- Posted on May 11, 2008 4:00 PM
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So last friday saw Jonathan Richman hit London after an absense of god knows how long. Now I'd call my self a casual fan - not a huge one but into his big hits from his Berkeley days so went to gig expecting a bright and breezy evening of fun and uplifting Richman entertainment.
Whilst the performance was loads of fun - he's someone that you HAVE to see live - an entertainer quite like no other - man - those dance moves!!! - bit like the maccarena meets mad lizzy - certainly unique!
he started bang on time so we missed the first ten minutes and had to squeeze ourselves into a backed top level of the bush - Richman packs a crowd- London showed out in force for this one...
As the show went on it became clear he wouldnt be doing any of his hits - which was a shame.. but perhaps somes up the Richman state of mind these days...He belted out "lesbian bar" which went down well (with moves of course..) but the other slightly recognisable hits where covered in French or Spanish....odd..
The show seems to end before it really got going, think the audience got just over an hour but I guess they can be grateful for a begrudging encore - of which he did the song he had just sung again - hmf!!!
All in all great fun and an incredible entertainer - but come on - woudl giving the fans what they really wanted have been so tough?
- Posted on January 12, 2008 2:17 PM
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3 comments
Had the pleasure of seeing a real master of his craft. Chris Rock on his second date of his sold out UK tour. Unbelievable to think that someone of his stature hadnt toured in the UK before, but this was his first trip over the pond.
The Hammersmith apollo was a good choice of venue and it was packed, so packed people with circle seats chose to stand in the back of the stalls and get closer to the Rock.
We bailed on the support and entered a few minutes before he was due to come on. With little pomp he strolled on and then just started his routine...
He's an incredible talent and you get the feel that hes just telling jokes to a room full of his pals and he could have gone all night.
His subject matter was as you'd expect, politics, race, interacial relationships, sex, sports, the UK, the US, Bush etc - no one was safe!
He has a nack of timing and story telling thats probably un paralled and is one of the only comics that I'd make the effort and pay top money to see.
Standup comedy isnt really my thing, being sat next to people that laugh at EVERYTHING with no quality control filter can be annoying... and i must admit when it went past an hour i was ready to leave but i cant take anything away from the Rock - you should really take the chance to check him out whilst hes here.
An excellent show and a true all time great.
Go see Chris Rock today!
Fancy seeing Chris Rock on the continent - find cheap ferry tickets at ferrycheap.com
- Posted on January 8, 2008 12:36 PM
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Review by Bob Meijer
A Football match on new year’s day, now that’s a first for me. I was lucky enough to get some decent tickets to go and see Arsenal play West Ham United at the Emirates- the day after.. I was worried that the alcohol remained in my blood stream might cause a bit of glitch in getting there in time for kick-off but fortunately I was able to get up just in time for the rough journey on the (strangely quiet) tube to the Emirates.
It was such good timing, and my mate is a massive football nut from Amsterdam, and I hadn’t really had a chance to go and see an Arsenal match with him before. When I presented him with a ticket to go and see the best playing team in England on new year’s day, his hung-over face turned into what seemed a kid on Christmas Eve.
We arrived just in time for the kick-off, managed to get a drink (coke.. ugh) and sat down. Now these were seats, right in the middle of the pitch, so we had a perfect view on Cesc and Emmanuel, who were without a doubt the best ones on the pitch. Being Dutch as we are we were hoping for van Persie to make an appearance but we also knew was injured, we settled for these lot. And van Persie was hardly missed, to be fair, West Ham probably crossed the midfield three or four times, and were actually quite effective. Nevertheless the second minute goal by Eduardo depressed West Ham and Adebayor’s odd goal half way through the match blew all hopes.
We left 5 minutes before the end, as we’re used in the Amsterdam Arena, to beat traffic, but we weren’t the only ones. My mate had to catch his flight back to Amsterdam soon and I was home within 15 minutes, and he made his plane in time too.
Brilliant hung-over day at the Emirates, timing was perfect, we won and are back on top of the league. What a new year’s day!
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- Posted on January 2, 2008 2:41 PM
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Disney's High School Musical On Ice
O2 Arena
27th December 2007
Review by Joe Cohen
After reviewing Zeppelin, Prince and Cold War Kids in 2007 I finally show my true colours.
