Tag Archives: london

Shadow goes to the vet…..

Posted on by
Reply

So until about 8 months ago, I lived in Greenford (Middlesex, outskirts of London) when I moved to Hammersmith. I have 3 cats all of whom are in good health but occasionally need to go to the vets for their checkups and vaccination boosters. For two of them this was no problem, but for Shadow this was always an unpleasant experience. She was very nervous of the catbox and hated going in the car. This usually meant that by the time the car had left our street, she had begun to vomit and always meant that the catbox arrived at the veterinary clinic in a disgusting state. Consequently, each visit became more and more of a trauma for her with the same difficult results. Imagine for a while sitting in your own sick in a plastic box. Even bringing it down to the level of a cat (or up) this can’t have been Shadow’s idea of a good time.

Anyway, the date for her jabs has come round for the first time since we moved to Hammersmith. Careful planning required. Cut out the car by making the appointment at that small practise somewhere between my house and Ravenscourt Park (you have no idea how close that is). Then great scheme comes to mind – cut out the catbox by attaching Shadow to a lead. This was a big risk. If she was sick it was probably going to end up on my nice black velvet jacket. Should have thought of this before leaving home and worn something more practical. Too late to stop now!. We make the short journey to the vets. Some of the time, Shadow walks. Some of the time, she prefers to be carried. All the time, she miaows. But she is not sick.

We arrive at the clinic. The gothy receptionist doesn’t even blink at the sight of a cat on a lead (Shadows appreciates her colour scheme) and we are handed onto the vet who does his work with Shadow hardly noticing. Shadow is declared in good health although warned she might be overeating.

We begin the journey home. Same routine as before. Lots of miaowing but nothing else. Once inside the gates of home (and they’re pretty impressive gates!), Shadow makes a break for it and runs for the door and safety. For the first time ever, Shadow has been to the vet without being sick! She is not hiding from fear of another visit and we are the best of friends. I’m not even phased by the looks I got from those who wondered why a bloke was walking down the street walking a cat.

 

Hooray for Shadow!!

Eagles have left the building!

Posted on by
Reply

So I searched the broadsheets for an honest review but I found none. I didn’t want a good review but just a review that made me feel like the writer had actually been there. But I found none. If a solo artist continues to tour into his dotage, we applaud him (or her) for perseverance and call him the grand old man of rock or blues or some such. If a band does the same, we say that they’re only doing it for the money and we trot out the same old lines.
Now the Eagles (there is no question on this one!) are doing it for the money but not only for that. All those reviews that said they phoned in their performance and went through tired old licks are simply not true. Yes, these are the guys who recorded “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Take it Easy” on their first album but just writing the word “easy” over and over again doesn’t make a review just lazy journalism.
Anyway, I don’t think they’re going to worry too much about the critics and I really didn’t expect any positive write-ups so no-one’s truly disappointed.
I’d be the first to admit that when I saw the Eagles in 2006 at Twickenham, I was still impressed by their polish and professionalism and, oh, those harmonies and the manic Joe Walsh but, hey, I felt like I’d seen it all before and I genuinely didn’t know whether I’d be back to take it to the limit, one more time….. But these shows in 2008 see a band re-invigorated. Still polished, still a little too professional, still over-priced but with a whole bunch of new songs and new energy. This meant that when the harmonies were spot on, they were just a little more impressive. This meant that when Joe Walsh was manic (when isn’t Joe Walsh manic!), he was just a little funnier. This guy is 15 years sober but he’s still the funniest drunk in rock and that is some acting.
“Long Road Out of Eden” (the song) is a critique of U.S. overseas policy which you either agree with or you don’t but there’s no question in my mind that on Saturday it included the most wonderful guitar solo I’ve heard in a long time. Not over-indulgent, not over-long but just great music. And that’s why I came… the music. And on that score the Eagles were convincing. They were de-mob happy playing their last overseas date on this tour and that added just a little more energy, a little more mischief. So it was a good night but even on the lukewarm nights, it is passion I hear in the songwriting and in the delivery. And on that score the Eagles won!

Give this band what they deserve!

Posted on by
Reply

It was good to have Swarf back in London, last night, after a couple of journeys to Brighton over the last few months to catch their live show. Afterwards I felt distinctly mixed emotions – frustration and pleasure in equal measure.

The frustrations first. The venue was a little off the beaten track to say the least which meant that it wasn’t going to catch the casual audience. This resulted in a minuscule crowd – which must be discouraging for the band at this stage of their career. I think they’re one of the best bands around – both live and in the studio – but I sometimes feel that I’m one of the few who gets this. The actual venue was fine but the stage lighting was poor. Again, it’s all very well having a great live show but the set-up provided by the venue didn’t really help us appreciate it. They need to address this before future shows especially if this is going to become a successful club night. The performance was short but perfectly formed and I, for one, would have liked an extra song or two particularly as there was no support (aside from the silently-delivered wonderfully bad horror flick that was on the screen before the band took the stage). Finally, given that this was an audience who mostly knew of the band prior to the night, certain sections could have offered a little more encouragement. Some of the reaction between numbers was a little lukewarm and we could have least given Swarf the dilemma of having to consider whether they had an encore ready if they needed one.

The pleasures second. The band are great at what they do. In Liz, the lead vocalist, they have an energetic and winsome front woman who has the best vocal chops you’re going to hear this year. Chris and Andrew, the twin keyboardists, offer a great range of sounds, textures, dance beats and exotic rhythms which have been obviously carefully developed prior to the show. The range of sound and atmospheres are unique, going far beyond the built in samples and settings of their synths. They create the varying ambience allowing Liz to take care of the strong melodies which she is more than able to carry. High points of the set include the newer songs “Parlour Tricks” and “Don’t Silence” and tracks from their first album “Not Enough” and “Supine”.

