Paul McCartney @ Maida Vale, Wednesday 16th October

It’s just after midday. I’m in the BBC’s famous Maida Vale studios. And I’m 10 feet away from a living, breathing, singing Beatle. How did that happen...?

A few weeks earlier I’d casually entered a lottery to win a pair of tickets to this gig via 6Music, safe in the knowledge that I didn’t have a hope in hell of winning. 66,000 other people had done likewise. With just 100 pairs of tickets up for grabs the odds seemed pretty slim, not quite National Lottery slim but a whole lot worse than the tombola at the local church fete or the outside chance in the 4.15 from Cheltenham. And yet on a chilly Monday morning a week or so after entering I logged into my email account and there amongst the spam was a pair of tickets to arguably one of the most intimate gigs that McCartney had played since his Cavern Club days.

Arriving outside Maida Vale at 9am there were already 30 or so people in the queue, I imagine one or two may have slept there. Now that's devotion. It’s a curious place, the studios on one side of the road and a row of posh looking houses on the other (probably all flats these days). After a two hour wait we were let in and put into another queue for half an hour or before swarming into the studio itself. It’s a little like an old school hall, much smaller than you’d imagine and, unlike pretty much every other gig venue, barrier free. Only a white line on the floor indicates where the audience can’t go. There’s no stage either, so if you’re vertically challenged it’s tough. Predictably several people at the front were about 8ft tall but that’s always the way. We managed to get one row off of the very front and, with a little head bobbing, we had a pretty decent view.

When Macca eventually bounded on it was a strangely moving moment. If you’re under 70 there’s a pretty decent chance that the music and iconography of The Beatles music has been hard wired into your brain. Has there been a more important band in history? Despite splitting up over 40 years ago they seem as popular and influential as ever. Ignore all the rose tinted stuff that often fogs the 60s and, from a purely musical perspective, their development and output in just a few short years is still nothing short of staggering. And right there...almost within touching distance...was one of the two blokes who was responsible for writing most of it. Lennon’s long gone, Harrison too.  Ringo’s still about and doing plenty of stuff but, let’s be honest here, he wasn’t the...ahem...Starr of the show was he? That just leaves McCartney. At 71 and with a fortune estimated at anything between £400 and £800million he clearly doesn’t need make music for the money any more. He doesn’t need to haul himself out of bed to do freebie gigs like this either, which leaves you with the undeniable fact that he’s doing this purely for the love of it all.

That comes across pretty much immediately as he comes into the room and launches into Coming Up from McCartney II (released in 1980). He looks remarkably fit. Even his hair looks better than it did a while back. Obviously it’s dyed but it’s a mellower shade now thank goodness. Why he can’t be glad to be grey like Tom Jones I don’t know. I reckon it would suit him. Save a fortune in Just For Men as well. Anyway, Macca sounds great too. The vocal gets better as he warms up (to be fair this is midday and he only flew in from New York a couple of days ago) and barring the odd slightly strained note it’s pretty impressive. Having listened to my mum’s copy of the Help album on vinyl over and over again when I was young seeing Macca play We Can Work It Out just a few feet away was a particularly special moment...the slight quaver in the voice makes the “Life is very short” line seem all the more poignant. He’s here to promote his new album of course, New, which had been picking up some decent reviews and plays his current single, also called New, which wisely plays to his Mc strengths. Cleverly produced by Mark Ronson it’s a little bit Beatles-y with (to my ears at least) jaunty touches of Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields in there. Forthcoming single Queenie Eye also plugs into his past, more playful than New it’s Sergeant Pepper era Beatles and comes complete with its own call and response bit for the crowd to shout along with. That warms us all up nicely for a good old sing along to cod reggae classic Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da before Macca and band blast through Get Back.

And then it was all over. Several days later it still seems like a slightly surreal dream...

Setlist: Coming Up / Save Us / Junior’s Farm / We Can Work It Out / New / Queenie Eye / Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da / Get Back

PS: If you want to try to spot me I was just behind the left shoulder of the tall bloke in a white top on the left hand side of the screen. Clearly he preferred to watch most of the gig via his ruddy mobile phone. C'est la vie. 

Sparks @ HMV Institute, Tuesday 23rd October 2012

Now celebrating an incredible 41 years together Sparks (essentially brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have been hailed as an influence on everyone from Kurt Cobain to Duran Duran and The Pixies (let’s face it, Soft Cell and Pet Shop Boys based their entire acts on them too). It’s unusual enough for a group to make it to their fifth decade but even rarer still for them to be producing decent work too, witness exhibit A, their rather fine last album 2009’s The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman, which the duo are ambitiously planning to transform into a full length movie and stage show. Makes most other bands seem positively slack in comparison eh? It’s this continuing quest to, as Ron later put it this evening “Keep pushing the envelope” that seems to be behind this latest tour, Two Hands, One Mouth, a stripped back chance to see “Sparks in the nude”. We can thank Russ for that particular mental image.

