Lost In Music Again

At the beginning of 2018 I wrote a blog about the music I'd been to see during 2017 (see Lost In Music). I noted that having seen twenty-one shows or events in 2017, the New Year was looking " slightly less frantic...(with) just five gigs in the diary." I also said that an artist I'd love to see - but thought that I never would - was Nile Rodgers. All of which proves how lousy I am at predictions, since in 2018 I went to 27 music shows, gigs, or events, and saw nearly fifty bands, artists, ensembles, etc one of whom was - you guessed it - Nile Rodgers.

What a night at The O2 as Nile Rodgers and Chic fill the stage for their final song

One of the acts I was looking forward to seeing in 2018 was Lifesigns, and although I got to see them twice in the end, neither was at a venue I'd expected to see them at. Originally I had a ticket for their show at The Half Moon in Putney, but that was cancelled when singer John Young went down with flu. No problem, I thought, accepting a ticket for the rescheduled show in May at the same venue. Except my daughter was unwell that day and we spent the afternoon and early evening at Barnet General Hospital, so I missed that too. But as luck would have it, I saw they were playing at The Electric Theatre in Guildford, so got a ticket for that, but in the meantime, I had a free Saturday in September and saw them play Resonate 2018 at The O2 Islington, along with five other bands. Apart from finally seeing Lifesigns for the first time, also got to see Jump, fronted by John Dexter Jones, who were so good I went to the merchandise stand to buy one of their albums the minute they finished their set.

Lifesigns in Guildford

Jump, led by John Dexter Jones at Resonate 2018

That's one of the things about festivals, you may go with the express intention of seeing one particular band, and end up being knocked out by someone you'd either not previously heard of, or who you weren't expecting to be so damned good. I went to the Stone Free festival at The O2 principally to see the Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman (ARW) version of Yes, but was completely blown away by Supertramp's Roger Hodgson, whose set was nigh on perfect. And Joanne Shaw Taylor, who I was vaguely aware of previously, but whose material I hadn't heard, took me by surprise with a great act even though her music is not normally the genre I listen to. Talking about Yes, I saw both versions of the band in 2017 and marginally preferred the ARW incarnation, then saw them both again in 2018, and thought that the Steve Howe led band were better.

Roger Hodgson at the Stone Free Festival

Yes at the London Palladium

Apart from Nile Rodgers and Chic, there were a couple of other acts I saw in 2018 who I suppose I could saw were on my bucket list of bands to see play live, namely Queen, and Pet Shop Boys. I never got to see Queen with Freddie Mercury and was a little unsure about seeing them with Adam Lambert in possession of the mic, but I needn't have worried, they were sensational. Oh, and if you've not seen Bohemian Rhapsody, then I thoroughly recommend that too, so long as you're not expecting anything other than a rather fictionalised version of the band's history up to Live Aid. And while you've doubtless heard that Rami Malek does a bang-up job as Freddie, Gwilym Lee as Brian May is... well he is Brian May! Pet Shop Boys reprising their Inner Sanctum show at the Royal Opera House was a fun evening, and the band, who when they first started releasing records looked unlikely - or unwilling - to perform live, put on one of the most memorable stage shows I've ever seen.

Queen

 

Pet Shop Boys

But as good as Pet Shop Boys were, the live show of the year was - for my money -  David Byrne, although don't just take my word for it, NME said that the " ‘American Utopia’ tour may just be the best live show of all time." Byrne sits alone at a table on an otherwise bare stage at the start of the show, holding a plastic brain (yes, really). He is then joined by a twelve piece band who roam the stage, their instruments round their necks and on their hips. The only fly in the ointment on a night when the music was as close to perfection as it can be, was the view from the arena floor at The O2. Marooned in section B3, I found myself peering over the heads of those in front of me and watching much of the action on the big screens. Fortunately, at the Nile Rodgers concert I was somewhat further forward, but that said the view did not detract from a fabulous night's entertainment from the former Talking Heads frontman.

David Byrne's show at The O2 was sensational - shame about the view.

