I've got to go into work on Sunday and Monday, so it's a night in with a chinese takeaway. Switched my brain off and switched on the annual comedy fiasco that is the Eurovision Song Contest.
I'm missing Terry Wogan again - Graham Norton is not the same.
Azerbaijan - Standard Euro young lady does ballad stuff.
Spain - What happened to Spain?
Norway - Dull Crooner.
Moldava - Traditional Moldavian Punk Music
Cyprus - Boy bandalike.
Bosnia & Herzegovonia - Thought they were going to do a charleston at first.
Belgium - Man and Acoustic Guitar
Serbia - Jangly Eurotrash
Belarus - Big number with Fairy Wings.
Ireland - Fat Lady sings a Ballad - cue the wind machine...
Greece - Plate smashing number - seriously it was!
United Kingdom - we really don't want to win this anymore do we?
Georgia - Didn't she just sing for Azerbaijan
Turkey - Excellent strobe lights - shame about the song.
Albania - Trying hard to be a rock song - but failing.
Iceland - The Fat Lady is singing - but it's not over.
Ukraine - Cowled Lady in a body stocking.
France - Shouldn't this be called World Music?
Romania - Plastic pianos, pyros and a lady in black spandex.
Russia - Parisienne Walkways plus yodelling?
Armenia - The Armenian entry was augmented by an impressive cleavage display.
Germany - Cute lady sings like Lilly Allen on speed.
Portugal - Trying too hard
Israel - Most off key singer of the night!
Denmark - started off with something that sounded like The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and then segued into an Abba number.
Spain have had to sing their song at the end, for technical reasons. Not sure why - perhaps the acrobats, ballerinas and tumbling clowns weren't ready?
We've been shouting "cue the wind machine" about two thirds of the way through each song.
After the above lot, this year we've decided to 'spoil our paper' and exercise our right not to vote :)
Saturday 29 May 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
Wilko Johnson - Liverpool O2 Academy 20 May 2010
First time visit for me to Liverpool's O2 Academy to see Wilko Johnson, after he'd finished the Q&A session at the screening of Oil City Confidential on the other side of town.
I've found a bit of the gig on YouTube. This guy was filming just beside where I was standing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DHUv1InQ-Hk
The venue is an old warehouse just behind Lime Street Station - formerly the Lomax nightclub. The size of place that I like for seeing a really good band in (for any West Midlands readers, same size as the old J B's in Dudley) i.e. medium sized hall. I've found a website which tells me that there's a larger capacity hall upstairs - which explains how they can put on some of the bigger acts that are listed to appear there.
The bar was a room just off to one side, and was filled with a smoky fog, reminiscent of days before the smoking ban. I'm not sure if this had been intentionally done, or if smoke effect had just seeped in from the stage?
Beer was atrocious though - Carlsberg or Tuborg Lager in a plastic glass. Cans and bottles were available, but decanted to plastic tumblers on serving.
There was a couple of local support acts before Wilko came on. The first, Fly With Vampires were playing as I arrived, and were OK - indie rock with good vocal harmonies. When they finished a bloke came round handing out CD's - I'll have to give it a listen. The second support act, The Vanities were a sort of funk metal band - reminiscent of Living Colour. I quite liked them, and wouldn't mind hearing some more. One guitarist had a black geronimo stripe on his paint and a geometric design body paint (hexagon on the chest and square wave along his arms).
The audience were mostly my age and older. A number were wearing Eric's Club T-shirts. A couple of leggy wannabe models were with The Vanities, as they danced to their boyfriends songs, and didn't hang around for Wilko.
Wilko walked onto the stage and immediately launched into his first number, doing the 'psycho strut' moves around the stage that he's known for. Fantastic rhythm guitar method - great to see it close up and live. His left hand hardly seems to move, whilst the right is a blur of activity - all done with the fingers - no pick. Not pure strumming though as lead licks are thrown in at every opportunity.
Norman Watt-Roy on bass threw himself into the gig from the start and kept going until the end, pumping out rhythm's to complement Wilko's guitar work - they were really putting the 'R' into R&B.
