The poster says it's an extraordinary experience. Based on tonight's performances, the adjective is prefixed by five letters too many.
Mark Benton is fine in the Jack Lemmon role, but the others mostly don't measure up to the script. Nigel Harman certainly ain't no Pacino. His big angry scene, bringing out the big C word, evoked as many titters as gasps from the audience when it should have felt like a gut punch. Maybe his unconvincing New York drawl weakened its impact. Maybe he just wasn't up to the role.
I know it's unfair to compare the film to the play but I'd rather dig out my Bluray than have to sit through this middling pish again.
My compliments to the set designer.
(On reflection, the set wasn't that special either).
You know you've picked the wrong event for a date night when the support act's final bit ends with him describing peeling off the rubbed-in, dried, hangover-wank cum from his belly. That's what I call a SPOILER. (Sorry if you plan to see scouse comedian Adam Rowe, who supported Bill Burr at the Armadillo last night).
I wasn't overly familiar with Bill's act. I knew his material wasn't as "challenging" as, say, Doug Stanhope's, but figured if my wife could laugh at Jim Jefferies she might be okay with Bill Burr.
Big mistake.
Even I didn't enjoy the night. This wasn't because Bill was bad. He wasn't. He was incisive in nailing a punchline, showed great craft in his callbacks and performed his routines expertly. I just didn't laugh much (by that I mean big belly laughs that catch you unaware and shake your insides). I felt more browbeaten than amused. The universal stuff was good and he mined a few home truths to good effect (a husband always being a work in progress; the thoughtlessness of car makers of yesteryear for only including an airbag for the driver as his family is wrecked around him, for example) but he also did a lot of America-centric material which didn't find my funny bone and at times challenged my patience.
Bill's comedy is borne from anger so does little to relax his audience. His thick Bostonian accent grates, he speaks fast and he curses like his mom couldn't find the soap to wash out his mouth. He doesn't make any apologies for who he is (nor should he) but I found it all a bit much. That was down to me.
The event info suggested he would do an hour, finishing at 9.30pm; he played an hour and a half, finishing at 10.15pm. My day had already been stressful right up to the point of arriving at my seat so it felt like I'd never relaxed the entire time and Bill didn't help this. I left the venue just as stressed as when I arrived. Not what I expect from a comedy night. My wife also didn't laugh so I felt an impending sense of 'oh dear, my brownie point share price has just crashed and burned'. Not conducive to being entertained.
Although we didn't laugh much, the audience loved him, giving him a standing ovation. This surprised me. I didn't think they'd be able to stand given the amount of alcohol I'd seen being brought in prior to the show, being carried deftly in those cardboard, wedgy trays (they knew the bar was closed during the performance). I think to appreciate Bill properly you need to have had a few beforehand to get you into his loud-mouth, barroom mindset. A lesson learned.
While a few of my friends nipped along to the Barrowland to sample some old school Big Country and The Skids, I instead plumped for something quieter at Paisley Town Hall. I was a bit surprised to get parked so easily close to the venue until I discovered the gig wasn't in the main hall but instead upstairs in one of the smaller rooms.
It wasn't the kind of gig to take pictures so I'll do my best to describe it.
The ambience in the Alexander Wilson Suite was cosy but refined. Seats in rows of six on either side of the long room provided a capacity for around two hundred people. Most were taken up by a mainly mature audience with only a few empty ones near the back. The cold night was kept at bay by grilled radiators inset in the walls distributing warm air to the room. Dangling from the ornate ceiling, massive brass chandeliers conjured an image of mutant-legged spiders holding up dim, electric candles, some of which weren't lit, casting a soft glow on the audience below. Two spotlights, one on either side of the slightly raised stage, were accompanied by a couple of coloured uplighters, providing a pink tinge on the back wall and, as the musicians moved forward or back, creating bluey shadows, which stretched and shrank behind them.
Guitarist Lyle Watt was tonight's support act playing around twenty minutes of his instrumental compositions. He's a highly talented plucker, good enough for me to pop to the merch table to purchase his CD EP.
When it was time for Ross Wilson, aka Blue Rose Code, to take the stage he kept it simple, with just him and two band members on stage, the aforementioned Lyle on guitar and someone called Andy on keyboards. All three were bearded and in jumpers, Ross wearing a ribbed brown affair with a round neckline. Ross's hair was short and shaved, the others long but tied back.
