Tuesday 16 July 2024

Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls - Brudenell - 15th July 2024

Sophie and I went to to the gig. First up was Ben Brown (who was OK) then the MEFFS (who I didn't like at all). Frank started at 9:15 and we left before the encores - just after Photosynthesis.
No Thank You for the Music Girl From the Record Shop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8GweSYJmRo Get Better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB4Avdlz3lk I Am Disappeared * (for lyric see below) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS8VOXO1XNk Try This at Home The Next Storm Pandemic PTSD Haven't Been Doing So Well Polaroid Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGbJecXFlT4 Poetry of the Deed Ceasefire Love Ire and Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaLmmE2hVI4 (Acoustic) Be More Kind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_nbdq2ckOw (Acoustic) The Ballad of Me and My Friends (Acoustic) Somewhere Inbetween Punches 1933 Non Serviam Do One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI-o1S9FJl8 Never Mind the Back Problems Photosynthesis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yZjsQXp5E8
Undefeated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru66G7tbIsc Recovery I Still Believe Four Simple Words * I keep having dreams Of pioneers and pirate ships and Bob Dylan Of people wrapped up tight in the things that will kill them Of being trapped in a lift plunging straight to the bottom Of open seas and ways of life we've forgotten I keep having dreams Amy worked in a bar in Exeter I went back to her house and I slept beside her She woke up screaming in the middle of the night Terrified of her own insides Dreams of pirate ships and Patty Hearst Breaking through a life over-rehearsed She can't remember which came first The house, the home, or the terrible thirst She keeps having dreams And on the worst days When it feels like life weighs ten thousand tons She's got her cowboy boots and car keys on the bed stand So she can always run She can get up, shower, and in half an hour she'll be gone I keep having dreams of things I need to do And waking up and not following through But it feels like I haven't slept at all When I wake to a silence and she's facing the wall Posters of Dylan and of Hemingway An antique compass for a sailor's escape She says you just can't live this way And I close my eyes and I never say I'm still having dreams And on the worst days When it feels like life weighs ten thousand tons I sleep with my passport One eye on the back door So I can always run I can get up, shower, and in half an hour I'll be gone And come morning I am disappeared Just an imprint on the bedsheets I'm by the roadside with my thumb out A car pulls up, and Bob's driving So I climb in We don't say a word As we pull off into the sunrise And these rivers of tarmac are like arteries across the country We are blood cells alive in the bloodstream The beating heart of the country We are electric pulses In the pathways of the sleeping soul of the country We are electric pulses In the pathways of the sleeping soul of the country We are electric pulses The sleeping soul of the country The sleeping soul of the country The sleeping soul of the country And a review of the new Album Crash bang wallop: Frank Turner has better reason than most to kickstart the new year with a euphoric punk-rock clatter. And that’s exactly what he did with brilliantly contrary and playfully snotty new track No Thank You For The Music, released on his 42nd birthday on 28th December. “It's about the idea that it's good to remind yourself every now and again that being part of underground culture means, among other things, being unpopular,” he explains cheerfully. So, 2024 is a leap year. That means that this touring musicians' touring musician – a road warrior who’s been out there, playing somewhere, since 1998 and who, after starting gigging when he was 16, didn’t go home for a decade – has one extra day to play with, and play on. And you know he’ll use it. Mind you: Turner could have done with that calendrical wiggle-room when he was touring his last album, given that he celebrated 2022’s FTHC with an American jaunt that was epic even by his Stakhanovite standards: he and his band The Sleeping Souls did 50 states in 50 days. “The whole touring cycle for FTHC had a feeling of reinvigoration. A sense of coming out from under, both in terms of the pandemic and a rediscovery of the sense that what I do can be – or in fact should be – fun,” he says now of a long run lent wings by the Number One success of an album that joyously blasted a hardcore uproar (the clue was in the acronym). That invigoration came, too, from new drummer Callum Green. “Callum is younger than the rest of us,” he says of a line-up completed by Ben Lloyd (guitar), Tarrant Anderson (bass) and Matt Nasir (piano). “He’s phenomenally talented and brings new energy and a new enthusiasm to touring. He'd never been to America before, and on his first visit he went to 48 states. Which is pretty good! His enthusiasm put energy back into me and into the rest of the band and the crew. It reminded us how fortunate we are to do what we do and to go to the places we go.” Turner will plead the fifth on the specifics for now, “but there were some moments before the pandemic where I was taking myself and what I do quite seriously. There wasn't a huge amount of joie de vivre around what I was doing.” But the 2022/23 touring cycle brought liberation and stimulation for all concerned. “There was definitely a sense of, oh, yeah, this is amazing. This is fun. This is really cool. And there's a different energy to that approach.” Which brings us to the other reasons why 2024 is Turner’s time. He’s releasing his 10th album. It’s a record he’s, as usual, written himself – but, for the first time in a kaleidoscopic career, he’s produced himself. Not only that, he’s recorded it in his new home studio in he and his wife’s home on Mersea Island, Essex. And, finally, crucially, going back to his roots, he’s releasing it as a fully independent artist. After a quarter-century in the game, the title of this barnstorming, 14-track album says it all: Frank Turner is Undefeated. The opening track immediately doubles down on that: “I’m still standing up and there’s nothing you can do!” Turner sings on supremely catchy power-pop belter Do One. “Among other things,” he says with a smile, “that song is the sound of me and my band firing on all cylinders.” As for how we got to this state of independence… “I'm not going to sit here and say that I regret being on a major label for five records,” Turner begins, telling it with his customary straight-arrow candour and conviction. “I went into that willingly and played the game and enjoyed myself. But the time came to move on.” To be clear, to stop the snarks in their tracks, he wasn’t dropped. “I completed my deal and was offered an extension, which I turned down. It's very nice to be offered more. But leaving that world was a