My Bloody Valentine 13/3/2013

I was tempted to go to London for this gig because mbv are a unique band and because the gig was at my favourite venue - The Hammersmith Odeon (aka Apollo). The support were 'Le Volume Courbe' who had two good things about them, their name and the violin playing which was pretty other-worldly. Other than that they seemed a bit overwhelmed by the venue and the audience still taking their seats and moving around. It was OK but not exciting. MBV came on after a long interval and launched straight into a couple of classics from 'Loveless' 'I only said' and 'When you sleep'. It is actually thrilling to hear the extraordinary, snarling, dissonant and beautiful wall of noise that is created onstage by MBV. I was struck on the connection to Phil Spector - another of my favourites. The concept of a wall of sound is the same. The difference are in how it is constructed and also on the relation of the vocals to the sound. With Spector the wall of sound was downplayed and contrasted with the loud and upfront vocal. It served to feature the vocal. With MBV the vocal is downplayed and supports the guitar cacophony. Live it is sometimes difficult to even hear the vocal and it serves as a ghostly but important part of the sound mix. Most of the songs played in the 100 minutes or so they were onstage were old tracks from 'Loveless' or that era at least. There were just a few tracks from the new album. One of the highlights was about half an hour in when they played the brilliant 'Only Tomorrow' from the album. It starts as four rhythmically raucous guitars underpinned by Colm O'Ciosoig's assertive and driving drums. Out of this maelstrom of noise emerges the ethereal guitar riff that defines the track for me. Another highlight was 'Only Shallow' just because it is a favourite track of mine but actually the gig was a tour-de-force from start to finish, the songs following each other with barely a pause, a relentless, high-volume barrage of beautiful music. The volume ratcheted up to 11 for 'You Made Me Realise' more than 10 minutes of white noise subtley enhanced with furious strumming from Kevin Shields at higher and higher frequencies. Those who had not yet installed their free ear plugs rapidly did so or in some cases left. But there was a further track to follow - the amazing 'Wonder 2' off the new album with Colm on guitar rather than drums. Once that was done the band were off, job done, no encore. There is no one else like MBV.

Clannad 10/3/2013

Brian Kennedy was the support act. I had never heard of him although he has had a long career and I must have seen him at some point when he was in Van Morrison's band. He seemed a lttle nervous and the sound was a bit harsh at first but he sang a lament about four tracks in and that worked and the last acapello track was also good and showed that he is an accomplished singer. Clannad came on as a seven piece with the five original members augmented by a drummer (Jed Lynch) and a keyboards player (Ian Parker). From the start the major impression was of the vocal soundscape created by Clannad, Moya Brennan's classic Irish folk voice mostly in the lead and the four male voices mostly harmonising and backing her. But it was a lot more than that as they were all good instrumentalists as were the two additional members of the touring band. I particularly liked Jed Lynch's driving but sensitive drumming, Ciaran Brennan's bass (and keyboards)and Moya's Irish harp playing. In fact one of the highlights for me was a harp tune from the 18th Century which morphed into a slip jig and much of the set was either traditional or at least traditional in feel. Clannad do have a fusion vibe about them though on top of this deeply gaelic feel. That is why they get picked for film and TV music I guess. On that front the song 'I will find you' from 'Last of the Mohicans' was a powerful, atmospheric piece (as indeed it is in the film). Other highlights for me were a song about some ancient constructions in Ireland and pretty much anything written or arranged by Ciaran including an arrangement of an old song featuring seaweed. I also enjoyed the more poppy 'Closer to your heart' and also 'In a Lifetime' with Brian Kennedy reprising the Bono vocal. In fact I enjoyed the whole gig immensely. This was a band drawing on a rich musical tradition, doing it with professionalism and feeling and adding something modern to it as well.

Gretchen Peters 5/3/2013

The support act was an excellent singer/songwriter from Antrim called Ben Glover who kicked off with a great song 'You and I' and gave the delivery some welly. He pretty much maintained that high level of quality throughout his 30-minute set with a strong singing style and thoughtful songs. Gretschen Peters was leading a three piece band with hubby Barry Walsh on piano and accordion and Christine Bougie on guitars and percussion. She started with 'Woman on the Wheel' from the new album and played a lot of songs from the album including the superb 'Idlewild' and 'Five Minutes' which came later on in the set. Throughout her singing was strong but also varied in style and tone depending on the particular song which is a difficult skill. She brought Ben Glover back on for a rousing version of 'Grievous Angel' which was one of the high spots for me. I also loved a new song to me 'England Blues' which was done as a high energy track near the end and by the end of the song Barry Walsh was standing up and banging the piano keys in a Chris-Staintonesque style. The closing song of the encore was another brilliant cover to follow 'Grievous Angel' earlier. The band did a lovely version of 'Wild Horses' with haunting vocals from Gretschen and perfect support from the band and Ben again on vocals. A super gig in a nice venue. I'm looking forward to her next tour already.