I went to two very different gigs at the weekend....
On Saturday evening, we saw the young, gifted, Montenegrin guitarist Milos Karadaglic at Cambridge Corn Exchange; he was playing with the English Chamber Orchestra. If ever you could say "This guy has it all" about any 30-year old, then you could say it about this chap. Tipped to be the next Segovia, he has charm, modesty, and the looks of a male model. When he appeared on the BBC Breakfast programme some months ago, he certainly brought out the girlie in Susanna Reid! My only disappointment with Saturday's concert was that he only played (the admittedly, fairly long) Rodrigo's Concierto di Aranjuez and Spanish Romance.
Milos only came to my attention some 6 months ago when my son, a cameraman and sound engineer, mailed me a couple of photos of a fine classical guitar made by Greg Smallman. The luthier operates in Australia, supplies the likes of John Williams, and the instruments cost around $A24,000. When I asked how much he paid for it, my son admitted that he'd been recording Milos K, and that the guitar was only on loan, even to Milos!
For Sunday evening, a friend found himself with a spare ticket to see the Manfreds at Bury (St Edmunds) Apex concert hall, and offered it to me. I'd never paid a great deal of attention to Manfred Mann/the Manfreds in the early days, but 3 out of the 6 musos were from the original line-up. They were a very tight band, and I guess they should be after all these years - but I was amazed at the vitality, the stage presence, and the fine vocal skills of Paul Jones. We tried to work out how old PJ was ...... 67? ....... 68? ........... when I got home and looked him up on Wiki ......... he's 71! He must be taking the same medicine as Cliff Richard.
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>> PJ was ...... 67? ....... 68? ........... when I got home and looked him up on Wiki ......... he's 71!
Paul Pond... in his youth described to me as 'the most paranoid man at Oxford'. Sound musical taste though (unlike Cliff Richard, that Welsh lorry driver and many other successful popsters).
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"Paul Pond... in his youth described to me as 'the most paranoid man at Oxford'."
In his patter, he made a brief reference to his time at Oxford, mentioning that he'd 'left early' - I think he said that he endured two years. Still, I suppose that he must have been a pretty bright cookie to have got in there in the first place.
I agree that he has sound musical taste (I appreciate your pun) though, personally, I'd become a bit bored with the blues format by the end of the 60s. I recall going to the Hammersmith Odeon in '67 to see the American Blues Package featuring, among others, Son House, Bukka White, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, Skip James and Sonny Terry/Brownie McGee. I wish I could lay my hands on the programme ........ I'm sure it's somewhere among the junk in the loft.
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Off to see Brian May in an acoustic gig at the end of the month. Paul Carrack gig is already ticketed next year...wife mentioned The Squeeze playing in Dublin soon - just as easy to go there than Manchester or Livrpool...
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Madness at Northampton Cricket Club later in year quite appeals.
I'd also hoped to get tickets for the Seekers at Symphony Hall but I suspect Judith Durham's recent stroke may have at least postponed that - even if there were tickets still to be had.
The Lad meanwhile is off with his mate 'Phez' to see The Who at the NEC on Friday week.
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".......The Who......."
I'm afraid I went off the Who after their shambolic performance at Live Aid back in '85. On the other hand, Queen had really rehearsed for it and blew everyone else away. It was only then that it dawned on me how good Brian May is. These days, loads of youngsters go to guitar school and all emerge technically brilliant, but how many of them can come up with their own unique style? Brian May is one of those players who's distinct style is recognisable from one bar of music.
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That's why I'm looking forawrd to his acoustic gig....should be special, previewed some of the stuff on YT - he's appearing with Kerry Ellis....herself being something quite special.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R6pxgrj914
www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=7NkxqdkEBbg&feature=endscreen
When we were in Las Vegas there was an Elton John gig which I regret not selling my soul to see (one guy on the tour did and said it was brilliant) - Whilst we were in LA - The Stones were there - the same guy paid an arm and a leg for that one as well - slight jealousy !
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 18 Jun 13 at 16:52
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Madness at Northampton Cricket Club later in year quite appeals.
So long as you're not mad behind the bowler's arm, Bromp.
On a related music-cricket theme, I was delighted today to see that Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh have come up with a new Duckworth Lewis Method album, with a tour to follow [on] in September. Sadly the only venue near me is over-14s only, which rules out taking the Beestlings, but I'll certainly be buying the disc; the first one is still a favourite four years on.
