Monday 16 December 2013

Black and White and Great! The Blades live at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin 13th December 2013.

Paul Cleary reforms his legendary Irish group The Blades for 2 sell-out shows. Aggravation Place reports from the front row.



  We all know that life just isn’t fair at times and in the case of The Blades it hits home harder than most. Back in late 1979 they spent a six week residency in The Baggot Inn alternating the headline slot with another hopeful local band called U2 and as far as the local press and music fans were concerned, there was only one band heading for global success and it certainly wasn’t U2. Such was the high regard for The Blades, front man Paul Cleary beat Bono and Van Morrison to win Irish Songwriter of the Year in 1983. And so on Friday the 13th I found myself waiting at an airport to see first of two sold out gigs in the splendid Olympia theatre in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. As the venue began to fill, you could feel the atmosphere charging, people were buzzing with excitement and as soon as the Blades took to the stage they received a heroic welcome.  Starting off with The Last Man In Europe, the crowd were singing along from start to finish, Cleary appeared a little overwhelmed by the reaction. The Reunion was followed by Downmarket, still sounding magnificent with the Blue Brass horn section giving a Dexys feel to the set. The great songs kept coming and the crowd lapped them up, Pride, debut single Hot For You, Those Were The Days and The Bride Wore White before Cleary paid tribute to his late father with a 3 song solo set ending with Everything I Own.  With the band back on stage they ripped through a cover of Young Gifted & Black and ended with Ghost Of A Chance. Back for an encore of Heatwave and Dublin City Town, they had already passed their 10.30 curfew but the audience weren’t having any of it and sure enough the band ended with a second helping of Downmarket. It was simply magnificent, the crowd singing along in unison. Cleary is quite rightly touted as one of Irelands great songwriters and hearing these songs performed live again hit home just how good they are. At an after show party, top DJ Bill Kealy finished the night with 4 Blades singles in a row, the whole pub sang along as they had done earlier. Bill then led us to another club and the best kebab shop in Dublin, I finally got back to my hotel at 4am.  By 8.30 I awoke in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. Thankfully there wasn’t any throbbing in my head but I had to go and wait at an airport when I’d rather have been back Downmarket.

                                           Paul Cleary photo by Dave Edwards

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Coming Home! Graham Day & The Forefathers live in Bethnal Green 29th November


Medway legends return with a set of gems from their long career. 


It’s early 1984 and I’m in the Tunnel Club on the south side of the Blackwall tunnel in Greenwich  along with my friend Barry to see a band I’d heard a lot about and had already bought their first album and recent single. That band was The Prisoners and they were astounding, so much so that my usually reserved friend Barry was dancing on top of a table like a man possessed.  Fast forward almost 30 years later to Bethnal Green working men’s club and ex-Prisoners stalwarts Graham Day and Allan Crockford are joined by their longtime sticksman Wolf Howard playing a selection of “hits” from the Graham Day songbook.
Support came from the ever reliable Aardvarks, plying their trade of late 60’s mod/psych pop with a smile despite the vocal mix being almost non existent.  They were followed by The Higher State, all jangly Rickenbackers and Byrds style harmonies and were well received by the ever increasing crowd.  


                                             Graham Day Photo by Dave Edwards.

By the time Graham Day & The Forefathers took to the stage, the venue was filled to bursting and appropriately they started with The Prime Movers era The Good Things before Promised Land, Better In Black and Creepy Crawlies warmed the crowd up.  The whole set was nicely balanced with tracks from The Solarflares, Gaolers and Prime Movers though unsurprisingly for most in attendance, it was the Prisoners material that got the biggest reaction. Hurricane, Be On Your Way and Love Me Lies all delivered in a no nonsense manner.  With Wolf and Allan keeping it ticking along, Graham was throwing his guitar around in his usual manner, his shirt was now soaked with sweat. Mine wasn’t that far behind if truth be told, and we hadn’t even reached the first of 2 encores which started with The Gaolers Sitar Spangled Banner and was followed by Coming Home. The crowd wanted more and they got it with I Am The Fisherman and Melanie.  Gig of the year? Definitely a strong contender and if my old friend Barry wasn’t now residing in Canada, I’m pretty sure he’d have been dancing on a table in the corner of the club.


                                          The Aardvarks Photo by Dave Edwards.