Concert Review: Indigo Girls (Shepherds Bush Empire)

I suspect I may get some hate mail for this one... hey ho.

First off, I'm going to accentuate the positive: The Girls are fantastic singer-songwriters. Their back catalogue has so many amazingly crafted and executed songs in it. They manage to capture so many emotions in their lyrics that, often, I'm moved when I listen to them.

Even the occasional lack-lustre tune is so wonderfully harmonized that the interwoven lyrics knock the song out of the ballpark.

I love their music. I really do. I think they're under-rated, often overlooked musical geniuses.

Okay, so now here's where I'm going to get into trouble. Please be gentle. I'm just telling it the way I saw it!

Last night I experienced the Indigo's perform live for the first time. The line up was just the two of them on acoustics and, occasionally, a smattering of keys or accordian was thrown in from stage right.

As you would expect, the music was perfect. The interlacing of voices and guitar parts was right on. So much so, that if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine you were listening to the record.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Their recorded music is perfect. So much so, that when playing live last night, what they were doing was recreating something I already knew off by heart. Don't get me wrong, the crowd loved it, so much so that they sang along perfectly to many of the classics. I enjoyed watching and listening but rather than feeling like I was at a concert, I felt that I was part of a celebration of the music.

Does that make sense? It's not really a negative as such. The music was great... as it's always been. With the exception of "Chicken Man" (which totally rocked), I felt like I'd heard it all before, note for note. For me, there wasn't really anything new added to the mix.

I guess when I go to a concert I want to be given an experience that I'd only be able to recapture through imagination and memory. As wonderful as the songs were last night, I couldn't help but feel that if I went to the next show I'd be treated to another note for note recital.

I know, I know... I'm a bad man. C'mon, though, I've dissed a Derek Trucks Band concert before, based on the fact that the acoustics in the venue sucked!

Derek Trucks, Beyond The Bush

Briefly:

Derek Trucks band:

New Orleans: Fantastic
Shepherd's Bush Empire: Awful sound, couldn't hear a thing
Manchester Academy 3: Bloody brilliant

I actually feel truly honoured to have been witness to Derek and the band's evolution since 2002. Back in the day, Derek's slide work was phenomenal. It's now even better plus his work without the slide, in alternate tuning (!) is more than it's equal. Amazing.

The Manchester gig was fan-bloody-tastic. There were a couple of technical issues which, if you didn't look closely, you might have missed. Mike's earpiece didn't seem to work right for the first couple of songs, so they broke from the setlist, went into an instrumental, off went Mike for a conflab then back onstage and bingo, everything was fab again.

It was interesting to see the band showcase each player. Most noticeably was on "Soul Serenade" where the band really reeled it in and Mike's vocals took centre stage. And he 'owned' the song, as they say these days (don't they?)

After the major disappointment of the Bush, Man 3 made up for it.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Concert Review: Jason Mraz, Hammersmith Apollo

Right, I'm not going to make any friends with this review on the following basis: Mr Mraz fans tend to be devotees (I should know, I'm one of them) and really, what did I expect, given that he's promoting his latest album which is more melodic than poppy.

The positives: Jason was on fine form, vocally and banter wise. He's grown as a performer and you really couldn't fault him at all for his stage presence and presentation. The band were tight. The addition of the horn section was surprisingly cool, even though (in my book) adding horns to pop music is usually the kiss of death. Not so in this case.

Okay, so shoot me now, I'm going to give the show a somewhat negative review, but get this, it's because the last show he did at the Shepherd's Bush Empire was just so much better!

It basically comes down to material. Whilst there were some upbeat tunes, like "The Dynamo of Volition", there were far too many ballads, one after the other, to keep me, personally, interested.

THAT'S MY OPINION!

I feel slightly bad saying that, as, looking across the sea of adoring fans in the audience, it was pretty clear that I was one of the few that didn't have their hands in the air. Now, don't get me wrong, I love his stuff, but when you're at a Jason Mraz show, you expect more show, if you know what I mean?

