End of year gigs: The Unthanks in Winter and a bunch of old punks

A couple of Wednesdays ago, Sarah and I met up with our good friend Tom in the People's Republic of Stroud (TM) for a very seasonal concert from Northumberland's finest, The Unthanks. The venue was The Sub Rooms ( formerly and formally The Subscription Rooms ), where I'd previously seen the likes of Tenpole Tudor, Buzzcocks and the Poison Girls. This time, however, the recently-restored ballroom wasn't hosting crusty Punk rockers ( more of them later! ) but some good old folkin' folk music. It was a very civilised affair: an all-seated venue with signs forbidding us from taking photos or filming the concert. At least this means you're spared more of my blurry gig photos...

Support came from Katherine Priddy, a young folk singer / guitarist with a gorgeous voice ( and face! ) and some gently confessional songs. Apparently, her recorded work features more instrumentation but, for this tour, it was just her and a guitar. She said the song Does She Hold You Like I Did? should feature some mariachi-type horns, but we'd just have to imagine them. Songs like that one and First House on the Left were quietly lovely and showcased Katherine's virtuoso guitar-playing, which really was something special to witness. Her set was a short, sweet treat and expertly set the scene for the main event.

The show was billed as "The Unthanks In Winter" and that was exactly what they delivered as all the songs were themed around Winter and Christmas, with familiar tunes and carols expertly weaved into the folk music, old and contemporary. The band's instruments included saxophone, fiddle and vibraphone, and many of the 8-piece ensemble swapped instruments throughout the evening. The music ebbed and flowed, from joyous to melancholy, taking in echoes of jazz and classical, always impeccably played and with a lovely, counterintuitively warm sound. Of course, the main feature of the show was the gorgeous sound of Rachel and Becky Unthank's voices. Their Tyneside burr brings a naturalistic, conversational tone to their songs of love, work, family and history, and it was also a pleasure to hear them talk candidly about themselves, their music and their father, who is a huge influence on their career. 

At times they encouraged the audience to sing along, which many did with gusto, especially the woman sitting next to me who is apparently part of a choir. ( I kept quiet. ) Those more connected to the folk world would probably know which songs were new and which traditional, but I'm ignorant of such things, and thought they all sounded wonderful anyway. The sisters told us how cool they thought Stroud was, which obviously delighted the ageing-hipster "Stroudie" audience, as they're always up for some back-slapping. It was a lovely evening, with some fantastic, emotionally-charged music, only slightly marred by the bloody uncomfortable "school chairs" we had to sit on...

After the show, the sisters stood and talked to the punters as we filed out of the venue. Sarah spoke to Rachel, telling her they were "beautiful girls with beautiful voices"  -  can't argue with that. Sarah, Tom and I sloped off to The Lord John, Stroud's cheap 'n' cheerful Wetherspoons, for a post-gig catch-up and then we all headed for home. It was, after all, a school night...

As a total change of pace, we went to our beloved Gloucester Guildhall on Friday night to see legendary Gloucester punks Demob play their 45th anniversary celebration show. Lead "singer" Andy K came back from California for this one, and a load of old punks turned up in support. We picked up our friend Caz and roared into town for some rock 'n' roll action...

We missed the first band, The Youth Within, ( probably no great loss ) but were of course down the front dead on time for Stroud Disco Punks (TM), Chinese Burn! Ed from the Burn had got me in on the guest list, so it was the least we could do ;-)

Chinese Burn surprised absolutely no-one by being the best band of the night. Their melodic R&B-inflected Pop Punk was as fun as ever, and the short set meant they played ( most of ) their best songs with a minimum of fuss. I hadn't seen them for a few years so it was an absolute pleasure to catch them yet again. Ben emotionally dedicated the set to the late, great Shane MacGowan who passed away recently, which was a lovely touch. They closed with the epic Defending Stalingrad, which I still think has one of the greatest lyrics I've ever heard from a Punk band, famous or otherwise.

Next up were Cheltenham "Horror Punks" The Screaming Dead, a local band who've seemingly been going forever but whom I've strangely never seen. They were average Goth fare, entertaining enough but not too memorable. I did remark to Sarah that the singer looked like Alice Cooper if he'd been dead in a river for a couple of weeks... which was probably a bit harsh.

