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Portico Quartett, Redux
A and I went to see them live last weekend. Last time they had been part of another programme, but this time it was just them. In addition to some of the tracks from their current Album,'Knee Deep in the North Sea', they also played some new tracks. The great thing was,as this is jazz, even the tracks we knew were fresh, with different improvisations. They also revealed that they have a new album coming out around March (I think), so looking forward to that!

Posted at: 17:20:42 6 Dec 2008 [/live] permanent link

Portico Quartet
Are coming back to the Junction on the 30th. We've booked tickets, anyone fancy joining us?

Posted at: 11:34:52 22 Nov 2008 [/live] permanent link

The Doubtful Guest
I've a picture of the stage before they started (and before I saw the sign saying photography forbidden, oh well) up on flikr - check the sidebar.
A. saw this and bought tickets for us. Its an adaption of the Edward Gorey book of the same name. As surreal and weird as the original book, this was some of the best theatre I've seen, and pretty much defies description. I think the show has ended now, but if it hasn't, head along to the Cambridge Arts Theatre and see it. You may even get a Q&A with the cast, as we did.

Posted at: 21:58:03 19 Oct 2008 [/live] permanent link

The Winters Tale
Another live outdoor shakespeare performance. This time, it rather broke the mold as the weather was lovely. As it was in Kings, it was fairly well attended - perhaps 50 people all told? Still not a great audience for the price and experience but more respectable than others we've seen.
The performance was OK - nothing outstanding, but for me it had a lot of nostalgia value, as I studied 'The Winters Tale' at A Level, the closest I've come to proper lit. crit. analysis. There were a few masterfully understated moments, though - at the end, when the faithful widow who has kep the king on the straight and narrow until his wife can be returned to him, is rewarded by the hand in marriage of the faithful assistant, the played this as kind of 'er. great. Thanks, King. I think. Who are you again?' rather than the 'all's well that ends well, with all injuries redressed, as is normal in the comedies.

Posted at: 11:12:04 3 Aug 2008 [/live] permanent link

Richard III
The Yates, A and I went to see this in Downing College Gardens last week. I'll have photo's of the grounds to upload when I pay my Flikr subscription.. A superb performance as always, with the usually irremediably evil Richard played with sardonic humour and evil leers to the audience beautifully by (goodness, I don't remember his name, and none of the actors appear on the website - how odd!). Still irremediably evil, of course, but... Having seen this many, many years ago at the Arts Theatre, I was expecting a worthy play, not an enjoyable one but I was forgetting that;
A) Shakespeare's quite good actually..
B) The Shakespeare festival always manage to delight

So I really enjoyed it. Not sure I'd go and see it twice in one year, as we did (slightly by mistake) with Macbeth (the scottish play? ;-) last year..
oh, and for Madhatter and anyone else interested, I looked up the play when we got home, and the famous line (no, the other one, about the nail), is just a line, and the entire verse about the kingdom being lost wasn't in the play. Damned where I heard it though...
Anyway, if you haven't been to any, please go and support them. We're turning up without booking tickets these days, with no problem - this performance had more audience than actors, but not by even 100%, which given the performance standard, is a crying shame.

Posted at: 09:41:51 26 Jul 2008 [/live] permanent link

Neal Stephenson talk, redux.
Apparently it was video'd;

Posted at: 21:05:18 14 Jul 2008 [/live] permanent link

Besquillo Strings
This was the second half of the show that Portico Quartet fronted. Pity - they might have been OK on their own, but on comparison they really suffered. Quite a lot of what Jazz is sent up for - clashing, arythmic, disconnected performers, was all in evidence here. When they stopped being pretentious and played slightly more melodic pieces, they were very nice, and after the first 30 mins my ear got slightly more attuned, so they sounded better, but I wouldn't be going to see them again. A shame, especially as they're 'my people' when it comes to instruments - three Violins, two Double Base, and a percussionist (who looked like he was bored out of his mind).

