Pre-Valentine night out with Ruth. All a bit of a rush getting there as was late finishing work as I tried to complete a seeming interminable report before getting home and taking the mutt out. Met Ruth in St Peter's Square as she'd been at her university course in Preston and we had a nice pre-gig Korean meal. No alcohol tonight as been overdoing it lately and putting on weight. I hate winter so much that I tend to hibernate with beers, M&Ms and films. First signs we are seeing the back of winter and the first teetering steps of spring so I'm waking up from my slumber (like lions) and the bicycle has been oiled.
Peng is a female artist with a DJ providing the music which gives it a karaoke feel(a process of osmosis is occurring after spending time with Frank I fear). She has an amazing gravelly voice that is reminiscent of Macy Gray but the songs are a bit uninspiring and indistinguishable. The venue is filling up and she gets a good reception, especially when she tells everyone how much she loves the Manchester bees (look it up if you don't know).
I wasn't sure what to expect with Neneh Cherry as I remember watching her live on TV at Glastonbury sometime in the 90s and it sounding a bit weak but I've always admired her sassy, empowered approach. She has made some amazing records and I love her recent album Broken Politics which Four Tet produced and you can hear his influence all over the music. She has also contributed to some cool stuff like Massive Attack's Blue Lines and I only just found out she was in The Slits at some point which looks good on the CV. The Albert Hall is one of the best venues in Manchester and is an old Methodist church and is sold out tonight. I've seen Warpaint, Beck and Dinosaur Jr there previously and always had a great night: this might top them all though.
Photo taken from Twitter feed of @sarahmann365
Ruth asked me to put this in the blog: when she was a kid growing up in leafy Surrey she got poster from the kids music magazine Smash Hits which had Jason Donovan on one side and Neneh Cherry on the other and she's proud to say she put Neneh on her wall. No-brainer I'd say and I can imagine Ruthie strutting around her bedroom singing along to Buffalo Stance. Most of the songs Neneh plays are rightly so from Broken Politics and she forgets the lyrics for the first song and apologies profusely with one of the band having to sing it for her. No apologies required though: this is Manchester and we've been brought up on Barney from New Order who surprises everyone when he does remember his lyrics.
Photo taken from Twitter feed of @jwoodfilm
The songs from Broken Politics sound even better live and Neneh has a great stage presence. She tells a story at one point of being in Manchester some years ago and meeting Shaun Ryder, which gets an almighty cheer, and sitting on Ike Turner's lap, which gets a lot of boos from the ladies: Neneh reminds them that she sat on his lap not the other way round. We get Manchild, Seven Seconds (Neneh's husband Cameron bravely sings Youssou N'dour's part) before finishing with a rousing Buffalo Stance with the crowd singing back the chorus. The applause and foot stamping was that loud I was worried the balcony might come down. She has a great band who seem to be loving the night as much as all in the crowd and they're really talented, swapping instruments at times. A great night and I'm really enjoying this challenge. Back to the Albert Hall on Sunday for Nils Frahm.
Photos taken from Albert Hall Facebook page
No comments:
Post a Comment