At last, Demob themselves hit the stage, following a video about the band by my mate Glenn, which was sadly a failure as one of the Guildhall techies had turned the sound off. Oops! Demob kicked off in true Street Punk style with early-80s anthem Anti-Police, its lyrics about police brutality still sadly relevant. They pounded out their meat 'n' potatoes, no frills Punk with a surprisingly ferocious energy for a band who hadn't played together for a couple of years and had had only one practice. Never the most subtle of bands, Demob can still be relied on for some raw, angry music, and certainly got the crowd going nuts down the front. I definitely enjoyed this kind of thing more when I was about 16, but it was fun to relive the days of Teenage Adolescence, to quote another Demob song title. After their best song No Room For You, the set kind of fizzled out but I think Andy and the boys ( including half of Borrowed Time ) did themselves proud and certainly pulled the biggest crowd I can remember them having. After the gig I asked Andy how his California accent was coming along  -  he said he's still a Gloucester boy at heart: "You can take the boy out of the Shire, but you can't take the Shire out of the boy."

It was a good night out with some great music, and some half-decent music, but mostly it was lovely to catch up with a whole load of people I hadn't seen in ages. A great evening to round out what has been an outstanding year for live gigs.

Random Januaryness ( featuring Star Wars! Punk rock! Welsh mountains! )

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a month called January in a year called 2020.
A ( band of heroic resistance fighters  ) good-for-nothing, lazy blogger decided he should get his blog back on track and post his futile thoughts more regularly. To prove his utter commitment to this idea he didn't post anything until the month called February. This month. Now. Starting with...

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
Late to the party as ever, I finally got round to watching SW:TROS ( great acronym! ) last weekend.
I dragged my old friend Kev along as well  -  like me, he had also grown up watching the original Star Wars movies back in the good / bad ol' days of the '70s and '80s.
I'd recently re-watched Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, just so I could remind myself where the space saga had got to in the previous installment. I'd certainly enjoyed that movie when it was released but now, on my third or fourth viewing, I realised that I really liked it. In fact, I'd say it's the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. Heresy? Maybe. For me, TLJ is a superior Star Wars segment ( alliteration alert! ) because it dares to move the story along, to provide some actual character development and decent dialogue, plus there are some gorgeous visuals along the way. With that in mind, what did I think of JJ Abrams' saga-closing Chapter IX?
Well, it was pretty good. I enjoyed it. Talk about damning with faint praise?

Because it was the final Star Wars ever ever ever ( until Disney decide to reboot it all with James Bay or Zack Snyder in charge ) there were a lot of nostalgic, fan-pleasing elements to the movie  -  old characters returning ( some warranted, some not ), many call-backs to previous chapters and a general feeling that this was, again, Star Wars' Greatest Hits  -  The Remix. And mostly that was all fine. There were some spectacular space battles ( hey, it's Star Wars! ), a proper resolution to the Rey / Kylo Ren storyline and a warmly nostalgic ( there's that word again ) epilogue with Rey visiting the old Skywalker homestead on Tattooine where the whole epic had begun.

However, I was disappointed that most of the narrative themes and ideas introduced in TLJ were abandoned by JJ. I thought that the "Rise" of the title would have referred to a rebirth of the Force in the universe as hinted at by that Sorcerer's Apprentice moment at the end of the last movie, but that was seemingly forgotten. The question of Rey's parentage which looked to have been resolved in the last installment was clumsily reintroduced with the previous message that "anyone can be a hero" now negated by retrospectively inserting her story into yet another hidden lineage. And the sidelining of Kelly Marie Tran's character Rose looked very much like a cowardly caving-in to the reactionary #notmyskywalker bigots, and was very disappointing.
Maybe there should have been a more over-arching plan for these movies? It did come across like each part of this latest trilogy was a reaction to previous stories ( whether for good or bad ) and not a concerted whole. All in all, SW:TROS was a fun movie, sufficiently pleasing to old fans like me and certainly not the car-crash that the prequels were. I just wish it could have been something more.

Back down to Earth now, and on the 18th of January I went to my first gig of the year, a benefit for Cheltenham's food bank at the Frog & Fiddle. This went by the moniker of Punks Against Poverty and boasted some top local ( or relatively local ) bands.

