Wilderness Festival, Charlbury – 10th-12th August 2012

Day One

The great outdoors. Dontcha just love it? The trees, the birds, the...er wild flowers...yes, that’s all very well but you can only enjoy nature’s wonders for so long right? That’s where the Wilderness Festival comes in. Set in some of the most beautiful countryside England’s got to offer it’s a three day orgy (not literally...although I did see one young couple getting jiggy behind a tree) of food, music, theatre, cinema, debate, cricket, foraging, skinny dipping...all of which is still wonderfully free of the big name BRANDING that sucks the heart and soul out of so many other festivals. Last year saw its glorious debut and for the follow up the organisers ramped up the magic even further, inviting Mr Wayne Hemmingway’s vintage festival to the party too.

I’m not generally one for getting up on stage but somehow thanks to the Wilderness spirit within five minutes of arriving on site I ended up on stage with Aussie oddball Mal Webb. For some inexplicable reason I decided to start quoting William Wordsworth in a throaty rasp which Mal recorded, mixed and rapped over, getting me to add a series of other ‘sounds’ that he looped as a backing track. I’m always in awe of anyone who can do this kind of thing live and how the hell he got a tune out of my deranged touretting I’ll never know.

King Charles (who does a pretty good job of looking like his namesake) got the Friday afternoon crowd in the mood with his own brand of classy sing-along pop. It was his imaginative reboot of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire that provided one of the first great moments of the weekend though, with several thousand festival goers belting out the chorus in the sunshine. Yes...sunshine. Somehow beating the odds this year the whole weekend was pretty much wall to wall sunshine. Miraculous.

One of the joys of great festivals is the mix of people you get to meet and day one bought random encounters with a guy doing a Ph.D in medieval Italian literature at a beer tasting in the Real Ale tent (hmmmm...free beer), his girlfriend who writes a fashion column for the Aussie equivalent of Cosmo, artist Emma Tooth and her film director hubbie Owen etc etc etc. Wilderness is an overwhelmingly friendly place in fact and for three days there wasn’t even a hint of trouble. Not one bit. Which, given the fact that festival goers are generally a well ‘refreshed’ bunch, is pretty incredible really.

Back to the music and Lianne La Havas impressed with Forget, her stabbing 21^st Century soul pop classic and ode to an ex-boyfriend. Ouch. Hell hath no fury like a pop star scorned. Feeling in need of more free booze I wandered over to the Ardbeg van for a refreshing whisky or two and a seemingly impromptu tune from rising folk star and custodian of traditional folk gypsy songs Sam Lee. That’s another sign of a great festival, all the other stuff that goes on away from the big stages, and you could honestly spend the whole weekend just checking these out without feeling in the slightest bit short changed.  

Next up and Crystal Fighters well and truly cemented their reputation as one of THE great festival bands du jour before the hardest working woman in showbiz, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings led the crowd through a sweat drenched lesson in dance crazes of the 60s and 70s from the boogaloo to the funky chicken. Boy that lady can shake a tail feather...

Once the main stage shuts down for the night the action moves over to a magical wooded area that’s pretty much a festival of its own. This year Future Cinema – a company dedicated to making cinema going more of a ‘live event’ – had erected a giant movie screen and stage. Friday was Bugsy Malone night and all day a cast of actors had been running all over the site talking all wise guy like ...badda be badda bing...as an appetiser to the full on live show, a hour or so of skits, stand up and dance numbers. 

It’s a great idea, breaking down the celluloid wall and adding that little extra that gives you more of a reason to prise your arse off the sofa, away from your flatscreen/surround sound womb and out into the real world again. Away from the cinema there was a roller disco, soul casino and Fat Sam’s Speakeasy...an unfeasibly glamorous venue with a bar, wooden dance floor, chandeliers and full swing dance band. It was the kind of vision you normally need Class A’s for at a festival...but nope...it was really there...like someone had plonked a piece of 1920’s New York slap bang in the middle of the Oxfordshire countryside.

The Wilder-best (see what I did there?) – Top 5 Moments From Day One

(1) Mal Webb’s improv rap

(2) Discovering the real ale tent also sold 7.5% scrumpy...oh dear

(3) Random chats with lovely strangers

(4) Crystal Fighters’ set in the sun

(5) The whole Bugsy Malone / speakeasy thang

Day Two

Quite how you could do the ‘downward dog’ after a night in a speakeasy beats me (I was busy attempting to prevent the ‘upward hurl’) but there were a surprisingly large group of yoga students pulling some spine cracking moves at 9am. Having slept on a roll mat that was slightly thinner than tissue paper it was enough for me to walk by this stage. Still this gave me an excuse to sit and watch a cricket match for a while replete with Pimms and free cucumber sarnies for the spectators. This being Wilderness the match was presided over by a cross dressing umpire of course but still, it was recognisably cricket. Sort of.  

Often the first acts of the day at any festival reveal some hidden gems and Oxford’s Alphabeat Backwards – a joyful boy/girl fronted pop band were one such discovery trading in the kind of dance that make you dance like no one’s watching.

There’s so much more to Wilderness than the music though, which is how I found myself munching some wild mint on a foraging walk with Robin Harford. Pretty much all of us think our food comes from some giant factory somewhere...and we’re pretty much right. It does. We eat a minute percentage of the plants that are edible and in just an hour’s wandering Robin pointed out a good half dozen things to masticate (steady now). Perhaps more than anything else this weekend this was the moment when the festival literally lived up to its name. A truly eye opening glimpse of the natural world that most of us never notice.

At just 18 Jake Bugg’s already shaping up to be something special. He’s still young and seems a little nervy at times but there are pleasing touches of Phil Ochs, Paul Simon and underrated Mersey combo The Coral in his music and in the last 12 months or so his tracks have pretty much become a staple on 6 Music’s playlist. A hairs on the back of the neck raising solo run through Country Song and the rockabilly-tinged Trouble Time and new single Taste It all hit the spot proving that this is one festival Bugg that’s well worth catching.

