Fantastic Everly Brothers stuff on BBC4 tonight. Here's their 1983 Albert Hall reunion concert... The Everly Brothers at the Royal Albert Hall - Bing video If you don't fancy watching the whole thing, skip to the last 5 minutes, then you will.
It’s the same at all the old 2 Tone bands…The Selector and The Beat had more Fred Perry than you could wave a ****ty stick at…all worn by fat old blokes up for a laugh and dance. Enjoy
Plenty of those about tonight. Really enjoyed myself tonight, as did the whole family. The last time I saw the Specials was in 1980, and as expected this was a totally different experience. To my surprise not many Coventry references throughout, and sadly Nev didn’t turn up, though Lynval did his best to cover. Horace Panter was the most animated, bouncing around all over the stage, and getting quite dub at times. All the old favourites were played, plus a few from the new album, covers of protest songs - Lynval’s version of Get Up Stand Up with only guitar accompaniment was great. But my favourite was a song which I’d almost forgotten, Friday Night, Saturday Morning. Crowd went pretty mental for a few, especially Monkey Man. Sadly my machine won’t allow me to post clips from the phone ‘wrong file extension’ or something. Hope Hoop Leif enjoyed himself as well, we decided not to try to meet in a noisy, dark exhibition hall, and will aim for a pub and/or the Cov away game. I love live music.
So jealous. Still got a couple of weeks til my gig return. How did you find the venue and the crowd re:Covid? Did you feel uncomfortable in proximity to so many people? Mrs Steels pulled out of a gig on Friday night as the case rate up here is through the roof - for obvious reasons, she's terrified of getting it again.
Hate to be a spoiler guys but series two is terrible. Very poorly written. It’s as if the first season was a surprise success and they rushed out a second. Just my worthless opinion. I’d be interested to see if you agree.
The venue was a big exhibition hall/barn like thing where there was plenty of space if you wanted it, despite a big crowd. Actually their stage set was not really up to the space, sound was fine but it seemed designed for a smaller venue. Three of us stayed back at the mixing desk level where you had a couple of yards space and could dance, but of course my lad was right at the front. Very few masks being worn (we didn’t) no special measures from the venue apart from a request to lateral flow test pre event (we didn’t, all double jabbed). Only thing I avoided was the massive queue for the hyper pricey drinks, which was all funnelled through a single bottleneck. To be honest, various pubs and the stadium itself for the Millwall game a few weeks ago felt much more risky. My wife was very nervous about it as well, she has been very careful all the way through and this was her first experience of a big crowd. But as soon as the music started she was fine, and not a mention of COVID on the way back.
…..but of course it was risky compared to staying at home and I’m sure more infections will result. In your wife’s position I would probably feel the same way.
Caught up with the first two episodes of the new House through Time series yesterday, this time a Victorian terraced house in Headingley, Leeds. As with Gone Fishing, I was half expecting this to have run it’s course, but it’s as fascinating as ever. And a welcome return to form for David Olusoga, after his completely arselicking ‘interview’ with Barrack Obama to promote Obama’s book. Recommended.
I'm recording it, but have watched the first one. As you say, it's every bit as fascinating as the earlier ones. I'd love to know what kind of selection process they have to go through to find a worthy property.
They must have an army of researchers on this. I can’t remember what the connection is for Leeds, though he did mention it, but so far all the cities have a link for Olusoga - grew up in Newcastle, Uni in Liverpool, lives in Bristol now…..
Didn’t realise there was a new series as recently upgraded to SkyQ and all my series links were on the old box. Thanks for the heads up G. Love that series
Advanced notice music fans - original line up of the Damned, including Rat Scabies and Brian James, on a brief tour next February 11-19, covering Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and a couple of nights in London. 45th (forty ****ing fifth!!!) anniversary of the release of New Rose, a life changing and life affirming event for many. I’ll be there in Brum. I hope they haven’t dumped all the members of the current version of the Damned, who provide a great live experience.
They were on at a festival I went to couple of years ago (my last one prior to Covid) although I have no recollection of seeimg them, or any other band from about 8pm that night. No idea what happened, but I lost about four hours of my life, getting back to the tent at about 1am, although **** knows how I managed to find it. Absolutely out of my box pished, only clues were some very blurred photos on my phone of bands that til this day I don't remember seeing. The dangers of copious amounts of home brew, real ale and a bottle of port - man, was I rough the next day and the missus was in a foul mood as I'd ditched her with our pals before I went loco
Just started watching the Sky Documentary called The Longest War, which chronicles the conflict in Afghanistan and the human stories behind what has happened out there. Truly an amazing piece of film that helps to explain the origins of the conflict, how it panned out and where it might be going for the people who live there. Was filmed and created by Greg Barker and the creators of Homeland. Worth watching if you want some facts behind the story.
Love this. Michael Holding's accent tales me back to my youth in Harlesden. Desert Island Discs - Michael Holding, cricketer - BBC Sounds A great cricketer and a great broadcaster.
There’s a strange sort of fly on the wall documentary on iPlayer - BBC3 called Garage People. It follows a number of what seem like poverty ridden Russians who have hobbies / work around these decrepit lock ups. I found it interesting.
He's sadly retired from commentating. I loved listening to 'Whispering Death' on the commentary team.