Am I mistaken,or is that Boo in the band,long time friend and collaborator of Eddie’s ?
Yes, Boo is at the back, next to Eddi.
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They make great team ! Both excellent musicians and songwriters.
Rong 10th Birthday event at the O2 Victoria Warehouse. 10 hours of insanity spread over 3 rooms, many of the DJ’s are personal friends of ours.
The 37000 or so steps I danced during the night will go some way towards shifting the lockdown belly, although the arthritic knees are complaining somewhat.
I know that this wasn’t a “gig” in the sense of being music played live, but a good DJ set is definitely a performance. There were many of these, including Maria Healy vs Ashley Smith, Billy Gillies, Shugz, and David Rust.
It was a sold out night, with about 5,000 people there, we have friends in the scene from all over the world, and it was lovely to catch up with so many of them.
L-R: Me, a very close friend, and Mrs Nicos.
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Well that was fun!
Although a long time ‘fan’ of The Manics (I still have my Motown Junk 12"…), I’ve never seen them live. Great musicianship, very tight, very professional (after 30 years I guess they would be!)
Support was a group called Low Hummer who were pretty good. A lot more raucous than their album which I had a listen to this morning and the better for it! A bit like Hull’s Wolf Alice…
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CSO/James Conlon + Alexander Gavrylyuk
Shostakovich
Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a
Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 1
Schubert
Symphony No. 3
The first CSO concert for the Season opened with a sad news of Maestro Haitink’s passing. I have many wonderful memories of Haitink concerts with CSO. I am very lucky to have experienced his Mahler, Debussy, Bruckner, Beethoven, Strauss concerts over the years. I feel he’s one of the last greats. Godspeed Maestro!
Conductor of the night James Conlon was sub’ing for Michael Tilson Thomas who cancelled this performance due to his brain surgery. He’s a familiar pinch hitter over the years at Chicago. IIRC, he stepped in for Haitink when he was ill unable to perform a few years back.
Shosty’s Op.110a is a biographical somber piece and the CSO strings gave a proper gravitas. At times I felt violins did not have enough tension but the principal cello Kenny Olson balanced out with his firm weighty delivery.
Gavrylyuk is a new name to me and I felt that his handling of Prokofiev’s 1st was rather too heavy at times. He made it sound like a Rachmaninoff piece! ( 3rd mvt. ) I much preferred wittier curt playing a la Argerich feel the right way for this tune but audience absolutely loved his showy style.
Prokofiev himself premiered this tune back in 1918 with CSO. I wonder how he have played!
Well, the final Schubert 3rd symphony, altho it was written when the composer was 18, is very much sound like a proper Schubert piece. I can hear similar melody line he used in the Great albeit this is a much shorter piece lasting a bit over 20 min. I did not particularly care for Conlon’s softtish legato style but he gave the score much larger-than-life scale which made the score presence and meaning it deserves.
Tonight’s concert was rather short and had to wear a mask at all time due to Pandemic regulation but I certainly enjoyed much anticipated outing for the night.
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Saw Richard Thompson in York yesterday. All accoustic set with his partner joining halfway through. As you might expect, a consumate professional and his guitar playing simply phenomenal. Played most of the favourites and some new material he wrote during lockdown. Thoroughly recommended 
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Seeing him at @Sage, Gateshead on Thursday. Was hoping his partner would join him on stage, thanks for posting this.
Saw Mary Coughlan last Friday in a small venue in Kendal. Sat centre and four rows back so a great seat. This is probably the best I’ve seen her in seven concerts. Voice strong and in a great mood with plenty of chat. What made the gig for me though was two of her covers, JD’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and The Blue Nile’s Family Life, both stunning.
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We had the wonderful Grupo Lokito on Saturday, who play a Congolese/Latin mix that’s just great for dancing. Lovely people and a brilliant evening.
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Great to hear she is in good form, I am really disappointed to have missed her.
Haven’t bought an album of hers in years, are there any of her recent albums you would recommend?
Her latest, Life Stories is certainly worth a purchase and listen.
I bought during lockdown and got a hand drawn picture with the CD.
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Gizz Butt, once of The Prodigy, and his bandmates kindly performed foc at the recent Cancer Research event we organised. Pretty good 
With a Beatles and Stones covers fed afternoon. Until the generator broke…
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Hi Magpie,
Yes Life Stories is good, certainly worth getting.
Ian (Makem!)
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Went to see Zeppelin Symphonica at the Palladium in London a couple of weeks ago. What an awesome production. Amazing play list and they did it really well. Some great vocalists and great arrangements for orchestra and band.
A third vote for Life Stories, a fantastic album, her ability to break your heart with a song followed by having you dancing with joy with the next one has stayed all through her career.
It’s worth buying from her website, I’ve done so a couple of times and like Simon the CD arrived with a little personal drawing from Mary, once a heart hand-drawn on the envelope in the same marker she’d use to sign the insert, which caused me a moment of worry until I opened it.
I’d also suggest Live and Kicking, as the name suggests live recordings from (I think) 2017, lots of her most loved numbers.
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Thanks @simon.pepper, @Blackstar and @Eoink, with three glowing reviews, how could I resist 
. Shame there doesn’t appear to be any on vinyl though.
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Don’t think Mary has embraced vinyl releases yet.
Will ask, next gig, during the post-gig ‘meet & greet’
I also listen to “The Whole Affair” compilation “Celebrating 25 years”, a double CD with Disc 2 being Live versions.
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Gruff Rhys at the Electric Ballroom in Camden last night. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen him live either solo or with SFA but well into double figures. Fantastic show last night and in the middle of set he played the whole of new album, Seeking New Gods, in its entirety. His best solo show yet.
Support from Bill Ryder- Jones who played a cracking cover of ‘If you don’t want me to destroy you’
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