And, to be honest, that's down to the latest (which isn't particularly new, per se) album. It's a more laid back, love in the sun, kind of affair. More... mushy. That's not a bad thing when you're listening to the CD and in that mood, but when you're standing in a steamy crowd of sweaty (and not very pleasant-smelling) teenagers, well, you need a little more action to keep your excitement level up.

Okay, so the show did start off well, and the encore lifted things at the end, but the bulk of the show was a little too snoozy for me. I did not pogo once!

I feel bad saying that... but, I ain't gonna lie to you about how I felt after the show! I didn't leave the venue with a smile on my face, buoyed by all the high-energy vibes. I just wanted to go home... to bed. The irony is that, with J on such great form vocally, just two or three more upbeat tunes would have turned it around for me. Oh well. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Magic Ship @ The Half Moon, Putney

Rocked. Absolutely.

Check out Col's blog for pictures of the gig, here. They had the crowd from the get-go. Grabbed hold and didn't let go.

Tim actually summed up Magic Ship's performance much better than I could. His take on the show was that the band took their own original material and 100% sold every number in a way that was accessable, even to someone who hadn't heard the songs before.

When Col asked me what I thought over an after-show beer I let him know that they really hit it on every song. The only tune that felt like it needed a little more was "LoveTel Motel", the title track from the band's debut album. Funny thing, that, replied Col... somehow he'd managed to turn the volume down on his guitar and he couldn't get it turned back on! Showed the versatility of Sam, lead guitarist and co-singer. He carried the tune and nobody really noticed!

Way to go Magic Ship. Knocked it out of the park!



In celeb news, rubbed shoulders, metaphorically, with Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters on Saturday night. He was special guest at Justin Bond's show, "Lustre" at the Soho theatre and was mingling with Joe Public afterwards. Seemed very down to earth despite being an international recording artist. It's nice to know that celebs are real people, too. No, I didn't talk to him... what would I say, anyway?

Concert Review: Jay Brannan @ Bush Hall

...or more accurately, Jay Brannan & Bitch, Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush, London.

I'm not entirely sure how I should start this review. While it would be 100% fair to simply go ahead and talk about merits of the show itself, I think a little background information is probably in order.

Who is Jay Brannan? Well, for starters, his website is here. Gee, that's sad... are people really defined by their websites these days? Anyway, there's a (hopefully!) tongue-in-cheek bio on there that's worth a read as it gives a flavour of Jay's onstage banter. There are also links to the many YouTube videos that he's posted and his MySpace page.

Okay, I'm going to cut right to the chase.

In 2001 John Cameron Mitchell directed the screen version of the rock opera "Hedwig & The Angry Inch". "Hedwig" is an unflinching look at the colourful life of a boy from Communist East Berlin who undergoes a sex-change operation in an attempt to escape to the West as the wife of a gummi-bear toting US soldier. The operation is botched and rather than having brand new girlie-bits, he/she is left with an 'angry inch'.

Lyric:
"Six inches forward
Five inches back
I've got an angry inch"

You get the picture?

Sticking with her transexual persona, Hedwig proceeds to take (Mid-Western) America by storm (in a teacup) by putting together a rock band. Along the way she meets a new boy, to whom she teaches her songs. The boy turns around, steals her material and skyrockets to stardom. Hedwig follows him around, trying to show him up as a fraud...

It's a pretty standard movie premise, really...

So, JCM directed "Hedwig" then got the idea to make a movie which was about... erm... the human spirit and the role of intimacy in a variety of disfunctional relationships... I guess. It's a credit to JCM that the movie features a significant amount of graphic real sex (and I mean graphic), but it's never gratuitous. It's actually a credit to the Board of Censors that the movie recieved a rating and was given a cinema release. It's a great semi-comedic art-house film. In many ways the movie's strength is that it never takes itself too seriously. The relationships are not touched up with a Hollywood airbrush. They're often clumsy and awkward.

And to the point. New York based singer-songwriter Jay Brannan was featured in the movie (I won't go into detailed character analysis here) as was one of his songs, "Soda Shop". To quote him from last night, "Shortbus is one of the few things I've done that I'm truly proud of" (or something like that).

We loved the movie and we loved the song, and indeed the whole soundtrack. "Soda Shop" is a relatively simple acoustic groove which actually sounds much more complex than it is... a sign of good composition? As soon as I heard it I felt compelled to learn how to play it, which says something!

