Sunday, July 18, 2010
Political Animals
Having not been to the big city in a year or so, I was tempted to go to Tom Robinson's 60th birthday gig a few weeks ago, but when I realised I could see him in an abbreviated format as part of Richard Thompson's Meltdown 'An Evening Of Political Song', I was sold. Not least because I could take advantage of a half price concession ticket.
Ok, so I'm no longer signing on, but my new half-job isn't exactly going to keep me in hot and cold running champagne, and though half a job is of course better than no job, and the work part of it is fine so I just need to hold my nerve for a number of months in the hope it will turn into a whole job. At the half-rate it pays significantly less than the Joseph Rowntree Trust reckon you need you live on, so I'm hardly aping the extravagance of MPs' expenses here.
An ever-revolving onstage line-up is always going to be both mildly disjointed as a spectacle and refreshingly varied as a chance to see a lot of people in one place. And as ever, views will differ of what is the best or most interesting bit; Dorian Lynskey's view is here though it's hugely over-enthusiastic about that version of 'Next'. After SAHB, why ever bother?
I'd never seen Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson before, so that was something I was looking forward to, and indeed Norma's solo vocal run through Coal Not Dole had my spine tingling and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It doesn't happen all that often these days, but a repeat experience came with Emily Smith's version of Karine Polwart's Better Things in the second half of the show.
To be fair I wasn't expecting that much of Boris Grebenshikov, despite having one of his singles from decades ago but he was much better than I expected. The other highlight for me was being within five metres of Harry Shearer. Maybe for a singer he's a great bass player, but his MC-ing the evening was excellent, and he is the voice of a significant set of characters in The Simpsons, and rather more than that he is the lukewarm water of Derek Smalls.
_
Ok, so I'm no longer signing on, but my new half-job isn't exactly going to keep me in hot and cold running champagne, and though half a job is of course better than no job, and the work part of it is fine so I just need to hold my nerve for a number of months in the hope it will turn into a whole job. At the half-rate it pays significantly less than the Joseph Rowntree Trust reckon you need you live on, so I'm hardly aping the extravagance of MPs' expenses here.
An ever-revolving onstage line-up is always going to be both mildly disjointed as a spectacle and refreshingly varied as a chance to see a lot of people in one place. And as ever, views will differ of what is the best or most interesting bit; Dorian Lynskey's view is here though it's hugely over-enthusiastic about that version of 'Next'. After SAHB, why ever bother?
I'd never seen Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson before, so that was something I was looking forward to, and indeed Norma's solo vocal run through Coal Not Dole had my spine tingling and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It doesn't happen all that often these days, but a repeat experience came with Emily Smith's version of Karine Polwart's Better Things in the second half of the show.
To be fair I wasn't expecting that much of Boris Grebenshikov, despite having one of his singles from decades ago but he was much better than I expected. The other highlight for me was being within five metres of Harry Shearer. Maybe for a singer he's a great bass player, but his MC-ing the evening was excellent, and he is the voice of a significant set of characters in The Simpsons, and rather more than that he is the lukewarm water of Derek Smalls.
Labels: Eliza Carthy, Emily Smith, gigs, Jez Lowe, Martin Carthy, Neil Hannon, Norma Waterson, Richard Thompson, Tom Robinson
