12 May 2008 - Chess in Concert, Royal Albert Hall

Taking a Bow - (courtesy of http://www.icethesite.com/)

Tim, Benny and Bjorn have been tinkering with this musical for a quarter of a century now, but they may at last be on to something. Don't be fooled by the "in concert" tag either - this was almost a full-blown musical with orchestra, choir, two sets of dancers, fireworks, the RAH organ and of course the fantastic lead vocals.

This show attracted a wide audience - from the Grobanites (who knew they were in for a treat), to Abba fans and musical afficionados. Knowing they were being filmed (for cd and dvd) the cast and orchestra gave it their all - no doubt the audio problems will be sorted out in the mixing studio. Josh Groban's powerful voice was outstanding - and obviously a pleasant surprise for those unfamiliar with his talents. Idina Menzel's performance was somewhat scratchy in the first half, good support from Adam Pascal, David Bedella and Marti Pellow, but the new discovery for me was Kerry Ellis, whose "I Know Him So Well" has finally blasted Elaine Paige's voice out of my head. 'Quartet' sung by the principals was absolutely thrilling, the choir's 'Merano' was a joy and 'Anthem', with which Josh closed the first half, was perfection. An evening of total delight - and we rewarded the cast with a five-minute standing ovation. Hopefully everyone can enjoy this when it comes out on general release!

3 March, 2008 - Rod Thomas, The Macbeth, Hoxton

Launch party for 'You Get Goodbyes'

Packed out night for the launch of Rod's new single 'You Get Goodbyes' - a catchy number which turns the usual end-of-relationship angst on its head, in an upbeat celebration of honesty and moving on. Toe-tapping-tastic. Check out the 'B' side too, for the gorgeous 'Debris' (now that really is a sad break-up song) and multi-layered acoustic versions of two earlier hits 'Good Coat' and 'Your Love is a Tease'.

A brilliant set from the multi-talented Mr Rod, and he even got the audience included in the loop as chorus to his ukulele number 'Same Old Lines'. Check out his Myspace for more gigs and go dance your socks off.

Rod's web-site for music and all links: here

1 February 2008 - Stackridge, 100 Club, Oxford Street W1

Lummy, Stackridge are back!

YBG debated long and hard over this one - nostalgia for the Colston Hall, Bristol and all - but, s*d it, everyone deserves a mid-winter treat, so off down to the Dad pit it was. Labelled in the press as 'Prog-rock', the moniker doesn't do this band any favours - they're quirky and unique, dating from the time when the 'Prog' bit applied to just about anyone who wrote a song over 3.5 mins long. To the basic line-up (guitars, keyboard, drums) add violins, flute, trombone and you start to get the idea. Top this with catchy lyrics (famously the student favourite, Syracuse the Elephant) and you're nearly there. But performance and execution is all - and this they had in spades.

It was good to see most of the original line-up too - Andy Davis, James Warren, Mutter Slater and Jim 'Crun' Walters, plus fine contributions from Glen Tommey and Andrew "Codge" Marsden. Sarah Mitchell and Rachel Hall on violin added the essential string section to Stackridge's unique sound. The band seemed reconciled to the fact that the Stackridge brand is bigger than their individual musical careers and are making sure that this is (at long last) their big comeback year. The delighted punters were of the variety who would book Genesis for their school dance BITD and a hero's welcome was given to the die-hard who had flown in from New York for the occasion. Happy in the Lord were we.

A new album is promised for the summer and the band returns to the 100 Club on 23 May - go and see for yourselves - I promise it'll be fun (and it's not that often you can say that these days).

8 December 2007 - Hello Goodbye + Sherwood + Go-Audio, Folkestone

Folkestone never fails to please.

Back to the excellent Leas Cliffs Pavillion - on chaperone duties this time. The RW band (see below) noted the place was like a school hall - well this was Folkestone's Christmas high school hop. The place was heaving with kids having a good time - couples snogging in the corridors, girls crying/throwing up in the loos, lads over-moshing in the mosh-pit, girls girly dancing and the queue for the sweet stall longer than the queue for the bar. Still, the view from up in the Mom'n'Dad pit was excellent.

Another four-act gig - can't remember the first, but second-up Go-Audio were really good. A defo for 2008 festivals, please. Third-up Sherwood - ok, but was that soundcheck really part of the act, lads? Hello Goodbye v good indeed - audience thought they were ace and went mental enjoying themselves - which is always the aim of a good evening.

22 November 2007 - Amy Winehouse, Remi Nicole, Brixton Academy

Yes, I know this show was ages ago, but I wanted to process my shock before writing anything. I'm glad someone eventually had the guts to pull the rest of Amy's tour - this night did her no favours at all.