Ross played acoustic guitar too and the sound generated by the band was beautiful and clear. The musicianship from all three was exquisite and tight and my only complaint would be that some of Ross' chat between songs was too conversational and a bit unclear at times. Talk into the mike, mate.
Unusually for a Paisley crowd on a Friday night, the audience was respectful and quiet, with only a few making excuses to visit the bar or toilet. At the end, the band got a standing ovation.
For those of you not versed in BRC's music, I would describe it as music to encapsulate the spirit of waking from a cosy night's sleep on a sunny Sunday morning with a view outside of a Scottish beach, the Atlantic waves gently lap against the shore. In the press, it's been described as 'Caledonia Soul'. It's certainly more than just folk music.
Even if I didn't end up rocking 'Into the Valley' tonight 'In a Big Country', I got to enjoy a cultured evening of beautiful, lyrical Scottish music. Cheers, Ross.
(He was much better tonight than the last time I saw him, at Saint Lukes).
Icon.
Legend.
Amazing gig.
When you're Paul McCartney, you can get the most talented musicians to play in your band. They need to be the best to match your ability. Tick.
When you're Paul McCartney, you can get Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp to perform sign language to the lyrics of one of your songs (on video). Tick.
When you're Paul McCartney, you can get a room full of proper stars to dance on video to another one of your songs. Tick.
When you're Paul McCartney, your Japanese fans will fly all the way to Glasgow to see you perform (and sit in the best seats). Saiko.Tick.
Because you're Paul McCartney, you can play the bass, the piano, the electric guitar, the acoustic guitar, the mandolin and the lute and play them brilliantly for nearly three hours without even needing to sip a bottled water. At seventy-six, you've been doing it so long, you know how it's done. And you can remember your lyrics without needing a crib sheet. Tick.
When you're Paul McCartney, you can surprise the shit out of the audience with a loud explosion with fire, smoke and pyros during "Live and Let Die". Boom.
I loved this gig.
The audience was multigenerational, from eight to eighty, and everyone enjoyed it. We felt included. The whole of the downstairs stood and danced for the entire show, a lot of them bringing signs they'd made for Paul to read out. He played forty songs and hardly broke a sweat.
On a personal level, It was fun to see the Paisley Grammar School choir accompanying him on "Wonderful Christmastime".
I wouldn't have called myself a Macca fan before tonight but this gig made my top 3 for 2018, pushing Steve Martin down to four (the others being Billy Joel at MSG and Queen at Glasgow Green).
Age is no barrier when you're Paul McCartney.
Setlist
A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles song)
Junior's Farm (Wings song)
Can't Buy Me Love (The Beatles song)
Letting Go (Wings song)
Who Cares
Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles song)
Come On to Me
Let Me Roll It (Wings song) (followed by "Foxy Lady" jam)
I've Got a Feeling (The Beatles song)
Let 'Em In (Wings song)
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings song)
Maybe I'm Amazed
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles song)
In Spite of All the Danger (The Quarrymen song)
From Me to You (The Beatles song)
Dance Tonight
Love Me Do (The Beatles song)
Blackbird (The Beatles song)
Here Today
Queenie Eye
Lady Madonna (The Beatles song)
Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles song)
Fuh You
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles song)
Something (The Beatles song)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song)
Band on the Run (Wings song)
Back in the U.S.S.R. (The Beatles song)
Let It Be (The Beatles song)
Live and Let Die (Wings song)
Hey Jude (The Beatles song)
Encore:
Birthday (The Beatles song)
Wonderful Christmastime (with Paisley Grammar School Choir)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (The Beatles song)
Helter Skelter (The Beatles song)
Golden Slumbers (The Beatles song)
Carry That Weight (The Beatles song)
The End (The Beatles song)
The audience was predominantly male, bald, fat and bespectacled, much like Fish (and myself).
Nowadays, the pot-bellied rocker uses a lyric folder to remember all the words he wrote all those years ago and his voice is past its best but he's still a great frontman, with the banter and presence of a seasoned barroom stool sitter. The crowd was rowdy but he shut down the calls for 'Grendel' and 'Gies a bun' with humour and aplomb, not letting them get the better of him. He had tales to tell and wasn't going to be interrupted.
This tour was sold as playing Clutching At Straws in its entirety for the first time, plus tracks from the new album 'Weltschmerz' due next year. Breaking up the classic album worked well, mixing in the old with the new. This was my first listen to his new stuff and it sounded a bit like his old stuff, just with different lyrics. Not a lot of variation - there was slow, there was angry, there was waltz, yes, waltz. This tour's gimmick was to ask the audience to dance with each other for 15 seconds during a song called the Trondheim Waltz, grabbing a stranger and whirling round in three time. I cringed as lots of men in black T-shirts obeyed their master and danced with each other. Not me.