Sophie had been home over Christmas so we persuaded her to come along for some ear-blasting Punk rock 'n' roll  -  and a few drinks. Here are Sarah, Sophie and myself with good friend and Borrowed Time superstar Glenn.
We missed the first band who had the un-promising name of Pretty Vacant but saw second on the bill Ska-Punksters King's Alias who played an energetic set, strangely featuring some distorted acoustic guitar noise. After them, all the way from the People's Republic of Stroud, it was time for my most-watched band of all time, the mighty Chinese Burn...

The Burners were on fine form, their catchy Pop/Punk/Disco/ Rock 'n'Roll enlivening the crowd and seemingly making some new converts. Frontman Ben Rigsby was as ever a whirling Dervish, busting out his best Iggy / Rotten / Jagger-esque moves whilst being a danger to the life and limb of his band mates, all the while spitting out his literate, intelligent and acerbic lyrics. I'm always grateful that they're still up there, still blasting out such faves as Shut Your Mouth, John Belushi's Dead and Defending Stalingrad, especially as lead guitarist Dave had been quite ill recently and this was his first gig back with the band. Well done Dave! What a trouper.

Next up were the constantly-gigging Borrowed Time, playing on home turf for the first time in a while and assaulting our ears with their Punk-Metal anthems. BT classics like Under The Radar, Chains and the eco-warning of The Day We Broke The World sounded as impactful as ever and they even unveiled a new song ( the title escapes me now ) which added to their arsenal of sharp, angry songs. They may be living on borrowed time but they're making the most of every minute.

Then there came a surprise as legendary Gloucester Punks Demob played a couple of impromptu numbers. They had all been at the venue, either playing in other bands or as punters, so decided to hit us with some old skool Street Punk for a good cause. Loud, righteous and subtle as a flying brick, Demob may not be to everybody's taste but they always mean business.

The headliners were Swindon's Slagerij ( Dutch for "butcher's" apparently ) who were yet more purveyors of Ska-Punk. I'm not really a fan of this style  -  it can be very generic and I always feel slightly uncomfortable about the cultural appropriation involved  -  but Slagerij certainly put on a great show. Very enthusiastic, very tight and extremely proficient with a pleasingly goofy approach after some far more serious bands. All summed up by their song and probable motto "Turn It Up... Rip The Knobs Off!"
So, a fun night supporting a worthy cause. Here's another pic of us happy punters... with added Caz!

After all that, er, glamour ( cough! ) I'm going to end with some lovely views of freezing cold Snowdonia. I mean, why not? A couple of weeks back we moved Sophie up to North Wales where she'll be training for her next season as a dancer at Haven holiday parks. We spent a very brief and bloody cold time taking photos of the landscape on the journey back. An absolutely stunning area  -  we'll definitely have to go back some time and explore it properly.

Recent Gigs Part Two: The Beat and From The Jam

My last gigs of that long-lost year 2014 included a couple of old favourites at my local rock 'n' roll Mecca, Gloucester's Guildhall. First up were The Beat ( Ranking Roger pictured above ) bringing their now-traditional Christmas party to the Shire. And when I say "Christmas party" I mean red hot, summery, skankin' ska action... in December. Sarah had wanted to come along to this gig ( mostly for the chance to see Roger take his shirt off... ) but wasn't feeling too good, so I persuaded James to fill in for her. He's always said he "doesn't like reggae" but I told him that I couldn't imagine anyone with a pulse not enjoying The Beat's exuberant, addictive rhythms   -  and, anyway, this is SKA...
But, before that Black Country beat we had to enjoy, sorry that should read "endure", support band Boys From County Hell. I always try to be positive on this 'ere blog and if I see a particularly bad band I tend to just not write about them... but this lot were something else. Aside from the fact that a Pogues-y folk band seemed a strange fit for supporting The Beat ( it seems to be a thing lately  -  The Levellers recently supported The Selecter too ) I thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Oh dear. They played some of the worst hey-nonny-nonny drivel ever, with some incredibly poor vocals and doomed, desperate attempts to urge an uninterested crowd to sing along to songs that no-one knew. When they started to murder the peerless Fairytale Of New York I had to leave the room. Luckily the Guildhall has a separate bar and an art gallery so James and I managed to escape with our ears and sanity intact and checked out some proper culture.