It seems to be a key time for the band. Careful planning will be needed to take this to a higher level prior to the second album but they are more than capable of delivering.

Photography was difficult due to the (lack of) lights but hey, I tried:

Long Road to Greenwich

Posted on by
3

When I was young my parents took me to Blackpool. A lot. We didn’t get on very well. I wish I could have done something about that but its too late now. Typical holiday involved going to Lewis’ Department store and buying an album on cassette (remember them!) to absorb by osmosis during the week, hanging about in a pool hall that played a lot of David Bowie on the juke box and avoiding my parents. I was way too young to hang around in pool halls but that was then…..

One day I was wandering around the shops near Blackpool’s south shore (heading for the pleasure beach) and I came across a shop selling music posters. I bought a poster of the Eagles that was a year or two out-of-date. When I went home to rural Yorkshire, I hung it on my bedroom wall.

A few years later I moved to Shafton (I doubt you’d find it on the map!), then to Barnsley, then to South Norwood (London), then to Croydon, then to Greenford (Middlesex) and then to Hammersmith. Wherever I went and whoever with, the first task was to take that damn Eagles poster and hang it on to the wall. The blue-tack gave up years ago, the edges frayed, eventually it had to go into a frame to preserve it but its hung on every bedroom wall I’ve ever had and it’s there today.

From right-to-left, it has Bernie Leadon in blue shirt and jeans on lead guitar, Glenn Frey on rhythm and lead vocals with long flowing hair, Don Henley on drums in a blue sports shirt, and Randy Meisner on bass.

Years later I figured it out it was taken at a festival in Holland but that’s another story.

In 1994, I was invited to write for a magazine about the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over Tour. It wasn’t a hard task.

In 1996, I interviewed Bernie Leadon for a project which has continued for 12 or 13 years.

And to bring the story up-to-date I was given a complimentary ticket for each night of the Eagles’ multi-night stand at the O2 in Greenwich, London for the opening dates of their “Long Road Out of Eden” World Tour.

Now I don’t know if anybody actually reads this thing but if you do you’ll have figured out that music is a particular passion for me and that my tastes are very broad and much of my taste in music is not at all like the Eagles.

The Eagles, though, are somehow a constant for me. It’s music that knits my adulthood to my childhood and there’s not much music I grow out of. Once I like your songs or your writing you’re stuck with me for the long haul.

So, Eagles are in Europe and so far they’ve played four of their five nights. Two of those dates had work conflicts for me but on the other two I took up my seat in the second row in front of the stage.

These days the Eagles are Glenn Frey (hair now much shorter), Don Henley (inclined now to spend half of the show stepping out from behind the drums – but at least he’s not Phil Co@*ins), Joe Walsh (on board since 1976) and Timothy B. Schmit (the new boy who joined in 1978).

The key to these shows is the new album. There are thirty songs in the show of which nine come from the new disc.

For those who are fans, here’s the setlist:

How Long (from the new album but curiously first played at the Dutch show mentioned above) 

Busy Being Fabulous (also from the new record) 

I Don’t Want to Hear Any More (from the new record and sung by Timothy) 

Guilty of the Crime (new, and sung by Joe Walsh) 

Hotel California (opened by a trumpet solo these days before the more familiar guitar work. The trumpet solo reminds me of the High Chapparal for some reason) 

Peaceful Easy Feeling (from their debut album) 

I Can’t Tell You Why (from 1979’s The Long Run which was not enthusiastically received at the time but more songs have gone the distance from that album than any other record according to the evidence of this tour setlist) 

One of These Nights (title song from their 1975 album)

Lyin’ Eyes  (the song that more than any other earned them the label of being a ‘country rock’ band)

Boys of Summer (originally a Don Henley solo recording but now a staple of the band’s live set for 15 years)

In The City (Joe Walsh recorded it for the soundtrack of “The Warriors” movie, Eagles adapted it for The Long run album. Beautiful harmonies on a fulsome rocker)

The Long Run (the band describe this as a signature tune)

Intermission

No More Walks In the Wood (close harmony number from the new album)

Waiting in the Weeds (Don Henley lyrical masterpiece from the new disc)

No More Cloudy Days (Glenn Frey song from the new album which reminds me an awful lot of the song he sings over the closing moments of the “Thelma and Louise” film)

Love Will Keep Us Alive (from Hell Freezes Over in 1994)

Take it To The Limit (originally sung by Randy Meisner and should have remained retired after he left the band)

Long Road Out of Eden (from the new record. A poetic reimagining of serving in the American Armed Forces overseas in the current era. Musically tense with a wild solo from Joe Walsh)

Somebody (Another new one. Menacing vocal from Frey and mean slide work form Walsh)

Walk Away (Joe Walsh rocker from his James Gang days)

Witchy Woman (Co-written by Bernie Leadon)

Life’s Been Good (Joe Walsh at his most manic)

Dirty Laundry (Henley targets the news media)

Funk #49 (one more early rocker from Walsh)

Heartache Tonight (no. 1 single from The Long Run album)

Life in the Fastlane (The critique of the Californian hedonistic lifestyle from Hotel California)

Encore 1 

Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh on voicebox guitar)

All She Wants to Do is Dance (Weak moment of the night)

Encore 2 

Take it Easy (another signature song from the first album)

Desperado (Henley and Frey inhabit the Old West)