Two Gigs - Pet Shop Boys and Proms 19 Bowie Night

In the last month or so I've been to two big gigs: Pet Shop Boys 'Inner Sanctum' show at the Royal Opera House to promote their new record, 'Super'; and the Proms tribute night to David Bowie with string arrangements of some of his classic songs at the Royal Albert Hall. Rather than gigs, these were really concerts given the venues and despite the pop/rock nature of them both. And there's nothing wrong with a concert.

As recent convert to all things Royal Opera House I was interested to see what the Pet Shop Boys would do with that venerable red and gold auditorium and how the place would cope with marauding Pet Shop Boys fans... well, not quite marauding because your average PSB fan is, shall we say, largely past the marauding age. The bar seemed to have discovered beer and the ushers even allowed you to take glasses into the auditorium (something unheard of!). Ten the lights went down, the grand curtains lifted and the thump-thump-thump of electronic beats started. It was time for the Pet Shop Boys!

The show opened with lasers flashing and two big domes slowly turning revealing the lads to the sound of 'Inner Sanctum' from the new album and then mayhem was released with the best laser show ever - the '80s were good for something after all! It really was astonishing sitting there with these incredible lights and lasers firing off everywhere and creating patterns and shapes of wonder with those loud beats (phat beats anyone?) pulsing around the auditorium. At one point I looked round wondering when one of the balconies might collapse due to the endless thumping.

Song after song kept the atmosphere electric with a very eclectic selection of hits and favourites as well as a liberal sprinkling of songs from the new record. 'West End Girls' was, surprisingly, the second song to be played, and I quite liked that - get the obvious hit out of the way to keep us guessing later on. I loved hearing 'Winner', their Olympic song from London 2012 and the best song that summer, 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show', the bouncy 'Love, Etc', 'New York City Boy', 'The Pop Kids' from the new record, 'It's A Sin' and the great 'Go West'. The encore was 'Domino Dancing' and 'Always On My Mind' with an outdo version of 'The Pop Kids' for good measure. The 'fat-suit' dancers at the end were inspired, something totally alien to that stage which is used to the athletic, powerful bodies of ballet dancers.

The second concert was on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms summer series and was dedicated to the music of David Bowie. Back in January, Amanda Palmer and Jherek Bischoff released an EP of six Bowie songs as a tribute to his passing. All were rearranged by Jherek for a string quartet and they made a suitably startling attempt at reinterpreting some of Mr Bowie's classics. That worked really well, but would it translate into a two-hour concert with various composers and arrangers re-arranging his music for the string orchestra that filled the stage?

It was a strange affair put together by Andre de Ridder and his chamber orchestra Stargaze. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't a long-rehearsed show of hits, but rather a set of re-arrangements for strings with guest vocalists but what worked for half an hour on Amanda's EP didn't really manage to sustain it over a full two-hours show. Possibly the problem was having too many different people doing the arrangements and too many different singers? If you're going to do something like this then you need big names and with the best will in the world you can't really consider someone like Neil Hannon 'big'.  The biggest pop name was Marc Almond and he wasn't really on form, only starting to come alive with a sing-along 'Starman'. The biggest 'cult' name was John Cale who actually brought most a band onstage for his three-song mini-set of 'Valentine's Day' 'Sorrow' and 'Space Oddity'. I liked his 'Sorrow' but 'Space Oddity' just went on and on and on ...

The women were far more powerful and imposing than the men. Anna Calvi did a haunting version of 'Lady Grinning Soul', Laura Mvula did a good job at trying to funk up a string version of 'Fame' and Amanda Palmer did a powerful 'Heroes'. Highlight of the evening was Amanda's and Anna's duet on 'Backstair' with Jherek prowling behind them with his guitar slashes.  That received a huge round of applause and, no doubt, lots of new fans for the two singers.

The concert ended with the usual 'get everyone back on stage for a sing-along' to the frankly weird choice of 'After All' from 'The Man Who Sold The World'. Why that song? Who chose it when there are so many great songs to send us out into the night on a high? Amanda, of course, brought her baby son on stage for that encore - what a collection of baby photos he's going to have when he grows up!

If a winner is needed then the gold medal easily goes to those Pet Shop Boys for a fabulous show - I want to live in that laser show! The Proms comes second for a worthy idea that, for me at least, didn't really work. But good on ye for trying.

All photos nicked from the internet, with thanks.

Marc Bolan - 'Hot Love'

Marc Bolan died in a tragic accident on 16 September 1977 just as his career was taking off again. He'd just completed the series of 'Marc' on telly and he jammed with David Bowie, his old friend and rival, on the last episode ('Keep a little Marc in your heart'). I've blogged about Marc before - about the anniversary gigs, about the musical and about his influence - and I will probably blog again. This time I'm talking about 'Hot Love', his first No 1 single.

