My second time seeing Caitlin Rose this month was just as delightful and charmingly different. This time she was without a band, just backed up on pedal steel by a chap named Spencer with the very occasional support of Deer Tick’s keyboard player. But really the petite Nashville native doesn’t even need that because she has the songs, the voice and the charisma to carry the show on her own.
Wilco Philip Selway Royal Festival Hall, 14 September 2010
Surprisingly, given Radiohead’s status as one of the biggest and best bands in the world today, when I arrive at the Festival Hall in time to see support act Philip Selway (aka Radiohead’s drummer), there are a worrying amount of empty seats. Maybe it’s because the shows here start early at 7.30pm on the dot and the bar is outside the theatre in the foyer or that Phil Selway isn’t exactly the most famous name in Radiohead (I tend to subscribe to the booze theory though), but for whatever reason those folks who only turned up to see Wilco definitely missed out.
Willy Mason Barbican, 10 September 2010
I swear I’m not stalking Mark Lanegan, I know it seems like it, this is my third time seeing him this year after all. But then Lanegan has become something of a tour animal of late, whether by himself or with his numerous side projects and it’s hard to resist going to see him and hearing that amazing voice of his in the flesh.
Phosphorescent Timber Timbre Caitlin Rose Scala, September 8 2010
There’s something special about Caitlin Rose. Here she is, a petite 23-year-old from Nashville with Linda Ronstadt circa 1969 hair, in the cool surroundings of the Scala, wearing cowboy boots, demin shirt and a Western-style belt (belonging to her dad) and playing country music to a bunch of trendy young Londoners and they are absolutely captivated. It’s a joy to see and a testament to her power as a songwriter and storyteller.
Robert Plant & The Band Of Joy Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara The Forum, 2 September 2010
Thinking back Led Zeppelin was one of the first bands I fell in love with. I remember waking up early before school just so I could listen to them in order to get my Zep fix for the day and sleeping under an enormous, almost wall-sized, poster of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page that I had got free with some magazine. And, although I moved on to other bands, I actually never stopped loving the Zep so really, all these years on, I don't know why I had never seen Robert Plant live. Sure, like millions of others, I had applied for tickets for the one-off Led Zeppelin reunion but, as recently as 1998, I could have seen him play with Jimmy Page. But for whatever reasons, despite having seen him numerous times out and about in London, this was the first time I had ever attempted to see him in concert and fortunately for me it was a fairly small gig at the Forum in Kentish Town.
Deer Tick
