Concert #591 - Richard Thompson at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 7, 2011)

  

For me, Richard Thompson's Japan disaster benefit concert at McCabe's on May 7, 2011, was  the Concert Of The Year and the year is not nearly over. But no one can do better than RT, except maybe RT himself, who will be back at McCabe's on May 27 for yet another benefit show, for the very same cause.

Dressed all black and wearing his usual beret, Richard opened his set with "She Twists The Knife Again" and one could immediately tell that he was in great form. Sitting in the front row, directly in front of him, I watched his guitar work in amazement. As expected from an RT fanatic like myself, I knew very well most of the songs and overall I declare myself quite happy with the songs Richard picked for the evening. 

SET LIST

She Twists The Knife Again

Good Things (this may not be the true title)

The Woods Of Darney

Turning Of The Tide

Sunset Song

1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Stumble On

Hamlet

Persuasion

Crawl Back

Down Where The Drunkards Roll

Sidney Wells

Dimming Of The Day

I Feel So Good

Pharaoh

Beeswing

Madame Bonaparte 

ENCORE

Maurice

Two Left Feet

Waltzing's For Dreamers

Richard is 62 years old, yet he showed no signs of slowing down. His vocals were as strong as ever, his fingers could still do the job and there was nothing wrong with his energy level. He remains a massive favorite of mine, and - to paraphrase the great Chick Hearn - I can't say that Richard is the best, but there's no one better.

Show-opener Alistair Anderson joined Richard for the last three songs of the set, then again for the three songs of the encore. Their interaction was something to see - they made frequent eye contact and mutual smiles were often present as they were challenging each other, especially during the playing of "Two Left Feet". Alistair's humorous body language and facial expressions were fun to watch. Overall, he was a great addition to Richard's set. 

 

I was a little less impressed with Alistair's show-opening set, which I thought was about fifteen minutes too long. A virtuoso of his instruments - English Concertina and Northumbrian Pipes - Alistair is probably the best in his field, so the problem may lie in my inability to fully appreciate his musical territory. 

Richard Thompson and Alistair Anderson at McCabe's (May 2011)

The set list

Stage setup

Alistair Anderson (left) chatting with my friend Steve after the show

Concert Director Lincoln Myerson, after the show

Ralph and Laura at their first-ever RT concert

Signs in the window at McCabe's

Concert #509 - Luka Bloom at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 22, 2009)

Luka Bloom - now we are talking about an artist who has been extremely close to my heart since 1991, when I discovered his brilliant "Riverside"album. I own all his recordings and listen to them often. I try to catch all his LA area appearances which, sadly, are rare and far between. Over the years, I had exposed many of my friends to Luka's music, so I had an easy time mobilizing fourteen of them to join me for Luka's much-expected gig at McCabe's.

Without a doubt, this was one of the best concerts I've ever seen at McCabe's or anywhere else, for that matter, and my guests were just as impressed as I was.

FULL SET LIST

I Hear Her Like Lorelei
There Is A Time
Tribe
As I Waved Goodbye
See You Soon
I Love The World I'm In
City Of Chicago
No Matter Where You Go, There You Are
Eastbound Train
Peace On Earth
Dreams In America
Gone To Pablo
Rainbow Day
Everyman
The Acoustic Motorbike
Sunny Sailor Boy
I'm On Your Side
Don't Be Afraid Of The Light That Shines Within You
You Coudn't Have Come At A Better Time
Medley (The Man Is Alive & The Hill Of Allen)

Luka was his usual self - friendly, humorous and gentle - but when it came to music, it was serious business. I won't even try to pick a show highlight, the whole affair was of the highest quality in all respects, from the beginning to the very end. I loved his guitar playing on "Peace On Earth" and "The Hill Of Allen", it was fun singing along on "Sunny Sailor Boy" and I screamed with excitement when I heard the first chords of "The Acoustic Motorbike".

After the show, Luka mingled with the crowd and signed autographs.

The opening act was a young singer-songwriter named Birdie Busch. She did not leave a lasting impression.

