Marianne Faithfull at the Royal Festival Hall

Marianne Faithfull 

Royal Festival Hall, 29 November 2014

It can be hard watching your heroes get old but I think it's fair to say that Marianne Faithfull does it with a great deal of defiance and style. Despite shattering both her hip and her thigh bone earlier this year, here she is touring at age 67 using a walking stick, making fun of herself, telling off rude audience members, doing Tommy Cooper impressions and swearing like a sailor. There's no doubt about it but Faithfull is something of a trooper and she still puts on one hell of a show.

Cat Power at the Union Chapel

Cat Power
Venus And The Moon
Nico Turner

Union Chapel, 11 November 2014

This is the Cat Power show I've been waiting years to see. Just Chan Marshall alone on stage with either her guitar or behind a piano, in the intimate setting of the beautiful Union Chapel. But it almost didn't happen - which, let's be honest, isn't unusual for Chan - as this was supposed to be one of two shows at the venue: the first was cancelled due to Chan having the flu and it wasn't confirmed that this date would go ahead until just a few hours before the show. I'm certainly glad it did as she has never sounded better.

Sunny Afternoon at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Sunny Afternoon
Harold Pinter Theatre, 6 November 2014

I don't usually write about the few West End shows I go to but since this one is rock-related - written by Ray Davies and all about the early days of The Kinks - I think it fits in here.

Tweedy at the London Palladium

Tweedy
Arc Iris
London Palladium, 4 November 2014

"Tonight we're going to be playing songs from the album I've recorded with my son, Spencer," said Jeff Tweedy at the start of the show tonight, "then I'll play some older songs on my own and after that, well, who knows! I might re-enact scenes from The Lion King!" And that pretty much sums up Tweedy's appearance at the London Palladium: new songs, old tunes and lots of funny chat from the man himself. Jeff's quips and good-humoured banter with the audience may seem run of the mill stuff but given that he used to be incredibly grumpy on stage and even used to start fights with the crowd (the first London Wilco show ended in a punch-up I'm told) it's actually one of the best parts of the show.

Cally Callomon interview

I interviewed Cally Callomon, who runs the Nick Drake estate Bryter Music, about a new book he's co-authored with Nick's sister Gabrielle Drake, called Nick Drake: Remembered For A While. 

You can read it over on Rebeat or below. I don't often say this about things I've done, but this one I think is really worth reading. Nick Drake is such an enigmatic, fascinating character and Callomon was a great interview and had so many interesting things to say about him. Plus I can't recommend the book enough, it is beautiful and utterly moving.

It's become part of Nick Drake's legend that he was largely unappreciated in his lifetime and sadly didn’t live to see all his success. The truth is, it actually took a good 20 years after his death for Drake’s music to find a wider audience. In fact, it was the 1994 compilation Way To Blue, masterminded by Cally Callomon, during his time at Island Records, that played a big part in Nick Drake’s rediscovery by music fans. (It was certainly my introduction to him in the mid-’90s). Callomon also went on to play an even bigger part in making sure Drake’s legacy endures when he took over running the Nick Drake estate in the late 1990s.