifully as well. Alison Krauss has the most amazing voice ultimately powerful and flawless however high she cranks it up.

They went throgh pretty much all of their album 'Raising Sand', threw in some Led Zep classics reinterpreted for banjo and southern US musicians and one or two covers as well. Along the way T-Bone got to do a couple of songs that oozed New Orleans.

Highlights of the gig for me included 'Killing the Blues' and 'Please Read the Letter' where Plant really delivered the emotion and almost any track that featured Krauss's vocals. She delievered a Tom Waits cover beautifully and led an acapella version of 'Down to the River To Pray'. The band meanwhile which of course included Krauss on violin were just about perfect. T-Bone and Buddy Miller on guitar - awesome.

There may have been some who went hoping to hear Led Zep but I think everyone went home happy. A flawless gig.

Steve Winwood 7/10/08

After a gap of thirty years or so I was delighted to see Steve Winwood again in 2003 when he seemed to restart touring. Ever since I have caught up with him once a year or so as he wends his way round the smaller provincial venues of the midlands. This was the 2008 version and it was at the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton.

Steve generally mixes up a set from the 60s to the present day and he has a back catalogue of such quality and of such depth that the show is always filled with great songs. The line-ups often change year to year and this gig saw Jose Neto on guitar, Paul Booth on sax and Richard Baily on drums.

Much as I rate Steve Winwood as an organ player and a singer and basically I think he's pretty much as good as it gets I have a deep love of his guitar playing and at most gigs he delivers two or three tracks on guitar. This time he picked up the guitar early on to play 'Can't find my way home' and stayed with it for a memorable 'Dirty City'. If anything this was a slower-paced gig than some of the Winwood shows. He started out with 'Different Light'and also did 'Fly' and 'At Times We Do Forget' from Nine Lives - all atmospheric and thoughtful tracks. 'Low Spark' was another classic track in the same mould and as usual he also did 'Higher Love' which I reckon is played at all of his shows. For the encore he ripped it up with 'Dear Mr Fantasy' with Steve playing mesmeric guitar and then 'Gimme Some Lovin' ' to end the show.

Another great Winwood show - what more is there to say.

Goldfrapp 26/10/08

I was attracted to this gig to hear something a bit different and because I just loved the energy of 'Ooh La La' and wanted to see if there was more of the same from Goldfrapp. The gig was high tempo a lot of the time but came across to me as a bit too rehearsed and given that I didn't know the music, it didn't excite me as much as I hoped. 'Ooh La La' was certainly brilliant and there was one other track from 'Supernature' that I knew but overall I left feeling it was interesting more than deeply moving.

My Bloody Valentine 20/6/08

This was a double first - unsurprisingly the first time for seeing MBV as they had stopped performing live many years before I got into them but surprisingly the first time I had been to the iconic Roundhouse. The free earplugs would have given away that it was likely to be very loud even if I hadn't been pre-warned and those who eschewed the earplugs regretted it later particularly during the encore consisting of twenty minutes of extreme noise (aka 'You Made Me Realise'. It was an extraordinary gig pretty much all played at volume 11 except for 'You Made Me realise' which was at 12 at least. They played most of 'loveless' and much of 'Isn't Anything' and so they covered all my favourites including 'when you sleep' and 'i only said'. To hear these tracks performed live was a privilege and a joy but I also enjoyed the fact that this gig was different to anything I had seen before. Distortion and volume taken to the max and delivered as incredible music from another world. The finale was even a further step into the extreme and the single chord that was played after twenty minutes of being next to a jet engine was sweet indeed. By that time I think those without earplugs had in general left in order to preserve their hearing. For me - I liked every last second of it.

Low 17/11/10

I found myself once more at St John's Church in Coventry to see a band I hadn't even heard of until last month. I loved two tracks on Robert Plant's new album and found they had both been written by Sparhawk and Parker who are the main members of Low and then I found that Low were performing locally as one of only a few UK appearances.

The support was a singer songwriter Paul Thomas Saunders who had a band as well. The songs were interesting but I couldn't take to his singing. He was over-ambitious in trying to sing beyond his capabilities.

Low kicked off with a simple and attractive song appropriately about the saving of souls and then hit me with the two songs from Plant's album, 'Silver Rider' and 'Monkey'. Monkey in particular was exhilirating, it was a fuzzy, rasping version of the song.

Right from the start I was bowled over by Mimi Parker's voice. She mainly did backing singing and her voice meshed brilliantly with Alan Sparhawk's but whether she was leading or backing there was a quality and a strength to the voice that had echoes of Grace Slick.

Of course there was much of the set that I didn't know yet every track had something about it and some songs were outstanding. There was one that started with the words 'Cry me a river' (it's not yet released apparently where Mimi took lead vocals and one directly after that 'Lullaby' which again had brilliant lead vocals from her and great guitar as well.

They finished the set with 'Murderer' and then came out for an encore but couldn't decide what to play for a while. Eventually three tracks were selected and played.

I've now got some more albums to buy and enjoy and hopefully I'll get to see Low again.

Aly Bain, Bruce Molsky, Ale Moller 9/11/10

It's good to have front row seats in a pleasant theatre to see Aly Bain on your birthday. He is so assured and brilliant in his playing of the fiddle and there seems to be no conscious involvement just a central nervous system fused with the instrument. His collaborators were Bruce Molsky an american student of US folk music who plays mainly fiddle but also banjo and guitar and Ale Moller a swedish folkie who mainly plays a 10-string mandola but also some weird shepherds instruments made of bone and wood.

The combination worked really well and each of them took the lead on a number of songs. Basically you had Shetland, Scandinavian and American traditional tunes and styles being mixed and delivered by expert musicians. I particularly liked a Swedish hymn which was called something to do with White Angels and I also loved the tunes done in what they referred to as the Magic tuning which was I think a Swedish tuning. In one sense Ale Moller was the glue often with his delightful and understated Mandola playing. It was a civilised and intimate session with great musicians and as always with Aly Bain a feeling that you are in the presence of a master.

Midlake 6/11/10

I saw Midlake in February and whilst I enjoyed the gig I felt that they were a little reserved and precious, with a sound that was as close to studio as they could make it. Despite seeing them in a much worse environment I enjoyed this gig more as they seem to have chilled out a bit and the sound was looser and with more emotional content. But first things first; they had two support acts and I missed most of the first one as I arrived ten minutes after the doors were advertised as being open and they had obviously started early. In typical style, the venue who are part of the branded O2 Academy venues failed to give show times on their website even one hour before the gig. They also moved me from a comfortable standing area that was allegedly reserved for disabled people even though they were seated elsewhere and none turned up in that area. Prats. However I don't think I missed too much from what I heard. I enjoyed the second support act - it was John Grant who was apparently from a band called the Tzars and he sang confidently introspective songs and played a synthesizer and sometimes a keyboard assisted on instruments by the Midlake keyboardist. He was a bit ascerbic and a bit weird but in a good way.

Midlake were on by twenty past eight and they had a similar line up to last time including four guitars for most songs, drums, bass and keyboards/flute for a seven-man band. They included the guitarist I liked last time, Max Townsley. Nominally he is scond lead guitar but he takes the freeflowing solos and he makes a difference to their sound which may otherwise come across as a bit restrained. The first time he really got going was on the excellent 'The Courage of Others' and the best tracks for me were the ones he was let loose on. That included the final track of the three-track encore which was 'Branches'.