Then The Beat came on and all was forgotten. If not forgiven. As ever, the band were excellent  -  pumping out so much energy, positive vibes and righteous rhythms that the whole venue felt like it was moving. Which, in fact, it was as we all bounced around on the sprung floor of this former ballroom. Hit after hit came skanking our way: Save It For Later, Too Nice To Talk To, Stand Down Margaret, the immortal Mirror In The Bathroom, the Roadrunner-soundalike Two Swords and, of course Tears Of A Clown. One of the best moments of the night was a slow and soulful Doors Of Your Heart, the band ably demonstrating they can master a mellow groove as well as uptempo, uptown, top rankin' ska beats. The father and son partnership of Ranking Roger and Ranking Junior are some of the best frontmen you're ever likely to see, both fantastic singers and performers, literally bouncing off each other as they criss-cross the stage with boundless energy. And, much to the dismay of many in the audience, Roger didn't actually take his shirt off, even in the cooking temperatures of the stage lights  -  he only rolled it up to partly reveal his impressive physique. I took the blurry photo below for Sarah but it doesn't quite do him justice :-)

And with the traditional final song, the rousing Jackpot, The Beat were gone, leaving us all knackered but happy... and leaving James a convert to their warm, sun-kissed sound. See you next year, guys!

A week later I was back in the Guildhall again, this time to see From The Jam, playing the classic Jam album Setting Sons in its entirety, on its 35th anniversary. Support came from Stroud's finest, the mighty Chinese Burn, legendary frontman Ben Rigsby above. As any long-time reader of TGWS will know I'm a major fan of the Burn and have probably seen them perform more times than any other band. I'm also glad to say that they're friends of mine but, even if I didn't know them, I'd still turn up for their gigs because they are just one of the best modern practitioners of melodic, intelligent Punk, on a good night easily a match for any classic '77-era group. They've got the sound, the tunes and the effortless charisma and idiosyncratic lyrics of Mr. Rigsby  -  a killer combo. Anyway, they went down a storm at the Guildhall, as they always do, probably one of the best sets I've seen them play. Below is a view of the audience, photo taken by Ben, with me front and centre, looking very red-faced in the heat. It didn't help that I was wearing my pin-stripe blazer to fit in with the Mod vibe of the headliners.
 ( My mate Rob said I looked like I was running for prime minister... )

From The Jam came on stage to the sound of a ringing phone ( and a cheering audience ) with Bruce Foxton asking "Should we answer that?" and then, of course, ripped into Power Pop classic Girl On The Phone, with its cheeky lyrics about groupies and stalkers. From then on, with us in the palms of their hands, FTJ ripped their way through such fantastic songs as The Eton Rifles, Thick As Thieves, Little Boy Soldiers and Smithers-Jones, each one a fizzing cocktail of great tunes, stinging hooks and acerbic lyrics. These songs of class warfare, suburban desperation and willing cannon-fodder still sound as pertinent today as they did 35 years ago, when Foxton and the long-absent Paul Weller first wrote them. From The Jam are the nearest thing we'll get to The Jam nowadays  -  the original band will never reform but Foxton's version are a credible alternative, fiery and passionate, avoiding the dreaded tribute band status by actually recording and releasing new material. Lead singer Russell Watson may not have Weller's voice but is a fine frontman who knows when to lead and when to let Foxton ( the real focus of the group ) claim the spotlight.

As you can see from the blurry photo above, From The Jam are very enthusiastic and energetic on stage... which doesn't make them easy to capture with a camera phone :-)
After the Setting Sons set they fired off a selection of The Jam's greatest hits, much to the delight of the crowd  -  Going Underground, Start, This Is The Modern World, The Butterfly Collector, Strange Town  -  so many classics! All in all, a great gig and I even got to meet the band backstage too, which was an added bonus. ( It helps to have friends in the support band. ) They seemed pretty worn out but were happy to chat for a few minutes and thanked us for coming  -  although I made sure we didn't outstay our welcome. I've seen From The Jam three times now and I'll definitely have to check them out again....
Sound Affects next time...?

