Tag Archives: live

John Otway, Portland Arms, Cambridge, 5 March 2015

John Otway is a true original, frequently touring and sometimes recording since his first ‘hit’ in 1977. Like John Cooper Clarke from the same era he is difficult to fully describe to the uninitiated, but he has kept the punk ethos alive, musically eccentric and with added humour and a cult performance that has an incredibly loyal following (as he joked ‘sometimes there are people in the audience who have seen me more than once…’).

Bizarre cover versions of pop classics(?) ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, ‘Crazy Horses’, ‘Blockbuster’ mix in with his original songs ‘Really Free’, ‘Beware of The Flowers’ (7th in a national poll to find the greatest pop lyrics of all time!), ‘ Bunsen Burner’ along with a Bob Dylan parody, headbutting the microphone, failed acrobatics and one-sided banter with Deadly, his onstage roadie.’ ‘Body Talk’, as performed many years ago on ‘The Young Ones’ TV show, features percussive body sensors and the wailing sound of the theremin is pushed to its limits.

It is all hilarious, he is such a likeable, self deprecating performer that even though you have seen it all before you will be there the next time too. The humour dominates but sometimes the emotional sentiment of his songs cuts through, such as the relationship aftermaths described in ‘Middle Of Winter’ and ‘We Know What She’s Doing (She’s In Love)’. ‘Poetry And Jazz’ is a longer detailed narrative of a difficult growing up process and shows his songwriting talent.

Sometimes described as ‘Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure’, I think his longevity proves otherwise…

http://www.johnotway.com/

Blossoms, Portland Arms, Cambridge, 18 February 2015

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The Vryll Society are an accomplished five-piece band from Liverpool, their spacious sound occupying territory from The Cure to The Stone Roses with many points inbetween. Long songs allow the mood of each to develop, no instrument pushing forward too much, as if the sound is approaching from a long distance away to gradually immerse the listener. The lead singer has an enigmatic anti-presence on stage, but he is still a hypnotic focal point. They appear to be named after a mystical energy force, which perhaps they have secretly harnessed??

Blossoms, another quintet, named after a pub in their home town of Stockport, have an unstoppable energy force all of their own, a poppy/indie/retro combination starting from the first song, the confident ‘You Pulled A Gun On Me’. Swirling organ and strong three-part harmonies add to the attractive mix and amiable frontman Tom Ogden bonds well with the audience. The stage was bathed in eerie blue light for the more acoustic and mellow ‘My Favourite Room’, then ‘Scattered Rain’ was particularly impressive, a bit different and changing direction all the time. ‘Cut Me And I’ll Bleed’ and the closing single ‘Blow’ are catchy and straight into the memory receptors. After this extensive UK tour they are off to Japan soon, on tonight’s showing I’m sure there are great things in store…

http://www.blossomsband.co.uk

Wave Pictures, Portland Arms, Cambridge, 4 February 2015

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Another strong line-up for a sold out evening at The Portland, starting with Ben Garnet, otherwise known as The Organ Grinder’s Monkey, a regular in Cambridge (and on this site) with his guitar/random sounds/voice/laptop combination. A large audience was already in the venue, reacting well to the electronica, triggered effects and manipulated vocals of hours of painstaking studio crafting being let loose to run free in the live performance. Older songs ‘Testing the Theory…’ and ‘See This Through’ sound as good as ever as does the heavy bass and denser instrumentation of new track ‘False Economy’. Apparently new experiments in stereo are pushing the capacity of the laptop (Bill) beyond its limits but it looks like this creative partnership will run and run.

Five piece Cambridge band Violet Woods are featured elsewhere on this site and it was good to see that their live versions of tracks from the debut album have grown in stature. It was a nicely paced set, contrasting the dark mysteries of ‘Electric Fascination’ with the simpler pastoral pleasures of ‘Here’ and ‘Driftwood Royalty’. The band musically blends moody 12-string electric guitar with bold retro organ notes as second guitar, bass and drums all make a major contribution. The finale of the album and live set is ‘The River’ an epic track with a haunting vocal from Xavier Watkins, then eventually all the instruments break loose, with feedback and the drum kit flayed until it sounds like it is being thrown down the stairs…