The first two tracks of the encore features the support acts so first they had John Grant to do a Tzars track which I'm guessing was called 'Without You' which was melodic and then Jason Lyttle came on to do a Grandaddy's track which I presume was called 'Whereever Together'which was less interesting and a bit staccato.

As ever the vocals and harmonies throughout the gig were impeccable. The set list was reasonably similar to last time and the arrangements similar but something had got better - a bit more soul perhaps.

Robert Plant 27/10/10

This was Robert Plant's reincarnation of the Band of Joy which was originally a phenomenon in the West Midlands in the sixties although he of course is the only original member of that line-up. I had not checked on who the support act was so it was a delight to see Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara came out on stage to start the gig.

We had seen these two once before as support for Tinariwen and loved every minute. Juldeh is an astonishing exponent of a single-stringed instrument called a riti and Justin plays a bluesy, african-influenced guitar which is part Beale Street and part desert groove and the combination just works a treat. Juldeh's vocals are also an important element and there was one great track which I think may be called "Sahara" but I am not sure. The groove is brilliant and I would have gone to the gig just to see them. I went to buy their new album during the break but I am pleased to say that they had sold out so they must have gone down well.

Robert Plant came on with a band featuring Buddy Miller on guitar which is a big plus for any band and also Darrell Scott (various stringed instruments), Patty Griffin (vocal and some guitar), Marco Giovani (drums) and Byron House (bass).

The set was a mixture of tracks from the band's album and stuff from the 70s and also songs for the three featured musicians (Miller, Scott and Griffin). Despite the inclusion of older songs there was no focus on nostalgia and all the tracks were delivered in the band's style with Buddy Miller's guitar prominent and superb backing vocals , not just from Patty Griffin but also from Buddy and Darrell.

Throughout Plant's voice was exemplary - he has somehow managed an early career involving a lot of high volume singing without damaging his voice. Buddy Miller played fuzzy when appropriate and he picked fast and precisely as well - a tour de force. Patty Griffin had a beautiful backing vocal style - never dominant but always important. She also danced better than they do in 'Strictly' (in my view anyway).

Highlights for me included 'Monkey' a Low song off the new album, 'House of Cards' - also on the album and 'Please Read the Letter' but there wasn't a dud track in the show. Also superbly delivered were 'Twelve Gates to the City' and 'I Bid you Goodnight'a couple of old spirituals. The latter completed a brilliant three track encore consisting also of the Townes Van Zandt track 'Harm's Swift Way' and an old Led Zep track 'Rock and Roll'.

An excellent gig from the first track of the support to the Band of Joy encore. Faultless.

Manic Street Preachers 30/1/92

I was dragged to this gig by my niece who needed a responsible adult in order to get permission to go. I knew nothing of the music and I hadn't even heard of the support act who were "That Petrol Emotion" - great band name. I liked them a lot; there was a lot of energy and attitude but some good guitar playing as well.

The Manics continued with that same theme really, guitar, attitude, energy and also with a real anthemic (but in a good way) feel to a lot of their tunes. I see from a set list that they played loads of stuff from "Generation Terrorists" which is not surprising given it was their only album. I felt at home listening to some quality angry indie guitar playing even though the audience was a lot younger. And I still like listening to the Manics today. They may have mellowed - I'll find out tomorrow when I catch them in Birmingham.

Peter Tosh 30/6/81

Ever since "Catch a Fire" and the superb guitar on "Stir it Up" I had been a big fan of Peter Tosh and having caught Marley's stupendous last ever gig in the UK the previous year, I wanted to see what a Peter Tosh gig would be like.

In a Rainbow theatre dense with smoke, which Tosh contributed to throughout the gig, Tosh cut a talismanic figure strutting around the stage as he played. The single thing that surprised me was how much of a rock'n'roller he was. The man played reggae but he did so with a real rock'n'roll edge. He also surprised me with his athleticism. As the gig went on and he was getting more and more stoned he strode repeatedly towards the edge of the orchestra pit, to the extent that I could see an accident happening. Then in one heart-stopping moment he strode towards the pit and then took a leap across it that didn't seem possible.

The music was storming. "Get up stand up" and "Steppin' Razor" stick in my memory but otherwise the memory of specific tracks has faded. The memory of him and a fired up gig with serious attitude remains. I'm glad I was there.

Jeff Beck - 17/10/10

I saw Jeff Beck last year after a long long gap and was impressed enought to want to take in his current tour. I was more familiar with his current output this time having bought his latest album.

The support was "Trombone Shorty" a funky jazz quintet from New Orleans who stomped around a lot and had a good time whilst blowing some nice brass with "Shorty" on trombone and cornet/trumpet and a good tenor sax player.

Beck's band was different this time round but still a four-piece and they were all excellent musicians. There was a similar feel to the gig in that it was pretty much all instrumental with Jeff's guitar centre stage.

He did some tracks from the album, some covers including a lively version of " I want to take you higher" from Sly and the Family Stone, "Rollin' and Tumblin", "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield)and "A Day in the Life" which he also did last time. For the encore he even did "Nessun Dorma" which was no big surprise as it is on the latest album. I wouldn't have expected to enjoy that so much as it seems to stray into James Last territory to cover such a well known anthem but it works brilliantly with Beck's ethereal guitar sounds fitting nicely with the soaring melody of the song.

There were a couple of stand out tracks for me where the guitar and the melody seemed to gel and with the band on board as well. One was an Irish song that I think is "Mna na Eirean"and the other I don't know the name of. That is Beck at his best, his mastery of the guitar chanelled to deliver some real emotion. At other times I felt my connection to the music was not always deeply felt. I would like sometime to hear him deliver some straight R&B again. It's a shame I was not able to go to Clapton and Beck when they played together earlier this year.

Elvis Costello 4/3/80

Yesterday's destruction of Hastings Pier reminded me that we saw Elvis Costello in the pavilion at the end of Hastings Pier in 1980. It was an atmospheric place to see a band I didn't know very well and the sheer musicality of the band together with Elvis' quirky songwriting and his brilliant singing made it a great gig. I have seen Elvis several time since and every time he has delivered. This was Elvis and the Attractions (Bruce Thomas on bass, Pete Thomas on drums and Steve Naive on keyboards). The band was tight and the guitar, vocal, keyboards interplay was brilliant. The only specific tracks I recollect were the popular 'Oliver's Army' and 'Watching the Detectives' but these were probably the only ones I knew going into the gig so that is not surprising. Hastings Pier was pretty tumbledown even then but that just added to the atmosphere of the gig.
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johnfoyle was kind enough to comment and point me to an article where Elvis recalls being drunk and forgetting words at this particular gig. Amazingly this stirred a deep memory and I subsequently remembered discussing with my wife on the way home this incident during 'Alison' and possibly one other track as well. Thanks for the reference.

Edwina Hayes 3/10/10

I had seen Edwina a couple of times supporting Nanci Griffith and enjoyed her performances so her appearance at the Musician pub in Leicester got me out on a wet Sunday. The support act was a duo called Troubadours who played an interesting set which I struggle to pigeonhole as folk although it was definitely folky. One of the guys played banjo and guitar quite passably and although he did very little of the singing also had a bluesy voice.

