Mezzotono - Christmas Carols in Dublin

Over the last 3 months I have been part of a wee choir (very informal) rehearsing Christmas Carols in 4 voices, to sing them in Dublin city centre among other places. We're called Mezzotono, which means 'half note' in Italian (most of the members are from Italy, and Italian is the language of music anyway).

Last year we rehearsed for this purpose as well, but never got to sing in town, because we left it too late, and people were then going home for Christmas etc. There's only a handful of us, so we don't have a lot of volume to draw on, but it's easier to organise and do impromptu things than with a truckload of people.

So, this year we began in September, with a plan. We had the same songs we did last year, plus some new ones, in exciting arrangements that came up during the course of autumn. Our repertoire is as follows, all arranged for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. (Just in case you're curious - I sing the soprano bits).

Adeste Fideles (sung in Latin, also widely known in English as Come All Ye Faithful)
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Joy To The World
Deck The Halls
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Silent Night (a verse sung in each of the languages German, Irish and English)
The First Noel
Jingle Bells
Winter Wonderland
O Tannenbaum (sung in German)
On Christmas Night
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen

I will never forget the first moment we all sang together last year, after everyone learning their various voices for Adeste Fideles. The harmonies and beauty of the thing were so amazing - I had completely forgotten the power of singing together in a group like that! How soothing it is to create something together like that - perfect antidote to stress! Now, I don't think Adeste Fideles is the most beautiful arrangement in our canon (it is pretty darn good, although On Christmas Night is better), but there's something special about it to me anyway, because it was the first one we sang.

Unfortunately, not all the singers made it out to sing in town, due to various reasons (weather being one of them), but 5 of us did go. We have now learned important lessons about wind, and about how noisy Grafton Street is, and how busy. How cold it can get when you're just standing still, and the importance of shelter. Lots of people noticed us, but only a few stopped to listen. One time a couple of people actually came over to join in, which was fun, and they sang along with us for a couple of tunes (melody voice only, mind you. Hehe). At least this year we did get to do what we set out to do and sing in town. :)

This is us, after a wonderful afternoon spent singing around Temple Bar and Grafton Street:

Concert Report - Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band, Odyssey Arena, Belfast, 15 December

It was amazing! Bruce owns that stage from the minute he sets foot on it, and it’s like he’s just having a party with a few thousand of his closest friends. I took a lot of pictures – will upload them all to Facebook later, when I get a chance. He’s great to just watch move around, throwing his arms in the air and jumping up and down with the beat. You can tell that these guys have played together for a long time, but they have the same thing U2 have – they can keep playing songs that are 30 years old, as if they were written yesterday – same energy.

There was a bride & groom in the audience, who had evidently come straight from their wedding reception to attend the gig. Bruce saluted them a couple of times, and towards the end Little Steven was conducting a whole little ‘conversation’ with the bride from the stage. Very funny.

Patti was still babysitting at home, so Soozie was singing with Bruce on Magic - I definitely did not mind - Soozie rocks! That duet was really great. Gave me goosebumps. The audience was singing along to most of the new songs, as well as the Rising songs, and for Born To Run everyone was just belting it out at the top of their lungs. Awesome. For Santa Claus Is Coming... Bruce put on this Santa Stetson that someone threw onstage – red with a white furry trim. He looked very cool in that! Clarence put on a normal Santa hat for his Ho-Ho-Ho’s. What a way to finish a gig! The crowd was great as well, not like we had last year in Dublin for the Seeger Sessions gig, where no-one on the floor moved.

To go back to the start for a bit : The trip up to Belfast on the bus was fine – I was running to catch the 3pm in Busáras, because of course the bus from Blanchardstown ended up taking ages. Walked from the bus station behind Europa Hotesl to the Odyssey Arena through a beautifully Christmas-lit Belfast city centre to the Odyssey Arena (see Facebook for more pictures). It was only 20 minutes or so – a lovely walk.

Belfast City Hall Christmas Lights:

Found my seat, which was in a great spot, and started talking to 2 sisters from Manchester sitting next to me – one of them turned out to be a U2 fan, the other was mad about Bruce. They’d both been at the second Croke Park gig 2 years ago. (That's U2 we're talking about here, ed.) We walked back to the Europa Hotel after the concert, where they were staying and just had time for a quick pint before I got on the bus back to Dublin at midnight.

