Midlake at The Tabernacle

Midlake
The Kissaway Trail
The Tabernacle, 28 January 2010

First of all, yes that is a man playing a recorder but hey, this is a Midlake show and flutes, recorders and acoustic guitars are the order of the day.

Joe Pernice at the Union Chapel

Joe Pernice
Astrid Williamson
Union Chapel, 26 January 2010

So to my first gig of 2010. I don't know if it's a coincidence or someone is trying to tell me something but my first gig last year was also at the Union Chapel. Maybe I need to go to church more, you know, when rock music isn't the main draw. Anyway, after settling into non-gigging ways it felt strange wandering off to a show for the first time in a month and a half. Thankfully because it was in a church it was a seated, subdued affair, helping to ease me back into the swing of things.

Gig Memories: Jeff Buckley at Cambridge Junction in 1995

Jeff Buckley

Cambridge Junction, 22 June 1995

Back when I saw Jeff Buckley in June, 1995, hype was beginning to rapidly build around him: he was young and beautiful, the son of a cult legend, critically acclaimed and his album was just utterly, hauntingly beautiful. Even MTV had started to sometimes show his video for Grace (yes, this was back when MTV showed videos) and I was just desperate to see him live having missed the last time he played London, for some weird reason, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. So, despite living in London, when he announced a pre-Glastonbury date at the Cambridge Junction, I resolved to get there somehow and persuaded my brother to drive me there. I’m really glad I was so enthusiastic about seeing him because it turned out that, along with the Glastonbury appearance, these were Jeff’s last ever shows in the UK.

Albums of the decade

My favourite albums of the past decade. This has been a really hard task, much harder than I imagined. I've left out some really great albums that I've really enjoyed and loved but after a lot of consideration I think that this is the music that has meant the most to me over the past 10 years.

1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2. Mark Olson - The Salvation Blues
3. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
4. Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will
5. The Twilight Singers - Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers
6. Neko Case - Blacklisted
7. Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin
8. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
9. Joanna Newsom - Ys
10. At The Drive-in - Relationship Of Command
11. Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.
12. Cat Power - The Greatest
13. Neil Young - Prairie Wind
14. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
15. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
16. The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium
17. PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
18. Stevie Nicks - Trouble In Shangri-La
19. Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
20. Hawksley Workman - (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves
21. Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday
22. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
23. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses
24. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
25. The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth

Happy New Year!

The new year has already started off well for me with this news.
Oh Kim Thayil, how I've missed you, please help make Chris Cornell cool again. The news of this reunion can only be good for all involved although I wonder if drummer Matt Cameron will be joining them, since he's already got a good gig going with Pearl Jam. But if he does get back together with his old grunge pals this could potentially be as good as the Faith No More reunion last year. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But however it turns out it can't be as bad as working with Timbaland.

The snazzy new website:

Soundgardenworld.com