The warm-up - the likeable Remi Nicole - played a competent set, but was let down by her material. I mean you soon get bored with lyrics along the lines of "My boyfriend's c**p, I told him so, Oh-oh-oh-oh, Oh-oh-oh-oh.." (my words, not hers, but you get the idea). Anyway, not bad all round but then there was over an hour to wait before the headliner. Management kept the pa music up loud - every time it dipped you could hear the booing. At last Miss Winehouse put in an appearance - of which you will have read plenty elsewhere. Enough to say, that she has enough talent to become truly great - the building blocks are there (such a stunning voice) - let's hope she overcomes her troubles soon.

15 November 2007 – Rod Thomas + si-cut.db, The ICA

A Roundhouse/ICA collaboration

Concentrate, because this blog gets a bit art-house now. The proposition, as cooked up by Henry T’s Entertainment and Nick Luscombe, was to hook up two musicians in a roots’n’shoots’ collaboration, to see what they produce – the Anderson principle here being that for every 1000 near-misses, the occasional success will make the whole thing worthwhile. The set – a bit of Doug, a bit of Rod and then the collaboration - the result of 10 weeks rehearsals at the Roundhouse.

Now the keener reader of this blog will have noticed that I know Rod Thomas’ music quite well – from the unplugged sound in the tiled corridors beneath Liverpool Street Station, to noisy bashes in the livelier bars of Hoxton and Shoreditch. This time Rod had a real theatre to play in, with good acoustics and a professional sound system – oh, and the happy accident of seating – focussing the audience’s attention, which performers can struggle with at Indie gigs.

On the other hand, I don’t know a lot about si-cut.db (Doug Benford), but I can see where he’s coming from and he is clearly well-respected in his own circle; back in May he performed in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, so I guess that puts him firmly in the experimental musician category.

So, back to the roots’n’shoots premise – established/emerging musician, old ways in collaboration with new ways. Well, not quite. In fact the whole preconception is turned on its head. The ‘elder’ party being an electronic techno-wizard – his sole set a composition of music files - layered, pulsing, overlapping and echoing; electronica in free-form with no two performances ever the same. That said, I think his style is more suited to recorded cds rather than a live theatre performance. As he sat slaving over a hot lap-top, I found myself wanting to see what was on his computer screen – was he moving files around in time to the music, or was he watching the swirls from Media Player? The projector screen above his head was begging to be filled with pictures - give this man an interactive whiteboard, please!

The counterpoint to si-cut is young Rod, who has gone back to music’s purer roots, using ‘old’ technology to record and loop real sounds as he goes along, so that he too builds a unique performance each time. And – and he sings. Rod showed what he could do with a loop pedal, handclaps, keyboard and guitar, putting in a short set of his beatier tunes, including ‘Your Love is a Tease’, ‘You’re So Disco’, ‘Good Coat’ and ‘As If’ – one man band meets disco/folk – erm, it really is his own niche.

For the joint performance Rod and Doug presented a set which displayed their respective skills, at the same time showing how two individualists can work respectfully together to produce something new and rather special. Someone had the brainwave of adding graphics – step forward Matt Collet, whose themed films worked a treat and were the necessary third element (see Youtube clip here.) Taking the theme of Play Room, they used different combinations of their respective styles to cast an imaginative spell where electronica gave way to pure notes, and back, sometimes both mixing together under a pulsating overhead echo. Laptop, guitar, keyboard, ukulele, piano, melodica, glockenspiel and vocals were all used (what, no stylophone?). There were instrumental pieces and sung melodies too – the heartbreaker ‘Plastic Lullabye’ being one of the highlights.

Dues were paid to each musician’s particular style, but I couldn’t help wondering which of them gained the most from this collaboration. Rod had the edge in terms of vocals and the sheer number of instruments at his command but there is no doubting si-cut’s über-cool technical skills. It added a spark to see him come out from behind that laptop to play the glockenspiel and keyboard – maybe next time he could sing too.

So hats off to the performers and lots of cred to the brains behind the project. Look them up here for more information and pod casts to download. I'm told there will be an i-tunes EP in 2008 also.

30 October 2007 – Rufus Wainwright, Hammersmith Apollo

My final date in this fantastic year of Rufus (although DVD of Palladium performance due in early December). Rufus’s audiences are always an interesting mix of young and old, gays, gals and guys and the large circle bar at Hammersmith is a good place to mingle with the (RWMB) fans, the glitterati and the metropolitan crowd. Had a really interesting chat with two Americans who had been fans of Rufus since whenever and one of whom (like yours truly) had seen R’s mother and aunt - Kate and Anna McGarrigle – perform BITD. So missed the support act completely – apologies to Sean Matthews.

Rufus and band were even more “broochilicious” than before and the set has held up well, with more back catalogue material finding its way onto the set list. Thank you, thank you for including ‘Consort’ – such a beautiful song. The dear boy is working his neenies off this year, what with the Judy project, the new album and world tour and all – come back soon, London loves you, honey!