Just got back from John Grant at the Sage Gateshead. He was amazing. Sold-out gig in Hall 2, songs that are angry and beautiful and funny with great intros to songs was a great mood reset.
Buy Queen of Denmark immediately (2 CD version – the extra tracks are worth it). He is backed by Midlake on it.
Just got back from Sara Watkins at the Sage. Opening act was really good folky duo The Winter Mountain Band. We bought their e.p. and were loving life post-gig in the car park drinking assam tea out of a flask while listening to the CD before setting off for home.
Kev is in the background commenting “now that’s rock n’ roll!”
Sara Watkins was joined by her brother Sean Watkins so we had two thirds of Nickel Creek on the stage. She performed a bunch of songs off of her album including the cover of pony by Tom Waits solo on ukulele.
They also performed two really great Nickel Creek songs – Reasons Why and also Somebody More Like You.
Really fun relaxed evening.
Started the morning annoyed with the BBC Breakfast show’s discussion of video games. They asked for people’s thoughts on video games asking do they have no impact or do they have a negative impact on children.
There was no option for positive impact on motor skills, hand-eye coordination, literacy and I seem to recall a study of multi-player online games leading to transferable skills for management in the workplace. Yet all video games were being tarred by the same brush.
It seems what they’re really concerned about is clueless parenting. Consenting, responsible adults should not be penalized and required to consume strictly content sanitized for children’s protection. Not everyone draws the line in the same place, so there needs to be room for a multiplicity of community standards…none of this was discussed.
In better television news, I am thoroughly excited for the new series of Misfits to be starting.
After a bizarre day at work, went to the MFC shop to purchase a Boro Brick in honour of my friends coming to visit from Chicago. I’m taking them to a match and now we will have a permanent souvenir of the occasion. : )
Stopped off at the new Caffe Nero in Middlesbrough before heading to the train.
Getting home tonight was misery. Took my usual 5.32 train only to hear an announcement saying we would have to get off one stop later at Thornaby to transfer to a bus which was of course not waiting for us. A very cold over an hour later we finally got on a bus. We stood at the side of the road waiting as empty buses drove past mocking our misery. Finally made it home a little over 2 hours after I started. Good mass transit is really the thing I miss most about NY.
The sad part was my plans for the evening were back in Middlesbrough again!
All’s well that ends well. We missed the first few opening acts but caught a really good mellow set by Billy the Kid and then new band The Vaccines at the Westgarth Social Club in Middlesbrough. The Vaccines reminded me of James crossed with a bit of the Ramones and a random folk singer. Julie thought they sounded a bit like the Editors.
A nice way to end the day. Here’s a vid of them playing Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) on Jools Holland last week.
Kev and I caught the tail end of The Andrew Marr show…extremely amusing to watch the Carolina Chocolate Drops performing Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style.”
Andrew Marr getting really into it, Harriet Harman uncomfortably tapping along to the rhythm with her hand, William Hague who you could see from behind sitting completely still and possibly stonefaced.
Thank you Andrew Marr for that inspired bit of television.
Visual equation: Sarah Silverman + Fraggle = Imogen Heap. The gig was at the Sage in Hall One. They had a small pit at the front similar to what they had for the Futureheads.
The drive to the Sage was a bit dicey. At one point there were sheets of rain coming down with hardly any visibility. Many cars were stopping on the shoulder to wait it out.
We listened to the Cathy Davey CD from last night still really good.
I’d been listening to Ellipse for a good chunk of the day at work. Could have also been listening to Frou Frou’s Details - happy making she sang Let Go based on the crowd’s votes for 12 songs on the setlist via her website.
She was plugging her new DVD which was just released on the 1st. It sounds interesting Imogen Heap’s Everything In-Between: The Story of Ellipse [DVD]
The bright lights on the stage meant I couldn’t take decent pics on my phone the way I did last night but couldn’t resist trying to capture her with the Keytar :) Also in cartoon format here.
The tree in the set was beautiful, lighting up in different colours with instruments hanging in the branches. She uses a head mic plus mics on her wrists so she can brush up against random instruments and also briefly used wine glasses as in Miss Congeniality.
On of the best bits of the gig was three part harmonies with the crowd on Just for Now. We were in the middle section and I got to hear Kev sing * swoon* . Video below is of a sing along at Webster Hall in NY.
Setlist for the Sage Gateshead is available on Imogen Heap’s website »
My name is Yaffa Phillips. I enjoy reading, live music gigs, gadgets and photography. I am from Brooklyn, Tel Aviv and now Teesside. Here is where I occasionally write things. Thank you for visiting. On Twitter I am @yaffa
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