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!

New York trip, 4 Oct - 11 Oct 2006 Part II

On Saturday we set off along the Hudson River, heading north. The trees, which had been mainly green coming out of New York, gradually turned into the loveliest fall shades of amber, gold, copper and bronze, the further north we went. We stopped at Vanderbilt's mansion, which overlooks the river, to enjoy the gorgeous views:

But the best was still to come, when we arrived in Saugerties on the Hudson River - our B & B was this absolutely fantastic cottage, set near the amazingly gorgeous Esopus Creek. Thomas and I took I-don't-know how many pictures when we arrived, in the last half hour of daylight:

And again the next morning in the glorious dawn:

The proprietors' son lived on the premises in a little apartment off the kitchen area, and he prepared the most spectacular breakfast the next morning:

A bit hard to stir after that, I must say, but we had to, because we were leaving to go driving around the area for a while before heading back to New York City. I can heartily recommend staying here - the location is great, the proprietors are really friendly, and the house itself is well equipped and very nice.

Anyway, we headed off into the glorious day - first stop was the Saugerties Lighthouse. You have to walk a mile or two to get there, through wooded marsh landscape, with gorgeous views of the Hudson and surrounding landscapes on each side - it's like a little peninsula jutting into the river. The Lighthouse itself is now a B & B, and I'd say it would be pretty cool to stay there, but expensive too. I would prefer Esopus Creek though :)

After that we went off into the wild, and took a couple of wrong turns getting further into the Catskill Mountains. We ended up in this tiny village at a diminutive post office and got out to stretch our legs. A woman drove up with her friend on a golfcart-like vehicle and asked us if we were planning to rob the post office? Very very funny!

The region was very beautiful, all addressed in autumn frocks - we found the place below by chance, simply following a sign on a whim, and as you can see, it paid off. Lake Onteora was fantastic!

All in all a really great weekend! Now, back to the city.....

Monday morning, the Columbus Day parade is coming up and we're in Bryant Park near the New York Public Library with a coffee. *Aaah* Nice! I can't really remember exactly what we did that day, but I know it involved walking. I do remember where we spent the evening though - on top of the Empire State Building. Fair play to mum who is afraid of heights, for getting up there! She said afterwards that she wouldn't have missed it and it really was spectacular.

We arrived on the 86nd floor platform as the sun was slowly descending over New Jersey and we stayed until it was fully dark. Seeing the lights of New York come out was a breathtaking experience and we didn't really get tired of looking at them, especially the Chrysler Building, probably my favorite New York landmark (not in the picture, which is of lower Manhattan, with Brooklyn to the left and New Jersey to the right. You can also see the Statue Of Liberty in the distance).

The next day, our last full day, we went for a boat cruise around Manhattan. That is to say, we had to double back and couldn't do the full circle because of tidal issues. It was a really cool trip anyway though, under many bridges, and a wee detour to say hello to Lady Liberty:

We ended the day with a relatively brief visit to Central Park (which is enormous), before heading off to our last dinner together.

*sigh* What a week!

Now, in my next post, I promise I'll get back to finishing the report on the Barcelona trip......

New York trip, 4 Oct - 11 Oct 2006 - something else I did while blog was hibernating

My sis and her beau stayed in New York for six months last year, as part of an exchange program between her Danish company and an American firm. The rest of the posse took that as an excuse to cross the pond for a visit, which we (mum, dad, bro and me) did in October 2006.

We arrived on a Wednesday and had planned to rent a car for the weekend to go north into the Catskills for some lovely fall foliage sightseeing. All in all, we had a fantastic week, but I have never walked so much in my life. Worth every step, though.

New York is an amazing place to be, because it's so incredibly huge, and every time you turn a corner, there's an awesome building or landmark you've probably seen a dozen times in movies or on TV. I couldn't live there, because it's too big and I would feel like an ant in an enormous colony, without face or name, but I definitely did enjoy this visit. I think each day held its own set of incredible experiences for us, as well as just plain old good times with the family, without entering even one museum! The weather overall was just too nice, you had to be outdoors - the walk across Brooklyn Bridge, the sunset from Empire State, the harbour cruise and the upstate weekend trip - simply amazing.

