The Tale of Two Concerts

It has been a very musical few days for me as my Birthday present was to see Arcade Fire at Earl's Court last Friday & yesterday for mine & Richard's 10 year anniversary we took in a CBSO concert at Symphony Hall Birmingham. Two venues are very different in both size & age with Arcade Fire being the last concert being hosted at the event because it is now going to become luxury apartments. I somehow think that the Economy of Earl's Court suffer because of it.



So on with the critique. Arcade Fire were supported by Owen Pallett on the day I attended, which I was very looking forward to as I do think his music is genius normally using only a violin, keyboard & various pedals & pick ups, I was surprised to see he was joined on stage by a guitar player & a percussionist,which although were good felt like it was a step away from what I had seen of him. Unfortunately I thought the venue was either to large or too empty at the time or both to get a good appreciation of his work due to the reverb as played tracks which I have seen recorded in smaller venues that sounded awesome, but at this concert seemed to be slightly disjointed by the echo. This leads me on to one of my pet peeves why do so many people only turn up for the main act, I have been at some awesome concerts with some pretty amazing support acts which I have come to follow greatly & would have missed if I hadn't turned up to see them. Arcade Fire were on top form,provideding me with one of the best concerts I've ever been to, there was a sense of art & carnival about the whole concert & even though it was their Reflektor Tour they played a lot of their older tunes too, to make it fully immersive for the crowd who had been with the band from their first album which in my opinion was their best, in fact I would say my favourite to least favourite album goes entirely by the order in which they released them. They involved the crowd,but not only that but also made it that the people who were seated also had additional things to watch rather than just the main stage, with dancers in drag, in skeleton suits & one in a mirror ball suit, along with the lighting effects, ticker tape & glitter cannons it made for a very entertaining evening. Iwentin knowing someof what to expect but this exceeded expectations.



The CBSO concert was a change of pace starting with Ravel's Mother Goose Suite which was beautifully played & I very much enjoyed. The Gerald Barry Piano Concerto was indeed a stark contrast to the Ravel it was discordant it did have some moments of genius where the piece held it together & you could see what he was trying to do but soon as you moved into that space he careened of it leaving you feeling a little disappointed. the Francisco Coll No seré yo quien diga nada première was almost just a cacophony of noise with a couple of bursts of genius but it was a case of they were fleeting, I don't mind modern music but to create noise with what seems little purpose is frustrating & to me smacks a little of that will do rather displaying a finely crafted piece which makes sense. I found myself applauding the talents of the musicians & conductor who had the rather thankless task of not only playing such discordance but also had to suffer rehearsing them & feeling that the composers really could have done better. The final piece was Thomas Ades another contemporary composer although had played with sound & its structure took you on a journey it had moments where yes it does challenge structure but does it effectively so you can follow it & fully appreciate it & understand where it was going & what it was trying to say, it stirred up the emotions, was assertive in its tone & totally blows you away pushing the boundaries to a sensible level so it is enjoyable & understandable. You get a feeling that he is a well rounded composer willing to be contemporary but knowing when it is going far enough to not lose the audience.

Music in Magical Practice

Something struck me a couple of weeks ago, though I never got around to posting it for some reason, which is I'm never usually doing magical practices in silence, whether it is to the accompaniment of birdsong or if it is at home something to drown out the everyday noise. It was after watching a documentary on catch up about David Attenborough & Bjork & how music works did it make sense. I tend to pick music that I feel appropiate to the cause, for instance A Brand New Me by Bitter Ruin for dealing with my post traumatic stress disorder (though it is not the original meaning of the song it helps me deal with the events that lead to it in my head). The tone of the song is just as important as the lyrics the afformentioned song makes it clear about the kind of message it is about by both its tone & lyrics, other songs don't do this, for instance if you sing Eternal Flame by the Bangles in a creepy voice, it becomes very sinister indeed. Does this mean the tone is the more important than the lyrics? Maybe, but some music can be subversive in it's sound to it's message for instance Baby Come Home To Me by the Scissor Sisters may sound cheery but the lyrics are antything but. So some music that I like makes the cut magically where as others do not. Music doesn't need to have lyrics to become appropiate, Adaggio for Strings by Barber brings peace for me if I need for the pace of life to slow down. So going back to the lyrics thing I have weaved them into magical workings, Feeling Good by Anthony Newly (always tend to have the Nina Simone version in my head when using it) I use to bring in the positive in my life. To me I have found singing albeit not very well more powerful than just saying something or if if it isn't something to be sung chanting it more than merely saying helps me focus my intent. It is said that song predated structured language & if you put yourself in extreme circumstances quite often what noise you make will still communicate feelings even if there is words there. I'm interested if any of the other people who read this are the same & what music they use.

A new appreciation for jazz

There are always some tunes that become earworms & a couple of them for me have been jazz tracks. OK its certain types of jazz I'm not keen on the stuff that sounds like a five year old has been given Red Bull & a trumpet or the stuff that makes feel stuck in a lift in the 80's. I did spend a good chunk of last night listening to the more enjoyable versions of the genre & felt totally relaxed I think I actually melted into the armchair too it is something to give a go & it doesn't need to be taxing. Some of my favourites include:

Dave Brubeck Quartet- Take Five
Benny Goodman- Sing Sing Sing
Moondog- Bird's Lament or if you want it up tempo the Mr Scruff remix called Get A Move On
St Germain- Rose Rouge
Billie Holiday- Summertime
Nina Simone Feelin' Good

Graffiti artist vs Vandalism

Sitting on the bus on the way back from the chaplaincy I overheard a conversation (which was not hard with the volume that they were speaking at, in fact it would have been harder to not over hear it) in which one of the lads was saying he was a graffiti artist, it did peak my interest a little, which was then lost when he started to talk of the things he'd tagged by scratching his name into things. It infuriated me a little how is tagging art? To me it is nothing more than a slightly more permanent version of pissing up a wall, marking your territory. I felt like saying to him that is not art as it doesn't convey anything except that some idiot with time on his hands & a huge sense of inadequacy has been in the area. To me a graffiti artist actually says something more profound or provide amusement. For it to be art it needs to say something other than I was here (but thought better of it). People are becoming more appreciative of graffiti art, repackaging it as street art. Many places are proud of the Banksy or similar images around the place as people actually admire the effort & craftsmanship that went into making it. In fact if you can create uproar if it is removed then you really have hit the mark of the artist. I'm not condoning vandalism, but true art is something to be appreciated, somebody writing their name or just making a rude remark is worth little, though sometimes I do feel like getting a marker pen & correcting their spelling mistakes or lack of punctuation, but that would be lowering myself to their standards. If I want to leave a mark on the planet it won't be done with a compass on a bus.