Robbie Williams @ The BBC Electric Proms, 20th October 2009

I’ve been expecting you

Well well well. Robbie Williams’ first gig in 3 years can best be described as a triumph. Scores of famous faces, along with the luck few who had managed to get tickets online, had turned out eager to see whether the fifth member of Take That still had it.



The ninety minute set was a mixture of old and new, and with comeback single Bodies recording Robbie’s biggest first week sales since Rock DJ (thanks to the man himself for providing that fan fact), there were high hopes that Robbie’s new material would be a step away from his Rudebox phase (i.e. it wouldn’t be shit). His recent performance on the X-Factor had been inconclusive and heavily criticised in some quarters, so the evening had the potential to be either amazing or awful.

The new music is produced by the legendary Trevor Horn, who was also on stage playing bass, and it was certainly an improvement and in some ways a step back to more familiar (and successful) ground. Starstruck was a favourite, sounding so George Michael-esque that Robbie had the crowd practicing George’s dance moves before the song had even started. Another new track was dedicated to Robbie’s girlfriend and should have been too painful for words as he sang the whole song looking up adoringly to her in the balcony. But it was impossible to be anything but endeared to the guy, who’s not been short of love life issues in the past, and the track went down well.

Of course, the crowd made the most noise for the golden oldies. No Regrets, Millennium, Supreme, Feel, Come Undone and Angels all made welcome appearances, although there was no sign of Let Me Entertain You or Rock DJ. Having opened a little nervously with two new songs, Robbie was back on terra firma with Come Undone and clearly gained confidence from the audience singing along. From then on in he was back into his cheeky chappy persona, cracking jokes and telling funny stories.

But this was a more mature artist on stage that perhaps he was previously, referring to his age and his grey hairs more than once. Robbie was quite emotional at times, and seemed keen to lay old demons to rest. Take That were reconciled, Gary Barlow was his new best friend, and even Guy Chambers was name checked, much to the delight of the crowd. To be fair, the audience would probably have applauded almost anything from their hero but he rewarded them with a great show. Full of energy and charm, backed by an excellent band and orchestra, and supported with an autocue in case of emergencies, Robbie Williams is definitely back.

Robbie William's new album, Video Killed the Radio Star, is out on November 9th

Later with Jools Holland, 29th September 2009

Where the magic happens

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get tickets to see a recording of Later with Jools Holland for ages – they are so heavily over subscribed that they are like gold dust. However I struck the jackpot this time round thanks to a benevolent friend who couldn’t make it.

The reason that Later is so popular is because they have the best musicians on the show. And the reason that they need the best musicians is that they broadcast live, so they need to be right on the top of their games. A quick mention for the production staff at this point, who are fantastic and manage to do such a horrifically complicated job. Each evening they film Later they are actually producing two shows – a longer pre-recorded version that goes out at the weekend, and a half hour version that is broadcast live. All the bands are on their own stages at the same time around the edge of the studio, and the cameras move from on to the other pretty much seamlessly with Jools navigating his way through the middle. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with that bit – if it goes wrong then you’re completely sunk.

Anyway, the line up while I was there was:

Shakira
Gladys Knight
The Cribs
Mika
The XX
The Duke and The King

Which I reckon is pretty good value for money. Especially as it was free.

The star of the evening had to be Gladys Knight who sounds just amazing and is actual pop royalty. I really wish I had been able to see her on tour in the UK as she is just divine. The tone of her voice is just so rich and deep, and she is really economical with it. What I mean is that she only uses it to add to the song and the emotion she projects, rather than warbling all over the place just for the hell of it like some other singers I could mention. Mariah Carey please take note.



Shakira was also good but she was the one that needed the most retakes for the pre-recorded version, although to be fair I think they were more to do with the sound than her specifically. She seemed the most rehearsed and had more dance routines and props than everyone else put together. She was also the biggest diva – we were stood next to her stage and she spent the whole time she wasn’t singing fussing about her hair or her jewellery and getting members of her (rather large) entourage to fix them for her.

