Pet Shop Boys 'Battleship Potemkin' - Meltdown 2013

This evening I was lucky enough to see the 1925 film, 'Battleship Potemkin' with the Pet Shop Boys soundtrack at the British Film Institute as part of Yoko Ono's Meltdown. Apparently this was a world first to see the film with the soundtrack as a film, rather than as a PSB performance.

It opened with a 20 minute interview with Neil Tennant about how they came to write the soundtrack and stage it with a full orchestra, first in London and then in other cities around Europe. It sounds like an amazing challenge and he described watching the film on DVD for the first time with Chris Lowe at his home in Durham with the sound turned off so they wouldn't be influenced by the existing soundtrack.  Neil then took his seat in the audience and the film started.

'Battleship Potemkin' is a silent film from 1925 with a cast of thousands (literally). It is masterfully directed by Sergei Eisenstein and tells the tale of the rebellion of the crew of the battleship in 1905 in support of the first Russian revolution, their support by the people of Odessa who are cruelly mowed down by Cossack bullets  and ends on the high of the battleship sailing unharmed through the squadron of ships sent to end its rebellion. I've never seen it before but it was marvellous.

It's a powerful film with so much going on I wouldn't dream of listing all of it. So many film techniques were used in this film and have been copied ever since. Like the baby in the pram bouncing down the Odessa steps, the Cossacks marching relentlessly down the steps like Cybermen, close-ups of maggots in the meat and so much more. At one level a simple story and at another a metaphor for so much more. A tale of minor grievances escalating into nationwide revolution. I was mightily impressed.

At the BFI you get a printed A4 narrative about films and the cast as you go in and so I am pleased to name some of my favourites in the film. All probably long-ago left us, but their names and images live on.  I liked:

- Aleksandr Antonov as Vakulinchuk, the sailor who starts the rebellion on the battleship and whose dead body on the pier of Odessa starts the revolution in the city;
- Beatrice Vitoldi as the 'woman with a pram' who is shot down by the Cossacks on the Odessa steps and who looked like a young Siouxsie;
- Propkopenko as the mother of the boy who is shot on the steps and carries his body boldly towards the Cossacks only to be shot herself; and
- N. Poltavtseva as the teacher with pince-nez who encourages people to approach the Cossacks as brothers and ask them to stop shooting only to be shot down herself.

They gave some powerful performances and I want their names recorded in this blog. It is a film of terrible beauty and power.

And the music? Pet Shop Boys have done themselves proud, with the soundtrack adding another level to the film. My favourite section was when the revolution whipped itself up to the music of 'Nyet' which was instantly re-named 'Disco Revolution'. Another favourite section was when the battleship sailed out to engage the squadron of ships sent to capture it and the music slowly speeded up the closer they came to ultimate engagement... and I won't tell you what happened next.

Thank you to PSB for taking on the challenge of writing the soundtrack ten years ago and thank you to Yoko for adding this to Meltdown. I've had my eyes and ears opened. That's a good thing.

Siouxsie - Meltdown 2013

Last night saw the return of Siouxsie to the live stage after a gap of five years and I was there. Her last shows were on the 'Mantaray' tour so it was great to see her announced as part of Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival.

This was probably the most sought after ticket for Meltdown this year and the gig sold out quickly, so quickly that a second gig was scheduled for the following Monday which also sold out quickly. At one point she said, 'I've been away for too long, far too long' so here's hoping we'll see more of her in future.

Viv Albertine was the support act so we saw two punk heroes on the same stage and neither played anything from the 70s. Siouxsie focused on the 80s and a few songs from her last album, 'Mantaray'. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When the lights went down there was a great cheer and, at the back of the stage, blinds descended with swathes of light shining behind them creating a great effect as people ran to the front of the stage. It was only after a few songs that I realised what it was meant to be - Siouxsie was playing the whole of the 'Kaleidoscope' album and the blinds reflect the album cover. I never thought she'd do something like that so it was great joy to hear all those songs, one after another in order. At one point Siouxsie said that she'd never sung some of these songs live before.

Siouxsie strode onto the stage and everyone stood up immediately, black on black hair, red on red lips and a white on white leather dress in which she took great delight in spinning  round like a dervish with the skirt rippling out. She opened with 'Happy House' and the band was excellent from the start, just three of them - drums, bass and guitar/keyboards - and they made a great, solid, muscular sound with Siouxsie's voice clear and strong on top of it. I've no idea who they were but they'd clearly put the hours in to get that sound. Half-way through the set Siouxsie dropped her skirt to reveal she was wearing a white suit rather than a dress.