Edwina came on with no palaver but just got up on stage with her guitar and started. She sang a number of her own songs featuring tracks mostly from her second album 'Pour Me a Drink' and I was particularly taken with the title track and 'Leave a Light On for You' which were both sung with feeling. She also did a number of covers of some great songs - 'Famous Blue Raincoat' by Leonard Cohen, 'Waltzing's for Dreamers' by Richard Thompson, 'I Shall be Released' by Dylan, 'It's a Hard life wherever you go' by Nanci Griffith and 'Feels Like Home' by Randy Newman. That's a classic set of covers.

She has a beautiful voice that is of the pure English folky variety and she writes good depressive songs about lost and unrequited love and it is surprising to me that so few people have come out to see her. If I was to quibble I could say that the set would be better balanced with one or two more upbeat numbers and I would also love to hear her really let rip with her powerful voice. 'Feels Like Home' may have been even better with some full-on vocals though I am nit-picking really and I will go again when she is in the area.

Roy Harper 10/6/01

This was a 60th birthday gig and having seen Roy Harper over more than thirty years it seemed right to make the trip to the Royal Festival Hall to see him for this particular gig. The atmosphere was great with everyone including Harper there to celebrate.

The musicians included Andy Roberts, Nick Harper and John Renbourn on guitar and various others including David Bedford.

The set list included a stack of Harper classics. The only tracks that I have some sort of recall for are 'Hallucinating Light' which was always one of my faves and '12 Hours of Sunset' but I see that he played 'Another Day', 'Me and My Woman' and 'Same Old Rock' amongst others.

He was on good musical form and with the band line-up this could not fail to be a good gig and a great event.

Bonnie Prince Billy 2/8/10

I think this is only the second time I have been to a gig in a church - the first one was Roy Harper many years ago. It seemed a bit strange as the English leg of the tour consisted of this church gig in Coventry, Manchester Cathedral and the Shepherd's Bush Empire. The support act was, a folky act from Scotland. The lead singer has a classic pure 'English' folk voice and the drummer sings pretty well too. Their problem was the sound of the four-piece did not work in this lofty stone church. The sound came across fairly distorted and not in a nice way. They actually came across as a good band despite that and the couple of acapello songs sounded brilliant.

Lavinia Blackwall (vocalist) and Alex Nielson (drummer/vocalist) also played in the Bonnie Prince Billy band and were joined by Emmet Kelly on guitar and Sharzhad Ismaily on bass. Mercifully the sound was OK probably a mixture of the sparser band sound and maybe better equipment.

I only know one of Billy's albums so in fact all of the songs played in a relatively short set were new to me. Nonetheless it was brilliant, firstly because his singing was so good. That hadn't really come across to me from the album. Secondly each song clearly had a structure of words and music rather than being words on top of a tune. This gave a real emotional depth to the songs. Thirdly because there were some great lines such as 'She chopped up my bed with an axe' or something similiar. He's obviously a deep and depressive thinker - one song that had audience recognition featured the repeated line of 'then I saw the darkness'. Another song is going round in my head after just one hearing. The guitarist was excellent, Lavinia's and Alex's and Emmet's vocals added to some great harmony singing and the gig was special. Shame it only lasted 75 minutes but it was a quality 75 minutes.

Tinariwen 28/7/10

I have seen Tinariwen fairly regularly over the last few years so I was in two minds about going. However last time Ibrahim had been ill and the lead role was shared reasonably equally between three of this music collective. This gig turned out to be the exact opposite. Basically Ibrahim took the lead throughout except for the first track of the encore which he ducked out of. There were two percussionists, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist and one male and one female backing vocalists and all were familiar personnel. They played without a support came on prompt at 7:30 and rolled out the groove for an hour and a half. It was good to hear it again. It rolls over you and envelops you and takes you to a place that is just them and damn it if it doesn't remind you of the desert. 'Imadiwan' as second track of the encore was the highlight - they had built up a head of steam by then. The encore was enlivened by a tuareg supporter who got up on stage to dance holding their flag. It took security some time to react and yet when they did it was of course with inappropriate force. The band didn't seem to mind.

Elizabeth Cook 21/7/10

Some gigs are classic, not just for the music but for the whole deal, and this was one of them. I hadn't even heard of Elizabeth Cook until Nanci Griffiths sang one of her songs and praised her at a gig in January. I bought a CD and then just a couple of days before this gig saw that she was playing in a pub venue in Leicester. We ended up sitting at a table a few feet from the stage drinking Peroni and chatting to fellow audience members until an excellent support singer-songwriter came on. He was Joe Fournier from Nova Scotia and I liked him to the extent I tried to buy a CD after but they were sold out. He was feisty and slightly grizzled and a good guitar player and his songs were interesting both musically and lyrically.

Elizabeth came on as part of a trio - guitarist Tim Campbell and upright bassist Bones Hillman with her on guitar and vocals.

She came across as genuine alt-country through and through. She said her dad even did a stretch for making moonshine.

She started with 'Blackland Farmer' off the new album and that established the genre and it was just great from the start.
'Mama's Funeral' stood out for me but then so did 'Heroin Addict Sister' definitely. And 'Girlfriend Tonight' which she did early on, was Classic Romantic Country done exactly right. 'El Camino' also went down well. As well as singing her own songs Elizabeth also did some covers such as 'The Day I started loving you again' and 'Storms never last', both beautifully delivered. In fact there wasn't a dud track in the whole gig and she came across like she was actually pleased to be playing in front of 50 or 60 people in a Leicester pub. She should be filling De Montfort and maybe she will next time she hits Leicester.

What's more the girl even did some clog dancing and it looked good (although the overall effect was lessened by the fact she had to do it on a carpet).

Her encore was a couple of classic covers, firstly 'Sunday Morning' and then 'Cash on the Barrelhead Son'. You have to be good in my book to sing Velvet Underground and Gram Parsons classics - and she was.

Robert Cray 12/7/10

This was a late decision and partly because I wanted to see Andy Fairweather-Low who was the support act.

Andy F-L had a four piece band with him on acoustic guitar, bass and drums and a sax/clarinet player. Early on he played a few delta country blues tracks then a few songs that had been covered by other artists and I particularly liked 'Hymn for My Soul'

Nick Pentelow played a dynamic and upbeat sax and clarinet and A F-L is a fine guitarist. Near the end he played the obligatory 'Wide-eyed and Legless' and the Paradise song. I always seem to enjoy gigs with Andy F-L, perhaps because I usually see him with Clapton but this was an excellent support act.

Robert Cray was also in a four-piece band with bass, drums and a fine keyboards player, Jim Pugh.

I think Robert Cray is a great blues guitarist but I don't naturally empathise with the fusion elements he brings to the blues with his soulful singing and funky beats. This was really shown up when he played the classic blues 'Sittin' on top of the world'. This was the highpoint for me, the guitar was superb and the singing bluesy and full on. Other tracks were good and I enjoyed the performance. I would however prefer a whole session of pure blues from Robert Cray.

He didn't just roll out his all-time most popular songs and I liked that. He did play 'Right Next Door' and 'Bad Influence'(covered by Clapton) but the songs that stuck out for me included 'The One in the Middle' with a superb Jim Pugh solo and right near the end of the encore 'Back Door Slam' where Robert really got the guitar into gear.

