My Top 6…gigs at the Royal Albert Hall

Posted on October 3rd, 2007 by Andy

(originally uploaded by the_moog)

Between acts at the Albert Hall last week I started looking around the venue thinking of all the different places I’d sat and I suddenly realised that I’d been to quite a few shows so here’s a top 6 (but aside from the first one they’re not really in any order)…

1. Joanna Newsom - September 2007 - Seat: Arena floor
   The view from the floor was surprisingly good although it helped to have an aisle seat. Spectacular show…but I’ve said all that already.
2. 10,000 Maniacs - November 1989 - Seat: Box
   We were in a box to the left of the stage, a friend of mine got the tickets through his work - we shared the box with this nutter who sang along at the top of his voice for most of the show (until I asked him not to and then he mimed for the rest). I think Indigo Girls may have supported.
3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - January 1987 - Seat: Stalls
   Elvis was doing a run of shows at the Albert Hall split between being backed by The Confederates and The Attractions…we chose, obviously, to see The Attractions. The seats and the view were excellent, the show wasn’t too bad.
4. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - (July 1994) - Seat: Box
   In 1992 Elvis appeared on Desert Island Discs and chose a bunch of music pretty far removed from the music that he had made (up until that point) and while I was aware of his high-brow pretensions I was disappointed that he seemed to not love the music he made (or the music that influenced the music he made) it was this point that I stopped being a fan. I was surprised therefore that the Elvis wiki seemed to suggest that I saw him play at the RAH in July 1994. We sat in a box at the back of the hall so the stage was a bit distant. Difford and Tilbrook of Squeeze supported.
5. Cowboy Junkies - 1992 - Seat: Circle
   My abiding memory of this gig was the "new" percussionist getting an onstage telling off for making a noise between songs which made me sneer at the precious-ness of the band. I’d loved The Trinity Sessions and quite enjoyed The Caution Horses but my Cowboy Junkies thing pretty much ended there - or maybe, more specifically ended at the point at which Margo turned and stared at the new boy and apologised for him.
6. Frank Sinatra - 199? - Seat: Cheapest - up in the gods…
   We had great seats for this - they were (relatively) cheap and supposedly (I think) restricted, but we were looking right down onto the stage, admittedly from a long way away. We could see Frank’s autocue and so could easily sing along, even to the songs we didn’t know…not that there were any. This was really a case of going because we wouldn’t have another chance…and it was in the days when cheap tickets were within reach (rather than the £100 you’d have to pay for the cheapest Barbra Streisand tickets this year!

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Just dug this one out: #9 Nord Express

Posted on September 13th, 2007 by Andy

Many moons ago someone sent me a tape with a lot of Nord Express tracks on because anyone who loved Galaxie 500 would surely love Nord Express - it was true, I did love them - but it was a very careless love, and like so much stuff that I had on tape, it sort of fell down the back of the sofa when my tape Walkman was replaced with a CD walkman and then an mp3 player.

Ron Harrity of Nord Express provided a fantastic version of Cold Night to the Galaxie 500 List tribute album (and offered to help out - an offer I shamefully turned down, a decision that contributed to the album’s (very) long lead time…)

This post on Lunapark6 gave me a kick and inspired me to track down some Nord Express…and that tracking down turned out to be a bit problematic as not only finding the tape was difficult but digging out something to play it on was likely to be a pain. Luckily Peapod Recordings have released “Loveland”, a compilation of unreleased material and also link to the Slumberland website were you can buy their previous releases. So the time has come to fill my boots with lovely indie guitar music. More modern music lovers can grab all(?) three releases from eMusic
and iTunes.
MP3: Half a dozen of them at Nord Express on Peapod records

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It was 20 years ago today…

Posted on August 29th, 2007 by Andy

Galaxie 500’s first ever show
Read a bit more about the first show on A Head Full of Wishes

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A nostalgia trip #2 - A headbanger…

Posted on June 14th, 2007 by Andy

Me and mum
(originally uploaded by grange85)

There are undoubtedly better pictures of me as a Motorhead fan but this is the only evidence currently in my Flickr photostream. It’s a picture of me and my mum probably in 1980 or 81. The sleeveless denim jacket was (eventually) covered in patches (pretty much nothing but Motorhead patches). It’s up in the loft somewhere - I probably won’t pull it out to wear on Saturday…

…oh…and all that lovely hair

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A nostalgia trip #1 - Motorhead

Posted on June 13th, 2007 by Andy

The last time I saw Motörhead was probably back in 1983 when Brian Robertson was playing guitar for them. It might have been at the Marquee and may have been the very gig at which I caught Lemmy’s pick when he chucked it into the crowd. Robertson left, the new tracks stuck on the No Remorse compilation were, without exception, grim listening and that was it for me and the band I had lived and breathed (and seen so many times) since 1979. I never stopped listening to them, they’re pretty much the only band from my HM period that I do still dip into (OK and AC/DC and Black Sabbath)…Overkill and Ace of Spades get a regular airing…

Over the last few years whenever I notice that they’re touring I get these bizarre little pangs of nostalgia that make me want to go see them but then I think that maybe I should just leave them in my past. There are some memories of seeing the band that I probably wouldn’t want to get watered down by seeing the current incarnation (which as far as I can tell bears little resemblance to the band I loved).

We were watching the Culture Show last weekend and an item on Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown festival mentioned that Motorhead would be playing at the (newly revamped) Royal Festival Hall…well that’s just not something I’d be able to miss - Motorhead…at the Royal Festival Hall! I was surprised that tickets were still available and despite the price (30 quid a hit!!) I bought one for me and one for Adam.

I’m kind of ready for a disappointment - I know they’re not the band I grew up with, I haven’t listened to any Motorhead release since Orgasmatron (and I only listened to that once!) and they’ve released a stack of albums since then, and I’m different…24 years worth of different…but maybe I’ll lower my expectations and try and paint a nice nostalgic wash over the top of it…

A Flickr search for ‘Lemmy’ returns…

1/3 = photos of Lemmy
1/3 = photos of people dressed as Lemmy
1/3 = photos of cats called Lemmy

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