Another artist I doubted I would ever see is Gary Numan, but I was there when he played the Royal Albert Hall, and for all that a lot of the material he played was unfamiliar to me - I haven't bought one of his albums since Telekon in 1980 - it was no less enjoyable for that. Since I've been to so many gigs in the last couple of years, I've given up any pretence of trying to work out in advance what bands will play and familiarise myself with it. A band I'd only seen once before - and the best part of forty years ago at that - were Fischer-Z, who overcame technical problems that saw their keyboard player unable to take to the stage to deliver a great set. They were supported by The Newtown Neurotics, a punk band whose show proved that that style of music was much less dangerous and more melodic than we thought in 1979. It does seem sad, however, to see a band of mostly late-middle-aged men singing anti-Thatcher songs in 2018.

Gary Numan at the Royal Albert Hall

Big Big Train, Riverside, Rick Wakeman and Steven Wilson were other highlights of the year, although to be honest, I had great expectations given the calibre of those acts, and they all delivered.

Top: Rick Wakeman, middle Riverside, bottom Steven Wilson

As in 2017, a highlight was Fish at the Islington Assembly Hall, performing new songs (from the upcoming album, Weltschmerz) and the whole of the 1987 Marillion album, Clutching At Straws - support again came from the incomparable Doris Brendel.

Doris Brendel (top picture) again provided brilliant support (and backing vocals) for Fish

 

Of course not every show I saw in 2018 was brilliant; most were at least very good but there was one that stood out above (or perhaps that should be below) all others and for all the wrong reasons. In 2017 I saw Tubular Bells For Two, a live performance of Mike Oldfield's seminal work rendered by two manic Australians, which was superb, so when I saw that a band led by someone by the name of Phil Toms was performing Tubular Bells and some other pieces by Mike Oldfield, I thought I'd give it a go. It was, I'm afraid one of the worst things I've seen - or heard - a rather enthusiastic, but amateurish rendition that might have passed muster if delivered by a school band, but not by a group of musicians that included one who had actually played with Mike Oldfield, and whom the audience had paid to see.

Still, one duff show out of nearly thirty is not a bad record, and I have eleven shows in the diary for 2019, although after last year, I somehow doubt that will be the final number.

The full list of 2018's events was:

January

BBC Concert Orchestra - Britten & Holst Meet The American Songbook - Watford Colosseum For BBC Radio 3

T-Rexstasy - Palace Theatre, Southend

March

Yes - London Palladium

Steven Wilson - Royal Albert Hall

April

Charlotte Hatherley, Arcane Roots, Lonely Robot - Indigo at TheO2

Lonely Robot

May

Fischer-Z at The O2 Islington - Support from The Newtown Neurotics

Fischer-Z

June

Tubular Bells Live - Phil Toms and band - Civic Theatre, Chelmsford

Stone Free Festival at The O2: Tyketto, anathema, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Roger Hodgson, Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin & Wakeman

July

Queen + Adam Lambert - Wembley Arena

Big Big Train - The Anvil, Basingstoke. Support from The Beatrix Players

Falstaff - The Royal Opera House

Pet Shop Boys - The Royal Opera House

September

Resonate 2018 at The O2 Islington: Jump, Verbal Delirium, Comedy of Errors, The Gift, Son of Man, Lifesigns

October

Steve Hackett (and orchestra) - Royal Festival Hall

Steve Hackett (and orchestra) - London Palladium

David Live (David Bowie Tribute) - RUSSC Club, Romford

David Byrne - The O2. Support from Benjamin Clementine

Steve Hackett at the London Palladium

November

Riverside - Electric Ballroom, Camden. Support from Mechanism

Gary Numan With The Skaparis Orchestra - Royal Albert Hall. Support from Chris Payne

Lifesigns - The Electric Theatre, Guildford

IQ

December

Carmen - Royal Opera House

Fish - Islington Assembly Hall. Support from Doris Brendel

The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard - Islington Assembly Hall

BBC Symphony Orchestra -Works by  Linberg, Kabelvsky, and Bartok - BBC Maida Vale, for Radio 3

IQ - Islington Assembly Hall

Rick Wakeman - Union Chapel, Islington. Support from Triple Cream

Nile Rodgers & Chic - The O2. Support from Mistajam, Cosha, and Franc Moody

Spock's Beard