At the end of 'Kaleidoscope' and the manic and intense 'Skin', Siouxsie slowed it down with 'Eve White/Eve Black' and then they all left the stage. Phew, it was good to sit down for a couple of minutes and recover from the surprise of hearing the whole album, a record I played to death in 1981 and 82. I still have a vivid memory of doing exams with 'Christine' floating through my head. The house lights stayed off and then the blinds moved again, some rising, setting the scene for the band, followed by Siouxsie, to come back on stage.

This was the hits section of the show that I suspect most people in the audience (including me) were expecting. Siouxsie's nothing if not unpredictable. She opened with 'Israel' and 'Arabian Knights' back to back before commenting that Pompeii has finally come to London and launching into 'Cities In Dust'. 'Dear Prudence' was followed by the comment that we had to have something from 'Mantaray' and we got 'Loveless'. The big surprise came when Siouxsie said 'Bat stations' and suddenly the Bat signal was projected all around the hall as they played 'Face to Face' from the Batman film. And then they were off to much clapping and cheering and a need for more.

Siouxsie kept us waiting and then a roadie came on to put a chair in the middle of the stage. Siouxsie then emerged wearing an outrageous hat and bustle and took her place on the chair to sing 'Careless Love' pulling shapes and poses. This was followed with 'Here Comes That Day' from 'Mantaray' and the final song was a powerful 'Into A Swan' with Siouxsie pulling the swan shapes and movements I remember so well from the 'Mantaray' tour. Then picking up the bunch of red roses she always gets at a show in London she slowly sauntered off with a wave and without a care in the world. Was she excited at the reception she'd just received, the rapture she'd caused? We'll never know. She's Siouxsie.

It was an exhilarating experience seeing Siouxsie on stage and I'm looking forward to seeing her again at Monday's show. Will it be the same set or will she come up with another one? Which album might she choose to play? Questions questions. I'll be much closer to the stage on Monday but here are some photos from row P in the stalls.

Viv Albertine - Meltdown 2013

Tonight was the turn of Viv Albertine to play at Yoko Ono's Meltdown to open Siouxsie's gig. I didn't know that Viv was supporting Siouxsie when I got the tickets so it was a lovely surprise to find out that Siouxsie and Viv were playing on the same bill. As Viv said herself, whoever would have thought they'd be playing on the same stage all this time after their punk years?

Viv had a four-piece band backing her and they sounded really good, helping Viv create a lovely noise on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall. All of the songs were from Viv's 'The Vermillion Border' album except 'If Love' (from her 'Flesh' EP). Well, when I say her album, I mean her double 12" vinyl LP since the set included two new songs only released on vinyl, 'Life's Too Short To Be Shy' and 'Couples Are Creepy', and both are excellent! Luckily, the vinyl LP was available to buy in the foyer so I snapped it up.

Viv had a good line in patter when talking between songs, telling us about them, what they were about and where they came from. Introducing 'In Vitro' she explained her three ages of punk theory of heroine needles to IVF needles to knitting needles. She gave us a stomping version on 'I Want More' (which she said was one of the cardinal sins of women, wanting more) with its jagged guitar and the lovely and liberating 'Confessions Of A MILF' to close the show.

Well done on a great show, Viv. Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - Meltdown 2013

This evening I went to see the glorious Yoko Ono and her Plastic Ono Band at the Royal Festival Hall as the opening show of Yoko's Meltdown festival. And they rocked.

When we went in there was a screening of Yoko's film 'Bottoms' as we took our seats, big bums up there on the stage walking slowly as the film moves from bum to bum. That made for an interesting start. Then the lights went out and we were treated to a 15 minute documentary of clips of Yoko from when she was a toddler, through the 60s and meeting John Lennon, art shows to picking up the Grammy for 'Double Fantasy' after John had been killed and announcing Strawberry Fields in Central Park. As this ended the band came on and suddenly there was Yoko, waving at us and we all cheered.

Yoko and her seven-piece band started making a wonderful sound, a mad cacophany of energy coming straight at us with Yoko's gutteral wailing on top, aural art. They had a great light show that was tame for most of the set and then, suddenly, sprang into action dazzling us and, combined with the sound coming from the stage, transports us to another level. This was not a pop group with some lights, this was performance art. The opening song was 'Moonbeams', the lead song from the next album.

About half way through the gig Yoko welcomed her special guest to the stage, Peaches, to sing 'Yes, I'm A Witch' with her. Peaches came back for the encore of 'Don't Worry Kyoko' with Sean Ono Lennon playing the Eric Clapton guitar hero role from the original recording and he's not at all bad on the guitar. Or the bass (which he also played on some songs).

