Another Longish Catch Up

Yea Gods I’m a terrible blogger aren’t I? Where are the regular updates, the film reviews, the concert reviews, the general boring chatter about my inane life?

Well for starters I was a bit poorly after the half moon gig (nothing to do with the gig or the yummy Lebanese food we ate there) with a mega-migraine, which kept me in bed for over a week doing nothing more productive than sleeping. I will admit to having written a rather long entry a couple of weeks ago, but as it was about depression and suicide it didn’t make for happy reading. I’m sure much to everyone’s relief I decided against publishing it but I’ve kept it as a reminder of just how bleak my life can seem on occasions and perhaps when the next downward spiral starts I’ll be able to get something out of it. Note to self: when very depressed do NOT listen to Gary Numan’s ‘Empty Bed, Empty Heart’ on repeat. It really doesn't help!

So back onto the happy stuff (thank you so much Gary for cheering me up no end last Wednesday!)

Music

In between being ill and mad (me that is not Mrs H3) Mrs H3 and I have had our usual jaunts out. First of course was Johnny Bramwell’s solo gig at the Half Moon, which I thought was a cracking place, although Mrs H3 thought it a bit cramped. The support band, who I can't even remember the name of (something to do with One) were pretty poor, although they might just have been scared. Johnny was on top form, although drinking too much Guinness for a bloke his size (I hadn't realised quite how short he was till he stood next to me). There were lots of jokes and lots of chatting, more than we’ve seen before at the Kloot gig. There was also lots of changing the words to songs, whether because he’d forgotten the words or just because he has a tendency to do that anyway (which he does all the time when you listen to albums like the Peel Sessions) I’m not sure. He did sing “Fear of Falling” followed immediately by “Astray” to which he added an extra verse that was really excellent. Of course I’m now excited to see I Am Kloot doing the tour of their fantastic new album, which is finally being released on 14 April. The album comes with a DVD containing an hour of performances and interviews. Argghghh! I have the limited edition version of the CD and now I need this one too! We’re going to Komedia Brighton (15th) and Koko London (22nd) to see them.

Here's a video someone took from the Half Moon. It's Johnny and the crowd singing 'Proof'

Oh go on here's 'Storm Warning' too

Passenger have finally announced a tour but its while I’m away on a course in Royal Leamington Spa and the dates ‘up north’ are when I get back with the southern dates while I’m away (typical!) Hoping that they will do more dates later that I can make. I’m beginning to get paranoid that they really don’t want me to go and see them.

Last Wednesday was one of the most exciting nights of my life for the last ten odd years, finally seeing Gary Numan live once more. I have to admit that I was a touch nervous. After so long without seeing him there was just the vaguest possibility that he’d gone downhill, although I was determined to keep the faith. Add to that the fact that Mrs H3 wasn’t actually born when his first album came out and I’m not sure she was born for ‘Replicas’ either, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to a 50 year old rock god getting all retro for his 30th anniversary.

Of course there was no need to panic. Not only was Gary’s godlike awesomeness every bit as wonderful as every other time I’ve seen him (have you realised I adore him yet?) Mrs H3 really enjoyed it too. It was wonderful to hear new interpretations of the whole of such a classic album, ending of course with a blinding version of ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and he played ‘Cars’ (and for once it was a joy to hear), ‘Everyday I Die’ and ‘Prayer for the Unborn’ as the encore.

'Are Friends Electric'

It was loud (we were both deaf by the end of it), it was heavy on the bass (you could feel your clothes moving even when you were standing still) and it was bloody fantastic! Unfortunately we forgot cameras and my new phone so pretty and pink is completely rubbish at both photographs and video so instead of a lovely reminder of the evening it captured only the bass, and boy did it capture the bass!

Here is the wonderful finale to the gig 'Prayer for the Unborn' and a few words from Gary from his excellent website on his performance:

My apologies for becoming somewhat emotional during the final song, A Prayer For The Unborn. My three children were at the gig, Raven and Persia in the security pit by the stage for much of the show. As some of you may know A Prayer For The Unborn is a song for our first baby that died during the pregnancy and it's never easy to sing at the best of times as it brings all the sadness and tragedy of that horrible experience flooding back. To be singing that song and looking down at Raven and Persia was all a bit too much to be honest and I think I did quite a poor job in trying to disguise my emotions. I hope it didn't ruin anything for those people that noticed I was struggling.

Of course it won't be long till the DVD is out and I’m sure I’ll be buying it, just as I bought the special 3 CD edition of ‘Replicas Redux’ which I am hoping will turn up soon. I was actually very restrained at the concert only buying a programme which because it was Gary and he’s a complete technophile is a 2 disc CD containing a 2 ½ hour interview interspersed with tracks from the album, a complete bargain for £10.

He’s expecting to tour again with new stuff in the autumn and Mrs H3 and I will definitely be there with him. Hmmm, I can feel a trip to ‘Bestival’ on the Isle of Wight coming up as he’s performing there too.

I have to say at this point that I was being kind to Johnny’s support band only because Gary’s were so much worse. These hoodie wearing technoboys seemed to be torn as to what sort of music they wanted to play (the lead singer looked like he wanted to be Gerard Way, but played a big electronic keyboard like Rick Wakeman) and failed in just about every respect except for the pretentious song names and dance trance rubbish (oh sorry ‘Higher State of Consiousness’) they came out with at the end. I have no idea what they were called either as we couldn't work out what the singer was saying with the amount of reverb they added to everything, but they made all previous supports seem like geniuses in comparison (and I include Sheep on Drugs at Folkestone Pavilion in 1996).

Film

Talking of DVDs I ordered Sweeney Todd from the US as the release date of 1 April was over there only, it’s not out here until May 19th – far too long for me to wait!

Mrs H3 and I went to see Rambo 4 and had a terrific evening. The film is incredibly graphic, incredibly violent, incredibly gory and bloody good fun. Of course I was in the midst of my depression at the time so may have actually rather over-enjoyed it but Yep, I’d definitely recommend it.

On Sunday we went to a preview of the Spiderwick Chronicles, another of those children’s films made from a series of books that I love. I wasn’t disappointed. It is a well-shot and not overly long film (running time 96 minutes) that captures the first five books (obviously well abridged) with some amazing special effects and Andrew McCarthy although only for a few moments, but it’s always a pleasure to see him. I would definitely rate this film higher than the adaptation of The Dark is Rising and would happily sit through it again.

So there you go, that’s me caught up again. Nothing much planned for this week although with the Easter holidays coming along who knows what might happen?