Posted at: 19:38:33 5 May 2008 [/live] permanent link

Portico Quartet
I bought their debut album after reading a review in the BBC Classics magazine (bought along with Gramophone) for my Jan trip to Seattle to see if Id be interesting in subscribing. I wasn't, although I'd probably choose the BBC one - just more proof of me not being part of the eltist Classic Music scene, I guess.
I'm not much of a Jazz fan, although I've got recordings by Charles Mingus, Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli, Jools Holland but not counting other styles of Jazz like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and the wonderful Amy Winehouse, and even The Hot Club of Cowtown, or the local band 'Cambridge Blue' (Django's castle, if you must know). iTunes tells me I have 35 albums classified as Jazz, but if that sounds a lot, its nothing in comparison to the nearly 500 albums I have..
Anyway, I'm beginning to appreciate Jazz a little more as I learn more about what musical skill is needed to actually create the music. Portico Quartet are a laid back group using Gamalans (sp?) for a very distinct sound. A. and I went to see them last night at the Junction 'Shed' - just the right venue for them. They were a very tight group, with a lot of energy. They didn't spend much time in dialog with the audience but that didn't make any difference. Really glad we saw them and we'll keep an eye for when they come back - apparently two of the band are from cambridge, so hopefully they'll tour here more often.

Posted at: 19:31:59 5 May 2008 [/live] permanent link

KT Tunstall
Live at the Corn Exchange on Sunday! I was dead chuffed to get tickets as its not often that 'big' acts come our way, and their inevitably booked out when they do.
The warm up act was awful, as he had no sense of irony, and very whiney songs. Pity as he could actually sing.
KT (as I can now call her, I assume ;-) was superb, however. I was glad that a headlining act that I'd paid good money to see was as good as their albums. Not always the case (and not even a problem if they're a studio band), so a relief.
No new material, but a good selection from her two albums. She had a group of talented musicians - most played several instruments, apart from one who played - that I saw - keyboards, drums, a washboard tie (really! I want one!), trumpet, and vocals. He also had the best 'Rolf the piano player' hair for the more rocking numbers. KT proved that she's got real stage presence by playing a couple of numbers solo, or with only her backing singers. Amusingly, she appeared to have a different guitar for each song - do guitars get tuned diferently or something?

Posted at: 19:58:14 8 Apr 2008 [/live] permanent link

Fitzwilliam Museum Recitals
I came to these a little late, only finding out about them when my Violin teacher, who is also a Soprano, gave a room filling (in both senses!) performance last sunday. Its the last performance in the series this 'term' at the weekend;

Sunday Promenade Series, Gallery 3 at 1:15pm
Lyn Carter, Piano
Micheal Wigram, Cello
playing Brahms & Beethoven

Posted at: 07:24:15 6 Mar 2008 [/live] permanent link

Don Giovanni
I saw this on the upcoming schedule at the West Road Concert Hall and thought it might be worth a try, so I persuaded a group of friends and along we went.
Not sure what to expect (I've seen Porgi and Bess and La Traviata, neither of which were great), when we turned up and it was in modern costume and translated into english, I did wonder what I'd signed us up for..
Best summed up by a quote from A. at half time; "I thought it was going to be a bit pants, but its brilliant!".
It was a really good modern adaption - humorous use and translation (I'm pretty sure Mozart never used the word "tosser"), and the scene with the 'serenading' by IM was inspired. I have it on good authority that the budget was a massive (for them) 10k - the largest they've had, possibly. On the downside, the latter half lacked punch compared to the first half, especially the climatic scene, where the Ghost just didn't compare to Don Giovanni in terms of presence. A difficult part, I know, but it wasn't helped by the rather anticlimatic ending with him being dragged off to hell - I expected more lights and fanfare - some blokes in dark suites walking him backward of the stage didn't cut it.
Apart from that, it was great - I'll echo A's comments; best Opera I've seen. I'll have to get a copy of Don Giovanni now..

