I'm writing this blog whilst listening to the Young Musician of the Year Final on the television. They have just had a young 15 year old pianist playing Greig's Piano Concerto. I think being able to play that well at that age should be illegal!
It made me think about the gig I went to last night at Norwich Arts Centre. The contrast between the pianist and the first two bands was simply phenomenal. Firstly we had The Deers. "We are the Deers," they continually told us as if it would make us enjoy the noise they were making.
Actually they started off quite well. Their first song had some decent harmonies and seemed to garner inspiration from the Dave Crosby, Stephen Stills style of rock with West Coast American influences. Sadly it was downhill from that point as the remainder of their set turned into a mush of sound. The second band were even worse. Apparently they came from Wales and it's a shame they didn't stay there. I didn't even bother to make a note of their name. Of course the Deers informed us that this ragtag of a group were actually awesome. The only bit of that they got right was that a description of their performance certainly started with the letters aw - they were truly awful.
They had a white haired female singer (and I use the word singer loosely) who seemed to think there was something to be gained from almost shrieking into the microphone while the three guitarists and drummer made this horrendous crashing noise behind her. Every song sounded the same and you couldn't detect a single lyric. The problem is this type of band seem to think there is merit in all crashing down on guitars at the same time. You just wait for this to happen. There is no subtlety and basically pretty much no nothing.
Thankfully the main band Dry The River were very decent. They lean towards folk rock and are somewhere between Mumford and Sons and American band Fleet Foxes. To me they were very much like the latter which is certainly no bad thing. They brought some light and shade to the evening and some lovely textures. There were acoustic sections but also some crash, bang and wallop, but even the crash, bang and wallop seemed to have structure and even in the harshest passages melody shone through. I really enjoyed their set and would certainly pay to see them again.
I love rock music but to me it has to have some subtlety and I guess I do lean towards prog rock, folk rock and rock with classical music overtones.
I see a full interactive index of John Peel's record collection is now online and I must have a good look at it in the not too distant future.
Yesterday paid my first visit of the season to see Hethersett play cricket. We were well beaten by Swardeston B. With eight first team players out it was always going to be a struggle but it was still disappointing to lose by seven wickets.
Today was our last visit of the season to Carrow Road unless we go to an end of season testimonial game next week. Norwich were full value for our 2-0 win over Aston Villa and at the end the players did a thoroughly deserved lap of honour. It was rather low key compared to the last two seasons when there have been end of season celebrations and open top bus tours of Norwich. Nothing like that this season despite, as our player of the season Grant Holt pointed out, by coming 12th in the Premier League we have easily eclipsed the achievements of the past two seasons!!
It made me think about the gig I went to last night at Norwich Arts Centre. The contrast between the pianist and the first two bands was simply phenomenal. Firstly we had The Deers. "We are the Deers," they continually told us as if it would make us enjoy the noise they were making.
Actually they started off quite well. Their first song had some decent harmonies and seemed to garner inspiration from the Dave Crosby, Stephen Stills style of rock with West Coast American influences. Sadly it was downhill from that point as the remainder of their set turned into a mush of sound. The second band were even worse. Apparently they came from Wales and it's a shame they didn't stay there. I didn't even bother to make a note of their name. Of course the Deers informed us that this ragtag of a group were actually awesome. The only bit of that they got right was that a description of their performance certainly started with the letters aw - they were truly awful.
They had a white haired female singer (and I use the word singer loosely) who seemed to think there was something to be gained from almost shrieking into the microphone while the three guitarists and drummer made this horrendous crashing noise behind her. Every song sounded the same and you couldn't detect a single lyric. The problem is this type of band seem to think there is merit in all crashing down on guitars at the same time. You just wait for this to happen. There is no subtlety and basically pretty much no nothing.
Thankfully the main band Dry The River were very decent. They lean towards folk rock and are somewhere between Mumford and Sons and American band Fleet Foxes. To me they were very much like the latter which is certainly no bad thing. They brought some light and shade to the evening and some lovely textures. There were acoustic sections but also some crash, bang and wallop, but even the crash, bang and wallop seemed to have structure and even in the harshest passages melody shone through. I really enjoyed their set and would certainly pay to see them again.
I love rock music but to me it has to have some subtlety and I guess I do lean towards prog rock, folk rock and rock with classical music overtones.
I see a full interactive index of John Peel's record collection is now online and I must have a good look at it in the not too distant future.
Yesterday paid my first visit of the season to see Hethersett play cricket. We were well beaten by Swardeston B. With eight first team players out it was always going to be a struggle but it was still disappointing to lose by seven wickets.
Today was our last visit of the season to Carrow Road unless we go to an end of season testimonial game next week. Norwich were full value for our 2-0 win over Aston Villa and at the end the players did a thoroughly deserved lap of honour. It was rather low key compared to the last two seasons when there have been end of season celebrations and open top bus tours of Norwich. Nothing like that this season despite, as our player of the season Grant Holt pointed out, by coming 12th in the Premier League we have easily eclipsed the achievements of the past two seasons!!
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