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.