Last week was a busy week for gigs - three in five days.
It started on the Sunday with a visit to Theatreship, an excellent little bar and venue on a converted small cargo ship in Canary Wharf. I first went there last year to see Angeline Morrison and was very taken with the place.
The line-up on Sunday was Beth Jones (below), Binti Red and Albertine. They were all perfectly pleasant but I don't think any of them will live long in the memory.
The same can't be said for the artist we went to see on Wednesday, the mighty Ms Suzi Quatro at the London Palladium.
As a close personal friend of Suzi I had been expecting an invitation to the VIP area but it must have got lost in the post so we were way up in the Grand Circle. Or at least I was for the first set. In contrast to the comfy former cinema seats at the Theatreship there is no legroom at all for anyone above about 5 foot 8, and by the interval I was in physical pain. So for the second set I stood at the back of the Royal Circle, one level down, where I could leap around to my heart's (and legs') content.
As for the show itself, Suzi was magnificent. Two sets of over an hour each, her voice was sounding as good as ever at 75 and she had loads of chunky basslines and a fine band behind her. We got treated to all the hits and more including an unexpected (and unexpectedly good) cover of Neil's "Rockin' In The Free World". All in all a great night.
After a brief trip home to change my socks it was off to the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston - a venue that gets mentioned here on as regular basis -to see Umut Adan & Zebânis on Thursday night.
Umut is a Turkish singer-songwriter who was heavily influenced by the psychedelic Anatolian rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s (the likes of Erkin Koray and Cem Karaca). Now based in Italy he teamed up with the Turin trio Zebânis to record the "Başka Bahar" album which came out in March. Overall I enjoyed the gig but it was a bit of an odd one.
The first half of the set was fairly straightforward heads down Anatolian boogie. Umut then left the stage for a bit while the Italian lads indulged in overlong glitchy noise experiments I could have managed without.
When he returned Umut told us that "danceable dissent" was his thing and then proceeded to play a series of numbers that were pretty much impossible to dance to, starting with one that sounded like a highlife guitarist attempting to escape from a cement mixer.
That was followed by one that had five distinct parts. According to the note I scribbled on the bus home they were: "Back Of My Hand" by The Jags; Husker Du play "La Bamba"; Steve Hillage on mogadon; feedback; and a lively Turkish jig. Even the woman next to me who until then had been frugging like a frantic ostrich struggled with that lot.
On Friday I went for a lie down.
For the music we have what appears to be Beth Jones' only recording to date, on a compilation from the Slow Dance label that just came out in March, another unexpected cover from Suzi and two tracks from Umut - one from the new album and one from "Bahar" from 2019.
Gosh, you've been busy. Impressed that Suzi is still doing her thing so successfully at 75 - well done her. Shame your VIP invite got lost in the post.
Gosh, you've been busy. Impressed that Suzi is still doing her thing so successfully at 75 - well done her. Shame your VIP invite got lost in the post.
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