Skip to main content

Zuton Fever

Many smiles last night for The Zutons' long awaited gig at Cardiff Students Union. And the rain held off as well...

Once inside (note to self - get real tickets next time!), we were entertained by 2 supports. First on were The Grates. Quite an interesting sound from this trio (plus occasional keyboardist), between a style reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more 'jangly indie' leanings. I preferred their louder songs, which seemed to show off singer Patience's voice better than the 'janglier' bits (though it may be said singer's dancing that put me off at times...). Even a bit of banter with the audience! Not bad for a support slot, samples at their myspace. Second on, The Little Flames. Personally, I'd rather they hadn't bothered, not impressed at all with their songs (tune, anyone?). But as I'm generous, they have a link too.

Thankfully The Little Flames were off by 9pm leaving 30 minutes for the crowd to get very excited! Too excited for some who insisted on spraying the crowd with beer - I just don't get that. The Zutons started off with a bang, first track was current single Why Won't You Give Me Your Love. Most of the second album made the set list, along with old favourites. As much as I can remember, tracks included Havana Gang Brawl, Pressure Point, Tired of Hanging Around, Dirty Dancehall (dedicated to the city of Cardiff for assisting in Liverpool's FA Cup success), Oh Stacey, Hello Conscience, Confusion, Its The Little Things We Do, You Will You Won't. Plus the encore: Zuton Fever, next single Valerie plus an instrumental. Oops - it seems I've missed posting any comments on said second album - excellent! I think I may actually prefer it to Who Killed The Zutons?, especially Valerie :)

M and I really enjoyed this show - highly recommended but I think their tour's sold out... Much more polished sound than previously (the dark days of January 2004 if I remember right), and improved 'working the crowd' skills.

Other bits & bobs, Keith Richards seems to be recovering from his well-publicised fall, still hoping that the tour makes it to Cardiff on time! And speaking of current bands, The Kooks are touring again in the autumn, coming to Cardiff on 10th October. Hoping to get tickets this time... been a while since December's slot with The Subways...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Music, Poetry and Cake (Gateshead and Lanchester)

Piano at the ready! (by M) After a good few months prep, the concert Piano Music and Poetry (organised through the Gateshead Piano Workshop folks) came around pretty quickly. As one of the participants, I was excited and also a little nervous about the prospect of a Paying Audience. The work paid off, as all the performers were excellent! Well appreciated by the compact audience. The format was in relation to National Poetry Day which was on 2nd October. Each performer chose a poem either in direct or indirect relation to their piece. A summary of the programme: Alan - Liszt Consolation No 4 and Mozart Adagio in B minor Graeme - Chopin Nocturne Op. 62 No. 2 with 'Uncertainty' by Adam Mickiewicz me - Clara Schumann, andante con sentimento with 'Clara Wieck und Beethoven' by Franz Grillparzer Jim - R Schumann Kinderszenen 1 and 7 with 'My child, we were just children' by Heinrich Heine Ernie - Debussy Clair de lune with excerpt from 'Fêtes g...

Sounds of JUNOfest

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments   in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar . Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars... A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs , were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable.  After a short break -  in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few ...