I still have the vinyl 7" single of 'Hot Love' on Fly records (BUG 6) backed with 'Woodland Rock' and 'The King of the Mountain Cometh' produced by Tony Visconti (for Straight Ahead Productions). It was my seventh ever single - I know that because I wrote it on the record sleeve and noted that 'This record was once Top of the Pops'. It was 1971 and this was the start of glam rock. I was there to see it happen.

I don't think I was aware of his first hit single, 'Ride A White Swan'. That was still a bit hippy-trippy and probably too out there for my 11 year old self. But 'Hot Love' was something better. It was hypnotic and repetitive and had lots of 'la-la, la-la-las', perfect for an 11 year old to grasp. And perfect for my punk heroes a few years my senior.

What do these records really mean? How much of of an influence was a song like 'Hot Love' on my young self? The influence of his later singles like 'Children of the Revolution', 'Metal Guru', 'Jeepster' and 'Telegram Sam'? What did they do to me and how did they make me think? I don't know but I did think about a woman in New York city with a frog in her hand the first time I went to New York. You just can't help it really.

I went to the 35th anniversary gig at Shepherd's Bush a couple of years ago hosted by Sir Noddy Holder and Lynsey de Paul with T.Rexstacy and Boy George, Marc Almond, Glen Matlock and Sandi Shaw amongst a host of others. All there to pay righteous tribute to Marc. As is right and proper.



Keep on boogying Marc. We are. 

Marc Bolan 35th Anniversary Concert 15 September 2012

On Saturday night I went to the anniversary concert celebrating the music of Marc Bolan 35 years after his death in a car accident. Like the 30th anniversary concert, the show was at Shepherd's Bush Empire and had some of the same pop stars on stage. This concert was much better organised (and more professional) than the previous one and I hope it'll be released on DVD like the 30th anniversary show was. It deserves to be!

Marc wrote some of the best pop songs of the early 70s and virtually everyone reading this blog will have heard a T.Rex song since so many have been used on telly adverts over the years. You might not recognise the name of the song but you'll recognise the riff. It was nice to see contemporaries of Marc on stage singing his songs as well as my own generation of fans who became pop stars in their own right like Boy George and Marc Almond. The concert was in aid of the PRS Members Benevolent Fund for musicians and songwriters who need some support in their ageing years - Marc would've been 65 this year so it seems even more appropriate.

Anyway, on to the show. As I noted five years ago at the 30th anniversary show, the children of the revolution have grown fat, gray and beery but we still recognise great sounds and can boogie (slightly ungainly in my case). The show opened with a svelte Lynsey de Paul (cor!) walking on stage in a sparkly silver cocktail frock and ushering on Noddy Holder (double cor!) in waistcoat and trousers (but no mirrored top hat, sadly) as our most welcome comperes for the evening. Lynsey was a delight and Noddy got slightly more racier as the evening wore on but both were lovely.

First up were T.Rextasy, the official T.Rex tribute band, with Danielz channeling Marc from the corkscrew hair, the guitar poses and warbling voice. I liked his green flares.The band were on-stage for virtually the entire show, playing songs on their own as well as supporting all the guest singers.

We had a great array of singers: Mike Lindup (from Level 42), Andy Ellison (John's Children), Linda Lewis, Marc Almond, Alvin Stardust, Boy George, Glen Matlock, Steve Harley and Sandie Shaw. They all came on once or twice (or thrice for Boy George and Marc Almond) to sing their favourite T.Rex songs. We were also treated to Tony Visconti (Marc's producer) and his son, as well as Howie Casey (Marc's saxophonist) and the Dirty Pretty Strings. And, of course, we had an ensemble encore (without George and Steve) at the end.

My favourite moments - other than Lynsey and Noddy walking onto the stage at the start - included Linda Lewis's stonking version of 'Children of the Revolution'. Power chords riffing with her incredible voice creating an astonishingly powerful sound. She has the vocal range to pull it off. She knew Marc in the early days and contributed vocals all over the place (including to Bowie's 'Aladdin Sane') before making it on her own. She played out the glam queen in a golden sequinned frock and peacock jacket, giving it some serious welly!

Alvin Stardust was someone I seriously never thought I'd see live and had assumed had retreated into cabaret but he showed he was still a rocker in his choice of songs. His first song was 'Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller', the only non-Marc song of the evening because Alvin had sung it with him on 'Supersonic' back in the day. That was electric and got everyone moving. He came back later to sing 'I Love To Boogie'. I was terribly impressed with Alvin's effortless professionalism and knowing how to work a crowd - he's been on stage since the '60s and that showed off a mile! Well done Alvin!

