Friday 22 November 2013

The Majesty of Queens Of The Stone Age

Well I think I've pretty much put my cards on the table with that title but there is more to say than that title. Words bubbled to the surface like watching a pan of boiling water as I replayed the show in my head on the way home.

As the lights went down a night of musical ecstasy started perfectly for me with the first 2 songs off one of my all time favourite albums Songs For The Deaf. The thumping beats just run you through, there is no escape once impaled on the rhythm, with every kick and bass lick you are thrown about. My body was moving and there was nothing I could do about it. One of the things I love about Queens Of The Stonage music is the prominence of the drums and the bass it's like an engine you can just let tick over or rev as hard and fast as you like. The guitars and vocals are steering this machine though and they take you round hairpin bends with songs like No One Knows or down lazy winding lanes as I Appear Missing seeps out and runs down your ear canals. It is testament as to how good the new album is because almost all the tracks made it onto tonights set list. Quite often bands that have been around for a while are happy to rely on their back catalogue of tried and tested tunes to appease people rather than stand by the new music but it was all in here and stood proudly next to some of the best rock riffs around. Suffice to say I was in musical Nirvana. The main set was finished off with 'Go with the flow' and after the obligatory whooping, cheering, clapping and stomping the band reappeared to deal the knockout blows in the encore starting with the wonderful 'The Vampyre of Time and Memory' a tune that starts beautifully simple on the piano and then builds and builds taking you higher and higher as the gusts of sound get bigger and bigger. The night finished on 'A Song For The Dead' which was the 'Thelma and Louise' ending we were all committed to, the band pushing the accelerator to the floor the engine at full revs and we all went off the cliff together on a musical high.

Queens Of The Stone Age delivered everything I expected and more, I'll be re-living this concert in my head for a long time to come. I suggest you go check them out for yourself you won't regret it.



You'll find everything Queens Of The Stone Age here...

http://www.qotsa.com/

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Manchester's Gone Loopy KT Tunstall Live

So this outing was to be a late birthday present or early Christmas present or something like that for my wife and daughter who both love KT Tunstall I was just along for the ride in hope of some musical magic......

After we had laden my daughter with T Shirts and CD's we made our way into the Bridgewater Hall. I'd never been to this venue before and it opened out into a clean precise looking sound space ( Yep I have no idea what I'm on about either basically it looked really nice ;]). We made ourselves comfortable and wondered at the height of the ceiling.....

Now I would normally run for cover nowadays if somebody is described as being played on Radio 1 as I don't think I've listened to Radio 1 for at least a decade( Checkout Roots & Fusion on Pure FM it's very cool ) but thankfully Billy Lockett didn't spring this on us until already part way through his set. By this time we'd already decided we loved what he was doing which was playing great self penned music and then telling us between songs his name was Billy Lockett. His music had a beautiful simplicity bolstered with a voice which with it's hint of vibrato at times really complemented his sound. Needless to say my daughter shot for the door as soon as he finished his set to go buy his EP and get it signed by the man himself(Don't think she stopped grinning till she fell asleep on the way home).

After a short break the lights dimmed and KT Tunstall strolled on stage. You could feel the relaxed calm of someone who has been gigging for a while. She headed straight into the first song off the new album 'Invisible Empire' and all was right with world. The whole place was transfixed on the stage immediately floating along with KT's beautiful tones. I do love it when an artist surpasses the sound of their recorded songs and KT Tunstall definitely delivers live. I don't know whether it's the added edge of being in a situation where everything can go pear shaped(Always wondered why 'pear shaped' was used to describe things going wrong. I quite like the shape of pears. Anyway...) or whether when sound engineers and producers are looking for the perfect waveform they remove some of the irregularities that give a voice or playing style character but there is definitely something more to the sound of KT Tunstall live which was wonderful to hear. The whole feel is even more engrossing as you see the songs build from a thump on the guitar body(Very technical term that, thump, maybe I should have used percussive strikes, Oh well) and then layer upon layer is added by the press of a pedal until you are immersed in an ear caressing soundscape. One of the many high points of the evening for me was hearing the stunningly beautiful Alchemy which apparently was only available to the 'Inner order' of followers or was it just on an EP that you could only get at gigs it was definitely one of those two;]. As counterpoint to the floating flowing tunes there were some down in the dirt gritty bluesy stompfests like the 'Black Horse and The Cherry Tree' 'Seven Nation Army' mashup and 'Suddenly I See'. Basically you know you're in the presence of someone who is great at what they do when it all seems so effortless, just strolling between instruments or reaching down for the next instrument to add another looped layer without looking anxious or hurried. It's really easy to sum up KT Tunstall's performance at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester  Class!!!!