All in all an enjoyable gig but it is soon fading apart from 'Sitting on Top of the World'

Grateful Dead 25/5/92

Another unforgettable Dead gig - they all are. This time we were in California on holiday and it seemed churlish not to make a detour to see the Dead at the Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View. The setting was beautiful, the weather hot and the Dead were as compelling as ever. We sat on the grass and chilled. The set was mostly fairly standard Dead songs including one my very favourites in 'Tennessee Jed'. The big surprise for me was when they launched into a cover of 'Baba O'Reilly' which then morphed into a Beatles song. I haven't checked whether this was something they did often but I have never seen it on any recordings. This was not Dead at the peak of their powers but the gig still ranks and the ambience was perfect.

Jackson Browne/David Lindley 1/7/10

I saw Jackson Browne for the first time just last year and as he is getting on a bit now I sort of assumed that this gig would be similar - which would not have been a bad thing. However this was a much changed gig and one of the obvious differences was David Lindley playing a very wide range of stringed guitar-like instruments. We had last seen Lindley playing with Ry Cooder around 15 years ago at this very concert hall and it was a joy to hear him play again. In general the gig last year was a very intimate gig and featured a lot of the more introspective Jackson Browne songs whereas this was more expansive and upbeat.

It started however with a set from just Jackson, David and a percussionist. The first song featured Lindley playing a hawaiian style of guitar and singing which he continued for a Springsteen number 'Brothers Under the Bridge' which was new to me. The trio then did 'Looking East' with JB on vocals and Lindley playing this amazing 10-string jobbie with the end of the neck at right angles. he produced this sound out of it that I am sure it was not designed for but was pretty compelling.

The first set eneded with 'For Everyman' which was pretty powerful as played by theis trio.

The second set brought the full band on although without Lindley for the first few songs.

He started with a few tracks from 'Time the Conqueror' and the first oldie he did was 'In the Shape of a Heart' which he followed with 'Your Baby Blues' By this time Lindley was on and he played a final note to that track that was just perfect.

A few tracks later there was a bit of a pause and the guy right in front of me yelled out for 'Carmelita'. JB just did it after going round and explaining to the band and swapping of instruments etc. It was great. The gig had really taken off by then, really as soon as Lindley came on with the band. The last few tracks were 'Mercury Blues' which was a highlight followed by 'The Pretender' and 'Running on Empty' which actually were also highlights. At the encore he again took a request and changed what he was going to do and dished up my favourite Browne song 'Late for the Sky'

The whole gig was full of energy and brilliant musicanship from everyone. The drummer Mauricio Lewak should get a special mention here but also the guitarist Mark Goldenberg who on a couple of tracks traded licks with David Lindley. There wasn't the same gamut of introspective early songs as last time but I do like to see artists dishing up new approaches and content tour by tour.

The only criticism I would have of the gig was the sound quality and particularly on JB's vocals. It may have been exacerbated by our position in the third row as the speakers seemed to be pointed behind us but the Royal Concert Hall normally does good sound so it was a shame they were not up to standard. Lindley's pickin' came through fine though.

Paco Pena - 23/6/10

This was not a Paco Pena recital although he was fronting the publicity. It was a Flamenco event with the usual mix of dancing, singing and playing but also had a themed storyline which was I think contrasting the 'pure' Spanish Flamenco with the South American music that was a fusion of indigenous music and spanish music. The dancing was great particularly the male lead dancer. The singing was excellent both the flamenco voice and the South American singer who had an effortless richness and there was a frisson every time he started singing. The south american band featured four stringed bandolas and cuatros and a 10-stringed instrument and the musicians were very good. Paco Pena played a piece at the beginning on a loosely strung guitar that was rich and superb. He played a longer piece together with one of the South American musicians in the second half. These along with the South American singer's songs were the main musical highlights but as I said the evening was about more than the music

Elvis Costello - 21/6/10

I have been to see Elvis Costello a few times starting on the end of a pier at Hastings about thirty years ago. He always delivers.

This was a solo gig which is different to his gigs next week which are with a band. This was a fairly intimate gig despite being in the Symphony Hall because he made it so. He mainly played on a couple of beat up acoustic guitars and the songs came thick and fast. It was a fairly broad sweep through his catalogue with only a couple of songs that I recognised from his latest album.

One of those came early on after a couple of songs from the 90s ('45' and 'Either Side of the Same Town') and it was the opener on the album 'Down Amongst the Wines and Spirits'. This is a classic sad country song and it worked beautifully as a solo acoustic number.

The guitar playing was precise and professional and the singing soulful and emotional all through the gig.

Highlights for me included 'Shipbuilding' which is very powerful and the acoustic rendition accentuated the pathos. Others that resonated were 'Every Day I Write the Book' which was much better live than on the record, 'A Good Year for the Roses' which was a song I didn't know but had that country sadness done to a 'T', and 'Alison' one of his early classics. He also did a song in truly acoustic fashion, front of stage, unplugged, no mike and he claimed this was rock and roll 1921-style. It was called 'Slow Drag from Josephine' and was pretty mesmerising. I also really enjoyed the guitar on that old favourite 'Watching the Detectives' where he confounded the expectations by playing a looped disonant guitar solo.

He played for an hour and a quarter and went off and came back for an encore. I think it was the longest encore I have ever seen as he played for a further fifty minutes and he kept saying 'just one more' but the enthusiasm of the audience seemed to stop him actually leaving the stage. He started by responding after just a beat to a request from the audience 'Three Sons' and then played loads of good stuff - 'Man Out of Time' and 'King of Confidence' were particularly good and 'Sulfur to Sugarcane' was outstanding.

I think we were privileged to hear Elvis on such good form and solo. Excellent gig.

Mark Knopfler 1/6/10

It's been a few years since I saw Mark Knopfler - I think the last time I had tickets he hurt himself in a motorbike crash and so the gig was cancelled. This time round he had a trapped nerve but the show was on albeit he was restricted to sitting in a special chair.


The support was Kate Walsh who sang and played guitar and had a sidekick who played cello. It was good but detailed memories of it were blown away by the main act.

Mark Knopfler's band reflected his recent bias towards Scottish/Northumbrian folk with an excellent fiddle player and Mike McGoldrick on flute, whistle and uillean pipes as well as the usual suspects such as Guy Fletcher and Richard Bennett.

He kicked off with 'Border Riever' from 'Get Lucky' and then played the firs two tracks on 'Sailing to Philadelphia'; 'What it is' and the title track. All these tracks featured prominent violin and other folk instruments with Mark studiously playing with them.

He then dipped into 'Ragpicker's Dream' for the foot-tappingly addictive 'Coyote' and then back to 'Sailing...' for one of the stand out tracks for me 'Prairie Wedding'.

As the gig progressed he played a number of older Dire Straits favourites such as 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Sultans of Swing' of course, and at the encore 'Brothers in Arms' which while derided by many is simply a spine-tingling piece of guitar.

Of all the guitar players I like live Mark Knopfler has a habit of playing chords that reverbrate in my mind and he did it again at the gig. It was a chord to end a track and it was just perfection.

In fact his guitar playing throughout was stupendous. Not quite as soaring as maybe in the early eighties but accomplished, confident and expressive. The gig flew by - always a sign of a great gig - but after a couple of hours it was all over and we walked back in the drizzle to the tube.