choice.” That choice was informed by this music obsessive’s habitual keen-eyed appraisal of both his standing and the wider rock’n’roll landscape. As he puts it: “At this point in my life, working on album 10, at the place where I sit in the music world, it seemed obvious that going back to a more independent setting was the right idea. “There's more creative freedom – not that I ever felt necessarily constrained creatively before,” Turner clarifies. “But it would quite often require some pushback on my end to get what I wanted. Whereas now, it's just: I'm producing myself, here's the fucking record and I don't care what you think about singles.” Hence his choosing as first single proper the aforesaid Do One, which opens with lyrics that dive straight in: “Some people are just going to hate you, no matter what you do, so don’t waste your time trying to change their minds, just be a better you.” “Well, there's a reason that's also track one," he says of an album bookended by the closing title track, a beautiful, powerful, rousing piano ballad-turned-anthem. "Funnily enough, a friend of mine said to me the other day, after listening to the new record: 'I'm not sure the world was expecting anyone to try and ram Black Flag into Counting Crows over such a protracted period of time. But it seems to be working.’” Frank Turner will happily take that. That sense of giddy creative abandon was, again, informed by the arrival of Turner within the ranks of The Sleeping Souls. His abilities and demeanour contributed significantly to the writing and recording of the album “Callum's like a new toy. There is literally nothing he can't play!” Turner laughs of a skillset instantly apparent on the album’s second track, the larky, 88-second, Pogues-style ramalam of Never Mind The Back Problems. “Having that newfound flexibility and energy was crucial. I still write on my own, and then take things to the band to arrange. But you write with the tools that you know you're going to be working with in mind. We were all in loving, reinvigorated place, and that was major part of the process.” As well as defiance and celebration, that process also involved reflection. “I wanted to make a record that embraced my status and time of life. Made a virtue of that rather than being nervous or embarrassed about it. “There are no clichés about the difficult 10th album, so in some ways, that's a liberating statement. But at the same time, I have a duty to justify writing and releasing a 10th album. That's a lot of records for anybody. Also, I’m 42. Which is not a sexy, rock’n’roll age. But all through my career, I've been interested in writers like Loudon Wainwright III or The Hold Steady, people who write about adulthood, essentially.” As he points out, in a music industry increasingly defined by short-termism and stumps of so-called careers, he’s a veteran. “I've been touring since before satnav! And before mobile phones! Quite often we get to venues and I know them better than the people working there, because I've been playing there for 20 years. “All of these are things that I want to embrace and rejoice in and, when required, see the funny side off, like on Never Mind The Back Problems.” Deeper emotional waters are plumbed on Ceasefire. Melding one of Turner’s sweetest vocals with a widescreen rock grandeur and pounding piano, it’s pointedly the album’s longest track,. “It builds and builds and it was an exciting musical adventure. That's one of my favourite songs on the record, and it's a really important song.” It’s the sole remnant of an idea Turner was briefly exploring: a concept album that was an argument with his 15 year-old-self. “It's genuinely a psychological, mental health problem that I have: I have arguments all the time with hypothetical others – and sometimes lose them. And it's a really unhealthy way of being. My wife often has to say to me: Frank,no one's attacking you right now.” But as a dyed-in-the-black-denim fan of the genre that made him, Turner can’t help himself. “There's something to be said for the fact that punk rock guilt and Catholic guilt are very similar ideas. You are haunted by this internalised ethical self-questioning. One may become a lapsed punk or a lapsed Catholic. But you're never quite a non-Catholic or a non-punk. It stays with you forever – and, indeed, Ian MacKaye is The Pope!” That mid-teenage Frank also pops up in the breakneck Girl From the Record Shop, a brilliant Frankenstein's mashup of messrs. Bragg and Costello. Two towering influences, for sure, but Turner wrestles them into something wholly his own. “Definitely Costello is a huge influence,” he acknowledges. “When I took that song to the band, I basically said: ‘The Attractions, please.’ They were like: ‘Not a problem!’ It is linked thematically, in the sense that that is how I imagined romance when I was 15: walking into a record store and seeing a girl in a Bikini Kill t-shirt, and becoming flabbergasted and speechless. “My wife hates that song,” he adds, “but to be clear: I'm not actually in love with someone from a record shop!” The music, of course, was the aphrodisiac, the intoxicating drug. That life-altering love is also at the heart of Letters, a song with breakneck momentum but wistful feeling. “I do enjoy doing writing that kind of disconnect – it's nice to mess around with context or emotional sentiments. But at the same time, it wasn't quite that calculated in its genesis. It's a song about an old friend, who I lost touch with. It was a very meaningful relationship in my life in the sense that it taught me an awful lot about music. Tape-trading, when I was a kid, helped me learn many things. “There’s a nostalgia. But a sense of understanding, too. The key line is: 'Both of us know it wasn't love in the end, you were more of a teacher, a distant best friend.' We were kids, so we were of course imagining that we were Romeo and Juliet. But we weren't. She was just somebody who knew a lot more about Black Flag than I did!” There’s more heartfelt emotional processing on the ambitious syncopated stomper that is Pandemic PTSD. It was, again, a track Turner felt compelled to write. “There was a big conversation in 2021 and 2022 about lockdown songs and pandemic songs. Everybody's now completely put that aside. But I feel very strongly that everybody and everything is deeply, deeply wounded by what we've spent the last few years going through. Certainly, you look at economics and politics now, this is all damage done by the pandemic. Or at least deeper problems were revealed by it.” Cue a cathartic agit-punk rabble-rouser that necessarily, vitally addresses that mental and emotional fall-out, whether on trapped-at-home schoolkids or, yes, stage-struck musicians denied the opportunity to do what they loved best. Outlier, pioneer, punk-rock road-warrior who’d do this 366 days a year if he could: he knew that struggle better than most of his peers. But he is the undefeated Frank Turner, 42 years young, and he’s ready to smash it all over again in 2024. You know he's filled that extra day already.

