Favourite Performers
Upcoming Gigs
Reviews of shows
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Lucy Kaplansky – The Sage, Hall 2 - 22nd October
Originally from Chicago, Lucy moved to New York City at the age of 18 and became involved in the city's folk music scene.
In 1983, she decided to become a psychologist, but continued playing music while doing her PhD, and began to have some success as part of a duo with Shawn Colvin. However, when they began to attract record company interest, Lucy declined, choosing instead to become a staff psychologist at a New York hospital.
By the early 1990s she found herself increasingly drawn back to music and Shawn Colvin, who by this time had experienced some commercial success, offered to produce an album for her. The result, The Tide, was released in 1994. At this time, she decided to return to music full-time and has released four more albums before her latest, Over The Hills.
My evening started with a treat – dinner in The Brasserie, and who should be there also having dinner but the artist herself!
I do like Hall 2. With its intimate atmosphere, it’s perfect for an artist like Lucy. There was no support act and no backing band and she played guitar and piano, singing songs from all her albums. Lovely songs, beautifully sung. She has a nice personality and a sense of humour and the audience warmed to her easily.
I got my CD signed afterwards, which is always a nice thing to do, and then toddled off home having thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Song samples can be heard at www.lucykaplansky.com Aud
Sinead O’Connor at The Sage Gateshead. Tuesday 22nd July 2008
At the beginning of a week of extraordinary events at The Sage Gateshead was the Sinead O’Connor concert. Sinead is a woman who, in her eternal quest for self realisation has trodden many varied pathways. We have seen her rant eloquently and justifiably against the level of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, only to be later ordained as a priest. She has resolutely refused to conform to the stereotype of the rock chick, eschewing make up, dresses and often, hair in defiance of the expected norm. She is many things to many people, but in truth mostly remembered for her heartbreaking rendition of Prince’s ‘Nothing compares to you’ and that iconic video. I love her early work. Songs like ‘3 Babies’ and ‘Mandinka’ are as fresh and relevant now as they were way back then. I have never seen her perform live, and was very excited at the prospect. Accompanied only by a guitarist and a keyboard player, Sinead walked onstage looking hardly any different, and endeavoured to pretend that we, the audience, did not exist. Our collective hearts went out to her. She is a strong woman with an amazing voice, but she is clearly struck with terror in front of a crowd. She sang songs from her latest cd Theology, which left me on the horns of a dilemma. I loved the music and the sound of her voice, but as an ex Roman catholic atheist, I found the subject matter difficult to say the least. The second half of the show was made up of her earlier work, the crowd pleasers, including a somewhat nervy take on the aforementioned Prince song, and during this session something very strange happened. The guitar player, who was sitting at ninety degrees to the audience, kept turning his head to the back of the stage and calling things out in a most disconcerting way. Only by listening very carefully was I able to make out that he was calling out chord changes to Sinead, who would also look at him, as if for reassurance from time to time. It seemed that each time she was about to freeze in terror, she would look to him, he would nod or smile, and she would carry on. She was much, much more at ease playing the new religious songs and this would seem to be where her heart lies right now. I couldn’t help but feel for someone who clearly suffers such extreme anxiety about performing, who yet is driven to perform. For me, I am very glad to have seen her but one way and another, it wasn’t the most comfortable concert I have ever seen, and I’m not sure I’d want to repeat the experience. Kate
Sandi Thom at The Cluny, Ouseburn, Newcastle:
Sandi shot to fame when she broadcast her music online from her home-studio in 2006, but this so-called ‘overnight success’ came after playing live for more than 12 years and after graduating from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts with a BA (Hons).
I first saw her at The Sage earlier this year where she had a stripped-down band of just a guitarist and hand drummer. At that time I hadn’t heard much of her music and was totally blown away by her performance. She’s not shy about her opinions on politics and current affairs and writes some great songs.
