Category - Music

Well – and forgive me if I repeat anything I’ve said before about this – the last time I saw Horslips was in the late 70s on their “American” Tour. They broke up two years later, and stayed broken up for the following 24 years.

I’d kept an eye on the unofficial .com website (I didn’t know it was unofficial at that time), but not frequently enough to discover they’d reformed for a one-off gig at an exhibition in Belfast – I only discovered this a year after the event (I’d have gone if I’d have known about it). Things went quiet again, and then – for the same reasons as before – I missed their 2009 and 2010 performances.

I would have missed this one as well if it wasn’t for the fact I skipped over to the official .ie site a few weeks before Christmas and saw the announcements. I know it doesn’t make me sound like a big fan not knowing all this, but for most of that 24 years of being broken up the last thing I expected was a reunion, and the only site I was aware of – the .com one – didn’t change one bit to reflect any of the subsequent developments.

But I have everything Horslips ever did – all the imports, and a few other bits & bobs. They were the first band I ever saw live (Birmingham Hippodrome, 1978), and I never thought I’d see them again. So this was something I was really looking forward to.

It’s impossible to describe the feeling when they came on stage – after 33 years (for me)!

I’d arrived in Glasgow at around 6:30, and the doors opened at 7:00, so I got right up to the stage (ironically, when I saw them in Birmingham all those years ago, I’d somehow got front row tickets for that, too).  As usual, a lot of people didn’t turn up to see the support act – a female duo called Lumiere, who were rather good – so getting a good place was easy.

By the time Horslips were due on the place was packed.

The set was brilliant: they played a fair few songs from The Táin and The Book Of Invasions, but picked classics from most of the rest. It all still seemed so fresh, and Charles O’Connor’s fiddle along with Jim Lockhart’s flute were just perfect. The sound was great, and the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The Glasgow Concert Halls site says:

While popular demand has prompted a few more appearances, the band have said they’re by way of a brief last hurrah, not a protracted comeback, so relive the moment while you can.

Horslips seemed truly taken aback by the strength of support last night. In fact, like all the best bands, they vastly underestimate their own popularity. I’m certain they could fill bigger venues than this if they tried.

In fact – and I was thinking this on the long drive to and from Glasgow last night (it was over 600 miles/11 hours on the road as a round trip) – you can’t help wonder at what might have been if whatever it was that caused the split back in 1980 hadn’t taken place and Horslips had gone on to crack America.

Still, I got some nice keep-sake photos and short videos which I’ll treasure forever (I just wish the lighting had been a bit better in the corner where Jim Lockhart was sitting!) Easily the best gig for a long, long time – and one which can never be beaten for a whole range of personal reasons.

This was a good one tonight. I went to see Thin Lizzy at the Leeds O2 Academy. They were supported by an American band called Supersuckers.

This is how Supersuckers are described:

A hard-biting, roach-sucking pack of drop-outs who claim to be the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band. Formed in 1988, SuperSuckers have been at the centre of the crossover between rock and country music having worked with everyone from Willie Nelson to The Ramones. “If you’ve ever had the chance to experience the SuperSuckers live, you’ll know the energy and sweat this band produces…”

I can’t disagree with that. I’d add that there were elements of Motorhead in there, too. And the drummer was very impressive. This is yet another support band who I’d definitely go and see in their own right.

Obviously, Thin Lizzy aren’t the same Thin Lizzy without Phil Lynott – how could they be? Lynott died 25 years ago (January 4th), but the band is still touring with the three original members Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Darren Wharton, but amply supported by Viv Campbell, Marco Mendoza, and Ricky Warwick. You can read more about the line-up on the Thin Lizzy site.

This was a pretty good gig – although the lead singer didn’t look anything like that photo, he has a great voice for covering Lizzy songs. They played all the classics (Whisky In The Jar went down well), and did two encores – the highlight of which had to be the Black Rose. My only criticism was that Scott Gorham’s guitar wasn’t coming across very well where I was standing.