Wilko is the Mona Lisa of rock. His mad stare means that his eyes follow everybody around the room. Turning the guitar into a machine gun, and using the strings to make a statacco whilst firing the guitar at the audience was another musical joke that he likes to do.
A few Dr Feelgood numbers were played. The first was the pounding "Roxette", about half way in - a guest came on stage to do the singing and harmonica. Ths was followed by Paradise - which was a song Wilko wrote which started the argument that caused Wilko to leave Dr Feelgood. Later on he played "Back in the Night", which sounded a bit different without the additional slide guitar part - Wilko filled in with a few licks for this. "She Does It Right" was one of the stonking show finishers that left us calling for more.
Somebody shouted for "Milk and Alcohol", but he was only doing Feelgood songs that he wrote himself.
He came back on fairly quickly, and finished off with his version of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" - which he augmented with a "trains a coming" section, doing train impressions with the guitar.
Nice venue, great gig, proper R&B.
I've found a bit of the gig on YouTube. This guy was filming just beside where I was standing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DHUv1InQ-Hk
The venue is an old warehouse just behind Lime Street Station - formerly the Lomax nightclub. The size of place that I like for seeing a really good band in (for any West Midlands readers, same size as the old J B's in Dudley) i.e. medium sized hall. I've found a website which tells me that there's a larger capacity hall upstairs - which explains how they can put on some of the bigger acts that are listed to appear there.
The bar was a room just off to one side, and was filled with a smoky fog, reminiscent of days before the smoking ban. I'm not sure if this had been intentionally done, or if smoke effect had just seeped in from the stage?
Beer was atrocious though - Carlsberg or Tuborg Lager in a plastic glass. Cans and bottles were available, but decanted to plastic tumblers on serving.
There was a couple of local support acts before Wilko came on. The first, Fly With Vampires were playing as I arrived, and were OK - indie rock with good vocal harmonies. When they finished a bloke came round handing out CD's - I'll have to give it a listen. The second support act, The Vanities were a sort of funk metal band - reminiscent of Living Colour. I quite liked them, and wouldn't mind hearing some more. One guitarist had a black geronimo stripe on his paint and a geometric design body paint (hexagon on the chest and square wave along his arms).
The audience were mostly my age and older. A number were wearing Eric's Club T-shirts. A couple of leggy wannabe models were with The Vanities, as they danced to their boyfriends songs, and didn't hang around for Wilko.
Wilko walked onto the stage and immediately launched into his first number, doing the 'psycho strut' moves around the stage that he's known for. Fantastic rhythm guitar method - great to see it close up and live. His left hand hardly seems to move, whilst the right is a blur of activity - all done with the fingers - no pick. Not pure strumming though as lead licks are thrown in at every opportunity.
Norman Watt-Roy on bass threw himself into the gig from the start and kept going until the end, pumping out rhythm's to complement Wilko's guitar work - they were really putting the 'R' into R&B.
Wilko is the Mona Lisa of rock. His mad stare means that his eyes follow everybody around the room. Turning the guitar into a machine gun, and using the strings to make a statacco whilst firing the guitar at the audience was another musical joke that he likes to do.
A few Dr Feelgood numbers were played. The first was the pounding "Roxette", about half way in - a guest came on stage to do the singing and harmonica. Ths was followed by Paradise - which was a song Wilko wrote which started the argument that caused Wilko to leave Dr Feelgood. Later on he played "Back in the Night", which sounded a bit different without the additional slide guitar part - Wilko filled in with a few licks for this. "She Does It Right" was one of the stonking show finishers that left us calling for more.
Somebody shouted for "Milk and Alcohol", but he was only doing Feelgood songs that he wrote himself.
He came back on fairly quickly, and finished off with his version of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" - which he augmented with a "trains a coming" section, doing train impressions with the guitar.
Nice venue, great gig, proper R&B.
Thursday 13 May 2010
KISS - Manchester MEN Arena 10 May 2010
Finished off my holiday week by going to see KISS. Missed their Liverpool gig, so I had to drive over to Manchester. Glad that I drove to the gig, because the extended encore might have missed the last train back.