Hopped over to the bandstand for Mahalia’s set, one of those rare singers that make it all seem so effortless with Let The World See the Light’s acoustic soul matching the sun drenched setting. Festival bliss. 

Indie folkers Stornoway provided one of the weekend’s anthems with Free The Battery Human before dedicating I Saw You Blink to the brave souls about to attempt the world’s biggest skinny dip. Yes. We’re back to that infectious festival spirit again...how else would you explain the sight of dozens of people of various shapes and sizes happily ripping off their kit and plunging into the muddy water eh? 

I was tempted for a moment but I was standing behind the dippers and feared that all the blokes could all be hung like racehorses. Imagine brushing past something in the water, grabbing hold of it and yanking it out thinking you’ve just caught a giant eel? Nasty. Foraging for wild food is one thing but chomping on another man’s meat...I’ll draw the line there thank you very much.

Back over at the ‘wooded’ area and Wayne Hemmingway’s Vintage posse had taken over from Fat Sam and the gang. The Speakeasy was now transformed into The Torch Club, hosting Natty Congaroo and His Flames of Rhythm. Aye carumba. Cue muchos swinging and jiving, all presided over by Viv The Spiv a guy who plays an authentic blackmarketeer from the 1940’s...think George Cole from the original St Trinian’s movies.

Back over at the main stage instrumental boy / girl guitar duo Rodriguez and Gabriela were doing their thing. There’s no denying their talent but headliners for Saturday night? Hmmmm...not so sure. I like a bit of the old instrumentals as much as the next man but somehow Saturday night says ‘party’ to me and Rod n’Gabs aren’t that kind of band so it was swiftly back over to the Torch Club again for some vintage party music courtesy of Ondrey Havelka and the Melody Makers. Classy. After a mug of tea on the tea bus...literally a vintage London bus serving tea and cake...I just managed to heave myself over to the London Folk Guild tent for the City Shanty Band. Possibly the only London based pop punk shanty band in existence. Granted it’s a niche market but any group that can keep me up at that time of night...well...morning by this point...can’t be bad.

The Wilder-best – Top 5 Moments From Day Two

(1) Robin Harford’s foraging walk...truly inspirational

(2) Jake Bugg

(3) Mahalia on the bandstand

(4) The naked skinny dipping thing

(5) Night time at the Torch Club...impossibly glam for a festival

Day Three

Ouch. My head. That’s what a diet of real ale / scrumpy / red wine and sausage rolls does to you. COFFEE! NEED COFFEE!!!! Happily there’s a coffee tasting session on over at the Thyme tent held by an enthusiastic chap (and champion Barista) called Jose. Delicious...and now I know how to use a cafetiere properly...it’s more involved than you think. 

Add hot water first, then the coffee. Stir gently. Pop in the plunger. Let it rest for a minute, then slowly, ever so slowly depress it. Voila. What next? How about some medieval music and a ‘class in merriment’ with Circulus’ main man Michael Tyack over at The Idler Academy?  I was particularly taken by a 17^th century folk tune called Mr Black’s Maggot...who says pop’s  a 20^th century invention eh? Back to the future with super cute Aussie pop band Sheppard, three siblings (one boy, two girls) and three non siblings. 90’s nostalgia-fest Cheese On Toast and the Beatle-ish summertime singalong Shine My Way were both so instantly addictive that I ended up going to see ‘em again at the bandstand later that day. Never heard of them before but the world needs more quality pop like this right now. When pretty much every track sounds like a hit you know you’re on to a good thing.

I’ll freely admit that most of Sunday’s ‘big acts’ Grant Lee Buffalo, Giant Giant Sand and Wilco had pretty much passed me by over the years (and all of them have been around for a while). I’d neatly filed them all away in a big bag marked ‘pleasant Americana’ and was quite happy to leave them there. Happily each one of them proved to be a real surprise in one way or another. Grant Lee Buffalo’s blue collar Americana recalled Springsteen and Neil Young (maybe with a dash of REM thrown in for good measure) in fine form. They’ve seemingly got two kinds of track, the heads down belting down the highway ones and the curled up in the corner of a scuzzy bar staring at the bottom of a beer glass ones. If that sounds a little dismissive it’s not meant to be. Belting down the highway to a scuzzy bar sounds like my perfect day.

Perhaps living up to their name Giant Giant Sand seem to have a squillion members (well at least 11) which unsurprisingly took quite a while to set up and soundcheck. It was worth the wait though. Fronted by Howe Gelb they come across like a pretty decent alt-country band at first with Gelb’s lo-key half mumbled vocals lulling you gently in before huge great bursts of anthemic noise blew your brains out. Last track of their all too short set stole the best song of the weekend award by an alt-country mile. Carinito’s a sprawling epic that embraces Mexican, classical, hi-life, folk...hell, why not shove everything into the mix eh?  Truly awesome. If this is anything to go by the band’s new album (a double called Tucson) must be a cracker.

Over at the Folk Guild Tent and The Miserable Rich were doing what they do so well, getting audiences all swoony and misty eyed over their magnificent chamber pop. Lead Miserablist James de Malplaquet sounds like a world weary angel making break up anthem and set highlight Let Me Fade simultaneously one of the most heart rending and strangely uplifting songs of the weekend.

Jason Pierce’s Spiritualized divide opinion between those who find it all a little dull, kind of Primal Screm-ish without a pulse...and those who lose themselves in space rock heaven. The bits of the set that I saw didn’t change the camp I belong to...you can draw your own conclusions from that. Ahem.

The last band on the big stage did change my opinions though. I knew of Wilco’s work with Billy Bragg and was kinda expecting a nice chilled out country-ish set so the electronic knob twiddling  and rocking out came as a bit of a surprise. Wilco’s frontman, Jeff Tweedy, is clearly a bit of a musical magpie with the set echoing everyone from The Byrds to Bowie, Costello to the Carpets (Inspiral that is). “This is one of the few festivals we feel comfortable playing” he drawled mid set. It showed to. Admittedly the crowd thinned a little as the set went on, again they’re not the most obvious headline band in the world, but the faithful and newly converted lapped it up.

