Seeing Van Morrison At Bath Festival.

The big day had finally arrived. I had been looking forward to this event since February when it was announced that Van would be headlining the Grand Finale of the Bath Festival, almost in our own back yard. I caught the 12.50 train at Westbury and found my friend Jacquie who had boarded the train at Warminster. The weather was a bit unsettled and showery, but I wasn’t worried about that because the forecast was good for the evening. Soon we arrived in the beautiful Georgian city of Bath which was known to the Romans as Aquae Sulis and nestles like a jewel in the seven surrounding hills. The city is renowned for the healing properties of its water ever since King Bladud was cured of leprosy here back in the olden days. I was quite bladud by the end of the evening as well, I can tell you..

Our first stop was to a restaurant called Giraffe. I’m not sticking my neck out here when I say the food was very nice. Then we repaired to the Huntsman pub which is a fine old regency building quite near the river Avon. Soon, we were joined by Jane and Charlie. It was nice to see them again, and Fumiko, and finally Emer from Dublin and her friend Sinead. It was great to meet them for the first time. It was still drizzling rain, so we stayed in there a couple of hours and waited to see if anyone else turned up. Finally, the rain eased off and me and Jacquie made a move.

The Forest.

The Hothouse Flowers had just started their set on the main stage. The audience was very small for them unfortunately. I think people had been watching the weather forecast and delayed their arrival. It looked like quite a sad scene to begin with. Jacquie hadn’t been feeling too good either which was a shame. It cheered us up though to meet Maurice from Belfast. I hadn’t seen Maurice since Liverpool last year. After a bit of a chat Maurice went for a wander around. Jacquie said it would be best if she went home, so I walked most of the way back to the station with her. It was disappointing but probably for the best. 

Maurice & Me.

When I got back, the Hothouse Flowers were still playing.  I listened to the end of their set which included the only song I know of theirs called Don’t Go. I got myself a drink and fancied a bit of a sit down. The grass was too wet, so I went to the second stage which was in a tent and sat on the floor resting against the stage. After a few minutes a security man said I had to stand up because a band were about to play. I stood up, the tent filled up and a band came on. I think they were called The Forest. I listened to a couple of songs, they sounded good, but I wasn’t all that interested. Other people were really enjoying them.

Van the Man.

The sun came out and people started arriving in droves. We were all set for a great evening. I found Jane, Charlie and Fumiko again and we stood around chatting and Maurice joined us. Corrine Bailey-Rae was on the main stage. I have seen her four times now, always at outdoor events supporting other people. She is pleasant enough, but I would rather chat to my mates. When she finished, I did catch a few minutes of Tom Speight on my way to the bar and I thought he sounded quite good. After Corinne we should have got to the front to get a good position, but we left it a bit late. Finally, it was time for Van the man.

I dropped my pen somewhere during the proceedings so I couldn’t write a setlist or make notes. Luckily for me, another long-time Van fan called Hugh provided a setlist. Thanks Hugh. This is it: Let's Get Lost, How Far from God, Baby Please Don't Go/ Got My Mojo Working/ Playhouse, Days Like This, Wild Night, Moondance, Sometimes We Cry, Symphony Sid, It Once Was My Life, Cleaning Windows, Boppin' The Blues, Ain't Gonna Moan No More, Broken Record, Did Ye Get Healed?, Enlightenment,  Vanlose Stairway, Whenever God Shines His Light on Me, Think Twice Before You Go, In the Afternoon/ Raincheck, The Party's Over, Help Me, Brown-eyed Girl, Gloria.

I think the highlight of the evening for me was Did Ye Get Healed even though I had to keep moving to try and get a good view and because of people talking. (See my video below, the sound is quite good) I never get tired of hearing Enlightenment either, however many times I hear it. I might have heard It Once Was My Life performed live before, but I can’t remember when. It isn’t one of my favourite songs on the recently released 3cd set of The Healing Game, but I thought the band did a great job of it in Bath. I was very impressed last night with Teena Lyle’s percussion playing and Dave Keary on guitar, but all the band were great. We knew the evening was coming to an end when Van started the crowd-pleasers Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria. I started making my way towards the exit and left as soon as Van ended and managed to catch the 9.49 home. I was in my local pub at 10.20 for a last pint after a great day. Apart from Van, the best bit was meeting up with my friends. I hope we do it again soon. Next event for me is Glastonbury Festival. I’m excited about that already. Bring it on!
PS, Thanks to Jane Haslam for a couple of the photos.

Sunset In Bath.

Van Morrison: Did Ye Get Healed?. Bath, June 2nd 2019.

