2011 Summer of Gigs #12: High Voltage Festival - Day 2

fter a highly enjoyable Saturday at the second High Voltage festival, I was looking forward to a Sunday packed full of great bands and (by and large) I was not disappointed…

 

Heavens’ Basement were a very late (and equally welcome) addition to the Sunday line-up. They had first come onto my radar last May when they opened for the Michael Schenker Group, and been, without question, the best support act I had ever seen. All chances to see them since had been thwarted by clashes of various kinds, so I was delighted to finally catch them again. In the interim they have undergone significant changes in personnel, stripping back from 5 to 4 members, and with a new permanent lead vocalist in the form of Aaron Buchanan. I was a little wary initially, as I’d seen rumblings online and a brief and mostly negative review in Classic Rock AOR, that suggested this had resulted in the band moving away from their melodic hard rock leanings, but was happy to discover that such reports were grossly exaggerated, and they had the crowd – mostly unfamiliar with them, I would say – on side straight away. Buchanan is an exceptional frontman with a superb voice and fits the band like a glove; I have no doubt at all that this line-up is built to last, and HB remain the great hope of British hard rock to me. Copies of their new EP Unbreakable appeared to be being snapped up left, right and centre (If you weren’t there, or missed out on one, you can get it from their website for a fiver; it’s also on itunes, if that’s your bag) and the new songs fitted in perfectly well alongside earlier material such as epic closer, Executioner’s Day (Yes, ‘day’, not ‘song’ as you may have read in a certain aforementioned review…) and personal favourite, Can’t Let Go (that chorus will not get out of your head, I guarantee it!) Expect to see these guys higher up the bill in a year or two’s time…here’s hoping my run of bad luck ends soon and I’ll be able to make their acoustic gig in October (although it’s not currently looking that likely – ah well!) (9/10)

Heaven's Basement's Aaron Buchanan

Perhaps I should have hung around the main stage a bit longer, as St Jude also received very positive notices from those in attendance, while things on the Prog stage were not a patch on the day before, at this point in the day. I only caught the tail-end of The Enid’s set, so can’t really comment on them, but Curved Air then became the first (and, indeed, only) band of the weekend to fail the ‘sun test’ (i.e. ‘Are you worth standing in the hot summer sun to listen to? – bear in mind that standing in the hot summer sun is about my least favourite thing to do in the world…). Their opening instrumental was promising, but then their lead singer emerged and started warbling awfully, so I was forced to run away (okay, running’s also on the list of things I don’t really do, but you get the idea…). Anyway, this worked out quite well in the end, as it meant I happened to pass the Planet Rock tent just as they were blasting out Magnum’s Midnight Kings. Which was nice. (I’m not going to give a rating for this clutch of bands, but will add, for the sake of balance, that loads of people have mentioned Curved Air as a highlight. Nutters).

This had me back at the main stage in plenty of time for Michael Schenker (or Michael ‘Stinker’, as my spell-check insists he should be called…), here performing as a solo artist, albeit with a group (just not the Michael Schenker Group – clear? Thought so…) and partially using his set to promote upcoming 'solo' album, Temple of Rock. Playing recent material at a classic rock festival setting can turn people off you pretty quickly, and airing unreleased material has the potential to be a suicidal ploy, but Schenker limited it to two new tracks (both of which were excellent, by the way, so I’ll certainly be picking the album up on release in September – so target achieved I guess) and filled the rest of the set with the odd MSG track, and favourites from The Scorpions (Rock You Like a Hurricane  - superb!) and UFO (Rock Bottom, Doctor Doctor) complete with various special guests from the ‘old days’, including bassist Pete Way (which led to a shocked comment of, ‘Christ, he’s still alive!!!’ from a chap behind me!). Quite simply the audience lapped up every second of it. (9/10)

