Gig Review: Firefest Sunday 2013

After a day's restful shopping and eating in sunny Nottingham I was re-energised and ready for another full day of melodic rock, which is, more or less, what I got...  

Following W.E.T.'s outstanding performance on the Friday I was looking forward to Sunday openers Eclipse, which, for the purposes of Firefest, at least, is basically W.E.T. sans Säll and JSS  (apart from his entirely anticipated guest appearance on one song) , and has the wonderful Erik Mårtennson up front and centre. The band played up their early afternoon Sunday slot by arriving on stage in dressing gowns, and Mårtennson managed to get the crowd energised by telling us so often that we ended up believing that it really was Saturday night at 11pm. Not being restricted by instrumental duties allowed him the freedom to leap about and around the stage at will and prove what a fine frontman he is in his own right. A great start to the Sunday, and a performance that would take a while to be surpassed.

Most folk who know me claim never to have heard of any of the bands I follow, which is vaguely depressing, but never mind. They wouldn't have stood a chance with the next two bands, as even I couldn't claim to know a thing about them before Sunday (well, Friday, when I read their potted biographies in the programme!). Brighton Rock seemed to me to be very schizophrenic - great musically, but destroyed by ghastly tuneless, shouty vocals, which were nigh on impossible to listen to or past. Prophet fared better overall, but didn't really leave a huge impression once they'd departed the stage. Both bands did establish a good rapport with the crowd, and the Brighton Rock guys certainly revealed a solid sense of humour, not least during the only real moment of 'technical difficulties' I witnessed across the weekend.

My main Sunday draw card, Alien, were up next and their hour-long set was worth the price of admission on its own - and then some. After a couple of disappointing vocalists Jim Jidhed showed how it’s done, and delivered the performance of the weekend, as far as I’m concerned. The set was anchored by a stream of classics from their 1988 debut including Go Easy, Tears Don't Put Out the Fire, Jaime Remember and set-closer Dying By the Golden Rule. To me, they sounded at least twice as good in a live setting - and about a million times better in the case of their local (Swedish) mega-hit - the Bee Gees-penned Only One Woman, which is a lowlight of said debut album (albeit a highly catchy and memorable one), but became somehow much classier in a live setting. One of the unexpected highlights was brand new song In Love We Trust – talk about an instant earworm! If the rest of the forthcoming album is as catchy as that they may manage to top that debut.

I'm always happy to give bands I don't know a fair hearing, so was quite prepared to starve in the name of music if what was on offer warranted it...sadly a few songs into Baton Rouge's set I suddenly realised I was very hungry indeed...by (almost) all accounts I left at the right time, as the set, which started fairly badly, only disintegrated further as lead singer Kelly Keeling's (alleged) substance-fuelled antics drove both his bandmates and the audience to despair and calls of 'car-crash' started to flood the Firefest Facebook page. Oh well, that's rock and roll for ya...

I returned in time to catch all but the opening track of the set by J-PEG or JLS, or whatever they're called (Oh sod it, it was Vixen, currently going by their members initials, which are impossible to remember even whilst looking at them in print, okay?). This is another group who fall into the 'not really my flavour of ice cream' category, but they certainly delivered a great show regardless and unlike most present I was only paying attention to their music and stage presence - as possibly the only gay in the Firefest village their apparent amazing looks passed me by entirely.

The final act of the weekend - and another serious draw for me - was Legends, the group led by Swedish guitar hero Tommy Denander that features a rotating cast of classic rock vocalists belting out their best-known hits. The originally announced line-up for Firefest consisted of Joe Lynn Turner, Eric Martin and Fergie Frederiksen, but ultimately only Martin made it on the night, with Fergie sadly missing due to a turn for the worse in his ongoing cancer battle, and JLT pulling out because...he needed to stay in and catch up on Breaking Bad (or some other entirely pathetic excuse - doesn't matter, he wasn't missed!). In their places were Graham Bonnet and Bobby Kimball, so Rainbow and Toto nuggets were both still prominently featured in the set.