The Wave Pictures are a likeable and unassuming trio, their sparse tight sound and onstage interplay creates a captivating and engrossing show. Having formed in 1998, they have recorded many albums as themselves or collaborations with a variety of performers, also they have covered songs by cult outsider American singer Daniel Johnston.
Complex lyrics featuring relationships, domestic trivia, assorted wildlife and name checks of Johnny Cash, Tracey Emin and The Real Slim Shady(!) are delivered mainly by guitarist Dave Tattersall with drummer Jonny Helm leading on some songs. Along with bassist Franic Rozycki the band are accomplished musicians, their trademark indie rock is clear sounding and intricate guitar solos interspersed with busy basslines and solid drums.
There are also departures in musical styles, the polyrhythmic shuffle of ‘Before This Day’ was an early highlight. At times I was reminded of the minimal relaxed sound and lyrical concerns of Jonathan Richman, another live performer with the ability to have the audience losing themselves in his unique musical world. Soon to be released album Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon featured strongly, then the show ended with requests, all warmly received by the very attentive audience.

http://www.togm.co.uk/
http://violetwoods.tumblr.com/
http://www.thewavepictures.com/

Psychic Lemon, The Grapes, Cambridge, 13 Dec 2014

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I saw Psychic Lemon playing recently at the Mill Road Winter Fair, an event that is one of Cambridge’s best kept secrets. It was a challenge to entertain at 11am in freezing conditions in the car park in the shade of the railway bridge but the appreciative crowd gradually grew and stayed. The Grapes on a Saturday evening was a more comfortable prospect, a welcoming pub with stage and dance floor at one end, bathed in red and green spots of light throughout.

They opened with ‘Dilator’, a strong statement of dual guitar, pulsing bass and drums (interesting to see an electronic drum kit). As in many of the songs tonight, the vocals are often short and to the point, the sound is dominated by a compendium of guitar effects recreating and updating the psychedelic vibe, usually establishing longer instrumental passages.

‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’ and ‘Skin’ strayed into dance funk territory with some shades of Talking Heads, the amiable Grapes audience responded by being far more animated than Cambridge audiences can tend to be. Some songs showed darker, claustrophobic edges, the bass becoming more anguished and prominent in the mix as the set proceeded. Final song was TiCkToC, already released as a single and blending many of the elements from the other songs into a satisfying whole.

To quote from Psychic Lemon themselves….

‘The band got together at the end of 2013, everyone looking for a new musical challenge — to write and play the music they want to play, and not be held back by the expectations of others. However, if other people like it too, then that’s great: The band’s goal is to entertain without compromise.’

On the evidence so far, this seems to be happening…

http://psychiclemon.flavors.me/#soundcloud
https://www.facebook.com/psychiclemon?fref=ts

Robert Plant, Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 20 Nov 2014

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The crowd were in early for the sold out show with Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, the latest of the many performing incarnations of the former Led Zeppelin frontman.

Support trio The Last Internationale played American blues rock, underpinned by folk and protest roots, a sort of Billy Bragg with louder guitars. Delila Paz opened the show with solo acoustic guitar and a soaring powerful voice, singing ‘Workers of the World Unite’. The rest of the set was electric and punchy, showing how sometimes the basic combination of guitar bass and drums is all you need for a satisfying sound. ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood’ was the standout track and their covers of an Elmore James blues and Neil Young’s ‘My My, Hey Hey(Out of the Blue)’ went down very well with the audience too.

Robert Plant is a legend in rock music, his modest and relaxed stage presence and still stunning vocal talents deliver a superior show, a mixture of material from the latest album ‘Lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar’, blues standards and reworked Zeppelin classics. The band is superb, all given individual personalities by Robert’s jokey asides and having many opportunities to bring their musicianship into the spotlight. Liam ‘Skin’ Tyson’s prowess on the acoustic guitar duetting with Justin Adams on mandolin and the eerie sounds produced by Juldeh Camara playing a ritti (one-stringed fiddle) were among the many highlights. Other eccentric stringed instruments add variety to the harder-edged sound that showcases Robert’s distinctive voice to perfection.

When an emotionally draining ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ gives way to the opening riff of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ the audience go crazy and we know we will leave the show happy. Then the icing on the cake, an encore of ‘Rock and Roll’….

http://www.robertplant.com/
http://www.thelastinternationale.com/

Pere Ubu, Junction, Cambridge, 17 Nov 2014

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Pere Ubu at Junction J2, the enticing prospect of an evening of experimental excess from long lasting leaders in the genre, originally formed back in 1975 in Cleveland, USA.