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>> It was only then that it dawned on me how good Brian May
>> is.
He did some awe inspiring solo's in the 70's. It's not hard to see the appeal. Due to the nature of electric guitars with their amplified PA systems, one person can fill a huge area with sound of their own invention. And it's so versatile, you virtually have a limitless supply of sounds to play with.
He's got the hairs on my neck tingling in the past, as have many musicians.
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And he's a professor of astrophysics too. I heard him interviewed on Ken Bruce a couple of weeks ago.
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Not sure about the professor bit, BBD, but he did complete his long-delayed PhD.
Have to say I don't get the acoustic 'unplugged' idea. Fine if it's repertoire written for such forces (which is how Ritchie Blackmore amuses himself nowadays, apparently) but the timbre and sustain of amplified electric guitar and bass are crucial to the appeal of rock music; I'd no more pay to hear an unplugged rock band than I would to hear Mahler 5 played on bagpipes and penny whistle.
Any idea what Dr May is going to be playing, RP?
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Saw Shakatak last Friday in the Pizza Express Jazz club.
Had a really good table, had my feet on the edge of the "stage"! They were first rate, and they have a fantastic bass guitarist, George Anderson who has fingertips and knuckles like miniature toffee hammers!
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>> kerry-ellis-and-brian-may-bd249c6.html
You worry me Rob. I can't work out whether you have forgiven Brian May for helping to promote the monarchy, or are just trying not to think about it.
Either way, the adjustable morality involved would be a precious asset to almost anyone. Have you ever considered a career in the legal profession or law enforcement?
Heh heh...
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Don't agree with his views on Badgers - easy for a wealthy townee to want to cuddle them. Don't care what his views are really. He can sing and play the guitar. Went to listen to Roy Hattersley and Tony Benn on much the same principle, good speakers, didn't expect to come away an old school socialist and I didn't. So I doubt listening to him singing Crazy Little Thing called Love will turn me into a goose stepping monarchist AC !
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>> a goose stepping monarchist
Good heavens! Are there a lot of those Rob?
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Brilliant gig tonight - As someone in the crowd shouted "You're better than the Rolling Stones" - certainly true - We were in row B - cracking place to be - loads of punters filming with their phones, guy in front of us was told off by May in no uncertain terms. LOads of badgers - no God Save the Queen...
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>> guy in front of us was told off by May in no uncertain terms.
What for?
>> LOads of badgers
It looked as if someone had murdered a badger in our sitting room this evening. But all that had happened was that my middle daughter had given me a haircut.
Now I don't look like a mad old tramp or Danny Trejo with a slightly better complexion. I look like a nondescript bloke with very short hair and big flapping ears. Not at all sure it's an improvement actually. But too late, the badger's in the garbaggio. Ho hum.
Glad the gig was a blast Rob. Nothing like the right rock to stir the soul.
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>> >> guy in front of us was told off by May in no uncertain terms.
>>
>>
>> What for?
>>
Filming on a phone.
The old curse of concerts was the constant ineffectual flashes from Instamatics. The new one is viewing the stage through a sea of i-phones, not just for snaps but whole songs etc. Bad enough at seated venues but when The Lad and I saw Nightwish in Brum at a standing venue the stage was concealed for large segments of the event behind raised hands and glowing screens.
Selfish, selfish, selfish
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 30 Jun 13 at 08:08
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Just watched the Stones from Glastonbury on telly, mighty set, and we only got an hour of the 2.5 hours. They don't do bad for their age, but daughter said Charlie often looks like he's been wheeled straight from the nursing home behind his drums and doesn't know quite where he is :-) He's a very talented guy, plays with quite a few bands...
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>> They don't do bad for their age, but daughter said
>> Charlie often looks like he's been wheeled straight from the nursing home behind his drums
>> and doesn't know quite where he is :-)
>>
Often referred to as DUFTO*. Barbara Windsor and her Bingo advert, Cliff Richard and Wimbledon are referred to in the same way.
*Dug Up For The Occasion
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 30 Jun 13 at 00:52
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I've huge respect for the Stones output over the decades and their wish to keep going but last night's Glastonbury showed they should withdraw gracefully from that sort of live set. There are now young bands doing Stones covers (not covers bands) that are far better.
So far for me the set of the festival has to be Seasick Steve. John Paul Jones of Led Zep has really added drive to the material he's doing. We fed the TV sound through our hi-fi and it was brilliant.
