Anneke Van Giersbergen–Fibbers, 21/09/12

As we walked into Fibbers tonight, slightly late due to the two “quick” pints of proper beer at a nearby pub, the first support had just started and, from what I initially heard, I feared that we might have been better staying for a couple more. (I’m joking, I always try to get to gigs on time to see the support – there can’t be much worse for them than seeing a venue fill up shortly after they have finished playing to a near empty room.)

Death Letters are a duo from The Netherlands – Duende on guitar and vocals and Victor on drums – who opened their set with a very heavy sound which all but drowned out the vocals before slowing down to a much quieter section which showed just how good a voice Duende has, then reverted back to something much louder where even his near screamed (I assume) vocals were swamped by the music. The set continued with occasional moments of quite contemplation and atmosphere being broken up by swathes of huge sound and frantic and enthralling drumming. Coming across as a smaller, heavier version of Tears of Ishtar, Death Letters recorded output may never find its way into my CD collection but they are one of the most exciting support acts I have seen for a long time.

I last saw Mojo Fury supporting Amplifier down the road at The Duchess and sort of enjoyed their set, despite the mix not doing them any favours. Tonight, they seemed to be playing to a completely non-responsive audience. Theirs is a mix of shoe-gazing rock, indie guitars and, at times, white rap vocals which reminded me of The Beastie Boys. (Last time, I compared the vocals to Talking Heads based on the one song in which the vocals came through…) Sadly, the 80’s reminiscent electronic backing track still features in their set and still does very little for me. The set started to get more interesting with a track which was introduced as being from their new album – I didn’t catch the title but it was the best so far, energetic with some nice interplay between guitar and drums. Something bordering on funkiness followed before that backing track put in an appearance for the last song of the set. Still not quite gelling for me, this was a better performance than the previous time I saw them and tonight’s set did get better (and the audience more enthusiastic) as it went on.

I freely admit that the only reason I was at tonight’s gig was because it was first brought to my notice by a Facebook post from Prog magazine. I had never heard of Anneke Van Giersbergen or The Gathering, the Dutch prog-rock band she fronted until 2007. But the fact that she had been in a prog band was enough to pique my interest. As, it seemed, it was for a portion of the audience – which was much bigger than I was expecting. T-shirts featuring the names European prog (Ayreon) and symphonic metal (Within Temptation, as well as the UK’s own Winter In Eden) bands were very much in evidence and the audience was heavily made up of long-haired males. So, it was quite a surprise when a large portion of the set was more pop than prog orientated, while still retaining rock roots. A look at the set-list here (which looks accurate, although I don’t remember her dancing amongst the audience) shows that it featured songs from The Gathering, a Devin Townsend cover and a Eurythmics cover, as well as her solo project Agua de Annique and the latest album – Everything Is Changing - which was released under her own name. Throughout the set Anneke’s gorgeous vocals, slightly accented and occasionally warbling, were only matched by her great smile and perhaps the prettiest guitar I have ever seen, personalised for Anneke herself and only used for one song, the much slower and achingly lovely Beautiful One. With the pop leanings, it was no surprise to see Anneke giving it all on stage, dancing throughout the set while, amusingly, the audience were much more restrained, with some vague head nodding being as much as some members were willing to partake in. Equally at home with quieter, more melodic songs such as Circles, which opened with just vocals and guitar, giving the rhythm section a breather and eventually utilising a strings backing track, as she was with the more powerful songs such as Saturnine, Anneke’s performance was only hampered by something completely out of her control – early on I mentioned to Andy that the sound seemed to be fading between the two banks of speakers and, eventually, the vocals at least were only coming from one set, giving the gig a slightly one-sided feel. (I have since been told that the pre-amp had gone on one set of speakers.) It’s a shame as this marred the gig a bit, making it a good one, rather than the excellent one I think it could have been if the sound had been right.

Kudos to Anneke, however, she not only battled one – perhaps not actually realising what was happening but definitely seeing the sound engineers frantically working away behind the speakers trying to fix the problem – but she also came straight off stage to “man” her own merchandise desk after the gig. There was no hint of precociousness as she made her way through the crowd (without a “minder” unlike at least one female artist I can think off) and happily chatted to each person as they got to the the table. I just have one slight complaint… £15 for a CD, when it’s less than a tenner on Play.com??? Of course, I still bought one. And got it signed.

DeeExpus and Manning–The Duchess, 08/09/12

What’s my favourite type of music? That’s easy – prog-rock. OK, but what is prog-rock? Well, it’s…. errrm.