Mika was, as usual, utterly fab despite a slight sound issue on the live show. Also, he had manaed to secure some of the tickets for members of his fan club, which was just so nice. It caused a huge headache for the production staff though, as they were the only ones who hadn’t taken on board the dress code (dark colours) and were standing out like sore thumbs at the front of the audience.

I was interested to her The XX as lots has been written about them (NB this was when the band was still a four piece) and they seemed ok. Maybe they are just too cool for me (very likely) but they didn’t seem that special to me. I have to say that the same applies to The Cribs – not my kind of music I have to say.

But overall a brilliant evening and an interesting insight into how they actually put a show like that together. I must try and get tickets again!

If anyone ever has any spare tickets to see Later being recorded then please drop me a line!

Thank You For The Music @ Hyde Park, 13th September 2009

Thanks indeed!

OK, I own up. I was there. I wasn't supposed to be, I didn't intend to be, but when I realised I was driving in the direction of London on that Sunday afternoon it seemed almost peverse to drive around it when I knew that this concert was taking place. So I took a chance (took a chance, took a took a chance chance) (sorry) and battled my way into central London armed with only a UK Road Atlas and a vague idea that there's-a-car-park-at-Queensway-and-surely-it's-not-that-far-to-Hyde-Park-from-there.

Well, I guess luck was with me (of not the traffic) and I managed to park, speedwalk to the right part of the park and buy a ticket on the door by about ten to six. Thanks to the fact that this was a Radio 2 event and fairly civilised, I managed to get about 3 rows back from the barrier to the right of the stage and find some of my friendswith no trouble at all.

Anyway, to the concert and the music that we were there to give thanks for (so to speak). Chris Evans was presenting dressed in one of the most ridiculous outfits I've seen in a while -look! --> It's like rubbish Austin Powers is paying a special visit! But to be fair, he did a pretty good job; I saw him present the Brits a couple of years back as his first gig back after the Radio 1 malarky and his break from the media and he couldn't get a line right., so I was pleasantly surprised. OK, so there was an autocue but he did really well at engaging the audience and I felt like he was probably reliving a Radio 1 Roadshow in Minehead from days gone by.

The first act he introduced was Lulu, who looked pretty damn fine considering she is surely pushing OAP status. In fact, with her hair in a ponytail and sunglasses taking up most of her face she looked about 12. Good on you Lulu, I want some of what you're having.

Next up (to my upmost delight of course) were The Feeling, the only band on the running order. I should mention that all the acts were accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the original ABBA band (minus Benny and Bjorn but including a really cool guy with a ponytail who originally played keyboard in the band) - they were great throughtout.

Anyhoo, TF played Knowing Me, Knowing You, which isn’t one of my favourite Abba tracks and I wasn’t sure what the band would be able to do with it. Well, I shouldn’t have worried – Dan Gillespie Sells is in his element in front of a big crowd and the band rose to the challenge. Dan was all over the stage and really performed the song. Someone I was with thought they could have done more with the harmonies and the second verse and on reflection he was probably right but it was still amazing. Ciaran got to play the sparkly piano, which is usually only Dan’s preserve, and I have to say that I was a bit gutted when they finished and the crew took the drum kit off.

Next on was Nerina Pallot, who seemed very sweet and sang The Name of the Game but obviously didn’t know what to do with the stage. She returned a bit later to sing SOS instead of Sharleen Spiteri, who had to pull out at the last minute as the guitarist from Texas was apparently very ill, so well done to her for that.

I can’t mention everyone in detail otherwise this blog will go on forever. I will spare a few words for Jason Donovan (mostly as I took a good picture of him and I would like to show it mow) – I was a really hoping for a Kylie and Jason duet-slash-megamix (showing my age here) but no such luck. There were obviously some paid up members of the JD fanclub there though – there was a lady how really should have know better who pushed right in front of the kid we had in our party so she could get a better view. Good job that he wasn’t too interested in that particular act really!!

