Supermac!

An Evening With Supermac

Arcot Golf Club, Cramlington

28.11.2013

Malcolm Macdonald - ''Supermac''! - entertained a select audience with an abundance of tales from his lengthy career in football.

The former Luton, Newcastle and Arsenal striker - who once scored a five goals in a single game for England - spoke for over two hours (not including the half-time break for pie and peas) before taking questions from the audience. There were many highlights.

As a boy, he used to meet his footballing heroes at the grounds to collect their autographs. Bobby Robson made him carry his bag before signing his book. A decade later, Robson signed him for a brief spell Fulham - and recognised him immediately.

Supermac rates George Best as the finest player he ever saw and Johnny Giles as the toughest (''his tackles were so late, they would arrive in the middle of the next week'').

He was frank with his thoughts on England's World Cup prospects (let's just say we're not anticipating success in the near future) club chairmen and managers; there were plenty of stories regarding the likes of Alf Ramsey - and what the England boss said to Bobby Moore when he made the fatal mistake of nodding off during one of Alf's famous two-hour team talks.

Half-time brought with it a number of fund raising events, such as an auction of signed memorabilia (with items signed not just by Malcolm, but also by Geoff Hurst and Alan Shearer). Malcolm was very approachable and was happy to pose for photographs as well as sign snaps taken during his Newcastle and England games.

The event was organised in aid of local heroes, for whom approximately £2,800 was raised.

It was a very entertaining evening and the sort of thing we could with much more frequently here in the North East.

Malcolm Macdonald's website can be found here.

KT Tunstall At The Sage

KT Tunstall

The Sage, Gateshead

20.11.2013

KT Tunstall lit up The Sage last week on a dark and stormy night. Playing completely solo, her personality filled the stage and she made a very strong connection with the very appreciative audience.

KT's latest album, Invisible Empire//Crescent Moon (the double title intentionally harks back to the days of vinyl B-sides) is her strongest to date, full of thoughtful and wonderful songs. Eight of the album's 12 songs were included in the show, together with the more familiar crowd-pleasers Other Side of the World (''my song about how it’s much better to go out with local people'') Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See. Two tracks - Alchemy and Hidden Heart - came from The Scarlet Tulip EP, which can only be purchased from gigs and KT's official website.

There was a bit of banter regarding the geographical confusion over the Gateshead/Newcastle split (''Hello Newcastle!'' rarely goes by without comment at The Sage) but it was all good natured fun.

On some songs, KT recorded - in front of our very eyes - a riff or a vocal sample and then looped it back as her own backing. The last person I saw using that technique was Charlotte Church.

The other very memorable aspect of the evening was the excellent use of lighting, changing the mood as required for each song. A lot of effort and preparation must have gone into getting the lighting exactly right and it was well worth the trouble because the effect was, at times, magical.

It takes a combination of excellent material, exemplary musicianship, a great voice and a strong stage presence to keep a capacity audience entertained at a venue the size of The Sage for 90 minutes. KT Tunstall made it look easy. It was a wonderful evening and I hope I have the opportunity to see her again soon.

Set List

Invisible Empire

Old Man Song

Carried

Other Side of the World 

White Bird

Yellow Flower

Lost

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

Alchemy

Hidden Heart

Feel It All

Default (cover of a song originally by Atoms for Peace)

Made of Glass

Encore

Crescent Moon

Suddenly I See

Chimes

Patty Griffin At The Royal Festival Hall

Patty Griffin

Royal Festival Hall, London

17.11.2013

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My fourth and final Patty Griffin concert of the year took place at the prestigious Royal Festival Hall. It was the largest of the four venues and it was packed out.

The show was part of London's annual Jazz Festival; not a genre one would automatically connect to Patty's music, but as long we get to experience her music one more time, who cares to argue about semantics?

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Royal Festival Hall. There were displays and artifacts dating back to the 1951 Festival of Britain (the reason the hall was built) which were all very interesting and a number of jazz bands took turns playing in the main downstairs area - free to all who wanted to sit, relax and enjoy the music.

Julia Biel played a very interesting support set. Her music sounds very original and is definitely something I will explore further.

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Soon it was time for the main event. Patty Griffin and her band appeared on the stage to enthusiastic applause and the evening really started.

 The set list was almost identical to the one at Sheffield on the previous evening but the acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall lent the music a different flavour. The audience was very appreciative and the whole evening had a very friendly feel to it.

Set List

Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)

Ohio

Faithful Son

Death’s Got A Warrant

Please Don’t Let Me Die In Florida

Wild Old Dog

Irish Boy

Top Of The World

No Bad News

Standing

Flaming Red

Get Ready Marie

Gonna Miss You When You’re Gone

Go Wherever You Want To Go

Mil Besos

Encore

Strange Man

Coming Home To Me

So there we have it: four Patty Griffin concerts in 2013. Definitely the highlights of a packed year of music.

Patty Griffin At The City Hall, Sheffield

Patty Griffin

City Hall, Sheffield

16.11.2013

Little did I know when I saw Patty Griffin twice on consecutive evenings, back in July, that I would be able to repeat the experience just a few months later.

The first of the new shows took place in the ballroom of Sheffield's City Hall, an intimate venue with informal seating. The big difference between this show and the ones back in July was in the form of extra personnel. Patty and David Pulkingham (guitars) were joined by John Deaderick (piano and drums) and Craig Ross (bass).