Bonnet was first to hit the stage and while, unlike some of his contemporaries, he looks every bit as old as his 66 years (if not older), he proved he could still deliver the goods and, amid much daft stage banter with the crowd and Denander, ran through two Rainbow numbers, along with MSGs Desert Song, before handing the spotlight over to the impossibly baby-faced Eric Martin. Martin saw Bonnet's banter-level and raised it, resulting in much hilarity (and at least one shout of 'get on with it') throughout his set of early Mr Big classics, following three Lean Into It tracks with Wild World, for which he brought on a special guest vocalist (No, not Jeff Scott Soto, amazingly enough) to swell the ranks of legends onstage even further - for it was none other than Bob smeggin' Catley. If my weekend hadn't already been made several times over that right there would have done it, especially in what has been my first Magnum-less year since landing in the UK. Uncle Bob got to plug the upcoming Magnum album and tour before he and Martin departed and Bobby Kimball took to the stage. I'll freely admit that Fergie is my favourite Toto vocalist and I was dying to see him for the first time, but I can't ever complain about an opportunity to see Bobby, and he was on fine form. Bobby has come in for some flack online for variable vocal performances in recent years, but while he is undoubtedly better on some nights than others I've never encountered a poor performance from him personally. This time he wasn't quite the very best I've ever seen him, but it was pretty close. My only complaint about his set was that he really doesn't sing enough of Africa to justify its inclusion (despite its mega-hit status) and the keyboardist's lead vocal on the verses was only passable (if only Mr Catley had come back to perform this part!). When it comes to all things Toto my standards are impossibly high, and to be fair I haven't seen any other negative reaction to the performance. In any case it was quickly made up for with brilliant renditions of White Sister and Rosanna (during which Bobby sang both his own and Luke's part, though this did highlight why it was split between them in the first place!).

Then it was encore time, with each vocalist returning for one more number, and in every case the choice was as obvious as it was obligatory - Rainbow's Since You Been Gone for Bonnet, To Be With You - the song that put me off Mr Big for two full decades  - for Martin (joined again by Bob Catley, which had the surprising effect of making a song I've always loathed immensely enjoyable) and Toto's Hold the Line for Kimball, which proved an entirely suitable climax for the entire three days. Certainly the set silenced any doubters who had questioned the wisdom of including a ‘cabaret’ or ‘karaoke’ act as a headliner.

All that remained was the (presumably traditional) thank you to and from the crew, and an outpouring of affection to clearly-touched (not like that!) organiser Kieran Dargen, that was as close as you'll get to the reaction at a Marillion convention outside of ...erm, a Marillion convention. It was great to be there for the end of the festival for the first time - we'll have to wait and see what is unveiled for next year's swansong, but while there are enough faithful regulars to have seen the VIP packages sell out before any bands have even been announced, I'll be waiting for the final line-up details before deciding just how many days I'll be spending in Nottingham this time next year...but you can pretty much guarantee there'll be something on the bill to entice me!

Gig Review: Magnum in Bristol 18.11.12

I’ve said it before, and no doubt I’ll say it again, but it really is an amazing time to be a Magnum fan. In a period of just under two years (the time that Jet Records used to keep their albums sitting on the shelf before release!) we’ve had two brilliant full studio albums (last year’s The Visitation and the brand new On the 13th Day, for those who haven’t been paying attention) plus the Evolution best-of, not to mention the treats on 13^th Day’s bonus disc...and, of course, plenty of touring.

On that front, it had been close to a full year since I last saw them live (in Carlisle, which you can read about HERE) and the thought of seeing them only once this year didn’t sit well with me, hence I made the trek over to Bristol last weekend for the first night of the UK leg of the 13^th Day tour.

This made it the fourth different city in which I’ve seen them now, but it doesn’t matter where you go, a crowd at a Magnum gig is guaranteed to be special and the locals certainly didn’t disappoint. Despite, as frontman Bob Catley put it, ‘a bit of competition up the road’ (i.e. Motorhead playing at Colston Hall), the Assembly was packed with fans who’d all brought their best singing voices with them. For a band that never quite made it to the really big time they’ve maintained an impressive niche in the market over the years and the loyalty and devotion of the fans is something to behold. Some veteran bands struggle to muster more than polite applause for new material, but Magnum fans treat new songs like old favourites – and old favourites with something approaching religious fervour! The energy that flows from and to the stage is difficult to convey in mere words (so you’ll just have to find out for yourself some time, ‘cause I can’t be arsed trying, okay?)

