The weekend gigs - enjoying music during the time of Covid

In this time of Covid-19 music is what i miss and what gets me through the restrictions and disruptions to the life that we once knew. The fact that musicians and venues are hit by the virus is something that to me makes keeping connected to music important.

Music is a shared, mutual experience where a musician shares their work with an audience through some means of communication - live, product, radio, streaming. There is something about live music that is special. Sharing that room whatever its size with an audience, pleasing fans, winning new converts building a rapport, a feeling a shared experience. Bringing recorded music to life and the reaction of the crowd large or small. That reaction can be enthusiastic, ecstatic, polite, joyous by degrees and creates a mood in the room which can't be found through other channels.

The abrupt stopping of live music last year left me with tickets that would never be used. Most have been refunded or held against rescheduled gigs that I expect will be rescheduled again. such is gig life (or life itself) during the time of Covid.

I've made my peace to some extent with the closedown and have sought to use what's left to connect with music. Livestreaming of gigs has to some extent filled the gap. At first, I tried to join as much as I could and to be honest found it too much. I realised after a bit that there was always choice in the old gig world - will I go to that gig? How much are the tickets? What else have I got on that night? I simply had to apply that measure and be aware that trying to join livestreams in other time-zones was unsustainable - I did have a life after all. I’ll write again about specific livestreams I've joined over the past year in a future post but to close off this one I want to use my musical journey of this particular weekend as an example of this new world.

On Friday night I had a paid for gig - a livestream from Lafayette in London by the Staves to launch their new album 'Good Woman'. I long been a fan of them and their harmonies, but it had been a long time since I'd seen them live - almost 5 years to the day since they played Edinburgh's Queen's Hall. They played with a full band and it was wonderful to see them 'live' again. Due to the lack of audience in the venue they used the whole space by leaving the stage and performing in the snug and bar for some quieter acoustic numbers. Unlike some of the other livestreams I've 'attended' for new albums this was not a run through of the album. The Staves played key tracks from the new album interspersed with songs from across their back catalogue. They even indulged in a bit of chat between the songs. It was a great start to weekend. I put the lights down as the stage lights came on popped open a beer and enjoyed people making music.

I’d been aware that there was a clash with the Staves gig – Edinburgh based Pianodrome had a session with rising singer songwriter Magpie Blue on the same night. It was a free gig so I was able to catch up with her music the next morning via Pianodrome on YouTube. The music worked well in the quietness of Saturday morning creating a reflective mood for the start of the day.

In the evening I had marked on my calendar the tv premiere of King Rocker a film about Robert Lloyd and the Nightingales by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. Not a live gig or a livestream gig I’ll give you but the live tie in is as follows! I have a journalist friend Neil Cooper who a few years back was posting about them on social media and the name vaguely rang a bell. The Nightingales are a band I continually feel I should have been more aware of back in the day. They were championed by John Peel and were contemporaries of bands I love like the Fall and Vic Godard & the Subway Sect but somehow, I had missed them. Neil’s enthusiasm was infectious however and got a ticket was purchased to see them at local venue Leith Depot. What a gig! Packed, loud, incedible band, crazy dancing. I was hooked – why had I not discovered them before? Never mind though I had found them at last. The film followed the path of Robert Lloyd’s creative trajectory from its origins in the band the Prefects through to the present day which has seen regular albums and a committed band. There was a lot of humour and I found even more evidence that I should have been a fan a long time ago. I’ll give you no spoilers just urge you to see it and discover the route though music of a singular creative talent. The parallel story of the King Kong statue by British Pop Artist Nicholas Monro which was originally sited in the Birmingham hometown of Lloyd and Lee and at one point bizarrely found a home for a time at the Ingilston Market in Edinburgh before stories of its demise were confounded and it now stands proud near Penrith. A metaphor.

After I’d finished watching King Rocker I discovered that I’d missed a live stream from Bryde broadcast by the Queens Hall Narberth. A big fan of Sarah Howells since she was in Paper Aeroplanes, I’d seen Bryde three times before actually live in Sneaky Pete’s and Henry’s Cellar Bar. Again, I caught up via YouTube in the morning. It was good to watch her play solo with electric guitar and hear those taut dynamic songs yearning for a live audience. I was there belatedly but thanks to the Queens Hall Narberth and YouTube I was able to connect virtually and hope for the real live experience...soon.

How long will this go on? Vaccine and Covid suppression will answer that but despite the ability to drop in on these gigs and this music I yearn for the excitement of the live gig. The feeling I remember when after a few years of no live gigs I found myself at a Martha Wainwright gig in a small venue and thought I like this; I really like this.