A snippet... and far from the best bit..
www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej58q9/acts/adzdgw#p01c2h12
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>> I've huge respect for the Stones output over the decades and their wish to keep
>> going but last night's Glastonbury showed they should withdraw gracefully from that sort of live
>> set.
It wasn't that bad. Mick is 70 years old more or less, and he was rushing about for two hours like no other 70 year old I have seen. The vocals were far far better than they had a right to be under those circumstances as well. Compare last night to Bowies latest effort with its thin weak flat vocals (and that was recorded under no pressure in a studio) and Paul McCartney's embarrassing and shocking effort at the games.
So from me, thats an amazed thumbs up. Mind you the last time I saw skin that wrinkled was in the M Jackson video "Thriller"
Edit, I'll let you know how an aged Fleetwood Mac sounds in September. From the snippets I have seen its not brilliant.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 30 Jun 13 at 09:28
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Seasick Steve is 72, John Paul Jones 67... playing like they're 25, tighter set and no hype.
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So there is better about? so what - Doesn't mean the stones output was poor last night, it was far from it. As I said there is far worse about earning money on past performance.
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>>
>> Edit, I'll let you know how an aged Fleetwood Mac sounds in September. From the
>> snippets I have seen its not brilliant.
>
And last night was that time. Very much a curates egg, utterly utterly brilliant in parts, an atttempt to justify "Tusk" was made -and rejected - by the audience, who were in awe of the performance of 'the chain" and then this happened on the encore
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bmHQ_7x_tg#t=284
One of those - I was there moments.
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>> I'm afraid I went off the Who after their shambolic performance at Live Aid back
>> in '85.
That aside, time does not seem to have been kind to Mr. Daltrey's vocal abilities. I just find it depressing to watch them live now.
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"That aside, time does not seem to have been kind to Mr. Daltrey's vocal abilities. I just find it depressing to watch them live now."
People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Just because we g-g-get around
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>> brief reference to his time at Oxford, mentioning that he'd 'left early'
He had his own band there. They were pretty good. I heard him in that guise once or twice there or in London where they were certainly good enough to play well down the bill. But I can't remember.
It was a good moment for good musicians in this country. When Manfred Mann cropped up it was the big time probably quite quickly. That would have been when he left Oxford.
I'm glad to read that he is still doing it well.
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Haywain, you have hit on gigs of two men who make SWMBO go weak at the knees, I was commanded to buy the Milos CD for her birthday earlier this year,and it is now on my and her MP3 players. I must have a look to see if he is round our way soon.
I prefer Paul Jones with the Blues Band line up...in fact at one time there were more Manfreds in the Blues Band than The Manfreds.
I have to admit (blushes in shame) singing along to 5 4 3 2 1 and Doo wa diddy diddy..at a gig he did a couple of years ago......
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"I was commanded to buy the Milos CD for her birthday earlier this year"
I bought a CD prior to Saturday evening's concert, and was advised that Milos would be down later signing them for anyone who wished. He duly appeared after the concert, politely signing CDs for the 2 or 3 dozen folks waiting in the foyer. I queued, and he signed the CD to my wife; he took his time, and thoughtfully wrote words of encouragement for a bright-eyed 8 or 9 year old boy who was learning to play the guitar.
You must take Mrs Helicopter to a performance; Milos will sign her CD, smile and thank her for coming to the concert. Your only job will be to administer the smelling salts and pick her up off the floor ;-)
The CD I bought ("The Guitar") included a 30 min DVD documenting his musical development; it showed footage of the 13 year-old invited to play in Paris and his video application to the Royal Academy at 16. Clearly, he was never phased by performing in public though, refreshingly, his success is driven by his absolute love of music, not by the desire for personal fame.
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The one I bought for her was Latino Gold.....
Had a look at his upcoming dates but he has nothing even remotely round our way at the moment.....but will keep an eye open and maybe surprise SWMBO when he does have a gig near us.
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I have resurrected this thread in order to make Mrs Helicopter jealous …….. very jealous ;-)
On Sunday, we went over to Snape Maltings for a recital by Milos as part of the Snape Proms. We drove there early in order to allow time for a picnic and to sort out arrangements for picking up the hired ‘seats’ – we had brought ‘proms’ tickets which allowed us to sit on the floor in the area just in front of the stage for a princely £6.50.
