This tour sees Gorillaz playing their first full scale American tour since their inception and it certainly seemed like the crowd were ready for it, with a capacity audience at Denvers' Wells Fargo Theatre in the mood to party. Which they did, for the most part. Gorillaz put on a really good show although it was slightly uneven in terms of mood and pace, but more on that in a bit.
First off, I am a huge fan of Damon Albarn. I think he is one of the few musicians operating who is consistantly breaking musical boundaries and showing that genres have no reason to be separated, that they can all be melded together. His work with Blur is enough to convince me of his songwriting genius and so I have happily followed him into his other projects and often been very impressed. Gorillaz most recent release, 'Plastic Beach' is one of my albums of 2010 so far, so I was very eager to see how it was reproduced live.
Well there was no worries of that front, Albarn has assembled an incredible band which has two members of The Clash on guitar (Mick Jones) and bass (Paul Simonon), along with a whole assortment of other musicians. There were two drummers, backing vocalists, a string section, another guitar player, keyboards and that's not even all as periodically whole other sections of musicans joined them on stage (The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and The American Syrian Orchestra, not to mention all of the other guests).
The band entered to the strings of 'Orchestral Intro' from the new album and then launched straight into 'Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach' complete with Snoop Dogg on giant video screens behind them and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble on horns, I counted the amount of people on stage and there were something like 25, I kept thinking that the poor guy on the mixing desk must be having a nightmare. The crowd really got going to an exuberant '19-2000' which was followed by 5 great songs in a row: 'Last Living Souls', 'Stylo' (with Bobby Womack joining in),'On Melancholy Hill', 'Rhinestone Eyes' and 'Superfast Jellyfish'. Maybe it's because several of these songs are my personal favourites but it seemed that they could have spread them out a bit, after this the whole gig seemed to slow down. It's easy to percieve the group from their cartoon image (played out behind the band on giant screens) as being very upbeat but I soon realised that some of their songs are quite the opposite. As the set progressed I was looking down on the crowd and you could clearly see which songs had everyone on their feet and then just as quickly the next song would have everybody sat back down again. This is not to say that songs such as 'Empire Ants', 'Broken' and 'To Binge' aren't good, they really are but their placing in the set definitely affected the pace of it.
Albarn (as anyone who has ever seen Blur live can testify) is a supremely confident and energetic frontman and he was often right at the front of the crowd throwing high-fives with the audience and interacting with them. A slightly confused Bobby Womack (he addressed the crowd as 'Seattle, Washington') sang his heart out on 'Cloud of Unknowing' and by the time 'Feel Good Inc' started with De La Soul performing onstage the whole place was on it's feet again. A wonderful rendition of 'Clint Eastwood' should have provided the perfect close to the concert, but after that song we got two relatively slow tracks, 'Don't Get Lost In Heaven' and 'Demon Days'. To me the gig ended with a bit of a whimper and whilst those two songs were playing I was thinking about whether we were going to stop off at a bar for a drink and a bite to eat on the way home.
Top marks to Albarn and his band, the musicanship was second to none and it was an enjoyable performance but I really felt that there were a few to many lulls in the set towards the end. Still, any evening where you get to see half of The Clash, Damon Albarn and De La Soul all playing together has got to be worth the price of admission.
Setlist:
1. Orchestral Intro (extended)
2. Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (Snoop on the screens and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble on stage)
3. 19-2000
4. Last Living Souls
5. Stylo (with Bobby Womack and Bootie Brown)
6. On Melancholy Hill
7. Rhinestone Eyes
8. Superfast Jellyfish (with De La Soul, minus Maseo)
9. Tomorrow Comes Today
10. Empire Ants (with Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon)
11. Broken (extended)
12. Dirty Harry (with Bootie Brown)
13. El Manana
14. White Flag (with Kano and Bashy and The American Syrian Orchestra)
15. To Binge (with Yukimi Nagano)
16. DARE (with Rosie Wilson)
17. Glitter Freeze
18. Punk
19. Plastic Beach
Encore:
20. Cloud of Unknowing
21. Feel Good Inc (featuring all of De La Soul)
22. Clint Eastwood (with Kano and Bashy)
23. Don't Get Lost in Heaven
24. Demon Days
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Household Gods. No 1: James Dean Bradfield.