Danny Bowes of Thunder

The same can be said (and then some) for Thunder, who disbanded in 2009, and ostensibly reformed for High Voltage as a strict one-off (time will tell, or perhaps it has already?).  I really only know them as ‘Harry’s old band’ (Harry James being Magnum’s current drummer, and in and out of that band a bit in the past due to his co-existing Thunder duties), but on the basis of this performance I dare say I’ll be wanting to acquire their entire back-catalogue as soon as I can. Danny Bowes voice is amazing, so not to have heard it before is a pretty shocking oversight on my part. Obviously I didn’t know any of the songs (with the exception of a cracking cover of Gimme Some Lovin’) but you can certainly add me to the long list of folk who want the band to reform more permanently (with the proviso that ‘we’ can keep Harry in Magnum too though, please…) The only downside was the sound cutting out a few times during the opening track, Backstreet Symphony, the only serious sound problem I noticed during the festival (There have been complaints about sound on the main stage, and indeed, being close to the stage at the start of Heaven’s Basement’s set, I quickly decided to head further back a bit, and the overwhelming bass drum evaporated and was replaced by clear lead vocals – but great sound at the front of a stage is a pretty rare thing, so I was just grateful it was present at the prog stage…)(10/10)

From there it was a quick (by my standards at least…) dash back to progland for Spock’s Beard, who despite being a tad on the sloppy side at times (and being difficult to see due to the sun’s position – sorry, get some sunglasses, you say? But I’d only need them once a year, doesn’t seem worth the bother…) put on a compelling performance. The bulk of their set, while perfectly enjoyable in itself, was completely overshadowed by the final number (and a bit) where they were rejoined by ex-bandleader Neal Morse. Even if most of us had anticipated that something along these lines would happen from the instant the acts were announced, it was still a euphoric and exciting (and possibly historic?) moment to witness and the crowd went suitably spastic as a result. (9/10)

Sunday prog stage headliners Jethro Tull were my #1 must-see act of the festival. Despite internet reports of Ian Anderson’s voice being past its best in recent years he sounded perfectly decent to these ears, but it was his popping-eyed, gasp-spluttered flute excesses that really marked him out as the most entertaining figure to grace the stage.  As with BJH the day before, Tull had a classic album celebrating its 40^th anniversary year, so alongside the likes of Living in the Past, Thick as a Brick (NOT the whole thing, sadly) and a wee bit of Bach with Bouree, large chunks of Aqualung were present in the setlist. This included relatively obscure cuts such as Mother Goose and Hymn 43 alongside the essential title track, which proved a fitting climax to the day’s prog, but was then beaten into submission by the encore – Locomotive Breath, which featured Black Country Communion’s Joe Bonamassa on ‘special guest’ duties (quite a running theme on Sunday). Having missed Bonamassa’s solo set last year, and not being able to see him with his own band this time around (having had the need to eat and see all of Tull’s set) this was an unexpected treat and would have marked the perfect conclusion to the weekend, except there was still the main stage headline act to check out… (10/10)

Jethro Tull, with Ian Anderson, centre

Dream Theater (Yes, they’re American, hence they don’t know how to spell their own band name…), like Heaven’s Basement at the other end of the day, had a new lineup with something to prove (with band-founder Mike Portnoy replaced on drums by another drumming Mike, Mangini) and in that respect their set worked. Certainly the air-drumming fan next to me thoroughly approved of the band’s new addition, and his playing was pretty spectacular (Mangini’s that is!). Unfortunately, DT have always seemed far less than the sum of their considerable parts, having superior musicianship by the boatload, but lacking memorable songs or, dare I say it, much in the way of emotional resonance. Technical brilliance alone can only impress for so long before it becomes tedious. With Portnoy gone this is even more evident than it had been in the past. As I was half-expecting something along these lines I was determined to give them a fair hearing, so stayed for 45 minutes (which is longer than many of the other full sets I attended, and infinitely longer than I managed to cope with ELP’s headlining set last year, so not bad, all told) before calling it a night. During that time only Peruvian Skies stood out, but the fact that it was also the only song I was familiar with shouldn’t have been a contributing factor – for large chunks of the weekend I was hearing music for the first time and almost all of it more than held my attention. It really shouldn’t be possible for such a talented band to be horrifically dull, but somehow they manage it. (6/10)

