An evening off from Music and Beyond on Friday saw M and I at the NAC for the summer spectacular that is The Fellowship of The Ring - Live In Concert. A completely packed Southam Hall with a fair few concertgoers in some sort of fancy dress (I spotted at least one pair of Elf ears) taking advantage of the 'pub' set in the foyer. The performance was wonderful: in terms of the music, the percussion, brass and choral aspects were the most effective live. I'm sure we heard little bits here and there that I've never before noticed in the soundtrack. I had to keep reminding myself to look and listen to the NAC Orchestra - as usual, the film engrossed me. It was also interesting to see the theatrical version again, although being so used to the extended editions, the theatrical version did feel rather truncated. Very enjoyable and I hope the second and third films are also performed 'In Concert'.
A jaunt en masse down to the Coal Exchange last night (23rd) to see The Subways excel again. For once we weren't massively early (in some ways to avoid the queues of teenagers) so arrived part way through the first support band. They are called Wry, from Brazil even! They were decent and will probably merit listening to further. Best option the ubiquitous myspace . Eagerly anticipated the main support, The Sunshine Underground, of whom I'd heard good words... They more than lived up to their expectations, with my only real niggle about their sound... whether it was the singer's style or sound mix I'm not sure but their show was at parts ear-splitting - explains my slight deafness today! Otherwise excellent, not an easy band to categorise, but my impressions were somewhere between Alabama 3 and the Killers' Hot Fuss album; dancing music too. Well worth going to see - just take earplugs! (or in my case, actually go out and buy some). I believe one can listen to the...
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