Back over in Vintage la la land Asian Dub Foundation were soundtracking French film La Haine in another one of Future Cinema’s presentations, followed up with a suitably gritty live slot (rap/spoken word/ a little political polemic), whilst down in a hidden hollow to the side of the Torch Club the hardy were still partying the night away. I’d neglected to head down there on Friday or Saturday night, distracted as I was by all the other stuff going on, but it’s another festival within a festival world down there, hosting late night parties for the beautiful people. Oh so much to see and so little time. That’s my big quibble about Wilderness. It’s just too darn short. You’d need a month there to do it justice. Other festivals may promise a truly unique experience but Wilderness really delivers.

The Wilder-best – Top 5 Moments From Day Three

(1) Easy Jose’s coffee tasting sesh

(2) Sheppard’s sets...both of ‘em. Aussie pop perfection

(3) Giant Giant Sand’s Carinito – tune of the weekend

(4) The Miserable Rich in the Folk Guild Stage...always an emotional experience

(5) The two huge pork baguettes from the Charlbury School stand – a much need pork injection...oh dear...that didn’t sound right...

Taking Stockhausen

Stockhausen - A Festival Of Light Trailer August 2012 from Head In The Clouds on Vimeo.

Experimental composer Karlheinz Stockhausen might not seem like the most likely candidate for festival treatment but given his huge influence on the likes of Frank Zappa, The Beatles and Bjork perhaps it's long overdue? The highlight of the whole thing (19th-21st August at various venues across Birmingham) are some performances of Mittwoch aus Licht, an opera so complex that it's never actually been performed before in its entirety. Ever. As it involves a string quartet whizzing across the City in a helicopter (with the music being piped back to the audience) and a...dancing camel (seriously?!)...that's not really a surprise is it? Incredible stuff...

More info from www.stockhausenbirmingham.co.uk...discounted tickets available for breakdancing llamas and tapdancing giraffes. Probably.

Snoop Dogg's dead!

This looks good. Fed up with the birds and bling (hell, aren't we all?) Snoop Doggy Dogg's relocated to Jamaica and gone and made a reggae album. With Diplo. Jah...really. Seemingly he's changed his name to Snoop Lion as well. Er...interesting.



There's a documentary from hipsters' bible Vice Magazine to prove it too. Granted it's not a huge leap to imagine the Dogfather up to his armpits in grade A weed (the clip from the documentary's enough to get most people high) but still, it's good to see one of rap's biggest names doing something a little different for a change eh? Personally I'm looking forward to Public Enemy's new folk direction...

Anyway, here's the new single La La La. Not bad for starters. Give him another sackload of Super Silver Haze and I reckon he'll be there.

Carry on camping...

Got a few camping festivals coming up over the next few weeks so the weather had better buck up. Or else. It's been pretty grim this year but last weekend's Dicky Woodstock festival in Holland takes the biscuit. Cop a load of this video.



Jeez, looks like the end of the world. Happily...and somewhat amazingly...no one was squished.

Hey, it's going to be fine. Wall to wall sunshine from here on in. Trust me...

El Ghost Fest...cool!

You know those cool people who go to cool things then go on about how cool they are leaving you silently crying on the inside about how uncool you are? Hmmmm...me too. Chillax...shoot me...go on...shoot me...help’s at hand with an event that’s so cool you’ll need thermals. Welcome to El Ghost Fest. There are cool bands – The Courtesy Group is officially the coolest band in the WORLD – a cool location...a recording studio in Digbeth...it’s like Hoxton but without the wankers...and it’s a decidedly cool price to get in. A fiver. Short of making it £6.66 a fiver’s pretty cool right? Shit...even the poster’s cool. Cool.

Tickets available in advance from the bands or email one of the organisers (Julia.gilbert@gmail.com) If you turn up early (granted that’s not the cool thing to do but you can always loiter in the corner chewing gum and reading a little Jean-Paul Satre) you’ll even get a free sampler CD featuring all the bands. Now that’s...altogether now...cool. 

Wild at heart?

Nearly time for the Wilderness Festival. I was lucky enough to be there for the first one last year...huge fun...and this year's line up looks even better.

They've added the biggest splurge gun fight in history to the bill now too...yes...SPLURGE GUNS! It's gonna get messy...

The Semi Regular New Music Roundup Thingy

Someone asked me the other week what new music I was listening to...and I couldn’t think of a single track. That’s cobblers of course...I sit here in Baron Tower listening to 6 Music, Pig Radio and stuff as well as downloading / streaming music from the old bulging inbox pretty much all week long. That’s the problem. There’s sooooooooooooo much new music, all so readily accessible that it would frankly be a miracle if anything actually lodged in my brain these days. Is that a bad thing? Possibly. I love music, always have done, and having grown up in the era when vinyl and tapes ruled the roost (yeah...I’m ancient) and listening to stuff took a hefty investment (albums were £5 in 1982...you could buy a house for that in those days) is it any wonder that I (and most of the rest of the world) just gorge ourselves on new stuff all the time without much of it actually attaching itself to our hearts and minds? Nope. I’ve given up worrying about it to be honest, content to be a musical whore...which leads us nicely onto this edition of the now legendary (well there’s a guy in Sierra Leone who loves it...he wants me to send him £5,000 in return for a share of $1million...that’s nice of him innit?) Semi Regular New Music Roundup! Holla!

First up the psuper psychedelic psounds of TameImpala who, in any sane world, would have their own fleet of jets, a huge coke mountain and enough groupies to fill those empty Olympic seats...and that’s a lot of seats. The new album’s not out until October but in the meantime wrap your ears around this trippy proggy doo dah, Elephant.