Christy Moore 24/5/10

I have seen Christy Moore a few times and on the surface the gigs are very similar. It is just him and his accompianist Declan Sinnott and a set of thoughtful acoustic songs interspersed with some rowdier Irish 'drinking songs' and it is always low key and friendly and of course he sings with a georgeous and deep Irish brogue.

There are a number of old favourite songs that reappear each time and that is welcome because they are very fine songs but there is also variety between each gig and a nice touch is that he responds to requests, mostly prior to the show rather than directly from the audience. It is clear that Declan doesn't seem to know what is coming next but I think that is down to the whim of Christy Moore rather than Declan's inability to remember or read a setlist.

Tonight's gig was a particularly good selection of tracks - any gig that starts with Jackson Browne's 'Before the Deluge' is off to a flying start. When the third track is 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' "in honour of Dylan's birthday today" then it is definitely a good evening.

Familar favourites such as 'Motherland', 'The Magdalene Laundries, 'Beeswing', 'Ride On', 'North and South of the River' were peppered throughout the gig. Not so familiar to me but also memorable were tracks such as 'Cry Like a Man', 'Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette' and 'Butterfly (So Much Wine)'.

The thing he does really well is to strip songs bare and present the essence of the song with some feeling. This was exemplified in spades in the first song of the encore which he claimed he was singing as a dare but for me was the highlight of the show. To hear his version of 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' was a revelation and a privilege. Gone was the swelling soundstage that is the Pink Floyd version and the pathos of the song was laid out for all to hear. He followed that with the 'La Quinta Brigada' and then played a Planxty track for a guy in the audience who had been at a Planxty gig in the early seventies.

We left with a good feeling and for me some excitement as 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' continued to rattle around my brain.

Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood 18/5/10

The last gig I went to (Brian Jonestown Massacre) I said that having multiple guitarists was pretty much an ideal band line up. However having E Clapton as first lead guitarist and S Winwood as second lead guitarist is THE ideal guitar-wise. Actually having S Winwood as first lead keyboard player and C Stainton as second lead keyboard player is about as good as it gets keyboard-wise also. So things looked promising for this gig and I was pleasantly surprised by the venue which has had a makeover since I abandoned going there a year or two ago. The renamed LG Arena now has enough space to move around in, more comfortable seats and most importantly much improved sound.

I had seen Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood play together twice before at two epic gigs; the Blind Faith gig at Hyde Park in 1969 and the Rainbow Concert in 1973. I have to say that this was another special show.

They got going with Steve on guitar for 'I Had to Cry Today' and 'Low Down'. Steve then moved to organ and the next tracks were 'After Midnight' and 'Presence of the Lord'. The former was a bit desultory but the gig started to pick up with a cover of 'The Shape I'm In' and pretty much took off with a great version of 'Well all right' topped and tailed with some beautiful organ and guitar instrumental.

The highlights came thick and fast from then on; a searing up-tempo Clapton blues solo in the style of the 'Wheels of Fire' Crossroads classic, a beautiful song from Winwood which is one of my all-time favourite songs of his 'Midland Maniac', 'Driftin'' in the acoustic section with a typical slow blues solo from Clapton but on a loosely tuned acoustic guitar sounding as if he was on the steps of a porch in the delta; 'Split Decision' with EC taking the Joe Walsh part with some aplomb and so on.

The concert started its endgame with an amazing 'Voodoo Chile' Steve Winwood reprising his role on the original and EC laying it on as if his life depended on it. Then to finish 'Cocaine' with great solos from EC and SW (guitar) and a piece de resitance from Chris Stainton ending his solo with white electric piano noise.

The encore was inevitably 'Mr Fantasy' with grade A guitar from both maestros.

Two hours and a bit of perfection and I had remembered to park right by the car park exit so I was home with a cold Becks before the Car Park was empty.

Brian Jonestown Massacre 16/5/10

I went to this on a whim but the name of the band was good and some spotify sampling of the music encouraged me to try a gig. I warm to that Californian psychedelic guitar sound as a general rule.

The support was 'The See See' who were basically dull with their sound consisting of fairly aimless and repetitive loud and grungy strumming with some twee melodies laid on top.

'Brian Jonestown Massacre' were a welcome relief. They came with more band members than I had imagined - eight in all. They started with four guitars (including bass) which is a good start for me and after a couple of tracks moved to five guitars and a few tracks after that made it to six. Now that's what I call a band line-up. Two of the guitarists were playing lead (including Anton Newcombe who also did a lot of the singing). They were good guitarists and the others made a good sound but the gig itself was a bit variable. When they got into a groove it was good to listen to and there were a number of notable tracks. However sometimes it seemd to be going through the motions. Maybe it was because I didn't know much of the music but it was starting to feel a bit repetitive towards the end of a two hour gig. It didn't help that the second vocalist who took a number of tracks was poor. I was also slightly bemused by a guy who took centre stage and came complete with a John Lennon cap but just strummed tambourines and shook some marraccas and contributed occasionally to the vocals. His contribution didn't seem in tune with his stage presentation.

Harald Haugaard 5/5/10

Another day, another fiddler..... Hot on the heels of Eliza Carthy this gig at the local village hall was given by a quartet of Danish musicians led by Harald Haugaard and featuring Helene Blum on vocals.

They started with some jigs and there were further jiggish songs later and also polkas.
The music had strong elements of Scottish music, which makes sense as they have the same roots but it was also informed by a classical vibe and the band came across as classically trained but passionate about danish folk in particular, and folk in general.

'A song about hope' played on the piano and sung by Helene with some delicate violin support was the outstanding track on the evening and shortly after another song sung by Helene which had a one word Danish title translating as 'in the arms' was also superb.

Her voice was impeccable and more than once I thought of Karen Matheson; danish; gaelic - there must be a lot of similarities. Harald was a subtle and complex fiddle with great touch and also pplayed a mean mandolin. The other members of the band, a cellist and a guitarist/mandolin player gave great support.

This was the bands first tour of England and despite having a long list of gigs they were not playing anywhere close again. I would definitely catch them again if I could.

Eliza Carthy 4/5/10

I see a lot of fiddle players these days and Eliza is certainly a good one. The gig was a slightly strange affair being based on work songs and allegedly arising out of research done by some numpty at Loughborough Uni (where the gig was staged) who researched old British work songs. It was preceded by a dire talk by said numpty which consited mainly of him pointing out that singing was mentioned in various old plays and poems.

I am not sure Eliza bought into the concept either as there wasn't much of a difference between her songs and the work songs she was supposed to play for part of the gig. Nor were any of the songs stuff you would sing at work as far as I could see. A very fine song was a Manx gaeliccy song about washing a child but I think that is about mothering and not employment. Her accompianist was Saul Rose who played a range of accordians, all of which seemed to be the same make and had a beautiful full and pure sound.

They started with some traditional tunes and then a song called 'The Americans stole my love' or something very similar which Mal said was mostly the same as 'On top of old smoky' . There was a couple of songs involving fish, one a Northern Irish one and the other from Northumberland which had a haunting quality and made an impact.

Near the end they did the more uptempo song "Country Life"? and did an encore of another traditional song featuring a miller I think.

The gig was a bit short at an hour but Eliza can play a jig with the best of them and has a great singing voice.