Having sorted out the ‘seats’ (a couple of pads with a backrest), my son’s g/f and I went back to the car to get the picnic stuff; this entailed walking along the path at the back of the concert hall. “That looks like Milos up there on the terrace, having a coffeeâ€, I said to g/f, “he looks a bit thinner in the face since I saw him two years ago, I hope he’s not overdoing itâ€.
On the way back from the car, I noticed that Milos had disappeared from the terrace and, after a few yards, realized that he was descending some steps and walking down the path towards us. I smiled and uttered “It is……..â€. “Milos†he said and we shook hands and briefly conversed.
I welcomed him to Suffolk (I hope he didn’t get the impression that I owned it) and he said what a beautiful setting for the concert hall. He expressed his concerns about whether he would be loud enough without amplification in such a large hall (around 800 seats); he said that he would have to really concentrate on ‘projection’.
“What is that over there†he asked. I waved my arm in the direction of Iken church tower peeping over the marshes in the distance, and the Henry Moore sculpture a few hundred yards away. “No, no - just there†……….
Five or six yards away lay the corpse of a rabbit that had been dead for a few days; I wondered if he was going to bring it back to life. “In my country, we do this when we see such a thing†and he tugged on a lock of hair. We responded similarly, but we were too dumb to ask why – so we’ll perhaps never know; was it to ward off bad luck, bring good luck or was it just an acknowledgment that one day we’ll all be as lifeless as that unfortunate rabbit. [Do any of the better-travelled folks on here know about this custom?]
Anyway, we had detained him for long enough and bade him an enjoyable recital; he said that he hoped that we enjoyed it too.
The recital was a sell-out and from our position at the front, it looked a huge distance to the back of the hall; I could understand the fears about whether an unamplified instrument would be loud enough. But no one complained about a lack of volume when Milos enquired if he was loud enough – and for the next two hours, he held the audience in the palm of his hand.
At 32 years old, Milos is already being spoken of in the same tones as Segovia; IMO, he thoroughly deserves that recognition. I can add that we found him to be an absolute gentleman.
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Ah, Snape. Used to go there as a child to visit an old dear who had taken my Dad in during the war as an evacuee from London. Hearing the name again has fair jogged my memory, thanks.
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Is it this Milos?
milosguitar.com/live/
Prompt for Helcopter
8o)
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"Is it this Milos?"
Yep - that's the one.
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Judging by the state of that tee shirt he needs to take dope-smoking lessons from someone.
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Thanks for the update Haywain ......and it seems that his next UK gig is on 3rd December in Guildford ,half an hour or so away from us so will be looking to book up tickets when they go on sale.
Even better is that he will be in our home town Horsham in March 2016 at the Capitol theatre which is less than a mile away.
SWMBO has her birthday in March so that has solved a problem of what to buy her.
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Strange coincidence. Gong back to the first post ....just noticed that the Manfreds are on at Capitol as well on 25th September so another booking to be made .
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"so will be looking to book up tickets when they go on sale."
And don't hesitate - they will sell-out! I look forward to hearing your views.
On Sunday, all the pieces were interspersed with a bit of information about their origins and why they had been chosen. There was a wonderful story about Segovia (his hero), which I won't quote here as I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. When it came to playing a transcription of Bach's Chaconne (originally for solo violin), Milos said that he knew of two transcriptions of this celebrated piece - one by Segovia - and one that he had transcribed. He added, with a grin, "but I prefer mine".
I can claim to have seen Segovia, or rather his left-hand, in the late 1970's. It's all as vague as a dream now, but we had a restricted view from behind a pillar in Lavenham church. Goodness only knows how he got to be playing in a small Suffolk village, and I've been singularly unsuccessful in unearthing any information about it.
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As it turns out SWMBO was already aware Milos was touring and was waiting for tickets to go on sale.
Haywain, Segovia was apparently brought to Lavenham by the owner of the Swan hotel who organised classical highbrow musical events to attract customers to the hotel in the 70's and on occasions he would have special concerts in the church when the hotel could not accomodate the audience.........how do I know? Google is good.....
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"how do I know? Google is good"
All I could find was a fairly sketchy reference via 'the Christian Science Monitor'; do you have a reference for a meatier story, please? When I've discussed this with friends, it's only a vague memory for them also, and they are no help in pinning it down. I seem to remember that it was in the winter, but I've no detail at all about date.
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Thats the one that I found.......dated 1980 and referring to winter weekend concerts over the previous 15 years .