That mild disappointment aside though, the weekend fulfilled the promise of last year’s event, despite being a little less spectacularly brilliant overall, and brought 2011’s ‘summer of gigs’ to a fitting close. See you next year – even if the blimmin’ Olympics look set to upset either the location or the dates (or possibly both) of HV3… (overall festival rating: 9/10)

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And finally…the High Voltage 2011 awards…

 

Best lead vocalist: Danny Bowes (Thunder)

Best guitarist: Michael Schenker

Best drummer: Harry James (Thunder) – Runner-up: Chris Rivers (Heaven’s Basement)

Best multi-instrumentalist: Geoffrey Richardson (Caravan)

Best showman: Michael Monroe

Best expected guest-appearance: Neal Morse (with Spock’s Beard)

Best unexpected guest appearance: Joe Bonamassa (with Jethro Tull)

Best bandleader: Neal Morse – Runner-up: Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)

Best revised line-up: Heaven’s Basement

Best stage headliner: Jethro Tull

Band I’m most gutted about missing entirely: Black Country Communion

Best 2011 festival: High Voltage!

Summer of Gigs #4: Neal Morse at Tutus, KCLSU

I only ‘discovered’ Neal Morse a little over a year ago, when I saw him with Transatlantic (the first band I saw upon arriving in the UK, as it happens) and he completely blew me away. I would have thought that anyone who saw him on that tour would have taken any opportunity they could to see him again, but it seems not, as disappointing ticket sales led to the cancellation of two other UK shows, and the London gig moved to a smaller venue than initially planned.

Perhaps it is the overtly Christian nature of his lyrics or his forthcoming appearance at the High Voltage festival that put people off seeing him a mere six weeks earlier. Whatever the reason, he and his cracking seven-piece band delivered the goods to a smallish (though, as a result of the venue change, cramped!) but enthusiastic crowd of progheads and anybody else missed out in a big way, as he is one of the leading proponents of Christian Prog (What do you mean? Of course there’s more than one!).

With Transatlantic the first 80 minutes of the show was their new album, The Whirlwind which I’d had for a couple of weeks and been able to listen to about 3 times before the gig, while the rest of the set was brand new to me. I expected this show to follow a similar pattern, as Morse’s new solo album Testimony Two has been out for less than a month, and it was well-known that it would be played in its entirety (Well, the first disc anyway…), and I was right. Except it was the other way around.

Beginning with a pair of ‘short’ songs (including Beware of Darkness, originally recorded in this version by Morse’s old band, Spock’s Beard, and sufficiently different from George Harrison’s original for me to completely fail to recognise it!), we then moved on into ‘epic’ territory, which is Morse’s forte. These included the 26-minute Seeds of Gold from the second disc of Testimony Two and as such the only number I recognised during the first set (the bulk of the audience greeted every offering with recognition and delight, so it was clearly a devoted crowd in attendance) and demonstrated the abilities of the entire band. Special mention must go to…well, them all, really – as a collective they clearly have a joy in playing together, and their musicianship is beyond question – however, I’m going to single out electric violinist Ben Whatshisname (Hey, it’s always tough to pick out an unfamiliar name when it’s announced onstage…due to choice of instrument and hairstyle I’m tempted to say Steinhardt, but it wasn’t that…), whose playing added textures rarely heard in a rock situation, and were, quite simply, wonderful. The first set ended, fittingly, with the closing section of Testimony (or Testimony One, as it’s now called…) and Neal announced they’d be back after a short break with Testimony Two.