The show wasn't a sell-out. The balcony was empty but downstairs was fairly packed. As usual, someone got on my goat, this time a tall, drunk and expressive gentleman who pushed in front of me with his pint then stood blocking my view. Fortunately, he wanted to get closer to the front so he lasted only a couple of songs before moving forward again. Later, a weeble wobbled in front of me as he struggled to bear his own weight, resorting to shifting from side to side blocking me when on his right. A few loud thunder claps from me near his ear, which to be fair was right in front of me, was all the persuasion he needed to shift over.
As a live artist, Fish is nearing his 'use by' date. His back is gubbed, his knees are gone and his voice has minimal range. The backing singer carried a lot of the tunes but I still enjoyed it, especially the encore with Tux On and Incommunicado. It just wasn't anywhere near as special as a Marillion Christmas gig at the Playhouse or Barrowland.
Support was from Doris Brendel and her band. She also sang backing vocals with Fish. Her voice isn't the best either. I probably won't be seeking out her albums.
Setlist
Slà inte Mhath (Marillion song)
Man With A Stick
Hotel Hobbies (Marillion song)
Warm Wet Circles (Marillion song)
That Time of the Night (The Short Straw) (Marillion song)
Little Man What Now
Torch Song (Marillion song)
White Russian (Marillion song)
Just for the Record (Marillion song)
C Song
Going Under (Marillion song)
Sugar Mice (Marillion song)
Waverley Steps
The Last Straw (Marillion song)
Encore:
Tux On (Marillion song)
Incommunicado (Marillion song)
It was a gruff Friday night in the dingy dark hole known as Audio, located under the railway tracks heading into Central station. The music was great, the punters tall and the view restricted despite being less than ten feet from the stage. We got a wee bonus of Joolz from GUN joining the main two for a couple of numbers. GUN's drummer was in the crowd too but his efforts were not required as there was no drum kit, just electric acoustic guitars.
Warwick Johnson played for two and a half hours, playing a mix of Black Star Riders, Almighty, Thin Lizzy and various covers giving great value for money on a £15 ticket (plus booking fee). The craic was golden from both the stage and the audience.
Cheers to Robert Hutton for the shout when he had an extra ticket.
(with acoustic support from the Amorettes singer, Gill Montgomery, and her guitarist buddy from Wayward Sons, Sam Wood).
I normally bitch about the punters around me but not tonight. Everyone was lovely. Even after the interval, when the young people thought they would make their way to the front only to encounter the dividing barrier - for a golden circle that was less than packed - they didn't make a fuss and edged back again.
Ms. Minogue was on top form. With another chart-topping album under her cowgirl belt, she wowed us with hit after hit, taking us from 50's America, through the rebellious sixties, onto the disco floors of 70's Studio 54 and then right up to now.
The choreography was classy without being too showy, the huge screens were used superbly to convey desert vistas, pool hall bars, shadowy forests and display specially shot videos to complement the stage performance; the lighting was amazing and the staging used the walkway and front stage to good effect, bringing her closer to everyone. When the show finished, the noise from the crowd was the loudest I've ever heard at the Hydro.
What a night. She's a special girl.
Setlist
Act I: Desert Sunrise
Golden
Get Outta My Way
Better the Devil You Know
Act II: The High and Dry
Blue Velvet (Tony Bennett song)
(Interlude)
Confide in Me
I Believe in You
Where the Wild Roses Grow (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover) (Snippet)
In Your Eyes
A Lifetime to Repair
Act III: Nothing Behind Me, Everything Ahead of Me
Shelby '68
Radio On
Wow
Can't Get You Out of My Head (Contains elements of "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac)
Act IV: At the Biker Rally
Slow (Contains elements of "Being Boiled" by The Human League)
Kids (Robbie Williams cover)
The One
Stop Me From Falling
Act V: At the Picnic after the Biker Rally
Wouldn't Change a Thing
I'll Still Be Loving You
Especially for You (Jason Donovan cover)
Lost Without You
All the Lovers
Act VI: Studio 54
New York City / Raining Glitter / On a Night Like This
The Loco-Motion (Carole King cover) (Contains elements of "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer)
Spinning Around
Encore:
Love at First Sight
Dancing
