Cat Stevens/Yusuf at Shepherd's Bush Empire

 
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam
Baaba Maal
Shepherd's Bush Empire, 28 May 2009

Finally my belated Cat Stevens concert blog entry. Needless to say it was a fantastic show filled with such a happy, warm atmosphere thrilled at Cat Stevens return. Corny but true.

Tori Amos interview

Late last year I got the chance to interview flame-haired, piano-playing, rock goddess Tori Amos about her, then, new DVD/CD Live At Montreux. Meeting her I was astonished at just how petite and beautiful she is in the flesh, almost like a porcelain doll. Of course it didn't hurt she had just finished a photo shoot in the next room (which the new album promos appear to be from funnily enough) but her hair was perfect and startlingly red and her skin immaculate. But more than that I was pleasantly surprised at just how down to earth, unkooky and smart she was. Seeing as she has just released her new album Abnormally Attracted To Sin, I thought I'd post the transcript in full as she says some pretty interesting things about the ideas behind the new record as well as her thoughts on the music industry today, going independent, working with Robert Plant and of course her DVD releases.

I know a lot of fans are excited about this release because it’s a tour that hasn’t been documented on DVD before. Did you know the footage existed? How did it all come about? 
Well how this all transpired is that I ran into Claude Nobs when I did Montreux last and he said to me “are you aware that I have your first ever performance probably in the world for Little Earthquakes?” and I said, no I didn’t know that. And I didn’t look at it at the time, but he said, “would you be open, if I sent it to you, would you be open to looking at it and looking at the one after?” And I have to tell you, he’s somebody who documents, he’s been documenting artists for many, many years and he showed me a long time ago a documentation of Aretha Franklin playing the piano in the 60s. So he keeps everything and he said Montreux has a tradition of having new artists come and they don’t even realise that they’re being filmed. Because the cameras are just on all the time, they film everything so you’re not as conscious of it as, say, a TV show that you’re doing. So I didn’t even remember that this existed. The cameras are set, they feel like they’re locked off, they’re on all sides of you. So when you walk on, especially as a new artist, you’re not aware, it’s not as if people are running around with cameras, so I didn’t remember there being any cameras, so I didn’t know it existed. That’s why when he sent it to me I was surprised that we even had it on record.

Ben Kweller at Koko

 
Ben Kweller
Koko, 15 May 2009

I have to admit I was pretty ill attending this gig: thinking I have never missed a show due to illness, like a trooper I turned up, albeit rather late, and caught the end of Ben's excellent set (the following week though, as for a while I got even sicker, I did indeed miss my first ever gig, A.C. Newman at Luminaire, which I'm really sad about).

Two nights of Olson & Louris at the Jazz Cafe

Mark Olson & Gary Louris
Jazz Cafe, 11 & 12 May 2009

I was never lucky enough to see The Jayhawks back in Hollywood Town Hall/Tomorrow The Green Grass days, after discovering them in the mid 90s the first chance I got to see them live Mark Olson was long gone and Gary Louris was very much the frontman. Don't get me wrong, post-Olson the band took on a new life and were still great but I can't deny I missed that particular magic that happened when Olson's rootsy country vocals mixed with Louris' smoother, rock voice and those amazing harmonies were born. So of course I was particularly thrilled when the pair joined forces for the first time in 13 years for the album Ready For The Flood and, in support of that album, finally I got to hear them sing together live for the first time at the Union Chapel, one of the best venues in London for acoustic shows.

Quincy does not like punk rock

Quincy was always good, I will not even argue about it, but I saw the best ever episode of the great early 80s show last night: the crime-investigating coroner was looking into a murder that happened during a bout of slamdancing at a punk rock show.

Hawksley Workman at the Luminaire

Hawksley Workman
The Luminaire, 9 May 2009

I always love seeing Hawksley Workman live. The Canadian singer/songwriter is just one of those natural entertainers who seems so at home on stage that he could pull up a chair and stay there all night. Theatrical and grinning, with a soaring voice and surprisingly adept guitar skills, he playfully reinvents songs and even sometimes dramatically interrupts them to tell some far-out story, Hawksley-style.

Tift Merritt at the Jazz Cafe

Tift Merritt
Jazz Cafe, 7 May 2009

Out of the new wave of alternative country girl singers that have arrived over the past decade (Neko, Kathleen Edwards, Allison Moorer), I always considered Tift Merritt to be hugely likeable and talented but the lesser of the four. Her albums, to me, recall Ryan Adams during his most pop country moments, warm and breezy like a summer day but without the edge that have helped the others make the transition to something a little more special. That said I was curious to see what she had to offer live and I was pleasantly surprised.