Siouxsie - Meltdown 2013

Last night saw the return of Siouxsie to the live stage after a gap of five years and I was there. Her last shows were on the 'Mantaray' tour so it was great to see her announced as part of Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival.

This was probably the most sought after ticket for Meltdown this year and the gig sold out quickly, so quickly that a second gig was scheduled for the following Monday which also sold out quickly. At one point she said, 'I've been away for too long, far too long' so here's hoping we'll see more of her in future.

Viv Albertine was the support act so we saw two punk heroes on the same stage and neither played anything from the 70s. Siouxsie focused on the 80s and a few songs from her last album, 'Mantaray'. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When the lights went down there was a great cheer and, at the back of the stage, blinds descended with swathes of light shining behind them creating a great effect as people ran to the front of the stage. It was only after a few songs that I realised what it was meant to be - Siouxsie was playing the whole of the 'Kaleidoscope' album and the blinds reflect the album cover. I never thought she'd do something like that so it was great joy to hear all those songs, one after another in order. At one point Siouxsie said that she'd never sung some of these songs live before.

Siouxsie strode onto the stage and everyone stood up immediately, black on black hair, red on red lips and a white on white leather dress in which she took great delight in spinning  round like a dervish with the skirt rippling out. She opened with 'Happy House' and the band was excellent from the start, just three of them - drums, bass and guitar/keyboards - and they made a great, solid, muscular sound with Siouxsie's voice clear and strong on top of it. I've no idea who they were but they'd clearly put the hours in to get that sound. Half-way through the set Siouxsie dropped her skirt to reveal she was wearing a white suit rather than a dress.

At the end of 'Kaleidoscope' and the manic and intense 'Skin', Siouxsie slowed it down with 'Eve White/Eve Black' and then they all left the stage. Phew, it was good to sit down for a couple of minutes and recover from the surprise of hearing the whole album, a record I played to death in 1981 and 82. I still have a vivid memory of doing exams with 'Christine' floating through my head. The house lights stayed off and then the blinds moved again, some rising, setting the scene for the band, followed by Siouxsie, to come back on stage.

This was the hits section of the show that I suspect most people in the audience (including me) were expecting. Siouxsie's nothing if not unpredictable. She opened with 'Israel' and 'Arabian Knights' back to back before commenting that Pompeii has finally come to London and launching into 'Cities In Dust'. 'Dear Prudence' was followed by the comment that we had to have something from 'Mantaray' and we got 'Loveless'. The big surprise came when Siouxsie said 'Bat stations' and suddenly the Bat signal was projected all around the hall as they played 'Face to Face' from the Batman film. And then they were off to much clapping and cheering and a need for more.

Siouxsie kept us waiting and then a roadie came on to put a chair in the middle of the stage. Siouxsie then emerged wearing an outrageous hat and bustle and took her place on the chair to sing 'Careless Love' pulling shapes and poses. This was followed with 'Here Comes That Day' from 'Mantaray' and the final song was a powerful 'Into A Swan' with Siouxsie pulling the swan shapes and movements I remember so well from the 'Mantaray' tour. Then picking up the bunch of red roses she always gets at a show in London she slowly sauntered off with a wave and without a care in the world. Was she excited at the reception she'd just received, the rapture she'd caused? We'll never know. She's Siouxsie.

It was an exhilarating experience seeing Siouxsie on stage and I'm looking forward to seeing her again at Monday's show. Will it be the same set or will she come up with another one? Which album might she choose to play? Questions questions. I'll be much closer to the stage on Monday but here are some photos from row P in the stalls.

Viv Albertine - 'Confessions Of A MILF'

Here's the video for Viv's signature song, 'Confessions of a MILF', that was her closing song at the gig last night at the Royal Festival Hall. Viv sings in two voices - the wife and the artist - and I like the line 'I chose being an artist over being a wife, now I'm going to lead a very lovely life'. I hope you do.

Viv Albertine - Meltdown 2013

Tonight was the turn of Viv Albertine to play at Yoko Ono's Meltdown to open Siouxsie's gig. I didn't know that Viv was supporting Siouxsie when I got the tickets so it was a lovely surprise to find out that Siouxsie and Viv were playing on the same bill. As Viv said herself, whoever would have thought they'd be playing on the same stage all this time after their punk years?

