MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
LthA BLOOM
Glasgow Royal Concert llall, 20 Jan. That we should be here, in this place, tonight, is somewhat Ironic. Celtic Connections is, after all, a celebration of a type of music kept vital only by its progress and evolution through a circuit of small halls, pubs and clubs where the audience’s connection with, and participation in, the music as at least as important as the performance itself. Accessibility is the word. Yet here we are, spectators strapped into chairs in this sterile mausoleum which, for all its acoustic refinement, has all the atmosphere of a lecture hall. So, while Sharon Shannon and her band whirl through a hornpipe - which, I’m reliably informed, is a dance — the performance hits with the impact of an exhibit: something academic and dead, to be stared at behind a screen. I dunno, maybe they should fill the air conditioning with beer spray and smoke, and get the ushers to shout and break glasses at the back, or something.
Luka’s feeling It too. When he wanders out, stops, looks up and around before muttering ‘Jesus Christ’, one can almost sense his resolve to break down the barrier between stage and audience. He’s got
Luka Bloom: ‘poetry, humour and beauty'
. . g the power to do it, too - this, after all, : ' . Light Orchestra. 1 Mar;
is the man who smuggled LL Cool J into the folk world, and tonight
1 introduces BEM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’
. and an astonishingly kinetic ‘When
i Doves Cry‘.
' To this day, there are those who
witnessed Luka Bloom stealing
l Glasgow’s first Fleadh who refuse to
believe that such a sound could be
generated by one man and a guitar;
and, tonight, with those weird open
; tunings, reverberations are set up
; within the noise, creating melodies
‘ within melodies, until even this barn
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Concerts listed are those at major venues, for
, which tickets are on 1 public sale at time of
going to press.
= ROCK
I GLASGOW
. ‘ BARRDWLAIID (226 4679) House of Pain. 27 Feb;
, Stifflittle Fingers. 17
Mar; Del Amitri. 19—20
Mar; The Orb. 29 Mar.
I GLASGOW CONCERT
‘ HALL (227 551 1) Solid
Silver 70s. 15 Feb; The Rubettes. 28 Feb; Electric
, Chuck Berry. 3 Mar:
. Jimmy Naill. 4 Apr;
Shakin Stevens. 8 Apr;
} Solid Silver 60s. 18 Apr; 3 Mary Chapin Carpenter.
13—14 May. I GLASGOW IBRDX
j STADIUM (227 5511) Rod Stewart. 3 Jun. ; I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846)A1vin Lee. 16 Feb; Queen Tribute. 17 Mar.
I GLASGOW PLAZA (0131
f of a place is filled with the music, and I GLASGOW SECC (248
> 9999) Eric Clapton. 15
Feb; Foreigner and The
, Doobie Brothers. 10 Mar:
ultimately rendered intimate by the poetry, humour and beauty of the man. (Damien Love)
HIE- CDLDN BLAST LAUNCH ‘
Wee Bed Bar, Edinburgh, 20 January Fed up with the fact that grass-roots- level gigs in Edinburgh tend to be poorly attended, Malcolm Irving and Keith Mcllae have set up the Colon Blast label to generate interest in the EdlIIburgh scene. Stick a band on a record label and instant kudos is yours. As ruses go, this was a winner - the Wee Bed is packed with a crowd the size of which is rarely seen without a once in a lifetime booze promo.
First to represent the Colon Blast roster are Passionella, complete with one or two faces instantly recognisable from Potterrow Student Union a few years back. In those days, their pale fizogs were rarely seen, obscured by swinging fringes as they shuttled their feet and shrugged their shoulders through those prematurely trendy Adidas tops. Six, seven years later and no change - the shoe-gazing generation mopes on, perhaps a little more energetically than before. Bide’s guiding star may have been replaced and updated by the bouncier synth- pop of Stereolab, but that uniquer cheesy Moog wall remains the same.
Transparent Source effortlesst segue their ambient mixes into the
‘ Cupid Mount Etna at the Colon Blast launch filler music between each band’s set. In fact, so smooth is the transition 3 that few people seem to realise that they’ve come on at all. Sandwiching Orb-like mood music between two guitar-based bands isn’t the smartest of moves. The chatting resumes, and the queue at the bar starts to lengthen again - which is a pity, as the two blokes twiddling the knobs are creating some interesting textures, layered sounds pinned down with a heavy bass beat. Another time, another place, perhaps.
Bounding off the evening is Cupid Mount Etna’s short, sharp shock treatment. The four-piece have all the scuzz of Dinosaur Jnr combined with the downbeat, monotone attitude of early Joy Division. Their music has a familiar feel to it - songs which aren’t covers sound as though they are - but pinning the tracks down is a lot 1 harder. There’s room for improvement, ' but that’s an opportunity rather than a criticism. (Jonathan Trew)
Colon Blast have a sixteen-track tape featuring ten bands, available from Avalanche Records and soon to be found in Independent Glasgow outlets too.
557 6969) Belly. 5 Mar; Charlatans. 30 Apr.
M People. 12 Mar; Prince.
13—14 Mar: Gun. 1 Apr; ; New American Music Tour 95. 14 Apr: Wet Wet
Wet. 20 Jul.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (5296000)
; Blues Brothers Tribute.
18-22 Apr.
I EDINBURGH MURRAYFIELD (557 6969) REM. 27 Jul.
