Catch Up - The Music Bit

OMG how far behind am I again?

Sorry, I kept meaning to update but I’ve been busy doing other things … although would have to admit that one of these ‘other things’ was actually playing Mah Jong to which I’ve become completely addicted (the peril of getting a new computer with all those games I didn’t have before) at the expensive of EVERYTHING else in my life.

Anyway, to be honest I was having a problem trying to decide what to write about the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Not because they were bad … they definitely weren’t, but because they were brilliant.

Now you’ll remember I was rather looking forward to seeing them, knowing them as I did from clips on You Tube and a rave review that Ron Hopwood gave me about fifteen years ago when they played Chatham Central Hall, and I have to say that they didn’t disappoint. We saw them at the Cadogan Halls, in Sloane Square and the clientele certainly matched the area; in fact Mrs H3 and I were feeling a little out of place amongst all those posh talking la la’s.

And then the UOGB came on stage. Funny, charming and excellent ukulele players; they proceeded to blow us away with renditions of songs like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Smells Like Teen Spirit. When they actually managed to convince the (mainly 55+) audience to join in the chorus to a little ‘folk’ song which began with the lines “I am an anti-christ, I am an anarchist ….” I knew we were onto a winner. The sight of all those aged, middle-class patrons bellowing along happily to the chorus of Anarchy in the UK was enough to uplift anyone’s evening. Irony much?

Add to that a stunning rendition of Hawkwind’s Silver Machine closely followed by the Talking Heads Psycho Killer (worth going for that alone, we agreed) and then a northern club singer’s take of that other great ‘folk’ classic Wuthering Heights and you get an idea of how out-to-lunch the entire evening was. Bad puns, silly jokes and amazing playing all added to the good time.

The highlights for me were the medley’s which were breathtaking in their complexity. Firstly a little ditty which they called Plagarism, which blended Life on Mars, My Way and For Once in My Life – and yes, amazingly when you hear them all played at the same time, they really do sound very similar. The encore brought a second such mash-up involving amongst others, the works of Handel, Hotel California and I Will Survive.

Original, exciting and fun, I would recommend the UOGB to everyone. If they’re playing in your area – go see them, you won’t regret it. In fact I believe we’re going to see them again, this time with Mrs H3’s parents, when they play Blackheath in September. (Yep, we’re sooo rock n’ roll!)

The following Monday saw us heading for Guildford and a date with my favourite man, Johnny Bramwell of I Am Kloot. The gig, at a venue called the Boileroom was one of the most intimate that we’d been to and was a real cracker. Johnny was in a good mood; far more upbeat than he’d been at the Half Moon, and soon dispensed with the set list, instead taking requests including the very rarely played Bigger Wheels and Titanic.

Cue me being the ultimate fan girl and heading to the bar for a chat with the great man at the end of the gig, pleased as punch when he recognised me and gave me a big kiss and cuddle, before stopping to have a discussion about why he couldn’t play my current favourite Kloot song Down at the Front at his solo gigs. The moment was ruined a little by a few stupid comments from a bunch of blokes, also at the bar, who I assume were jealous that Johnny had stopped talking to them to spend a few minutes with me, but otherwise it was an excellent evening. I did manage to video a couple of songs, both from the forthcoming album (which Johnny said they’re hoping to tour with in September/October…or maybe January) which can, as ever, be found on my YouTube channel.

Next was the first Chas and Dave concert of the season which was at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. It was pretty much business as usual, with the Q&A session and the cover versions of others songs in the first half and their Greatest Hits package in the second. Mrs H3 and I had prime seats in the centre of the front row and were in the perfect position to see Dave, looking pretty pissed off for much of the evening. Rumour has it he’s had enough and he certainly looked like that was the case during the first half, although he perked up a bit in the second.

Chas and Dave also recognise us now as we’ve been so many times and we got another few photos with the guys before heading home for the evening, with Dave telling us he looked forward to seeing us at Chatham (yes, of course we’re going).

And so to the concert that we missed … the one that left Mrs H3 and I depressed and sobbing … and no, it wasn’t Dizzee Rascal. I refer, of course, to the reformation of The Libertines in the early hours of 16^th May at London’s Rhythm Factory. To say we were gutted would be a complete understatement. After so doggedly following Pete for all these months, to miss the one concert where he was reunited with Carl and Gary was heartbreaking. We can only hope that now they’ve got together once, more concerts will follow.

