I’m writing this on the day I should have been going to see Heart play in Birmingham, but unfortunately the tour was cancelled in May because Ann Wilson needed surgery and recuperation – and then today the news has come out that the operation revealed she has cancer and is receiving treatment for it. She hopes to be back performing next year, and I hope it all goes well and they come back to the Continue Reading
Live Review: Richard Thompson, Bristol Beacon 26/05/2024
As explained in the post Is this thing still plugged in? Tap tap, 1-2, 1-2, this was my first rock gig for 4 1/2 years – there has been nothing of any great interest for me in Bristol since covid, but things are now improving. Richard Thompson is of course an underrated legend – founder member of Fairport Convention, and one of the *the* best guitarists out there. And an excellent songwriter and singer. While Continue Reading
Devon Philharmonic Orchestra
Last weekend featured one of our occasional forays into the world of culture – classical music, no less. Our friend Rachel plays viola in the Devon Philharmonic Orchestra (the orchestra formerly known as Exeter Music Group), who give performances in Exeter Cathedral each spring and autumn – we’ve been going down to stay with Rachel and her partner in Exmouth and going to the concerts for over a decade now.My dad would have been amazed Continue Reading
Is this thing still plugged in? Tap tap, 1-2, 1-2
<wipes away the cobwebs, blows dust off the server> Goodness, how long has it been since I posted anything to this blog? April 2020, during lockdown, it would seem. Which is long enough ago that my Google Analytics reports generally show zero hits… But there’s good reason for that – the last rock gig I went to was Rival Sons in November 2019, four and a half years ago! Yes, OK we had COVID shortly after Continue Reading
Some Saturday Night Listening
After listening to Crowded House’s Woodface earlier, we got through a bit of vinyl on Saturday night, so here’s brief rundown of what we played. I think this came from an Amazon.fr purchase a year or two back, and I assume we’ve listened to it before but can’t say for sure. Nice early 60s jazz from a pretty impressive trio. Not a great fan of some of the bass, but overall very nice. I picked Continue Reading
Crowded House: Woodface (1991)
I ordered this from HMV last weekend as they were having a sale – I couldn’t turn down this classic album (on vinyl) for the bargain price of £8.99.I also picked up another favourite, which will be along later. Side 1 is jam-packed with favourites – Chocolate Cake, Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You and Four Seasons On One Day. Side 2 has There Goes God and How Will You Go.But the others are Continue Reading
Live Review: Rival Sons, O2 Academy, Bristol – 7th November 2019
This one was a bit of a punt – I’d never (knowingly) heard any of their music, but a good friend of mine rates them so when I saw that they were doing a small handful of shows in the UK, but including Bristol, I thought I’d give it a go.This hasn’t always worked out well – Gaslight Anthem being the worst (the nearest I’ve ever come to leaving a gig early).But it has worked Continue Reading
Gigs That Didn’t Happen
Given that we’re all on lockdown, we’ve already had 3 concerts cancelled or postponed. We were due to see Darius Brubeck (son of Dave, of “Take 5” fame) at St George’s in mid-March (no idea whether that’s going to be re-arranged or not) The Devon Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Exeter Cathedral on the 28th April has been cancelled – a friend of ours plays viola in the orchestra, and is therefore partly responsible for the Continue Reading
Easter Saturday Night Listening
After quite a gap, we went back to playing a couple of records while we had dinner on Saturday – and I picked out a couple from the various charity shop purchases earlier the year, which we’d not listened to yet. First up was this one – picked out at the charity shop’s jazz section. I think it must have been £1, especially given the torn sleeve, but the disc was in good condition. Jackie Continue Reading
Ravel: Bolero; Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhbition
Deutsche Grammophon 139010Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan This a keeper – two pieces of music that I know, one of which I really like (Bolero).And yes, I probably know Pictures at an Exhibition more from Emerson Lake & Palmer that I do from classical versions. If you haven’t seen the ballet of Bolero, look it up. I recommend the Sylvie Guillem version.