During one song which I think was  'Calling' from the last album, Yoko called out for light and suddenly people started flashing their Onochords around, lighting up the audience with hundreds of pinpricks of light. We were all given Onochords on the way into the gig and a short film of Yoko was shown late in the gig showing us how to signal 'I Love You' with them. I *love* my Onochord and still have my first one from 2009. I now have two.

We were treated to songs from the next album due out shortly (that all sound really good) as well as songs from the last album and some of her early work like 'Don't Worry Kyoko' and 'Mindtrain' (an abbreviated version, obviously). We also had 'Walking On Thin Ice' (that Sean described as her hit - singular - so they had to play it).

It was lovely to see Yoko prowl from one side of the stage to the other singing, howling and wailing depending on the song, giving it her all, full of energy and love. Relentless and tireless, all eyes glued to her.

'Mindtrain' finished the set and then 'Don't Worry Kyoko' was the first encore during which everyone flooded to the front of the stage to make it a rock gig. The second encore (of course there was a second encore) was a lovely, tender version of 'Higa Noboru' with just Sean on piano and a haunting trumpet in the background. It was lovely and a fitting farewell to the curator of Meltdown.

Thank you Yoko, it was fun! I hope to see you again during Meltdown - it's your show, after all!

PS: on the way to the Royal Festival Hall I noticed a big blue sign hung underneath the name of the hall at the back and the sign said 'Imagine Peace'. I think it's the same picture that makes up the cover photo for 'Live Peace In Toronto' with the small, white cloud. You just know Yoko's in town when you see that. And beside the Hayward Gallery is the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus so go along while it's in London. 

Yoko Ono's Meltdown 2013

If you've looked at this blog before then you're probably familiar with the annual Meltdown festival on the Southbank in London. Every year someone is chosen to curate a festival of art and music. Past curators have been David Bowie, Morrissey, Patti Smith and Ray Davies. This year it's the turn of Yoko Ono.

I've seen Yoko at past Meltdown festivals, as part of the ensemble at Patti Smith's Meltdown and full (and quite astonishing) Plastic Ono Band gig as part of Ornette Coleman's Meltdown. I went to see a retrospective of Yoko's work at the Serpentine Gallery last year. As soon as she was announced as the 2013 curator I knew we were in for a treat.

I'm a member of the Southbank to hear about and buy tickets to events before they go on general sale. The pre-sale for members was on Tuesday and the tickets go on general sale tomorrow, Thursday. I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band open the festival at the Royal Festival Hall, Siouxsie playing her first gig in five years, Patti Smith doing an evening of words and music in the intimate Purcell Room, and Marianne Faithfull and Boy George at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. 

That haul alone justifies the cost of my membership. I'm still mulling over trying for tickets to see Iggy & The Stooges and, of course, more events are still to be announced. I quite like the idea of seeing the film 'Battleship Potemkin' with the Pet Shops Boys soundtrack at the British Film Institute. No doubt, more will be announced in the next few weeks.

Thank you Yoko, I'm looking forward to this. I hope we get another Onochord at your gig!

Buffy Sainte-Marie at Meltdown

I've fallen behind with my blogging due in part to the Olympics but mainly because my laptop died on me last week. I need to do a mammoth Olympics blog but the day after the Closing Ceremony is not the right time. Instead I'll tell you about something that can only mean joy - Buffy Sainte-Marie has been back to London for two shows on the Southbank as part of Anthony Hegarty's Meltdown festival and I attended both (indeed, had guest list tickets to both but that's showing off).

The first event on Monday 6 August in the Purcell Room was originally billed as, 'An Interview With Buffy Sainte-Marie' but, due to the absence of an interviewer became, 'Buffy Sainte-Marie - A Multimedia Life'. We were treated to a slideshow of Buffy's photos over the years to get us in the mood and then on she strode with the confidence of an experienced public speaker. Buffy spoke for the next hour or so, delivering an entertaining and thought-provoking talk about indigenous peoples and how the ordinary peoples of Europe had suffered for centuries under the same rulers that invaded the Americas.

She then did a Q&A, answering questions the audience had previously written down. I had three questions answered:

• 'No No Keshagesh was originally called AIM Elijah - what does that mean?' - Elijah refers to Elijah Harper, a Native American politician in Canada who blocked constitutional changes that hadn't been agreed with native peoples. AIM refers to the American Indian Movement.
• 'What was the last record you bought?' - Alabama 3
• 'If you were in the Olympics what sport would you take part in?' - Buffy pulled a face and said, 'naah' she wouldn't be in the Olympics since she lacks the competitive gene. She loves flamenco dancing but if she was being chased by a tiger she'd be the meal!