#staysafe #livemusic #keeponrocking

 

As the Storm Broke: the gigs of early 2020 before Covid-19 shut down live music

Reflections on the live music that brought in 2020. Before the music stopped. These gigs took place between January 15th and March 1st 2020.

 

As 2020 started my gig going was mapped out through to the summer. Tickets were booked for a series of gigs by artists I hadn't seen before. Some thought was being given to going to a festival with costs being weighed up against the roster of artists performing. Then it all stopped, quite abruptly. Coronavirus was known and its potential to shut things down was known and being trailed. 

These are the performers I saw live before the lockdown and the end of live music as we knew it.

Native Harrow

A welcome return from Native Harrow the collective name of Devin Tuel and Stephen Harms whose music causes me to use the word mesmerising to describe it because it simply is. I'd seen them before in a badly suited venue where they'd soldiered on while the audience dwindled and the casual drinkers wondered why the football was not on the screens. I'd stayed to the end of that gig out of solidarity but was too embarrassed for them to stay and chat afterwards. I did pen a review and hoped they'd be back soon.

And they were. This time they were in the more appropriate surroundings of the Voodoo Rooms and played a wonderful set of songs drawn from their breakthrough album 'Happier Now' and the at that point unreleased follow-up 'Closeness'. I stayed and spoke to them thanking them for coming back so soon and sharing a joke about the previous gig. It was a great start to the gig year and I left full of hope for a great year of live gigs.

https://www.nativeharrow.com/

https://nativeharrow.bandcamp.com/album/closeness 

KT Tunstell

What a night! Part of the 'Burns and Beyond' festival where attendees ticket allows them access to various venues across Edinburgh for a night of music and poetry celebrating Robert Burns. I decided to stay at the assembly Rooms for the evening and catch 4 sets from KT Tunstell and band. It was worth it. Yes I heard some songs several times though thanks to some skillful rearrangements I was well entertained and got the jokes.

KT's all woman band played at full pelt throughout never lacking for energy. KT herself respendent in tartan encouraged the ever-changing crowd to join in. This was a party and eveyone was invited. As I said at the start what a night! 

Postscipt: I came down with a flu-like illness following the gig hich saw me take most of the week off and I slept mostly. A precurser for the Covid-19 pandemic to come? 

Ginger Cowgirl

I'd spotted the name Ginger Cowgirl on the listings of upcoming gigs at local bar the Leith Depot and was intrigued. Quick research revealed that Ginger Cowgirl was the stage persona of Stacy Antonel a young appropriately flame haired American singer/songwriter with a liking for honky-tonk music. I was in!

Touring alone she was backed on some songs by members of the support acts for the night and performed a set centred on the country honky-tonk styles of her eponymous e.p. On the song '6 weeks in Nashville' you could almost smell the bourbon (it possible did help that she was performing in a bar in Leith). There was an infectiousness about the performance as she drew the audience into the songs. The songs had swing to them that showed that she'd absorbed the various styles that make up country music - swing, country blues, honk-tonk vis Bakersfield and more besides. This is a talented songwriter with surely more to come.

https://gingercowgirl.com/epk

https://gingercowgirl.bandcamp.com/album/ginger-cowgirl 

Ira Wolf/Izaac Opatz  

This was a first for me - an actual house concert. One of my newfound gig buddies Kendall had invited me and so a weekday journey to Stirling was undertaken. Ira Wolf is a singer/songwriter I'd found online and loved but didn't think I'd get the chance to see but here she was along with Izaac Opatz who again I'd found online (thanks to the random choices of Spotify).  

By its very nature this was an intimate gig audience and performers mixing beforehand like any house party, getting to know one another, laughing, exchanging anecdotes. 

To hear Ira and Izaac's songs so stripped back just voice and guitar was an experience I'll not forget quickly. Ira has a lonesome sound all of her own that no doubt comes from her solo touring round the states like a restless troubadour - another town, another audience, another set of songs, new acquaintances, thank you and goodbye see you later. 

Izaac Opatz songs are a mix of wry observations of life and the things that happen that induce a smile and the occasional nod of recognition of some insight.

The two worked well together and the night was a good one with some other gig buddies there to chat to before the drive home. 

Badge news: Ira wore an enamel badge that bore the legend 'Listen to Townes Van Zandt'. Good advice. She also had her own badges that say 'Ira Wolf made me cry'. True.

http://irawolfmusic.com/ 

https://irawolf.bandcamp.com/ 

https://www.izaakopatz.com/

https://izaakopatz.bandcamp.com/merch 

My Glass World

This gig was the surprise in my early year gig schedule. In fact it wasn't scheduled at all. I got a text from a neighbour as I was returning home from a day in Fife saying he had a spare ticket and was I interested. To be honest I had to look up the band and was intrigued. The leader had played with various bands and other members had been in a variety of groups. It was Sunday night and it as the Voodoo Rooms (a certain symmetry there) so why not.