This is a section which I will add to over the coming weeks, months, years. There are certain artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers who have their own little place on my imaginary household shrine of worship and in this column I shall try (and most likely fail) to put into words what they mean to me.
This week I shall be concentrating on James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers.
The Manics are a band who you either love or hate it seems. I unapologetically love them and always have and always will. Whilst in New York recently I was prompted to spend $15.99 on an imported copy of Guitarist magazine just because there was a feature on James Dean Bradfield and it got me wondering, what other guitar player and singer would I have done that for?
My ongoing love affair with this band started the day 'The Holy Bible' came out, 29 August 1994. I was 16 and on holiday in Jersey with my parents and sister and I picked up a copy based on amazing reviews I had read in the NME and now the defunct Melody Maker, I had been curious about them for a while and I got the first Oasis album too, which was out on the same day. I remember thinking that 'The Holy Bible' blew 'Definitely Maybe' out of the water on every conceivable level. I loved everything about it and still do, Richey's lyrics, James voice and guitar playing, the production and the unrelenting sense of despair that clings to every note of music. This was also around the same time that I was teaching myself guitar on my trusty black and white 1993 Korean Fender Squier Stratocaster and I felt so fortunate that I had this incredible album to shut myself in the bedroom with and copy the riffs (badly at first). That December on the 21st I witnessed the best gig I have ever been to when they played at the London Astoria, this tragically turned out to be Richey's final gig with the band and he subsequently disappeared on February 1st, 1995.
16 years later and I was eagerly downloading the latest Manics album 'Postcards from a Young Man', again the day it was released and I thought to myself, how many other bands have been together for 20 years and are still releasing some of their best music? And how many bands have I followed that long?
James Dean Bradfield has to be one of my favourite guitar players. His songwriting and the way that the riffs and solos fit in, never overshadowing the songs in 'look at me' theatrics, his tone and that fact that he plays an alpine white Les Paul Custom and makes it look so effortlessly cool. I can remember my 16 year old self standing in the London Astoria with my jaw on the floor as he tore into the end solo to 'Motorcycle Emptiness' whilst he stared up at the audience on the balcony and I'm not sure I ever really recovered, realising that no matter how hard I tried, my Squier through a 10 watt Yamaha amplifier wasn't going to sound like that, plus the other realisation that when I eventually did master the solo, I wasn't going to be playing it in front of 2000 adoring fans. On top of that he has a ridiculously good voice, filled with passion, commitment and power, I still get shivers down my spine when I sometimes stick on 'A Design for Life' really loudly and his voice almost cracks at the end amongst the cascading string arrangments. I could go on and on about the solo at the end of 'Archives of Pain' but I would probably bore everyone to tears, myself included. Also he seems do be devoid of all the 'rock star' nonsense that has come and gone over the years, perhaps due to the fact that despite huge popularity, it has never been 'fashionable' to like the Manics, something I'm sure they couldn't care less about. They have always just got on with it and made great music, outlasting nearly all of their contemporaries.They have always been their own musical island and remained stronger for it.
I think he is a true guitar hero in an age where there are hardly any left, and love them or loathe them, there is no other band like the Manics. I hope that they carry on and make another 10 albums.
This week I shall be concentrating on James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers.
The Manics are a band who you either love or hate it seems. I unapologetically love them and always have and always will. Whilst in New York recently I was prompted to spend $15.99 on an imported copy of Guitarist magazine just because there was a feature on James Dean Bradfield and it got me wondering, what other guitar player and singer would I have done that for?
My ongoing love affair with this band started the day 'The Holy Bible' came out, 29 August 1994. I was 16 and on holiday in Jersey with my parents and sister and I picked up a copy based on amazing reviews I had read in the NME and now the defunct Melody Maker, I had been curious about them for a while and I got the first Oasis album too, which was out on the same day. I remember thinking that 'The Holy Bible' blew 'Definitely Maybe' out of the water on every conceivable level. I loved everything about it and still do, Richey's lyrics, James voice and guitar playing, the production and the unrelenting sense of despair that clings to every note of music. This was also around the same time that I was teaching myself guitar on my trusty black and white 1993 Korean Fender Squier Stratocaster and I felt so fortunate that I had this incredible album to shut myself in the bedroom with and copy the riffs (badly at first). That December on the 21st I witnessed the best gig I have ever been to when they played at the London Astoria, this tragically turned out to be Richey's final gig with the band and he subsequently disappeared on February 1st, 1995.