The richer sound made for an excellent contrast to the year's earlier shows and allowed a couple of switches from the standard tour set list. David Pulkingham showed his musical dexterity by switching from guitars to drums and bass at various junctures, as well as providing backing vocals.

Songs from this year's American Kid album naturally formed the backbone of the set list. Meanwhile since I saw her in July, Patty's long-lost Silver Bell album has finally tunnelled its way to freedom after a 13 year hiatus, so she is in the rare position of having two new albums on the go at the same. Silver Bell was the original home of Top Of The World, one of Patty's most moving songs. Here, she played a stunning solo version followed by an equally sublime and solo rendition of No Bad News.

Other highlights included the reworked Flaming Red that had impressed me earlier in the year, which was even more powerful as played played by the quartet, and Faithful Son (currently my favourite from American Kid). It's such a powerful song, featuring a mid-song instrumental passage during which Patty and David seem transported to another world, a spell broken so abruptly when Patty returns to the vocal that one can hear the audience gasp. Her songs remain the most moving I have ever heard. There's little wonder I was eager to experience Patty's music - live - as many times as I could this year. I'm delighted I made the effort; the whole experience was very rewarding and extremely memorable.

Set List

Waiting For My Child

Ohio

Faithful Son

Death’s Got A Warrant

Please Don’t Let Me Die In Florida

Wild Old Dog

Irish Boy

Top Of The World

No Bad News

Standing

Flaming Red

Get Ready Marie

Gonna Miss You When You’re Gone

Go Wherever You Want To Go

Mil Besos

Encore

Strange Man

Coming Home To Me

Bryan Ferry At The Sage

Bryan Ferry

The Sage, Gateshead

9.11.2013

Bryan Ferry rocked The Sage last weekend with a fabulous two and a half hour show.

There wasn't a conventional support act. Instead, the Bryan Ferry Orchestra (who were responsible for the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby movie) took to the stage and played 20 minutes of material from their own repertoire, including jazz versions of Do The Strand and Avalon.

Bryan Ferry took to the stage the evening really kicked into top gear.

The sold-out Sage soon saw its audience rise to their feet as Bryan Ferry took us on a journey through his various musical eras, from slower numbers such as Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, classic covers including Jealous Guy and, of course, a spin through some of the finest moments from Roxy Music, such as Street Life, Love Is The Drug and Let's Stick Together.

We had jazz age art deco and we had Charleston-style dancers. It all added to the evening, creating a satisfying fusion of old and modern genres, spanning almost 100 years. Bryan Ferry even found time between posing and strutting to blast out a few tunes on his harmonica and to show his style on the keyboards on a couple of numbers.

It was a very memorable evening. Here's a few more photos to finish with, starting with the wonderful dancers.

Cara Dillon At The Sage

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Cara Dillon

The Sage 2, Gateshead

8.11.2013

More than two years had passed since I last saw Cara Dillon so I was delighted to see she was coming back to The Sage. Fast action allowed me to snap up tickets for the front row.

In addition to old favourites such as Garden Valley and Hill of Thieves, we were treated to a fine selection of songs from Cara's forthcoming new album, A Thousand Hearts. These included Jacket So Blue, Shotgun Down The Avalanche (a Shawn Colvin song, recently performed by Cara on the BBC's Transatlantic Sessions) and Donald. The latter featured a memorable switch of pace towards the end of the song. I'm looking forward to hearing the new songs again when the CD is released.

The final song was the tailor-made The Parting Glass. It was an excellent evening and, like all good shows, left us wanting more. Hopefully there will be another tour soon early in 2014 to support A Thousand Hearts.

Further Reading

The latest issue of CHESS includes my reviews on the film Computer Chess (Eureka! Entertainment) and the book Magnus Force (Colin Crouch, Everyman Chess).

For ordering details, please head here.

4th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament

4th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament

This year's memorial event, in honour of our dear friend Mike Closs, featured four of Teesside's top players in a quadruple round-robin blitz tournament. At five minutes per player per game, the action was fast and furious.

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David Wise got off to a flying start, beating defending champion Julian Allinson 2-0 at the start of the event.

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Indeed, David was on terrific form and he stormed to an excellent score of 6/6 after the first cycle of matches.

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Scores after the first cycle:

David Wise 6/6
Julian Allinson 4/6
David Baillie, John Garnett 1/6

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Julian put himself back in the title race with a victory over David Wise at the start of the second cycle of matches, with a brilliant exchange sacrifice proving decisive. However, David still held a half-point advantage as the tournament moved into the final stages.

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Meanwhile, David Baillie and John Garnett were playing fighting chess in every game, absolutely worthy of the occasion. I was impressed by David's kingside pawn structure in the following position...

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...although John, with the white pieces, went on to win that game.

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Despite the ferocity of the battles, the players kept on great terms!

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There were only two draws out of all the games played. We saw at least one entertaining checkmate pattern.

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David Baillie played one of the best games of the day to defeat David Wise in the penultimate round and John Garnett held David to a draw in one of the games from the final round. That all left Julian with a great chance of winning the tournament, but he had to beat David Baillie 2-0 to do it. After two more fighting games, Julian emerged as champion again.

Final scores:

Julian Allinson 9.5/12

David Wise 9/12

David Baillie 3/12

John Garnett 2.5/12

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So Julian completed a remarkable comeback and took the title for the third time!

Reports from previous events

1st Memorial Tournament

2nd Memorial Tournament

3rd Memorial Tournament