Skip to main content

Lost in the mist



A bit of an impromptu visit to Clwb Ifor Bach on 14th October to partake of the weird and wonderful Mistys Tour. An excellent turnout to boost proceedings, nobody seemed to be put off to by first support band The Haze. The band had some well rehearsed stolen riffs, an atrocious wailing singer but ultimately nothing new or exciting.

The main support were, once again, the equally zany Kate Goes. Frontwoman Kate seemed to be a bit apprehensive due to some perceived negativity at her previous Cardiff support slot for Mistys back at the Point last November. The audience were incredibly appreciative and despite the odd slip-up, Kate Goes got an excellent reception, which they definitely deserved. Everyone was well and truly warmed up for Mistys' entrance. They have a new album out (Funny Times) so the set list contained quite a few songs from this, including I Can't Bring The Time Back, How Did You Manage To Get Inside My Head, Keep Moving, Serious, The Long Conveyor Belt plus old favourites Fashion Parade, Two Brains, The Day The Kids Went Radioactive, Never Stops Never Rests Never Sleeps, Evil, The Story of Love, Hey Man... I think that's most of them covered! The Erotic Volvo was on fine form, too. More info and tracks on website and myspace.

What's next? Another visit to Sheffield in November to see Jeff Scott Soto, preceded by old rockers Skid Row. Hat & scarf are packed already...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .
4 comments
Read more

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of  Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed
1 comment
Read more

Guitar week: Gitarrissima and Sean Shibe

Almost at the Christmas break and hectic as ever! This last week was a two-concerts week (with a Christmas party in the middle) and it was guitars all round. First up, on 11th December, were Gitarrissima of Vienna at Skipton Music . The quintet (reduced to a quartet on Tuesday due to illness) performed A Christmas Celebration - seasonal music and a very jolly evening all round. The group perform on a mixture of concert guitars, an octave guitar and an acoustic bass guitar and the sound is remarkably rounded, not necessarily to be expected for reductions of orchestral pieces. Each set of pieces was introduced by a different member of the group. In a lot of ways, Gitarrissima reminded me of Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain with their clever arrangements of well-known pieces as well as musical excellence. The programme included excerpts (arranged by the group) of Bizet's Carmen , Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, all of which were performed very well but som
Post a Comment
Read more