Some of my friends, before the door opened

The stage, a few moments before Luka Bloom came out

Luka Bloom at McCabe's (May 2009)

Kevin & Kirsti

Ralph, Laura, Maria and Wayne

Ann & Jess

Luka Bloom shaking hands with Yours Truly

Luka Bloom autographing for Kirsti

Concert #590 - Hot Club Of Cowtown at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 29, 2011)

Individually and collectively, these guys are devilishly good. So good, that they must be introduced right away. Here they are:

Elana James - Violin, vocals

Whit Smith - Guitar, vocals

Jake Erwin - Upright bass, vocals

They play hot jazz and western swing. Knowingly or otherwise, they have also pioneered a new genre (wink, wink) known - to me, at least - as "eastern swing", which is what you get when you play Russian tunes in Texas-swing style. In this case, the Eastern-European import was "Dark Eyes", an old Russian song whose original title is "Ochi Chyornye", literally meaning "Black Eyes" (that doesn't sound good in English, does it?). Except for this one foreign digression, the Hot Club played nothing but good home-made numbers, many of them self-penned, and quite a few covers, among which Bob Dylan's "One More Night" stood out.
 
As far as the tempo was concerned, the band had three speeds: fast, very fast, and ultra-fast. I was amazed by the amount of energy exerted by these fine musicians, song after song - they played two long sets and there weren't more than two or three slower numbers for them to catch their breaths. And they had a lot of fun in the process, it was a pleasure watching their interaction while playing and in between songs.

The Hot Club are a truly cohesive band, yet each and every band member is a stellar soloist. I particularly liked the percussive sounds produced by Jake's bass-slapping technique, something you don't often see.

The final song of their encore, a high-power rendition of "Orange Blossom Special", brought all of us to our feet. Songs like this had a direct effect upon the people's desire to open up their wallets and buy Cowtown CDs, DVDs and memorabilia - their merch table saw a lot of buyers, more than I'd ever seen at McCabe's.

Watch a YouTube video of "She's Killing Me", the song that opened the proceedings at McCabe's:

PARTIAL SET LIST

"She's Killing Me"

"Cherokee Shuffle"

"Valerie"

"It Stops With Me"

"Ida Red"

"Dev'lish Mary"

"There'll Be Some Changes Made"

"Dark Eyes"

"Orange Blossom Special"

"Big Balls In Cowtown"

"When I Lost You"

"Stardust"

"Heart Of Romain"

"Sleep"

"The Devil Ain't Lazy"

"Chinatown"

"Sweet Jenny Lee"

"One More Night"

"Deed I Do"

The Hot Club Of Cowtown at McCabe's (April 2011)

Elana James chatting with fans between sets

Jake Erwin chatting with fans

Whit Smith (center) chatting with fans

The Hot Club's exceptionally good merch table

The Hot Club Of Cowtown among the sold-out shows at McCabe's

Concerts #372, 510 - Ian Tyson at McCabe's Guitar Shop ( Aug 13, 2005 - May 23, 2009)

Not having caught Ian Tyson's earlier shows at McCabe's is something I still regret very much. Ironically, it was with some reluctance that I finally decided to see him in August 2005 - I had figured that he must have been in his low sixties, therefore still fit to put on a decent performance. And he put on not a decent, but an incredible performance that went on for over two hours, with plenty of energy, great vocals, quality songs and fun stories.

As we were getting up at the end of the show, the lady sitting next to me said "Not bad for a seventy-two year old". I replied "No way is he in his seventies", but then a subsequent Google search proved her right. Hard to believe, but absolutely true.

Ian came out with two other musicians whose names I do not know, and together they kept us fully engaged for the entire duration of the show. It didn't matter whether Ian sang newer songs or his old classics, he just couldn't do wrong. Most of the new music came from Ian's just-released CD titled "Songs From The Gravel Road" - these songs were catchy and instantly accessible. The old Ian & Sylvia numbers were truly special - he played "Someday Soon" and "Four Strong Winds", two huge hits that he wrote himself in the 1960s, but stayed away from "You Were On My Mind", a mega-hit penned by his ex-wife Sylvia.

Ian spoke about Alberta and his life on his ranch there, and expressed disbelief, in a humorous way, about Los Angelenos putting up with their crowded freeways.

Ian's much-expected return to McCabe's took place after his throat troubles of 2006, which damaged his vocal chords to a great extent. Ian's "new voice", as he called it, had none of the smoothness of his trademark timbre, so there I was once again debating whether or not to attend his show. I went.