Magnum: L-R: Tony Clarkin, Mark Stanway, Bob Catley, Harry James, Al Barrow

We’d been promised a bit of a shake-up of the set list, and the resulting set really only had two flaws. One: there weren’t enough old songs, and two: there weren’t enough new songs (admittedly these flaws could quite easily be distilled into one). But that’s the price you pay for being smack-bang in the middle of a second golden age that’s continually throwing up new songs every bit as classic as those they built their reputation on in the first place and there’s only room for so many songs in a night. As there’s (thankfully) no sign of them slowing down, this is only going to be exacerbated by each new album release. But there are certainly worse problems for a band to have. The only real solution is to introduce three hour setlists... 

In terms of what was played they got it about as right as it’s possible to get, playing four of the best from the new album (All the Dreamers, Blood Red Laughter, Dance of the Black Tattoo and See How They Fall) one song each from the previous four albums and a nice mix of the older material.  Les Mort Dansant and When We Were Younger are my favourite songs from the pre-split and post-reformation eras, respectively, and both survived the setlist shake-up, as did perennial favourites How Far Jerusalem, Vigilante and the obligatory Kingdom of Madness. But we were also treated to eight songs I’d never witnessed live before – the four new ones (obviously!) plus long-rested oldies The Spirit, Rockin’ Chair and Days of No Trust (the latter two providing a suitably ecstatic end to the evening during the encores). But the biggest surprise of the night – for me at least – was The Flood, another personal favourite, and one I never thought I’d ever see live. That they played this and Les Mort Dansant back to back suggests they were trying to pummel my emotions the way Marillion do – if this was their intention they certainly succeeded!  Personally I’d have probably rested Brand New Morning in favour of another 13^th Day track or two, but this is a minor quibble. I had assiduously avoided spoilers (if you’ve been trying to do the same you should probably have stopped reading a little while ago...whoops) for maximum enjoyment – and when I see them again in London on Thursday I’ll know exactly what’s coming, which will be just as enjoyable in its own way.

I’ve never been disappointed in the past, but I think this was the very best I’ve seen them to date. Bob had seemingly been reigning in his tendencies to evoke greater emotion in the songs through the art of semaphore last year, but he was at his full-on arm-waving best and sounding as fantastic as ever (although he does seem to have shrunk – again! – in the past 12 months or so...). Equally the rest of the band seemed to have found an extra burst of energy, from the baby of the band (bassist Al Barrow) bouncing around like a kid in a sweet shop, to the Thundering (oh dear) dynamics of Harry James on drums. Tony Clarkin – the genius guitarist/songwriter without whom Magnum could not exist – also appears to be enjoying himself on stage now more than ever, as does keyboardist Mark StanWAYYYYYYYYY (well, that’s how Bob pronounces it!).

As for the competition down the road – well, with both camps emerging together around 11pm the Motorhead fans looked like they’d had a decent night, but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that we Magnum fans got the better deal. A bloke I met afterwards in Bristol’s finest (ahem) late-night pizzeria summed things up for me by gazing longingly at my programme* and admitting he’d gone to the wrong gig.  I take this as definitive proof that if you have a chance to see Magnum live and you don’t take it you will regret it, so let this be a warning to you!. (10/10)

*Programmes are not usually something I go for, but it is very nice indeed, even if it is missing most of the paragraph about Chase the Dragon!

Gig review, etc: Magnum in Carlisle, 03 December 2011

After an extensive UK tour earlier in the year in support of The Visitation Magnum added a few extra dates at the end of the year for the sheer fun of it (and to reach a few places missed on said extensive tour).  This 4-date mini-tour also doubled as a wee bit of promo for the new best-of, Evolution*, the latest in a long line of Magnum compilations, but the first to focus solely on the 5 albums they’ve made since reforming a decade ago.