And then, I thought I’d be clever and get off at the airport and get a taxi from there instead of trying to get a taxi from town. Turned out there weren’t any taxis at all in the airport. Nor anyone else for that matter – I’ve never seen the place so empty!! The only noises were the pedestrian light beeping and the security announcements. Scary biscuits. Turned out any taxis dropping people off at Departures were heading straight back into town without swinging by Arrivals. I got talking to a guy also looking for a taxi, so we went up to Departures and got a taxi within 2 minutes. He was going in the opposite direction, but we shared it anyway – just wanted to get home! In bed at 10 past 3, so not bad at all in the end. Very sleepy on Sunday...still am....zzzzz.....

Set List:
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason To Believe
Because The Night
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
The River
I'll Work For Your Love
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Encores:
Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Kitty's Back
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Very late concert report: Tori Amos at Oxegen, 7 July 2007

I just remembered that I have completely forgotten about a concert report! *gasp* Pia, how COULD you!!!

So *ahem* without further ado, I better give you:

Tori Amos, 7 July, Oxegen 2007, Punchestown Racecourse, Co. Kildare

Oxegen is a 2 day festival (used to be called Witnness) held in the lovely Punchestown Racecourse, otherwise known as the Mud Pit (I kid you not, we saw people who had apparently taken mud baths without bothering to undress first. Absolutely EVERYONE was wearing wellies (flowery, funky, boring ones. Mine are from Dunnes, and have tiger stripes. *Grrrrrowl*. I learned a very hard lesson in Marlay Park in June about wellies). Some of the mud bathers seemed to think everyone else liked mud too, and were flinging mud about without a care in the world. No thank you! More on that a bit later.

We had bought the tickets primarily to see Tori, seeing as this was her only Irish date on the American Doll Posse Tour. The lineup was actually pretty impressive for both Saturday and Sunday (we had tickets for Saturday only). We drove up from Dublin, and were only mildly impressed with the parking facilities (any empty field around the course had been propositioned it seemed). It was definitely NOT to the standard that I had seen in Marlay Park for the Peter Gabriel/Crowded House gig (see previous concert report from June). Anyway, it could've been worse. We put on our wellies, and made our way up to the festival ground, taking a massive detour, because the signposts for the main entrance seemed to have gone AWOL. Anyway, met up with the rest of the posse and found a good spot, ie dry, spread our blanket and sat down.

Oxegen had 5-6 stages, some of them inside tents. We had a good view of the Main Stage from our blanket, currently occupied by Avril Lavigne (love your hair, doll). I remember seeing only 2 other bands before we had to go to the Pet Sounds stage to prepare for Tori - Goo Goo Dolls and The Fratellis. Goo Goo Dolls were really good, and it was pretty awesome to hear 80.000 people singing along at the top of their lungs to 'Iris'. You could see yer man the LV (don't know his name) being amazed by that response. The Fratellis were emphatically bad, their rhythm section being literally all over the place. Okay, Toriphiles, time to head for the tent!

We actually saw Badly Drawn Boy as well who was on before Toir, because we figured we'd have to get in there early to get a good spot. I do a fairly good impression of an eel, if I may say so myself, and it helped us get into the 2nd and 3rd rows in front of the stage. Yay! (Later, I read on a Tori tour site that some people had actually been there all day in order to get in front for Tori. Maybe they just weren't very good at being eels. Hmmm..)

Anyway, we waited and waited for Badly Drawn Boy to finish. He started late, due to technical issues, which didn't help, because at the other end of things, he actually kept playing while they were wheeling Tori's Bösendorfer onto the stage, and until they simply unplugged him. Take the hint, dude! It's not that he was bad or anything - based on the audience's reaction to him, I'd expected most of the first 3 rows to leave at the end of his gig, so we could get an even better spot. But, no. They didn't. They went even madder when Tori - sorry - when Pip took to the stage, laying into a vicious rendition of 'Cruel' (complete setlist below, with album info as well).

Oh, and remember the mud bathers described above? Well there was one of them right next to me in the audience, drunk as a skunk, naked to the waist and covered in mud, who was locked in a world of his own together with his maybe-girlfriend, who had her back to the stage the entire time. Towards the end of the gig they left. Thankfully. Don't know what they were doing there in the first place, because they sure weren't
paying ANY attention to the performance!