Love Regina Spektor? Like Dresden Dolls? Quite fancy Tori Amos? You would wouldn’t you? In that case I reckon you’ll go three shades of crazy for Anna Haas. No UK dates yet...boo...but there’s an album out in September.

Straightoutta Wolverhampton Big Dutty Deeze unleashes This Is England featuring top notch beats from Rediculus. It’s a relentlessly bleak track but oddly all the better for it. This Country’s more divided between the haves and the have nots than at any other time in the last 30 years and this is as good an encapsulation of the latter’s lot in life as you’re likely to hear.

There’s a real Talk Talk vibe about the new Mothlite track which, given that Talk Talk ain’t likely to record anything ever again, will come as a pleasant surprise to some people...me included. Classy stuff.  

Okily dokily, last one for now and over to Brooklyn for Violens and some spiky shoegaze. Hmmm that could be an Olympic event...shoegazing. I reckon ‘Team GB’ would be pretty good at that. Gold medal I reckon. On seconds thoughts the Japanese would probably go whining to the judges again and get us demoted...which is a pretty shoegazey position to be in really.

Tipitina – Taking Care of Business

Okay so Birmingham’s Hotel Du Vin might some way from New Orleans but there was clearly a cheeky little bit of juju going on when Tipitina recorded their latest album there, Taking Care Of Business, live at last year’s Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival. A mouth watering jambalaya of covers from some true N’awlins greats (step forward Dr John, The Meters and Allen Toussaint) together with a handful of equally strong originals, it’s a boogie woogie bluesy joy from Birmingham City (well the band’s from Preston...but that didn’t rhyme so well).

Kicking off with The Meter’s classic Hey Pocky Way the band replaces the original’s funky horns with a jazzier arrangement, perfectly suited to the gloriously gospel tinged vocals of lead singer Debbie Jones.  Covering the good Doctor’s seminal Such A Night is a brave move but the band more than do it justice, neatly capturing that laid back, woozy morning after the night before...the night before...vibe. Kudos to Justin Randall’s piano playing on this track in particular, Mac would be proud of ya. Elsewhere the band mash up the Latin rhythms of Tico Tico with Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good dragging it kicking and screaming from the gutter to a late night cocktail bar. If you like your jazz hot, your blues cool and your...er... woogie boogied...this album's the business. 

Taking Care of Business is out on Big Bear Records.   

   

Jamaican 50th Anniversary of Independence Concert, Symphony Hall, Wednesday 25th July 2012

Jamaica and Birmingham go together like...well...rice and peas...with the original Jamaican immigrants and their descendents having a huge impact on Brum’s musical soundscape. From Steel Pulse to UB40, The Beat to Musical Youth, Andy Hamilton to Soweto Kinch, Jaki Graham to Jamelia Birmingham’s the home of the Jamaican British (or British Jamaican...you take your pick) sound. So it’s entirely appropriate that Birmingham’s Symphony Hall should play host to a very special celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. By a happy coincidence (what are the chances eh?) this anniversary coincides with the...not sure if we can even write the words given the frankly paranoid rules around the use of Olympic iconography...whoops...said the word Olympic...balls...oh well...Olympic Games and who should choose to base their team here...Jamaica! Kismet.

Tonight the organisers did a cracking job of pulling together a bill that embraced the past, present and future kicking off with some reminiscences from Count Prince Miller who, incredibly enough, took part in the original independence day concert in Kingston way back in 1962. Blimey. The dude’s still going strong too, must be all that rum punch.

MC for the night, Radio WM DJ Joe Eldred, introduced soprano Abigail Kelly who sang a delightful trio of Jamaican folk songs in an operatic stylee culminating with a clapalong version of Nobody’s Business But My Own before handing over the baton (metaphorically) to Horizon Youth Choir for an impassioned Something Inside So Strong. I guess the drawback of trying to fit so much in to one night is that you barely get to see what performers are capable of and I’d have loved to see/hear more of Horizon and the next group from Aston Performing Arts Academy whose energetic medley (snippets from Alicia Keys, Shaggy, Fugees) amongst others was a real highlight. Bonus points for the mass Usain Bolt pose. 

Jazz legend Andy Hamilton received a touching tribute from his sons and friend Vic Evans who played Honeysuckle Rose...s’funny I’d never really focussed on the double entendres in this track before. They are risqué aren’t they...or is it just my dirty mind? Hmmmm...probably.

With a comment on Jamaican’s love of religion...any religion “If you invent it...Jamaican’s will join it...we’ve got more churches per square mile than any other country in the world” Joe introduced the soul stirring Town Hall Gospel Choir. I’m not religious but hell...er...maybe that should be by heaven...I love gospel music. There’s no bull there. It’s pure, joyful and totally devoid of any pretence and if the good Lord was watching tonight he’ll be downloading some Town Hall Gospel Choir tracks right now...to stick on his...wait for it...i-God. Ouch.

Anyway, glossing over mild blasphemy (God’s more of a vinyl fan I reckon) Musical Youth dedicated a rousing version of Pass The Dutchie to the City of Birmingham and the City of Birmingham (well, those of us who were there) reciprocated with much Jamaican flag waving and jigging about. Next up Jaki Graham reminded us that she’s responsible for one of the great modern soul pop classics in Could It Be I’m Falling In Love (yes I know it was recorded by The Spinners in the '70s but Jaki and David Grant's version is the best). Forgotten just how brilliant this track is...have a listen...see? Brilliant.

After a quick break (and with the clock ticking...the event started a little late so there was a bit of tail chasing) the Lord Mayor of Birmingham presented the Jamaican Olympic Squad with something made of silver...couldn’t see what it was...probably a bull...or a bust of Jasper Carrott. Much of part two involved a tribute to Bob Marley with various performers picking tracks from the most enviable back catalogue in reggae...yes...even more enviable than Chaka Demus and Pliers. No Woman No Cry and Redemption Song were particularly impressive....not sure who sang which. Damn my fading memory.