I have to say we were apprehensive about going to see the show. We were concerned that Jay might be a one-trick pony with "Soda Shop" being his Opus Magnus. He isn't. It isn't. His other songs were varied, melodic and really provided the perfect backdrop for his soft-yet-strong vocals. The set list wasn't exactly brimming with happy songs, but hey, who needs 'happy' when sad sounds that good. His lyrics may be melancholic but at the same time they're clever and ironic (Alanis? Can you hear me Alanis?!) They're very 'New York'.

The inter-song banter (occasionally intra-song) was also spot on with lots of audience participation. You definitely got the feeling that Jay was just a guy who climbed onstage, did his stuff and was surprised that people wanted to hear more. At times he was sharp, at times seemed slightly bewildered by how into the music the crowd was. Overall, his nascent showmanship shone through.

Do you like that? 'Nascent showmanship'. I just made that up!

Is Jay Brannan's star rising? Is he ready for it? Who can say. He has four TV spots in the UK and a self-funded debut album, "Goddamned" that entered the iTunes download chart at number 25. It's also available in physical form via his website. He even has a single out, complete with a video, entitled "Housewife". The song starts off seeming to be a whimsical love song but turns in on itself and ends up being a tale of love not-yet-found.

Hey, how about a picture? Here you go... this is one I took with my stunningly awful cameraphone...



Jay's much less blurry in person. Look, here's the album cover:



By the end of Jay's set we were ready to go home. Bush Hall wasn't a comfortable venue (no A/C!) and we were dripping with sweat. I was also concerned that I might have screwed my back up again as conditions were similar to those at the Robert Randolph show. Given the jam/audition/whatever on Sunday I didn't want to risk hanging around. In hindsight I wish we had. I would have bought a t-shirt, a CD and maybe had Jay sign my boobs!

Hey, Jay, if still you're in town tonight, drop me an email and I'll come buy some merch from you! If you're not, enjoy your show in Bristol tomorrow night. Thekla's an interestingly boaty venue. Don't expect A/C!

Oh, finally, Jay was supported by Bitch, another of the Shortbus cast. Bitch's one-woman multi-intrumental performance formed the perfect counterpart to Jay's set and she added a welcome layer to Jay's performance of the album title-track, "Goddamned". I'm always humbled by people who make simple music (in a good way) sound so vibrant and alive. Leaving "Pussy Manifesto" to one side, the highlight of her act was a uke-driven cover of "Staying Alive"... stripped down, two chords, no disco... more of a folk-ballad than anything else. Cool!

And in one final tribute to the whole "Shortbus" cast and crew, I just want to scream one heartfelt... "I'M AN ALBINO!"

[You'd have to see the movie to get that one!]

Concert Review: Drive By Truckers, Electric Ballroom

I'm not going to give a detailed review (do I ever?) as I'm sure that Col over at Axe Victim will do a much better job as he's more familiar with the band.

I will say, though, that these guys were loud and riff-tastic! My ears are still ringing.

Now, I feel a bit reticent about classifying their music as the Drive By Truckers have managed to slip by under my radar until now and I'm not totally clued up on their back catalogue. I guess nobody's going to shoot me, though, if I term them 'intelligent blue-collar rockers'. I've seen them labelled as alt-country, but, y'know, that term seems to cover a wide range of sins these days.

The band basically grabs the grass-roots zeitgeist by the balls and squeezes hard. The songs are about characters and real-life situations. You get 3 rocking guitars, with Gibson out-gunning Fender (well, a custom job based on a '72 tele) by 2 to 1... as it should be, bass, drums, keys in the back and the occasional country twang supplied by a pedal steel. Then there's the vocals. Both frontmen take turns centre-stage, whilst bass-lady chimes in on backing and occasional lead vox.

The band's 'down-home' imagery is pretty in your face. Beards and plaid are de rigeur. It doesn't come across as affected, though. It's a 'this is where we come from' look.