As we travelled to venue we talked about Covid 19 restrictions and the possible threat to gigs not really knowing that this gig was likely to be our last of the year.

My Glass World are lead by Jamie Telford (who my neighbour knew from University days). Jamie is a musician who has had a varied musical career that includes playing on hits by the Jam among others which would explain the quality of a band that also includes Sean Read who's worked with Beth Orton, Edwyn Collins and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

This was sophisticated music that showed flashes of influence from across the decades but was and is its own sound and song writing. It said to me this is what live music should and can be - something you've not heard before played well with life and exuberance matched with lyrics that both amuse and make you think, played by a band steeped in music playing their tunes their way.

As my last live music event of 2020 this was an unexpected delight. 

https://www.facebook.com/MyGlassWorlds/ 

Spotify 

Where now? After the lockdown I joined the livestreams online at times finding it difficult to keep up with the various Facebook, YouTube and Instagram 'live' gigs. I started watching the pay to view gigs increasingly put on by many musicians but became choosy - I craved the event, entering a space with a group of musicians and sharing that space with them, the best of these gigs give you that albiet a strange distanced intimacy.

Laura Marling 'Live' at Union Chapel 6/6/2020

After the Covid-19 lockdown it seemed that playing live was out of the question for who knows how long. Artists took to Instagram and other platforms to 'live stream' from their homes, sofas, gardens, playing for tips via Venmo and PayPal.  
Laura Marling in partnership with the venue Union Chapel and event ticketing/streaming platform Dice proposed a live concert - Laura playing solo live at Union Chapel filmed in HD via multiple cameras and streamed live on the evening of 6 June 2020.

Laura Marling live at Union Chapel

It was with some anticipation and trepidation I joined the live stream. Expectation was high. I've seen Laura Marling play live many times and she never disappoints always seeming to effortlessly outdo the previous performance with ease.

As she opened this gig she was filmed, a singer with guitar and mic gazing at a stage set up for a concert. Was this the longing for the live concert denied her fans and a longing from the performer to mount that stage and perform for the assembled crowd. There was no crowd, no audience, just the beautiful empty space of Union Chapel and Laura singing and playing. After the opening song she did mount that stage and unseen by her the crowd gathered in homes across the country in ones and twos, maybe more to watch and listen to this most captivating of performers.

She sang her songs from this space, this room with precision and warmth never missing a beat and, perhaps in the absence of an audience, she did not speak between songs. An acknowledgement of the distance between her and the unseen audience who knows. Let the songs speak. And they did. Stripped of all but voice and acoustic guitar the songs she played from across her canon displayed her artistry beautifully.

The set was formed mainly from her new album 'Songs for our Daughter' (released early in digital format as a thank you to fans who'd bought tickets for her cancelled tour) and songs from 'Once I was an Eagle' it also included 'Tap at my window' from her first album and personal favourites of mine 'Goodbye England (covered in snow)' and 'Rambling Man'. There was a song I didn't recognise 'Daisy'. She finished the set with 'Once'. And that was that. Laura Marling does not do encores. Thank you and goodnight.

Before the stream closed I was able to 'rewind' and re-watch some of the show. It was perfect and that's not just me reacting to not being at a gig for months and this being closer to a gig that the intimate bedroom live streams I've watched since lockdown. The sound, the setting, that feeling of being in a room with a performer, the performance all were perfect. There wasn't the sense of audience. Though when I went onto twitter and Instagram I found others watching and enthusing. Plus point I didn't have to put up with folk around me talking through the songs about their holidays what they were going to next (to talk through). I clapped quietly between the songs alone.

If this is the way most of us will be able to experience a 'live' performance then Laura Marling and Union Chapel have set the bar high. A satisfying night.

FIN

They also played.....2019

During my gig-life of 2019 there are many other bands and singer-songwriters who I caught during the year but for reasons of time I haven't written about. My partial silence (there are often brif reactions on twitter @leithnotes) doesn't mean that they failed to leave a mark, just that I didn't find the time to jot down my impressions. And impressions they all made. I thank them here for their music and the colour, light and shade they brought to my year in music.

