A couple of years ago I hadn’t even heard of 70′s cult psychedelic folk band Comus but then for some reason their name kept cropping up on one of my e-mail groups so I decided to check them out. I fell in love with their first album First Utterance the first time I heard it and have been wanting to see them ever since. They only reformed in 2009 playing together for the first time in 37 years and have done a handful of gigs since. I was going to go and see them about this time last year but my car broke down a few days before the gig and I ended up spending all my money.

We did manage to get Roger Wootton and Glenn Goring to appear as a duo at the Summer of Love festival last year but although I enjoyed their set it didn’t have the weirdness that the Comus songs have on record – I don’t think the fact that it was pissing down with rain helped matters much either. So I decided that I needed to see the full band and was glad to see that they were playing at the Borderline in London on 28th April.

I’ve always loved the Borderline as a venue but it had been quite a while since I’d been and the first thing I noticed was that there had been some changes. I think they’d knocked the wall behind the sound booth down and made the gents smaller so that there was more room to stand and watch the band. Other than that and a new small bar near the “dancefloor” it was still pretty much as I’d remembered it.

I was at the bar when the first band came on. They were called Purson and from the very first song they had the audience entranced with their sixties flavored rock. They looked and sounded as if they were playing a speakeasy in 1969 with just the lack of oil lamps and a smokey haze giving things away. The lead singer, Rosalie Cunningham, who was wearing a long flowing hippy dress has a lovely voice and plays a mean guitar while the rest of the band kick ass behind her!

Next up were Fusion Orchestra 2 who turned out to be a reincarnation of a band that were around in the early 70′s  with one album that has achieved a cult status – bit like Comus then! However the new incarnation (with a 2 added on the end of the name probably to avoid lawsuits!)  only has one original member, Colin Dawson, in it. At first glance I thought that maybe it was the drummer but it turned out to be the guitarist. The band came on and were just about to start when a female singer suddenly appeared wearing a black dress with a flower in her hair. This sudden last minute appearance jarred me for a few minutes because she didn’t look as if she belonged with the rest of the group but once you got used to her looks her voice fitted in well. She did admit though that the album, Skeleton in Armour, had come out almost 20 years before she was even born.

After they had finished the stage was virtually stripped bare of equipment leaving only a small rack of drums before Comus took to the stage and opened with Song to Comus off the First Utterance album. Unfortunately due to a technical hitch Colin Pearson’s violin was not audible during the song and there was a long gap while it was sorted out before the set continued with a favourite of mine Diana. The sound seemed to improve as the night went on and by the end they sounded great. The set was comprised of all but one song from First Utterance and the three new songs from the new album (or mini album as they called it) Out of the Coma.

Set List

Song to Comus
Diana
Out of the coma
The Return
Drip Drip
The Herald
The Sacrifice
The Prisoner
Encore
The Bite

I enjoyed seeing them live and my only criticism would be the lack of material. Given that they only play stuff from their first album as the second album was generally regarded (even by the band) as crap they will find it hard to continue to pull in crowds if they play the same songs every time. The three news songs were good and Out of the Coma sounded much better than it did when I first heard it at SoL last year. They seem to be working closely with David Tibet of Current 93 who was supposed to be there but couldn’t make it due to illness so maybe that might produce some creative outpourings.