Posted at: 23:13:04 24 Feb 2008 [/live] permanent link

Moishe's Bagel
A and I went to see this band last night. It was something of a gamble, because I'd hadn't heard of them beforehand, but the ticket's weren't too expensive, and I like Oi Va Voi and Sophie Solomon, so we took a chance.
They were very good - very tight as a band. I'd not had much exposure to Klesmer music (its a bit above my skill level on the violin!), and my only real exposure to eastern european (their other big influence) music is via Oi Va Voi. No idea how authentic it was (not very, judging from the band's comments!).
Unfortunately, I misread the tickets, and didn't realise that they started at 8 - after turning up to Oi Va Voi and Fun Lovin Criminals at the Junction's larger (and much nastier, but with better acoustics, I'm given to understand) venue, much too early, and waiting around forver, we took our time turning up to this - only to realise that it did start exactly as stated on the ticket and we'd missed the first half!
I took advantage of sitting in the front row (only seats remaining) to shoot a couple of snaps of the set while the band were on interval. The Piano and Accordion players sat on chairs, but the rest stood, apart from the percussionist (he played a lot more things than a traditional drummer, so that description didn't seem fair), who was cross legged on the ground surrounded by his drum set and assorted items, which made for a very intimate and casual performance.
A very lively performance, with the Violinist drawing both A. and I's attention the most (for different reasons, you might say!). Based on his performance, I know I have a while to get yet before I'm ready to either attempt Klesmer at anything like traditional speed, or perform in general.
Overall, a group of very accomplished musicians playing together - a very positive experience. We'll certainly be keeping a close eye on the Junction from now on, and booking a lot more events there. it would be nce to go with others, too, so if you see something you're interested in going to, let me know!
The band's webpage is here, including a quicktime video so you can see the band in action. Unlike a lot of bands, they don't appear to have a MySpace page. Unlike a lot of those bands, though, they do have an on-line ordering page. No way of keeping up with their tours through anything but checking the webpage, however. We bought a copy of their latest album, 'Salt', and it was only because I didn't have enough money they we didn't buy both their albums. Listening to it this morning they covered a lot of the tracks in the second half that we caught, so it was nice to listen again and see the band members performing it in my minds eye.
I'll probably listen this album 'out' before I buy the other one, but at least I'll be able to!
.
..
update, it seems they're availabe on DRM free iTunes Plus! Ooh. The temptation..

Yes, I have a day off today. Its glorious..

Posted at: 14:18:44 30 Nov 2007 [/live] permanent link

Ghost Stories at the Leper Chapel anyone?
Robert Lloyd Parry is doing a one night performance of an M.R. James Ghost Story at the Leper Chapel on wed 19th Dec, according to this.. Alas, that's also the night of the work Xmas party. If only I'd have known, as I'd much rather attend this..
However, there are other performances at Corpus Christi Playroom, St Edward’s Passage, from 11th-15th Dec. 12-15th are good for me. Anyone else interested? We need to book fast - the previous ones got sold out.

Posted at: 12:53:46 30 Nov 2007 [/live] permanent link

Milton Jones
A and I saw him live on thursday. Side splittingly funny one liner comedian, that Andrea encountered via Radio 4. His Wikipedia page has some of his jokes.
Next time we find out he's coming to Cambridge, I think it might be time to phone round and gather a posse..

Posted at: 21:38:29 25 Nov 2007 [/live] permanent link

OiVaVoi
A. and I saw them last week, in what turns out to be the start of thier western european tour. We didn't get to see more than half of the set, alas, and the photos from my camera and iPhone didn't come out. However, the band have a far better one, and a writeup of the gig on their MySpace page.
Great band, the only problem was the sound engineers at the Junction had the volume a little high for the people there, and the high notes on the Clarinet and Violin were a little..piercing. On the plus side, my recounting this led to a fascinating discussion of sound engineering with some colleagues. It appears that as well as a haunt of bikers, my workplace is full of musicians and sound engineers..

Posted at: 21:32:54 25 Nov 2007 [/live] permanent link

Changeling
Booked by A. around the same time we went to see Changeling, we saw this at the Arts Theatre on wednesday night.
The beautiful Beatrice is betrothed to one man, but finds she is in love with another. She persuades her father's servant Deflores, who she despises as much as he lusts after her, to kill her betrothed, thinking that he will have to flee and she will be rid of both. Needless to say, it does not work out as she planned..
A more traditional production than Stockholm, this is apparently 'the best tragedy not written by Shakespeare', although I can't verify that assertion.. The play is a story of murder, lust and revenge in Spain. Some very powerful performances by the cast, especially the ugly, twisted DeFlores.
The Arts theatre was almost empty for this performance. We had seats at the back in the circle, but could have sat anywhere, after it started. Good venue, but oh my god, the prices of the drinks etc in the auditorium! I thought the cinemas were ripping us off, but it turns out they have nothing on the Theatre. Oh, and they don't do tea, luvie.

Posted at: 21:11:18 20 Oct 2007 [/live] permanent link

Stockholm
A. asked for tickets to this theatre production for her birthday, so with some trepidation, I booked them. Its an avant-garde, new theatre kind of production, held at the Junction's 'The Shed'. Most of this was new to me, so I was a little nervous of what it would be like come the night (a week last thursday). I was slightly mollified by it being 'THE thing to see in Cambridge' according to the Guardian. Of course, cambridge being what it is, it prbobaly was only thing to see..
It turned out to be extremely good. It charted a relationship, if not the breakdown of one. A cast of two, with a very imaginative revolving stage, the play incorporated dancing, cooking, fights and partial nudity. Plus a sex scene 10 feet in the air.
All in all, a pretty bold and intense piece.