As far as this gig goes, after the first song Sandi said that although it was embarrassing, she felt she had to tell us that she had a stomach bug and might have to leave the stage rather suddenly, which she did have to do at one point. She apologised at the end of the set and said she’d probably given only 50% of what she would normally give. I have to say I didn’t notice. I think the performance was great.
One downside was that the band was too loud at times and drowned out her voice, although she sang a couple of songs with just a guitarist and her voice really came to the fore.
I don’t think The Cluny can compete with The Sage acoustics, but Sandi’s a wonderful live performer, a perceptive songwriter and an undeniably fine singer. I can't wait for her next tour. Aud
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Live in Brisbane
Kd lang The Sage Gateshead Saturday 26th July 2008
If you haven’t seen kd lang perform live, it may be hard to accept her reviews as being free of hyperbole but hers is a talent that it is difficult to exaggerate. Twenty years ago, being intrigued by Madonna’s comment ’Elvis is alive, and she’s beautiful’, Annie and I went to the Town and Country club in London to see what all the fuss was about . The support band was a bog standard country band with a female singer. Perfectly competent and perfectly dull. We were less than excited about the prospect of the second half. ‘She’s a country singer, how good can she be?’ Always open to being proved wrong, we waited patiently through the interval and in due course kd’s band came onstage and began to play in an already clearly ‘cut above’ the usual kind of way. Kd burst onstage wearing an electric blue suit, which was later revealed to have a giant rhinestone triangle on the back of the jacket, an amazing punk quiff hairdo, and her trademark grin. She leapt over the drums, sank to her knees and slid to the front of the stage. The place went wild, and that was before we heard ‘The Voice’. Twenty years on her love affair with her audience continues unabated, the only difference being that, back then she played to a niche lesbian audience, and now she has many fans in mainstream music, due entirely to her amazing talent, her irresistible charm and her refusal to compromise who she is. Probably fifty percent of Saturday’s audience were dykes, but everyone lucky enough to be there shared something very special, and we all knew it. Of course, she sang the hits, Constant Craving and Miss Chatelaine, sending herself up in her usual way. Western Stars, a personal favourite of mine, showed that she can still slide through four octaves with enviable ease, and her spine tingling version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, earned her a well deserved standing ovation. For me, kd’s warmth and charm make her an essentially live performer. Of course I buy her cd’s and love to listen to them, but her live shows are a thing apart. She loves her audience almost as much as they love her and it shows. Not for her the studied indifference of some performers, or the painful insecurity of others. Kd’s delight at the rapturous welcome she is afforded, is written all over her face and translated into her performance. If you never go to another live show as long as you live, next time she’s in town, do yourself a favour, go see her, you won’t regret it. Kate
Rogues Gallery The Sage Gateshead. July 24th 2008
When I saw this advertised , all it said was Tim Robbins and guests sing sea shanties and pirate songs. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed and assumed it was some obscure folkie with a marine leaning, rather than the Hollywood star of Shawshank Redemption and Mr Susan Sarandon. Goddess protect me from making assumptions as I almost missed one of the most astonishing shows of the year. The show was opened by a grey bearded, greyhaired guitar player called Babygramps, who belted out his stuff on a battered National Steel guitar, and made the most unusual, yet strangely harmonic vocal sounds, you couldn’t call it singing, I have ever heard. His website describes him as ‘An amazing amalgamation of nothing you have ever seen before’ and this describes him perfectly. If you know Seasick Steve, imagine him on acid, and you might be getting an idea. The house band played a stage full of instruments, including drum kits superbly and the chorus consisted of the aforementioned Tim Robbins, Becky and Rachel Unthank, Kathryn Williams, Julie Fowlis, several American singers AND Suzanne Vega. Different people sang different songs, and the chorus changed and evolved to suit the mood. The only downside was a group of late middle aged blokes, led by Dave Thomas ‘performing’ an excruciatingly self indulgent version of ‘Drunken Sailor’. Dreadful. If only I’d had a hosepipe to hand…!! All in all a most enjoyable show, and evidence, if we needed it, that the marketing department at The Sage, really needs to embrace the idea of letting people know what’s on. Anywhere else in the country, this show would have been a sell out, but hardly 400 tickets were sold in a hall that holds maybe 1800. Kate
