I did enjoy Slow Horses and particularly Oldman's performance, but it did get more and more ridiculous.
No argument about that. I wish I had never read the books, which are increasingly daft, at least until the third one where I gave up, and then I could have enjoyed the telly programme more, where daftness and unnatural wisecracking dialogue doesn’t bother me so much. I think I have mentioned on here before I am absolutely hooked on Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels. Apparently there were plans to film these with Tom Hanks, but came to nothing. Quite glad about that.
I went to see Nile Rodgers at Hampton Court Palace tonight. It was a birthday present from my wife. It was superb, a lovely setting and just ten minutes up the road from where I live. He played all the hits that he had with Chic, Sister Sledge and songs he had written with and for Beyonce, Diana Ross, Madonna, David Bowie, Daft Punk and Duran Duran. He's definitely musical royalty and his band were great too.
Saw him at Hyde Park supporting Duran Duran a couple of years ago. He was definitely the highlight of the day. I think he plays a lot of outdoor gigs here and in Europe every summer, highly recommended.
On BBC4 now King Otto and Football’s Greek Gods, about Otto Rehhagel coaching Greece, including their win at the Euros in 2004. It’s fascinating, as much about a clash of cultures and a single amazingly strong and stubborn personality as football. After the tournament the Germans asked Rehhagel to manage them and he turned them down. Well, I absolutely loved that.
I know you can barely contain your excitement……Shakespeare review time! Merry Wives of Windsor at the RSC, cheap locals last minute tickets thankfully for this. It’s rubbish, despite multiple five star reviews. A stupid and quite nasty farce/ revenge comedy which, I learned later, people who study Shakespeare reckon he wrote in a hurry because the Queen told him to do another play with Falstaff in, and which he really didn’t want to stage. Shouting, stupid accents, comes across as a very overlong poorly written 70s sitcom that wasn’t commissioned. The basic play is bad and nothing about this production redeemed the source material for me. Still, I didn’t have to watch the Jocks hanging on to hope…..
Avoided too much booze last night as now on the the way down to London to meet with Nines and Stroller for lunch and the match in a pub. I suspect it could get messy. Got a little RoMa Craft half corona, my new favourite short smoke, if I get the opportunity. Man that play was ****. My wife asked if I wanted to leave at the interval but by that time I was fascinated by its direness.
You + Nines + Stoller × Pub = Lost Weekend!! Half Corona or a Short Robusto the way to go especially if you're on for a big session up West
We are enjoying the Netflix mini-series, "Eric", starring Benedict Cumberbatch. A story about a search for a missing boy and an eye opening view into addictions, corrupt city governance and street life in NYC..
Superb evenings entertainmemt. Came on at 7.30, did an hour and 15 minute, 15 minute break, then another hour. Played everything you'd expect, flawless rendition of Echoes @SW Ranger and One of These Days was brilliant too. Didn't realise that Gary Kemp was in the band, he's some guitar player, but Mason is the real star, especially seeing as he's 80 - there's hope for you yet Strolls
I'm going to see them at the Albert Hall next week and can't wait. I've seen videos and was pleasantly surprised at how good Gary Kemp was. I think Guy Pratt is the unsung hero, though.
Glastonbury so far....PJ Harvey, superb....LCD Soundsystem, great....IDLES headlining the Other Stage are on fire, on top of their game
I'd have loved to have seen Pink Floyd at the UFO Club in 1967, but even I'm not quite old enough to have managed that. Last night was a pretty good second best, though - Nick Masons Saucerful of Secrets at the Albert Hall. A thoroughly enjoyable evening with some really great stand-out moments, top of which for me was an amazing rendition of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. A perfect venue and some great music played by musicians at the top of their game. We went into a pub nearby after the gig and, just as I was about to order, a couple of young fellas - probably late twenties - came up and asked if we'd been at the gig. When we said we had they insisted on buying us drinks as a thank you for our generation have giving them such great music! I tried to decline, explaining that my contribution to the Floyd back catalogue was minimal, but they wouldn't take no for an answer.
Yep, they were superb in Glasgow last week. I went to the Big City Festival last night, curated by Mogwai with bands from their own record label...coined as Glasgowbury as it clashed with some minor event down in Somerset. Some brilliant artists, although you would have to be a fan of certain genres to enjoy it. Beak> were good, with their trippy experimental rock - ex Portishead members part of the group. Nadine Shah was full of energy and put on a great set, followed by shoegaze stars Slowdive...must admit, didn't realise they were still going, have a couple of albums from their heyday in the 90s. Final act of the night were Glasgows own Mogwai. I'm still in awe of the show they put on....a wall of noise that made your bones shake. Some special moments for me, Drive the Nail and We're no Here blindingly brilliant with some very good light effects, and the finale of Mogwai Fear Satan, all 18 minutes of it, had the crowd screaming for more. New album next year.. can't ****in wait! It's a new event at Queens Park Recreation Ground, a big top tent that holds 6000... Waterboys played on Friday night and we're going back to see The Charlatans tonight. An absolute treat of a night
Daughter and her mates have blagged their way into seeing Kings of Leon in Hyde Park today. Obviously not too popular as they only decided to go a couple of hours ago. The Vaccines also on the bill, not sure how they’ll go down in a park. Have only seen bits of Glastonbury, not impressed with either of the headliners on Friday and Saturday. The whole thing looks like the seventh circle of hell to me, though I’m sure that there are great things happening on the small stages.
We saw Kings of Leon at T in the Park years ago....they were dreadful, we lasted three songs.... thankfully Nick Cave was playing on the NME Stage so we ended up leaving our group and watching the dark lord of goth - result. There's been some good sets away from the main stage at Glastonbury, I've watched a fair bit. The headliners are all a bit meh. I'm glad I did my stint down there back in the 90s when it was still relatively small, I don't think it looks like a pleasant experience these days, far too sanitized and far, far too many people
New program, think it's Netflix, Supacell...it's like Top Boy meets The Boys. Based in South London, group of strangers start getting super powers and have to team up to fight against the agency set out to destroy them. All against a backdrop of council estates and drug dealers. Only six episodes, it's good fun
