Just back from three nights in London, which culminated in the Leadbelly Fest at the Albert Hall on Monday night. Managed to fit in a couple of other events while we were there, just for good measure.
On Saturday night got relatively last minute tickets to the Sunny Afternoon musical based on the music and early years of Ray Davies and the Kinks. Maybe all the rave reviews had raised unrealistic expectations, but we both agreed that whilst it was a fun night out, it certainly didn’t seem to merit the extensive accolades. Yes, the songs were neatly used to illustrate the, frankly, all too typical early years of a pop band’s career in the mid 60s – but the story was hardly revolutionary and certainly not unique. What I mainly took away from the show was that I’d forgotten how good many of Ray’s songs were, a reminder to revisit the Kinks back catalogue. As for the show, it was energetic and reasonably well staged, but the Jersey Boys does it better. Oh, and we were in the balcony and yes it was only £25, but the seats were so uncomfortable and threadbare the theatre should pay you to sit there.
Denise managed to get in to see the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A, which was a bit of a bonus as when we checked on-line before the trip it implied it was sold out. Has to be said she was mightily impressed, both by the quality and quantity of the man’s output, but also by the imaginative staging of the show itself. As Denise puts it, far more than a designer, more of an artistic body of work.
We both went to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. Definitely recommended to anyone with the slightest interest in photography. Virtually all entries on display had merit and, unsurprisingly, were technically accomplished, although some were more visually appealing than others. Particularly galling were the entries from the younger photographers, with some under ten year olds producing startling and technically gifted work that put this poor old has been’s attempts in the shade. Bit pricey for what it was I think, try and get the 2 for 1 offer if you travel to London by rail.
The Leadbelly Fest itself was testament to Huey Leadbetter’s enduring appeal to the musicians who followed in his wake. The evening had everything from the rootsy Slim Chance, new kid on the block guitar virtuoso Laurence Jones, the modern bluesy wail of Dana Fuchs, the singular British voice that is Billy Bragg and, of course, the soon to be knighted Van The Man. Highlights for me included the aforementioned Dana Fuchs blistering version of ‘Gallows Pole’, Eric Bibb’s moving version of the protest song ‘Bourgeois Blues’ (first standing ovation of the night) and the appearance of Walter Trout on stage for the first time since his critical illness and life saving liver transplant. Jools Holland, Ruby Turner, Eric Burden and Paul Jones all made telling contributions. And Van made sure that his choice of material was wholly apposite. Great versions of ‘Astral Weeks’ and ‘Cleaning Windows’, which both of course name-check the great man, were followed by ‘Midnight Special’ and a collective ‘Goodnight Irene’. The sound mix in the first half was very muddy with much of the vocals getting lost in the mix. Thought it was just poor acoustics until the second half proved to be significantly better and confirmed that the first hour or so had definitely suffered from poor sound. Overall, a great night but it didn’t really hit the heights I’d been expecting. Probably just hoping for too much!
Whole weekend augmented by a very good hotel, excellent food and drink in the South Kensington area and a very pleasant pre concert meal at Verdis in the Albert Hall itself.