Ultravox – Still Raging in Eden

Last Thursday Mrs H3 and I went to the Roundhouse at Camden along with thousands of others to see the Rage in Eden reunion concert by the mighty Ultravox. This was a new venue for us, but a good one – the sound was pretty excellent for the most part – although deteriorated a bit once out of the domed area. The view left a little to be desired, although this of course was due as ever to my height and my desire to breathe rather than force my way to the front of the room.

The audience had an interesting demographic. Something like ninety five percent was male and aged between thirty five and fifty and most of those were pretty tall. I don’t think I spotted more than about three people under the age of twenty all evening - and they were with their parents.

Ultravox emerged amid billowing dry ice playing the hugely atmospheric instrumental track Astradyne, which they then followed up with a run through of their greatest hits across all their albums including a blistering version of Visions in Blue and other such classics as One Small Day, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, The Voice, The Thin Wall, Hymn, All Stood Still and of course the eternally breathtaking Vienna.

The twenty three years since they had last performed live disappeared within seconds as the band, clearly thoroughly enjoying what they were doing, got the crowd dancing and singing along to their songs and Billy Currie’s violin solos were, as they had always been, major crowd pleasers.
At the end of the encore Midge, Billy and Chris joined Warren on drums and created a rousing anthem to end the show with flair.

For me, the band sounded as good as they did twenty three years ago, with Midge’s vocals still as strong as they’d ever been and I will admit that several times during the concert I was transported back to the last time I’d seen them during the Set Movements tour back in 1984. However, in complete contrast to just about every other eighties band to have reformed, Ultravox haven’t tried to emulate their original look. Although Warren still has dark hair (I wasn’t close enough to establish whether it was a syrup or if he dyes it), both Billy and Chris have hair that is completely white and Midge is bald. Dressed in suits and smart shirts I have to admit that from a distance (not being close enough to see their faces properly) they looked rather like the sort of middle-aged band one could imagine playing at a wedding and I commented to Mrs H3 (who of course was a bit young to remember their original look and so had no preconceptions) that to me they seemed rather like an Ultravox tribute band.

Now that sounds like a criticism, but I didn’t mean it to be. Ultravox were, and still are, if the concert at the Roundhouse was anything to go by a fantastically innovative and accomplished band and I would happily pay to go and see them at any time. And to be honest I applaud them for not feeling the pressure to return to the look they created back in the eighties.

Mrs H3 videoed Vienna and you can see it on my Youtube channel. I have also begun uploading the videos from our other concerts, with the footage from Elbow’s Brighton Dome concert now on there too.



And now, as Monty Python once said, for something completely different. Tomorrow night Mrs H3 and I are off to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Now obviously this is partially because of my interest in learning to play the ukulele (still looking for a teacher if anyone wants to volunteer) and partially because they just look bloody awesome.

If they are anywhere near as good as this tomorrow night I’ll be a fan forever!

Whoop Whoop! Birmingham City Promoted to the Premiership!

Okay so I just wanted to post quickly to say how happy I am that Birmingham City finally managed to get something right and got themselves promoted back up to the Premiership.

Last week would have been better, but wasn't to be, but from the sound of things (I didn't actually get to see the game as the pub decided that a run-of-the-mill Liverpool v Newcastle game was more important than Birmingham's promotion game, just as they did last week with the Manchester United game) we played a good game this week and fully deserved the win and the promotion.

So once again we're back in the Premiership - which is good for me as I'll get to see more matches, and hopefully good for the club too, although I'm a little disturbed about a report in the Birmingham Mail last week in which they reported that David Gold had announced that we wouldn't be buying any new players next season as the £40M they'll get for going up has to be spent recouping the costs of gaining promotion. If that's the case then we'll be going straight back down again at the end of next season and with the number of fans the club has been losing recently, that definitely isn't a good thing.

Anyway, congratulations to the team and also to Alex McLeish, who, although he's not very popular at St Andrews, has done a fine job of keeping Birmingham in the top three (and mainly top two) all season. Fingers crossed that now we've returned to the top flight he'll be the sort of manager we need to keep us up there.

Keep right on!