Steve Earle 14/10/15

The support was the same as last time we saw Steve a few years ago - The Mastersons aka Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore. She has a compelling voice and he plays a mean guitar so an enjoyable set before they come back on stage as part of Steve Earle's band which also includes long-time drummer Kelly Looney and bassist Will Rigby. Steve opened with some stuff from his latest album which very delightfully is in the country blues ouevre starting with 'Baby, Baby, Baby' and then 'You're the best Lover' and 'Baby's Just as Mean as Me'. He then started mixing in some classics which of course got the (surprisingly small) audience to their metaphorical feet. 'Goodbye', 'My Old Friend the blues' 'Guitar Town, and 'Copperhead Road' were all in there and each fitted nicely into the mood for the evening - relaxed but compelling country blues from a master musician. All the while Chris Masterson played an excellent lead guitar but I have to say I love the guitar playing of Steve Earle even when he is in the background - it is beautifully judged and subtle. Of course he and indeed Eleanor Whitmore also played various mandolins and other stringed instruments to great effect on tracks such as 'Copperhead Road'. The gig really hit the heights for me in the final two songs of the main set - first the best track on the new album (King of the Blues) and then straight into 'Hey Joe'. It is one of my favourite songs of all time and I might cavil at anyone but Hendrix playing it but Steve and the band did a great job on producing their own distinctive version. After that the encore was a little bit of an anticlimax although entertaining in that I wasn't expecting a Donovan song! A superb display of craftmanship and emotive power - where was the audience?

Catrin Finch 9/10/2015

Catrin Finch certainly has a wide-ranging musical palette. You sort of expect a 'traditional' Welsh harpist who was official harpist to the Prince of Wales to major on old mediaevel harp ballads but we first saw Catrin playing with Seckou Keita in a kora/harp duo. This tour was to promote her latest album 'Tides' and the band consisted of her, a string quartet, a double bassist and a tech guy who looped some harp stuff and played electronic drums. As usual her playing featured a lot of complex exciting harp playing but she also spent a fair amount of time at the piano and the whole feeling was this water/sea/weather vibe which was the them of the album. 'Storm Front was particularly dramatic but the whole thing fitted together in a very enjoyable way. She played 'Clair de Lune' somewhere in the gig and the string quartet did a number I loved ('Fellow Traveller' by John Adams) which was all tension and complex rhythms but mostly the harp cascaded melodies and rhythms in its inimitable way.

Dave Gilmour 3/10/15

The previous Gilmour concerts at The Albert Hall were classic gigs and I was amazed to find that they were nine years ago - they still live strongly in my memory so I had guessed they were more recent. Like last time he was showcasing a new album and he kicked off with three tracks from the album including the excellent 'Faces of Stone'. Even just three tracks in the gig was beautiful with his inimitable, ethereal, imperious and impeccable guitar front and centre, and with an excellent band backing him including Phin Manzanera on guitar and some great drumming from Steve DiStanislau. Track four was the first of a surprising number of classic Floyd tracks, 'Wish You Were Here' and the level of the gig moved up a notch from beautiful to superb. After a couple more tracks from his most recent two solo albums he then played two tracks from 'Dark Side of the Moon' and the second of those 'Us and Them'took things up yet another gear and I had a strange feeling I was at a classic Floyd gig. Everything was just purring along from backing singers to keyboards, bass and drums and DG's guitar just got better and better. A brilliant version of 'In Any Tongue' from the new album and then the classic 'High Hopes' finished the first set on a roll. I was wondering whether it could get any better in the second half and then it did with 'Astronomy Domine' as an opener. Now it definitely felt Floydian and the back projection and lighting was keeping up particularly on 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' which followed. Ditto the 'cartoon' to accompany 'Fat Old Sun' from Atom Heart Mother which was next up. A few more tracks of newer songs including 'On an Island' and 'Today' and then a couple more Floyd numbers and the second set was over. The encore was just perfect - a couple more classics from 'Dark Side of the Moon' - 'Time' and 'Breathe' were followed by an astounding version of 'Comfortably Numb'. Meanwhile the light show just took off with nets of green followed by staccato patterns of red and then white perfectly fitting the song and the transcendental guitar. Goodnight to gig of the year.