Elaine Paige and someone who wasn’t Barbara Dixon got a huge reception (gotta love the Radio2 audience) for a frankly excellent version of I Know Him So Well.

I have to say that the middle section of the concert fell a bit flat for my money – the first half of the show mainly covered some of their slightly lesser known tracks, but the middle we got songs from Chess, which while great weren’t the sing along classics people had come to hear. Marti Pellow was woefully underused with a slightly odd version of One Night in Bangkok. This was swiftly followed up by some Swedish Folk music (yes it was Benny but he was still playing the accordion accompanied by a group of old me playing the fiddle and wearing leather aprons) and then some mostly orchestral music from B&B’s new musical, You could tell that the crowd was flagging a bit and it was definitely a relief when The Feeling came back on.

Their second number was a barn-storming version of Does Your Mother Know. This was much more up their street that the first song as it’s much more up tempo and more suited to their style. It was really interesting to hear them performing with female backing singers, which is something that they never do usually – normally the rest of the band do amazing vocal harmonies. Dan really encouraged the crowd into a mass singalong and finished it off with a fantastic leap from the sparkly piano – which I thought was pretty darn brave as that piano looks like it’s on its last legs after all the touring and is generally a bit kronky and liable to collapse. But it was very Dan and rounded off the pitifully short set beautifully. I few words about the other boys for the TF fans out there. I couldn’t see Paul because of the lay out of the stage but he had the look of the Dawnbreakers about him. Ciaran was growing a beard again (bad times), Rich is (still) rocking last winter’s coat, and Kev looks just the same bless him. Dan’s rather jaunty cream suit and striped T shirt combo looked very natty and slightly nautical. Boys – we’ve missed you.

After they had finished I was actually ready to go to the side and get some food but they had really saved the good songs to the end with the cast of Mama Mia doing a bit of a megamix. Kylie did 2 songs and was obviously what a large proportion of the crowd were waiting for. I’m not a massive Kylie fan (despite having her debut album on cassette) but her voice suited the music much better than Chaka Khan, who obviously didn’t know the words or the tune to The Winner Takes It All when she sang it. Although to be fair she might have been hampered by the slightly disturbing corset she was wearing.

B&B took to the stage at the end, and from and audience perspective one of the best bits was the singalong to the orchestra at the end with the words up on the big screen (like we needed them…). Some of the best songs IMHO were only touched on there, which was a shame but I guess there are just too many to perform them all.

Anyway, I’m really pleased that I took a chance and went – it was great to see some of my friends again and an unexpected gig often turns out to be brilliant.

I understand that Abba have a greatest hits album out called Abba Gold that's available now ;-)

Noah and the Whale @ The Hospital Club, 25th September 2009

Free gold and silver

It's not often that Barclaycard gives you anything for free. Having worked there for 7 years I probably know this better than most. So there was no way I was going to turn down free tickets to the Barclaycard Mercury Music Session that I won on Twitter, even if I didn't know much of the band.

Anyway, The Hospital Club seems to be a relatively exclusive place in Covent Garden that has a club / music venue in the basement. It's much nicer than it sounds. And has a fairly amazing lighting rig. The gig was being filmed for TV (I believe, although no sign yet). Oh, and there was free beer courtesy of Stella :)

The support act for the night was Golden Silvers, who I had heard of in passing but didn't know any of their stuff. I have to say that I was pretty impressed - catchy pop was the genre and it was performed particularly well. They had a random guy playing percussion and vocals called Tommy, who looked the least rock and roll band member since the guitarist of Das Pop but we found out that it was actually the first gig he had done with the band so all was forgiven. The most impressive moment award goes to the last song, which they performed a cappella without a safety net. Respect. They have proven themselves to be a band worthy of consideration and I will purchasing their album.