Beverley Knight, the undisputed queen of UK soul, has nothing to prove but any doubters here tonight would’ve been converted thanks to a powerfully sensual version of Bob’s Is This Love. Not content with outshining one Jamaican legend she did it again with Jimmy Cliff’s Many River’s To Cross. Just beautiful.

Finally, proof that you should always leave ‘em laughing, Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem about the melding of British and Jamaican cultures should be stuck on every school curriculum in the country. Somehow managing to take the piss out of both nations but remaining as funny as hell to all concerned it was, perhaps, the greatest celebration of all. After all the City that laughs together, sticks together eh? Here’s to the next 50 years...apparently Count Prince Miller’s already got it in his diary...

Pictures courtesy of Steve Thorne

Catch Usain Bolt at The Symphony Hall!

A bit late notice this one (my fault...been staring at the sun for the last few days) but tomorrow night the Symphony Hall's hosting an amazing concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaican Independence. On top of Beverley Knight (she'll have to sing Gold right?), Jamelia, Musical Youth, Jaki Graham and Benjamin Zephaniah there'll be some slots for local up and coming artists too...oh and some guy called Usain Bolt'll popping along as well. Yep, the fastest dude in the universe will be there along with the rest of the Jamaican team. Just how fast is he? Well there's a rumour he caught a number 9 bus the other day and we all know how fast they pull away when they see someone running for it...

Tickets still available at the moment, right here.

Madonna @ NIA Birmingham, Thursday 19th July 2012

Back in the glory days of pop, the 1980s, there was a holy trinity of artists who pretty much ruled the roost – Jacko, Prince and Madonna. Sadly Jacko’s now playing that great gig in the sky and Prince lives in his own little world most of the time so that just leaves Her Madgesty to carry on releasing records, touring, exposing herself, winding up the French...

This current tour (her biggest to date apparently) includes 90 mega-shows which, with an average ticket price of around £80 (some are a heck of a lot more), well and truly proves that the material girl’s still living up to her name. A quick gander at the merch desks backs this up, t-shirts £35, programme £25, hoodie...a wallet busting £90...hell even her latest CD was being flogged at frankly unbelievable £20. That seems to be par for the course on tours like this though and the fans happily doled out the dosh. £15 for a mug? Hmmm...you said it.

Once you’d remortgaged your home to pay for a fridge magnet (classy) and found your seat (some of which seemed to be in a different county) you were in for a fairly long wait. In fact it was 9.45 before things got going. Not a patch on Guns n’Roses, who routinely keep fans waiting for several years before Axl waddles on stage, but still...a tad tardy. Unsurprisingly given her capacity for splitting opinion there have been some spectacularly savage and fantastically fawning reviews for this show. The haters (and there are quite a few of ‘em) bemoan the lack of the old hits and the sometimes radical reinvention of those that are included. The lovers...well...they’d be happy if she just showed up and waved for an hour or two. The truth lies somewhere between the two camps. This isn’t a bad show. Far from it. It’s got some great moments, some truly iconic performances and...hell...it’s Ma-bloody-donna.

The set’s heavy on tracks from current album MDNA but...hello...as that’s what the tour’s called the fact that this comes as a surprise to some people says more about their ability to read and come to a logical conclusion than anything else. MDNA ain’t her best effort, but again it’s not worthy of the savaging that some critics...yawn...have heaped on it. It’s just a collection of big dumb pop songs, like opening number Girl Gone Wild for instance. After some scary monks ring bells for a bit and waft a giant censer (that thing they use for burning incense in churches) Madge appears in a black catsuit, the ‘monks’ disrobe and they all jig about for a bit, thrusting crotches and revealing the amazing multi platform stage thingy (bits pop up and disappear all over the place...cool). She slipped in a brief snatch of Material Girl (you’ve got to love Madge’s brief snatch...er...anyway...) for good measure too. Next up Gang Bang was supposed to feature a motel room set but it seems to have gone AWOL, maybe it was on the piss somewhere. Sets do that sometimes. I once saw a Kasabian set playing billiards in Digbeth. True story. Anyway, being the pro she is she improvised, strutting around the empty stage shooting the shit out of everything against a gory blood splattered screen projected backdrop. Who the lover is that she wants to blow away we only guess...poor Guy...er...guy. A neat segueway into Papa Don’t Preach gets the hairs on the back of the neck rising and for anyone who grew up in the 80s this shit’s pure magic. Carried aloft by some weird masked dudes the show shifts up a gear with Hung Up, performed on and under some large purple rubber bands stretched across the stage. There’s been some speculation about how much of this show is sung live and how much is pre-recorded and this section looked a little iffy. I could be wrong, it’s hard to tell when the vocal’s been vocodered to death.

There are a bundle of tracks from the new album, some good, some a little more ‘meh’...but again even the average stuff is well presented. That’s something a lot of critics seems to have missed. It’s a slick production with some neat touches, the flying drummers, the dancers falling into a pit, the seemingly endless stage permutations...it’s a brilliantly choreographed piece of theatre. Express Yourself cheekily morphed into La Gaga’s Born This Way, highlighting the similarity between the two tracks. There’s seemingly no love lost between the two of them (or their fans judging by some of the hilarious online spats) but let’s face it, they’re from the same mould. Yep, get over it. Give Me All Your Lovin’ is one of MDNA’s stronger numbers and the majorette routine was bubblegum cute (ahhh sweet memories of Toni Basil). As if to ram home the point that Madge was there a few decades before Gaga though a brief video montage of hits reminded you...and I know I’ve said this before...but hell...you’re watching MADONNA tonight people.

Speaking of which Vogue was pure classic Madonna, a little remixed at the start but not too faffed about with, with Madge giving particularly good face. Like A Virgin was reinvented as a piano led waltz, transforming it from a horny chat up line to more of a post coital hymn to lost love and fading youth perhaps. It’s a bold interpretation, again attracting much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth from people who’d clearly prefer Madge to play it safe...in other words just how they’ve sung along to it on their record player...Walkman...i-Pod. That’s the crux of the problem. Madonna’s such an icon, with at least a dozen truly classic hits, that many people don’t seem to want anything new. They want her preserved in aspic from whichever era they discovered her in and, let’s face it, that would be the easy (and I’m guessing) more profitable option. Surely the fact that she’s still willing to do something new is to be applauded?