I EDINBURGH USHER
3 HALL (228 1155) Solid
Silver 70s. 16 Feb; Cindi Lauper. 18 Feb: Electric Light Orchestra. 28 Feb; Paul Young. 2 Mar; Chuck Berry. 8 Mar; Sparks. 23 Mar; The Drifters. 17 Apr; Solid Silver 60s, 20 Apr.
iJAZZ
I GLASGOW CITY HALL (227 5511) Courtney Pine. 16 Feb: Fraser Spiers. 19 Feb: Suzanne Bonnar. 25 Feb.
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL (227 5511) Danish j Radio Big Band. 4 Mar;
Herb Miller Orchestra. 1
Apr.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Trilok Gurtu. 4 Mar; SU Big Band. 5 Mar. I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) Danish Radio Big Band. 5 Mar; A Night at the Cotton Club. 16 Apr: Andy Sheppard and John llarle. 11 May.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S
HALL (668 2019) Eberhard
Weber. 10 Feb; Courtney Pine. 17 Feb; Suzanne Bonnar. 24 Feb; Trilok Gurtu. 3 Mai". Wayne Krantz. 10 Mar.
FOLK
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511)Christy Moore. 27 May.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Dougie Macl.ean. 18 Feb.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) Bain and Cunningham. 13 Apr; Christ Moore. 28 May. I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Dougie Macl.ean. 26 Feb.
LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) West
End Gala Evening. 5 Mar; Charlie Pride. 14 Mar; Pat
Boone. 29 Mar; A1 Martino. 5 Apr; Honky Tonk Ladies. 11 Apr.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Music Makes
the Memories. 22—25 Feb;
A Touch of lreland. 4 Mar; Sydney Devine. 9—1 1 Mar; Foster and
Allen. 18 Mar; Legendary Mar; T05.ch 8_H Mar;
Ladies 61. Country. 9 Apr.
I EDINBURGH USHER
HALL (228 1155) Dominic
Kirwan. 12 Mar; Charlie Pride. 16 Mar; Joe Longthorne. 21 Oct.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CITY HALL (227 5511) BBC SSO. 23 Feb. 9 Mar. 6 Apr.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Novosibirsk Philharmonic. 12 Feb;
l.eivae Andsnes. 22 . Feb; Maria Ewing. 7 Mar; Stuttgart Philharmonic. 28
Mar; Joshua Bell. 2 Apr:
Melos Ensemble. 4 May;
lvo Pogorelich. 2 Jun; Cecilia Bartoli. 7 Jun;
Ravi Shankar. 2 Jul; Jessye Norman. 6 Jul.
Dougie Maclean: Glasgow and Edlnburdi, February
[dieing/{’33.} 7" "V 4/22,
I GLASGOW RSAMO (332 5057) SEMC. 10 Feb. 17 Mar. 31 Mar; Apollo Saxophone Qt. 11 Feb; Hebrides Ensemble. 12 Feb; Academy Orch. 16 Feb: SCO String Qt. 17 Feb; Anthony Halstead. 24 Feb; BTSE. 24 Feb: Leda Trio. 25 Feb; Paragon Ensemble. 26 Feb; SCO Wind Ens. 3 Mar; Glasgow Wind Band. 3 Mar; Scottish Voices. 5 Mar; ACO. 9 Mar; Wallace Collection. 10 Mar; GCO. 12 Mar; Academy Opera. 14—18 Mar; Academy Wind Orch. 16 Mar; King‘s Consort. 17 Mar; SU Wind Band. 18 Mar; Academy Brass Quintet. 23 Mar; Singing Dept Concert. 24 Mar; Academy Strings. 25 Mar; Junior Academy Concert. 26 Mar; The Pearl Fishers. 1—8 Apr.
I GLASGOW THEATRE ROYAL (332 9000) Dawn Upshaw. 21 Feb.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) BBC SSO. 19 Feb; Warsaw Phil. 12 Mar; BBC SSO. 19 Mar; Stuttgart Phil, 26 Mar; The Marriage of Figaro. 12 Apr; St John Passion. 14 Apr; Sinking of the Titanic. 15 Apr; ECO. 23 Apr; Coronation Mass. 10 Apr: Andy Sheppard and John Harle. 11 May.
I EDINBURGH KING’S THEATRE (220 4349) The Desert Song. 27 Feb—4
Carmen. 5—8 Apr; lrene. 24—29 Apr.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) SCO Quartet. 12 Feb; Simon Keenlyside. 12 Feb; Boris Berezovsky. 13 Feb; Hebrides Ensemble. 14 Feb; Balanescu Quartet. 17 Feb; Josephine Knight and Sophie Rahman. 20 Feb; John Currie Singers. 21 Feb; Malcolm Watson. 22 Feb; Leda Trio. 22 Feb; BTSE. 23 Feb: E80. 25 Feb; Paragon Ensemble. 27 Feb: SCO CE. 5 Mar; Chamber Group of Scotland. 6 Mar;
Jean-Paul Fouchecourt. 12
Mar; Vellinger Quartet. 13 Mar; Monica Groop. 19 Mar; Paul Whelan. 25 Mar; SCO Quartet. 26 Mar; BTSE. 20 Apr; SCO Quartet. 30 Apr.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL(2281155) Coldstream Guards Band. 18 Apr; ERCU. 13 May. I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SCO. BBC SSO and CGPO concerts are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 5511); Usher Hall. Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen‘s Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9000); Festival Theatre. Edinburgh (529 6000).
4D The List 27 Jan-9 Feb 1995