On that note - back to Tori. The set was relatively short, seeing as this was a festival slot and not a full Tori concert. Pip rocks! For those of you, who don't know who Pip is, see my earlier post with review of the American Doll Posse album, or check out Tori's website - then it will make a bit more sense :) I had sort of hoped for Clyde, because she's the doll I can relate to the most, but hey, at the end of the day, I'm happy just to have seen her at all.

I don't think I will ever tire of 'Cornflake Girl' live, it is simply so infectious. Tori has the same vibe about her that U2 have when playing old songs live - it doesn't seem to ever get boring for them! Which is a really good thing! It means they have a strong connection with us, the audience, and that is part of why I love their music so much - it's not made in a bubble for a bubble. It has heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears.

This is Tori during 'Cornflake Girl':
SETLIST
As Pip:
Cruel (From The Choirgirl Hotel, 1998)
Body And Soul (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Fat Slut (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Bliss (To Venus And Back, 1999)
The Waitress (Under The Pink, 1994)

Interlude: Professional Widow remix (Boys For Pele, 1996)

As Tori:
Big Wheel (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Cornflake Girl (Under The Pink, 1994)
Bouncing Off Clouds (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Code Red (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Precious Things (Little Earthquakes, 1992)

Concert Report - Crowded House & Peter Gabriel, Marlay Park in Dublin, 22 June 2007

It had been raining massively throughout the day, and I kept checking the promoter's website to see if the concert was cancelled - Marlay Park might be too flooded, or the instruments might be damaged by too much humidity or whatever. At that stage I sort of wished it would get cancelled, because it meant I wouldn't have to make a decision about it. Anyway, it didn't get cancelled, and I didn't make the choice not to go, which in the glaring brightness of hindsight was a really good choice, as shall be seen.

There were 3 of us heading off from Dublin 15 onto the sometime carpark otherwise known as the M50 (for those not in Ireland, that's a motorway running outside Dublin city, making as much of a circle it can. They're still building extensions to it and now expanding existing parts of it as well). We didn't have any trouble finding Marlay Park, because there were signs up from the relevant M50 exits and all through Ballinteer. There were also Gardaí directing traffic in perfectly well-functioning traffic light junctions, which made no sense to us. Anyway, the parking in the park was very well-organised - people were directed into neat rows. It's worth noting that we actually praised the organisation skills on display here, and it's also worth noting in this context that both my companions were Irish.

We sat in the car for a while, eating sambos and waiting for the rain to stop. Crowded House would take the stage a bit after 7 and Peter Gabriel around 9. Starsailor, who were opening the show, were finished by the time we got to the actual venue, but we didn't really care - we had heard them from the car and also while walking up from the car park. There was a motley crew of people in umbrellas and assorted rain ponchos (on sale there too) waiting around, eating chips and swilling pints.

When Neil Finn & Co. came out, they seemed very happy to see us, and about 6-7 songs into the set (I actually think they'd just played 'Weather With You'), lo and behold, the rain stopped! The skies did not clear, but at least it stayed dry, and we even got a ray of light or two at times. I only knew the bigger hits, so there were a lot of songs I had never heard before, but I really really liked them. The audience were great singers and sang the chorus of a good few songs note perfect. You could tell that Neil Finn, as well as the rest of the band, were really enjoying themselves on stage, which is always lovely to see. The last song of their set was, predictably, 'Don't Dream It's Over', which we were all singing along to at the top of our lungs, of course. Brilliant stuff altogether!

Peter Gabriel began a bit after 9, I think. He said that he would be playing songs that fans had voted for online, and for the first few songs I thought it was all going to be stuff I wouldn't know, and that it would mean no 'Sledgehammer' or 'Don't Give Up'. But then he played 'Blood Of Eden', which I know because it's a duet with Sinèad O'Connor, and I was delighted that he played it - I had completely forgotten about that song. Lovely lovely version of it, even without Sinèad. Then, he played 'Family Snapshot' which I also know, and before long it was all good old stuff :) The first encore was 'Sledgehammer', precipitated by the audience singing the signature horn phrase - very funny. The second encore was 'In Your Eyes', a very lovely song and one of my favorites.

