Stamping on your own toe: not the greatest idea in the world.

I’ve been quite lax when it comes to updating this lately (and that’s putting it lightly…) which is silly, considering that over the past few weeks I’ve been to some of the best gigs I have ever been to. So here goes one big old massive post that’ll take you through the last few weeks….if I can remember what number I’m on!

A Gig A Week #11:  Caravan Palace & Electric Swing Circus   23/11/12, Bristol

I’ve been getting into electro-swing recently – as one of my friends on Twitter put it, “It’s the best blend of old and new!”.  I absolutely loved the energy of these two bands on stage – and the atmosphere in the venue was incredible.  Scat battles, multiple costume changes, jive dancing…yep, this was definitely money well spent! I’m definitely hoping to catch both bands again and need to get myself to some more electro-swing events in London.  If you have any recommendations of where I should go/what I should listen to, please please post them in the comments!

This first video is worth watching for the seamless dancing-microphone catch-singing transition alone (at about 3:28)

A Gig A Week #12: The Urban Folk Quartet  King’s Place, 30/11/12

Phenomenal.  With added triangle.  Don’t think there’s a lot more I can say to that…oh, apart from the fact I was dancing so enthusiastically that I stamped on my own toe.   It’s really hard to find a video that really captures the energy and atmosphere of their live performance…so watch this instead. And go and see them live!  NOW!! (Well, not now. But when they have a gig near you…)

A Gig A Week #13: Hannah James & Sam Sweeney   Walthamstow Folk Club, 2/12/12

There’s not a huge amount more I can say about this duo – I reviewed them a couple of months ago but just had to go and see them again (and take my mum with me this time! I did promise, after all…).  However, since the last time I saw them, Hannah & Sam have been nominated for Best Duo and Sam has been nominated for Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 folk awards – so congratulations to them both & best of luck with the awards!

A Gig A Week #14:  Lucy Ward  (with support from David Gibb & Elly Lucas) Green Note Camden,  3/12/12

I’ve mentioned David Gibb & Elly Lucas before, having seen them a couple of times at Towersey this year – I won’t say too much more now, as I’m hoping to make their London gig in January but they were a fantastic opening act for Lucy.

I’ve been trying to see one of Lucy Ward’s gigs for over a year now, and it was well worth the wait. Lucy had the audience captivated from the very first note until the very last – and even managed to fit in a request of “Santa Baby for Folkies” and a couple of Britpop covers. Not your usual for a folk gig, but then neither’s blue hair….

On a more serious note, Lucy is honestly one of the best – if not the best solo performers I’ve seen.  Incredible voice, fantastic stage presence and a brilliant way of putting a song across you that you hang on every single word she sings.

Brilliant.

I think that’s me up to date now…..

Belated Bellowhead Broadside Blog

First off, I just want to say that I am very, VERY proud of myself for the alliteration in the tittle of this…just a little bit of self-congratulation there. And also that I have been a bit quiet of late. Again. Must do better!

(if you’re reading this and you know me, you are hereby granted the right to nag. In fact… even if you don’t know me, nag away!)

So, back to it. i’m still (sort of) doing my ‘gig a week’ but haven’t quite kept up to date with it…I’ve seen The Robbie Boyd Band (#9) (link takes you to my review on Thank Folk For That) and popped up to Birmingham to see The Old Dance School’s triple bill with Lady Maisery and Gilmore & Roberts – a really fantastic gig, which was finished by an amazing one-off version of ODS’s track “John Ball” featuring all three acts. (There’s a video of it here for those who are interested…)

A couple of weeks ago I went along to see Bellowhead at Camden’s Roundhouse (#10) – I somehow managed to get to the front of the 2000 strong crowd & didn’t realise quite how many people were there until I saw a photo after the gig!

Bellowhead are always great fun to see live – and their current tour is a riotous rampage through their latest album, Broadside – which reached number 16 in the UK Official Album Charts (and number 1 in the independent album charts!). This gig was probably the best I’ve seen them, from opening song Black Beetle Pies to the inevitable encore of New York Girls – dedicated in this instance to Obama, who had just been re-elected as president of the USA. (Yep, I’m definitely a bit behind on this blog…)

I defy anyone to go to a Bellowhead gig and not dance. Even if it’s a seated one….

Some coins have 3 sides…

It’s been an odd couple of weeks. I’ve sadly parted ways with my band (boooo),  got my Masters results (yaaay!) and re-started rehearsals with The Stamp Collective (yaaaay!).  And I’ve even managed to go to 3 gigs (very different) in between – hence the whole 3-sided-coin analogy in the title…I’ve just completely forgotten to blog. Silly Lizzi, a slap on the wrist will be duly given to myself for that!

So: the past week has seen me totter off to Camden twice  – the first time to see the fabulous Lady Maisery  on Monday 1st October for gig #4  (eek, I really am behind…)  who enchanted the audience with their singing and diddling (click through to a wiki link if you don’t know what diddling is!).  Hannah, Hazel and Rowan’s voices blend beautifully – seeming to become one single voice when they sing in unison. A flawless gig, featuring a bansitar (“half a banjo, half a sitar and a bit o’vase), gorgeous harmonies and a serious lack of farmers ( although there were apparently a couple in Islington …) 

Gig #5 was the reason for my second trip to Camden of the week – this time to jump back across the other side of the spectrum to see Man Like Me  (supported by The Other Tribe, who were my main reason for going along.) In all honesty – there’s very little I can add to my previous post about The Other Tribe – they’re still fantastic, they can still get a crowd going…it was just a shame that their set wasn’t later in the evening so they could have had the bigger crowd. But y’know what? Just go and see them live. They’ve just announced their own headline tour – no excuses, now.  And as for Man Like Me – well, I went to the gig having only heard a few of their songs on YouTube…and left humming a couple of them. It seems I struck gold too – this was apparently their only gig with the full band line up.

And finally, gig #4 – last night I saw the Treacherous Orchestra  at Cargo, Shoreditch.  I first saw them at Sidmouth Folkweek over the summer and have been hoping to catch them again ever since. The energy these guys have is just incredible – 15 minute long tune sets and around an hour and a half of playing without a break? Myself and my friend were exhausted watching them. The venue should have been packed to capacity – but hopefully there’ll be another London gig sooner rather than later…

Right.  I’m off to another gig now. No rest for the wicked, eh!

What next..?

After a trip to Towersey Village Festival, I’ve been thinking what to do next with this blog. As is glaringly obvious, my updating has been sporadic to say the least and it’s often hard to find the right thing to blog about.

Therefore, to give myself some structure for this blog I will be attempting to attend at least one gig per week – something to talk/blog about. I already have a few gigs in the diary of bands I’ve seen over the festival season I want to keep up with, but hopefully the weeks in between will be new discoveries, recommendations and perhaps people I might not have heard of before.

Let’s see how it goes….

As for Towersey: my personal highlights* were Bellowhead, who included some new songs from their forthcoming album “Broadside” in their set; David Gibb & Elly Lucas, whose song “Old Chairs To Mend” I chose as my song for the week on This Is My Jam and Northern Irish winners of the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Ioscaid. I’m still kicking myself for not buying their EP whilst I was there….

*Of course, there were many, many more fantastic acts…these were just the first three that sprung to mind…