Calan 23 June 2018

Calan are a Welsh band playing traditional and folky music. I saw them a couple of years ago in our village hall under a subsidised scheme and here they were at Catbrook Village Hall. They are seriously good musicians: Angharad Jenkins on fiddle, Alice French on harp, Sam Humprhys on guitar, Patrick Rimes on fiddle, bagpipes etc and Bethan Rhiannon on accordion, vocals and clog dancing. The clog dancing is a real highlight and we had three examples during the show. The other stand out for me is the harp playing and it is a great instrument that gives some Welsh ambiance to the sound. They played a lot of stuff off the recent album 'solomon' and I particularly loved 'The Lullabies' but actually it was all good music and a great atmosphere.

David Byrne 17 June 2018

An extraordinary gig - I guess it has resonance with some of the old Talking Heads gigs but nothing like anything I've seen before. It was theatrical but in a very good way, not just some business to tart up an underlying blandness as is seen so often in rock theatrics but absolutely as one with the music. Also unusual to see the Symphony Hall on their feet within minutes of the David Byrne coming on and that was due to the excitement being generated on stage. First off the support was Laura Mvula who was also unusual the line up was her on vocals and keyboards and Troy Miller on keyboards and drums (mostly played simultaneously). At times the two keyboards were in 'organ' mode which filled the hall with resonant and surprising sound. She was delighted to be playing her home town hall and whilst I wouldn't go overboard on her voice the music was different and interesting. Good dancing from her too. The stage was cleared until all that remained was a table with a model of the human brain on it and a chair. David Byrne came on sat on the chair, picked up the brain and starting singing. The musicians (11 of them) came on as needed, all in light grey suits, all of them wireless so there was no equipment on stage once the table and chair were removed and all part of a choreographed routine that was pretty mesmerizing at times. There were six percussionists which allowed amazing rhythms to be played (perfect for David Byrne) a guitarist, keyboards player, bassist and two dancers/backing vocalists who led the dancing and were brilliant. David Byrne played a lot from the new album but mixed in some old Talking head's faves such as 'Slippery People' , 'This Must Be the Place', 'Once in a Lifetime' and 'Born Under Punches'. Stand outs for me from the new album were 'Everybody's Coming to My House', 'I Dance Like This' and 'Every Day is a Miracle'. Of the Talking Head's songs I loved 'Slippery People' and 'This must be the place'. I love the song 'Once in a lifetime' but this version was perhaps a little staccato for me. However the best of the night was saved for the last track - a stupendous, epic, percussion fest version of 'Burning Down the House'. The audience was jumping. There was a couple of songs as a first encore including 'The Great Curve' followed by a second encore of the protest song 'Hell You Talmbout' reading out the names of African Americans shot by police. Then that was it - shame it had to end but the upside is I have tickets for the Cardiff leg of the tour later in the year. Roll on October.

Gretchen Peters 2/6/2018

Gretchen is rapidly becoming an all time favourite - her albums and gigs get better and better. This is true for the latest album which can stand with the amazing 'Blackbirds' album and for this latest tour. First off was Kim Richey as support act - she was an alt-country singer songwriter who's been around a while although I can't say I have heard her before. It was a good set of her songs and she finished off with a Kris Kristofferson cover. Gretchen came on with hubby Barry Walsh on piano and accordion and two guitarists from Ulster, Conor McCreanor on bass and lead guitarist Colm McLean. The gig just kicked off in top gear and went from there. She started with the opening couple of tracks of the new album, 'Arguing with Ghosts' and 'Wichita' and then hit 'The Matador' (from Hello Cruel World) and 'Blackbirds'. Then a slew of tracks from the new album and 'Say Grace' was amazingly powerful and 'Dancing with the Beast' ditto. And then possibly the best song on the album 'Disappearing Act'. The next four songs were Gretchen Classics the last two being the phenomenal 'Five Minutes' and the superb'Idlewild'. The band were tight and very musical with Colm's lead guitar ( a great sounding gold guitar with some sort of soundbox and a D style of logo) and Barry's piano and accordion in perfect harmony. Kim Richey ahd come on as well starting with 'Say Grace' to add backing vocals and the whole thing was just humming along. I love Gretchen's singing but it is the songwriting that makes the gig special. For an encore the band decided to 'have some fun' which was provided by the uptempo 'Why you been gone so Long' with Barry and Colm trading breaks for some time. The band went off and then Gretchen unplugged, came down into the front row, stood next to me apologised in advance in case she might spray me and sang a beautiful acoustic 'Love that makes a Cup of Tea'. I don't know whether the back of the balcony could hear it OK but I don't really care. Wow.