Interestingly, the gig was immediately available to buy on USB stick after the show. This is a new twist I’ve not encountered before. (EDIT 12/01/2010: That USB stick would have cost £25, I have since discovered. Not what I’d call good value, since a typical double-live CD only costs about a tenner! It’s a bit steep, even if it was video.)

I saw this news item on Plant Rock’s website (link now removed) :

Neal (sic) Peart Named Top Drummer Of 2010

23rd December 2010

Rush drummer Neil Peart has been named the world’s top drummer for the fourth year in a row by Drum Magazine.

The “Drummies”, as they are known, have picked the Rush drummer as their top drummer ahead of drummers from Blink 182 and Dream Theater.

Runners up for Drummer of the Year were Travis Barker (Blink-182, Box Car Racer), the late Jimmy Sullivan (Avenged Sevenfold), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Aaron Gillespie (Underoath) – most of whom could take solace in other awards. Barker won Best Punk Drummer and Mainstream Pop Drummer, Portnoy won Best Progressive Rock Drummer and Aaron Gillespie won Best Live Performer.

Other Drummies went to Jim Riley for Best Country Drummer, Aaron Spears for Best Studio Drummer, Stanton Moore for Best Funk Drummer, Joey Jordison for Best Metal Drummer and Dave Grohl for Best Alternative Rock Drummer. Alex Acuña took home Percussionist of the Year, as well as Best Rock/Pop Percussionist.

I find it very strange that Rush have never been inducted into the US Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, and yet last week Alice Cooper was! Now, don’t get me wrong: I like Alice Cooper as a person, and I don’t mind his music one bit. But it is lightweight compared to Rush – and they’ve never got near being inducted.

It just seems to make a mockery of the whole thing.

My recent post about the upcoming Horslips gig in Glasgow has drawn in a huge amount of hits. A guy called Sean contacted me about it, and kindly gave me permission to reproduce this story he posted on the Horslips forums:

Hi

just felt the need to put this into words – I`ll try to keep it real brief.
I`m 45, born in England to Irish parents. I`ve spent a fair bit of time in Ireland over the years, but as a child most summers we would go to stay with my Granny in Longford for a couple of weeks.

I`ve a cousin in Longford (Chico ya legend!)who was an absolute Horslips nut and sometime during the mid seveties introduced myself and my older brother to the incredible music of this band.

We ended up bringing a lot of records back to England, but never got to see them live. That was until 8th August 1980. My dad drove the family from Longford up to Bundoran, I was 14 years old and my first `real` gig would be Horslips – so excited!!

Well the gig started and can remember it as if it was yesterday, just standing there gobsmacked a matter of feet away from the band playing all these tunes I`d had in my head for the last few years.

Then, I can`t recall how far into the gig, but my father appeared next to me. They were meant to meet us after the gig. There was some kind of problem in the town and we had to leave the gig early. When we got outside everything became apparent. There was the most horrendous fire in the Central Hotel. Can`t remember how far from the gig it was but I`ll never forget watching it burn and actually hearing people screaming from inside the building. Ten people lost their lives in that fire, just awful, still upsets me when I think of it.

Anyways, as the band called it a day, I thought that I`d never see them again. I had almost become obsessed by the music and had never stopped listening (along with RUSH, who I`ve seen live 23 times).

Years later, Rollback appears. I purchased a copy in Killarney while visiting my brother and his family who had sinced moved from England to the other side of Killorglin in Kerry. That disc never came out of the player in the hire car all holiday. When the Belfast and Dublin gigs were announced, there was just no way I could make it – I was pissed off to say the least!

Then this year Cork was announced. I wasn`t going to miss this!! I have alot of family in Cork and go there quite regular. Tickets, flights and hotel all booked, you know what happened next. Oh well we still had a good craic in Cork that weekend and I knew it`s now just a matter of time until I will see the Lips again.

Fast forward to November and we fly into Cork, drive up to Killarney and check in at The Brehon Hotel.

