Skip to main content

The Who Are Alrght

New month, new gig. M and I journeyed along the coast to Swansea for the inaugural concert at the Liberty Stadium, accompanied by the sun, thankfully.

Now the official first band to play the Liberty Stadium, first on were Stuart Cable (formerly of Stereophonics) new band Killing For Company. We hadn't previously heard any of their material. They were entertaining, but what we expected them to be rather than any surprises. New single Enemies out 4th June, see their website for details.



Next up and another blast from the past, The Charlatans. Wasn't that much of a fan the first time, but they were good, and they played their hits including North Country Boy. There were clearly a few Charlatans fans in the crowd who were kept very happy, but not much interaction with the crowd from the band.



Onto the main act, who certainly pleased the crowd with 2hrs 15mins of play! The Who set included: I Can't Explain, The Seeker (with 1 power cut), Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere, Baba O'Riley, Who Are You (with 3 power cuts), The Real Me, Real Good Looking Boy, You Better You Bet, The Kids Are Alright, one track from their 2006 album Endless Wire, ending with My Generation and Won't Get Fooled Again. Encore included Pinball Wizard, Sparks, another power cut and an acoustic song to end, to which I don't know the title!



Right. The power cuts - teething troubles on the part of the stadium, it seems, so we got 3 nearly finished versions of Who Are You, it wasn't finished properly so as not to jinx the set!! After that all went well until the encore. Seems to have been linked to the video screens. These were used well (when not cutting the electric!), often showing the original videos to the older songs (in the vein of the Stones). The crowd were hugely enthusiastic, so it was a shame that the show wasn't a sell-out. The Who are raising money for charity by selling CD and/or DVD recordings of the concert, see this link for information. Were they as good as the Rolling Stones? Tis a very tough question.



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 ...