Planet Rock, Judas Priest, Thunder and Childline/NSPCC

Everytime I try and write something nice, bad news seems to crop up and posts get binned regularly as I feel the need to either say something on events that have affected me or to say nothing as a mark of respect. Other times life just gets too busy and things slip or are forgotten about. This is a catch up post on several exciting things that have happened to me.
The first was a new car, it is a nice car, economical with many features I like including digital radio. That is something I never had much interest in until I got it. I then discovered "Planet Rock" radio and my life has actually changed as a result. I listen to more music and I've just started going to more gigs again. This started last year when I entered a competition to win tickets to see Judas Priest. I don't enter competitions but in this instance I just knew that I would win and sure enough I did (thank you Planet Rock for that!).
I took my youngest daughter and we saw the mighty Priest supported by Michael Schenker, a truly great guitarist with some fantastic songs, he is sadly underrated and seems to have been forgotten. he has such a beautiful touch on the guitar, his tone and his sense of melody are amazing, he needs to be rediscovered by everyone.

Michael Schenker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBmmJjsURD4

I'd not seen Judas Priest before, I have several of their albums and the last album "Redeemer of Souls" is brilliant, a real return to form, consistent and absolutely heavy metal. Judas Priest are an institution and I can't believe I've never seen them before and my daughter, after the gig, was incredulous that I'd never seen them before.
They are the epitome of heavy metal, walking the line between caricature and something far more primeval and dangerous. I loved the show, it was like being assaulted. Rob Halford has the most amazing voice, he hits insane high notes and he's no spring chicken but has managed to retain his voice and range. The Priest have a huge catalog to draw from and they did. My highlight was "Screaming for Vengenace" where my daughter adored "Turbo Lover".

Priest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiecuPjbnjU
           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV2WEJYZRuA

We are both sold on the Priest and will be seeing them again if we can.

I found out too late that Thunder were playing at the 100 Club on Oxford Street and by the time I looked, the tickets were well and truly sold out, disappearing in less than 10 minutes, bear in mind this band are playing Wembley next month.
Your question might be, "Who are Thunder?" and that is a question that goes back to the late '80's. They released an acclaimed album, "Back Street Symphony" and toured relentlessly. I was initially put off them by a band called Terraplane that I really didn't like and they later became Thunder. Now I tend to bear a prejudice so it is a testament to Thunder that their first album was a real killer with no filler and live they were incendiary. I saw them low down on a couple of festival bills and they blew the headliners off the stage (taking the scalps of Aerosmith, Whitesnake and ZZ Top at various times). They were not a band that a self respecting headliner would take out with them unless they were at the top of their game.
Now I'd not seen Thunder in a number of years but heard the lead track, "The Thing I Want" off their last album "Wonder Days" and loved it, here was another band of a certain age, hitting their stride again and as it turned out, they never really lost their stride, it was more that we became estranged from each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hD1kEfLN6M

Anyway, Planet Rock were offering a pair of tickets to the annual childline/NSPCC fundraiser that Thunder always do, to the sold out 100 Club gig, and yes, I won them! So last night I was at a sold out show for a select few 350 people to see a band that is headlining Wembley in a month!

Let me paint the picture, 5 older men came on stage, all short grey hair, the most unlikely looking rock stars you can imagine. The singer, Danny Bowes, was Dad dancing and bouncing constantly, a man in his element and he treated this like Wembley, the man is a born show off with a wicked sense of humour and did I mention the voice? No? Power a-plenty, bang in tune and an English voice cut from a similar cloth to maybe Paul Rogers, the blues rock voice that England does so well, he can lend himself to the big power ballad or the out and out rocker as well as cover versions. He is an amazing frontman, the complete package, a cheeky chappy with the voice you simply can't doubt. I can't find much footage from the 100 Club gig (yet) so here is some live footage from a few years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYGwpQPBUyE

A great song and a great voice and a full gig of killer songs like this can't fail and it didn't. This wasn't dangerous or rebellious or even a nostalgia trip, this was about having fun and raising some money for charity into the bargain. I laughed, sang and remembered what a great band they were and how great they are now. The years were stripped back as the night wore on, the songs were evergreen, the band was tight and the pressure was on the audience to deliver, yep, as bizarre as it sounds.

After the main set finished, the band had nowhere to go, so we were instructed to turn around and face the far wall and cheer as if the band weren't on stage, to simulate them being off stage. Yes it was a really funny moment, 350 people facing the other way while the band told us when they would be leaving the dressing room and when we could turn back. They were in brilliant form and the shame is that they simply got better throughout the night and come the final encore, they looked warmed up! I promise not to leave it anywhere near as long before I see them again and I will be buying the new DVD and filling in the blanks in my collection and thanks to Thunder I will setting up a standing order to childline/NSPCC today, I kept meaning to but they have given me the push to do it, every month counts.

And now Glenn Frey.