This is it. It`s going to happen and nothing can stop it now. Friday afternoon and Im ordering a Murphys at the bar and Charles appears next to me. I shake his hand and mention the fact that I`d waited a long time and travelled a long way to see them.

He genuinely seemed amazed the we had come over just for the gig. he asked if he could join me and the misses at our table – like I`m going to say no!!!!

Then he called Jim over and we`re just sitting, chatting and drinking like old friends – I can`t beleive this is happening.

I won`t bore you with all the details, but over the weekend we spent a fair bit of time chatting even going through the set list with Barry on Saturday morning – I was in my element.

At lunchtime I ask what time they were going to soundcheck – about 2:30 – come over says Barry. Are you serious!! Didn`t want to be a pain in the arse, but I wasn`t going to miss this either.

I had bought tickets for my brother, his wife and his youngest son Joe. The lads singned a CD for Joe, he`s chuffed to bits.

Then after a few pints it`s showtime. 30 years on and me and my brother are standing watching Horslips. I actually had tears in my eyes. What a night – what a weekend.

I bid farewell to the boys on Sunday morning in the hotel lobby. Those of you aware of the `problem` after the Killarney show, well thank God everything seems fine. I can`t make the other 3 shows, but I don`t mind. I`ve had a great time, what more could I ask for and I know we`ll meet again sometime soon.

I think we will all agree that you would strugle to find a better band of musicians (along with RUSH obviously!!) but I KNOW you would strugle to find a group of gentlemen as gracious as these guys I cannot thank them enough for the memories I have of our weekend in Killarney.

Now I`ve tickets, flights and hotel booked for Glasgow. It just gets better.
There are a few shots taken at the Killarney soundcheck below. I didn`t want to be a pain in the arse and I felt it would have been plain rude to take a camera or video, so just discreet shots from the phone. Shite quality I know, but something to remind me forever!!

Thanks again guys. May God bless you all and allow you to continue to produce the sweetest, most melodic music that I am so privilleged to have in my posession.

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE THAT WAIT.

There are some photos on the forum, as well. This is a brilliant story from a really lucky guy.

I also offer all due credits to the Horslips Fantasia forum this is reproduced from.

Holy cow! I popped over to the Horslips site and discovered they are playing a gig January 18th. It’s at the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow.

I’ve got my ticket ordered.

This will be the first time I have seen them in 33 years – they were the first band I saw live when I was still a nipper (at the Birmingham Hippodrome). They split up two years later, and I didn’t realise they’d reformed until I’d missed the reunion gigs earlier this century.

This is gonna be a great start to 2011.

EDIT 22/10/2010: Getting a lot of hits on this post. Probably also worth pointing out that they’re re-issuing Drive The Cold Winter Away, Tracks From The Vaults, and Short Stories, Tall Tales on CD. And you can get CD/DVDs of the O2 show they did.

Also worth a reminder of a post I made on here some months ago – a video of King Of The Fairies.

And here’s the review of the gig at the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow.

Well, I went to see Status Quo at the Sheffield Arena tonight, and when I checked the post code for the sat nav I noticed that the support act was Joe Brown.

This was a blast from the past. I can remember him from when I was a kid, so it was great to know I’d get to see him play live. He still looks the same as he ever did, with his stand-up hair! He’s been in the game for more than 50 years now.

He’s incredibly talented though – and his son, who is a pretty decent guitar player, plays in the band.

Joe said that he was wary about playing to arena-sized crowds – his band usually plays smaller venues – but was taken aback by the reception.

Quo played their typical set: all the old favourites, along with some that I’d never heard live before. Even my mate, who is a big Quo fan and goes to see them every year, said that.

They tour almost continuously, and I know they had to cancel some dates not long ago because Francis Rossi was ill. It makes you wonder how long they can go on when you consider Rossi is 61 and Parfitt 62. Rossi in particular looks drawn, and they expend a lot of energy when they do a gig. Still, while it lasts…

On the people watching front, there was no crowd surfing – as there was at the Bullet For My Valentine show last week. This was good, because we were only 6 rows back and I understand that zimmer frames hurt when one hits you on the back of the head. The crowd was satisfyingly short, so when they all stood up there was absolutely no obstruction of my view. And there was even less obstruction after about 45 minutes, when they all had to keep sitting down for a rest.