He has an almost magnetic stage presence, and when he comes out from behind the keyboard and takes to the lip of the stage, he is downright hypnotic. 'Theatrical' was also a word that came to mind, as were comparisons to Jack L, a very charismatic Irish singer I once saw give an unforgettable performance in the Olympia. Neil Finn was much more natural in a way, more laid back, even if nothing about Peter Gabriel's show ever felt fake. Maybe the theatrical aspect also came about due to the fact that Peter Gabriel had a light show - these grilles of neon lights that looked like they'd been taken from sunbeds, vertically aligned in sections of 4 across the stage, and used to display any kind of light graphics in high resolution. Above them were a grid of little points of light, arranged symmetrically, and of course a lot of spots above and around the stage. Very tastefully done I thought.

All in all, a good night, but I was happy when we got home and I could take my soaking wet shoes off.....*aaaah*

Concert Report - Tori Amos, Falconer Center in Copenhagen, 13 June 2007

When Tori announced her world tour, I got tickets for the Copenhagen gig for me and my sister, and I ended up booking a week off, so I was lounging around Mona and Thomas' apartment the day of the concert.

I had been debating with myself all morning whether I should go down to the venue early in the afternoon, juuust in case Tori would come out and sign autographs and stuff before the concert.
In the end I didn't, partly because of the layout of the venue itself, and partly because I have a lousy track record anyway, doing stuff like that. (Apart from getting to shake hands with Edge at the Eason book signing session for 'U2 by U2' of course. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't ask him about how the Welsh yoga was going).

So, once Mona got off work we had a quick bite to eat and then made our way down to the Falconer Center. Ah, the wonders of public transportation on the continent! You sure learn to appreciate it, once you've had to depend on Dublin Bus for a while! But I digress - ranting about what passes for public transportation in Ireland is not the purpose of this post. It's Tori.

Of course, I had to get a tour program and a tshirt - a really cute blue one with a line from 'Bouncing Off Clouds' and a wee blue aeroplane on it. I was very excited! My first Tori concert! Weeeheee!! They finally opened the doors and let us in to find our seats. Ours were roughly halfway down the floor, in the middle. Thankfully, the floor is slanted, and it felt a bit like sitting in a cinema - brilliant visibility.

The opening act was Seth Lakeman and his band who were very impressive. They played a kind of Celtic folk that was very infectious without being at all diddley-aye. Definitely one to check out.

And then! Isabel opened the show with 'Yo George', which for me was the only slight flaw all evening - this was a European, not an American show, and I just felt that there were other songs that would have worked better. Anyway, she was awesome. She was sitting between a keyboard and her beloved Bösendorfer piano, and was sometimes playing each with one hand, singing into one of the microphones above each instrument with her back to the other instrument. Tori rules! During the solo section I swear, you could've heard a pin drop, we were that quiet. Especially during 'Winter'. What a totally fantastic song that is. I've given the album information in the setlist below:

As Isabel:
Yo George (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Sweet Dreams (Little Earthquakes era B-side (1992), re-recorded for her retrospective Tales
Of A Librarian 4 years ago)
Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield cover)
Devils & Gods (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Mr. Bad Man (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Almost Rosey (American Doll Posse, 2007)

As Tori:
Big Wheel (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Caught A Lite Sneeze (Boys For Pele, 1996)
Liquid Diamonds (From The Choirgirl Hotel, 1998)
Cornflake Girl (Under The Pink, 1994)
Bells For Her (Under The Pink, 1994)
Siren (Great Expectations soundtrack, 1998. This is one of my all-time Tori
live favorites, and I'm so happy she played it!)

T & Böse (short for Bösendorfer):
Silent All These Years (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
Mr. Zebra (Boys For Pele, 1996)
Winter (Little Earthquakes, 1992)

Band comes back:
Putting The Damage On (Boys For Pele, 1996)
God (Under The Pink, 1994)
Code Red (American Doll Posse, 2007)

Encores:
Precious Things (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
Bouncing Off Clouds (American Doll Posse, 2007)
Cruel (From The Choirgirl Hotel, 1998)
Hey Jupiter (Boys For Pele, 1996)

There were no tracks from her in my opinion most weighty concept albums prior to American Doll Posse - Scarlet's Walk and The Beekeeper. Although, I know she has played 'Hoochie Woman' from Beekeeper previously on this tour.

