Another old review from the same period (August 2001) – but the chances are I’m never going to see the great man playing live again, so it returns to the site as testament to one of the true greats of the blues and a truly excellent live performer. Twenty four years ago, would you believe it. Tempus fugit – time is indeed marching on! (As did B.B sadly, in May, 2015).
Another oldie, and it stays on the site for the same reason as Bishopstock – and the chance of ever seeing the ‘King Of Rock’n’Soul live have long gone – sadly, he died in October 2010. Below is the original review of the London Barbican gig, written all the way back in November 2002. It all began a little cheesily – an opening two perfunctory jams by the competent, but not particularly exciting backing band and an oversized red throne centre stage, flanked by buckets of red roses, awaiting the great man. You knew he was big, but nothing really prepared you for the man mountain who finally made his way to centre stage.
I’m revisiting these old reviews of Bishopstock 2000 and 2001 as a reminder of what a great event this used to be and to reflect on the sad way it ended. As far as I recall, this was the first festival (as opposed to gigs) that we had been to together and holds a special place in our memory. Most of what you see in …
First up on the Sunday (and an interesting choice to kick start the second day) was Corey Harris. He had to battle the worst of the day’s weather and his acoustic, intimate music is hardly suited to raising the crowd on a damp early Sunday afternoon – and yet he worked perfectly. Remarkable guitar work, heavy on feel and touch and less on pure technique, coupled with wonderfully expressive vocals, the performance went down well with the crowd and set us up for the rest of the day. The fact that Corey could then be seen wandering in the audience after his set listening to the artists following him speaks volumes about the event; by and large, any egos had been left at the door (or the next field possibly!)
Saturday kicked off at 12.00 on the dot with Amor, the band led by ex-Hoax member John Amor. Good, solid, heavy riffing blues with a contemporary edge. Very different to the Hoax but none the worse for that and a fine start to the first day. Ana Popovic was next up, a vocalist and guitarist with a growing reputation. Her performance got stronger as the set developed but I didn’t hear anything truly exceptional or noteworthy in the set.
Just under a week ago, we returned from a trip up to the North East to complete the first of our catsitting duties for 2025, although we extended it to just under two weeks with a break in Derbyshire on our way back home. We again broke up the journey on the way up with an overnight stop at Wentbridge; however in startling news that may well rock the world of our core audience we stayed in a ‘Courtyard Room’, a first for us and a pleasant upgrade on the pre-booked accommodation!
A little late as we have been back just over two weeks but here nonetheless is a brief resume of our Saga Cruise (our second Saga after our first in 2023) to Scandinavia. This was on the Spirit of Adventure, thus ensuring we’ve now travelled on both the company ships. As specified, there are subtle differences but the overall layout is in fact exactly the same and means we were very quickly comfortable with our surroundings. Of the subtle changes, the one we noticed most keenly was the Nepalese specialty restaurant, which we both thought was excellent and an experience well worth repeating. We had learned from the previous ‘newbie’ experience and ate mainly in the grill to avoid the ‘perils’ of anytime dining, although on the occasions we did eat in the main dining room we had no trouble securing a table for two, so in fairness maybe they had made minor adjustments to the set-up (i.e. more tables for two!!)
Just a vehicle for the odd ramble or two, the most recent first (OK, apart from this introduction). Well, it keeps me out of trouble. It’s also a useful way to remember what we actually did last week, year or decade – an antidote to the senior moments! So, occasional entries may or may not be posted here on anything from holidays, sport, music, theatre, cinema or……..
This is a very specific post, aimed fairly and squarely in the direction of Mrs. No. Name, largely in response to her not too infrequent accusatory remarks that we haven’t really been anywhere. So, apologies to the vast general readership (oh the irony) but unless travel and lists are your thing, this one isn’t really for you…
Or in this case, a trip to Sunderland last week to visit S&G that did not include catsitting duties, although it is still sad to report that any such future tasks will be to support two cats following the sad demise of the second of the older twins after more than twenty years of domestic ‘harmony’. Also, when I say Easter at Sunderland, it was more a three day break in the middle of a longer break with visits to Easby and Richmond on the way up and Baslow and the Peak District on the way back.
On a roll now with posts that are R&B related but can still find a place in the main musings section of this site. Well, no-one said I couldn’t include a little contemporaneous R&B material and post it on the main site without detracting from the older R&B material I ported over from the old Shades Of Blue website of yester year. So, along with the previous post, here comes another one.
No, the title is not a reference to the deep, dark and somewhat disappointing direction that the country has taken – although given the recent, traditional tropes more usually associated with a right of centre party but now apparently adopted by a supposedly socialist (or even social democratic) government, one might be forgiven if this article was little more than an excuse for a conspiratorial rant – but we’re better than that! So no, this is simply a brief and hopefully more aesthetically pleasing meditation on the sometimes quite pronounced overlap of black artists and country music!