Mona & Thomas had a wee small (and I mean that very literally) flat in Brooklyn, where Anders and I would be sleeping - mum and dad were in a B & B up the road. The week in brief looked like this:

Wednesday: Arrival and wee look at Brooklyn
Thursday: Walking tour with Thomas: Canal Street, Five Points, Chinatown, South Street, Little Italy, SoHo, Greenwich Village.
Friday: Walking to Manhattan over Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Financial District, Battery Park
Saturday: Driving north along the Hudson River. Vanderbilt's Mansion. Staying in Saugerties on the Hudson
Sunday: Saugerties Lighthouse, driving into the Catskills. Lake Onteora, Bear Mountain, Mid-Hudson Bridge. Back to New York City.
Monday: Bryant Park, Grand Central Station/Chrysler Building, Fifth Avenue, going up Empire State Building to catch the sunset
Tuesday: Harbour Cruise around Manhattan incl. visit to the Statue Of Liberty. Central Park incl. Bethesda Terrace
Wednesday: Going home :(

The walking tour of Lower Manhattan on Thursday was amazing. Especially because of the route we took, the contrasts were very clear between the various 'hoods. Thomas was a great guide, having spent his fair share tramping the streets of Manhattan for the previous 4 months :) I quickly fell in love with the subway stations because of the various mosaics used to decorate the walls at the tracks - the Canal Street ones were instant favorites, also because they were cleaner than in some of the other places.On our way through Chinatown, we went down to the East River at a point between Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, majestic constructions that
they are. The latter much more so than the former, but I absolutely loved the blue hue of Manhattan Bridge: In Greenwich Village we turned back, so we could meet Mona after work in Madison Square Park. The below picture is from Greenwich Village:

Friday Mona was off work, and therefore able to accompany us on one of the many highlights of the week - the walk across Brooklyn Bridge:

Sadly, it was the only day we had semi-bad weather, although it did remain restricted to only a few drops of rain but many clouds. The other days were lovely and sunny. Then again, Brooklyn Bridge doesn't really need the sun to shine on it to be impressive, the way a landscape might do. It is an awesome structure and a very lovely walk too. It's quite a thrill watching Manhattan come closer and closer, and at the same time enjoying the views of Empire State Building and the Statue Of Liberty.

Once on Manhattan, we visited Ground Zero, after having strolled past City Hall. The small Winter Garden building, which borders Ground Zero, is a lovely place, and we sat down here inside on the steps for a bit and some of us even went shopping (it's a small mall):

Get the rest of the story in Part II.....

Barcelona Trip, 16-20 May - Part IV

..in which Eskild and Polpo go sightseeing...again.

I've forgotten to introduce the two little 'pets' that we had with us. Mona has a cute little teddy that she brings along on her travels- he is called Eskild. (This is a Danish name, and the 'd' is silent, when you say it).

Polpo is Spanish and means 'octopus' and that's what he is. I made him for little Isabella (who would be going to the wedding as well), because the first octopus she got was stuffed with cotton wool, which meant you couldn't wash him. So I made her a new one with washable stuffing. Yay!

Anyway, here they are in our hostel, looking forward to their Spanish adventure:

On Friday morning, after the sangria the night before, did we drag ourselves out of bed as planned, or did we stay in bed? We got up and were ready at the entrance of Casa Batlló at five past nine. Not bad, huh! Well....it was just around the corner....

I am glad we saved this for last. It was chockfull of whimsical details and breathtaking beauty. Gaudí can make wood and stone flow like water, it's really amazing. I'm not sure how I would feel if I actually lived in Casa Batlló, but I will recommend it to anyone who goes to Barcelona as an absolute must-see. There are simply no straight lines anywhere - check out this picture from the living room:

I have no words......

It's relatively expensive to go and see this (16.50 euro, I think), but it's worth every cent if you ask me. The following pictures are from the roof, which are full of colourful mosaic chimneys. Also, the front top of the roof is shaped like a great dragon, which of course is right up my street, and the tower with the white cross on top is just lovely.

Eskild and Polpo were not the least bit afraid of the dragon, and had the audacity to sit in its eye:

I guess it helped that they had already made friends with a big turtle at La Sagrada Familia. Some of the pillars of the Nativity Facade (I saw two, but am not sure if there are any more) rest on the backs of turtles (well, one turtle and one tortoise, to be absolutely exact). This refers to an old legend that the universe is actually carried around on the back of a turtle.

For those of you that know Terry Pratchett and the Discworld - that's where he got the idea (not La Sagrada Familia, but the old legend). He just modified it a bit, in that the Discworld rests on the back of four elephants, but the elephants are carried on the back of a great Turtle.

So here are Eskild and Polpo and the turtle at La Sagrada Familia:

Stay tuned for Part V, in which we say goodbye to Mona, who has to go back to Denmark, but hello to Yolanda and the merry revels in the mountains in Montseny.....