On Thursday my youngest daughter and I went to see The Proclaimers at Durham Gala Theatre. In homage to their heyday as a students union band, the stalls seating was removed (needless to say, we sat in the circle) which caused not a little consternation to the largely middle aged crowd, who milled around anxiously looking for a wall to lean on. As soon as Charlie and Craig appeared onstage however, all concerns disappeared and the theatre was filled with the infectious energy that is the hallmark of the Proclaimers. A satisfying number of their most famous songs was intermingled with less familiar but equally enjoyable album tracks, and a sprinkling of new songs from the new album. Charlie and Craig don't talk much. They're not great at audience banter, but what they have is an indefinable something, an energy source that appeals to diehard fans and new ones equally. A great night out and well worth the effort. Kate
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Upcoming gigs ........................... : Emmylou Harris - 10 September 7.30 - City Hall - £32.50 £27.50 £24.50
Lucy Kaplansky - 22 October - Sage Hall 2 - £ 13.50 £7.00
I adore Emmylou, Wrecking Ball is in my top ten favourite albums list, and she is one of the most iconic and inimitable singers ever , however, much as I have loved City Hall gigs, where much of my youth was misspent, Rolling Stones 1966 , Ike and Tina Turner, Marianne Faithfull, Dusty Ah..those were the days, Oh no, that was Mary Hopkin. I went last year to see Jo Brand, and what I realised was that I had never sat down in the City Hall. I must have been to hundreds of concerts there, and clearly my youthful posterior never graced the faded velveteen. It came as something of a surprise then to discover that, in my dotage, once in a sitting position, there was simply nowhere to put my legs. It became necessary to fold them into a kind of Rubiks puzzle of bends and twists that took considerable manipulation to straighten out at the end of the show. It is with huge regret that I made the decision to forgo concerts at the City Hall unless I suddenly found that my legs were considerably shorter, by maybe nine inches, than they are at the moment.
I haven't heard too much of Lucy Kaplansky but I'm told that, if you like Shaun Colvin, which I do, then you will like her also.
I like Hall 2 at the Sage. The seats are hardish, but plenty of leg room on the floor section. This is what I've come to now, worrying about the seats at gigs. Oh how the mighty are fallen! Kate
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On Saturday, some of us went to Hall 2 in The Sage, Gateshead, to see Julie Felix in a concert to celebrate her 70th Birthday. It would have taken a harder heart than mine to resist the wave of affection that swept from the audience to embrace this 60's folk icon, who, in truth, scarcely looks any different than she did then. Would that the same applied to all of us!! Sigh...So how was the music? Well, for me it was mixed. Her voice is as distinctive as ever, and holding up well to the rigours of touring, and it was great in the first half of the show when she showcased her contemporary songwriters, Dylan of course, Leonard Cohen, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell and especially exciting for me, a rendition of Dory Previn's Going Home. The second half was sort of nostalgic fun, and sort of anachronistic. Yes, back then we really did sing about Goddesses and Beautiful Sisters, and we believed most of what we were singing, but these cynical times seem so far removed from those heady ideals that either regret or guilt or embarassment kept me from connecting with those songs on Saturday. For me, Julie really came into her own performing Spanish songs accompanied by herself on nylon string guitar, and those 3 songs were fabulous. This is where her voice belongs. Gone was the sometimes slightly awkward phrasing that was particularly evident during Cohen's classic 'Hallelujah' which I have to say did not compare with either kd lang's version or Rufus Wainwright's. This felt so right. Her voice relaxed into rich woven tapestries where language barriers didn't matter and the perfomance of these songs was entirely transfixing. She deserves her place in the pantheon of music icons, but for me the glory is retrospective. I still want to 'Carry Greenham Home' and I'm not sure it's there any more. Kate |
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