Viv had a four-piece band backing her and they sounded really good, helping Viv create a lovely noise on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall. All of the songs were from Viv's 'The Vermillion Border' album except 'If Love' (from her 'Flesh' EP). Well, when I say her album, I mean her double 12" vinyl LP since the set included two new songs only released on vinyl, 'Life's Too Short To Be Shy' and 'Couples Are Creepy', and both are excellent! Luckily, the vinyl LP was available to buy in the foyer so I snapped it up.

Viv had a good line in patter when talking between songs, telling us about them, what they were about and where they came from. Introducing 'In Vitro' she explained her three ages of punk theory of heroine needles to IVF needles to knitting needles. She gave us a stomping version on 'I Want More' (which she said was one of the cardinal sins of women, wanting more) with its jagged guitar and the lovely and liberating 'Confessions Of A MILF' to close the show.

Well done on a great show, Viv. Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - Meltdown 2013

This evening I went to see the glorious Yoko Ono and her Plastic Ono Band at the Royal Festival Hall as the opening show of Yoko's Meltdown festival. And they rocked.

When we went in there was a screening of Yoko's film 'Bottoms' as we took our seats, big bums up there on the stage walking slowly as the film moves from bum to bum. That made for an interesting start. Then the lights went out and we were treated to a 15 minute documentary of clips of Yoko from when she was a toddler, through the 60s and meeting John Lennon, art shows to picking up the Grammy for 'Double Fantasy' after John had been killed and announcing Strawberry Fields in Central Park. As this ended the band came on and suddenly there was Yoko, waving at us and we all cheered.

Yoko and her seven-piece band started making a wonderful sound, a mad cacophany of energy coming straight at us with Yoko's gutteral wailing on top, aural art. They had a great light show that was tame for most of the set and then, suddenly, sprang into action dazzling us and, combined with the sound coming from the stage, transports us to another level. This was not a pop group with some lights, this was performance art. The opening song was 'Moonbeams', the lead song from the next album.

About half way through the gig Yoko welcomed her special guest to the stage, Peaches, to sing 'Yes, I'm A Witch' with her. Peaches came back for the encore of 'Don't Worry Kyoko' with Sean Ono Lennon playing the Eric Clapton guitar hero role from the original recording and he's not at all bad on the guitar. Or the bass (which he also played on some songs).

During one song which I think was  'Calling' from the last album, Yoko called out for light and suddenly people started flashing their Onochords around, lighting up the audience with hundreds of pinpricks of light. We were all given Onochords on the way into the gig and a short film of Yoko was shown late in the gig showing us how to signal 'I Love You' with them. I *love* my Onochord and still have my first one from 2009. I now have two.

We were treated to songs from the next album due out shortly (that all sound really good) as well as songs from the last album and some of her early work like 'Don't Worry Kyoko' and 'Mindtrain' (an abbreviated version, obviously). We also had 'Walking On Thin Ice' (that Sean described as her hit - singular - so they had to play it).

It was lovely to see Yoko prowl from one side of the stage to the other singing, howling and wailing depending on the song, giving it her all, full of energy and love. Relentless and tireless, all eyes glued to her.

'Mindtrain' finished the set and then 'Don't Worry Kyoko' was the first encore during which everyone flooded to the front of the stage to make it a rock gig. The second encore (of course there was a second encore) was a lovely, tender version of 'Higa Noboru' with just Sean on piano and a haunting trumpet in the background. It was lovely and a fitting farewell to the curator of Meltdown.

Thank you Yoko, it was fun! I hope to see you again during Meltdown - it's your show, after all!

PS: on the way to the Royal Festival Hall I noticed a big blue sign hung underneath the name of the hall at the back and the sign said 'Imagine Peace'. I think it's the same picture that makes up the cover photo for 'Live Peace In Toronto' with the small, white cloud. You just know Yoko's in town when you see that. And beside the Hayward Gallery is the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus so go along while it's in London. 

Yoko Ono - 'Moonbeams' & 'Take Me To The Land Of Hell'

Out of nowhere, Yoko Ono appears with a new song ('Moonbeams') and news of a new album ('Take Me To The Land Of Hell') on the eve of her gig to open her Meltdown festival. Meltdown is an annual summer festival on the Southbank in London to celebrate music and the arts and, this year, it is curated by Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band opens the festival tomorrow night and I will be there.

'Moonbeams' was announced by streaming it on the Guardian's website with a lovely review that I won't try to rival. Suffice it to say that it is classic Yoko. You can get a free download of the song by pre-ordering the new album on the Chimera Music site. The album will be released in mid-September so that's something to look forward to.