The thing is, it’s probably easier to say that a piece of music isn’t prog-rock than to is to say that one is. According to the BBC’s three part documentary on the genre, prog died in the 80’s, it’s endless noodling, strange sensibilities and twenty-minute songs about Hobbits killed off by the three-minute madness, pogoing and spitting of the punk revolution. Except that it didn’t disappear and is now enjoying a revitalised wave of popularity exemplified by both chart success (album chart, obviously), magazine coverage and, recently, an inaugural awards ceremony. The concept albums are still around, although these days they are less concerned with fantasy tropes, but prog, while still revelling in its roots, is as it’s full name suggests still moving with (or past) the times and there are many varieties. Take tonight’s double-header gig, which featured two Northern-based bands that, although I had heard of, I hadn’t previously heard anything by.

DeeExpus are from the North-East and have been around since 2007, originally as a duo of Tony Wright and Andy Ditchfield and now as a full band, although Tony has had to take a leave of absence from the band. Coming on stage to an unintelligible voice-over, the band immediately burst into song which had a very heavy opening but which, in true prog style, included multiple changes of style and a keyboard-drenched instrumental section. This was followed by King Of Number 33, which started off quietly with acoustic guitar and keyboard before introducing a grinding electric riff and almost growled vocals and then leading into a second enthralling instrumental section. I didn’t realise at the time, but this was at least part of the half-hour long title (and concept) track of the band’s second album, proving at least one of my points above. The variation continued with the next track. A short instrumental introduced as a bedtime story, it once again opened in heavy fashion but with a jangly sound which evoked images of nursery rhymes in the background. After a false start with an unplugged guitar Greed featured keyboards which were slightly reminiscent of Genesis while Memo was introduced by Ditchfield as “I was going to sing this on the album but Nik Kershaw wanted to, so I let him…” I thought it was some kind of joke until I checked the album credits and found that the 80’s alternative to Duran Duran had indeed provided vocals for the slightly folky track. After another false start, due to what seemed to be a malfunctioning backing track, which nearly saw Maybe September being ditched from the set, we were treated to a different version of the song that Ditchfield introduced as “the most beautiful thing Tony has written” which open with just vocals and keys but, once again, led into a much heavier section which included “parping” keyboards. DeeExpus have a very modern-styled prog sound and it became obvious why with the final song of the set. PTtee is Ditchfield’s homage to his favourite band, written after he saw them live for the first time. And there are definite comparison’s to Porcupine Tree in DeeExpus’ output, although it has to be said that the recorded versions (yes, this was another gig where I bought a band’s full back catalogue – thankfully, this time, just two albums) aren’t quite as heavy as the live ones. A really enjoyable hour-long set, even with the slight problems.

Leeds-based Manning, on the other hand, are more reminiscent of the older style of prog. I usually find it difficult to make comparisons between bands – my musical knowledge simply doesn’t stretch that far – but the first thing that struck me about this set was how, physically anyway, it reminded me of Focus, with Guy Manning lording it over the band even while sitting behind a keyboard, stage left. This is a big band – two guitars, and three sets of keyboards, as well as the usual rhythm section and Domicile was delivered in a wall-of-sound style. The introduction of a flute for the second song inevitably invoked comparisons with Jethro Tull and Guy Manning’s vocals also had more than a hint of Ian Anderson in their delivery. I wasn’t to know it but Charlestown was about to blow me away (and, ultimately, decide one of the Manning albums I would purchase tonight). Another twenty-minute epic, delivered after a somewhat lengthy delay during which an acoustic guitar string was nearly replaced, it featured vocals suited to reciting a fantasy-story (or, indeed, on of the aforementioned concept albums) as it told a story inspired by the eighteenth century tall-ship voyages from Cornwall to Liverpool and back. The band were promoting their latest release, Akoustik – a kind of acoustic Best Of… – so a number or tracks were being played in acoustic style, if slightly rocked-up for the live set. This gave some of them a more folky sound, especially the likes of Margaret Montgomery, the story of a Scottish Witch, and its thematic sequel Revelation Road, which also managed to incorporate a more funky sound, while Lost In Play was a superb mixed bag of somehow medieval sound, hard rock and bottle-neck guitar-playing. Like a growing number of bands, Manning don’t perform encores but ended their set (“that was our last song and here’s another…”) with another brilliant track about finding love in the strangest of places. If I’d had more cash on me, I would almost certainly have bought whichever album that was from as well… This tour is the last time that the current line-up will be seen together, as guitarists Chris Catling and Kevin Currie are leaving the band (to be replaced by former member David Million). There was a remarkable camaraderie on stage, with both departing members joking with the audience and the rest of the band during breaks in playing. Strangely, most of the tonight’s audience seemed to be there to just see DeeExpus and the crowd (if it could be called that in the first place) felt a lot smaller while Manning were on stage. That was a shame because, of the two, I slightly preferred Manning. But then, I’ve been a prog fan for a very long time…