As a Christmas present for my daughters I nabbed three tickets for High School Musical on Ice (Second row of the floor, thanks Seatwave). We made our way out to North Greenwich, tube is by far the best way from anywhere, for the 11am performance during the in-between days. After some brief confusion about where the seats actually were (the configuration was actually ON the ice so the staff wasn’t totally sure at first) and a debate on whether this would be HSM I or HSM II, we got settled into our seats for the show.
Continue reading "REVIEW: High School Musical on Ice" »
- Posted on December 16, 2007 10:16 PM
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This Sunday saw Chelsea rolling into Islington to take on the Gooners. On paper, it looked like a draw and I went expecting just that.
As a "neutral" - hate them both, it was good to see Cesc back in the line up and Van Persie on the bench so I expected a good competitive match.
The first half was dull at best, both teams nulified each other and it was dull (and freezing!) stuff. Before kick off they had run out of pies (cant u believe that??) so we snuck out 5 mins before half time so unfortunately missed the only goal of the game. An unusual Petr Cech error led to a William Gallas goal from a corner.
It was the first time I'd seen Shevchenko aka Sh*tchenko live and man was he bad... he missed a sitter and cart horsed around for the whole game, havent seen a performance up front (one sweet free kick apart) since Andy Booth had his loan spell at Spurs back in the late nineties.
Arsenal should have scored more, but in the end they deserved the win.
Ashley Cole got the treatment and it was good to hear some noise from the usually quiet gunner fans.
A fun freezing match, few more goals would have been nice but great to be there.
Fancy your sports a little different?
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- Posted on November 23, 2007 11:43 PM
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Kanye West, Hip Hop's undisputed number one bod hit the UK on the 22nd November to what would be his biggest UK show ever.
The experience will rank right up there with one of the gigs I think I'll remember for a number of reasons....
Now lets go back to when this gig was announced... I must admit I was Kanye'd out..... i couldnt be bothered anymore.... so I couldnt even see myself going.... then "Graduation" came out...... amidst one of the most hyped release schedules in Hip Hop history...
Now this is hard to explain... those of you that have heard it I'm sure u will agree... "Graduation" is a good album, not a great album - probably his weakest so far....... but something about that LP made me play it 10x more than I've played his previous 2..... and i dont know why... theres some real crap on there..... alongside some of his best work... - "Champion", "Flashing lights", "I wonder".......but something about it.... made me sign back for Mr West and make missing him live when he hit the UK a non - option.
Now im sure u all know by know but Kanyes Moms passed a week b4 the gig - which surely meant he wouldnt come (for those that dont know....Hip hop artists have allways cancelled gigs in the UK at the drop of a dime...).....but some how he made it... he put his Moms in the ground 24 hours earlier ...but here he was....
I must admit to having Corking seats for this one... which makes an O2 experience soooo much better.. I dont think i could stomach the altitude of the upper tier.. but seats in the lower tier next to the stage......one word... WOW!........
The whole floor was standing which was great to see and was packed by show time....
Estelle provided the token UK support - minimal love given. minimal love deserved....
Common was on road and does was Common does.. sweated a lot, shouted a lot and did the Common thing..... DJ Dummy didnt do his "it takes 2 " which was a huge relief... I dont want to hate on Common to much.... his last 2 lps (thanks to his "little brother") have been amazing but he continues to grate.....
Mr West came on late ish.... and launched his Glow in the Dark show...
Now at this point its worth mentioning that from this point this was no longer a Hip Hop concert..... its just gone beyond that....
Full band. 4 piece string section, 4 costume changes, lights and lazer show...video screens... this was like watchin a daft punk show...
He exploded on stage with so much energy it was incredible and blasted through all the hits from Graduation - practially in order... which was a cool concept...
The set was spliced with his hits through the tracks from graduation - a nice concept and one that backs up his faith of Graduation being his most complete work so far.....
he is an amazing performer and can only go on from here...
How he managed this performance following his mothers death..... who knows... especially... during his performance of "hey mama"....
incredible, If u havent seen Kanye West yet you have to...
want to check out some hip hop if you are stateside...try the CT movement click here http://www.ctmovement.com
Like some graffiti? then check out bombing science
- Posted on November 6, 2007 10:02 AM
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Bonfire night down at the Royal Albert Hall - but where there fireworks?
