Part two of my run down of the best concerts I’ve attended in 2016. Clips are provided where available, but don’t really do justice. I’m in one of these videos, but I’m not telling you which one.
Iggy Pop, Royal Albert Hall London, May
Not only one of the best concerts of 2016, but the best concert I’ve ever been to. Iggy Pop at the Albert Hall received five star reviews in the majority of the write ups that I read. He managed to charm the entire audience, and kicking into Lust for Life right at the beginning, he was a completely captivating performer for two solid hours. Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age led the excellent backing band. No Stooges material, with songs mostly from The Idiot, Lust for Life and this year’s Post Pop Depression.
Location to view: front stalls.
Neil Young, O2 Arena London, June
Although very much in Promise of the Real mode, Young performs many classics including After the Gold Rush, The Needle and the Damage Done, Alabama and Walk On. The excellent support came from Laura Marling, who in December joined the alumni of artists who’ve brought the Colston Hall website down due to ticket demand.
Location to view: stalls.
Elvis Costello, Colston Hall Bristol, July
Elvis Costello has turned out, like Morrissey, to be one of those artists that you have to see several times in concert before you finally catch a great performance. He was on top form this summer.
Location to view: stalls.
Primal Scream, Bristol Downs, September
And the rain came down.
Location to view: jostling for room.
ABC, Colston Hall Bristol, October
Like Primal Scream, I’ve always had a soft spot for ABC. The Lexicon of Love was one of the best albums of the early 80s, and they’ve received a lot of attention this year after releasing a follow up album. The Lexicon of Love II is really good – who would have thought it? But I’m still also a big fan of ABC’s odder excursions. Their second album Beauty Stab didn’t do too well with its change in direction to a “rockier” sound, but it’s a good record, as is 1985’s How to be a Zillionaire. Perhaps this was dismissed because ABC were viewed as having gone barking mad at the time by adopting a kind of cartoon image. But it’s an excellent record. Be Near Me is a classic pop song.
Tonight there’s a nod (I think it is) to Zillionaire with the presence of Rob Fusari. His opening set is very strange, but I loved his Michael Jackson version of Riders on the Storm. Dressed in sort of space overalls, when he joins ABC for several numbers he’s a funny contrast to their smart suits and Martin Fry’s gold shoes. He clearly enjoys himself, although my favourite member of the band is the very serious looking bass player Andy Carr.
ABC open with a collection that opens with When Smokey Sings, features Be Near Me and How to be a Millionaire and includes many tracks from The Lexicon of Love II, including Viva Love. After an interval, they deliver The Lexicon of Love in its entirety, the set opened by Anne Dudley and her very competent orchestra. Like other gigs I’ve seen where a full classic album is played, it’s over fairly quickly and is a touch inevitable (although Fry seems confused at times – “what’s the next one? Poison Arrow?”) when it comes to a close.
I’ve just worked out that this video was taken by the person sitting next to me.
Location to view: front row.
Echo and the Bunnymen, O2 Academy Bristol, November
Like The Damned, reviewed either before or after this post I’m not sure, Echo and the Bunnymen only have two core members left in the band, vocalist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sargeant. But apart from Mac it’s difficult to tell who’s who on the stage at the O2 in Bristol with the lights being so low throughout their set.
The Bunnymen perform many of their finest songs including The Back of Love, The Killing Moon, Rescue and Bring on the Dancing Horses. This isn’t a sold out concert, as the stairs being roped off and the second bar being closed are tell tale signs of this, but the extra space is a luxury.
In the summer of 1976 I’m guessing that many of the early punk gigs took place in sweltering heat. Not so for the Bristol leg of the 40th anniversary tour of The Damned. Seeing them in sub-zero temperature I have never been so cold. The Motion nightclub closely resembles what I imagine to be a Gulag experience. But it was kind of fitting for the occasion, seeing Dave Vanian in his Dracula garb prowling around the stage and members of the audience breathing out mist.
There’s also a lot of what I would describe as punk vintage in attendance, who are on the whole surprisingly urbane, and I forgive the few who do push rudely to the front as jumping up and down in a frenzy is one option for keeping warm. And Motion does work in a way for this gig; squashed and often scarily intimate. Captain Sensible revels in this setup, addressing his audience often and even offering the mike stand at one point.
With Vanian being the more reticent of the two (like the Buzzcocks who are doing a similar anniversary thing, The Damned only retain guitarist – although original bassist in actuality – and lead vocalist from their first line up), it is Sensible who acts as spokesman for the band. When they enter to a background of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Fanfare for the Common Man he barks “turn that shit off!” Although the man next to me who’s been dancing to it has clearly missed the irony. It’s clear from the outset that they have retained their sense of humour. They have also kept their cartoonish aspect, and Sensible with his trademark red beret is a strange offset to Vanian.
The Damned launch into a full set of their debut album. Neat Neat Neat, I Fall, Born to Kill and all the rest of it. It’s superb, and obviously over in half an hour or so. What struck me, during the Damned, Damned, Damned set and later, is what a fine guitarist Sensible is. He does slip into guitar rock cliches from time to time but it’s welcome, although this does take the edge off his ELP antagonism. A strange mixture of styles unfolds during the rest of the set, which demonstrates the various flavours of the Damned that followed over the decades after their 1977 album, including an excellent version of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit.
Sensible and Vanian, now in their early 60s, look remarkably well. They fared better than I did, and I slid away before the end of the evening giving up against the cold. But all in all seeing the Damned in concert was a better alternative for marking the occasion than setting light to my collection of punk memorabilia. And with only a handful of 7 inch singles to my name, it wouldn’t have kept me warm.
Location to view: by the door.
* if you were expecting 2016 in Concert Part Two I have simply got ahead of myself and this instalment will follow.
Between now and the end of the year a run down of the best concerts I’ve attended in 2016. Clips are provided where available, but don’t really do justice. I’m in one of these videos by the way, but I’m not telling you which one.
John Grant, BBC 6 Music Festival, Colston Hall Bristol, February
In February BBC 6 Music succeeded in squeezing more people into the Colston Hall than I thought ever possible. The bill included Guy Garvey and Julia Holter, although the act who totally nailed proceedings was John Grant. The highlight was his duet with Jimi Goodwin from Doves. Popping over the road to catch the Buzzcocks at the O2, I missed Laura Marling, but more of her later.
Location to view: back stalls for Guy Garvey, balcony for Julia Holter, down at the front for John Grant. For Buzzcocks, bar area.
The Wonder Stuff, O2 Academy Bristol, March
I’d actually bought a ticket because I wanted to see the support band, The Wedding Present, for the first time since 1988 when they played at The Fridge in Brixton. But sadly they were a bit lacklustre, but I’m glad to have caught The Wonder Stuff again (the first time since about 1989 I think). I’d forgotten about what a good front man they have in Miles Hunt, and Erika Nockalls has made a fine more recent addition to the line up.
Location to view: bar area.
Joanne Shaw Taylor, O2 Academy Bristol, April
I last saw Wilko Johnson in 1990 at the Brixton Academy supporting Ian Dury and the Blockheads. So it’s nicely fitting that the support act on this occasion was also the more memorable and the one hour set from Joanne Shaw Taylor was captivating.
Location to view: bar area.
New Order, Teenage Cancer Trust, Royal Albert Hall London, April
Finally, after never seeing them live before. The Teenage Cancer trust concerts at the Albert Hall have become a regular fixture for me. Last year I saw Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and I have tickets for The Who next year. New Order filled two hours with a mixture of their back catalogue, which includes Joy Division songs, and their most recent album Music Complete.
