Busy busy busy

So, as you've probably noticed it's been ages since I've updated my blog.

Sorry.

So, here, in short, is the last 6 weeks. 

BOOMTOWN - Fantastic vibe, great crowd, but shocking organisation. Getting in, gear storage, gear transport, clueless stewards - bloody nightmare. Right from opening the festival on Friday to speaking to the headliners on Sunday - nothing but problems for the bands. I had a great time with the PoC crew, but really, Boomtown. Must. Do. Better. 

BAD MANNERS - It wasn't just a one off. I've been back since. Here's some video from the gig at Reading.

HERTFORDSHIRE - I've gigged there twice in the last month, some good dep gigs. Check out The Iconics & Special Kinda Madness

BIRTHDAY - Yep. Got older. Here's a review of the gig I went to see to celebrate my marching ever onwards into my 30's. 

XMAS - My gig calendar is now booked solid for Xmas, there's a lot of ska coming your way. Keep an eye on the Big 10 Facebook page.

GLASTO HEADLINERS - Are booked, and are people who haven't headlined before. This rules out Mr Bowie. So for the first time in a long time I don't think I'll be heading to Glasto next year. No Bowie - No Showie.

Term has started now so I'll be typing a lot more in general, so expect more updates of ska and music type stuff over the next few weeks 

Laters 

lx

Thoughts on Glasto - 1 month on.

Oops. I did it again. It's nearly a month since my last blog - despite last month promising I'd post about Glasto & other bits.

It does seem a bit silly blogging about Glasto nearly a month after getting back, it's all Latitude Latitude Latitude now, but I do have a few thoughts.

Firstly - Festival Chic. Give me a bloody break.

Wear what you want to a festival - not what the shop window of TopShop tells you. It was depressing - denim shorts & designer wellies. Glasto is not a fashion show - it's about the music, the arts, the social discussion. It is not about being a peacock. So you don't wash your hair for 5 days? So what? The world won't end.

Secondly - Guardianbury

Cloth bags with witty slogans written by no-one who's ever been to a festival ever. These Guardian bags (free if you buy their weekend paper) began a few years ago - initially matching the cloth Yeo Valley bags, but with the Guardian logo. Now they're luminous, with such phrases as 'I made a friend for life last night and I think their name was....' or worse. Elbow Lyrics. Don't. Get. Me. Started.

I've found it quite easy to ignore festival chic & Guardian sponsorship for the past few Glastos - but it's encroaching more and more. Or maybe I'm just getting old & cynical. Either way....I wish I could unsee it all again.

Thirdly - Good happy things now (promise) THE GULLY!

The Gully - the new stage in the Dance Village (or Silver Hayes or whatever it's called now) and it's a REGGAE stage & it is wonderful. It's also long overdue. The Gully and another new stage (The Blues) are in recognition that we are no longer throwing shapes and blowing our whistles, but are in an age where reggae and dub can be appreciated 24 hours a day, not just on a lazy sunny afternoon. I spent more time at The Gully than any other stage, a string of great live dub acts & soundsystems. Perfect, and about time too.

Check out Only Joe - who I saw on the Friday.



Other worthy acts I saw were Beady Eye (as expected) Goat (Bonkers) Toy (Strobey) Don Letts (Very Strobey) Public Image Ltd (Outstanding) Granny Turismo (seen to be believed) Jagwar Ma (Beside themselves with happiness to be there) First Aid Kit (impeccable) The Proclaimers (ever present, infallible) and some guys called The Rolling Stones.

Here's a clip from the fantastic PiL set on a sunny Sunday. I'm stood behind the guy in the red top hat!



Maybe see you next year Glasto, but I'm wondering if we've had our time - sad but true.
If you book Bowie, however - I'll be there with bells on. Whether bells are on the TopShop festival chic list or not....

lx

Glasto Wishlist - Part 4

The acts are starting to be confirmed :)

The Rolling Stones are nearly playing, and the previously forlorn hope of David Bowie playing Glasto ever again were boosted incredibly by the surprise release of a new single this month.

Looking to bands other than those on my 'Bands I must see before I die' list... here's a fingers crossed for the World Stage. Yes I know it's not called that anymore, but it is the World Stage. It *is*.

Hermeto Pascoal would be an amazing sight. The brazilian Santa-esque musician has been writing the most complicated yet uplifting music for decades. I saw him live around 8 years ago, and would love to see him playing the World Stage.

Here he is doing his thing.

Glasto Wishlist - Part 3

Next on my Glasto Wishlist are everyones favourite Lancastrians, The Lovely Eggs.

Championed by Chris Hawkins of BBC 6 Music, their music first came to my attention early last year, and since then I've bought their albums and seen them live. 

The songs are original, witty, bonkers, and open for scientific debate. Yes, the Universe is in the stars. Cambridge said yes, Oxford said no. Well, what do they know...?