The Mecca/The Mayfair, Friday nights, Progressive/Rock/Heavy Rock/Heavy Metal, cheaper entry before 11pm, dashing from the Blue Bell after 10:30 closing time, bar till 2am, queuing up the ramp, Genevieve’s upstairs, bouncers in DJ’s on the door, practising your date of birth, afghans, combat jackets, flares, desert boots, patchouli oil, Snakebite, Southern Comfort, Pernod, Chris Cowie,  the DJ booth, revolving stage, the tree, the staircase, All Right Now, Hocus Pocus, Stargazer, the girls from Boldon, Elspeth’s chest, hippy chicks, headbanging on the dancefloor, Rob Kilburn playing imaginary guitar with his imaginary effects pedals, sitting on the floor during Stairway to Heaven, Freebird after the band, Smoke on the Water, Ian Gillan Band, Wishbone Ash, Blowin Free just like a cornfield, You are like a Hurricane, pissy lager in chunky glasses, getting drunk and passing out in the toilets/in the corner/under the tree, getting pulled by the drug squad, getting thrown out, sitting on the sofa in the girls cloakroom, Xanadu, I’ve seen all good people, Highway Star, Garry and Rob and Russ and Paul, Keith and Debra andKaren, Meeting Val (well it seemed like a good idea at the time), Louise, bottles of booze in girls handbags, the old bloke who cleaned the gents, starting at midnight on Easter Saturday and going till 4am even though the bar shut at 2, She’s not there, Be good to yourself, Brown Sugar, the view from the balcony of a floor full of head bangers, going into Genevieve’s and taking over one of the car booths to annoy the smoothies until the crap disco music forced us to retreat, hippy skirts and kaftans, velvet jackets and demin, badges and patches, nicking the bar towels, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy, Hendrix and The Doors,  the sudden dash onto the dance floor, long hair flailing, girls spinning, Layla, The Logical Song, Wishing Well,  They call me the Hunter, wishing we’d been old enough to have seen Zep or Free or Thin Lizzy when they played there, tour t-shirt, kinky boots, lace up jeans, Cider and black, the raised area to the right of the stage or the table under the stairs next to the tree, Breadfan, Paranoid, Doctor Doctor please oh the mess I’m in, being kicked on the foot by a bouncer “get up or get out”, going for a walk around, Girlschool, Southbound, White Heat, Terraplane, White Fire, Tygers of Pang Tang, bangles and love beads, the taxi rank, dodgy burgers, walking back up Newcastle Road, getting up for work the next morning, combing the tats out of your long hair……

The images above come from this site although I notice some of them are mine!

The Mecca was a huge part of my life from about 1977 to around 1983 and Newcastle Road just won’t be the same without it.

Stop Press: My friend just sent me a picture showing the demolition in progress

And there was a report in the Sunderland Echo about it

The 6th annual Summer of Love Party is to be held in Kent on the 6th & 7th July 2012

The line up  is

Friday 3.00 pm – 12 midnight
======

Marrakesh Express – covers of Byrds and CSN
Sarah Tonin – psychedelic rock
Heart of Rust – Neil Young cover band
Adam Piggott & Jayne Freeman
Corey Webb

Saturday 11.00 am – 1am
========

Cosmic Finger – Grateful Dead Cover Band (from Germany)
Michael Chapman – a fully qualified folk survivor from the 60s
Rant ‘n’ Rave – Americana originals
The Blox – Ian Dury cover band
Galley Beggar – describe themselves as a mix of Fairport Convention and Led
Zep.
Kerry Andrew “You are Wolf” – young alt.folk original

Summer of Love Party is a private party and entry is for members only – so pop along to ourwebsite for details on how to become a member!

Dark Star Orchestra
The Garage, London
18th March 2012

Show: The Lyceum 23rd May 1972

Set 1

The Promised Land
Sugaree
Mr. Charlie
Black Throated Wind
Tennessee Jed
Next Time You See Me
Jack Straw
China Cat Sunflower>
I Know You Rider
Me And My Uncle (Not played)
Chinatown Shuffle
Big Railroad Blues
Two Souls In Communion
Playing In The Band
Sittin’ On Top Of The World
Rockin’ Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu
Mexicali Blues
Good Lovin’
Casey Jones

Set 2

Ramble On Rose
Dark Star >
Morning Dew
He’s Gone
Sugar Magnolia
Comes A Time
Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad >
Not Fade Away >
Hey Bo Diddley >
Not Fade Away