Endearingly most of the band came out into the audience to watch main act Noah and the Whale. Sadly I have to say that they were something of a disappointment after the energy of Golden Silvers. The only song I knew of NATW was 5 Years Time, which they didn't actually play. Instead we heard material from their new album, The First Days of Spring, which is reasonably morose. Now I have nothing against morose as a theme, but it doesn't really make for a fun evening out. I have to say that I can't really remember most of the songs - maybe you need to be holed up at home whilst feeling slightly depressed for them to make an impact, after which time you would probably put them on repeat and cry into your wine glass about how they are really about your life. Or something. Either way, I was drinking free beer so it made less of an impression.

The band were a strange combination. There was an excellent violinist who also played the keyboard - the stage set up should have really had both pieces of equipment on the same side but instead the poor guy had to race across the front between songs to change stations. Also, he had hair like Erik Hassle, who is my current benchmark for crazy hair.


The lead guitarist looked like he had always wanted to be in a rock band and wasn't going to let the fact that he had somehow ended up in a morose folk outfit prevent him from rocking out like a member of Guns N Roses. The lead singer, in complete contrast, was very serious. At one point he even stopped a song and started again because the audience were talking too much. I can really see how that would be a bit soul destroying but it happens every day to bands of all descriptions in pubs and clubs around the country. Surely the thing to do is play louder and better so that people want to listen? Oh well.


Anyway, I had a nice free evening courtesy of Barclaycard and discovered a new band, but I wasn't inspired into getting the new NATW album any time soon.

The Last Days of Spring is out now

VV Brown @ GAP, 10th September 2009

I love a good freebie - and this was definitely a good one.

What's not to love - a free gig with free food and free beer in a pop up GAP store with discounted jeans. OK, so none of the jeans were really my size (actually they may have been but unfortunately I can't speak American) but everything else was excellent.



VV Brown is not only "up and coming" (although I would argue that she's not coming up as quickly as she deserves to) and also in to her fashion so she was a good choice for GAP to open up their temporary store just off Carneby Street. A small but perfectly formed set showed off her vocal talents a treat, and her bass player is fantastic. Nice little opportunity to mingle afterwards with the cool crowd even though I looked anything but, and VV gets more self assured every time I see her. And if you haven't already, you should see her too.

VV Brown's debut album, Travelling Like The Light, is available now.

The Script @ The Waterfront, 1st September 2009

After some very civilised queueing (inside! with toilets! oh yes!!), I found myself at the front for the first of The Script's 2 dates at The Waterfront. This turned out to be both a curse and a blessing...


First off were support act Officer Kicks who are great showmen and although their music is a little heavy for me,I really enjoyed their performance. I met the band after the show and they are really nice as well so I hope they get the success they deserve. If you like rock music you should check out their myspace here and they are currently on tour in the UK.


There was a second support act called The Coronas, who are an Irish band that seem to be quite big in Ireland. I have to say they didn't do much for me - nothing wrong with them but they just didn't stand out.

By the time The Script came on the mostly teenage girl crowd were pretty much hysterical, like an old video of Beatles fans back in the day - screaming and crying and what not. Even the mere sight of lead singer Danny seemed to bring on hysterical crying, which was very loud and VERY ANNOYING.


Anyway, The Script played what I understand to be their only set list - it was certainly the same as the SBE gig I went to. They are really good but you get the feeling that they going through the motions - everything is well practiced and scripted. The set only lasts about an hour and they really nceed to go away and wrtite some new material - or at least pull together a coupe of new covers. They are great performers and they just need a bit more to perform.

They also need to be a bit less stupid when it comes to interacting with the audience. Danny does this thing at the end when he gets lifted into the crowd. On this occasion he was under advice not to do so because of the state of the crowd, but he decided to do it anyway. Helpfully this makes the crowd surge out and then back in again, which knocked me stright onto the floor. Ouch.

The Script are currently touring Australia (almost undoubtedly using the same set list)