With all songs recorded on guitars/ukes & drums, this paired down sound would be ideal for the John Peel stage. Delightful songs sung with the flattest of A's.

The Lovely Eggs third album 'Wildlife' is due out next week and the tour begins soon after. Check out their first single from said album.

Food.

*warning - don't actually eat food whilst watching food. You may upchunk your food*

Glasto Wishlist - Part 2

This lot need no introduction, except to say that they very much inspired the VTQ's last album 'Dress Down Friday'

Oops, that was kind of an introduction wasn't it? Oh well.

Kraftwerk are doing a series of 3D concerts in Dusseldorf next January, which I doubt I'll get to, but I'd love it if they could bring one of these performances to Glasto next year.

LETS KRAUT!

One for the Glasto 2013 wishlist...

Hey Sholay.

Engaging performance, great music, lots of twiddling effect stuff without being too wanky about it. 

Perfect for the John Peel Stage.

Their name's a bit Wombley too, and I do enjoy a Wombling Glasto.

Check them out below:

www.heysholay.com

Glasto 2013

A week ago, after a difficult gig with a broken hand and precious little sleep following a minor plumbing incident, I found myself sat at this computer doing the old F5 mambo.

That's right - Glasto ticket buying time.

Every year I get so stressed with it, moan about what a headache it is trying to get through, having a zillion screens open, running an spare laptop on a different browser (just in case) and hoping and praying I get my tickets now and don't have to go through all of this again in April.

I was lucky. I got my two tickets with 6 minutes to spare, after over an hour 'n' half of exhausted refreshing and crashing input screens. Seetickets are just not up to the job, I really don't know why Glasto persist with them.

My heart goes out to all who desperately wanted tickets, and didn't manage to get them. I'll cross my fingers for you for April.

Here are my ideal headliners. Yes, Kylie is on the list. What of it?

I'll be mostly more Glastonbury 2013 wishlists in the coming months.

A sad farewell...

...to the Little Red Tardis.

My car, a little City Rover run-around, has been retired as it is now too expensive for me to maintain. It became known as the Little Red Tardis because I managed to fit drumkit, backline, saxes and band members into a small vehicle designed for nipping to the shops.

A veteran of 3 Glasto's, 2 Chagstocks, a national tour with Popes of Chillitown, countless trips to Survival Studio in West London, a mercy dash to the Lake District with the Truebeat merchandise tub, and a 90mph burn down the M20 to a wedding gig in Kent. 99% of the time, I arrived at my gigs/rehearsals on time, because of the Little Red Tardis.

It was not your fault, little car, that you were made in India under the Rover brand, just as they went bust. It is not your fault that replacement parts cost an arm and a leg to ship over (scrapyard did well..but you can't have a 2nd hand timing belt). It is not your fault, little car, that the government placed you in a stupid tax bracket, meaning you cost twice as much as cars twice your size. But as cute as you are, you are a money pit.

Ok, so we always broke down after Glasto cos the damp and mud ruined your spark plugs, and your speakers just couldn't handle dub. But you were a faithful servant to The Voodoo Trombone Quartet, Popes of Chillitown, The Scissors, Jacqui & Geoff and lots of others, and I will miss you.

Goodbye, my little car, and thank you.



*sniff*

While the BBC were fawning over U2...

....the best act by a mile at Glastonbury 2011 was doing his thing over in the John Peel tent. It's difficult to get a sense of how mind blowing DJ Shadows' audio and visual set is, but this video certainly helps. This unassuming guy from California, humble, appreciative and in awe of John Peel, was a real treat, and far less vomit-inducing than the U2 footage on BBC Iplayer. Enjoy!!!

One last thought on Glasto...

...here's how not to deal with those inevitable clashes.

Glasto

Good lord. I don't think I've ever jumped through as many hoops as I have to get hold of tickets for Glastonbury 2011. I've performed at the festival 2007-2009 so buying tickets is a new experience for me. The registration. The seetickets information deemed so important yet indistinguishable from spam. And then the resales! But this morning, I'm happy to say, I'm a lot poorer, and I will be pootling down the A303 to Shepton Mallet in 65ish days.

I'm not fussed about the headliners. U2? Coldplague? Bouncy Knowles? Meh.

Primal Scream, Jimmy Cliff, BB King, DJ Shadow (squeeee) Suzanne Vega, DJ Shadow (squeeeee), The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, oh, and did I mention DJ Shadow?

This is why we go to Glasto.

To see the artists we probably won't get to see anywhere else, and the artists we've never heard of but have a ruddy good time listening and dancing to anyway. I'm especially intrigued by the Guillemots acoustic set. I saw them on the World Stage in 2007 and they were amazing.

I'm desperately sorry for those who haven't got tickets. Its not a perfect system by any means and leaves many people disappointed. The same criticisms come round each year, and nothing is ever done. Maybe after next years year off, they may have a better way.

DJ Shadow. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!