Any gripes about of the lack of old hits were frankly rendered obsolete by a glorious Like A Prayer, arguably her finest moment. You’re watching Madonna people. Singing LIKE A FREAKIN’ PRAYER. Yep, you’ve spunked a week’s wages on the tickets, pawned your grandma for a programme and sold a kidney to buy a beer but it was all worth it just for that moment when several thousand people clapped their hands off eh?

Celebration closed the show, pointlessly really. Like A Prayer was all the celebration we needed and next to it this track’s like a wet weekend in Rhyl. With that Madge and her entourage disappeared into the set and the middle aged masses (the majority of the crowd for 30...okay...40 something) filed out into the night to relieve the babysitter.

Ignore the bad reviews, they’re seriously out of line. Ignore the arse licking reviews too. The show has faults, some of the tracks are weak and how much of it is actually live is questionable. But at the end of the night the pluses far outweigh the minuses. This is one of pop music’s true icons (up there with Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Daphne and Celeste...), the biggest selling female recording artist in history, still hauling her ass around the world for you. Yes, you. Open your heart and she’s still ray of light...

Pure Love / Chain Of Flowers @ The Glee Club, Wednesday 18th July

Oooooooh what a feeling...when you’re dancing on the ceiling. Okay, Lionel may have sung about it but tonight Frank Carter actually did it, carried aloft by a hundred adoring hands. Pure Love and Chain of Flowers (tonight’s support band) may sound more like a couple of ‘bodice rippers’ from Mills & Boon rather than new projects from punk/screamcore stalwarts but that’s not entirely inappropriate given the fact that a sizeable portion of the audience left the venue with their hearts all a flutter. That may have been down to getting royally mashed in the pit but still...you could feel the love people, you could feel the love.

First up Chain Of Flowers featuring members of Welsh punk rockers Brutality Will Prevail and metal punkers Crossbreaker. There’s a whiff of 80s rock goth in the mix here (The Mission, Sisters of Mercy...all that lot), especially in the layered squalls of guitar and slightly portentous vocals. The other obvious head nod goes to The Cure (surely the source of the band’s name), with the lead singer channelling his inner Bob (with just a hint of Mozza in there too...nice). Pick of the set, Sleep, was the most Cure-like...albeit a Cure that had been down the gym for a month or two then popped into Spoonies for a swift pint or six of Old Rosie. If you’re in any doubt of the band’s love for the 80s the fact that they’ve just released a single on tape (do they still make tapes these days?) should seal the deal. Great stuff. The new gothgaze revolution starts here.

After making their live debut on this year’s Valentine’s Day (awwwww bless ‘em) opinion was divided on Frank’s new direction. Shelving the larynx shedding vocals of his old band, Gallows (now fronted by ex Alexisonfire singer Wade MacNeil), he has, in his own words “learned to sing”. The music’s changed too, from the kind of sound that strips paint off doors to a...whisper it...slightly more commercial...rock sound with pounding drums and riff-tastic guitars. Inevitably this is going to both gain and lose fans (much more of the former I reckon) but if you’ve witnessed some of the mayhem that surrounded latter Gallows gigs you can’t blame him for wanting to chill things out a bit. Of course a more chilled out Frank is still a nut bustingly powerful proposition and from the outset it was clear that he’s retained that brooding stage presence and ‘give it all you’ve got...then give a bit more’ attitude that marked Gallows out as something truly special. Coming onstage carrying 5 beers it seemed as though Frank had hit the bottle (he’s notably abstemious when it comes to alcohol), but he gave them away to the crowd instead. A nice touch. It wasn’t long before Frank joined them, circled by the faithful who showed remarkable restraint...well for one song at least. After introducing Anthem (dedicated to fellow tattooist Jordon who’s just been run over in the US...there’s a Frank endorsed appeal to help pay his medical bills right here) it all kicked off with Frank launching himself headfirst from a table straight into the crowd. What followed was a furious whirlwind of bodies, limbs, tongues, sweat...all whipped up into a frenzy culminating in Frank literally raising the roof...well a ceiling tile or two anyway.

Bollocks to bottling the atmosphere at the recent Stone Roses gig (yep, someone actually did that and then popped it on eBay) if you could harness the energy from tonight you’d solve the energy crisis. Of course Frank’s not the only frontman to get down and dirty with his audience but he genuinely seems to get a real buzz from it, feeding off that energy to ratchet up his own performance a notch or two. It worked. New single (and the band’s best track to date) Handsome Devil’s Club threatened to see several dozen people spontaneously combust moving Frank to observe (during a brief moment of calm) “Never has a band playing only its eighth gig got such a reaction”.



Of course there were plenty of hardcore Gallows fans here but still, most bands would willingly sacrifice a drummer or two to get this kind of response. It was a short set (40 minutes or so), as you’d expect for a group still its infancy, and most of the tracks were new to the crowd but that only served to make the whole night more special somehow. When audience and band connect like this there’s only one way to describe it. Pure Love.

Photograph courtesy of Mr Andy Watson of Drw-Images

One Beat Sunday @ The MAC

The organisers of this day long rifle through some of the best new bands in Birmingham have promised sunshine and the forecast looks surprisingly hopeful...yes, I know...UK in sun shocker, well it is only July after all...and it has only been raining for the past three months. Anyway, come rain or shine there are some great bands on the bill like this lot...


...and this lot...



...oh...and this lot too...



...and...



...and not forgetting...



...tickets from our chums at Birmingham Promoters...in the words of that ad from Go Compare they're "only a tenor".

