Thankfully we arrived late enough not to have to endure more than a couple of songs from miserabilist ex chart-botherers Starsailor … so roll on the main event.
This is the first concert that I have been to in Manchester’s MEN enorma-dome (18,000 crowd capacity). Positioned at the rear of the stage with an excellent view of the back of Stuart Copeland’s head things did not bode well. Thankfully the large video screens with professionally mixed live footage from the stage gave me something to look at. To my mind this was not really a gig in the conventional sense, the lack of intimacy plus my “take it or leave it” attitude to the Police, meant that I did not really connect in any meaningful way with the music. This wasn’t helped by the fact that both Sting and Summers both seemed trapped behind vast multi-media workstations replete with autocue, effects pedals and probably some gizmos to do with the stage cameras – they managed to free themselves from this high-tech prison during the encores but by then the damage had been done. They played all the hits, so most of the audience probably left happy(ish) but to me it was a bit like watching a slick 2 hour PowerPoint presentation. Oh well, they are probably sick of the sight of each other again – so they won’t have to see each other for another 20 years.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Robben Ford – Manchester Club Academy
Very late review of this gig from May 18th
I bought tickets to see Robben Ford in an effort to improve my blues guitar playing or at least to inspire me further in that direction. For those not in the know, Robben is probably one of the most technically proficient blues guitarists on the planet and unlike many of his contemporaries, adds a great deal of colour to his playing by mixing in numerous jazz influences rather than relying on the same old Chicago blues clichés – in the early 80's Robben was in the seminal jazz-fusion outfit The Yellowjackets. Over the years Robben has been in demand as a sideman to many of the greats, working as the touring guitarist for Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and George Harrison to name a few.
Club Academy is a pretty small venue one would have thought for a guitarist with such a pedigree, however it was only about half full by the time Robben and his band came on. It seemed like he was pretty much just going through the motions and didn’t really respond to the crowds shouts for earlier material – he just plugged his new stuff all night.
Ford is no singer and at best can just about carry a tune, however this lack of technical vocal ability was overshadowed by his cringe worthy lack of skill as a lyricist – which was almost the polar opposite of his guitar prowess… perhaps he should pursue an instrumental direction in future.
I bought tickets to see Robben Ford in an effort to improve my blues guitar playing or at least to inspire me further in that direction. For those not in the know, Robben is probably one of the most technically proficient blues guitarists on the planet and unlike many of his contemporaries, adds a great deal of colour to his playing by mixing in numerous jazz influences rather than relying on the same old Chicago blues clichés – in the early 80's Robben was in the seminal jazz-fusion outfit The Yellowjackets. Over the years Robben has been in demand as a sideman to many of the greats, working as the touring guitarist for Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and George Harrison to name a few.
Club Academy is a pretty small venue one would have thought for a guitarist with such a pedigree, however it was only about half full by the time Robben and his band came on. It seemed like he was pretty much just going through the motions and didn’t really respond to the crowds shouts for earlier material – he just plugged his new stuff all night.
Ford is no singer and at best can just about carry a tune, however this lack of technical vocal ability was overshadowed by his cringe worthy lack of skill as a lyricist – which was almost the polar opposite of his guitar prowess… perhaps he should pursue an instrumental direction in future.
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