Frank Black and Elbow

Owing to my rapidly deteriorating memory I'm going to compress both the promised gig reviews (Elbow and Frank Black and the Catholics) into one. This is partly because I need to get them out before the memories become another figment of my imagination and partly because I can't remember enough to pad out two entries.

Elbow were really very good. I was expecting big things since I'd already heard they played a storming gig in Sheffield and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. The fact that I hadn't heard any of their songs before didn't matter as I was carried away by the whole performance.The band were very good natured and joked along with the crowd and I left the Junction a very happy bunny.

Frank Black was also very good. I'd only ever heard one Pixies album before (Bossanova) and though I liked it, I'm well aware that solo artists can be nothing like the band they'd come from. I was glad to be proved wrong. They played an absolutely stonking set, including several songs from Bossanova, and I yet again got carried away forgetting where I was. The set ended with some solo stuff that was a little bit rock and a little bit country and it sounded smashing. We left the Junction in high spirits and were amazed to see Frank Black himself cycling around the car park on a little shopper bike. C & T were well oiled and decided to shout at him in very strange ways. Thankfully the taxi came soon after and I got to escape before any serious damage was done.

[Listening to: The Light Before We Land - The Delgados - (5:30)]

Here is an interesting thread on MetaFilter discussing Rupert Sheldrake a biologist turned either New Age advocate or snake oil salesman depending on who you believe. I happen to be drawn to his theories of Morphic Resonance and The Extended Mind on a gut level but unfortunately it seems that none of his experiments have been confirmed by anyone else.

[Listening to: The Uruk-Hai - Howard Shore - The Lord of The Rings - The Tw (2:58)]

Inertia strikes again. Not only had I not been to a gig in ages, I go to two in a week and don't bother reviewing them. I'm feeling lazy so I'll only tackle the first one for the moment.

On the 25th of September I went to see The Broken Family Band at the Arts Cinema in Cambridge. It's the first time a concert's been played there and I have to admit it was quite strange standing in a fairly well-lit bar-type atmosphere watching a band.

First up was Candidate (which through some strange quirk of acoustics I thought were called Pieces of Eight) which seemed pretty good quite jolly and acoustic. A conversation about Badgers set up what was to happen later on.

The main band themselves were on good form, singing a mixture of new and old stuff and they really seemed to enjoy themselves. Because of the badgers, it became an ad hoc cheer after each song (well for two of us, at least) and when we got a little rowdy it ended up confusing the band. So much to that "I Don't Have the Time (Too Mess Around)" was changed to refer almost exclusively to badgers.

Elbow review in a day or two, followed by Frank Black and the Catholics.

Ta Ta.

[Listening to: Ana - Pixies - Bossanova (2:09)]