The original Testimony album was Morse’s first solo album following his departure from both Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic, and detailed his full conversion to devout Christianity. While I’m not familiar enough with that first album to say for certain, lyrically the follow-up seems to be more of a prequel or perhaps a further colouring in of an existing picture, than a direct sequel/continuation of the story. Apparently Morse ‘left out’ a key part of that story on that first album, namely that his conversion came as a result of his daughter Jayda’s miraculous ‘self healing’ – born with a hole in her heart, her condition vanished to doctors astonishment prior to planned surgery. The rest of the story makes it clear that the conversion wasn’t sudden. In any case you don’t have to have religious beliefs to appreciate the story or the music, as it’s about as far from evangelical bible-bashing as it’s possible to get. Instead it is a deeply personal exploration of a man in deep conflict with himself, his lifestyle and his beliefs, but it is also a tale with multiple happy endings. It’s abundantly clear that Morse made the right decision for him, and that’s enough for this agnostic.

In a live situation, even more so than on the album, the result is both emotional roller-coaster and musical tour de force.  The Jayda section provided perhaps the most cathartic experience of any gig I’ve been to. As detailed before I’m prone to the odd blub here and there, but this had me in full flood, and that was even before Morse joined in, to the point that at it’s conclusion he had to take a few minutes to get himself together in order to continue. Anybody who failed to be moved by the performance, or its effect on the man himself, could only be described as soulless, but I don’t think such an accusation could be levelled at anybody present, be they in the audience or onstage.

Soon though, he was back to his usual self, revelling in the joy of the music, juggling guitar and keyboard duties in addition to his singing, and even leaving the stage to perform in the audience at one point.

Having plumbed the depths of his emotions and delivered an outstanding performance in the process, he’d have been forgiven for ending his (already near 3-hour) set right there, but we were treated to an encore featuring Transatlantic’s Bridge Across Forever performed solo, before he was rejoined by the band for one final number, and then band and crew alike crowded the stage for a joyous celebration of the end of the tour. As I mentioned at the start Neal Morse will be back (and I’ll be seeing him again) at High Voltage in July -  indeed it’s about the best reason I can see for going on the Saturday at all this year –see you there! (9/10)

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Bonus review: Don McGlashan at the Bush Hall

I added a last-minute, unexpected bonus gig to the ‘Summer of Gigs’ as a friend (No private joke this time, it really was *just* a friend!) recently relocated from New Zealand, just in time for us to catch one of our country’s premiere singer-songwriters/bandleaders/general overachievers in action.  Despite his success with bands including Blam Blam Blam and The Mutton Birds, and as a solo artist, between us we could only name two of his songs off the top off our heads (Dominion Road and Anchor Me). I expected to recognise a lot more when I heard them – but didn’t.

Never mind. Armed only with his voice, acoustic guitar, loop pedals and, erm…tuba (of course!) McGlashan delivered an entertaining evening, with NZ-specific references a-plenty in the lyrics, which created a nice, nostalgic vibe amongst the audience, I’m sure almost entirely made up of fellow ex-pats. Nice.

While unfamiliar with much of his material he proved that the esteem granted to him in New Zealand is well-earned, and he is every bit as deserving of wider attention as the brilliant (but overrated) Neil Finn. (8/10)

Transatlantic's 'Whirld Tour 2010' Boxed set: Too much of a good thing?

Just under forty years ago Robert Christgau, self-appointed ‘Dean of American rock critics’, was tasked with reviewing Chicago’s 4LP live set Chicago at Carnegie Hall. Deciding that it wasn’t actually necessary to listen to it in order to reach a rating (C- in this case) his capsule ‘review’ concentrated mainly on the packaging. You can read it here:http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=chicago.

Christgau represents everything I hate about rock snob critics, but his consumer guide reviews are worth reading for their entertainment value; just don’t pay any attention to his opinions, as they’ll tend to irritate you if you take them seriously. To give credit where it’s due, I'll reluctantly acknowledge that he is the originator of this type of review, and does have a penchant for the snappy (and, dare I say it, occasionally witty) putdown. It’s just a shame that there have been so many pale imitators taking up this style as though it represents genuine rock journalism. Ah well.