Encore
Uncle John’s Band

Filler
Brokedown Palace – with other drummer

So I went to see the Dark Star Orchestra’s first ever UK appearance tonight at the garage in Highbury, London. They’re a Grateful Dead cover band but one which is well known in the US for playing whole shows taken from the 30 years or so that the Dead toured. As 2012 is the 40th anniversary of one of the Grateful Dead’s most (in)famous tours – their tour of Europe which spawned their triple album Europe 72 it seemed only fitting that the band come over and play some of the 72 shows in the cities where they were originally played. It doesn’t look like we’ll get a visit from the latest incarnation of post Dead bands Furthur so we’ll have to do without any of the original members.

It was obvious from the pre-show blurb that they would be playing one of the four Lyceum shows but which one? There were two which had huge versions of Dark Star and the other two had great versions of The Other One so either way we were in for a treat. There was speculation in the pub before hand with the 23rd May and the 26th May being the favourites. Unless it was the 24th it was going to be difficult to spot which show at first as the other 3 nights all opened with the same song. In fact the two nights mentioned shared the same four songs at the beginning of set 1!

As it turned out the show in question turned out to be the opening night of the run at the Lyceum back in 1972. The Garage was actually a lot fuller than I thought it would be as the band kicked off the show. I was quite close to the front in the middle so I had a good view of the band. Unfortunately I also had to put up with some drunken idiot dancers too and one in particular seemed to think it was a good idea to celebrate the end of a song by throwing his beer up in the air, something he did twice during the first set.

I’ve seen a few GD cover bands over the past few years, The Cosmic Charlies and Workingmen’s Deed from the UK and Deadicace from over the channel in France/Belgium. I have to say though that I found DSO to be a lot tighter and sounded more together than any of the other’s I’ve seen. This could be that they play together on a much regular basis and as the market for GD cover bands is so much bigger out in the States there are far more opportunities for them to play and earn money. I obviously can’t comment on how authentic they were to 1972 Grateful Dead as I wasn’t at those shows as I was only 11 (thank you to the person who asked me that down the front!). My only comment on that score was I thought DSO were a lot rockier that I would have expected from listening to the recordings from that era. I did get a comment from an old timer at the bar during the interval who said they were “too loud and lacked finesse” but obviously that’s his opinion and I don’t know if he was at the original show.

I guess that’s the thing about the Grateful Dead there are so many reasons why people like them. I, for example like the extended jams in songs like Dark Star or The Other One but other people like the danceable rock numbers, there is even one friend of mine who swears that 1995 Dead is the best there is, whereas most people think their final tour was awful. Some like to listen to the music, other like to dance the night away and of course there are all stations in between! This also means that while some people liked some of the above mentioned cover bands others saw different aspects to them – I still think the one I enjoyed the most was Workingman’s Deed as to me they were in the right area musically but other’s didn’t like them because of their vocals.

I was pretty sure I had the right date at the end of the first set but not being someone who memorises set lists so a quick check on deadlists during the interval confirmed what was to come in the second set. They kicked off again with Ramble on Rose before heading off into my favourite piece of Dead – Dark Star. Sadly I never got to see them play it and have only really seen it played live by the Cosmic Charlies and as a short jam by Workingmen’s Deed so I really enjoyed seeing it played right in front of me. It never ceases to amaze me what can be made of something that is essentially a riff and two verses of words. The only studio version that exists last a mere 2:40 and yet the live versions lasted 20, 30, 40 or even in one case on the Europe 72 tour 50 minutes.

The song was just reaching a crescendo when the drunken dancer suddenly re-appeared next to me. Now I wanted to listen to the song and the last thing I wanted was to have my enjoyment spoiled by someone sticking their drunken face into mine and starting to stroke my beard! So I brushed him away and when he came back I lifted my arm and basically shoved him away from me. Luckily for him he didn’t come back again otherwise I might not have been responsible for my actions! In fact I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night although his legacy remained as my feel stuck to the beer sodden floor!