Christy Moore: Royal Festival Hall 25/5/2019.

I had a wonderful weekend in London with my friends Jacky, Bill, Patrick, Wayne, Sarah and Laurie. The highlight was seeing Christy Moore at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday night. This is what happened. We got down to the Southbank at about 5.00 and had a nice meal in a restaurant by the river. Then we chilled out with a bottle of wine and passed the time people watching. It was a nice warm sunny evening and hundreds of people strolled by, dressed in all their summer fashions. Sitting quietly in the bar of the Southbank Centre I spotted a familiar face who I last saw at Van Morrison’s Lit Up Inside concert in 2014. “I think that lady over there is Edna O’Brien”, I said to Jacky, but I wasn’t certain. Jacky looked on google images on her phone and we agreed that it was almost 95% certainly her. Sorry Edna if it wasn’t you.

Anyway, time was getting on and we took our seats. This was the third time in the last five years that we have seen Christy at the RFH. I think this was the best one of all, no hecklers or any of that carry-on at all. There was a very warm friendly vibe to the whole evening. As before, Christy took to the stage accompanied by Declan Sinnott, Cathal Hayden and Jimmy Higgins. The first song was the wonderful City Of Chicago which as you probably know was written by Christy’s brother Luka Bloom. This was followed by the powerful North And South Of The River which has become even more relevant recently due to the present political mayhem that is going on. Only Our Rivers Run Free was next and was written by Mickey McConnell fifty years ago I believe, and still timeless to this day. On Friday it was Bob Dylan’s 78th birthday which you will know because I wrote a tribute to Bob that you can read if you scroll down. Christy marked the occasion by singing the great emotive song The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll. I think May 24^th should be declared International Bob Dylan Day and all radio stations should play at least one Bob song an hour in order to educate the masses. Yellow Furze Woman was written by Christy for his mother Nancy Power. Some Christy songs have a very feminist vibe to them which you often don’t get with male singers.

Don’t Forget Your Shovel written by Christy Hennessy got the lively good-natured audience clapping and singing along. It was great. This was followed by the very moving song Burning Times. Christy didn’t write this song but as I said it is very feminist but also relevant to today because we are facing an environmental catastrophe because of what we have done to the planet. In the face of this, the politicians plan new wars and have leadership contests. Every time I have seen Christy down by the South Bank, he has felt obliged to sing the Ewan McColl song Sweet Thames Flow Softly and why not, because it is a beautiful song. Last week Christy took part in a concert in Dublin called Palfest as an alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest. It was streamed live on Gaza TV and Christy sang No Time For Love written by Jack Warshaw and I must mention Declan’s fabulous guitar playing during this song. Bright Blue Rose written by Jimmy McCarthy is always one of my favourite songs performed live. It is one of Christy’s most spiritual songs and the interpretation is entirely up to the listener. Cathal’s violin playing certainly deserves a mention as well.

I must admit that I had never heard of Rob Corcoran until Christy sang his song Ringing That Bell but I enjoyed hearing it on Saturday night and I’ll seek out more songs by Rob. I have discovered lots of great music through Christy because he always makes a point of giving credit to the songwriters when he performs their songs. For instance, I discovered the music of Mick Blake a couple of years ago thanks to Christy. I loved Sail on Jimmy although I hadn’t heard it live before, but I had found it on YouTube. The audience loved it as well and sang the chorus, encouraged by Christy. The Voyage was dedicated to young Molly & Patrick aged 13. What a beautiful song it is. I Hate Politicians or Lingua Politico or whatever it is called had the audience in stitches. It is a hilarious song, but underneath the humour as in many of Christy’s ‘funny’ songs there is a serious message.

Two songs written by Bobby Sands followed. The first one was McIllhatton and followed by Back Home In Derry. In the middle of the two songs Christy recited On The Mainland from his Graffiti Tongue album. Beeswing is arguably the best, saddest and most beautiful song that Richard Thompson ever wrote, and at first I didn’t like Christy’s version as much as Richard’s, but I have been won over. I like both versions equally these days. I have heard it said that the song was inspired by Anne Briggs and I think Christy heard Anne sing live back in the day. That must have been a treat. I wish I had seen her. Missing You always seems even more poignant than usual when you hear it in a big city like London and you see the homeless people living on the streets. Christy said that he sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies with Planxty in 1973 in a concert in London called Fanfare For Europe and told an amusing story about the Prime Minister Edward Heath meeting the musicians backstage. Viva La Quinta Brigada is a tribute to those who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, but it is very appropriate to today’s events in Europe and a warning against repeating the mistakes of the past. Black Is The Colour is a beautiful ballad song Christy learned from Hamish Imlach back in the 60’s and I never grow tired of hearing it.