There was a great 'party' atmosphere going into the arena. Loads of people had got into the spirit of things, and were wearing the face paint of their idols. Some full outfits were being worn too. The audience age looked like it ranged from 8 to 68.
KISS were everything that I expected them to be. Absolutely phenomenal pantomime/circus totally over the top extravaganza of a rock concert. A band who really know how to make an entrance! 3 guitarists arriving on a stage that flies from behind the drum riser, over the top of the drummer and lands in front of him - This set the scene for what was to come over the next 2 hours.
Lots of people were watching the gig via the screen of their mobile phones, so consequently you can now find most of the show on You Tube. Personally I'd rather see it than film it.
An arsenal of pyrotechnics and flame throwers, huge video backdrops, fire breathing, blood spitting, trapeze, guitars that fire like guns and fly up into the roof, and the KISS logo - an entertainment in itself. Each member of the band 'flew' at some point, either up into the rigging, or across the audience to a separate stage - even the drummer and his kit went into the air! Some highly powered rock music too (but this was never their strongest point), but combined with the whole package in full makeup, absolutely phenomenal!
They finished off with a half hour finale. After the smoke had cleared they finally bowed out with a long rendition of "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" whilst cannons blasted a constant stream of ticker tape over the crowd.
Totally knackered afterwards, since I'd driven about 200 miles back from holiday earlier in the day, but really glad that I went.
There was a great 'party' atmosphere going into the arena. Loads of people had got into the spirit of things, and were wearing the face paint of their idols. Some full outfits were being worn too. The audience age looked like it ranged from 8 to 68.
KISS were everything that I expected them to be. Absolutely phenomenal pantomime/circus totally over the top extravaganza of a rock concert. A band who really know how to make an entrance! 3 guitarists arriving on a stage that flies from behind the drum riser, over the top of the drummer and lands in front of him - This set the scene for what was to come over the next 2 hours.
Lots of people were watching the gig via the screen of their mobile phones, so consequently you can now find most of the show on You Tube. Personally I'd rather see it than film it.
An arsenal of pyrotechnics and flame throwers, huge video backdrops, fire breathing, blood spitting, trapeze, guitars that fire like guns and fly up into the roof, and the KISS logo - an entertainment in itself. Each member of the band 'flew' at some point, either up into the rigging, or across the audience to a separate stage - even the drummer and his kit went into the air! Some highly powered rock music too (but this was never their strongest point), but combined with the whole package in full makeup, absolutely phenomenal!
They finished off with a half hour finale. After the smoke had cleared they finally bowed out with a long rendition of "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" whilst cannons blasted a constant stream of ticker tape over the crowd.
Totally knackered afterwards, since I'd driven about 200 miles back from holiday earlier in the day, but really glad that I went.
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Center Parcs - Elveden
We had a smashing family holiday at Center Parcs, Elveden (near Cambridge / Newmarket) last week. As well as buzzing around on bikes, and swimming in the "Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise" every day Frodo and Samwise got to have a go at mini-crossbows, fencing, archery, pony rides and ten pin bowling. Frodo did well getting the hang of a larger bike than he's used to. It was a good opportunity for him to practice on a hire bike before I have to buy a him new one. They also got to see a lot of forest creatures at close quarters, rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, deer, and fat overfed ducks. Following our crossbow training we bought a couple of rubber-sucker tipped dart firing crossbows to take home with us. I'm going to have to set up some targets, otherwise the local cat population could be in trouble!
Saturday 1 May 2010
Hangover Day
Hangover today, after a good night out last night. Leaving do for a work colleague.
Snacks and beer in the private area of The Newz Bar. On to Andersons Bar for more beer and man with a guitar, and a backing band in a box entertainment. Finished off the night in Revolution vodka bar in the Cavern quarter, dancing until 1am and taxi home.
Snacks and beer in the private area of The Newz Bar. On to Andersons Bar for more beer and man with a guitar, and a backing band in a box entertainment. Finished off the night in Revolution vodka bar in the Cavern quarter, dancing until 1am and taxi home.
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