Strangely though, I find myself in a similar predicament of being overwhelmed by the sheer scale of a release as to not be able to even bring myself to play it, namely prog-rock supergroup Transatlantic’s document of last year’s World tour, redubbed Whirld Tour 2010 after 2009s The Whirlwind studio album. The deluxe edition comprises two DVDs and three CDs, consisting of the band’s near 3.5 hour performance at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The second DVD also contains an extensive documentary (another 2 hours of material there!) plus a bonus performance from the High Voltage Festival, where the band was joined by Steve Hackett on their rendition of Genesis’ Return of the Giant Hogweed. So about six hours total viewing time. That’s fantastic, it’s very in-depth, thorough and the quality is (I’m sure) exemplary…but when am I ever going to have time to actually watch it?! 

Of course it’s easier to find time to listen to the CDs, as you can do other things at the same time, but so far I’ve only managed to listen to one song. Or, to put it another way, all 80 minutes of disc 1!  While The Whirlwind was always conceived as a single song, on the studio release it was broken into twelve chapters with individual titles, which went some way to aiding its digestion, but here it’s presented as one single solid lump of music – mildly intimidating to put it lightly! The track’s so long that there’s barely room for any audience applause at the end - I seem to recall we cheered for a lot longer than eight seconds! Ah yes, another factor that separates me from Christgau - I was actually present for the recording! 

At the time I was brand new to Transatlantic, having only added The Whirlwind to my collection around a fortnight before the gig - although I'd booked the ticket while still in New Zealand. I was already a fan of two of the band members, specifically bass player Pete Trewavas (on leave of absence from my #1 band, Marillion) and drummer Mike Portnoy (who wasn't quite ex-Dream Theater at this point), so on arrival at the venue I picked a prime spot near the front where I'd be as close to the two of them as possible, albeit in the knowledge that it would be difficult to pay attention to anyone but Portnoy - he is an absolute monster after all! Turns out this was just as well, as I'd never realised just how tiny Pete T is - I was mere metres away from the stage but rarely spotted him all night! (Not helped by the fact I ended up behind a ten-foot tall giant...thankfully I did get to see Pete a couple of months later at the High Voltage festival, where he did double duty, appearing with both Transatlantic and Marillion and effectively headlining the prog stage on both nights - nice).

Guitarist Roine Stolte of The Flower Kings was fine (not a weak link, just not as awe-inspriing as his colleagues, if that makes sense), and live-member-only Daniel Gildenlow was a joy to behold, but the real revelation for me on the night was Neal Morse, formerly of Spock's Beard and currently a solo artist with his very own sub-genre - Christian Prog. While the vocals were shared by all band members, it was Morse who dominated (and rightly so) the vocal department, and I'm always a sucker for a decent keyboardist as well. That would have been more than enough but this phenomenally talented individual had to show off by also playing some guitar and then taking over on the drums when Portnoy decided to do a bit of crowd surfing (and was whisked straight past my right ear as a result!)

Anyway, after The Whirlwind, the remaining songs in the set were significantly shorter, although as three of them were around half an hour long each we were never in any danger of entering three-minute pop song territory! Not being familiar with any of that material may have been a disadvantage, but it didn't feel like it at the time, although it is possible that my brain exploded at some point without me realising it - in any case I'd ordered Transatlantic's first album within an hour of the gig ending, and Morse-era Spock's Beard has also magically appeared (at last) in my collection. I also realised I'd no longer have to persevere with Dream Theater, as I can get my Portnoy fix elsewhere, all thanks to the stunning gig captured for posterity on this release.

 

So, while simply not buying this boxed set might have seemed an option, I really had no choice but to splurge on it (actually it was too ridiculously cheap to even qualify as a splurge...which was nice). And it is beautifully presented, even if getting the second CD out of the case is a bit tricky (Handy hint: remove the third disc first!).  While it’s possible I might never actually get around to watching/listening to everything contained in this package, I’m confident that the quality will be every bit as high as you’d expect from a band of this calibre, so have no hesitation in awarding a rating, perfunctory though it may be, (and, not coincidentally, the same rating as I’d have given the gig itself) of 10/10. Hey, it's better than a C-...I just envy people who have the time on their hands to enjoy it. And get to see Pete...(assuming the cameras had more luck on the night than I did!)