Charlotte Church–Fibbers, 28/07/12

I’m going to start this post with a caveat – due to a) being at a beer festival during the afternoon before this gig and b) forgetting to write it up until over six weeks afterwards (I blame the onset of the Olympics, during which I barely moved from in front of the TV, immediately followed by a two week holiday) my memories of the event aren’t quite as sharp as when I normally do these reviews. However, as this blog is primarily a personal record of who I have seen perform rather than any serious attempt at music journalism, I’m going to give it a go anyway.

Despite York being a relatively small city, with small music venues, every so often an advertised act will catch my eye in an “I can’t believe he/she/they are playing York” way. Even more rarely, said acts will also stir an “I’ve got to be there” feeling. Tonight was one such and, despite the fact that I knew I was probably opening myself up to more than a fair amount of abuse and mickey-taking, there was little chance of me missing this gig.

Support tonight came from Nico Cara who plays acoustic guitar and sings in a somewhat strange style – staccato, with every few syllables highly pitched. He seemed more than a little nervous, mumbling through the introductions to his four songs and the set came to an abrupt end just when I noted that he appeared to be growing in confidence. I picked up that one song was about suffering from writer’s block but that’s about all. His guitar playing varied from minimal to something much deeper but I’m afraid that, on this performance, the young lad didn’t do too much for me.

Maybe things would improve with Pony And Trap, a post-punk/alternative duo consisting of guitarist Tom Meyer and singer/percussionist Sally Rafferty, resplendent tonight in sparkly top and blue-dyed hair. The vocals are described as distinctive. I would say more “quirky” and the first song, John Green I think, seemed to consist less of lyrics than just the title repeated over and over with a few other words thrown in every so often. Tom switched between acoustic and electric guitars and at least one song had percussion added by a backing track. Unfortunately, like the first act, they did nothing for me. This time, however, it was more due to the fact that I just don’t get on with this type of music. Too quirky for my tastes, I’m afraid.

Jonathan Powell was an impromptu third support act, playing just three songs because the evening was running fast (maybe due to Nico’s rather short, abrupt set?) Charlotte Church’s guitarist, musical partner and, perhaps, boyfriend played acoustic guitar and his vocals seemed a lot more natural that the previous acts, although his first song was difficult to hear above the sound of the crowd who were, perhaps, getting a bit impatient by now. Upping the power slightly on the remaining songs he showed how good support acts can be and provided a pleasant, unbilled surprise.

After a short break Powell and the rest of the band took to the stage. As did Charlotte Church, with a wide smile and without any hint of showboating, shaggy-cut blonde hair giving the impression that she is slowly morphing into Debbie Harry. Playing a tour of small venues to promote her latest musical reinvention, brought immediately to the fore by the big drum and indie-guitar sound of the opening song, the former “voice of an angel” and tabloid-hounded teenage “hell raiser” (although, out of the spotlight, are many teenagers that different?) seemed genuinely pleased to be performing in front of a small but definitely appreciative audience. Indulging in medicinal honey between songs Charlotte and band performed a ten song set, none of which I remember hearing before (although, admittedly, I only have the pop of 2005’s Tissues and Issues in my CD collection) and many of which have been written as a result of recent events -  including her battles with the press and subsequent testimony at the Leveson Enquiry – and her apparent dislike of the mainstream as she hinted that the “suits in the music industry have shit for ears”. Sadly, although I know that I enjoyed her performance on the night, nothing has remained stuck with me musically (except for the opening of one song which I found memorable more for the annoying use of a loop to repeat an almost-shouted “Eh, eh, eh” than anything else). There wasn’t anything wrong with the performance and, it has to be said, Charlotte gave a nicely varied vocal performance and the songs themselves ranged from indie rock to disco. On the night I noted that Come To Me was the best song of the set, but I can’t remember any of it now. If there had been an album available on the night I would almost certainly have bought it but the only mention of a new release was the EP One. Although I wouldn’t have liked to miss this gig, I find that it has faded all to quickly from my mind, in a musical sense anyway. After all, that genuine smile and the fact that Charlotte doesn’t do encores because she “feels like a twat” (imagine it being said in a Welsh accent…) are going to be hard to forget.