Marc Almond threw himself into the show the way he did five years ago, coming on three times to sing songs and having three costume changes, from red velvet to black to gold sequins. He did a variety of songs with T.Rextasy but I liked 'Whatever Happened To The Teenage Dream' best (as it was when he performed it five years ago). He put a lot of glitz and glam into his performance, almost like he was singing in front of a mirror in his teenage bedroom (which I bet he did!). He clearly is a real fan of T.Rex and he's not afraid to show it, getting into the spirit of the evening and giving good show.

Boy George didn't have the costume changes but he also came on three times to sing and my favourite was 'Telegram Sam', a great version with him ripping it up, striking poses and being a glam god for the night. He also looked like he was having great fun, trading poses with Danielz throughout. He wasn't wearing the scarab-based clothes I've seen him in the last few times, which was a nice change. He also won the award for the best shoes - gleaming golden shoes that drew the eye.

Glen Matlock opened the second half of the show with his fast version of 'Debora' and what a good version it was. I met him later coming out of the bar (as I was going in) so he had to walk past me. I said, 'Great song' and replied with 'thank you' and that's fine. I spoke to Glen last year at the end of an ensemble show at Ray Davies Meltdown festival when Glen sat in the row behind me and I couldn't leave without saying something. It's not every day you meet a Sex Pistol! Sandie Shaw was on stage that night as well so I might as well start a rumour...

Noddy and Lynsey did a great job of filling in the gaps when people weren't ready to come on stage and it was in one of these gaps that I learned the story of 'Clean Up Woman' by Betty Wright. Noddy did Brian Matthews' 'My Top 12' on Radio 1 back in 1972 and he chose to play 'Clean Up Woman' which I've loved ever since. When I saw a Betty Wright 'best of' CD a few years ago I had to buy it because this song was on it. It turns out that Marc bought the single in America and brought it back for Noddy because he knew Nod liked soul music. Marc also thought that SLADE should record it. I'm pleased they didn't but I'm happy to know the background story to the record.

Steve Harley came on for a couple of songs - I never really thought of him as glam or a contemporary of Marc's. He started off with a nice version of 'Lofty Skies' and went on to play 'Dandy In The Underworld'. He said that he sang backing vocals on the song so it was fitting for him to sing it (Marc Almond sang it at the 30th anniversary gig). He didn't quite capture Marc's pomp majesty but it was a worthy tribute.

Sandie Shaw only had one song, 'Life's A Gas', but she performed a miracle while on stage. It's not one of my favourite songs and is forever tarnished by the duet between Marc and Cilla Black back in 1972 on the Cilla Show. That performance really rubbed me up the wrong way to the extent that I still recall it and Cilla donning a feather boa to show how glam she was. But Sandie rescued it on Saturday night and I think she'll be the one that pops into my head in future when I hear that song. Thank you Sandie!

And finally, some kudos to Danielz and T.Rextasy for being on stage and playing for most of the evening. They were good sports, part tribute band, part backing band to all the guest vocalists and band in their own right. Best of the night for me was 'Jeepster', a truly electric version that ripped up the night. They also took us into the encores of 'Get It On' and 'Hot Love' with the ensembled stars (minus Boy George and Steve Harley) coming back on stage for loud and cheery versions of those songs. It was lovely to see them trading lines, singing in groups and singly and putting their arms round one another. In a way it was a big beery singalong and I think Marc would've loved it! The last voice of he evening was Noddy Holder shouting out his trademarked 'Keep on rocking'!'.

As I've said, the children of the revolution (me included) have grown fat and beery but we still know how to boogie. And we still love Marc.

Marc Bolan Concert

In advance of doing a proper blog about the Marc Bolan 35th Anniversary Concert I thought I'd share a selection of photos I took last night. Do you recognise them all?

Lynsey de Paul - LIVE!

Some things just have to be shared, such as pick'n'mix sweets, a bottle of wine and news about Lynsey de Paul playing live in London in a few weeks time. Yes, you read that right, Lynsey de Paul.

I've blogged about Lynsey a few times, most recently last summer when I discovered the songs from her first album, 'Surprise' were on iTunes. Now I discover that she's playing live and I've bought a ticket to make sure I get to see her play. I must say *wow*!

Lynsey is on the bill for the Marc Bolan 35th Anniversary tribute concert at Shepherd's Bush on 15 September. It looks like a great line-up, with T.Rextasy providing the music and guest vocals from Boy George, Marc Almond, Linda Lewis, Steve Harley and a certain Glen Matlock. And, of course, Lynsey de Paul! I am, of course, terribly excited at the thought of seeing her play live and can't imagine which of Marc's songs she'll sing. Maybe 'Life's A Gas'?

I went to the 30th Anniversary concert five years ago which was saved (in my eyes at least) by the magnificent version of 'Chrome Sitar' delivered by the one and only Shakin' Stevens. Shakey saved the day as far as I'm concerned. That was five years ago. This year, I'm looking forward to seeing Lynsey.  *Wow*!