Recent Gigs Part Two: The Dandy Warhols and more

Portland, Oregon's finest psych-pop hipsters The Dandy Warhols played Bristol recently, for the first time in years, so I headed down to the home of Banksy and trip hop with fellow culture lovers Glenn and Caz. The venue was the Anson Rooms, a part of Bristol University. I hadn't been there since the late '90s when I'd seen Terrorvision play one of the maddest, hottest gigs ever, so it was interesting to revisit the place. Quite a smart venue, probably only about 400 or 500 capacity, with a well-staffed and accessible bar. We got there just in time to catch the start of the Dark Horses' set. They play a moody, Gothy art-punk, with one song being a dead ringer for the Velvets' Venus In Furs. Derivative, then, but full of potential.

The Dandy's then came on to polite applause from a fairly reserved crowd  -  set list above. This was the fifth time I'd seen the band and, while not the best performance I'd seen from them, they played a fine set with their usual impeccable musicianship and laidback, charismatic cool. The audience was a mixture of hardcore Dandy's fans and younger student types who mostly came alive when the hits were played. Glenn ( world's no.1 Dandy's fan ) and I of course went down the front to get the full effect of the band's dream-pop soundscapes... and to get a good look at the lovely Zia... ( Shallow? Moi? )


As ever a couple of songs outstayed their welcome but crowd singalong favourites like Boys Better, Horse Pills, Bohemian Like You and Get Off had us all jumping up and down, and the peerless Godless was the expected highlight with mass audience vocals replacing the absent horn section of the recorded version. Although slightly marred by a few sound problems and a lack of encore it was a fun gig with some great company. "Super cool / Dandy's Rule OK..."

A few months back ( when my melted PC meant very little blogging was going on ) Sarah and I went to the good ol' Gloucester Guildhall to see The Selecter. I'd seen them before, of course, but Sarah hadn't and didn't really remember them from back in the day. But it only took a couple of songs for her to get into the groove  -  I defy anyone with a pulse not to move their feet to The Selecter's red hot ska beat! They played a great, sweaty set with all the old faves present and correct: Missing Words, On My Radio, Three Minute Hero all as fresh and invigorating as jumping naked into a mountain stream... I imagine. Fine support came from legendary Bristol reggae band Talisman, bringing some warm Caribbean sounds to a chilly Gloucester.

On the local bands front I've been to a few gigs by old favourites Demob and Noise Agents and also a new set of old mates from various bands under the guise of Borrowed Time. Here they are looking dead hard on the mean streets of, er, Cheltenham. Borrowed Time play a superior form of Street Punk ( circa 1982 ) with some rough 'n' ready but tuneful songs which would have easily stood up against the likes of Chron Gen, Infa Riot or Anti Pasti back in the day. For a new ( if not young ) band they are doing very well and will be playing at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool next week... along with The Selecter. ( I don't just throw this blog together you know. OK, I do... )

And finally Esther, I saw Stroud disco-Punks ( heh heh! ) Chinese Burn for the umpteenth time the other week at Gloucester's grimy Lower George pub. A cracking gig from the Burners with loads of good friends in attendance. I even dragged Sarah along. This gig was on the day after the last of the original Ramones, Tommy Erdelyi, had passed away so it ended with an ( ahem! ) all-star cover version of Blitzkrieg Bop. Various members of Chinese Burn, Borrowed Time, Noise Agents and even yours truly all made complete fools of ourselves as a tribute to Tommy Ramone. There's me in the grey Ramones T-shirt, sharing a mic with my mate Cliff. As we used to cover Blitzkrieg Bop back in the Death Planet Commandos days, I tried to persuade ex-DPC guitarist the mighty Mark to join us too but he remained behind to fill half of the frame at the bottom of the photo :-)
Hey ho! Let's go!

Theatre Of Hate at The Fleece, Bristol

A couple of weeks back I went down to Bristol's hall of rock 'n' roll infamy, The Fleece, to see the reformed Theatre Of Hate. I can't say I was ever a fan of the band back in the day. I remember them being around in the Post-Punk era and I remember the single Do You Believe In The Westworld? being their one decent-sized hit and, er... that's about it. To be honest, I remember frontman Kirk Brandon's next band, Spear Of Destiny, more than TOH. But I thought they would be worth checking out, especially as Stroud's favourite sons the mighty Chinese Burn were supporting.
( And it was ace Burn guitarist Glenn's birthday too... )

Here are Chinese Burn in chaotic action with guest guitarist Rob ( left ) from Positive Reaction and
( Punk supergroup in the making ) Borrowed Time. As long-time readers of this 'ere blog will know I'm completely biased when it comes to this band. I've seen them play many, many times over the years and, even though they're mates of mine ( Glenn, in particular, I've known since I was about 19 and is a great friend ), I wouldn't praise them if they weren't any good. In fact, I think they're one of the best live bands around with some of the coolest, most intelligent and tuneful songs of any of their contemporaries, and can easily hold their own when supporting bands like TOH, From The Jam, New Model Army, SLF or UK Subs.