I reckon I've earned a few years worth of Brownie points with my wife and daughter judging by how much they enjoyed the night. (think I'll remind them of that next time I put my foot in it) So big thanks to Billy Lockett and KT Tunstall.

For all things Billy Lockett you can find him here...
http://billylockett.blogspot.co.uk/
and here
https://www.facebook.com/billylockettmusic

The amazing K T Tunstall can be found here(It's not actually her it's a web site ;])
http://kttunstall.com/

Saturday 2 November 2013

Ks Choice Acoustic Night at Unit 51

So this was another new venue for us to see some amazing acoustic music but the first problem was going to be making sure we could navigate through the usual Friday rush hour mayhem to Liverpool from Sandbach. With this in mind I closed up early and we headed down the back lanes avoiding the gridlocked M6. We arrived at about 7pm and to be honest when we looked in through the panoramic windows at first we couldn't see an obvious way in. Not phased we approached the large wall of glass in front of us to be confronted by some strange new internal access apparatus. Conventional techniques were not going to work here we were going to need cunning and guile to gain access to the buildings innards, so we used all our years of entry experience to read the instructions and slide the doors open like a huge patio door. We were in (I know that was a bit over dramatic sometimes that's just where my weird head takes me!!). First impressions were that Unit 51 was a lovely space emitting a very chilled vibe, I liked it. The hope was that the acoustics would match up to the surroundings? Well the nice thing about arriving early is that we got to have a chat with one of the owners of Unit 51 and found out a bit about the creative area it's situated in . They really have created a great environment to chill out and listen to some live music. There were locally produced drinks and Lynn expressed her approval of the coffee (the amount of coffee shops she frequents I'd say she is something of a connoisseur). Once adorned with drinks we positioned ourselves close enough to the performing area to get a good view but not so close as to freak the artists out by looking up their noses ;]. Once we'd enjoyed the silent piece just called 'The Coat Stand' (only performed for early arrivals as once they were ready to get going properly Derek moved the Coat Stand out of the way) everyone was ready to enjoy some audible pleasure.

The Coat Stand in full flow


The evening was introduced by Derek King who started the musical ride with a couple of covers and an original and pleasingly he warmed the room up nicely and demonstrated the acoustics of the venue were going to be a perfect partner to the surroundings. After a short change around which was going to be the order of the night Billy Kelly was introduced. It's always great to see someone I've not seen before and Billy Kelly carried the evening on in fine style just confirming this was going to be one of those top nights full of acoustic quality. Following Billy Kelly was Jo Bywater... She's alright;] Who am I kidding Jo was one of the main reasons I was there and for the second time in a month she blew us away (for more superlatives of Jo Bywater's performing go check out my Chasing Tales EP launch blog). Once we'd all finished marvelling at Jo Bywater's slide playing it was time to drive a six inch nail through my foot because I was liable to knock the table over when Me and Deboe start playing. I should explain a little further, every time I hear Me and Deboe my leg starts tapping away like I'm thumper the rabbit(think I said this before in another blog but can't think of a better way to explain). Tonight was no exception they delivered again. The night was nearly at an end but not before a lively and charismatic performance by Shoes4Brakes (I like this name by the way seems like a biking ref to me? and I like bikes a lot), what's not to like they've got a cajon and great energy.

I'm sorry I've not been to be as detailed as normal in my musical description of the night but while all this wonderful music was going on we managed to have a chat with Me & Deboe which was cool and I also spent quite a bit of the night discussing guitars and grunge bands with Jo Bywater but don't shoot me I'm not a reviewer this is just a blog and the main thing from the evening was that we all had a great night.

Derek King put on a superb evening and I'm sure the K's Choice Acoustic evenings at Unit 51 are going to go from strength to strength. I know we really enjoyed all of the music and the atmosphere of the event, I can't recommend it enough. The fact that it is free is almost criminal. While people were out paying £30+ to see processed pop this amazing talent was available to see for free.

So if you've not guessed I totally recommend if you see any of these names around go and check them out. Big thanks to Derek King, Billy Kelly, Jo Bywater, Me and Deboe and Shoes4Brakes

Just a surreal note during the evening a Fox scuttled across the windows and then returned from it's night out in Liverpool a while later..... weird.

For all the info on K's Choice Acoustic events..
http://kschoiceacoustic.wordpress.com/

For Unit 51 check them out on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Unit51Coffee?directed_target_id=0

You can find Billy Kelly here...
http://www.reverbnation.com/billykellywwk
or here
https://soundcloud.com/billykellywwk

Everything Jo Bywater   including guitar tuition.....
http://www.jobywater.com/

For Me & Deboe (I actually know which one is Sarah Deboe and which is Mercy Elise now. Cheers Jo)
http://www.meanddeboe.com/

Everything Shoes4Brakes can be found on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Shoes4Brakes?directed_target_id=0
 
To find out what the Fox says