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Paul Jones and his Bles Band last Friday. Blinding night. Full house at the local Theatre - Brilliant for a 75 year old...
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Paul Pond, takes me back a bit.
'The most paranoid man in Oxford'... could that be right?
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"'The most paranoid man in Oxford'... could that be right?"
Of course it's right, AC, it's exactly right! In fact, it's exactly the same as what you said on Tuesday 18th June 2013 at 14:05. I took your word for it then, and I'll take your word for it now!
Last edited by: Haywain on Mon 16 Nov 15 at 21:14
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>> it's exactly the same as
>> what you said on Tuesday 18th June 2013 at 14.05
Hardly fair to single out AC. This whole forum is déjà vu all over again. :-)
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"Hardly fair to single out AC."
Nah - don't get me wrong. Maybe a bad choice of words, but I was praising AC for his consistency. In my books, consistencyness is next to godliness! ;-)
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>> Paul Jones and his Bles Band last Friday. Blinding night. Full house at the local
>> Theatre - Brilliant for a 75 year old...
>>
...you did well to get there. I'm nowhere near 75, but it would have been brilliant for me as well.
;-)
(unless I really do have the reference wrong, I think he is 73. I last saw the Blues Band at Rock City in Nottingham on (I just had to look the date up - in't the interweb wonderful) April 11th 1981.)
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I traditionally round up ages - except my own...56.3
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"I think he is 73"
Well, when I looked him up on Wiki(?) 2 years ago, I reckoned he was 71, so I'd reckon that 73 might be a reasonable bet now. I agree - he seems to have aged very well; I wonder what he's using?
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He is 73....just checked WIki..Still b***** hell, he can still do the moves...
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I just checked and the Blues Band are playing East Grinstead on 26th of this month , about 40 minutes drive but worth it if tickets are still available....off to check now....
Last edited by: helicopter on Tue 17 Nov 15 at 11:40
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....... and now booked up , looking forward to a great night......
Off now to the cinema to see The Lady in the Van.....it is a busy life being retired|
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 17 Nov 15 at 12:30
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Great night out Helicopter. The only fly on the ointment was a punter refusing to surrender his beer. He got the message though
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Great gig by the Blues Band in East Grinstead last night,pretty much as I expected but especially enjoyed Dave Kelly brilliant solos and his tales of backing Howling Wolf and Wolfs rehearsals or rather non rehearsals with his UK band .It was in his words a 'steep learning curve'.
I did manage to say Hello to Paul Jones before the gig when he appeared in the bar and had a chat with Dave afterwards. He is doing an acoustic gig in January with Maggie Bell in Crawley so I will try to get along to that .
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According to the comic, Milos has just released an album of Beatles tunes - sounds like a Christmas present for Mrs Helicopter?
www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/watch-virtuoso-classical-guitarist-milo-karadagli-play-the-beatl/
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Called in last week to a gig tonight - Josh Widdicombe,,,sell out in a 300 seater - very good show with a good natured audience (not often the case with big name comedians - lots of filming etc)...freebie for me but well worth the 16 pound cost of the ticket.
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Just had a phone call from our local theatre to say that Milos has had to cancel his appearance locally for which we booked due to injury ......apparently a tendon strain causing problems according to his website and has been ongoing for a couple of months.
Now rebooked for July.
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"Just had a phone call from our local theatre to say that Milos has had to cancel his appearance............."
Aaaargh - if you check my post of August 4th, I expressed concern that he 'might be overdoing it'. I had noticed, from his website, that Milos was unable to appear for some pre-Christmas performances and that he'd been able to arrange for Craig Ogden to fill in for him, but now it looks as though he's having to postpone concerts.
We're going to see Craig Ogden in early March when he will be doing a concert at my wife's school.
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>> Called in last week to a gig tonight - Josh Widdicombe
Don't know if you saw his sit com on BBC3 last year - basically played himself, funny, 'good natured' is a good description. Jack Dee plays his landlord. Only one episode on iPlayer at the moment but it looks like more (repeats) to come. The one with the Chuckle Brothers (4 or 5?) was a hoot.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06pgyg8
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Well it seems we are fated not to see Milos live in Sussex.
The re booked concert from March to July has been cancelled due to his ongoing injury problems.
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"The re booked concert from March to July has been cancelled due to his ongoing injury problems."