Of course I would've liked to hear stuff from those eras live as well, but I think that these albums would probably be harder to dissect in order to incorporate the songs into a new structure, because they are part of a cohesive structure of their own. In any case, I think it speaks volumes of her musical power that she can play songs from all her nineties albums and none of them have aged a bit. I hope she never gets tired of playing 'Cornflake Girl'!

She flitted on and off the stage like a glittery sprite, and she made the venue feel like we were just a couple of thousand of her closest friends in her living room. I can't wait to see what she will be like at the Oxegen festival here in Ireland in a couple weeks time!

Concert report - Sinéad O'Connor in Dublin Castle

The weather forecast had said 'rain', but thankfully that only turned out to apply to the early afternoon, and not much at that (at least not in Dun Laoghaire, where I was until I went to town for the gig), so by the time the Delorentos took the stage around 6.30 pm, the sky was clearing to reveal a lovely blue hue.

The venue was Dublin Castle, more specifically the big courtyard - very nice. The space was divided by a small stripe of 'no-man's-land', similar to the lay-out U2 had in Croke Park, although on a much smaller scale. I went into the front section and stood with my back to the barrier. That way, I still had a good view, but didn't get the crush from behind that you would invariably get even a bit of, if you were standing at the very front. Also, it meant there was plenty of room to dance. :)

The Delorentos are an up-and-coming Dublin band. I thought the music was good, and they definitely have passion, which is always great, but I'm afraid I didn't find their stuff all that original. I already have records by Coldplay, The Killers, Snow Patrol and Editors, so I won't be adding Delorentos to the collection, if you get my drift.

Next up were Kíla, an Irish band playing jigs and reels and songs as Gaeilge, plus a lot more. Very infectious! One guy in the audience, near me, had a couple of good Riverdance moves :) The band were obviously enjoying themselves immensely, and played up a really great storm. At one point a band member asked us to scream at front man and bodhrán player Rónán Ó Snodaigh, because it was his birthday. We did our best, hehe.

Then, finally, at 9 pm - Sinéad. I am going to try and reconstruct the set list, as far as I remember, but I'm warning you now that the sequence may not be correct (I've given the album and year in brackets though, because I know that much for sure)

'The Emperor's New Clothes' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'I Am Stretched On Your Grave' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart' (In The Name Of The Father soundtrack 1994)
'My Lagan Love' (Sean-Nós Nua 2002)
'Jump In The River' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
Two songs from her new album 'Theology' - can't remember the titles. I think one of them was 'Something Beautiful'
'Nothing Compares 2 U' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'Never Get Old' (The Lion & The Cobra 1987)
'The Lamb's Book Of Life' (Faith & Courage 2000)
'This Is The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'Mandinka' (The Lion & The Cobra 1987)
'Thank You For Hearing Me' (Universal Mother 1994)
'Fire On Babylon' (Universal Mother 1994)
'In This Heart' (Universal Mother 1994)

For the encore, she played 2 new songs from 'Theology' (including an adapted version of 'Rivers Of Babylon'). One was called 'If You Had A Vineyard'.

She was in great form throughout the gig, and was getting a bit of a kick out of the massive response to 'Nothing Compares 2 U', I think. She played a lot of my favorite songs, like 'You Made Me The Thief...', 'I Am Stretched...' and 'In This Heart'. The last song is an a capella song on the album, where she starts out singing the first verse alone, and then harmonies are gradually added in subsequent verses. Nothing about that changes on the live version, only who provides the harmonies. It's absolutely gorgeous. Hearing that, on a clear evening, in May, in Dublin, with the crowd being completely silent (for once) was just fantastic. Her voice has lost nothing of its force after all these years of singing - amazing both to watch and to listen to.

Concert was over app. half past 10, so plenty of time to catch a bus home. All in all, an evening very well spent....

I'm gonna get a guitar, learn three chords, and see about some truth....

Yep. I'm gonna join the ranks of guitar players.

I still have to buy the guitar though. Should be fun. I have a lot of U2 and Tori songs on the list of must-learns. We'll see how it goes.

The last time I played an instrument was no success. (that one time in high school where I played bass, doesn't really count, because I didn't have to learn anything. My teacher wrote down the junctions I had to put my fingers on to get the notes. I got blisters on my finger from the strumming. Argh.)