The 4^th and final date was the very last to be added (quite late in the day it has to be said), and saw the band as the headline act at the grand opening of new rock venue The Sound in Carlisle. It was also, thankfully, one I managed to make a trip up North for, and capped what has been an excellent year to be a Magnum fan!

Not only did the band not play Carlisle earlier in the year – this was their first gig in Cumbria in over two decades, and the response demonstrated that they’ve been missed. There were quite a few Visitation t-shirts on show in the audience, which suggests many had travelled elsewhere to see them in the Spring, but that is no surprise; they are a band that sparks that level of devotion in their fans (and you thought it was just me…!)

Magnum's Bob Catley

The setlist was largely identical to that presented earlier in the year (at the Liverpool gig, for example), but that was entirely acceptable – after all, the majority of the crowd were hearing it for the first time and, more importantly, it’s a cracker of a set! Of course quite a number of the newer songs (Brand New Morning, Wild Angels, All My Bridges and the utterly sublime When We Were Younger) are amongst those featured on the new album and we were also treated to The Fall, one of Evolution’s two brand new tracks, which features the catchiest guitar riff heard in recent memory (in fact it’s possibly too catchy, it sticks in the head so much there isn’t room to remember any other part of the song!). As ever at a Magnum gig each number was followed by loud and long applause, but yes, it was old favourites such as Les Mort Dansant and Vigilante that really raised the roof. The former makes me teary at the best of times, and was more poignant than ever on a day where I’d learnt that a battalion from Carlisle had the misfortune to land at Gallipoli on 25 April, 1915, along with many soon to be slaughtered Kiwis. 

The Gallipoli barracks at Carlisle Castle

Overall though it was a night of cheer and triumph, and even Tony Clarkin was caught smiling on a few occasions (only between songs, of course, but still a rare occurrence!). It's tempting to say that the band were in particularly fine form, but really they were just being Magnum and doing what they do best on any night. I hope to catch them on many more! (10/10).

Sorry ladies...didn't get a shot of Mark, so Al will have to do! :p

_________________________________________________________________________

* Yeah, I know I'm a bad bad blogger and negelected to review Evolution upon release last month, but in summary, it's neat. With two tracks from each of the 5 SPV albums (most of which have had parts re-recorded - hearing real drums on the Breath of Life tracks is a treat for starters!) plus the two new songs mentioned above it provides a great snapshot of this era-in-progress and is an ideal starting or re-entry point for those unfortunate enough not to be right up to date with what the band's been up to for the past ten years. The re-recorded aspects and song selection also make it feel like a cohesive work rather than a hastily thrown-together cash-in album. If you only buy one Magnum release from 2011 (but why would you?) get The Visitation, but this is well worth your time, no matter what level of Magnum awareness you currently possess. (9/10)

Gig review - Magnum Live in Liverpool (16/04/2011)

A rare solo excursion out of London took me to Liverpool on the weekend, primarily to experience my first ‘proper’ Magnum gig (I’d previously seen their 40 minute set at High Voltage last year, which was great, but merely whet the appetite for more!). I’d be meaning to get to Liverpool for a while, and combined with the fact that only seeing Magnum once on their current tour (in London later this month) was never going to be enough for me, talking myself into making the trip was pretty easy.

Magnum are a band that refuse to live in the past, and as a result their High Voltage set came under criticism from some quarters, as it was weighted heavily towards recent material. While it was perhaps not as ‘festival-friendly’ as a set could be, few would deny that their recent run of albums have been as strong as any other that you’d care to name across their long history and it’s only natural that they’d want to showcase that. 

The current tour is, of course, in support of newly-released album The Visitation, which I’ve raved about in previous postings. We were treated to half of the songs from this latest opus, along with one or two tracks from each of the previous three, and of course a smattering of classics, including no less than four culled from 1985’s On a Storyteller’s Night, still regarded as their all-time masterpiece (and it really is difficult to argue against that assessment, even if most of their albums are just as good!). Tellingly, even the classics were of the album cut/fan favourite variety, with precisely zero of their charting singles getting an airing.