Posted at: 20:51:31 20 Oct 2007 [/live] permanent link

Fun Loving Criminals
I went to see them at the Junction week or so ago. Not being 'hip' to the ways of live music, I turned up at 7pm as it said on the tickets..and promptly waited an hour and a half to get in, for the warm up band, and finally the feature act. I was also unaare that it was OK to bring in camera's, so all I had was my crappy Blackberry Camera. You can see the photo's here. They were a great band, very warm on stage, and good entertainers as well as musicans. Definately be booking again if they come near Cambridge.

Posted at: 22:14:16 29 Jul 2007 [/live] permanent link

Cambridge Summer Recitals

This Thursday, I went to one of these events with Madhatter. This one featured Alison Balsom on trumpet and David Goode on organ in the Kings College Chapel. Not (as far as I can recall) having been in there before, both it and the grounds really made an impact. As the recital went on, the light slowly faded, making the stained glass windows even more luminous.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the music, but what I did get was a better understanding of the capabilities of the Organ and Trumpet. I can safely say that I won't be seeking out more organ works, but I won't be passing them up, either. The trumpet was another matter, though - it was a lot sweeter and smoother than I was expecting. Alison Balsom played a haunting peice as the encore, - Andante (Gammel Fabodpsalm Fran dalarna) from her "Caprice" Album (located thanks to some research on iTunes).
There is a podcast put out by EMI to promote the CD, which can be found on iTunes. I tried to provide the direct link, but EMI have a godawful flash website, and another which is coded for IE only, and I can't extract the podcast URL from iTunes, so you'll have to make do with that. If you want the files, though, let me know...

Posted at: 19:33:49 28 Jul 2007 [/live] permanent link

Charlie Siem, Catherine Myerscough and Alison Rhind at the West Road Concert Hall
My Violin teacher attended a performance of Charlie Siem's, and spoke highly of him, so I made my way to the West Road Concert Hall to attend a performance last night, where the above artists were performing.
Apparently Cambridge University Music Club run a series of concerts from October to May (term time, I'm guessing ;-). It was all very civilised. Apparently, the hall could hold five hundred people, but there were no more than thirty, I thought. Mind you, I'm pretty bad at judging numbers (and ages, and character and.. ;-), so it could be more. I'd definitely go again (anyone up for it?). Of course, with my luck, it was the last performance of this academic year.
Charlie Siem opened with what I believe was Bach's 'Chaconne', and followed with YsaŸe's Violin Sonata No 2, which absolutely blew me away. The piece uses every possible trick and sound the Violin could make (quite a few I had no idea about, but then I'm only up to three scales..), and he gave an amazing performance, playing without accompaniment, amplification or even sheet music. I'm not doing the performance justice with my description, but I guess you had to be there. He apparently has a recording contract, and has played with the Royal and Russian Philharmonic orchestras (did I mention he's 22?), so if its the kind of things that interests you, and you hear of a performance, I'd go see now before he gets 'big'.
Myerscough and Rhind had an almost grandstanding performance to follow. They were very good however, playing Ravel and Debussey on Violin and Piano as a duet (is that the right term?). Neither of the pieces captured my imagination the way Siem's Violin Sonata no 2 had, however. My loss, I imagine!
I'd had a none too great week, but I left the concert feeling refreshed and energised - worth the £7 entry fee if nothing else!

Posted at: 15:39:03 19 May 2007 [/live] permanent link

Norse Myths!
'Cambridge Storytellers', whoever they are, are doing a reading of some Norse Myths at the Leper Chappel sunday evening;
Cambridge Storytellers
We're going. Interested?

Posted at: 17:09:55 17 Jun 2006 [/live] permanent link

Dylan Moran Live
Anyone interested in going to see Dylan Moran at the Corn Exchange on the 20th May?
Let me know, as we're probably going to book tickets..

Posted at: 08:47:29 18 Mar 2006 [/live] permanent link

Bill Bailey - Part troll
I went to see this last night at the Apollo in London with a group of friends. A. said it was the best live comedy she'd seen, and I have to agree. Absolutely fantastic, especially the video and music "interpretations". It has also inspired us to try and get to more live stuff, especially comedy..

Posted at: 12:14:07 2 Jan 2005 [/live] permanent link