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
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
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
More Springsteen Downloads
I wrote a while back about my Springsteen download problem, and that problem hasn’t gone away – although there have actually been a small handful of shows he’s released that I haven’t bought. There’s usually a show released on the first Friday of each month, but this month I saw that it had been delayed for “a seasonal release”, and one thing sprang immediately to mind – are they going to release the 1978 San Continue Reading
Live Review: Richard Hawley. O2 Academy, Bristol – 2nd October 2019
This was the third time I’ve seen Richard Hawley – the previous ones were in 2013 and 2015, both at Colston Hall (see below). The first time we went, I knew next to nothing about him – SWMBO had heard him on BBC 6Music, saw that he was playing in Bristol and recommended we went. I was actually blown away by how good he was – great songs, a good voice and a fantastic guitar Continue Reading
Live Review: New Order, Bristol Harbourside – 18th July 2019
OK, so this one is a bit late – nearly 3 months after the show, sorry about that. I didn’t bother with any of the Bristol Summer Series shows this year as nothing really grabbed me. I quite like the venue, and have seen Sigur Ros and the Manic Street Preachers there in 2016 and 2017.Elbow were tempting, having seen them before (on the Seldom Seen Kid tour) – they were fantastic then but I’ve Continue Reading
Live Review: Muse. Ashton Gate Stadium, Bristol – 5th June 2019
After the football stadium at Ashton Gate had been redeveloped, they decided to start hosting big concerts again – they’ve done it in the past with such cutting-edge acts as Meat Loaf, Elton John and The Who, but this year they upped their game somewhat by hosting 4 concerts in consecutive weeks.First up was Rod Stewart (a safe retro act), then Take That and finishing with The Spice Girls – Rod The Mod is OK Continue Reading