Nine Feet Underground

On arrival at the gig, everyone was given a card before being seated, the front was a black and white image of the photo above, the back, more interestingly, contained the words below: Birmingham Symphony Hall is the largest gig venue I've attended in a while and an opulent setting for a rock gig, even one as left field as this one. The PA announced we should be seated by 7:25pm as the gig would start promptly at 7:30. I had a great view of the stage from the front row of the upper circle. The stage was laid out with a bunch of tables at which randomly selected audience members were sat, and, of course, a grand piano - for this was to be an entirely acoustic evening, with Nick on piano and vocals only. Bang on 7:30 the lights dimmed, the stage only illuminated by the lamps on the tables of those lucky enough to be seated there, and the recording of Nick reading his poem 'Steve McQueen' (from the film 'One More Time With Feeling') played across th...

Gaz Coombes' career, post-Supergrass, has been on an upward trajectory over the past three or four years. Starting with debut solo album 'Here Come the Bombs', 2015's 'Matador' and most recently, last year's 'World's Strongest Man', his solo albums have been critically well-received and increasingly successful. The latter pair of albums have been especially good and so the chance to see Gaz solo, in a relatively small venue, was a chance not to be missed. Before Gaz on stage, however, was support, Chris Simmons, a new name to me and one I thought I'd investigate via the medium of Spotify, ahead of the gig. In the cold light of recorded sound, I have to admit, I was kind of 'Meh' about his songs: there was something, but to be honest, there are probably even more identikit male singer-songwriters, aspiring to be the next Ed Sheeran (Lord, have mercy on my soul), than there are the female equivalent, and that is saying somethi...

Stereolab have been one of my favourite bands ever since I first heard them on John Peel's radio programme in the early 1990s, so despite a mid-week London gig, there was no doubt in my mind I had to be there for the latest tour.   Their sound evolved hugely over the years, if you compare, say their debut album 'Peng' to the late-period 'Chemical Chords', for example, you might imagine - vocals aside - this was a different band. To some extent they were a different band, having evolved from a four-piece to a six-piece band by time I last saw them live, which was on the 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup' tour, and even then their sound was still evolving. (To be fair, their sound evolved continuously, perhaps the true definition of progressive rock, even if many people wouldn't include them in that category.) Back to now, what's changed? Well, here I was back at the Shepherd's Bush Empire waiting to see Stereolab, but, sadly,  without my wife, wh...

The last time I saw Steve Hillage play live it was in December, the 4th December to be precise. This wasn't in London, though, it was in Leeds, and it wasn't six months ago, it was almost 43 years ago.  Back then, in the winter of 1976, Steve was touring to promote his then new album 'L', produced by some bloke called Todd Rundgren and I was a wide-eyed student amazed by all the bands that played within 5 minutes walk from where I was living. During that intervening forty-two and a half years a lot has changed in both our lives: Steve's cut his hair shorter, and, mostly, ditched the guitar-based rock in favour of a mix of ambient / techno in the band he formed with his partner, Miquette Giraudy, System 7. System 7 have been big on the Ibiza club scene and also in Japan, but they are not such a far cry from Steve's roots as you might imagine: a common vibe to both is peace and love, the main difference being one crowd trips out on Ecstasy the other on...

It's becoming a habit! Yes, I've been back at South Street Arts Centre in Reading, this time to see much-touted Dutch Indie guitar band, Pip Blom supported by Adan & Elvis and Holiday Ghosts. Guess I ought to begin with the two supports, the first of which was Reading  (?) band, Adam & Elvis.  A seven-piece band, as you can see from the shot below (for which credit to the Adam & Elvis Facebook page), who meld a variety of styles - a smattering of ska, a dash of punk and a large dose of rock. Having such a large line-up does mean that the mix has to be pretty much spot on for it to work, otherwise there's a danger everything else gets lost in the overall drive to be lead. For several songs both guitar and keyboards seem to be taking the lead which meant at times the vocals were lost, especially when the sax joined in. [Aside: I was front and centre of the stage for the entire gig and the mix seemed to lose the vocals in all three sets, so either tha...