Me down by the aul Southbank.

I always love hearing Lisdoonvarna as well, especially with Glastonbury only about four weeks away now. It’s a shame Christy isn’t gracing the Acoustic Stage this year, but never mind, there will be other times hopefully. Another reason I like this song is because of the references to Van the Man, especially when Christy says, ‘Turn It Up, Turn it up’ and goes into I’ll Tell Me Ma and then Decco lets rip with his electric guitar. The four amigos left the stage, but we knew there would be more. The first song of the encore was Ride On from the album that got me into Christy in the first place in 1984. The audience joined in and sang beautifully. After that, it was time for some fun with Joxer Goes To Stuttgart and the audience gave a huge cheer when Ray Houghton got the ball and stuck it in the net. Finally, Christy sang Spancil Hill for Valerie from Kilmainham. It was fabulous and brought a wonderful concert to a close. It’s not often I leave a concert having enjoyed every single song.

Next morning, I caught the 11.15 from Waterloo and headed home, back to the forlorn rags of Brexit and all that bollix. Thank you very much to all involved, especially the one and only Christy Moore.

 PS, If I have made any glaring errors, I hope Hilary or young Colm will put me right. Cheers.

The Who At Charlton On Saturday May 18th 1974

On this very day, Saturday May 18^th, 1974 I was living in a little village called Summerhill, near Wrexham in North Wales. I was 22 years old. I was sharing a house with my brother Paul and a friend called Dave. They were both 18. We had been up all-night partying and had been waiting until the village shop opened to buy cigarettes and milk. Finally, about 7.00 in the morning the shop opened, and I went in and bought cigs, milk and the Daily Mirror. I got back to the house which was strewn with album covers and all sorts of garbage from the night before and put the kettle on. In the Daily Mirror something caught my eye.

"Hey, guess what? The Who are playing in London today". It was a huge concert at Charlton Athletic Football Stadium. Also playing were Lou Reed, Humble Pie, Bad Company, Maggie Bell, Lindisfarne and Montrose.

 "Right, let’s go," said Dave and Paul immediately. "Don't be stupid”, I replied, "We haven’t got any money".

 "You boring old bastard, you're no better than Dobbin.” (Dobbin was the name we gave to an old horse who lived in a field nearby) “We are going, you stay here if you want, you old git".

We added up all our money and we had about £3 between us and set off down the lane in the general direction of London which was 191 miles away. At Wrexham railway station we got on the train and kept a wary eye out for the ticket collector. I had quite a lot of experience of travelling on trains without paying. Finally, I spotted him coming along the next carriage. "Here comes the clippie”, I said to the others, “Get in the bog". We casually left our seats and all 3 of us got in the toilet with our boots wedged against the door and the sign saying VACANT .We stayed in there for several minutes until we were sure the clippie had walked past and then nonchalantly returned to our seats. In this fashion we travelled to London. When we got to the venue, Charlton’s stadium called The Valley we used another skill I had learned from getting into football matches for free. Without hesitating we quickly clambered over the top of the turnstiles and ran into the crowd before the stewards could grab us. I couldn't believe it had gone so smoothly. There were about 74,000 people there. It was packed, even on the pitch. It was also a really hot day and I took my shirt off. I was also thirsty.

"I'm going to get some ice lollies", I said to the others and strolled off to an ice cream van. I queued up for about 30 minutes and bought three ice lollies and started walking back. Then I looked up and all I could see were 74,000 faces. I had forgotten where we were. I was seized with panic and had a vision of me wandering around London in the middle of the night dressed only in jeans and with no money.  Luckily by some miracle I managed to find my comrades. We had missed Bad Company and Montrose. Lindisfarne were on when we arrived. I was a big fan of theirs. We heard some great music that day, Humble Pie featuring the late great Steve Marriott were nearly as good as The Who. Lou Reed fell a bit flat I thought, but he sang Sweet Jane which was my favourite song of his at the time. I also enjoyed seeing Maggie Bell.

The Who were sublime, playing for nearly two hours. An internet friend kindly sent me a bootleg recording of the show a few years ago. This was the setlist. I Can't Explain, Summertime Blues, Young Man Blues, Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Substitute, I'm a Boy, Tattoo, Boris the Spider, Drowned, Bell Boy, Doctor Jimmy, Won't Get Fooled Again, Pinball Wizard, See Me, Feel Me, 5:15, Magic Bus, Naked Eye, Let's See Action, My Generation. The energy and power of the band in those days was awesome. I didn’t see The Who again for 42 years until they headlined at Glastonbury. They were ok but Roger Daltrey’s voice isn’t as good these days and they have lost the powerhouse provided by Keith Moon and John Entwhistle. Also, I think I have changed as well. I’m not so keen on loud music played live anymore. That’s probably because I’m 67 now and not 22. That night at Charlton though was one of the best performances by a rock band I have ever witnessed.