Meltdown is also the main reason for my TEN NIGHTS OF LIVE MUSIC as I'm calling it. It's not entirely accurate since one night is the soundtrack to a film and it's actually over 11 nights but I'm not going out on one of those nights (I think of it as a night off). But, as a title, it works.

Watch this space for more...

Eliza Carthy - 'Wayward Daughter'

Festivals of all kinds can be a great way of discovering new art. I have a lot to thank the Patti Smith curated Meltdown festival in 2005 for. She introduced me to the punk cabaret ragamuffins that are The Dresden Dolls. She also introduced me to Eliza Carthy. I was sort of vaguely aware of Eliza but had never paid any attention and then Patti put her on stage right in front of me and she opened her mouth to sing and I was entrapped. Since then I have bought records and seen her play live and her latest record is 'Wayward Daughter'.

'Wayward Daughter' is a new 'best of' of Eliza's work over the last couple of decades to coincide with the publication of a new biography of her under the same name. Interestingly, it's a collection of her vocal work with a wide variety of artists including her family and a range of bands she's worked with. She hints at another collection of her as a musician in the liner notes.

If there's something Eliza more than adequately demonstrates on this record it is that she's not afraid of genre. Moving from the 'pure' folk of Waterson:Carthy to the Latin beats of Salsa Celtica to the fusion of styles of The Imagined Village and her own solo work. The record moves easily from the synth-laden 'Space Girl' to the voice, fiddle and horn of 'May Song'. All unified by the power and purity of her voice. It's that voice that does it for me.

As the scion of the Carthy and Waterson folk dynasties you'd think she had it made but she's done it all on her own terms. She works with her dad in The Imagined Village collective and she released a record with her mam a few years ago, just the two of them singing stripped back songs.

Give it a listen and enjoy that voice, if only as a change from the auto tuned voices we hear all the time. This is real singing.

Sunday Night at the London Palladium

Donkeys years ago there was a programme on telly called Sunday Night at the London Palladium in which all the stars of the day featured, doing a turn, a song and dance or a short comedy routine. Well, last night it returned in the guise of a show headlined by John Cooper Clarke.

The show started at 7:30pm (with loads of people trailing in late from the bar) and finished at 11:05pm, thanks to a long set by JCC who was on for about 1:10 hours. Despite buying his records back in the day (and replacing them with CDs), I've never seen him live before. I had a ticket to see him on the Southbank last year but missed him again. Tonight I didn't and I'm so pleased I didn't.

There was a wide selection of guests to sit through before the main event and the show was opened by Thea Gilmore, someone I've never heard of but impressed me mightily and I've just downloaded her latest album and her London 2012 Olympics song with lyrics written by Sandy Denny, 'London'. I'll have to explore her back catalogue.

The lovely Viv Albertine came on to sing three songs from her first solo album, 'The Vermillion Border'. She sang 'Confessions of a MILF', 'Needles' and 'I Want More', just her and her guitar. While introducing 'In Vitro' she commented that she thought of the three ages of punk when she wrote it: heroine, IVF and knitting needles! She was in the Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious before joining The Slits so she's seen it all over the years. I wore my 'Confessions of a MILF' badge to the show, the badge that was given away to her pledgers that helped fund the album and I'm proud to say I was one of them. Well done Viv!

There were some other comedy acts and performance poets but I was like, 'OK, but I'm not here to see you, move along', like Barry Cryer and John Shuttleworth and a load of others. I was there for the main event and, after the second interval, the bare stage was set for Mr John Cooper Clarke.

On he came in his amazing skinniness, mop of hair and, of course, sun glasses, and he started regaling us with stories, poems and killer one-liners. I'm not even going to try repeating some of them - you had to be there for his often deadpan delivery of lines that crack you up. For a performance poet there weren't that many poems but I didn't mind, I loved listening to him weave his stories and take us on a magical journey into his mind.

Of the back catalogue, John delivered 'Beasley Street' at breakneck speed (including a 'get well soon' after mentioning the Duke of Edinburgh) and 'Evidently Chickentown' as an encore. All the other poems were new to me but not to lots of people in the audience. I loved his monologues that took us on strange journeys, such as him being the voice of Dominos Pizzas five years ago, Terry Pratchett and Alzheimers, marriage and that he can't go back to Manchester because he's considered fat by all the drug addicts (the poem has the graphic title of 'Get Back On Drugs You Fat Fuck').

Thank you for a great night out John, Viv and Thea. I'll be seeing Viv again next weekend when she supports the majestic Siouxsie at Yoko Ono's Meltdown!