A highly receptive crowd proved once again that if you like Magnum, you love Magnum, as every song received a rapturous reception, and a sing-along party atmosphere was apparent from the outset. It was a diverse crowd too, with ages ranging from…well, not quite 7 to 70, but pretty close at both ends!

If I had one complaint (and to be honest, I didn’t…) about The Visitation it would be the comparatively small role played by Mark Stanway, but his keyboards are very much a vital ingredient of the Magnum sound, and really came to the fore in the live setting, as keenly demonstrated in the opening flourishes of All My Bridges and the haunting intro of Les Mort Dansant (possibly THE greatest Magnum song ever). Of course both Stanway and drummer Harry James are largely trapped behind their instruments, and guitarist Tony Clarkin has never been a showy performer. As a result much of the onstage energy radiated from frontman Bob Catley, and the baby in the group (at a mere 40-odd years in age),  bassist Al Barrow, who always looks like he’s having the time of his life. Catley was, as ever, in fine voice, although most of his between-song communication with the crowd was non-verbal, which surprised me, as he’s always struck me as the chatty type – I don’t think he even so much as uttered the phrase ‘this is from the new album’ once!

The set got off to a cracking start with the early non-album rarity Back to Earth, closely followed by the brilliant When We Were Younger, from 2007’s outstanding Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow.

The selections from The Visitation were well-chosen, and nicely sprinkled throughout the set. Freedom Day roared with life (in the process reasserting itself as my current favourite from the album), and Black Skies also came across even more powerfully than on the album, while Spin Like a Wheel proved an emotional roller-coaster.

The main set built to an explosive climax, ending with Storyteller’s All England’s Eyes and the title track of its follow-up Vigilante. Encores were further title tracks, this time from their debut album Kingdom of Madness and finally, On a Storyteller’s Night itself.

Earlier on Gwyn Ashton had got things off to a lively start with his two man blues army (consisting of himself and energetic drummer Kev Hickman, who, as he told me later loves his current role a damn sight more than his previous one – that of IT consultant to Santander – and it showed). His set was built largely around his own new album, but being in Liverpool for the first time, he also threw in a rocking cover of Beatles classic Eleanor Rigby, which they’d ‘knocked up in the van on the way over’ – it didn’t completely work, but it was a good attempt just the same.

As noted earlier the end of the month sees both bands arrive for a London gig, which is set to be filmed for future DVD release – so if you can’t make it to any of the remaining UK dates the tour will at least be available to you at some point in the future – miss it at your peril.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Given that I was only in Liverpool for roughly 24 hours I didn’t get to experience more than a taste of what the city has to offer, but did, of course, have to use some of that time to visit the Beatles Story, the unofficially official Beatles museum. Spread over two sites which you can flit between by foot or shuttle-bus – or, as I did, visit on consecutive days (tickets are valid for 48 hours).

The main exhibition at Albert Dock takes you on a chronological tour through the career of the greatest band in rock history (No, they’re not my favourite band - they come somewhere in the lower top 30 for me personally – but anybody who denies their greatness and importance is simply insane), combining audio-guide recollections from friends, family and other associates with recreations of some of the important sites (notably the Cavern Club), while the newer site at Pier Head features different exhibitions throughout the year, plus the FAB4D experience (Basically a 3D show, but with seats that move a couple of times and ‘real water’ that splashes…), which is good fun if rather slight.

Across the two sites there is plenty of interesting memorabilia on display (including a large number of US gold records and albums) and it does a very good job of catering to all levels of Beatles knowledge – I know a reasonable amount, but there were still some surprises in store, such as the loyal Liverpool Beatles fanbase refusing to buy first single Love Me Do, fearing that if it became a hit the band would leave the city! It probably goes without saying but any Beatles/music fan need to come here at least once.

Although my stay in Liverpool was brief I loved it to bits and will certainly be returning for a proper visit at some point. Obviously seeing Magnum as many times as possible anywhere they care to play is still a priority, and if the two should happen to combine again I won’t be complaining!