When I got home last night after riding my bike through the deserted streets of London I couldn't bring myself to go to bed. The Drive By Truckers' music had grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. It wasn't that it was complex or clever. Quite the opposite. Watching the guitarists play, there were lots of open chords, pentatonics, up-down-up strumming. But... it was music. Pure, simple, raw music. These guys were just there to stand up, plug in and say something. Great stuff.

And, last but not least, watching Patterson Hood up there beating the hell out of his Les Paul, I felt my teenage desire for a goldtop flare up once again.

Concert Review: Jason Mraz, Shepherd's Bush Empire

(What is a shepherd's bush, anyway? Inquiring minds want to know!)

For completeness, I should probably mention that Jason had two support acts last night, Bushwalla and Dawn Kinnard. We missed them. Sorry. They're supposed to be decent acts and any other night I'd have been keen to get in there early to check them out, but frankly, our concert stamina was running low so we elected to skip them.

The man himself came onstage promptly at 9pm with a different band set up from previous tours. This time round he'd added a horn section and man did they add a fullness to the sound! Very cool, indeed. The first song, however, was a solo affair, just Jason and his guitar doing the singer-songwriter thing (unless you count the audience, who were singing along). I don't actually remember which song he did, but I thought his voice sounded a little raspy, so I was concerned that he might have vocal issues later on. He didn't! Yay!

The band ran through tunes old and new and really struck a good balance between the slower, ballad-style numbers and the funkier up-tempo ones. After hearing the live versions I think I finally 'got' some of the songs from his latest album, "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things".

All in all the 90 minute set was great. He's moved past some of the cheesier old stuff and updated his best songs to fit in with the new material. While he played some of his more well-known tunes, like "The Remedy", he steered clear of some of the more obvious hits like "Curbside Prophet".

[Tim was so disappointed by that omission that he asked me to mark Jason down a star in this review. Since I don't 'do' stars, that makes it tricky!]

The band was also joined onstage by up-and-coming recording artist James Morrison, who assisted in a duet during the encore.

Even the crowd were great. Lots of hands in the air, lots of clapping, lots of dancing... though I think we were the only folks there over 30. Hey ho! I even found myself jumping up and down at one point, which probably explains why my back's a bit angry again today.

I'm going to have to put the Jason Mraz concert at the top of the honours list for concerts we've seen so far this year. Really great fun, fun, fun!

And for those who like percussionist Toca Rivera's jokes, his attempted funny last night went something like:

Two muffins walk into a bar. One muffin asks the other, "Do you want a beer". The other one goes, "Whoa! A talking muffin!!!!"

Review: Robert Randolph @ Borderline

Robert Randolph & the Family Band did not fail to impress on Friday night. There was no support band so they arrived onstage at around 8:30, played a blistering 90 minute set then headed off to get some rest before the big Hard Rock Calling gig in Hyde Park the following afternoon.

The band were tight and funky, the songs they played ranging from their own compositions to the Doobie Brothers and even included an upbeat tribute to Bo Diddley, who died recently. Robert himself played both his trademark pedal steel guitar, often turbocharged using a wah pedal, giving him a Hendrix-like tone, and a couple of regular 6-string axes.

Three of us went, three of us loved the music, three of us would definitely see the band perform again...

...but not one of us is willing to ever set foot inside Borderline again. It's actually a testament to the quality of the music that we stayed past the first song. While the venue has air-conditioning, the powers that be chose to keep it turned off for the most part. It was so hot and humid in the basement bar that we all felt like we were going to die down there. The management seriously need to look at fixing the airflow in there. The music to one side, Friday night was a truly horrible experience.

To make matters worse, when I got up the following morning I found that after standing awkwardly in that heat for a couple of hours my back had gone out. To say that it wrecked my weekend would be an understatement as I could barely get around for the following two days. I'm still in quite a lot of pain today, thank you very much Mean Fiddler Group.

The only positive spin that I can put on it is that as I was couch-ridden I got to listen to Jason Mraz's new album a couple more times, which is growing on me slowly. I also discovered that I had Placebo's last release, "Meds", but hadn't got round to listening to it. I love Placebo. Balls-to-the-wall goth rock. "Meds" seems to be something of a departure in style (I need to listen to it again) but I have no doubt that in the fullness of time I'll like it.