Wednesday 1 May 2024

Dave Matthews Band - live the O2 Apollo - 29th April 2024

Sophie and I went to see them Monday night 29/4/24 - parked - but told the parking guys we needed to leave early so they told us to park where we could get out easily. Watched the gig ditting down for a while but stood up at back for most of it - telling Crowd Stewards I felt a bit faint. Had to occasionally go through the doors to "cool down' when they approached. Lost my fleece is empty but bolted with a code mixing area. The stewards got it for me! ( i bet the glad to see us go!). Set List   * Grey Street * When the World Ends * Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin) * Madman's Eyes * Virginia in the Rain * Lie in Our Graves * Say Goodbye * Do You Remember * Warehouse * Spaceman * Monsters * Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover) * Lover Lay Down * Break Free * Dancing Nancies * Everyday (we left then so unfortunately didn't see the rest) * Ants Marching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgJBIx-hK8 * Encore: * Rye Whiskey (Tex Ritter cover) * All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)

Lewis 'Burner' Pugh, The Burner Band & Serious Sam Barrett Co Headline Gig

Lewis 'Burner' Pugh, The Burner Band & Serious Sam Barrett Co Headline Gig Saturday 9th March @ Coopers in Guiseley 7pm til late. Sophie and I went to this gig and bought Serious Sam Barrett's latest album "A DROP OF THE MORNING DEW". (Told Sam I was Rory's Dad and he said "No way Man! I just seen him this week!" A nice bloke let us share his table whilst gig was on. First session was Sam singing solo. Second session was Lewis - then with Burner Band then altogher including Sam.

