I have! I had a fortnight off work and did the "Not the Baby Lemonade Tour" for a start. I had non-cancellable hotel rooms in London and York, so I went anyway. My brother lives in London and my darling son Jim lives in York, so I caught up with them. I then got off the train that was going to take me to Edinburgh at Newcastle and spent a few days with the lovely Lizzy B and her family. Then home again for a few days and Lizzy came down from Newcastle to Nottingham for a couple of nights.
This is what I saw:
Glenn Campbell at the Royal Festival Hall - surprisingly moving, beautiful voice. I've always loved his version of "Wichita Lineman". He seemed to be getting a bit absent minded but he is in his seventies now, his daughter did backing vocals and a couple of duets with him. He had a great band including a cracking steel guitar player.
Mercy & Grand: the Tom Waits Project at the Sage, Gateshead - opera singer from Opera North and an eclectic band of musicians. Very different from stuff I usually see but really memorable.
Feeder at Rock City, Nottingham - a friend had two tickets at short notice so Lizzy and I went along - RC absolutely packed to the gunnels with young folks. A sticky floored physically uncomfortable rock gig - not as bad as it sounds.
Al Green / Gabrielle at NIA, Birmingham - the day that it decided to snow in the West Midlands. Fantastic evening - Gabrielle was an unexpected bonus. Al Green had a brilliant band, 14 people on stage in total including two young male loose-limbed dancers and a horn section to die for. The Rev Al was brilliant, he didn't seem to have lost any of his vocal range and he sure knows how to work a crowd. Not a full venue but a pretty good turn out.
Martha Wainwright at Rock City, Nottingham - another Monday evening, another friend ringing up to see if I wanted to go to a gig at short notice - the answer was a definite yes. Good gig - I haven't the reviewing skills of Mike or Swiss Toni, both of whom were also there, so I've handily provided links to their sites.
Coming up - Leonard Cohen on 22nd November - and Take That in June 2009!! Yes. I spent Friday morning on the internet after tickets came on sale and am off to Sunderland! Yey!!
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2 comments:
the "Not the Baby Lemonade Tour" ? Is that really what it was called over there, or does this mean something special?
Anyway, sounds interesting.
See post two below this one - its to do with Baby Lemonade cancelling their tour of the UK and me having already booked time off work and hotels etc, so deciding to do things anyway.
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