Pink Floyd 7/8/80

This was The Wall gig. I was surprised when checking that they only ever played the Wall five times in the UK, all in early August 1980 and played it around 20 times in total. When you think about the cost and effort in creating the show then I suppose I assumed that they had endlessly toured it to vast audiences. Floyd shows often featured stage effects of one sort or another. This one had both a parallel band who played the show for a number or two before the real Floyd came on but also had the relentless building of the vast wall during the gig. Building a wall across the Earls Court stage is some task even if the bricks are made of foam.

For the gig Floyd basically just played the whole double album cover to cover. The music was flawlessly executed, if not improvised, and the album has some classic tracks on it. "Comfortably Numb" is an all-time favourite for me, but "Mother", "Hey You", "Is There Anybody Out There?" and "Another Brick in the Wall" also resonate. I maybe didn't buy into the whole Roger Waters concept that is 'The Wall' or the prominence of the stage effects but this was another Floyd experience where they pushed the traditions of a gig, Dave Gilmour was playing guitar and all was well with the world.

Joan Armatrading 19/4/10

I hadn't listened to my Joan Armatrading albums for a few years but I didn't hesitate when I saw she was playing at De Montfort Hall. The only previous time I had seen her was at the Blackbushe Picnic in 1978 when she came on between sets from Clapton and Dylan and when she had a burgeoning reputation as a singer/songwriter

I didn't know any of her recent stuff but that didn't matter. The newer songs were largely uptempo and featured Joan playing a loud and bluesy rock guitar style. Outstanding of these newer songs was "Something's Gotta Blow". Another uptempo song that sticks in the mind was "Best Dress On". The bluesy guitar was confident and straightforward and reminiscent of an american chicago-style bluesman. She definitely has a unique mix; sensitive, emotionally-honest songwriting, a superb singing talent and bluesy lead guitar, all done with an English sensitivity.

All of the famous songs were in the set, "Love and Affection" done sparingly, "Me, Myself, I" done with gusto, "The Weakness in Me" with anguish. She basically does feelings in an upfront way but is very English in her approach at the same time (despite being from St Kitts originally). "Love and Affection" is the only song I remember from Blackbushe but thirty two years later it still stands out as a classic piece of songwriting.

The encore was the beautiful "Willow" and then the raucous "Drop the Pilot" which highlighted her ability to do both the romantic and the ballsy. I am delighted I clicked on "Buy" when I cam across the gig.

David Gilmour 29/5/06 & 31/5/06

We went to two of the three-night stint Gilmour did at the Albert Hall in 2006. There were some small but important differences between the two gigs. David Bowie came to guest on a couple of tracks on the first night. "Echoes" was sublime on the second night. Mica Paris guested on the second night and they consequently did "Great Gig in the Sky". "High Hopes" on the first night was replaced by a Syd Barratt track "Dominoes" on the second night.

The gigs consisted of a first half based on playing the recently released Gilmour album "On an Island" followed by a second half of Floyd classics. Gilmour was impeccable, totally relaxed, completely imperious; one of the finest rock guitarists at his best. The rest of the band were damn fine too. Rick Wright on keyboards giving credibility to the Floyd tracks, Phil Manzanera on guitar (and also on sax on Red Sky At Night).
In addition there were various guest musicians of which David Bowie and Mica Paris were the pick for me. The others were Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash.

The selection of Floyd tracks was pretty much perfect for me but then I have always leaned towards the Gilmour-influenced tracks (at least since Syd left) from Floyd's output. There were some differences between the two nights but both sets included "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", "Coming Back to Life", "High Hopes", "Echoes", "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". The last two tracks were in the encore and it was an amazing finale. "Echoes" is just about my all-time favourite Floyd track and the version on the second night was just about perfect.

Fabulous gigs which must have a place in the top twenty all-time list.

Patti Smith 26/3/10

I was slightly wary of the gig as I had read a review of the Glasgow date and it seemed to feature a lot of words and perhaps not enough music. I was also wary about the venue which was already on two strikes. It duly earned its third strike by keeping me queueing in the rain long past the advertised opening time. The Assembly at Leamington is now off the list.

However once the gig started all concerns were forgotten. The format was largely a reading of an excerpt from her book "Just Kids" alternating with a song. Unlike Roy Harper's spoken interludes where the recitation is often forced, Patti had an attractive reading style and the words were just quiet moments between the songs. The gig just flowed along. The band comprised of Patti, Tony Shanahan on guitar and keyboards and Lenny Kaye on guitar. Lenny was appearing for the first time on the UK tour on the last night of the tour and I think it made for a much more musically-focused gig. He was excellent and the three of them oozed acoustic class. Lenny plays a subtle but compelling guitar and the two guys did backing vocals as well.

One of the impressive things about Patti Smith is the way she was able to switch moods and deliver on the emotional content of each song. At the end it was rabble rousing with "People have the Power" followed by "Rock and Roll Nigger" and then a storming encore of "Gloria".

Earlier she had beautifully performed "Dancing Barefoot" and "Perfect Day" with their more complex feelings. "Pissing in the River" also stood out. This was not on the setlist but she had a quick chat to the guys and they just did the business.

The set opened with "Grateful" and "Mother Rose" and also included "My Blakean Year", "Free Money" , "Beneath the Southern Cross" and a stiriing version of "Because the Night".

The audience was great; attentive, enthusiastic and genuinely moved.

I hope Patti plays at a proper venue next time and I will definitely be there.

Cimarron 24/3/10

My first experience of Jorobo music from the borders of Columbia and Venezuela in the Orinoco plains. This uses a couple of guitar like instruments I am not sure I had heard before, the cuatro and the bandola. Both were four-stringed and the cuatro was often percussive, a bit like a mandolin is percussive. A main feature was the harp which was also played often in a percussive style and the whole feel of the music was precise overlaid rhythms often with expressive vocals laid on top. I might liken it to Talking Heads with Flamenco-style vocals.

As usual with "world music" gigs the individual musicians were superb. As each was given their turn to solo you could see just how good they were but they all melded into the whole sound during the set. The vocals were mainly taken by a female vocalist who had a haunting and emotive quality to her voice and by the maracas player who did vocals and occasionally a rhythmic sort of clog dancing.

These were serious musicians. I'll look out for more South American music.

Mumford & Sons 6/3/10

There was a range of conflicting feelings at this gig but there is one thing I am fairly sure of. This band is going to be very big. They have the musicanship, the energy and the anthemic sound to take the stadia route, a la U2, if they chose. Let's hope they don't go that way.

There were two support acts - I missed most of the first because the venue apparently were unable to tell me a few hours before the gig whether there was a support act or indeed anything about the gig. Strange. He was a singer songwriter and on the basis of a couple of tracks I could maybe say that he was a little on the pretentious side.

The second band, Fanfarlo, were good, the fiddle was fairly strident, the bassist fluid and loud, the singer sang rhythmically, a bit like David Byrne does and all in all they had something about them. Maybe a bit Arcade Fireish.

Mumford & Sons came on to great enthusiasm from the packed sold-out hall and immediately reeled off four popular tracks from their album starting with "Rumour and Sigh", then "Winter Winds". The audience was transfixed and it was good stuff.. However apart from the last of those four tracks which did have some edgy rhythms to it, I felt that I had heard more or less what is on the album. True the bass was coming up through the floor, and yes it's always good to hear music live, but I wasn't sure whether anything creative and improvised was going on. They then did a new track (after apologising for doing so) and that to me was one of the high points. As was the next new track which was done three tracks later after a couple more from the album.