16 years later and I was eagerly downloading the latest Manics album 'Postcards from a Young Man', again the day it was released and I thought to myself, how many other bands have been together for 20 years and are still releasing some of their best music? And how many bands have I followed that long?
James Dean Bradfield has to be one of my favourite guitar players. His songwriting and the way that the riffs and solos fit in, never overshadowing the songs in 'look at me' theatrics, his tone and that fact that he plays an alpine white Les Paul Custom and makes it look so effortlessly cool. I can remember my 16 year old self standing in the London Astoria with my jaw on the floor as he tore into the end solo to 'Motorcycle Emptiness' whilst he stared up at the audience on the balcony and I'm not sure I ever really recovered, realising that no matter how hard I tried, my Squier through a 10 watt Yamaha amplifier wasn't going to sound like that, plus the other realisation that when I eventually did master the solo, I wasn't going to be playing it in front of 2000 adoring fans. On top of that he has a ridiculously good voice, filled with passion, commitment and power, I still get shivers down my spine when I sometimes stick on 'A Design for Life' really loudly and his voice almost cracks at the end amongst the cascading string arrangments. I could go on and on about the solo at the end of 'Archives of Pain' but I would probably bore everyone to tears, myself included. Also he seems do be devoid of all the 'rock star' nonsense that has come and gone over the years, perhaps due to the fact that despite huge popularity, it has never been 'fashionable' to like the Manics, something I'm sure they couldn't care less about. They have always just got on with it and made great music, outlasting nearly all of their contemporaries.They have always been their own musical island and remained stronger for it.
I think he is a true guitar hero in an age where there are hardly any left, and love them or loathe them, there is no other band like the Manics. I hope that they carry on and make another 10 albums.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Muse at the Pepsi Center, Denver, October 2nd, 2010
The last time I saw Muse was at Glastonbury 2000 on the Other Stage. Back then, their first album had only been out a few months and they were on before The Beta Band on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was obvious watching them ten years ago that they had something pretty special going on and I can remember being distinctly envious of Matt Bellamy's guitar skills and thinking that they had a huge sound for a three piece. Now they are on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, the 20,000 capacity Pepsi Centre (home of the Denver Nuggets basketball team) was almost full. They had been booked to play another much smaller venue back in April but had cancelled due to being stuck in snow on their way, it is testament to their growing Stateside fanbase that just a few months later they were playing a venue three times the size. I suspect that this is in large part due to their inclusion in several Twilight film soundtracks judging by the presence of several teeny-boppers at the venue.
Support was from Passion Pit. Luckily I arrived at the venue halfway through their set so didn't have to endure too much of it. It nearly made me pass out in horror.
Anyway the lights went down and Muse descended onto the stage on three giant columns as "Exogenesis Part 1 (Overture)" blared out of the PA. This was quite an entrance and they immediately followed this with "Map of the Problematique" from their "Black Holes and Revelations" album (their most consistent piece of work in my opinion). So far, so good and things got even better as the opening chords to the epic "Knights of Cydonia" rang out, you could tell that the audience were not expecting them to drop this into the set three songs in and everyone reacted accordingly, banging their heads for the exhilarating final section of the song. This song showed the band at their best, most ridiculous and most fun. The Doctor Who meets Blondie glam rock of "Uprising" had the audience pumping their fists and singing along and "United States of Eurasia" took their sound almost to the point of parody, the more Queen than Queen chorus left me hoping that they can reign it in a bit for the next album.
As the show progessed I realised that despite their impeccable musicanship and obvious commitment to the songs there was little interaction with the audience. I was often reminded that I was watching a rock "show", the bombardment of projections and the rising and descending columns often made it feel like some sort of conspiracy theory/science fiction extravanganza and that the band themselves were very much blended into this. This was a double edged sword, on one hand I felt like I was watching something very unique, memorable and in some ways abstract but also sometimes I was a little detached from what was going on. Still I suppose that there was little doubt that a rock show was what the audience were here for and Muse do deliver the goods - you can't deny the power of some of the guitar riffs on songs such as the Sabbath-like "Unnatural Selection". In fact it was this last section of the show that I enjoyed the most with "Plug in Baby" followed by "Stockholm Syndrome", it started to feel almost like a metal show with tons of crazy riffing between songs and I noticed that the aforementioned teeny-boppers were starting to look a bit confused and disappointed as they realised that the Twilight songs probably weren't going to get an airing that night.
