After last night I am wondering whether I am now officially too old to rock.
I felt like a grumpy old man at the Maccabees gig at the UEA. Firstly we had to queue up in the cold for almost half an hour to get in, despite the tickets stating that doors opened at 7.30 p.m and we were there at 7.31. Then the support band didn't make an appearance for quite some time and shambled their way through six or seven numbers. I have tried without success to find out who they were. Perhaps they could go under the name Totally Talentless which is an apt description. A motley crew of misfits. The lead singer thought he was Iggy Pop, one of the guitarists spent more time adjusting his baseball cap and hair than playing and when the keyboard player needed a drink he just stopped playing. They looked more like something from a Special Needs College.
We then had the usual lengthy wait before the headliners came on and what a disappointment the Maccabees were. I really like their new album "Given to the Wild." It has some very good songs and lovely textures and I was expecting a professional band. Sadly their set was a mess. The sound quality was awful, the music sounded like a loud mush of sound. The lyrics were indistinct and when leadman Orlando Weeks spoke to the assembled multitude (Biblical reference) his voice was so distorted you couldn't hear a word. As my mate said "Are we in a foreign country?" The balance was wrong, the whole thing was shot over by bass and distortion and became highly unpleasant to listen to.
It was certainly a case of give the kids what they want - high energy, loud mushy music that they can leap up and down to and no subtlety. On this showing the band are just second division and will remain so until they decide whether they want to be a loud band for kids to pogo to or serious musicians, something I'm sure they are capable of. Being loud and inaudible may work well for a short time but isn't a long term strategy.
It was hot, claustrophobic and uncomfortable which is just about acceptable if the music is top notch - this wasn't.
I have a good laugh when I see the current advert extolling the virtues of holidaying in this country in 2012 rather than going abroad. They have wheeled out some big guns for this including the brilliant Stephen Fry and Julie Walters. The problem is what they are portraying looks like something out of the 1950s. I'm not saying that our country isn't the "green and pleasant land" that they are describing but they conveniently rule out the other side of the coin which might include racism, civil unrest, unemployment and lots of traffic jams. Perhaps on balance though I'll take the green and pleasant land scenario.
Which brings me onto the subject of the word fricking or fecking or any other version. People seem to be using these words more and more instead of the f word. My argument is that although not in themselves a swear word they are deliberately taking the place of said swear word and so therefore have the same intention and meaning. I used to have long discussions with a work colleague who was a Christian and boasted that he never swore. He did use the word flippin or flipping a lot and I argued that this was swearing because the intention was exactly that of using the f word. He was merely substituting a similar word. The intentions were the same. He would never agree. What do you think? Answers on an effing postcard!
Finally back to music and a wonderful antidote to the high octane loud rock described above. I have been promoting the talents on my blog and elsewhere of the delightful music of Ana Silvera. Yesterday I played her new album The Aviary through about four times and commented in a record review that this was the kind of material that made me fall in love with music many years ago. Finely crafted songs with poetical lyrics. Songs that tell stories.
See you tomorrow.
I felt like a grumpy old man at the Maccabees gig at the UEA. Firstly we had to queue up in the cold for almost half an hour to get in, despite the tickets stating that doors opened at 7.30 p.m and we were there at 7.31. Then the support band didn't make an appearance for quite some time and shambled their way through six or seven numbers. I have tried without success to find out who they were. Perhaps they could go under the name Totally Talentless which is an apt description. A motley crew of misfits. The lead singer thought he was Iggy Pop, one of the guitarists spent more time adjusting his baseball cap and hair than playing and when the keyboard player needed a drink he just stopped playing. They looked more like something from a Special Needs College.
We then had the usual lengthy wait before the headliners came on and what a disappointment the Maccabees were. I really like their new album "Given to the Wild." It has some very good songs and lovely textures and I was expecting a professional band. Sadly their set was a mess. The sound quality was awful, the music sounded like a loud mush of sound. The lyrics were indistinct and when leadman Orlando Weeks spoke to the assembled multitude (Biblical reference) his voice was so distorted you couldn't hear a word. As my mate said "Are we in a foreign country?" The balance was wrong, the whole thing was shot over by bass and distortion and became highly unpleasant to listen to.
It was certainly a case of give the kids what they want - high energy, loud mushy music that they can leap up and down to and no subtlety. On this showing the band are just second division and will remain so until they decide whether they want to be a loud band for kids to pogo to or serious musicians, something I'm sure they are capable of. Being loud and inaudible may work well for a short time but isn't a long term strategy.
It was hot, claustrophobic and uncomfortable which is just about acceptable if the music is top notch - this wasn't.
I have a good laugh when I see the current advert extolling the virtues of holidaying in this country in 2012 rather than going abroad. They have wheeled out some big guns for this including the brilliant Stephen Fry and Julie Walters. The problem is what they are portraying looks like something out of the 1950s. I'm not saying that our country isn't the "green and pleasant land" that they are describing but they conveniently rule out the other side of the coin which might include racism, civil unrest, unemployment and lots of traffic jams. Perhaps on balance though I'll take the green and pleasant land scenario.
Which brings me onto the subject of the word fricking or fecking or any other version. People seem to be using these words more and more instead of the f word. My argument is that although not in themselves a swear word they are deliberately taking the place of said swear word and so therefore have the same intention and meaning. I used to have long discussions with a work colleague who was a Christian and boasted that he never swore. He did use the word flippin or flipping a lot and I argued that this was swearing because the intention was exactly that of using the f word. He was merely substituting a similar word. The intentions were the same. He would never agree. What do you think? Answers on an effing postcard!
Finally back to music and a wonderful antidote to the high octane loud rock described above. I have been promoting the talents on my blog and elsewhere of the delightful music of Ana Silvera. Yesterday I played her new album The Aviary through about four times and commented in a record review that this was the kind of material that made me fall in love with music many years ago. Finely crafted songs with poetical lyrics. Songs that tell stories.
See you tomorrow.
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