I so badly wanted to relive the great moments of his 2005 concert, but it wasn't to be. Still, his voice sounded stronger than what it was on his 2008 album, "Yellowhead To Yellowstone And Other Love Stories", which was in line with Ian's claims of continual vocal improvement.

Ian Tyson at McCabe's (May 2009)

I will probably never see Ian Tyson again, but his music will stay with me for as long as I live.

For his 2009 tour, Ian brought along fellow Albertan Corb Lund, a young singer-songwriter whose association with Ian was based not only on their common roots, but also on their shared musical interests. Corb's set started well, but after a while it became monotonous.

Corb Lund

Ian Tyson signing autographs after the show (May 2009)

McCabe's employee Mikki Itzigsohn, photographed before the show

Concert #511 - Graham Parker at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 29, 2009)

I have never been one of Graham Parker's true fans, but it's hard to be an avid music listener without hearing his songs, sooner or later. A few of them - "Bad Chardonnay" and "The Madness Of Love", the Richard Thompson composition - had been on heavy rotation on my iPod, so just before the show sold out, I jumped on the bandwagon and got myself a ticket to see him live at McCabe's. I sat in the front row.

The show was OK, but not great - Graham did well, but simply put, there were just too many songs I didn't know - all of them, to be precise. There were plenty of connoisseurs around me, so at times I felt a bit out of place there.

The show was opened by Tom Freund, he was OK, but for me it was yet more songs I didn't know ...

Tom Freund

 

 

Concerts #513, 514 - Goran Bregovic at the Royce Hall (June 19-20, 2009)

I've known Goran Bregovic's music since 1975, when he was with Bijelo Dugme, Yugoslavia's best-selling rock band during those years. Goran's career is nothing short of amazing - from a rocker only known in his native geographical area, he reinvented himself to become a highly acclaimed musician capable of filling up large venues on all continents and generating an excitement level that is seldom seen.

I have to credit here my old friend Sony (spelled and pronounced just like the famous brand) who in the late 1990s directed my attention to Goran's resurging career and his outstanding "Arizona Dream" soundtrack.

Seeing a European mega-star of Goran's caliber is not something I was going to miss, so I grabbed tickets for each of the two consecutive nights at the gorgeous Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. This was his first-ever West Coast appearance and the place was packed not only with European expats but also with a surprisingly high number of American fans. I had good seats, about five or six rows from the stage.

The show started with an elegantly-dressed string quartet playing a piece of music that can be best described as "classical", when all of a sudden, from the back of the auditorium, a loud six-piece gypsy band walked in, banging their drums and blowing their horns with ferocity. Welcome to the Balkans!  Needless to say, the crowd went absolutely crazy.

Before too long, the stage held an unlikely gathering of musicians: the Gypsy band, a chorus consisting of six tuxedo-wearing men, two Bulgarian lady vocalists dressed in peasant clothes, the aforementioned classical string ensemble and sitting on a chair at center-stage, clad in an all-white suit, Goran Bregovic himself, with his electric guitar. 

Goran Bregovic at the Royce Hall

They went on to play for over two hours, driven by the relentless drum beat of twenty-two year old Alen Ademovic, who happens to be a great singer as well. I also liked the vocals of the Bulgarian sisters Ludmila and Daniela Radkova.

Ludmila and Daniela Radkova

Drummer and singer Alen Ademovic

PARTIAL SET LIST

"Jeremija"

"Mesecina"

"Ederlezi"

"War"

"Kalashnikov"

“Cajesukarije-Cocek"

"Gas Gas"

"Ringe Ringe Raja (Ya Ya)"

"Sanctus Deus"

There was plenty of dancing in the aisles and plenty or crowd response - this was not your typical Royce Hall crowd. Toward the end of the show, I moved up to the front row, where I had a blast.

Goran Bregovic in action

But I also have to make a somewhat negative comment: the two concerts I attended were 100% identical, and I don't mean just the sequence of songs. I mean absolutely everything, including every word and every gesture made by Goran. Maybe there's no room for improvisation when you share the stage with so many other musicians. Still, the two nights with Goran were truly unforgettable.

UCLA's Royce Hall