The show opens with Ron ambling on, settling himself behind the piano to a rapturous reception and then playing an instrumental medley of tracks. Nearly four decades on from that iconic wide eyed Hitler ‘tached image on Top Of The Pops he’s still a striking presence, seemingly belonging to a different time and place to the rest of us. Whilst he remains pretty static for the majority of the show younger bro, Russ, just can’t keep still. In fact you’d be hard pushed to find a lead singer with more energy. Bounding on stage in a pair of three quarter length trousers, striped socks and a tweedy looking jacket he’s prone to skipping around like an irrepressible elf or new born baby lamb. Let us remind ourselves here...this dude’s an OAP.

The set itself was a mix of greatest hits and album cuts spanning most of the band’s career, kicking off with Hospitality On Parade from 1975’s Indiscreet album. Russ’s voice appears to be as strong as ever which is pretty impressive considering the high notes that he constantly has to reach in pretty much every song. I guess he’s not a smoker eh? Fast forwarding to 2008’s Hello Young Lovers for the track Metaphors illustrated just how successfully the Mael’s have managed to retain their creative standards and quality. It’s every bit as strong as the stuff they were producing during their most popular phase in the 70s and, like many of their best known tracks, it’s all about the opposite S-E-X. Yes, girls and sex seem to be a bit of an obsession for the Maels who, according to the interweb, have never married. There is actually something curiously asexual about both of them, not in a creepy, blow up doll kind of way but more in a ‘we’ve got better things to do’ sort of vibe. Messy business, sex.

After an impressive selection of excerpts from their opera The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman (Ron comically donned a black beret for this bit), Russell romped through procrastinator’s anthem Dick Around. It’s actually something of a mini opera itself (who knows, maybe that’s where the Bergman idea came from?), catchy, clever and, hell, it’s got to be said, FUN, all at the same time, which pretty much sums up much of Sparks output over the decades.

Predictably This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us got the biggest cheer of the night, even if it wasn’t the one that most suited the stripped back format the best. Nearly 40 years after Ron came up with that naggingly insistent keyboard motif and Russ warbled operatically over the top it’s still one of the most exciting moments in pop. To have a track that should be showing real signs of middle aged spread but that’s still as fresh and energetic as a horny teen is pretty remarkable. If you looked hard enough you’d have caught a glimpse of a smile from Ron as the crowd applauded wildly at the end, just a glimpse mind you.

As much as I enjoyed the hits it was nice to become reacquainted with some lesser known gems too, especially the next couple of tracks The Rhythm Thief and a remarkably jaunty I’m A Suburban Homeboy replete with Russ acting out little bits of the song (something he charmingly did throughout the set in fact). Capped off with When Do I Get To Sing My Way the main set was over but they soon returned for Number One Song In Heaven and Beat The Clock, two tracks that were pretty sparse in their original forms so closer to tonight’s versions. Listening to these numbers again it’s pretty clear, no Sparks, no Hot Chip et al. It’s a simple as that. When Russ moved behind the keyboard during Beat The Clock it could only mean one thing. Yes. The Ron dance. For a man who barely moves a muscle throughout the set the sight of him dancing away like a flapper on speed is a little like seeing Stephen Hawking break dancing. “Ladies and gentlemen the hardest working man in show business” acknowledged Russ wryly.

Bringing things right up to date, and highlighting the point made earlier about the band still coming up with the goods, the show closed with new single Two Hands, One Mouth. The fact that it’s been written with this tour in mind ensured it suited the simple keyboard and vocal set up perfectly and Russ’ innuendo packed delivery of the words “to satisfy you” were worthy of a Carry On movie. Brilliant.

Singing over, Ron and Russ remained on stage a moment to reveal that they’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Birmingham and Brummies in general. In fact they arguably owe a lot of their success to Erdington’s (a Birmingham suburb) very own Muff Winwood who invited them over to the UK and produced This Town... for them at a time when most of the world was curiously disinterested. Now there’s a little known fact eh? Touchingly Ron (not known for being he chattiest man in the world) finally delivered some heartfelt thanks to us, the audience, for giving them such a great reception. Awwwww bless him. No Ron, the pleasure was all ours. Sparks. The number one band in heaven...or on earth for that matter.