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A Very Cellular Concert
Jul. 16th, 2013 09:06 pmWe booked for Mike Heron and Trembling Bells at the Sage in a spirit of sheer curiosity - as we had with the Zombies, I suppose. Even on that occasion, I felt we'd made the right call: we wanted to know what they'd be like, and now we knew. So we took a chance on Trembling Bells, about whom I knew nothing at all, and Mike Heron, whose contribution to the Incredible String Band I had once known very well indeed - but that was 40 years ago. Would the evening be as fey as the name Trembling Bells suggested? Would the music be so free-form psychedelic that I would just fall asleep (I haven't been sleeping well these hot nights)? Would Mike Heron be a fifth wheel alongside a band doing their own thing? And so on...
Well, no to all the above. What we got was a really good Incredible String Band tribute show, if by "tribute show" you mean a band who really love the music and express this by performing it as well as they can - but that's "as they can", not "identical to the original performance". It followed the familiar ISB pattern of alternating Mike's songs and Robin's songs; the entire company (which on this occasion included Mike's daughter Georgia Seddon - I don't think she's a permanent member of the band) would perform on of Mike's songs, then Mike would step off-stage and Trembling Bells would play one of Robin's.
The first of these was a knockout version of Maya, nothing fancy, just perfect accompaniment and Lavinia Blackwall's strong pure voice (the videos page of the band's website refers to this, but if the music is included I can't find it). I was also blown away by their version of Days of February, a song I don't remember ever hearing before (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler and I both had the same reaction: This is an ISB song? It sounds like Burns... And it does, but no, it really is Robin Williamson).
With Mike's songs, I was just caught up in the pleasure of hearing these songs, for which I have had so much affection for so long: I really never expected to find myself, forty years on, at the Sage, trying not to join in with The Hedgehog Song - not even when Mike Heron blanked on the next verse: he knows all the words and he sings all the notes, but he never quite learns the song, it seems. His enjoyment was infectious, though having his right arm in a sling must have cramped his style a little, the breadth of his gestures limited to flying with one wing. And yes, they did A Very Cellular Song, that was the big show-closer - though just as impressive were two smaller moments, Mike and Georgia's duet on Bright Monrning Stars and an a cappella duet from Trembling Bells, Seven Years a Teardrop.
So that was all very splendid, and would have made an entirely satisfying evening in itself. But first there was a support act, Richard Dawson, about whom my feelings are best summed up as WTF? Here's a review by someone who saw and enjoyed his act:
Well, no to all the above. What we got was a really good Incredible String Band tribute show, if by "tribute show" you mean a band who really love the music and express this by performing it as well as they can - but that's "as they can", not "identical to the original performance". It followed the familiar ISB pattern of alternating Mike's songs and Robin's songs; the entire company (which on this occasion included Mike's daughter Georgia Seddon - I don't think she's a permanent member of the band) would perform on of Mike's songs, then Mike would step off-stage and Trembling Bells would play one of Robin's.
The first of these was a knockout version of Maya, nothing fancy, just perfect accompaniment and Lavinia Blackwall's strong pure voice (the videos page of the band's website refers to this, but if the music is included I can't find it). I was also blown away by their version of Days of February, a song I don't remember ever hearing before (
durham_rambler and I both had the same reaction: This is an ISB song? It sounds like Burns... And it does, but no, it really is Robin Williamson).With Mike's songs, I was just caught up in the pleasure of hearing these songs, for which I have had so much affection for so long: I really never expected to find myself, forty years on, at the Sage, trying not to join in with The Hedgehog Song - not even when Mike Heron blanked on the next verse: he knows all the words and he sings all the notes, but he never quite learns the song, it seems. His enjoyment was infectious, though having his right arm in a sling must have cramped his style a little, the breadth of his gestures limited to flying with one wing. And yes, they did A Very Cellular Song, that was the big show-closer - though just as impressive were two smaller moments, Mike and Georgia's duet on Bright Monrning Stars and an a cappella duet from Trembling Bells, Seven Years a Teardrop.
So that was all very splendid, and would have made an entirely satisfying evening in itself. But first there was a support act, Richard Dawson, about whom my feelings are best summed up as WTF? Here's a review by someone who saw and enjoyed his act:
The virtual antithesis of twee, Richard Dawson's gruff, unassuming nature has played a huge role in enriching the five defiantly lo-fi records he's mustered to date, and profits to an even greater extent in his live renditions. With a new album, The Glass Trunk, due in April, the tonight's setlist was very much a mixture of old and new - each category consisting of his own compositions alongside the old Northumberland folk songs he takes so much joy in digging up. It was, in fact, one of the fresh numbers which hit hardest; the slightly disturbing traditional number "Poor Old Horse" soaring in a surreal a cappella guise, its character only enhanced by the bum notes and voice breaks which littered its performance. Eclectic, perversely hilarious and fabulously imperfect, evenings with Richard Dawson are among the best the North East scene currently has to offer, and I for one can't wait until his next appearance.Yes, that's what we saw (maybe fewer "old Northumberland folk songs" and more Mike Waterson, but you can't complain about that). But I didn't feel that the bum notes and voice breaks were a sign of authenticity, I felt that they, like the bumbling stage presence, were a performance in themselves, and the painful overamplification, like the lingering delivery of "Poor Old Horse" were a challenge to the audience. Said audience rose to the challenge and there was a steady flow towards the bar, which we would have joined if we hadn't been at the wrong end of the row. I repeat, WTF?