We spent the night in Euston Station and got some free food and cups of tea from a van outside. We found out later that it was owned by a notorious sex criminal, the self-styled ‘Bishop’ Of Medway Roger Gleaves. He used the free food van as a cover to lure runaways into a life of degradation. I’m glad we never met him. On Sunday morning we bunked the train back to North Wales after a brilliant unforgettable adventure in those far flung halcyon days of yesteryear.

PS, I found the photos on Google images. Thank you very much to whoever put them there.

Gentleman's Relish.

Just a short little blog today because I’m going to the pub in a little while. I hadn’t been out since Tuesday, but I had to venture out today to get some provisions because I had run out of nearly everything. I couldn’t walk past the High Street without looking in the charity shops. I found a first edition by Buce Chatwin called The Viceroy Of Ouidah. It was published in 1980 and in a very nice condition so I should make a nice profit on that. I might even read it as well. I also found a book by Ronnie Barker called Gentleman’s Relish. I shouldn’t have bought it really because it’s quite smutty, full of saucy postcards from the 1920’s. It was published in 1979 and I think attitudes have changed a bit since then. I thought it might be quite rare and collectible but when I looked on eBay there are lots of copies of it for sale. Thirdly, found a signed autobiography of horse race trainer Paul Nicholls which should fetch a few quid. Finally, I found a 2cd set by The Everly Brothers recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in 1983. I am listening to it now and it's great. I think it is the first album of their's that I have ever bought. It has taken me a lifetime to realise how great the Everly Brothers are.

After I got my groceries in Morrison’s I walked home past Andrea’s flower shop and bought a coreopsis plant. I wasn’t going to buy any more plants, but there is always room for just one more. Anyway, that’s my blog for today. Sorry it is so short, but tomorrows should be a good one. I’m going to write a story about what I did exactly 45 years ago to the day. I’ll start writing that tonight.

Bein' Green.

Pet Sounds.

This blog page is called Quiet Days and it has certainly been quiet here again today. I spent most of the day outside again. I didn’t want to hear any words today so it was quite a jazz day. I listened to Miles Davis & John Coltrane. It was a concert recorded in Stockholm in 1960. I got so lost in the music that I actually fell asleep. There is nothing wrong with that. I have got to be careful though because I can feel that the last couple of days I have got sunburned on the top of my head where I've got a bald spot.. I also listened to an album by Keith Jarrett called Mysteries / Shades. It was a Spanish friend of mine who first told me about Keith Jarrett. I enjoyed listening to it. When you really get into music it is like meditation. I'm getting quite jazzy in my old age. I’m sure the congregation of birds in the nearby trees enjoyed it as well because they were singing along.

For lunch I had this salad dish that I bought in Tesco’s last night. It tasted ok but I’m determined that I won’t buy anything similar ever again. It was ridiculously expensive for what it was, and I bet most of the cost was in the packaging. It was in a plastic container and even had a plastic fork to go with it. It is just more plastic pollution. I feel quite ashamed of myself for buying it. Never again.

When I looked on Facebook, I discovered that Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys was released on this day 53 years ago. As it is possibly my favourite album of all time, I had to listen to it again today. I must say it sounds just as fresh and wonderful now as it did in 1966. I’m sure it is one of the pieces of music from the 20^th century that people will still listen to in hundreds of years’ time.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party.

I watched the News at 6.00 and they were talking about the up-coming European elections. I have voted for the Labour Party ever since I was first allowed to vote.I could never imagine voting differently but I am tempted to vote for The Green Party in this election as a protest vote. I am a Remainer and want to stay in Europe. The Labour Party doesn't seem to have a clear policy on this issue, but the Greens are completely pro-Europe. Also, Brexit isn’t the biggest issue facing us. We are on the verge of catastrophe from climate change. The Greens have been warning us about the danger for decades, so I think I might vote for them on this occasion. I think I would like our next government to be a coalition of Labour & Greens.

It is going to rain tomorrow which means I won’t be sitting in the yard all day. I’ll have to think of something else to do. I don’t know what that will be, but it’s bound to be interesting. Watch this space.

The Gloaming - Samhradh Samhradh (Live in Cork)