King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys @ The Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Sunday 15th July

King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys have been dishing up their particular brand of old school rock n’roll, swing, jazz and jive to audiences across the world for 25 years now. Perhaps something of an anachronism back in the late 80’s with the whole ‘vintage’ thing being so hip and cool at the moment they’re arguably at their most relevant right now. The King himself has also grown nicely into the part, the quiff may be a little greyer, there may be a little more...ahem...jelly in his roll...but with the voice, showmanship and energy still firmly in place a good time's pretty much guaranteed. 

Being an outdoor gig, on a Sunday, with picnics (bottles of wine, M&S dips, something nice from Waitrose’s variety of endangered species in breadcrumbs range) very much the order of the day (some people seemed to have bought half their kitchens with them) the mood was distinctly mellow. The fact that it wasn’t bloody raining for a change probably stunned most people into a stupor too. No matter. Gradually the band got some folk up and dancing though, inspired perhaps by the King’s forays into the crowd and impromptu dances with some of the braver (or perhaps more well lubricated) members of the audience.

Playing authentic sounding original compositions as well as plucking well known classics (together with a few more obscure but equally strong numbers) from the likes of Chuck Berry, BB King and Ray Charles (the latter two the band actually toured with) King and the Boys blew up a storm (happily metaphorically speaking) invoking an era when music came on shellac, the web was something spiders span and Twitter was strictly for the birds. Pick of the set included a schwiiiiiinging version of Louis Prima’s Oh Marie and a particularly horny dash through Tequila. Oh...special mention goes out to double bassist Shark Van Schtoop's (hmmm possibly not his real name) game of hide and seek with a photographer too. Every time the hapless snapper got him in focus he moved or hid behind his instrument. Hilarious! Still the kings of pleasure? You betcha. 

The Will Johns Band @ The Garden House, Saturday 14th July 2012

When you can count Eric Clapton as one of your mentors, George Harrison as one of your uncles and your dad worked on Zeppelin’s seminal IV album (not to mention The Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street) you could say the bar’s been set pretty high. Okay, so there’s no real reason why you should be any good but still...it’s a pretty impressive pedigree. Happily Will Johns more than lives up to it, taking inspiration from his heritage whilst clearly putting his own unique stamp on things.

In a 15 year career he’s played with Joe Strummer, Jack Bruce, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood as well as forming a band with Ronnie’s son (GLYDA) but now finally he’s performing under his own name, playing an electrifying mix of rock and blues. Tonight’s gig, part of the 28^th Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival (one of the City’s underrated musical gems), is in support of his second solo album released just 24 hours earlier on Birmingham’s very own Big Bear record label.

Tucked away in a corner of the Garden House pub (next to the kitchen door...not ideal but such minor niggles were swiftly despatched) it’s not the biggest or most glamorous stage Will’s ever played but that clearly didn’t matter to him or his band, a crack unit of musicians (keyboard, bass and drums) with the musical chops to keep up with him. And they’re some chops. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to a less grizzled Tom Waits Will and co blazed through three sets of originals and covers but even that wasn't enough and the crowd just didn’t want to let them go. It’s easy to see why. As a performer Will’s both a gifted musician (that’s some darn fine blues guitar playing there) and vocalist, blending a bluesy growl together with a lighter shade that’s perfectly suited to some of the slower numbers and covers – including a hugely enjoyable romp through Dire Straits’ MTV staple Money For Nothing. More importantly though what comes across loud and clear is that he clearly loves performing, exuding a kind of bug eyed excitement that’s pretty infectious. It’s almost as if he’s as impressed at the sound coming from the band as we were. From the testifying blues hollerin’ of original track I Believe (off the new album Hooks and Lines) through some of the standards of the genre (like Sweet Home Chicago and a heart melting Need Your Love So Bad) and on to some excellent cover choices (Will’s version of Purple Rain was suitably majestic this evening) the whole set was a masterclass in how to put on a show. Blues anoraks will appreciate the playing, anyone just out for a good time will have one. Guaranteed. Simply one of the best live blues bands on the scene right now.

PS: Will’s signed to Big Bear Records run by Jim Simpson who has a pretty good ear for discovering talent...as well as putting on early gigs by Led Zeppelin he signed some band called Black Sabbath back in 1969...

  

The Semi Regular...okay...not recently but sometimes...New Music Roundup Thingy

I promised to keep posting the cream of the crop from my bulging inbox and by heaven I’m determined to darn well stick with it...no matter how much turgid Oasis-a-like crap I have to endure. Happily the first choice couldn’t be less Oasis-a-like if it tried. Wrap your ears around some Jens Lekman...got a bit of a chilled out Prefab Sprout meets Belle and Sebastian vibe...gorgeous n’est ce pas?

Afrobeat revivalists Antibalas are back with a frankly so-funky-it-should-be -banned slice of booty shaking brilliance. Don’t blame me if you put your back out...

London four piece Arthur Beatrice serve up some classy pop with a nicely icy vocal (shimmering it says on the press release...and who am I to argue?) from the delightfully named Ella Girardot.

Grunge goth anyone. Thought so....you look the sort. Try some IO ECHO for size.

If Phil Spector stopped blowing away hookers (allegedly) and hooked up with Stereolab instead it might sound a little like this one from Brooklyn’s TEEN. As cool as a hipster’s fridge freezer.

 That’s it for this edition of The Semi Regular blah blah blah. All of the above are out over the next few months...not that the concept of being ‘out’ means anything anymore, but there you go...that’s the modern world for you. It was all shellac and wax cylinders in my day...

Otis Gibbs...a man on a mission

This looks good. Otis Gibbs is out on tour at the moment and he's dropping by the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath on Monday 16th July for what promises to be a delightfully intimate set of old school style American blue collar country folk. Compared to Woody Guthrie (which is as good as it gets in American folk circles) and rated by none other that Sir Bill.i.am Bragg he's been travelling the world, playing bars, festivals, houses...you name it...for 15 years now, making a living without selling out to 'da man'. Amen to that. Tickets are just £7 in advance, £8 on the door.

Young Runaways...it's a 'Brum' do...

