The gift of an experience, whether it’s a voucher for a meal at a favourite restaurant, performance tickets, a trip, or a special activity, is a treat on many levels. It can be very personal if well-chosen to reflect the individual tastes of the recipient There’s the anticipation of something to look forward to, something we all need in these troubled times.
It was Kevin’s birthday just before Christmas. He’s not the easiest person to buy gifts for, but I ended up getting him concert tickets for four separate gigs at a small, but iconic, independent venue in Newcastle: The Cluny
We both love live music. We met at college when we were both part of a student group that staged concerts. It gave us the opportunity to see many artists perform. K got particularly interested in the technical aspects of sound and lighting and as a result it sometimes seems like we can be at the same gig and experience two entirely different shows. He can detect problems with the sound mix that I never notice. We’ll arrive early so he can have a good look at the technical set up and we’ll hang around at the end to watch how efficiently the road crew pack up. I suppose all this means we get some sorted added value to going to see live music, which makes those tickets a great gift (and even better, I get to enjoy them too!) It worked out that all four gigs are this month and we’ve been to two so far, beginning with Altered Images.
We worked on one of their gigs back in college in the 80’s, when they had hits with “Happy Birthday” and “Don’t Talk Me About Love”, The band broke up in 1983, but in recent years, vocalist Clare Grogan has performed as Altered Images with new band members, recently supporting fellow 80’s band The Human League on tour – we were at one of the Newcastle dates. Grogan is a warm and engaging performer so the opportunity to see Altered Images headlining at more intimate venue was irresistible.
She doesn’t seem to have changed at all (alas, those of us in the audience are not all aging so well!) And with a room full of fans (it was sold out), singing along to those 80’s hits, the atmosphere was simply joyful. In addition, there was a sharp cover of the Ting Ting’s’ “That’s Not My Name” and material from a forthcoming album, the first in nearly 40 years, including the atmospheric ‘It’s a Beautiful Thing”. What a great start to our Month of Music!
We revisited the Punk era for the second gig. Some may remember the Punk Movement for outrageous behaviour and fashion, but for me it was all about the music. With fast furious lyrics and driving guitar riffs, Buzzcocks typified that.
The band is now fronted by original bass guitarist, Steve Diggle, since the death of Pete Shelley in 2018. They played a tight set including the hits ‘What Do I Get” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tHave Fallen In Love With)”. There’s still a lot of energy there…..not something to sit still to!
Much as I enjoyed the band, I was less impressed with some of the audience, There was a bit of a “Lad’s Night Out” atmosphere, mostly good natured, with middle aged former punks getting a bit the worse for wear. There was a bit of an incident at the end when someone got up on stage, got chased off, drink was thrown and tempers got frayed, but only briefly. On the plus side, since COVID, spitting is unacceptable, even for punks!
It was a different sort of Thursday Night for me – normally I would be at my ukelele group, but missed it so I could go. ….I wonder if I could play “Ever Fallen In Love…” on the ukelele. There’s a challenge!
Have you seen any great live music recently?
Stitches by the Sea 