Amber Cross
Sneaky Pete's

When I first heard Amber's voice the directness of her delivery struck me and the ensuing songs that pulled me in were compelling. I thought, then, that I'd be lucky to see her live. I thought her audience too small to pull her across the Atlantic Ocean and these shores.
I was surprised and excited when news reached me of a UK tour with an Edinburgh date. She did not disappoint.
Performing as a duo with husband James on second guitar and harmonies her music was stark and affecting in its sincerity. These are songs of directness and deeply wrought from her life and experience.  Take 'Savage on the Downhill' a song about hunting as it turns out uses lyricism that transcends the subject the matter or 'Echoes' a song about the stresses of maintaining a relationship while raising a family and making a living (this one moved me to tears). These are honest songs from an honest and unvarnished performer and all the better for that.

https://www.ambercrossmusic.com/music

Kristin Hersh
Summerhall

Way back in the early 1990s I caught Kristin's band Throwing Muses when they played Edinburgh's Calton Studios. I got a review printed in the TLN (Tennents Live News) music magazine. I caught her again a few years later when she toured her first solo album 'Hips and Makers'. She's one of those singers whose voice and songs captivate mesmerise and pull you in. To be fair I'd not been pulled in for a long time.
A packed Summerhall awaited her return and I wondered if after all this time she'd still have the power to pull me in. She made it seem effortless. My twitter review - Two words fierce and mesmerising. It stands.

https://www.kristinhersh.com/

Her Crooked Heart

Leith Depot 

What kind of wonderful is this? Not just the fabulous Rachel Ries in concert but an incredible band of women all of whom are worth more attention. 

Rachel Ries is one of those wonderful singer songwriters who defies genres. Think a small-town American take on Kate Bush crossed with Mary Margaret O'Hara. Moments of musical and lyrical magic tumble across the room and stretch beyond the venue. On her own Rachel would be outstanding but in this ensemble setting with these musicians her songs become wonderfully layered explorations of life and the heart that reach a higher place and the whole becomes something that is very, very special.

I felt humbled to be part of the audience at this show and to experience this wonderful evening. 

https://www.hercrookedheart.com/

Also check out the band,

Siri Undlin: Humbird http://www.humbirdmusic.com/new-page

Addie Strei: Adelyn Rose https://adelynrose.bandcamp.com/

Hilary James: Bathroom Cig https://www.facebook.com/bathtubcig/

If you like all that check out,

Fiji-13 https://fiji-13.bandcamp.com/

Inside Voice https://www.facebook.com/insidevoicebandmpls/

We are the willows http://www.wearethewillows.com/bio

Anais Mitchell

The Queens Hall

My third Anais Mitchell experience and one that spoke of the journey she's been on since I first saw her at the Pleasance a few years back. Since then she's started a family and had incredible but extremely well deserved success with Hadestown her song cycle based on the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice now a successful stage show. 

It's an intimate performance tonight which covers a range of her songs including the stand out songs from 'Young Man in America' her examination of the history of modern America through the life of her father. Also included tonight is a song from her 'Bonny Light Horseman' project a super group of sorts that will be performing at Celtic Connections.   

https://www.anaismitchell.com/

Orange Claw Hammer 
Henry's Cellar Bar

The Captain Beefheart fans will have spotted the name of this band as a Beefheart song title. OCH are a band who maintain that they are not a cover band but a band that interprets the music of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.
And interpret it they do in the most powerful way weaving jazz, blues and other influences into a whole that is uplifting, powerful and quite incredible.
Now regulars during the Fringe Festival when they regularly play sold out gigs they can also be caught playing at the Click Clack club which frontman Steve Kettley hosts. Catch these zig-zag wanderers and be amazed.

https://www.orangeclawhammer.net/

The Howl and the Hum supported by Naomi Munn
Pianodrome at Leith Theatre

Some gigs just appear and are special and this was one of them. To be fair I have to ask my daughter Naomi for this one. She's ben writing and performing her own music for the past few years and out of the blue sent me a text saying she'd been offered a support slot for The Howl and the Hum at Leith Theatre as part of the Pianodrome installation.
Set in the middle of the theatre Pianodrome creates an intimate and unique setting for a performance in the round with seating created from old pianos.
Naomi commanded the space for her set of originals of voice and guitar and gained the audience's attention effortlessly building a rapport with the audience. An emerging talent even from my obviously slightly biased perspective.

The Howl and the Hum are a young band on the cusp of breaking through. They have all the components including strong and distinctive lead vocals and a group of songs that suggest that this is only the beginning for them and there is much more to come. My advice is catch them now to experience the raw intimacy of their performance as I think they'll be moving up to bigger venues soon. This was stripped back set minus the drummer which gave them an acoustic sound that matched the venue.

