Outgrown
by the beer-belly everyone
Where
has all the denim gone, long time a fading
Where
has all the denim gone, long time ago
Where
has all the denim gone?
Thrown
out for a warm North Face everyone.
Oh,
were they really every Lizzy?
Oh,
were they really every Lizzy?
Where
are all the tour tee-shirts, long time a fitting
Where
are all the tour tee-shirts, long time ago
Where
are all the tour tee-shirts?
Outgrown
by the beer-belly everyone.
Oh,
were they really every Lizzy?
Oh,
were they really every Lizzy?
Where
are all the cowboy boots, long time....
…you
get the idea - this gig is taking me, and several hundred 40/50 somethings,
back to the golden age of gigs!
The
Boys are Back in Time
As
I walk in late - thanks to work commitments - it hits me - this is an old-time
gig! (listen to me 'Old-Time' anyone would think I was 50 next year!!!!) It's
the wall of sound, it's the back line of guitar amp stacks, it's the long hair
of the band, it's the sharing of the mic for the chorus, it's the singer,
bassist, two lead guitarists standing in a line during the solo, it's the
Roadies running on stage to fix problems, it's the musicians actually looking
like they are enjoying the gig...
...
and it's queuing for the men's toilet!!!!
It's
32 years since I last saw Scot Gorham play - it was Thin Lizzy's last UK
festival gig at Reading Rock '83 - my lasting memory of that gig was the girl
by my side on her boyfriend's shoulders crying as they played 'Still in
Love with You'
This
is not Thin Lizzy - but its Black Star Riders - why am I here? I heard a track
on the radio about a year ago and thought - that's a Thin Lizzy song I don't
know - it turns out to be 'Bound for Glory' by Black Star Riders
and I was intrigued so I bought the album! Is the album a guilty pleasure? Am I just trying to recapture youth? Why am I here?
Live
and captured forever - here's the link to my youtube channel....
What
can I say I enjoyed an album that reminded me of my youth - how often did I put
'Live and Dangerous' on my turntable (anyone under the age of 40
- here is a definition of Record Player...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph)? So I wanted to see these guys live
and I enjoyed their set - despite the trouble Scot Gorham was having with his
amp - it was an old fashioned gig that took me back to the Manchester Apollo
and my teenage years - it was good to be there and saviour the moment!
But
what of the guy in front of me - camera in hand and watching the whole set
through a lens. When I first starting going to gigs - you would never have been
able to smuggle a camera in, although I did know one guy who used to hide his
SLR camera and telephoto lens (yes kids there was a day when you couldn't talk
to your mates on your camera!) in his great grey trench coat and shot some
great live pictures! But now we walk in to any gig with our phones - and you
can't capture that one moment, that moment to brag to your friends 'I was there - look aren't I special' - without getting everyone else’s camera in your
picture (oh the glorious irony!!!)
I
tap him on the shoulder and say 'Just watch the gig and enjoy' - his response?
'Hey man don't give me camera shake'
Post-Modernism - It's so last Year
TIP:
Enjoy the gig, enjoy the moment don't be scared you'll miss the perfect photo -
some of my best memories are images burnt into my mind of great lights shows
(Steve Hackett circa 1980 starting his show with the Land of a Thousand Autumns
& Please Don't Touch - Dry Ice and a couple of coloured lights!) wonderful
gigs (John Paul Jones joining Seasick Steve on stage for a brilliant gig) and
just unbelievable moments (hearing Gary Moore in 1980 playing Parisienne
Walkways [how long did he hold that note] as support for Whitesnake) - no
photos, no video just great memories.
But the mixture of being slaves to post-modernism (searching for the next moment) and technology junkies is that we don't just move from one high to another we try to capture it - and what a glorious new irony is this - we miss the moment - but capture that failure for all eternity!
A concert is 3D (pictures and videos by definition are 2D) the dimensions of a gig are more than just sound and vision (sing with me... blue blue electric blue) - a gig is an event - a crowd gather - mainly strangers - they come together to share the event. Showing a fantastic photo to friends or complete strangers who may stumble across your blog is not the same as the corporate gathering where you share all the nuances of live music with one another.
But the mixture of being slaves to post-modernism (searching for the next moment) and technology junkies is that we don't just move from one high to another we try to capture it - and what a glorious new irony is this - we miss the moment - but capture that failure for all eternity!
A concert is 3D (pictures and videos by definition are 2D) the dimensions of a gig are more than just sound and vision (sing with me... blue blue electric blue) - a gig is an event - a crowd gather - mainly strangers - they come together to share the event. Showing a fantastic photo to friends or complete strangers who may stumble across your blog is not the same as the corporate gathering where you share all the nuances of live music with one another.
No
the Black Star Riders set wont be up among the great gigs I rave about - but I don't need a
set of pictures to remember it - or a video to prove I was there - I just
enjoyed it for what it was...
Eurosceptic
So I queue for the toilet and ponder should I stay...
I'm not an Eurosceptic - I don't buy all this Europe is source of all our problems - I want to be part of a wider groups of countries with different cultures - but when it comes to music I am.
The downside to this gig is that Black Star Riders are on tour with Europe. I'm tempted to go home - but any true football fan knows - you never leave before the end - however to my cost I discovered this should only be applied to music when Europe are not playing!
So I queue for the toilet and ponder should I stay...
I'm not an Eurosceptic - I don't buy all this Europe is source of all our problems - I want to be part of a wider groups of countries with different cultures - but when it comes to music I am.
The downside to this gig is that Black Star Riders are on tour with Europe. I'm tempted to go home - but any true football fan knows - you never leave before the end - however to my cost I discovered this should only be applied to music when Europe are not playing!
The
seat in front of me is empty – Post-Modern Gadget Man has obviously gone home to edit his video –
and enjoy the Black Star Riders gig in glorious 2D solidarity of his own bedroom!
He's made the right decision - for all the wrong reasons
He's made the right decision - for all the wrong reasons
Definition
of Europe: Middle aged posers
going through the motions.
Caricature
of non Eurosceptic : The one who was
looking up who the hell Black Star Riders are on Wikipedia during their set.
Description of their set: The countdown to the final song - thank God that's finished - now where's the bus stop...
Let the Kids have their say….
Their
lead singer who spent the whole of the first two songs posing for the cameras
with his IKEA Mic Stand without relating to the audience at all - confessed, when the photographers had gone and he could be bothered to talk to the audience, that his 7 year old son saw them on this tour and commented to his dad -
embarrassing moves - out of the mouths of babes....
At
last it was over and I've never been so glad to get out of a venue.....
Ah 4G now lets see if I can find the youtube channel of Post-Modern Gadget Man…..
Ah 4G now lets see if I can find the youtube channel of Post-Modern Gadget Man…..
Gig:
2 of 50
Date
of Gig: Sat 21st March 2015
Venue
Shepherd
Bush Empire
Artists
Black Star Riders
Europe
Running
total of artists seen 4
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