Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9sq3ME0JHQ

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talking,
Something deep down in my soul said, "cry girl"',
When I saw you and that girl, walking out.

Ooo I would rather, I would rather go blind boy,
Than to see you, walk away from me child, and all
Ooooo so you see, I love you so much
That I don't want to watch you leave me baby,
Most of all, I just don't, I just don't want to be free no

Ooo I was just, I was just, I was just sitting here thinking
Of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah,
When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips, now baby,
Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah.

Ooo and baby, baby, I would rather, I would rather be blind boy
Than to see you walk away, see you walk away from me, yeah
Ooo baby, baby, baby, I'd rather be blind nows

 

Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU5tfYYNyY4

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talking,
Something deep down in my soul said, "cry girl"',
When I saw you and that girl, walking out.

Ooo I would rather, I would rather go blind boy,
Than to see you, walk away from me child, and all
Ooooo so you see, I love you so much
That I don't want to watch you leave me baby,
Most of all, I just don't, I just don't want to be free no

Ooo I was just, I was just, I was just sitting here thinking
Of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah,
When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips, now baby,
Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah.

Ooo and baby, baby, I would rather, I would rather be blind boy
Than to see you walk away, see you walk away from me, yeah
Ooo baby, baby, baby, I'd rather be blind nows

 

Nov 10 2022 Future Islands - O2 Academy Leeds, Leeds, England

 

Sophie & I went this gig. Set list (I think) was

1. "For Sure"
2. "Hit the Coast"
3. Ran
4. "Plastic Beach"
5. "Peach" (see below*)
   
6. "Walking Through That Door"
7. Balance
8. "Before the Bridge"
9. "Light House"
10. "Corner Of My Eye"
11. "A Dream of You and Me"
12. "The Painter"
13. "Ancient Water"
14. "King of Sweden"
15. "Seasons (Waiting on You)"
16. "Long Flight"
17. "Tin Man"
18. "Inch of Dust"
19. "Vireo's Eye"
20. "Little Dreamer"

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vjm7DqooKc

Lyrics for Peach

 

Life is the reason
I'm still holding ground
Life is imperfect bodies
And perfect sounds
Death is in season
And it's pushing me 'round
And 'round and 'round
A bottle cap, a rusted crown

When one pushes up
The other pulls me down
And I don't know
If I'll get up, if I'll get out
One pushes up
The other pulls me down
And I don't know
If I'll get up, if I'll get out

This one makes you big
In a cruel world
This one makes you small
In a lonely world
This one takes it all away
All the pain
But I'm not giving up
Not today, not today

There's life in this tunnel
We're just hanging around
Please if you see my hand
Just pull me out
There's death in this tunnel
Still hanging on me
Still begging of me

'Cause when one pushes up
The other pulls me down
And I don't know
If I'll get up, if I'll be found

This one makes you big
What a cruel world
This one makes you small
Feel that lonely world
This one takes it all away
But I'll stay
'Cause I won't give you up
Not today

I won't
I won't give you up

Renaissance - Northern Lights

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV8uvKqlcQY

Destination outward bound
I turn to see the northern lights behind the wing
Horizons seem to beckon me
Learned how to cry too young, so now I live to sing

The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
Horizons seem to beckon me
Learned how to cry too young, so now I live to sing

You know it's hard away from you
Travelling roads and passing through
It's not for money and it's not for fame
I just can't explain, sometimes it's lonely

Marking the space between the days
Early hours pass away
I sing to you of northern lights
I sing for you of northern nights

Past or future, here or there
Shelter comes in words from you, so talk to me
I hear your voice, it comforts me
In morning dreams I take your hand, you walk with me

The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
Peace enfolds the still night air
Home again I look for you and find you there

Desintation homeward now
Take the easy way, bring me down
Making the hard way now I see
Hard to be really free, I'm missing you near me

Marking the space between the days
Early hours pass away
I sing to you of northern lights
I sing for you of northern nights

The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
The northern nights are in my eyes
They guide me back to you

The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
The northern nights are in my eyes
They guide me back to you

The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you

 

 

Mountain Goats gig - Manchester's Albert Hall 17th November 2022

Mountain Goats gig - Manchester's Albert Hall

The Albert Hall is a great venue and one of the many great things about it is the height of the stage. It’s about five and a half feet off the ground so you can be the shortest person standing at the back and still get a great view.

The hall was designed in eclectic style with Baroque and Gothic elements for the Wesleyan Mission in 1908. A meeting hall is on the first floor with a horseshoe gallery, sloping floor and coloured glass rooflights. The finely detailed terracotta is formed into large windows at gallery level, and the interior is abundant in floral decoration in the plaster work and glazed tiles. 