So all in all a good night, bumped into lots of people some of who I knew and remembered and some that knew me but I couldn’t remember them (I’m hopeless!). I handed out a few leaflets for SoL at the end and even managed to give one to the band and tell them they should come and play next year. They did say they’d be coming back but then we’ve heard that before from American bands who then are not seen again. I can quite understand it though as I’m sure they enjoy playing here but suspect that once they get home and tot up the finances it doesn’t look as attractive as it did. The sad reality for most musicians these days especially those in bands.

So I’ve managed to get a ticket for In Tune’s live Springtime special and on arrival at Broadcasting House I’m glad to see I’m not the oldest, youngest or scruffiest member of the audience! I’m also pleased to see that Martin Carthy is scheduled to play Sir Patrick Spens – I’ve always loved the Fairport version from Farewell Farewell. What is really weird is that I was talking to a colleague about the shipping forecast on the way here and the Seamus Heaney poem is one of the readings! Odd that it got a mention on the radio the other day too!

I don’t think I actually knew Martin was going to be on when I applied for the tickets and it wouldn’t have made any difference as I’d had tickets for the In Tune Christmas Special two years ago but hadn’t been able to get there because of work – it was a nice bonus though. We were ushered into the hall just after 4pm and as luck would have it I ended up in the middle of the fourth row. The studio was lit like a TV set so it felt like watching a big TV screen. I sat while we waited and looked at the microphones on the stage and tried to work out which were going to be used for each act – such an equipment anorak!!

I think my highlight was the Aurora Orchestra performing Metamorphosen by Strauss. This took up a huge chunk of the hour long section of the show between the 5pm news and the news an hour later. Sitting just a few feet away from them it was wonderful to watch the interplay between the musicians and the expressions on their faces as well as the little glances between them. The best bit was a brief silence about half way through where it looked a though they were shaking the last remnants from the previous notes from their instruments and you could almost see the sound falling towards the floor.

One of the surprises to me was Noah Stewart, an up and coming tenor about to make his Covent Garden debut. I’ve never been fond of Opera, in fact when I get asked about what music I like I usually say “anything but Opera”, I certainly never seen an Opera singer in action at such close quarters. I was struck firstly by the power of his voice – his microphone was four to five feet away! I loved the concentration on his face and you could tell he was singing using his whole body. I almost (only almost) had an epiphany about Opera on the spot.

You can see the playlist from the show on the Radio 3 website and the pictures above are from the Radio 3 Facebook page. Parts of the show were videoed and I believe the video will be on the website too at some point. The problem with In Tune is that it clashes with PM on Radio 4 – I might have to try and even them up and make sure I give In Tune a fairer crack of the listening whip!

After all it’s always good to be reminded what a shitty place this world would be without music.

Can you tell what it is yet?

The line up is almost finalised for the 6th annual Summer of Love Party to be held in Kent on the 6th & 7th July 2012

The line up as it stands at the moment is

Friday 4.00 pm – 12 midnight
======

Marrakesh Express – covers of Byrds and CSN
Sarah Tonin – psychedelic rock
Heart of Rust – Neil Young cover band
Adam Piggott & Jayne Freeman

Saturday 11.00 am – 1am
========

Cosmic Finger – Grateful Dead Cover Band (from Germany)
Michael Chapman – a fully qualified folk survivor from the 60s
Rant ‘n’ Rave – Americana originals
The Blox – Ian Dury cover band
Galley Beggar – describe themselves as a mix of Fairport Convention and Led
Zep.
Kerry Andrew “You are Wolf” – young alt.folk original

Every year Michael Eavis says of Glastonbury “This years festival will be the biggest and best yet” so I can confidently predict that this years SoL will be the same size as last year and be every bit as good!

Summer of Love Party is a private party and entry is for members only – so pop along to our website for details on how to become a member! Full membership is just £50 and if you join before 7th February you’ll get a 10% discount.

Go on you know it makes sense!!