Hearing Aid faves Young Runaways are teaming up with OxjamBrum to play a series of free top secret (hush hush) gigs in and around Birmingham on Saturday 14th July.

The Oxjam Pop-up Festival will be visiting a number of locations on the day, complete with a few special surprises. The band, working on new material and in between gigs, decided they wanted to escape the studio for a bit to play some shows and this seemed the perfect opportunity. 

Frontman Matt Pinfield said: “The band is absolutely looking forward to it. It's going to be a day of unique performances in unusual locations. Imagine the magical mystery tour but with more roll neck sweaters and second hand board games.” 

I do love a good roll neck sweater...

Look out for clues and how to get involved at facebook.com/youngrunaways and facebook.com/oxjambrum.

42nd Street @ The New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham – Tuesday 10th July 2012

Now three decades old but with its heart set firmly back in the razzle dazzle 1930’s the multi Tony Award winning musical 42^nd Street is back on the road. It’s a timely revival too bringing some much needed sparkle and glam back to a country that’s being relentlessly battered by the weather on one side and the economy on the other. Actually the musical’s setting, the great depression of 1933, and its theme of ‘the show must go on’ couldn’t be more appropriate right now...just add that routine from ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ and it would be pretty much the perfect ‘keep calm and carry on’ night out.

For anyone still not familiar with the plot it focuses on the efforts of a director who’s lost most of his fortune in the stock market crash to stage a budget busting musical with a fading star, despite the fact that most of the population haven’t got two cents to rub together. See? It couldn’t be more relevant. Well, I suppose you could have Bob Diamond singing ‘We’re In The Money’ but I guess he’s got other things to concentrate on right now. Anyway, add the odd love triangle, a broken ankle and enough glitz and glamour to give Craig Revel Horwood a stiffie and you’ve got musical gold.

Unless you’ve been locked in a box all your life you’ll already know quite a few of the tunes too. Some are just ingrained in our collective DNA...Keep Young and Beautiful, We’re In The Money, Lullaby Of Broadway, 42^nd Street, I Only Have Eyes For You...each one sets off a Pavlovian response and thanks to the endless enthusiasm and energy of the cast it’s pretty hard to resist leaping up, tapping your way down the aisle and giving it some ‘jazz hands’. 

The stars of the show, musical stalwarts Marti Webb (celebrating an incredible half century in musical theatre) and local boy made good Dave Willets, are both in fine voice injecting plenty of emotion, especially in their solo numbers (Webb’s I Only Have Eyes For You and Willets show closing 42^nd Street). Jessica Punch captures the talented but accident prone Peggy perfectly, getting some great laughs during the second act, and Graham Hoadly is delightfully theatrical as Bert Barry. It’s the full company numbers that really steal the limelight though with a number of taptastic routines mainlining glam right into your frontal lobe. Heightened by the simple but effective staging (the use of lighting and mirrors worked particularly well) the magical spirit of ol’ Busby Berkeley was well and truly bought back to life. Add some distinctly sparkly costumes from a recent US production and some gorgeous 30’s style ozone-layer-busting hair dos and it was easy to lose yourself in tapland right from the moment the curtain went up. An irresistible dose of glitz guaranteed to brighten even the dullest of days.

42^nd Street plays at the New Alexandra Theatre until Friday 13^th July before hitting the road and touring the UK until the end of November.

PS: For the vintage aficionados out there here's the trailer for the original 1933 film that the musical was based on. Beautiful stuff...

WAZU - Murder1

I'm surprised there hasn't been a huge goth revival yet you know. Given the fact that thousands of our young folk seem to be facing a distinctly bleak future (actually the futures of our old folk and middle aged folk ain't looking too rosy neither) goth's whole gloomy nihilistic vibe would seem to be an infinitely better default than the oh so booooooring "yo yo yo mi 'angin wi mi crew" tinny plastic gangster preening much beloved of kids on the top deck of buses everywhere. Personally I'd much prefer to hear WAZU blaring (as much as stuff can blare out of a mobile phone speaker with all the power of a mildly irritated bumble bee) out of mobiles and, for anyone who still clings on to the idea that knifing people with their mum's potato peeler is the sign of being a 'man', it's got a suitably gangster title too. It's a win/win people. And now for the facts: WAZU are Australians, decamped to New Yoik (do any Australians actually stay in Australia?), and they're off on tour across America soon. No UK dates yet but once I convince the youth to embrace 'em I'm sure they'll pop over.  

Rich Batsford - On Til Dawn

I was lucky enough to see Rich a couple of times last year and bought both of his albums on the spot (a rarity for me these days). Why? Well, in a world gone mad Rich's beautiful music is simply a haven of tranquillity, a gentle metaphorical hug for tired souls and a loving caress for stressed out minds. In fact I reckon it's practically impossible to listen to this track without feeling that bit calmer and more at peace with...well... everything really. Try it. Go on. See? Genius.

Rich's new album, Mindfulmess, is available right now, right here.

The soundtrack to your weekend...

Oh well, if you're in the UK this weekend you'd better hope you grow gills...good luck to anyone's who's going to a festival. Brave souls. Looking on the bright side it gives me yet another chance to post this little beauty...as if I need an excuse.

The Empire Strikes Black

Local Hearing Aid favourites Black Market Empire released their new double A sided single this week. A side, Vultures, is a rollicking drum driven singalong...er...the other A side (my personal choice) Scared Of You And I has more of The Strokes meets The Killers in The Cavern Club feel. Lead singer Shaun’s  vocal is top notch on Scared...pitched perfectly between world weary resignation (we can all relate to that right now eh?) and a desperately romantic hope for the future. 

Cracking stuff. You can download the single via i-Tunes or grab a physical copy from the band - not literally...that’s theft...you’ll do time and Big Dave from B Wing will end up taking you roughly from behind in the showers - after one of their top notch live shows.

PS: Their next live gig is at Proud Galleries in Camden on August 9^th. Swanky!