My brother and I took our dad to see Ray Lamontagne, cant admit to being to aware of his work (saw him on Jools Holland once..) but Dad is a big fan and was chuffed at the thought of going.
After grubbing some grub at Whole foods on High Street Ken (this makes any gig at the RAH SOOO much better - you have to make it your pre RAH stop..) we hit the Hall but were annoyingly early, Ray wasnt on till 9, so skulked around in the bar till then.
We had cracking seats - in the stalls 5 rows back so perfect view of Ray and the band.
Now to describe the gig as high octane would be incorrect - the set is very down to earth and levelled with four excellent musicians providing a great soundtrack.
The sound of the RAH complemented Ray very well, an excellent voice and guitar - very soothing monday evening gig.
One of the only songs I really knew "trouble" went down well as well as quite a few other Ray faves. He's naturally a very shy guy, even a few pissed hecklers couldnt get him to say much between songs.
I really think Ray is going to blow up and go global, the crowd wasnt what i expected, much "trendier" than I thought - i think with shows like this Ray is going to continue to pick up fans around the world.
A recommended gig from me. JH
- Posted on November 5, 2007 11:57 AM
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1st Brazilian Music Festival
Bolivar Hall
Leo Gandelman
3rd November 2007
Review by Paco
Leo Gandelman is probably one of the best (if not the best) Brazilian Jazz Saxophonists. He brings us a bridge between the traditional (MPB), and the best Brazilian Jazz composers, he is invention and atmosphere, in a very versatile and inventive way. He also has absolute and unlimited control of his instrument.
His new album, “Bossa Rara” is really promising and revisits the traditional Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), inspired by some of the best Brazilian Jazz composers (Ari Barroso, Vinicius de Moraes …amongst others). The two streams are miscellaneous by nature, which in essence have never strived for any kind of purity, but instead have become stronger due to the assimilation of different rhythms. On stage, he delighted us with freshness and unlimited energy, a pleasure for him… a pleasure for us.
Continue reading "REVIEW: Leo Gandelman" »
- Posted on October 23, 2007 1:30 PM
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Craig David
Ronnie Scott's
Thursday October 19th, 2007
Review by Katie Spain
I was never much of a Craig David fan when he hit the big time back in 2001. The whole RnB scene was always been something I dipped into on a night out with the girls or when I didn't have a choice in it. These days, you can't escape it... a trip out clothes shopping in London is like a change-room crash course in RnB history.
Sure, I sang along when the British-singer/songwriter crooned out ‘Walkin’ Away’ and ‘What’s Your Flava’ but I didn’t buy the album. I may have been wary about the constant name dropping during tunes (yes, we know you’re Craig David) but openly admired the cock-sure swagger in the lyrics of ‘Seven Days’. In my youthful eyes, "We were makin’ love by Wednesday" was a leap of erotic fast-moving fervour. Then I hit Uni and reality struck home... seven days is a bloody long time for some.
Continue reading "GIG REVIEW: Craig David" »
- Posted on October 22, 2007 3:52 PM
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0 comments
Swimming With Sharks
Vaudeville Theatre
Review by Katie Spain
You've got to hand it to Christian Slater. His hair may be edging towards the rear of his scalp but the man still has it. "What is 'it'?" You may ask... well, looks, charisma, arrogance, talent, volume, and legions of fans for starters.
The last time I saw Mr Slater was on stage in London's West End, I was up there with him (refereeing a match of verbal volleyball between the star and his young female fans). He and cast mates Alex Kingston, Rebecca Grant, Lizzie Roper and co had just finished another night of 'One flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' and joined me on stage for a Q&A session. Christian has a stage presence as big as the 'A' in front of his 'list'. He's cock-sure, loud and powerful - just like his latest character.
"My bath mat means more to me than you do".
Slater's current West End role is that of Buddy Ackerman, a high-flying film producer in the heart of Hollywood. If the name sounds familiar, you've probably seen the screen hit 'Swimming With Sharks'. I haven't had the pleasure, so walk into the Vaudeville Theatre with few expectations. My only hopes ride on Slater's jaw-droppingly fine performance in Cuckoo's Nest. It's a hard one to beat.
Continue reading "REVIEW: Swimming With Sharks" »
