Pulp, Hyde Park

From Pulp

As I said in my previous blog, this is a week jam packed with musical events. Today was day three of the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, and featured the return of the reformed Pulp as the headline act. I got the the venue somewhat late in the afternoon, having hot footed it from my Get Rocking rehearsal in Guildford earlier in the day. Nevertheless, I got there in time to see a couple of the support acts.

As I arrived, the Hives were kicking off their set. Personally, I found their materiel rather uninspired and the attempts of their front man to drum up enthusiasm from the crowd only made things worse. After meeting up with Alison and Tim, who had arrived earlier, we watched a set by TV on the Radio, who I had never really come across before now. Very enjoyable for this sort of occasion anyway. We all agreed to give Grace Jones a miss on the main stage, and in stead head over to catch the Foals at the adjacent Pepsi Max stage. That turned out to be a good choice, and we were able to enjoy their evocative and atmospheric performance whilst sipping ice cold mohitos.

Finally back to the main stage for the head-liners. We pushed as far into the dense crowd as we dared and prepared to be entertained. When the band came on stage, the whole crowd went wild, and things were pretty manic from then on. One puzzling thing, to me at least, is that much of the audience was too young to have been aware of Pulp the first time around in the early '90s, and the band have not been in play for many years up until their recent reformation. So how come the crowd all seemed to know the words to the entire Pulp repertoire? Most of the band were looking their age, except for Jarvis, who had always seemed a bit middle aged anyway. Paradoxically, and in spite of his beard, he was now the most youthful looking, and clearly still able to prance around the stage and climb precariously on the speakers.

The staging was pretty impressive, with some spectacular lighting effects and giant bursts of confetti at various points in the set, which predictably ended with their classic: Common People. This was the cue for the whole crowd to go absolutely berserk. A great end to a great show.

Arcade Fire, Hyde Park

From Arcade Fire

Today marked the start of a week that is going to be a veritable musical banquet. First off was Arcade Fire, taking advantage of the summer arena set up in Hyde Park for the Wireless Festival and other events. We had seen them towards the end of last year when they played at the O2. That had been quite an impressive performance, although their stage act had not really caught up with the scale of the venue.

But first, a few words about the support acts, which were possible Arcade Fire's own choice. We got to see some high energy performances for the Vixens, Beirut, and Mumford and Sons. The latter have really grown in stature since we saw them last year at Latitude, and are now more than capable of entertaining a large festival crowd on their own.

As an aside, the people who run the Hyde Park arena seem to have got drink vending off to a fine art, with the use of impressive production line techniques to serve beer rapidly to the masses. Unfortunately, the same organisers seem not to have realised that what goes in must at some point in time come out. That point came at the break between the support acts and the head-liners, when the queues for the loos reached epic proportions, thanks in part to woeful under-provision of male urinals, which would have freed up the portaloos for the ladies. In the end, many could not wait, with rather damp consequences for the ground around the perimeter fence.

Arcade Fire were with waiting for, and delivered an intense set that the appreciative crowd aah-ing and ooh-ing along with the bands more anthemic songs. Although their stage act is not particular elaborate, they still mange to keep up the interest levels by the constant rotation of band members from one instrument to another. A very versatile bunch indeed.

Arcade Fire seem much better suited to the ambience of the Hyde Park venue, as compared to the O2, and we went home thoroughly entertained.

Dublin

A flying visit to the Dublin office for more meetings. The picture is of the Finnstown Country House Hotel, which is where us out-of-towners stay when in Ireland. Its almost like a second home to some of us. You can tell that you have become a regular when the staff start calling you by your first name. A bit like the Major in Faulty Towers!

Amsterdam

Well, not actually Amsterdam, more Schipol Airport. A short trip to pitch our new product to i-conX favourite customer (pictured). No time to go into town on this trip, but still able to fit in a quick beer at our hotel before heading on to Dublin.

Get Rocking, Rehearsal #3

Your looking at 4/5ths of Crossroads - the band that's set to get the world rocking later this month. (I'm the other 1/5th) And what a fine bunch of musicians they are, with (from left to right) Ken holding us together on drums, Dave on lead guitar (and tuition - for me), Paul on bass and our singer and fine harmonica player, Trevor. I do my best on rhythm guitar and keyboards.

Rehearsals are going surprisingly well so far, now that Trevor has joined us. (We were without a lead vocalist for our first rehearsal) Personally, I am finding it very difficult to get to grips with doing funk, which is rather a drawback since 3 of our 6 songs are of this genre. But the whole thing is as much fun as I thought it would be and its great to get out of the bedroom studio and actually start playing with real people again for the first time in almost 40 years.

Only one more rehearsal next week, before our début gig at the Boileroom, Guildford on 7th July. Be there!

Qatar again

Back in Qatar again for the second time this year to run a workshop for Vodafone. A very fleeting visit as I am off to Dublin later this evening. Currently sitting by the hotel pool in 40 deg heat, cursing the fact that I forgot to bring my swimming shorts. But it looks like there will be plenty of opportunities this year to get it right, with the next trip out here probably only a month away.

The Big Lunch, St Margarets

From Big Lunch 2011

I joined Alison and her neighbours for this al frecso dining event. Certainly a very sociable crowd and loads of community spirit in evidence. Predictably, after 3 months of virtually continuous dry weather, the clouds that had been threatening all morning finally gave up the struggle to hold back, and the heavens opened. Luckily we had by that time finished the eating part of the Big Lunch and were well on to the drinking part, so a quick dash to the church for plan B was in order. This turned out to be well worthwhile as Alison won first price with her raffle ticket - a meal out at a local restaurant in St Margaret's. Not a fix honestly (Alison is a member of the residents' committee that organised the event).