"Take a Bow" was the final song of the evening and with that the band (all except touring keyboard player Morgan Nicholls, who was onstage throughout the gig, but pretty much in the shadows) got back on their respective columns and ascended towards the rafters. Overall the concert was very enjoyable, Muse are a fantastic live band and they put on an incredible show but as is the trouble with lots of big rock shows there was a distinct lack of intimacy. Still, as an Englishman now living in the USA, I can't help but feel a little swell of pride that a band from Teignmouth, Devon are doing so well over here.
Setlist:
1 Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture
2. Map of the Problematique
3. Knights of Cydonia
4. Uprising
5. Supermassive Black Hole
6. Hysteria (Star-Spangled Banner + Interlude intro + Back In Black outro)
7. Nishe
8. United States of Eurasia
9. Feeling Good
10. MK Jam
11. Undisclosed Desires
12. The Resistance
13. Starlight (+riff)
14. Time is Running Out (House of the Rising Sun intro)
15. Unnatural Selection
Encore 1:
16. Plug in Baby
17. Stockholm Syndrome (Agitated riff intro + War Within a Breath riff)
Encore2:
18. Take a Bow
Support was from Passion Pit. Luckily I arrived at the venue halfway through their set so didn't have to endure too much of it. It nearly made me pass out in horror.
Anyway the lights went down and Muse descended onto the stage on three giant columns as "Exogenesis Part 1 (Overture)" blared out of the PA. This was quite an entrance and they immediately followed this with "Map of the Problematique" from their "Black Holes and Revelations" album (their most consistent piece of work in my opinion). So far, so good and things got even better as the opening chords to the epic "Knights of Cydonia" rang out, you could tell that the audience were not expecting them to drop this into the set three songs in and everyone reacted accordingly, banging their heads for the exhilarating final section of the song. This song showed the band at their best, most ridiculous and most fun. The Doctor Who meets Blondie glam rock of "Uprising" had the audience pumping their fists and singing along and "United States of Eurasia" took their sound almost to the point of parody, the more Queen than Queen chorus left me hoping that they can reign it in a bit for the next album.
As the show progessed I realised that despite their impeccable musicanship and obvious commitment to the songs there was little interaction with the audience. I was often reminded that I was watching a rock "show", the bombardment of projections and the rising and descending columns often made it feel like some sort of conspiracy theory/science fiction extravanganza and that the band themselves were very much blended into this. This was a double edged sword, on one hand I felt like I was watching something very unique, memorable and in some ways abstract but also sometimes I was a little detached from what was going on. Still I suppose that there was little doubt that a rock show was what the audience were here for and Muse do deliver the goods - you can't deny the power of some of the guitar riffs on songs such as the Sabbath-like "Unnatural Selection". In fact it was this last section of the show that I enjoyed the most with "Plug in Baby" followed by "Stockholm Syndrome", it started to feel almost like a metal show with tons of crazy riffing between songs and I noticed that the aforementioned teeny-boppers were starting to look a bit confused and disappointed as they realised that the Twilight songs probably weren't going to get an airing that night.
"Take a Bow" was the final song of the evening and with that the band (all except touring keyboard player Morgan Nicholls, who was onstage throughout the gig, but pretty much in the shadows) got back on their respective columns and ascended towards the rafters. Overall the concert was very enjoyable, Muse are a fantastic live band and they put on an incredible show but as is the trouble with lots of big rock shows there was a distinct lack of intimacy. Still, as an Englishman now living in the USA, I can't help but feel a little swell of pride that a band from Teignmouth, Devon are doing so well over here.
Setlist:
1 Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture
2. Map of the Problematique
3. Knights of Cydonia
4. Uprising
5. Supermassive Black Hole
6. Hysteria (Star-Spangled Banner + Interlude intro + Back In Black outro)
7. Nishe
8. United States of Eurasia
9. Feeling Good
10. MK Jam
11. Undisclosed Desires
12. The Resistance
13. Starlight (+riff)
14. Time is Running Out (House of the Rising Sun intro)
15. Unnatural Selection
Encore 1:
16. Plug in Baby
17. Stockholm Syndrome (Agitated riff intro + War Within a Breath riff)
Encore2:
18. Take a Bow
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