The first half hour was semi-improvisational, David Thomas the only founder member still in the band sits at the front of a semi-circle of the other musicians, directing and suggesting as each player takes turns to start off a themed piece (eg ‘Martian Lounge Music’!). Clarinet, keyboards, theremin, guitar and drums with fragments of lyrics create a rich seam of ideas, with potential for mining for future full songs. It is an instrumental blend that could feature in a Tom Waits show, where there is always space within the complex sound. It is a challenging listening experience but not inaccessible, just get absorbed into the mood.

Following on from the interval the band returned for the ‘professional band’ part of the show, featuring songs from their latest album ‘Carnival Of Souls’ and many others. Conventional rock guitar riffs are soothed by the clarinet then hijacked by twisted keyboard effects, bursts of drums and the aggressively slicing theremin. At the centre, the focal point is Thomas’s voice, sometimes tortured and edgy, sometimes being distorted through a telephone handset, always surprising. At times it reminded me of the tone of the late, great Kevin Coyne. In between songs David Thomas has many wry observations and anecdotes, including why the band did not want us to clap. This seemed to create a strange atmosphere at first but by the end seemed perfectly reasonable and quite liberating, even though the audience were trying to break the rule when the songs were as good as ‘Caroleen’.

After a break off-stage the band returned to play ‘Irene’. Beginning with keyboard effects like hailstones rolling down a window, beautiful clarinet lines underpinned a plaintive and gently sung vocal performance making it the highlight of the show for me. The final improvised song/statement was urging us to ‘Buy More Merchandise’, after wading through the many layers of irony of this I bought the CD. I did the right thing. I think….?

http://www.ubuprojex.com/

Violet Woods, Portland Arms, Cambridge, 7 November 2014

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This was the launch party for the new album by Violet Woods, a Cambridge based five-piece led by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Xavier Watkins. The psychedelic tone was set by DJ Rich Hero, playing very obscure and ultra-cool vinyl singles from the late sixties and early seventies, accompanied by oil slide projections on the ceiling.

The opening act were Riverane, previously reviewed on this site as support to The Hot Lights and moving their sound on into darker territory since then, as the vocals of lead singer Gabriel Coulter twist around the continually varying musical moods.

Violet Woods hit the stage with an instrumental introduction, then straight into ‘Over The Ground’ from their self-titled album. It is a retro sound, lovingly recreating and extending the late sixties pop/rock/psychedelic vibe with some modern edges. On record it is mostly fairly smooth and relaxed but live there is no holding back, with added echo to the voices, over a powerful instrumental backing, such as when 12-string guitar and organ are thrashing away in the ending of ‘The Dancer’. To make a Cambridge early Pink Floyd connection, it is definitely more ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ than ‘Grantchester Meadows’…

Probably my favourite song, ‘Electric Fascination’ is based around an eerie descending 12-string figure, repeating and competing with distant vocals. The guitar wins in the end… The reassuring chord structure of ‘Here’ is a neat pop song, ‘Driftwood Royalty’ is an optimistic dreamy lyric. The epic ‘The River’ ends the set, going through changes before an exhausting instrumental onslaught. It was a great advert for a confident and impressive debut album.

https://www.facebook.com/riverane
https://www.facebook.com/thevioletwoods
http://violetwoods.tumblr.com/

Johnny Marr, Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 21 October 2014

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Imagine being in an indie guitar band and being on tour with the man who wrote the hymnsheet/instruction manual/bible of how to play the whole genre. Anyway, support band Childhood from South London rose to the occasion with style and swagger. Singer/guitarist Ben Romans-Hopcraft led the band through many of the tracks from their confident debut album ‘Lacuna’, much praised in the NME and given some extra energy in the live performance, filling the rafters of Cambridge’s most cavernous venue. There was a warm reception from the growing crowd, their set was a real bonus to the evening and Johnny Marr was to praise them generously later on..