Even though I was slightly dubious about Theatre Of Hate after watching some of their old videos on You Tube, I was actually very impressed with them. They have a very dark, hypnotic power and can lock into some crushing grooves, with Stan Stammers' dubby bass often taking the lead, and the atonal saxophone adding some unusual colours. God only knows what Kirk Brandon is singing about but he has an extremely strong, distinctive voice with some serious lung power. Not many singers of his age can hold notes as well as he can! He also has some interesting stage moves  -  I especially like the one where he seems to be climbing an invisible ladder. The above picture shows him just after he's climbed back down :-)
They went down very well with the crowd ( although my gig-going companions, Caz and Jacqui, weren't totally convinced ) and caused many fat 40- or 50-somethings to hurtle around The Fleece like gorillas on steroids. I probably won't go out and buy any of their albums ( if I could find them ) but I'd definitely see them live again. Maybe I do believe in the Westworld after all...

Me and Ed and Ed

Further to my post the other day about the recent Ed Tudorpole gig here's a pic of me perfecting the art of photo-bombing, back-to-back with the Punk legend himself. And that's another Ed, bass-player supreme from the mighty Chinese Burn, also getting in on the act.

And here's Ed T flogging me a CD  -  "That'll be ten quid to you, squire..."

Recent Gigs Part Two: Ed Tudorpole / Chinese Burn

One of the first gigs I ever went to was a Tenpole Tudor concert at Stroud Leisure Centre, waaaay back in December 1981 when I was the tender age of 14. The band were riding ( relatively ) high on the success of two Top 20 singles, Swords Of A Thousand Men and Wunderbar, and were touring their second album, the massively under-appreciated Let The Four Winds Blow. Tenpole Tudor were an exciting, enthusiastic live proposition, with their Punky-rockabilly racket, medieval costumes and boggle-eyed, eccentric frontman, Ed. My teenage mates and I had a great time, jumping around and singing along to the bands' anthems, dodging the scary Punks and even scarier Skin'eads around us, and singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Tudorpole because 'twas his birthday that day. Ah, memories...
But now, a frightening 32 (!) years later, Ed was back in Stroud, this time appearing at the Stroud Fringe Festival with his one man show, accompanied only by a battered old acoustic guitar. Could he relive the magic of days gone by...?

Well, we'll get to that shortly. First of all I have to mention Stroud's favourite sons, the mighty Chinese Burn who were supporting Ed at Stroud's Queen Victoria pub. This was their third gig in three days at the Fringe and they were well-rehearsed and firing on all cylinders by this point. The last time I saw them play was at Stroud's Subscription Rooms a couple of months back, with Gloucester Street-Punks, Demob. Not their best gig, it has to be said, but even on their more ragged days the Burn are always worth watching. No problems this time, however. They stormed through a set of tuneful, Punk-pop firecrackers, to the delight of a packed-out Queen Vic, and even dedicated a song to your humble blogger. Cheers guys! After they finished with the obligatory cover of Beat On The Brat it was time for the main event...

 Ed sneaked out of a doorway and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of his acoustic while regaling us with hilarious, touching and witty songs and stories. A ball of furious energy with a wicked gleam in his eye, Ed Tudorpole is a captivating performer, a true English eccentric. Topics covered in his warm, friendly, funny set included Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols, moustaches, his teenage son, the merits of Mercedes versus Fiat, love, ageing and the pigeon-holing of artists as "Punk" or otherwise...