Thanks to Edinburgh Music Lovers  for curating and promoting this gig and to both Pianodrome and Leith Theatre for providing the setting and venue.

Naomi Munn https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PhYCEcCArdZ6ErqURnwiC?si=LeUPUWx9SnKC-0rypdnsMw
The Howl and the Hum https://www.thehowlandthehum.com/about
Pianodrome https://pianodrome.org/
Leith Theatre https://www.leiththeatretrust.org/

Andrew Combs
Pleasance Bar

This guy is something special - a singer songwriter with a sound that recalls the Laurel canyon countrypolitan sounds of the 70s and updates that lyrically creating a feel that is weirdly contemporary.
This is my second time seeing him and like the first time I am blown away by how effortless he makes it sound and just how good these songs are live. Playing with a full band (stuck on a stage the size of a proverbial postage stamp) he brings to life his recent 'Ideal Man' album and throws in a smattering of the best from his previous albums. The crowd lap it up. while it's great to see him in such an intimate venue I can't help but feel he should be commanding larger stages. Have a listen and spread the word.

Shout out too to Kirby Brown for providing a lovely support set and some very witty between song guitar tuning chat. Look out for him in the future - http://www.kirbybrownmusic.com/home

https://www.andrewcombsmusic.com/

Vetiver
Sneaky Pete's 

This was to be my last gig of the year and was one of exceptional beauty. Vetiver are a band but tonight and for this tour it was a solo show by band leader Andy Cabic.
In the intimate surroundings of Sneaky Pete's the songs of Vetiver enveloped the audience in a hypnotic lyricism. In a nod to this being an Edinburgh date Andy snuck in an Incredible String Band cover.
And with that the curtain came down on my live music odyssey of 2019.

http://www.vetiverse.com/

Jess Morgan - Brig Below, Leith

When, as a fan, you somehow find yourself back listening to a voice that you immersed yourself in a few years ago but has been crowded out since by new voices the sensation of rediscovery can be a wonderful experience.
Needless to say that was my experience catching Jess Morgan live after a gap of three years. When I saw her live at Leith Folk Club then the honesty of her songs captivated and her music was a regular soundtrack around my house, particularly the albums 'Langa Langa' and 'Edison Gloriette'.
This new encounter with her music sees her presenting a selection of songs through the flow of  autobiographical story-telling which was engaging, humorous and poignant. The travails and travels of a creative soul finding her way in the world at times succeeding, other times facing the compromises of others and finding a way through them to a better place with a fuller sense of who she is as a songwriter and a human being.
What struck me is how much Jess's songs have stayed with me over the years and how the newer songs from 'Everything I did last year'  a collection of singles from the past year or so had stuck with me. There was not a song that did not affect me or that didn't feel like an old friend.
I love the magic of music. That way that I can't entirely tell why I like a song and singer or the sound they make. Is it the tune, the melody, the construction, the words and how they fit together to tell a story or create an impression, is it the voice and what it sounds like, bringing warmth and meaning to the words, is it the instrumentation and how that adds colour and shading to the poetry? I n a live setting is it also the human being who is sharing their feelings and stories with the audience. In truth it is all of these things.
Thank you Jess for sharing your story with the room at Brig Below. It was a joy to hear you again.

 http://www.jessmorgan.co.uk/

Ferris & Sylvester live in Edinburgh

Ferris & Sylvester at the Mash House

Sometimes it's good to have your expectations confounded. yes it can be a surprise. Yes it can catch you off guard and confuse you. But sometimes if those upturning your expectations do so with a verve and charm that is sincere that confusion is overcome.

I had this experience going to see Ferris & Sylvester. Expecting an evening of gentle folk with a dash of rockabilly swagger I was confounded. I got the swagger in spades but was not expecting the joyous straight ahead blues drenched rock that they presented the audience with.

My familiarity with the band came from their arresting debut ep 'Made in Streatham' but somewhere after that they've obviously been on a musical journey that has brought them to the muscular blues rock that sees Issy Ferris throwing classic rock chops with her red bass and showing some strong rock vocals. Archie Sylvester matches her with his blues shredding. I'd be tempted to shout 'Judas' but that would spoil the party.

They showcased songs from their forthcoming album and showed clear evidence of a summer of festivals in the audience participation stakes. Those festival appearances, though, have seen them grow and develop not just a rapport with the audience and an ability to take those folk with them on the journey.

It was, for me, an unexpected sound and evening but one where I just had to admire their chutzpah and boldness of delivery. I'm think this is a band we'll be hearing quite a lot more from soon.

https://www.ferrisandsylvester.com/