Minor irritations were people with weak bladders (and possibly colostomy bags) keep going out to the loo – and, being middle-aged couples they always go in pairs. And the smell of cheap perfume… oddly enough, reminiscent of the smell in a well-maintained gents.

Gone are the days (well, except for that Bullet For My Valentine show, and maybe that MGMT one… and Primal Scream… hang on a minute!) when everyone smelled the same: like a sack of potatoes, or something else slightly perishable which had been kept in the shed for a long time.

It’s been a bit dry on the music front lately. No one decent touring (except for Paramore a few weeks ago).

Anyway, I’ve had this one booked for some time. My ticket agent did me the business and got me tickets. Not far from the stage, but seated.

When I ordered them, and after he had got them and told me where they were, I said “but I wanted close to the stage” . He said “but these are good tickets – the floor is standing” . I said “that’s what I wanted” , to which he replied “you wanted standing???”

At the time I was puzzled: he knows that I want floor tickets when I order from him.

Anyway, I set off for Manchester this afternoon at around 3.45pm and finally got there at 7.30pm! Traffic was terrible this end and my attempts to avoid it took me via routes where they appeared to have had several metres of snow over the last week! That, combined with people who can’t drive above 40mph on the A628, meant it took longer than expected.

We caught the end of the second support act (doors opened at 5.30pm). They were bloody rubbish. That croaky voice, foot on the monitor, headbanging whilst “singing”… it was all there. A big turn off was the gratuitous swearing.

As they got the stage ready for the main act, a bit of people watching led us to the conclusion that either we are going to see bands who attract extremely young audiences, or we are just getting old. I’ll stick with that first thing. But they were throwing things around – shoes, t-shirts, a glo-stick (could have had someone’s eye out), the lot.

Bullet For My Valentine played a good set. As a metal band, they are very raw live, but there’s no doubting their skill. They played tracks from their latest album plus the singles everyone is familiar with.

It was during the set that I realised why my agent had sounded surprised when I’d indicated I would have preferred floor tickets. As well as chucking stuff around, they also started chucking each other: crowd surfing. The army of stewards at the front repeatedly pulled people off the top and sent them to the back. Unlike the gentle kind you see on MTV, British crowd surfing appears to involve trying to throw the surfer as hard and far as possible – with the obvious problems associated with the surfer falling, and the damage to whoever he falls on. And then they were doing that thing where they all run around in a circle making themselves dizzy – it’s funny watching pink, portly youths with their shirts off trying to look hard.

But all in all a good night’s entertainment. And it’s off to Sheffield next week to see Status Quo.

More dates are planned for the European leg of the Time Machine Tour (from the Rush Official Site):

Three new dates in Europe announced – On sale date Nov 30, see the tour page for more details.

May 4  Helsinki, Finland
May 6  Stockholm, Sweden
May 8  Malmo, Sweden

Rush in Germany

Rush will include Frankfurt on Sunday, May 29 at Festhalle as part of the Time Machine Europe 2011 Tour.
General on-sale will commence Friday, November 26th.

Listening to Planet Rock today, the show is apparently 3½ hours long! You get your money’s worth with Rush.

Well, I checked out the pre-sale and there aren’t many decent seating locations available. The best was 29 rows back!

Planet Rock puts them on pre-sale from tomorrow, but I can’t see the choice being any better.

Looks like I’m going to have to stick with my original plan: I have a ticket agent who gets them for me. I want somewhere in the first five rows, ideally centre stage.

It costs me a lot more than face value, but I’m prepared to pay it.

EDIT 25/11/2010: Note that tickets go on general sale from Friday 26th November at 9am. And according to Planet Rock, these have been the biggest moving pre-sales they’ve ever had.