overlap

In the quiet part of the year, when it's mostly big outdoor festival gigs rather than theatres and clubs, it can be easy to get out of the habit. And with office-specific stupidity and tightened belts due to the ongoing redundancy saga - I'm still on a further stay of execution, for now - I'm well out of the habit on my local city centre shopping routine. Which is good because it keeps my postman busy, but it also means I don't get to go in a few places where buying stuff online has a sufficient postal cost overhead that it isn't worth it. Which is how I'm not exactly empty-handed going in to the gig. Somewhere in the global picture dictionary I'm sure that if you look up traditional British folk music you'll see a picture of a bloke who won't see fifty again, probably with a beard and quite possibly with an Aran sweater. So it's good to see a bunch of young shavers taking to the stage, and better still to listen to their particular mix of jigs, reels and so on. It's never as good for me without words, and the mix of the fiddle, the guitar and the flute/whistle taking turns as the lead instrument does tend towards a feel that's slightly too disparate (for my taste) but all the same, if One String Loose are the shape of things to come in traditional music then the future looks bright enough. At the other end of the scale, the Oysterband can hardly be called neophytes, and their status as veteran performers is precisely what seems them on a big theatre stage for this one-off show. With the band dressed uniformly in black, John Jones steps up to the mike and the venue fills with his voice. In some ways the content of the set doesn't really matter, this is timeless stuff that could come from any period. June Tabor comes out to join in with several songs off Freedom And Rain - Mississippi Summer is a particular highlight. Some of the covers - Wheel's On Fire, All Along The Watchtower - could be better replaced with Oysterband originals, and even the haunting Love Will Tear Us Apart as maudlin ballad is a good trick I've seen done enough by now, though the rousing Blood Wedding at the end, and the totally unamplified finale song done right on the edge of the stage are great. Songs I recall by the time of writing which I enjoyed include Native Son, Dark Eyed Sailor and By Northern Light, but the evening's highlight for me is Everywhere I Go, which plays to local sensitivities and turns the crowd into a choir. Having earlier done Bells Of Rhymney, a song which rarely fails to send a shiver up my spine due to my familiarity with the places and the spirit it evokes, this time it's the inclusivity and the joining in which sums up the band. It's the trust in the power of the music as the chorus echoes around the theatre which means for a couple of minutes we are all the Oysterband. The Oysterband is a party where you're always on the guest list, and sure of a good time in good company. And it doesn't get much better than that. John Jones, preaching to the converted. * Trust In The Power Of Music is a line from the Oysterband's 'Dancing As Fast As I Can'

Labels: gigs, One String Loose, Oysterband

So, fixtures have been out for weeks, the speedway GP has come and gone like a Scott Nicholls punch on the chin of a full-face helmet, my garden's been subject to a bit of hack and slash, and we're nearly back to normal. My diary shows I might possibly have two free weekends between here and October, and the brief pre-season burst of enthusiasm will soon be swept away. Just once I'd like to see us win our first two or three games and top the table, but it'll be a relief just to start the season on zero points. Meanwhile I'm still chasing airline staff to get a definitive view on who is going to own up to losing my luggage so I can get my insurance to do something about paying out for the urgent and ongoing replacement of things I already own but have had lost for me. It would be foolish at best to name any names at this point, but there's one airline whose customer service has been highly impressive even if they can't really help, and one whose efforts I'm rather less impressed by. So for now what should have been a highly memorable, one-off trip is book-ended by bereavement and the inordinate hassle of chasing what ought to be a fairly straightforward process to claim for my lost luggage, and a definite disinclination towards using a certain airline in the future. We'll see what happens, but it's hardly the ideal background to the ongoing redundancy shenanigans, which have already seen my departure delayed for one extension, and further developments of that sort are not out of the question. Not really what you'd called settled conditions! * Out Of Season is a song by REO Speedwagon, and an entirely different one by The Icicle Works - take your pick depending on taste and credibility concerns!

Going to see the same band dozens of times invites questions about why keep on going, and in many cases it's the different songs, different inter-song anecdotes, different venues and different support bands that keep things from becoming routine. In this case it's a trip to the Midlands back to a venue I've been to a few times now, and including a trip to a nearby out of town shopping centre that allows me to make a start on replacing all the stuff lost in an airport somewhere in Asia. It's not just not having the stuff, it's the research it takes to find out what is currently available and what my realistic options are that makes life difficult. Bearing in mind that some of this stuff absolutely has to be replaced before I'm out of the country again inside the the next month, I don't have too much time to spare and getting on with buying replacement items feels rather more like taking some control of the situation than just waiting for an airline and an insurance company to do something. I manage only to buy more or less what I'd planned, and leave without yet another new handbag, so that's progress on two fronts! Unusually there are few people at this gig that I know, and the ones I do know are working, either selling t-shirts and CDs, or on the stage. Which means I'm free to take in the support band with all my attention. The first track is a nice enough piece of brass-flavoured pop, and if that makes you think of the Zutons you are somewhere along the right lines. This is no preparation for the second track, when the seven musicians and singers are joined on stage by a vision in red and grey gloves. Check out the picture! For anyone who, like me, is not aware that there is a significant visual element to Misty's Big Adventure, this is something of a surprise! Not an unwelcome one, but one that threatens to distract from the music, though happily the band are obviously used to this and it rapidly becomes just their kind of normal. There's a risk of accusations of novelty act, of stuntmanship and of cheap attention-seeking but for me it's pretty straightforward that Erotic Volvo (made-up name!) is both an integral part of the MBA performance and something that elevates MBA from being just another band. Their laid-back, jazz-tinged and laconic pop is a welcome tonic in the bland age, and I'm happy to appreciate them for what they are rather than what they're not, and what they are is great fun. It's a refreshing change for The Wonder Stuff set to switch closer to a greatest hits set rather than performing the entire Eight Legged Groove Machine album as we've seen recently, and Radio Ass Kiss and Piece Of Sky dedicated to Swells both hit the spot. I'm hardly in any position to pass unbiased comment, but I had a great time. * Great Adventure is a song by classic Midlands hard rock band Magnum, who have recently released another new album. Misty's Big Adventure are also from the Midlands, and great!

Labels: gigs, Misty's Big Adventure, The Wonder Stuff