overlap

For many bands, carrying on having lost a member who was a major creative force is difficult, if not impossible. And yet every now and then, the enjoyment of making music together keeps those who are still around interested in carrying on to some degree. When I first saw Big Country, I was possibly expecting too much, and without going back to my diary to check, I'm fairly comfortable saying I thought they were great but not quite earth-shattering. They're another band I have more than one album by, and who I definitely like, but for one reason or another never became a devoted fan of. All the same, I was very much saddened by Stuart Adamson's death, and touched by another band who first toured with Big Country dedicating a song to him in their live performances at the time. A gig by Tony Butler, Bruce Watson and Mark Unpronounceablename (as those of us of a certain age and a history of Smash Hits reading will always think of him) as a trio was a very interesting prospect, and one that could have gone several different ways. Rosie Jones' support slot fits somewhere close to Carina Round's mixture of melody and screaming, with a dollop of Lily Allen's almost spoken delivery in places, and Tennessee in particular is good fun. Not something I'm going to chase hard, but I'll be interested to see how her writing develops if our paths cross in the future. Bruce in particular looks like he's having a great time, and Tony, in between taking most of the lead vocals, looks like someone who'd liven up even the dreariest party, so it's great to see people enjoying what they do to start with. Stuart is mentioned enough times that the gig is a worthy tribute without descending into an overmawkish spectacle of sentiment, and leaving it to the crowd to sing the vocal on Chance is a nice touch. The Teacher rocks like a quarryload of granite, Look Away bounces like Zebedee on a bouncy castle, the few new songs sound like they fit right in, and the final encore of In A Big Country finishes early enough for me to be on my way home by 22.15. Here's a set of their autographs, collected eighteen years ago, and my recollection of meeting them to get these was of warm and friendly, personable and approachable chaps, anything but the archetypal rock star nonsense. Given the chance, I'd recommend you check them out, and you will be in Wonderland!

Labels: Big Country, Bruce Watson, gigs, Mark Brzezicki, music, reformations, rock, Stuart Adamson, Tony Butler

After a short break, posting resumes with the news that I'm pleased to be back home to start another football season consisting of about two weeks of hope, and eight months of desperation. There's something about being back in my own bed that's pretty unbeatable, but there's another thing to look forward to and that's working through the autumn touring schedules. The last few years seem to have proven that barring death, almost every band comes back together sooner or later, and often in addition to or despite members moving on to other, bigger and/or better things. Even Robert Plant was recently seen explaining how Roger Daltrey keeps asking him 'why don't you give them what they want?' so the reunion bug really does get absolutely everywhere. Nevertheless, it's a matter of incredible excitement and glee to find myself looking forward to another unexpected reformation delight, namely that the headline slot of Blaze Bayley at Tamworth Rock Of Ages Festival is to be supplemented by a reunion set by the mighty Wolfsbane. It's not for no reason that my HMS card is one of the few items that remains in my wallet all the time, and it's not like there was much of a chance to say a proper goodbye after somebody legged it to join Maiden either. Even though I've run into Jeff a few times over the years, and heard some work Jase's been part of, there's some unfinished business, and that's without the mouth-watering prospect that they might like each other enough to want to do some more. Never say never. Chances of my limited readership here being familiar with Wolfsbane are on the low side, but I can safely say there is no other band on earth I would rather see reform unless the current rules on death and resurrection are radically changed. And I'm utterly thrilled that once again, we're gonna paint the town red.

Labels: Blaze Bayley, reformations, rock, Wolfsbane

Just got home from the return of PWEI. Beautiful sunny day, lovely drive there in mostly open roads, with snow still on top of hills in places. Lovely drive back with a clear enough sky and full moon such that I could drive without headlights. In the middle, stung like hell for paying to park the car, saw a few old friends of mine and saw some fabulous kick ass rock n roll, including a couple of tracks I really wasn't expecting - a very pleasant surprise. Nice!

Labels: Pop Will Eat Itself, PWEI, reformations