Black Angels 27/9/2017

This gig was part of the band touring their fifth album 'Death March'. Over the years the band have lost some of that initial raw excitement in their music and undergone a couple of personnel changes but they are still a great live act and I preferred their new stuff live over the CD versions. The supporting trio (A Place to Bury Strangers) was very noisy and had an industrial drummer and I was a bit 'meh'. Black Angels were a five piece and with the exception of the drummer (Stephanie Bailey) they swapped instruments a lot with all four front men playing guitar during the gig and for some songs all at the same time. The main vocalist was Alex Maas who has a great voice somewhat Jim Morrisonish and a lot of the nice guitar early on was played by Christian Bland. Later Jake Garcia dumped his bass guitar and played some good stuff on guitar as well. The moogs and drones were less prominent than in previous Black Angel gigs but they are still part of the sound and something I really enjoy. The projected graphics were great - all weird transformations which generally added to the psychedelic ambience. The gig took off for me about five tracks in when they played 'Medicine' off the new album. Other highlights from the new album were 'I'd Kill for her' and 'Life Song'. They finished with one of my favourites 'Young Men Dead' off of 'Passover' - great finish to a relaively short set at just under an hour and a half. A couple of firsts for me I think - the first time I had seen two bands with a female drummer and possibly also the first time I had seen a band with two lefty guitarists.

Martin and Eliza Carthy 10/9/2017

Preceded by a tour around Colston Hall in the afternoon, this gig was in The Lantern (which was the original Colston Hall) - increasingly preferred by me to the main hall even though seating is not numbered. They started promptly at 8pm and there was an easy and warm ambience from this father and daughter duo all through the two hours or so of music that followed. I love Eliza's fiddle playing which is authoritative and rhythmic but also packs emotional content. Martin's acoustic guitar playing was also excellent - it had a deliberation about it but subtleties were always evident. He uses a different tuning to most guitarists and I also enjoyed his constant tic-like tuning of the guitar between songs. The catalogue of songs was a trawl through musical and (largely) British history. Apart from a few songs which were done solo, they played together with one or the other taking vocal lead. A couple of the solo songs were exceptional - I was particularly taken with 'Nelly was a lady' by Eliza which is a Stephen Foster song. Other highlights for me were 'Awake, awake' a version of a song I know better as 'Silver Dagger''Bonny Moorhen' a song about the hard people who live in Weardale, 'Nancy from London' and a ballad about a boxing match in the mid 19C. An excellent gig in a great atmosphere - I'd better watch out or I'll become a folkie.

Le Vent du Nord 6/9/2017

We like the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny - it's small and friendly and not too far away so we chanced upon this gig on spec. A French-Canadian band based on traditional Quebec folk - another aspect of the Celtic genre really. They were excellent with a distinctive line-up strongly featuring the Hurdy-Gurdy, the first time I have heard one played live. Fiddle, accordian, bazouki, guitar, bass and keyboards made up the instruments played by the four band members with percusssion provided by foot stamping on miked up boards. They all sang - sometimes acapello as in their Iriqouis song after making the point that French Canadians were dismissive of the 150 year independence celebrations as it should have been about 500 years but then the natives might think even that a little previous....... Their music was trooted in the traditional but felt fresh and modern as well. Each was an accomplished musician, they clearly were very tight as a band after fifteen years on the road and their voices melded very well. Another good night at the Borough Theatre.