As a teacher, Buffy gave us three book to read as homework: 'Indian Givers' by Jack Weatherford, 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown and 'The Female Brain' by Louann Brizendine.

The second event was a gig in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and we were treated to a full two hours set. She walked onto the stage in a glitter jacket and with glitter in her hair with her band of Jesse, Leroy and Mike (also known as Juno award nominees Bruthers of Different Muthers). The setlist was:

Piney Wood Hills
Cho Cho Fire
I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again
Mister Can't You See
Cripple Creek
Still This Love Goes On
Up Where We Belong
No No Keshagesh
Universal Soldier
Darling Don't Cry
Until It's Time For You To Go
Working For The Government
Little Wheel Spin And Spin
Soldier Blue
Generation
The Big Ones Get Away
Cod'ine
Blue Sunday
You're Not The Loving Kind
Goodnight
Look At The Facts
The Priests Of The Golden Bull
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Starwalker
He's An Indian Cowboy At The Rodeo (encore with pow wow dancing).

There were two big highlights for me. The first came with 'Darling Don't Cry' when I was transported back to Belleville in Canada in 2005 and the theatre erupting into pow wow singing as the mainly First Nations  audience sang along and lifted the roof with their beautiful sound. The second was hearing 'Generation' for the first time played live.

Since it was an extended set then Buffy played some songs that she doesn't normally include in her set and 'Generation' was one of the additions. It's from the 'Buffy' album from the early 70s and a song I recall hearing for the first time back in 1976 on a BBC2  programme about Buffy. It was released again a couple of years ago when all of Buffy's early 70s albums were re-released. A mighty 'wow' for that song. The chorus ends with the line, "I just want to dance with the Rosebud Sioux this summer" and I was wearing my rosebud shirt to celebrate Buffy in London.

It's always good to see Buffy play live and the Queen Elizabeth Hall is a good venue to see her. My one beef about the Meltdown is that Buffy wasn't mentioned in any of the promotional materials for the series other than on the main poster that listed everyone - or, at least, I didn't see any mentions. Why was that, Meltdown people?

The Dresden Dolls at 'Stand Bravely Brothers', Meltdown 2005

The first time I saw Amanda Palmer was when The Dresden Dolls performed at Patti Smith's Meltdown festival on 23 June 2005. I've mentioned this before but I've now found a video of the evening on YouTube. Some of the Meltdown events were filmed but have never been released - I well remember Patti's performance of her first album, 'Horses', being filmed by Don Letts in the Royal Festival Hall and Patti jumping off the stage and running into the audience just a few feet away from me. 

The Dresden Dolls performed as part of the 'Stand Bravely Brothers' evening of songs as a homage to Bertold Brecht, Amanda banging away on her piano and Brian thumping his drums and zinging his cymbals. They played 'The Ballad Of The Soldiers Wife' in the first half and Amanda came on in the second half to sing another song but I can't remember what it was. The bill that night included Marc Almond, Martha Wainwright, The Tiger Lillies, the Finn Brothers, Sparks and, of course, Patti and others.

After the show there was a free gig by the Dresden Dolls in the open performance space in front of the bar at the Royal Festival Hall. It was crowded - there must've been a couple of hundred people sitting on the floor waiting for the Dolls to appear. I was curious - I liked Amanda's voice from the two songs I'd heard her sing in the Brecht homage and wanted to hear more. On they came on, settled down and opened with 'Good Day'. That was the first Dolls song I ever heard. They played a short set including 'Girl Anachronism' and 'Coin Operated Boy' and I remember Amanda swigging beer during 'Amsterdam'.

After the gig I headed to the merch stand to buy 'The Dresden Dolls' album on 8ft Records. Amanda was wandering round greeting people and she signed the record for me, adding an extra flourish under her name and giving me an arch look. That was the first time I met her and, even though I didn't get a hug that night, it sticks in my memory. 

I've seen Amanda play every time she's performed in London since then and met her afterwards most times. I've even met her coming out of a theatre on the Strand with Neil Gaiman when we just happened to be at the same performance of an Alan Cummings show. I shall meet her again in June when I attend her art show to celebrate her new album. I'm hopeful of an Amanda Hug that evening.Click the link on the right to get your ticket to the show.

Anyway, here's the video of 'Stand Bravely Brothers' I mentioned - scroll in to about 4:45 minutes to see the Dresden Dolls.  Leave it running and you'll also see Patti Smith raise her skirt to do a little dance to 'Mack The Knife'. Enjoy.