What is it with this year? Is this a big cull of superstars? I've never seen anything like it and now I hear that Glenn Frey has died. He co-wrote "Hotel California" that has to rank up there with "Stairway to Heaven" as one of the most heavily played rock songs ever and the guitar solos are sublime.
Planet Rock this morning said that one hell of a supergroup is forming in heaven and they're not wrong.
I like the Eagles, who didn't? Even the Sid Vicious liked the Eagles, "We are better than anyone, ain't we? Except for the Eagles, the Eagles are better than us,"
They were crossover before crossover was really accepted, taking the harmonies of Crosby, Stills and Nash, running it through a Country filter and creating those laidback, gentle classics and later, rocking it up, both ways worked for me.
This has always been one of my favourite Eagles tracks and I only just found out that Glenn Frey sang it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCoFc661GZU

A sad loss and I shall dig out some vinyl tonight and play some Eagles to remind myself how great they were.

It does appear as if a generation is disappearing and I suppose it is. They are all around the same age, which seems a little young to me but I guess we are witnessing the first generation of rock stars departing the stage. previously generations of teenagers listened to the music and wore the fashions of their parents but rock 'n' roll changed that. The Beatles changed that again and so rock 'n' roll became something else and the stars of that earlier generation died young such as Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent etc or they were forgotten. Only 1 star really survived the Beatles and that was Elvis. In the '60's the Who, the Stones, the Kinks, Hendrix, Mountain, Led Zep, the Doors, Janis Joplin, etc, moved music towards the rock we know and love today but so many of them died along the way, creating the "27 club" but some of the music and the bands were seminal. Often overlooked and forgotten is the Band, the group that helped create Americana and I can hear shades of that influence in the Eagles, a hidden depth that transforms a band into something mythical. Very quickly we appear to be losing them and it is a shock to us because these are the rebels of a previous age, the generation our parents or grandparents grew up with and they seem to have maintained their influence on music over the decades and may of them are undergoing a resurgence, coming back into fashion and producing some of the best music of their lives.

Glenn Frey was a superb songwriter and being part of a band meant that he possibly didn't get the credit he deserved but then the same goes for all the Eagles, they each bought something special to the mix and it is a shame that a large part of that is now gone. It is a pity that they came back together so briefly but I am glad that hell did freeze over because we were at least left with some great songs at the end of times.

Lumiere London 2016.

It seems wrong to move on after last week, particularly when everyone I know is affected by one or more of the recent celebrity deaths. Celebrity is such a demeaned term that is does seem wrong to use it when referring to Lemmy, Bowie and Alan Rickman, they were something more than the made up press creations that parades as celebrity in this day and age, but in keeping with this transient age, it is time to try and move on with the new week.

As if the death of Bowie and Rickman were that easy to shrug off, I dug out "Diamond Dogs" and "Changes" yesterday, before my trip. I spent time watching a video on Youtube where someone had put all the Snape appearances into chronological order and made a video that just showcased what a talent that man was.

Anyway, it was decided that we would take a trip to London to see the Lumiere exhibition. I had been warned that it would be busy but that didn't go anyway to preparing me for a busy London really looks like. It was heaving, a mass of people, families, children all parading down closed roads in a quest to view various light installations. Some were exceptional and some were baffling and others were just rubbish but it was so worthwhile to see. It was wonderful to see families walking the London streets together, on a quest.
My one complaint is that many of the exhibits are at ground and eye level and it means that it is impossible to see some of the exhibits. This is London, it needs to be over the head so all can see it. There was an old read telephone box with illuminated tropical fish but the crush of people around it meant that no one bar the people at the front could see it. It would have been nice to see some kindness to the children and allowing them to push to the front to see it.

Anyway, here are my favourites on my trek from Covent Garden to Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square to Westminster Abbey to Regent Street to Piccadilly  Circus to Oxford Street and finally Bond Street before walking back to Marylebone and still I missed the exhibits at St James' Park and Kings Cross, maybe next year.

Thank you to London for a great exhibition, I enjoyed myself and look forward to the next one, let's hope if becomes a regular fixture.

Alan Rickman: ...he will grow up in the minds of the children that watched him and they will pass this on to their children...

I am not sure what to say about this week, it's been awful. First Bowie and now Alan Rickman. My youngest daughter is in shock, she keeps saying that her childhood is dying and she's not wrong.

It all started with the death of Rik Mayall. One of her favourite films growing up was "Drop Dead Fred" and more recently he was amazing in "Man Down" but it was the film that she watched constantly from a baby to a child and beyond. There were more than a few tears when he died. Greg Davies said at the start of season 2 that he lost 2 Dad's in the same year, his real one and Rik Mayall.

Then Bowie and her words were "The Goblin King is dead." Again "Labyrinth" another firm favourite in our household and then she liked his music as well, "Rebel Rebel" being to song I played to death when both my girls were younger, but that film is incredible, Bowie was excellent and the use of Brian Froud characters was inspired.

Now Alan Rickman....Severus Snape is dead...Anouska was in floods of tears. We had just finished watching all 8 Harry Potter films over Christmas and the man was an amazing actor, turning Snape from light to dark constantly, always having you guessing if he was good or evil and the eventual reveal was heartbreaking, what a superb performance that just gets better with time.