Here are Sarah and my mate Glenn's daughter Millie enjoying yet another of Ed's mad utterances.
( Ed actually made a bee-line for Sarah after the set, prompting her to splutter "I'm married... to him"  -  indicating me  -  much to Ed's disappointment. He said to me "Why do girls always mention their boyfriends to me? Why do they do that?" Bless him! She did give him a peck on the cheek before we left, so that will have to do... )

As well as many unfamiliar, but great, songs we were treated to some Tenpole Tudor standards like Throwing My Baby Out With The Bathwater and Three Bells In A Row as well as hilariously mangled versions of Friggin' In The Rigging and Who Killed Bambi?
After winning over a delighted audience Ed came back to encore with the most well-known of his songs... this time with a backing band...

Yes, Chinese Burn backed Ed Tudorpole  for a storming version of ( what else?) Swords Of A Thousand Men. With no rehearsal and having learned the song overnight, the Burn absolutely tore up the place with an awesome take on this old favourite, all clearly having the time of their lives. And that went for the audience too. To the untrained eye this all might have seemed like a bunch of drunk, middle-aged men shouting "Hoorah Hoorah Hoorah Yay!"... and that's exactly what it was... but it was fantastic :-)

After the set I got Ed to sign a couple of old pieces of vinyl for me and also bought the long-lost third Tenpole Tudor album, Made It This Far, from him. I'll sign off with his own words from the sleeve-notes of the album:
"God bless us all, love from Ed, Edward Tudor Pole, Ten Pole Tudor, Eddie Tenpole and all at no. 93..."

 Soundtrack: Rebellion ( Lies ), The Suburbs, Ready To Start and ( awesome new track ) Reflektor  -  all by Arcade Fire

Recent gigs: Peace / Sex Pistols Experience

I had hoped to go to a couple of gigs this weekend but unfortunately didn't make it after going back to work part-time had left me feeling far too tired. But I'm now going to cast my eyes back on April when I managed to get out and see a few bands... and had a bloody great time. After the triumphant Dexy's gig at Gloucester's Guildhall Arts Centre it was a mere eight days until I was back in that venue, for a very different show. I was there with my friend Tom ( of The Sensitive Bore fame ) to see up-and-coming Birmingham bands Peace and Superfood.

And very impressive they were too. Superfood are an extremely promising band, heavily indebted to Britpop ( especially Blur ) and obviously still inexperienced... but very talented. For a support band in a small venue they went down amazingly well with an audience that was equal parts teenage indie kids and curious, older gig-goers like me. I spoke to the band's guitarist after the show and he seemed knocked out by the reaction. He'd better get used to it...

Peace themselves were fantastic: a very tight, competent band mashing up Britpop, Shoegazing and Psychedelia with some memorable tunes and an overwhelming peace 'n' love vibe  -  of course! All the great songs from their album In Love ( album of the year? ) were given an airing, with the poppier stuff like Lovesick sounding almost feral when played live. And the crowd went nuts. Peace are clearly heading for the big time  -  and an appearance on last week's Later... With Jools Holland will certainly help with that.


You can read my full gig review from Louder Than War here...

And two days before the Peace gig we took a trip down to Bristol's Fleece to see top Punk tribute band The Sex Pistols Experience, supported by my mates, the mighty Chinese Burn. "We" in this case were myself, Sarah and our friends Jacqui and Caz  -  all out for a night of rock 'n' roll mayhem... as the next photo shows :-)

 ( This is how exciting it is backstage: I don't think Jacqui's even awake... )

Although there's some question about the validity of tribute bands, it has to be said that the Sex Pistols Experience are good at what they do: aping the sounds, mannerisms and voices of a great band with almost supernatural accuracy. It can descend into an almost cartoon-like state at times but they always keep the joint rocking. "Johnny Rotter" in particular is spookily similar to his gobby inspiration on stage, but a friendly, softly-spoken Northerner offstage. The band went down a storm with the Fleece's mohican-sporting audience, as did the boys from The Burn...

Because I'd been away from the gig scene for so long and missed The Burn's recent support-slot with Stiff Little Fingers, it was good to see them in action again and catch up with some fellow fans after what seemed a very long time. I went down the front with Caz and a few others... but got a bit battered. I definitely don't have the strength I used to :-) And, speaking of "battered", Glenn dedicated their cover of Beat On The Brat to me, saying it was good to see me back. And I even got a round of applause! Cheers, mate!

As before you can read my full review of this gig from Louder Than War here...