1. Make You Suffer
2. Dark in Here
3. Pez Dorado
4. Bones Don't Rust
5. Younger
6. Tidal Wave
   John and Matt:
7. Wear Black
8. Soft Targets
   John Solo:
9. The Water Song
10. Jenny
11. Thank You Mario but Our Princess Is in Another Castle
    Full Band:
12. Waylon Jennings Live!
13. In Memory of Satan
14. The Diaz Brothers
15. Incandescent Ruins
16. Prowl Great Cain
17. Song for Dennis Brown
18. Broom People
19. Up the Wolves
     
     

    
    
     
    Encore:
20. The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums
21. The Mess Inside
22. This Year ** 
     
    
     
23. No Children
24. Spent Gladiator 2

 ** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaKoCvPq0QM

Bon Iver - First Direct Arena, Leeds

 

On 19th October 2022 Sophie & I went to Iberica 

for a meal before going to the First Direct Arena to see Bon Iver (rearranged). It was Good/OK but not brilliant for me. Sophie loved the lighting effects. 

The support - CARM - was horrendous in both our opinions (we went back to the Black & White lounge for a drink!

Obviously the reviewer in The Guardian had a very different view of the Bon Iver paar of the gig then we did (see below).

A Review from The Guardian

Justin Vernon’s sublime falsetto and robust versions of songs from i,i are met with shrieks of delight in an unusually intimate arena gig by Dave Simpson Thursday 20 Oct 2022 12.18 BST

Justin Vernon has come a long way since he decamped to a Wisconsin log cabin to make his stunningly introspective alt-folk debut as Bon Iver, 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Since then, there have been Grammy wins, chart-topping albums and collaborations with Taylor Swift, James Blake and Kanye West, and his music has shifted into hip-hop production and electronic orchestration. 2019’s i,i featured a seven-piece band and no less than 39 additional musicians and a choir. Crucially, Bon Iver songs are still strong enough to be performed with just voice and guitar. But the 41-year-old has eschewed the well-worn singer-songwriter archetype in favour of intriguing new shapes. There’s plenty of that at tonight’s gig at Leeds’ First Direct Arena, with an array of sounds ranging from percussion that sounds like an exhaling pressure cooker to robotic vocal effects. This never detracts from the gentle beauty of the songs, and for an arena gig – this one long delayed by Covid – it feels unusually intimate.

Simply but wonderfully staged … Bon Iver at Leeds First Direct Arena. Photograph: Claire Powell

It is simply but wonderfully staged. The six musicians are encased in luminous geometric patterns, which change colour to suit the songs. At one point, another set of glowing geometric shapes descend to frame the crowd in a beautiful autumnal glow, which almost makes the audience part of the performance. They watch with a churchgoer-like reverence, which increasingly gives way to ecstatic cheering and whooping. Where most arena acts pack their sets with hits, Vernon performs no less than nine tracks from i,i, one of his most challenging records. The songs are more robust live – with long-term keyboard-percussionist Sean Carey and drumming colossus Matt McCaughan beating up a storm – but somehow more delicate. Vernon’s sublime falsetto and harmonies with Carey or guitarist Jenn Wasner provide human vulnerability amid the other worldly electric storm. Occasionally, there are old favourites. Re: Stacks, performed acoustically, and the mesmeric likes of Holocene and Flume are met with shrieks of delight.

Vernon has struggled with success and loss of anonymity, but he explains that lockdown allowed him to reflect and here he seems to appreciate such a loyal and enthusiastic audience. He expresses gratitude throughout, virtually shadow boxes with excitement during a thrilling Hey, Ma and even pulls off a Yorkshire accent. “I love you too … luv!” he grins. “It’s great that here you say ‘luv’ to everybody.”

Gradually, the gig becomes a magical communal experience, passing the 100-minute mark by the time the band dip into electronic contemporary jazz. Conversely, first encore Blood Bank rocks like, of all things, Neil Young and Crazy Horse. “Spread the love,” Vernon beams as they exit, and you wonder where on earth his restless muse will take him next.

Goodbye Mr MacKenzie - set list - Brudenell Club October 6th 2022

Set list - Goodbye Mr MacKenzie

Brudenell Club October 6th 2022

 

 

 

1. You Generous Thing
2. Open Your Arms
3. Hard
4. His Master's Voice
5. Love Child
6. Niagara
7. Sick Baby
8. Green Turn Red
9. Here Comes Deacon Brodie
10. Normal Boy
11. The Way I Walk
    (Jack Scott cover)
12. Now We Are Married
13. Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie
14. The Rattler
15. Encore:
16. Working On The Shoo-Fly
17. Blacker Than Black
18. Goodwill City