He stole "Die Hard" with a truly villainous bad guy (possibly my second favourite bad guy after Rutger Hauer in "Blade Runner") and upstaged Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood"  and then there are the more well received dramatic performances that we all know and love. They had a chat with Juliet Stevenson, his co-star from "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and a very good friend of his, on Radio 4 last night. She spoke about how he always felt like her older brother and their shared history as they were both with the RSC at the same time and then was asked, "You saw him recently?" and she choked slightly and whispered, "Yesterday, I saw him yesterday." 

My children have never had to deal with the deaths of heroes until the last couple of years and my youngest is struggling with losing 3, and with 2 in such close succession, it has rocked her world. She lives for films and music and everything related to both of those are the most important things in her life. I understand that as I have my musical heroes and given my favourite genre of music, a number of my heroes have died and as we have just passed the 30th anniversary of the death of Phil Lynott, I remember the day he died and how I felt and it still cuts a little bit all these years later. 

It felt wrong not to pay some kind of tribute to Alan Rickman, he was part of a generation of English actors that are superb, they bridge theatre, film and television effortlessly and shine like diamonds in whatever they portray with life and energy and a passion.
It is nice to see the unbidden tributes that people offer, like the floral tributes at Kings Cross at platform 9 3/4, maybe that is the right way to mark his passing, a heartfelt salute to one of the heroes of childhood and that is a lovely thought, that he will grow up in the minds of the children that watched him and they will pass this on to their children in the same way that my children know my childhood heroes, albeit some for all the wrong reasons. At least my children are allowed to have their memories with genuine affection for the laughter, the thrills and good times and now the sadness, just the way it should be.

Noooo, not Bowie!!

There are some people (and bands) that you take for granted I guess it is an accepted fact that most people, for example, like Queen and the Beatles and David Bowie. These are things you don't speak about because it is just accepted although I did have a conversation with my Dad a couple of years ago and I suggested that Bowie was the greatest songwriter that Britain has ever produced.
My case is thus: he has consistently pushed the boundaries of music for 6 decades and his standards, whilst there have been moments that are less preferential than others, he has been a trailblazer. I didn't get his late '70's output till more recently and whilst I thought his success in the '80's was a sell out, he didn't like the commercial success either so maybe on some level we agreed. His '90's output produced the "Earthling" album and the single "Little Wonder" which I love to bits. I bought the single and the album at the time and still have that song on my phone.
People may argue that Lennon and McCartney were better but individually they were patchy at best, neither of them cutting their own way through music after the demise of the Beatles ("Band on the Run" was an exception). Led Zeppelin? Love them to bits but all gone by the '80's and were they as influential as Bowie? I guess that could be argued within a certain genre of music.
What about the songwriters, Elton John started off in the right way but was never an innovator and despite the immense success, he has an undeniable talent for hits but he doesn't push the boundaries of music and wasn't as influential.
There are many others that didn't make it as big but it was Bowie's grand picture that we watched, it was his vision and it was his art, a cinematic career of image and music, he was androgynous before it was popular, cheek bones cut like a supermodel and a natural "shining" that the camera loved and he knew exactly how to work it. The late '60's to early '70's with the acoustic and glam rock vision of Ziggy Stardust (kickstarting the career of Mott the Hoople with "All the Young Dudes"), then the stripping down of music and becoming the Thin White Duke and the Berlin years (kickstarting the career of Iggy Pop) and embracing the keyboard before the '80's. And then the "Under Pressure" single, the duet with Queen that reinvented them for the '80's and the spaceman vision before his commercial resurrection and in my view, despite the success, he was following rather than leading for the first time.

Many superstars we feel that we know, we either hear stories about what arses they are or how kind they are or they are animal lovers but I can freely admit that I in no way feel that I know Bowie in the slightest, he has spent his career as an enigma, as alien to the human race as the songs he sang and the roles he portrayed. He was obviously driven in his art and was a chameleon of the sort we have never seen before, drawing on his knowledge of the avante garde and the stars of the '30's and '40's to create images out of time and distant to us.

My favourite photograph of all time is a black and white shot of Bowie. I was eating in Pho on Wardour Street a year or so back and the building opposite displays various images of different people and one time they had a Bowie shot and it was a simple black and white but it was stunning, a great photographer with the perfect model creates its own magic. I've never seen it since but I must find it and when I do I will share it.
And what about the car crash performance with him and Bing Crosby and "the Little Drummer Boy"? Hilarious with a spaced out Bowie and Crosby wondering who the hell he was, cringe worthy to watch but the stuff of legends and essential Christmas viewing.

My daughter is only 17 but devastated, my wife loved his theatrics and the fact that he was the fore runner to everything in popular music that she adores and I remember putting on "Diamond Dogs" on my Dad's record player in the early '70's and loving "Rebel Rebel". I shed a tear this morning because he was something special, I never understood him but like all of us, I rode his coat tails and spent many moments mesmerized by something that was larger than life and sometimes frightening but always interesting

Anyway, here is David Bowie, truly one of a kind and I feel blessed to had him through all of my life till now. He helped create one hell of a soundtrack to my life that includes several of his songs and I will always be grateful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MAez6oC5F4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VLS-P9m0BM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT2oqEHwvUY