To a rapturous ovation, the winner of the NME ‘Godlike Genius’ Award in 2013 took the stage, the backlights spelling out the name of the new album ‘Playland’, the title track being the opening song. Extra guitar, occasional keyboard and tight and rock solid bass and drums from his band were a secure backing through the evening but it was the guitar moves of Johnny Marr that we all wanted to see. In case anyone wondered how the old songs would fit in, Smiths classic ‘Panic’ was next, with its prophetic ‘Hang the DJ’ refrain..(of course the DJ playing the Damned/Roxy Music/Talking Heads/Magazine vinyl singles during the interval should certainly escape that fate…)

The next 90 minutes followed this in a similar way, great punchy songs from JM’s two solo albums and more Smiths songs too. A highlight was the quieter ‘New Town Velocity’, a thoughtful, nostalgic tale of alienation. Building up to a finish with Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’ and then the distinctive opening strum of ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, sometimes known as ‘The National Anthem of Smithdom’ and quite simply one of the greatest pop songs ever.
Five songs in the encore, including a cover of ‘Lust For Life’ and ending with the unmistakeable tremolo layers of an extended version of ‘How Soon Is Now?’, another classic and a great ending to the show.

https://www.facebook.com/childhoodband
http://www.johnny-marr.com/

Real Estate, Junction, Cambridge, 20 October 2014

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There was a full and atmospheric Junction J2 to welcome Alvvays from Canada and Real Estate from the USA.

Alvvays are a fizzing and fully formed five piece indie pop band, playing catchy songs from their outstanding self-titled debut album. Molly Rankin fronts the band and plays guitar, with excellent interplay with Alec O’Hanley on guitar and triggered effects. There is strong support from some deep bass synthesisers, drums and incisive basslines (played on a Hofner violin bass, Beatles fans!). This instrumental line up extends the variety beyond the indie guitar of ‘Atop a Cake’ to the more introspective keyboards of ‘Dives’. The engaging personality and sparkling voice of Molly shines through best on the two last songs ‘Adult Diversion’ and the memorably named and poignant ‘Archie, Marry Me’.
It was a brilliant performance, they won over the audience completely and as they later posted, they thought ‘Cambridge is cool’.

Real Estate are a completely different prospect, a band playing longer pieces, involving and intricate, two guitars, electric piano, bass and drums with occasional vocals from founder member Martin Courtney. Psychedelic sounds, a sort of indie-rock version of the Grateful Dead with shades of Gomez too (remember them? their album ‘Bring It On’ won the Mercury Prize in 1999..). The setlist drew several songs from the current album ‘Atlas’, there were some good exchanges with the audience and we were immersed in the musicianship and mellow feel of it all.
As the band say, their music ‘conjures quiet, late-night drives down wooded highways, rural rambles with friends (and maybe a love interest) on the sunniest afternoons of the year, and hazy summer evenings spent alone, thinking back to those times and the people who were with you for them’. I couldn’t put it better myself..

http://alvvays.com/
http://www.realestatetheband.com/

Wooden Arms, Junction, Cambridge, 11 Oct 2014

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As the summer finally gave way to a mellow autumn Junction J2 was the venue for three musical performances of contemplation and experimentation. First on was Gaze is Ghost, singer-songwriter Laura McGarrigle from Strabane alone at an electric piano, with her plaintive voice and sensitive chords illustrating her songs of love and loss. The back projections of desolate seascapes and blurred light sources complemented the absorbing sounds.

After a short interval multi-instrumentalist and composer Tom Adams sang and played electric guitar. He augmented his songs using effects and guitar loops in the most imaginative way I had seen for a while, the patterns he set up twisting and turning and arriving in the mix when you least expected them. Even one of the control boxes seemed to have a life of its own and generate a chorus of sound when moved around. A multi-layered trumpet was used in the final song to create a rush like the wind blowing across the continuing background images.

Wooden Arms are from Norwich, touring to showcase their recently released album ‘Tide’. The six talented band members, led from the piano by main composer Alex Carson, play a variety of acoustic and electric instruments, violin, cello, trumpet, guitars and drums. All of the band sing and the resulting music produced has classical, ambient and folk influences with many fragile textures and subtleties. ‘Prelude’ opens the set, a repeating piano figure gradually joined by ethereal voices and strings. The pieces move at a gently flowing pace, vocals arrive and depart, sometimes the drums add fireworks, such as at the end of the evocative ‘December’. The album title track ‘Tide’ is a standout, a classical piece with a powerful build up of voice and instruments. New song ‘Burial’ brought the show to an end, yet somehow the haunting sounds of all three of the evening’s acts continued…

https://www.facebook.com/GazeisGhost
https://www.facebook.com/aswefallintostatic
http://www.woodenarms.co.uk/