2011 End of Year Review Part 3
July
I looked through my notes, and I went to one solitary concert in July – Threshold at the Peel on the very first day of July. As usual with Threshold, they played to a rammed crowd, and Damian Wilson was on top form, singing, as normal, some of the set from the crowd. There was a near accident as he jumped down from the stage into the crowd, colliding with a lady standing in the front row.
Other than that, the big news for July was the announcement of a new album from Magenta. Magenta also announced a fan area for the album where you could listen to the songs early, and get access to photos, and individual tracks to create your own mix. Of course, I have no ability to do anything like this, but others enjoyed this. Indeed, Peter Waite (Pedro) did a cracking big-band mix, and Rob Reed did a proper mix of his version. It's available in 5.1.
01Jul Threshold, The Peel
August
The height of summer – well as high as summer gets in the UK anyway – so it is time for one of my favourite festivals – the Cambridge Rock Festival, which is held over 4 days. This year David & I were there for the Friday through to the Sunday. We never saw the headliner on any day, and I would not suggest that I enjoyed every band – far from it. But, as a festival it works so well. I put a collapsible chair outside the tent and sat there for the bands I didn't care about so much, and headed inside to watch the ones that interested me.
On the Friday, the CRS (Classic Rock Society) were sponsoring the 2nd stage, and organised some of the bands. Not all of them. I had left the tent for some reason and was heading back, when I was intercepted by Andy from the CRS who warned me off. But some of the bands were really enjoyable – Godsticks, Also Eden, a pared-back Manning, Paul Menel. I also headed off to the main stage to see Heather Findlay, which was just as well as the band on the second stage at the time was making me feel rather queasy.
And on to Saturday, which meant a quick trip to Tesco to buy some water and then back to the field. I spent the whole day in or next to the tend with the main stage. Cambridge Rock Festival is so well organised – the switch over between bands is about 20 minutes, and there is ample of food to choose from. They even put on Zumba classes in the morning for those who are camp – sorry, I meant camping. The Saturday was my favourite day of the three – Panic Room, Chantel McGregor, and Larry Miller all put on great sets. Also worth mentioning were Stolen Earth (their t-shirt is my favourite of the year) & Cherry Lee Mewis. Chantel surprised me with her rock/ blues – not something I was expecting, and the worst thing all weekend was that she didn't get an encore. Larry Miller was as brilliant as ever. He did get an encore. As soon as the main stage finished, another stage started up. Larry - “does someone have a disco here?” I couldn't see the problem; he was standing in front of 6 Marshall amps.
Sunday started all again. Andy managed to get photographic evidence of James doing Zumba. Tommo (of the CRS) reported that he had heard Tinyfish guitarist, and generally good person, Jim Sanders on the Danny Baker show. Later in the day, James pointed out a young lady to me – telling me that she had been at all of the prog acts, and was going to talk to her. Later I saw James in conversation so I ambled across to say hello. We had met Thea, a student at Nottingham University, and now a member of the Tinyfish forum. James gave her a copy of the Big Red Spark – he obviously has a stock of them for this very purpose. Back to the music – Final Conflict, Jebo, Credo, John Young, Mr So & So, and finally Mostly Autumn. This was the very first time I'd seen them, and the experience left me a little flat. But, Anne-Marie Helder's flute solo was beautifully played, and Livvy Sparnenn puts everything into Questioning Eyes – that one song was probably the highlight of the weekend. It was also good to hang out with Catherine Wrightwick, another Fishtank member who, in her spare time, runs a robotics team for teenagers. This team travel the world with their football-playing robots.
Later that month, I was driving Matt Stevens out to Supernormal Festival – in Middle-of-Nowhere, Oxfordshire. Matt had got a gig at the festival, and had great fun playing standing on sheets of wood placed over hay bales. Matt reported to me that he had to stop playing because he was getting seasick!
And just to prove that my whole life doesn't revolve around music, I spent a few days at the end of the month wandering around Berlin. If you haven't been to Berlin, consider going. It really is a nice place to visit. My whole stay seemed to be based around The Berlin Wall. There were some desperately sad stories of people killed by attempting to cross it. I wouldn't say Berlin is a fun place – it is thought provoking. There were many stories involving the Wall. I'll just mention one that was described on a placard in a Berlin suburb. Some West Berlin children playing in the river got into trouble. The adults there were afraid to get into the water to assist them as they knew that the East German guards would open fire. The children drowned.
05Aug Paul Menel/ Godsticks/ Manning/ Heather Findlay/ Also Eden – Cambridge Rock Festival
06Aug Larry Miller/ Chantel McGregor/ Panic Room. Stolen Earth/ Ebony Tower/ Cherry Lee Mewis - Cambridge Rock Festival
07Aug Mostly Autumn/ Mr So & So/ John Young/ Credo/ Jebo/ Final Conflict - Cambridge Rock Festival
19Aug Matt Stevens – Supernormal Festival, Middle-of-Nowhere, Oxfordshire
September
A few years ago, I bought a DVD/ CD package for the band Caamora. I didn't know what to expect, but it is full of good music, an interesting story and great costumes – a real modern day opera. The show recorded in Poland, and since then they've been to Bolivia – hardly accessible places. So, when I heard that they were doing the show in Zoetermeer, which is a mere day drive for me, I decided to go. It helped that I had the week off, having just returned from Berlin, and I could stop over in Chatham to visit my parents. The plan was to meet some Dutch friends who work at one of my company's (that is, the company I work for) customers on the Friday evening. So, as we left the hotel, we were haled by Mike & Tina Booth (Tina being part of the Caamora show) who were sitting outside the hotel drinking with a couple of other ladies, one of whom was Magda Grabias. We had a pleasant 5 minute chat before heading off into Leiden to meet Inge Wolzak, Jeroen Bosgra & Thuan-Ser Tan (the last two of whom were at the Magenta House Concert). David & I had a wonderful evening sitting outside the restaurant and chatting.
The show the next day was wonderful. Agnieszka Swita was born to play the Queen Ayesha - She Who Must Be Obeyed, making big powerful gestures. The whole show worked so well. It is a shame that the production is so big that it is difficult to put on. I am following their preparation for the stage production in Cheltenham in February. There will be more about Caamora in October.
Later in the month I got to see Panic Room a couple of times – firstly in London and secondly at the Stables in Milton Keynes. Two really good shows – the Milton Keynes one was at a theatre with the best possible acoustics. We had pretty decent seats near the front, and Panic Room played an extended set, and they played it very well indeed. I recall Yatim Hasemi walking off the stage, and up the steps to the balcony, all the time continuing to play the bass. Each time I see Panic Room, I am astounded how good they are, and puzzled why they are not playing to crowds of a thousand or more. They also do a great job in mixing up their set, so each show is special.
And so to the last day of the month and something that I'd been looking forward to for about 3 months – a Magenta concert – their first for 18 months. I wouldn't say that Magenta were great, but I would not have expected them to be as this was the first concert for quite a while. Of course, I was enjoying myself just seeing them back after so long.
03Sep Caamora – Boerderij (the farmyard), Zoetermeer (NL)
16Sep Solstice/ Godsticks – The Peel
18Sep Panic Room/ David R Black/ Sarah Dixon – the Borderline, London
23Sep Panic Room – the Stables, Milton Keynes
24Sep Run Like Hell – Eldon Arms, Reading
30Sep Magenta/ Alan Reed – the Pop Factory, Porth