I was around 10, and the choice for some unfathomable reason fell on the accordion. Which I then proceeded to dislike playing. I think I stuck with it for two or three months, before I packed it in. I remember having to learn 'Jingle Bells' (it was coming up to Christmas time), but I can't remember whether I made it or not. Most likely not, haha.

Anyway, back to the guitar. I've had a wee browse on eBay, but I have no idea which brands are good and which are not, so I think I'll go into a music store in town and ask for some advice. I haven't decided whether I will take lessons, or try teaching myself yet - I could try the latter first and see how I go......

American Doll Posse

Tori Amos has released her 9th studio album on May 1, called 'American Doll Posse'. There are five girls in the Posse, all with their own personae, hairstyles, wardrobes, characters - Tori, Clyde, Pip, Santa & Isabel. They are all singing different songs on the album. Sound weird? A bit, but only if you don't already know a bit about Tori. The Posse together make one whole woman.

On Tori's website (in the Bio section), the Posse are listed together with the Greek archetype that they draw from, because in ancient Greece all aspects of the feminine were considered divine and had incarnations within the Greek pantheon. For example, Clyde draws from Persephone.

If you want to know more about what Tori is doing and what this all means, check out her website.

So far, after just one listen, the songs that I instantly love turn out to all be Clyde's songs. Some of the other songs will require a few more listens, but that's okay.

Really can't wait to see this album played live! Can't wait to see Tori at any rate! I hope she does a Piano Bar thing again!

For those of you who don't know what the Piano Bar is, it's something she has done on previous tours. You can send in requests for cover versions that you would like her to play, and every night she picks a couple. It may or may not be the same concert you end up going to, but it's still a very cool idea I think. I already have a song in mind....it's a U2 song of course....am not going to say which one it is though.....hehehehe. In fact, she has already played a U2 cover once - a brilliant version of 'Running To Stand Still'.

I think she is a very strong singer, both with regards to voice and material. I'm not saying that I understand what her songs are about, not by a long shot, but they are just so darn catchy. They tend to stay in my head even if I have no idea what they mean (at least not on a conscious level). Like, right now, I have 'Playboy Mommy' on constant repeat in my head. Last week it was 'Spark'.

Some of them are straightforward enough ('Yo George' springs to mind). Most of them are not. I like that though - you have to work a little bit to get it, do a bit of homework. Also, it means her albums make for interesting listening for years to come - I know most of the album 'Scarlet's Walk' off by heart by now, but I'm still no closer to the heart of some of the songs. That was my first Tori album (thanks Elisa, for introducing me to Tori by playing the gorgeous 'A Sorta Fairytale' from this album. I've just ordered 'To Venus & Back' which will complete the album collection).

What I also like about her, is that she really has something to say if you care to listen. It's not just some bubblegum-pop-3 minute sweetness, it actually has a weight and a substance. She is rooted somewhere, she takes the time to grow the songs, to research her subjects, tap into the spirit and channel it, whatever it is, and I love that.

So, you can listen to Tori purely for her gorgeous voice and infectious grooves, or you can dig into the world in and behind the music. Either way, it's definitely worth it...

English - Currently listening

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

Great album - this week I've had a selection of songs from it constantly playing in my head.

A friend put me onto her Scarlet's Walk album (which is fantastic), and another friend gave me his copy of Little Earthquakes a while back, but I'm only now listening to it, and finding another gem :)

English - Belated Bruuuuuce

This is a fairly delayed post, as its topic is the Bruce Springsteen concert in The Point Depot on 5 May. Fantastic stuff!

The live gig has the same energy as the record itself (We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions), and there is a definite party vibe going on. Bruce is in fine form, and they play 11 out of the 13 songs on the album, getting some great audience participation along the way, which I think is fairly impressive, given that the album was only released a short month before the gig!

I knew next to none of the few other pure Bruce songs they play, but that's because I'm a newbie, and that is being remedied, hehe. I knew the titles though from reading the website and looking af track listings and stuff. Really liked the version of Adam Raised A Cain that they played.

All in all, great concert! My conclusion is that Bruce will be one of those people I won't care too much about ticket prices for, same as U2. Because it's always worth every penny and more :)