I was wondering how you were progressing in your bid to see Milos ........ and this is terrible news; the injury must have been going for at least 6 months. I just hope that he is able to make a full recovery.
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Today I started detailed planning for the Desert Trip set of concerts in California in October. It consists six full concerts over three nights - Friday is the Stones and Bob Dylan, Sat is McCartney and Neil Young and Sunday is The Who and Roger Waters, I#m going with three school mates, two from here and one from Tucson. As a 60 year old these bands were firmly of my era.
We didn't get the tickets we wanted and I'm not expecting to be able to see a lot but it should be a fantastic atmosphere. We are camping at the venue.
It's looking like we will do Memphis, Austin and New Orleans in the couple of weeks after the gigs but that is to be confirmed.
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..I wish you luck with Dylan who, when I last saw him, was, well, Dylan Jim, but not as we know him. His band were very "tight" though, so it wasn't exactly unenjoyable, and for me it was a "last chance to see".
I saw Neil Young a little earlier, just before he headlined at Glasto. He was a real tour-de-force, despite his health scares, and I think it was probably the best gig I've been to (very well reviewed from a generally good set of UK venues).
Unfortunately, shortly afterwards we lost Ben Keith, and Rick Rosas has now gone, so the band may be a little, maybe a lot, diminished.
If it were me, I'd miss out on the Paul McCartney set, though......
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Just got back from Liverpool after seeing the Manic Street Preachers. It was very good. Assuming you like the Manics of course.
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>> Assuming you like the Manics of course.
>>
I do, well jel I am. Only managed to catch them once, as a support to Oasis at Knebworth in the 90s. Went to get a pint just as they came on, spent their entire set queuing in the tent such was the paucity of serving provision. Sirry iriot, got it the wrong way round. Should have watched the Manics and queued for beer during Oasis.
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I first saw the Manics live at the Millennium Stadium, seeing in the new millennium. They were good then but I think the stadium is a bit big for a concert (IMO). It was better in the MEN Arena and the Echo Arena.
At university, I was involved in hall of residence social stuff.... I vetoed the idea of having Oasis play on a Friday night. :-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hat9YWWPhsU
Nicky 'Wire' was still wearing dresses and feather boas back then.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 16 May 16 at 14:33
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Reminds me I have the DVD for that... used to sound good on the old 5.1 surround system with sub-woofer of my old TV.
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Last night, we found the perfect, if only temporary, antidote to the post-election miseries - the London African Gospel Choir were performing their take on 'Graceland' at Cambridge Junction. The audience was jumping and singing along to the joyous rhythms; my son could remember the words from when the tape played constantly in the Sierra on long journeys. After all that dancing, I slept well last night. If you enjoyed Graceland, then try and look out the LAGC - you'll have a great night.
If you'd asked me when Paul Simon released the Graceland album, I would have said "mmm - it must be approaching 20 years ago". I now know that it was, in fact, 31 years ago. Frightnin', innit?
I recall the controversy over the album when it was first conceived, and the objections from Artists Against Apartheid. In those days, I was a dogmatic leftie, and my political thoughts ran contrary to what I could see was a wonderful concept and brilliant music. In the end, I believe we have to admit that it took Paul Simon's imagination to bring African music to the fore.
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Great when the stadium fillers come to a small venue to play. Great evening's entertainment from a super-group.
Stand up gig though full of sweaty millennials - Note to the younger generation: We threw bottles and glasses in our gigs (not plastic beakers) and held up cigarette lighters not phones ! :-)
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We get too little of this sort of thing here; though we did have Debbie Harry about a year ago and Paul McCartney a month or so ago. Imagine my excitement.
However, this week we had Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO here. They were great. Really, really worth the effort.
I also got to meet Sir Simon at a small lunch with some members of the LSO, a thoroughly nice chap as were the others. Very interesting. Though he's older than I expected, which probably means I am too. A few of the musicians played for about 20 minutes in teh drawing room of the Ambassador's Residence. Up close one realises just how very, very good they are. Obviously at the top of their game.
I was having a drink with a pianist and a flautist, both of whom played stunningly, and listening to them talk about the joy they get out of their job is impressive.
Makes it so much more enjoyable when people you enjoy listening to turn out to be such nice people as well.
If you haven't been to one of their concerts, it clearly should be on your bucket list. Seeing/listening them again is certainly one of my goals.
And they're on Spotify, which I didn't know and they are very proud of.
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Weekend gigs..... - Armel Coussine