The gig was a little short at an hour and a quarter including encore but every track was delivered with high energy and the audience was more than happy.

As for the Yorkshire twat who split his beer over my head after talking through the gig - I only hope he crashed on the way home whilst uninsured and then got breathalysed. As I said mixed feelings but I still have the music running through my head three days later so they must have been doing something right.

Gotan Project/Alabama 3 9/8/03

This was the first time we had seen or even heard of Gotan Project. We got to see them because of a TV show we never watched, The Sopranos. We actually watched a show that preceded the Sopranos and gradually became addicted to the opening theme song from the Alabama 3. Hence our prescence at this open air Summer Sundae gig at De Montfort Hall. Alabama 3 were brilliant, full of positive and radical energy and with some very catchy tunes to boot.

We decided that it would be a shame to dull the memory of Alabama 3 by staying for the headline act which was Gotan Project. As we weaved our way towards the exit Gotan started and that first minute or so was enough to turn us around. It was hypnotic stuff and a great warm-down from Alabama 3 as well. The mixture of electronica and real Tango music shouldn't work but it does; beautifully. It has the evocative and sensual power of Tango and adds in a modern but complementary zeitgeist. It's not often that you get to see a new band you haven't even heard of before that becomes a staple of the stereo back home. Gotan Project achieved that staus.

Grateful Dead 9/9/74

I had been looking forward to this gig so much that I arrived way too early and ended up queueing on my own outside the Ally Pally for some hours. There was an interesting moment while we waited. A big car drew up and out stumbled the man himself - Jerry Garcia. He shuffled up the steps to the door where we stood. He started to open the door and at that point he stopped abruptly and to no-one in particular said "Ugh!...I forgot my gitarr". Luckily the driver had not already left so he was able to retrieve the guitar from the boot.

Eventually we were let in and secured our place immediately in front of the "stage" which was just delimited by some floorcovering if I remember right. When they came on we found ourselves sat down cross-legged a few feet from the Grateful Dead with many people behind us with big tape recorders to bootleg the show. The Dead kicked off with one of my all-time favourite dead tracks "Bertha". This was at that moment perfection. The Dead pretty much at their peak starting one of their lengthy gigs with a classic track. Jerry may not have been very good at getting himself to the gigs but onstage he was unrivalled.

And of course the Dead were an ensemble and Bob Weir was an outstanding songwriter, singer and guitarist in his own right and "Mexicali Blues" and "El Paso" featured at this gig. This was the band that included the Godchauxs, Keith on keyboards and Donna on vocals as well as Bill Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh.

The Dead played a classic set that night. "Wharf Rat" near the end was immense. "Deal" was played - enough said. "Row Jimmy Row" was as sweet and poignant as it gets. As was "It must have been the Roses". "Ship of Fools" stirs faint memories but whilst I can see that they also played "Tennessee Jed", "Jack Straw" and "Scarlet Begonias" I can't say I recollect those particular versions.

The Grateful Dead were a unique live experience and this was one of my all-time favourite gigs. To immerse yourself for three hours or so in the fluid eclectic music the Dead produced was a privilege and a pleasure. Top 10 all-time gig hall of fame for sure.

African Soul Rebels 2010 2/3/10

I always find the African Soul Rebels' tours good value. This was no exception with all three acts having something to offer though I particularly took to the Kalahari Surfers. They took the middle slot and played to a half empty hall as for some reason a lot of people took to the bar for their show.

Kicking off was Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou a big band from Benin featuring several percussionists, a horn section, two main vocalists, bass, drums, keyboard and an excellent guitarist. They were founded 45 years ago and it showed as the music just flowed, mellow and rhythmic. They had a sort of funky sound but the horns were harmonious and the taut, high, african-style guitar was just right.

Next up were the Kalahari Surfers - two guys up front with Macs which 'played' the drums and other sounds, one of whom played guitar and one of whom was featured vocalist. At the back of the stage the dynamic bassist laid down the groove. I just took to these guys immediately and a couple of tracks in they played a song whose strapline was "And now we have a general amnesty, and the generals will walk free". Good stuff from a multi-racial band outlawed in the apartheid era. It reminded me of Latin Quarter and that is a big plus. Another track railed against the deluded middle classes "Durban Poison" and there were also beautiful vocal tracks featuring Deba the vocalist with Warwick Sony the guitarist on backup vocals. Their show was over too quickly.

The crowd all came in to hear Oumou Sangare. The band featured very good musicians and an energetic dancing backing vocalist. I liked the guitar player and in particular a guy called Brehima Diakite who played a six-stringed instrument from Southern Mali which I eventually worked out with the help of t'internet was a Kamale N'goni. It's sound is similar to some of the sounds you get from a Kora but it has a lot less strings. He played a great solo on one track. Oumou herself has a powerful and expressive voice. This is music from Southern Mali which is different to the Northern Malian desert groove. At one point she played an Ali Farke Toure track and I relaised that actually I prefer that genre. The guitarist was particularly good on that track. She finished with "Wele Wele Wintou" - her powerful protest against forced marriage. Strangely the encore was only an extended band introduction.

Midlake 16/2/10

The support was a singer/songwriter, Sarah Jaffe whose band included a confident rhythm guitarist, Robert Gomez and a drummer and keyboards player. Her voice was mixed too loud so there was some distortion notably at the start but aside from this they were a good act. Her songs had some attitude - one was called "Black Hoax Lie" - and the band suited them well. Robert Gomez was particulalry good on guitar and accordian. Tony Pulido from Midlake came on and sang a Wainwright song "One Man Guy" with Sarah which provided a change of mood near the end.

Midlake came on stage during the interval and sorted out their instruments - no roadie rubbish for them. I like that and there was a lot to like about the band and the gig. Four guitarists plus a bassist is always good. I liked the way they played most of their new album which will not have been heard by much of the audience and also their hit album "Van Occupanther" but didn't play any older stuff or covers. The new stuff I particularly liked - they seem to be regressing from the 70's feel of Van Occupanther to a 60's English Folk vibe and these are beautifully melodic and crafted songs. But having said that there wasn't a huge amount to love or get excited about. The singing was a bit uninspired and the songs were precisely delivered rather than extemporised. One of the exceptions to that and one of best moments was "Roscoe" which began with an extended instrumental intro that included the two lead guitars playing off each other and at that point the band was doing something exciting and different. The intro broke into Roscoe proper and the energy continued with this classy song. The other exciting element was the auxiliary touring guitarist Max Townsley. He was mainly in the background until he had an extended solo on "Rulers, Ruling All Things" from the new album and whilst he wasn't prominent (Roscoe excepted) for most of the show he got three more extended solos near the end. He had a free-flowing style that had hints of Dickie Betts. I need to check out any other stuff he has done.
Midlake mixed up the songs from the two albums. Although the older songs got the audience recognition I think I prefer the new ones better. I particularly liked "Acts of Man", "The Courage of Others" and "Bring Down". They finished with an encore of "Branches" from Occupanther and left that "It's hard for me but I'm trying" repetitive refrain hanging in the air. Nice show but I think they could be better if they let themselves go a bit.