Sunday 31 December 2023

The Boss & The Beeston Band

Setlist, Brudenell Social Club, 30/12/23. 1. Thunder Road (piano version) 2. We Take Care Of Our Own 3. My Love Will Not Let You Down 4. The Ties That Bind 5. Sherry Darling 6. Two Hearts 7. Out In The Street 8. Prove It All Night 9. The Promised Land 10. Darlington County 11. Workin On The Highway 12. Loose Ends 13. Tougher Than The Rest (w/Lauren) 14. The River 15. New York City Serenade 16. Spirit In The Night 17. Hungry Heart 18. Waitin’ On A Sunny Day 19. Mary’s Place 20. Because The Night 21. Wrecking Ball 22. Land Of Hopes And Dreams 23. Jungleland 24. Badlands 25. Glory Days 26. Born To run 27. Dancing In The Dark 28. 10th Avenue Freeze Out 29. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 30. Detroit Medley ** not played here Bobby Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCL8XcAB2V0 Well, I came by your house the other day Your mother said you went away She said there was nothing that I could have done There was nothing nobody could say Me and you, we've known each other Yeah, ever since we were sixteen I wished I would have known I wished I could have called you Just to say "Goodbye, Bobby Jean" Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their nose We liked the same music We liked the same bands We liked the same clothes We told each other that we were the wildest The wildest things we'd ever seen Now I wished you would have told me I wished I could have talked to you Just to say "Goodbye, Bobby Jean" Now we went walking in the rain Talking about the pain from the world we hid Now there ain't nobody, nowhere, nohow Gonna ever understand me the way you did Well maybe you'll be out there on that road somewhere In some bus or train traveling along In some motel room there'll be a radio playing And you'll hear me sing this song Well if you do, you'll know I'm thinking of you And all the miles in between And I'm just calling one last time, not to change your mind But just to say "I miss you baby. Good luck. Goodbye, Bobby Jean"

Tuesday 7 November 2023

John Martyn - Solid Air

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UikPQOaJpfU You’ve been taking your time And you’ve been living on solid air You’ve been walking the line And You’ve been living on solid air Don’t know what’s going wrong inside And I can tell you that it’s hard to hide when you’re living on Solid air. You’ve been painting it blue And you’ve been looking through solid air You’ve been seeing it through And you’ve been looking through solid air Don’t know what’s going wrong in your mind, And I can tell you don’t like what you find, When you’re moving through Solid air. I know you, I love you And I could be your friend I could follow you, anywhere Even through solid air. You’ve been stoning it cold You’ve been living on solid air You’ve been finding that gold You’ve been living on solid air I don’t know what’s going on inside I can tell you that it’s hard to hide When you’re living on Solid air, solid air. You’ve been getting too deep You’ve been living on solid air You’ve been missing your sleep And you’ve been moving through solid air I don’t know what’s going on in your mind But I know you don’t like what you find When you’re moving through Solid air, solid air. I know you, I love you I’ll be your friend I could follow you, anywhere Even through solid air. You’ve been walking your line You’ve been walking on solid air You’ve been taking your time But you’ve been walking on solid air Don’t know what’s going wrong inside But I can tell you that it’s hard to hide When you’re living on Solid air, solid air. You’ve been painting it blue, You’ve been living on solid air You’ve been seeing it through And you’ve been living on solid air I don’t know what’s going on in your mind But I can tell you don’t like what you find When your living on Solid air, solid air. I know you, I love you And I’ll be your friend I could follow you, anywhere Even through solid air. Ice blue solid air Nice blue solid air. Source: LyricFind Songwriters: John Martyn

Wednesday 25 October 2023

the Mountain Goats - Clean Slate

https://i0.wp.com/gloriousnoise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-Mountain-Goats-Clean-Slate.jpg?w=672&ssl=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuO2gbeUzb0 One from East St Louis with a scar beneath his eye Left the kitchen spotless on the day he said goodbye Breakaway republic dude, supremely filthy mouth Copiah, Mississipi, points much further south It's never light outside yet when they climb into the van Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can Leave home feeling empty, change planes in Taipei Stay awake the whole time, end up several worlds away The house was almost full that day, they made a space for you This world is sad and broken, gotta fix a crack or two Rest until you're rested, climb back onto the caravan Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can And then just when you think you've learned how to forget You learn it's just the ones who haven't risen to the surface yet Absence after absence, keep the place secure This will be the last time that I do this, I'm pretty sure No one lasts for long in this profession, so they say Maybe see you again someday Every endpoint fixed forever on the day its arc began Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can Forget the ones you can

Saturday 21 October 2023

The War on Drugs - Under the Pressure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByrKdwQMGYc&list=RDGMEMBhrNM15bN0pM50WECpic-A&start_radio=1&rv=HmHzSxaifbU Well the comedown here was easy Like the arrival of a new day But a dream like this gets wasted Without you Under the pressure Is where we are Under the pressure Yeah, it's where we are, babe You're the only one Like an illusion When it all breaks down and we're runaways Standing in the wake of our pain And we stare straight into nothing But we call it all the same You were raised on a promise Found that over time Better come around to the new way Or watch as it all breaks down here Under the pressure Well the break-down here Stole it all the way across I gotta talk downhill Stranded on When you come here and I'm wasted Lying on a field, dancin' in the rain Hidin' in the back, loosening my grip Wading in the water Just trying not to crack, under the pressure Yeah, it's where we are babe Under the pressure