Don't wake me...
May. 4th, 2008 02:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightlywovenWe have had a magical night.
I remember when I first saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play live, and was amazed to 'see' how the music was put together (for example, the striking of a long metal pipe to produce the high, ringing notes of doom in Red Right Hand). Tonight's concert was another such experience.
We went to the Royal Festival Hall for a long awaited concert by Tindersticks. Other than a one-off concert in 2006, the band has hardly performed live since the release of 2003's Waiting for the Moon. Since then there have been solo projects and rumours of dissolution, but half of the original band have now returned to the studio, with some new artists, to produce The Hungry Saw. Tonight was our first Tindersticks gig, and though we knew this was not entirely the same band who produced some amazing albums, anticipation was nevertheless high.
After a surprisingly bad trip to London (52 minutes to get from Gloucester Green to the park and ride? What?), and a frenzied dash through the underground to Southbank, we settled into our seats (in row 8!), me with a glass of rose in hand. The guest act was very good (Sarah Lowes), with some whimsical numbers and a multi-talented instrumentalist to accompany her. Then the main event began.
The number of chairs on stage had me dancing with excitement in the warm-up. Tindersticks' music is full of complex orchestration, and amongst the line up changes with this album was the loss of Dickon, the violinist. Without his lush, aching strings it would hardly be the same. So imagine my joy when no less than 8 bow wielding musicians slowly made their way onto stage. David sat at the keyboard and began to play a short melody. Two violinists joined in. Thomas and Dan (the new faces) on drums and bass, Neil on guitar and finally Stuart arrived slowly on stage and piece by piece the sound grew, changed, took on layers and depth. Cello, saxophone, trombone, glockenspiel. The band was here.
The set was mostly comprised of new material - the album was only released on Monday - and this was an amazing way to hear an album for the first time. The stage held 13 musicians, whose opening number showed the incredible intensity of the music they could produce, but this was a show of measure and restraint, now breaking out into freedom, now reining in. Sometimes it was just the drums and bass, providing a thrumming heart beat below the whispered intimacy of Stuart's voice. At other times the strings would join in to swell the melody, then in came brass as the frenzy and despair wrought itself. Trumpet and trombone added high, top notes of desperation, fading to a low moan as the energy ebbed.
Tindersticks is heavy stuff, but not without humour. An unexpected choice of old song to play was 'My Sister' - a woe-filled spoken word tale of the singer's sister who is blinded at five, orphaned at 12, crippled at 20 and dead at 32 - with some wicked dead-pan delivery. This is not one of my favourites (there are many competing for that spot), but I was astonished by the musical complexity behind the narrative that was brought to my attention by having it so in front of me.
And then, there was the incredible energy, the physicality of the performance. There is an exuberance to this band, even when singing about having the devil cut our your heart, or searching the world for the lost voice of a lover. A driving energy is provided by every single musician, so much so that I found myself short of breath after some songs. In others I was holding it, wondering just how long this song could hang suspended, held only by the gentle heart-break of a violin and the murmur of Stuart's voice.
When it was over, we walked to Victoria through a surprisingly balmy London night with the Carr sisters, who regularly worship at this alter. First or fiftieth concert though, we were all wowed, and somewhat saddened that this was no longer in the future for anticipation.
I remember when I first saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play live, and was amazed to 'see' how the music was put together (for example, the striking of a long metal pipe to produce the high, ringing notes of doom in Red Right Hand). Tonight's concert was another such experience.
We went to the Royal Festival Hall for a long awaited concert by Tindersticks. Other than a one-off concert in 2006, the band has hardly performed live since the release of 2003's Waiting for the Moon. Since then there have been solo projects and rumours of dissolution, but half of the original band have now returned to the studio, with some new artists, to produce The Hungry Saw. Tonight was our first Tindersticks gig, and though we knew this was not entirely the same band who produced some amazing albums, anticipation was nevertheless high.
After a surprisingly bad trip to London (52 minutes to get from Gloucester Green to the park and ride? What?), and a frenzied dash through the underground to Southbank, we settled into our seats (in row 8!), me with a glass of rose in hand. The guest act was very good (Sarah Lowes), with some whimsical numbers and a multi-talented instrumentalist to accompany her. Then the main event began.
The number of chairs on stage had me dancing with excitement in the warm-up. Tindersticks' music is full of complex orchestration, and amongst the line up changes with this album was the loss of Dickon, the violinist. Without his lush, aching strings it would hardly be the same. So imagine my joy when no less than 8 bow wielding musicians slowly made their way onto stage. David sat at the keyboard and began to play a short melody. Two violinists joined in. Thomas and Dan (the new faces) on drums and bass, Neil on guitar and finally Stuart arrived slowly on stage and piece by piece the sound grew, changed, took on layers and depth. Cello, saxophone, trombone, glockenspiel. The band was here.
The set was mostly comprised of new material - the album was only released on Monday - and this was an amazing way to hear an album for the first time. The stage held 13 musicians, whose opening number showed the incredible intensity of the music they could produce, but this was a show of measure and restraint, now breaking out into freedom, now reining in. Sometimes it was just the drums and bass, providing a thrumming heart beat below the whispered intimacy of Stuart's voice. At other times the strings would join in to swell the melody, then in came brass as the frenzy and despair wrought itself. Trumpet and trombone added high, top notes of desperation, fading to a low moan as the energy ebbed.
Tindersticks is heavy stuff, but not without humour. An unexpected choice of old song to play was 'My Sister' - a woe-filled spoken word tale of the singer's sister who is blinded at five, orphaned at 12, crippled at 20 and dead at 32 - with some wicked dead-pan delivery. This is not one of my favourites (there are many competing for that spot), but I was astonished by the musical complexity behind the narrative that was brought to my attention by having it so in front of me.
And then, there was the incredible energy, the physicality of the performance. There is an exuberance to this band, even when singing about having the devil cut our your heart, or searching the world for the lost voice of a lover. A driving energy is provided by every single musician, so much so that I found myself short of breath after some songs. In others I was holding it, wondering just how long this song could hang suspended, held only by the gentle heart-break of a violin and the murmur of Stuart's voice.
When it was over, we walked to Victoria through a surprisingly balmy London night with the Carr sisters, who regularly worship at this alter. First or fiftieth concert though, we were all wowed, and somewhat saddened that this was no longer in the future for anticipation.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 10:17 pm (UTC)And, to add to their splendour, we've just discovered, on listening to the album, that they played the album *in order* through the concert (with an 'intermission' of older songs).
Also, I didn't mention that they played Travelling Light, with Stuart singing both parts of the duet. What a legend.
Here's the set list if you're interested...
http://www.tindergigs.com/gigs/3-may-2008-london/
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 02:39 am (UTC)P.S. You have to friend my new LJ persona *hugs*