Toy Hearts 14/2/10

I found that this Birmingham-based bluegrass band who had been recommended to me were playing just a few miles away in a 50's American Diner. I was not even aware of this diner prior to the gig. It came from Massachusetts and it was a good venue holding an audience of around fifty people. The band was family based, a father who played banjo and dobro, a daughter who sang and played mandolin and a daughter who played guitar and did back up vocals. There was also a bassist. For their first set they did mainly covers starting with an obscure Elvis song and including Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline and Gillian Welch along the way as well as some traditional bluegrass tunes.

They were all good musicians, the father played an assured banjo or dobro with some sweet flourishes, the song-writing guitar playing daughter played a lively and driving guitar and the singer had a good ol' country voice (despite being from Brum) that had echoes of Patsy Cline.

The second set was mainly stuff from their recently recorded album and features some excellent original songs, bluegrass-based but original and sometimes quirky. Towards the end they covered another Bill Monroe song and finished with another obscure Elvis track "When it Rains it Really Pours". Definitely worth another visit sometime and I think I'll get the new album when it comes out later this year.

Mariza 8/2/2010

Mariza is rooted in the Fado tradition and one of the highlights for me was the traditional Fado song "Prima Vera" but she also covers a wide range of Portuguese songs including poems that have been set to music and some songs with African influences (she was born in Mozambique). She even provided what she called a gift to the audience near the end, singing one song in English, the Roy Orbison classic "Crying". It is not usually wise to cover songs that Roy Orbison has recorded for fear of exposing the limitations of your voice but Mariza showed her astonishing power and range in doing so. A very early track "Mi Fado Mio" (My Destiny) demonstrated the high levels of emotion in her singing and she kept an amazing level of intensity throughout.

The band were superb. There was a guitarist and a guy playing the Portuguese guitar and an acoustic "spanish style" bass guitar, a drummer and a pianist/trumpet player. The three guitarists were the mainstay with the others coming on from time to time. They really showed their stuff during an instrumental about half way through but they were great all of the gig. The Portuguese guitarist was playing fast and high most of the time and provided a lot of the "lead". The drummer had an amazing solo nearer the end just to show how good he was.

This was powerful stuff - all heightened by being centre of the front row with Mariza on the edge of the stage right next to us. During the encore she discarded all the technology for one track and got the two guitarists to play acoustically while she sang without the mike. That came across pretty well from two feet away but I am sure she also managed to hit the back of the hall as well.

Transatlantic Sessions - 5/2/2010

The idea of this gig, as with the BBC programmes, is to put together the music of Celtic origin with Americana and enjoy the similarities and differences of these related strands. This show had seventeen outstanding musicians which adds up to less than £1.50 per musician. The joint musical directors were Aly Bain - one of my favourite fiddle players and Jerry Douglas - definitely my favourite dobro player. In fact I reckon we had seen around half the musicians on show previously including John Doyle who was musical director for Joan Baez when we saw her last September and Donald Shaw (from Capercaille) who is a master of gaelic wind instruments like whistles and pipes. The format was that the basic band of around ten musicans were joined by vocalists or vocalist/musicians singly or in combination often to deliver classic country or folk tracks. There was in fact a lot of variety. At one point a Gaelic lament for a dead child achingly sung by Karen Matheson was followed by a bluegrass version of "Hey Joe". It all worked beautifully flowing from one crafted song to another.

The featured vocalists included Karen Matheson, Dan Tyminski, Eddi Reader, Cara Dillon,Tim O'Brien, Mollie O'Brien, Sally Watkins and Bruce Molsky. Sally and Bruce also featured on fiddle whilst Tim played mandolin and banjo and Dan of course plays guitar.
Mollie O'Brien certainly leaned towards soul. Cara Dillon had the gentle Irish feel to her voice but plenty of emotion and power as well. Karen sings gaelic tunes like no one else. All in all it was an everchanging delight of music and singing.

At the heart of the band Aly Bain played the most instinctive solid fiddle anchoring everything together helped by the unfussy rhythm section whilst Jerry Douglas decorated the tunes with his astonishing dobro picking. Jerry also opened the second half of the show with a virtuoso solo effort on Dobro eliding several tunes into a flurry of dobro picking that is a joy to behold. Other highlights were Cara's first song "Garden Valley", the Aly Bain tunes right near the end of the gig and the aformentioned section of a gaelic lament and "Hey Joe" as well as "Sign Your Name" from Mollie O'Brien. Not to forget a traditional song by Bruce Molsky early on in the set. And those tunes when all three fiddles were playing. And of course Dant Tyminskis tunes which included "Man of Constant Sorrow" with some great Dobro playing. The encore finished with a Bob Dylan classic "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" with the band led by Tim O'Brien. It was a great tune to finish on.

Nanci Griffith 31/1/10

Nanci Griffith opened her European tour at Leamington Spa and it was a welcome dose of understated class and oozed quality throughout.

First up was the British singer/songwriter Edwina Hayes who has supported Nanci before. If anything her voice which was always pure and powerful seemed to have got better and she delivered a short set that mixed covers and her own songs. Covers included "I can't escape from you"(Hank Williams) and "Feels Like Home"(Randy Newman). I think I'll take in one of her gigs when she's in the Midlands.

Nanci came on with three band members, bass, drums and guitar and whilst the drummer was with her last time the other two were new to me. The tour was billed at "The Loving Kind" tour which is her latest album and a return to form - Nanci was too depressed to write songs whilst Dubya was pres. However there weren't that many songs from the new album, maybe five in total so the majority of the gig was back catalogue.
She kicked off with "Speed of Loneliness" followed by "From a Distance" two classics delivered with feeling. A few tracks later we had two further classics in "Listen to the Radio" which evokes Loretta Lynn and "Love at the Five and Dime". "Ford Econoline" was followed by my particular favourite that makes the gig worthwhile just to hear that one track, "Across the Great Divide". The band was perfect for this track - relaxed bass and great harmonies from J T Brown and sweet twang from Thomm Jutz on guitar and that is one track that she sings just to perfection.
"Well Alright" kicked off the encore - paying homage to the local Texas boys that wrote and played that particular tune.
I loved the intimate sound of the band and whilst Nanci's voice may be starting to feel the strain she paces herself between tracks and gets through the gig without any problems. I can't wait for the next tour.

The Wailers 13/1/10

It would have been rude not to go to this gig as it was 10 minutes away by convenient bus from where we were staying on holiday in Vail, Colorado. It also featured an original Wailer - Aston 'Family Man' Barrett - who is one of the finest bass players I have seen. The gig was a free 'street' gig with the bandstand set up at the end of a fairly narrow street in Vail. The bass was superb so relaxed and so late. The main guitarist was also not bad at all. He reminded me very much of Junior Marvin who whilst not an original Wailer was a part of the band for some time. Once the band had done a few instrumental tracks they brought on a lead singer and two backing singers and turned into a Marley tribute band. Having seen the original this was not a good idea in my view but nonetheless there were enjoyable versions of "One Drop", "Lively Up Yourself" and "Jammin'" and "One Love". However the gig gradually became untenable as the crowd had come for a party rather than a gig. At first we were near the front and surrounded on all sides by people shouting over their mobiles to one friend after another. Moving back we found ourselves in the middle of basic party conversations - again involving shouting because the music made it difficult to hear........
However it was good to be reminded again of what a great bassist Aston Barrett is. I was also a huge fan of his late brother Carlton who played one of the best drum solos I have heard at a Marley gig in 1980 - so minimalist, the very essence of a drum solo.