A few weeks back, I caught up with an old school pal of mine for a whisky and a brief trip down amnesia avenue. In the course of our 20-year+ news catchup, he mentioned that he played bass in a rock covers band called The Second Sense and suggested I come along to a gig.

After a couple of false starts and last-minute drop-outs, I finally managed to get along to the Crown and Badger last night, to check them out.

Second Sense is a 4-piece, comprising Reid (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Trevor (lead guitar and backing vocals), Shane (Bass player and Blackwatch tartan kilt wearer) and Jed (drummer). They play a good range of classic rock covers and play them well. Last night's set included a number of my old favourites including the Doobie's Long Train Running, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall and Run Like Hell, Acka Dacka's Highway to Hell and Dragon's Rain. They even chucked in a good cover of Men at Work's Be good Johnny as an early bonus. Excellent!

The ladz have a regular circuit, that covers a fair chunk of the Bay of Plenty and Thames playing gigs in Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton, Cambridge, Matamata, Whitianga and the Coromandel.

Check em out for yourself when you are in the neighbourhood.

Television in New Zealand can be largely summed up in 4 words: seven channels of shite.

It's full to the brim with loud, brash, unfunny American and Australian crap, interspersed with even louder and brasher ads for half-price sales at Harvey the Rabbit or some such, about every 10 minutes. It's basically a noise factory that in a very short period of time leaves the viewer numbed to the seemingly endless flow of static it spouts.

I'm not really sure why I turned the TV on, during a dark and stormy night as I sat in a comfy armchair in front of the flickering embers of a cozy fire. I'd been reading a novel by the light of a solitary lamp and listening to the rain pounding on the tin roof, when I set my book down and flicked on the boob-tube, for no particular reason that I can recall.

What I heard was a track that made me sit up and listen.

The song was called: Careful and the artist was Flip Grater.

With a distinctively smooth coffee-and-cream voice that is reminiscent of both Stevie Nicks' vocal performance in Fleetwood Mac's Dreams and Wire Daisies vocalist Treana Morris, Flip Grater has created a masterpiece of Indie subtlety in her new album While I'm Awake I'm At War.

Every aspect of the album speaks of craft; simple, clear guitar licks and a softly-played violin which carries the listener down a dark river. Minimal bass lines and a muted rhythm give the album a soft-spoken, melancholy sound that makes the heart ache and the mind reminisce and remember. The lyrics are intelligent, thought-provoking and meaningful.

It has a little bit of a country feel, but not of checkered-scarf-and-square-dancing ilk; instead it's a more folk-like sound, which evokes images of windy Celtic landscapes and salty driftwood scattered over a long stretch of lonely, wind-swept beaches. It does make use of the much-maligned steel guitar in tracks such as I am gone, but the effect is more along the lines of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, which - coincidentally - followed on the TV almost immediately afterward.

Dark and evocative (as the best Folk music always is), but with a thin vein of light running through it (in tracks such as Bullet that I ride), While I'm Awake I'm At War is a superb arrangement by any measure and an absolute must for any fans' collection.

Play it on a dark and stormy night, when the rain pours and the wind howls. Pour yourself a dram while staring at the embers of a dying fire...and (re)discover a sound that caresses the mind and heart, a sound that evokes thoughts and feelings...

Rediscover music.

The Depeche Mode gig at the O2 stadium in London on Saturday 20th February 2010 has been a long time coming.

Having bought the tickets over a year ago, the planned 30th May '09 gig offered the usual agonizing wait, but then to find it was postponed for another 9 months was excruciating! However, the day finally arrived and not without a little anticipation - not only to see Depeche Mode again, which I have only seen live twice before, but also for the venue; the London O2 Arena I had been told is an amazing stadium and with great acoustics.

Having driven down with 2 local friends from Northampton, one a fellow fan who had been bought a ticket as a birthday present for the year before, and his missus who was a complete concert virgin, we met up with Phil outside the venue. Phil had experienced the kind of journey from Basingstoke that you just don't need when you need to be somewhere by a certain time, involving taxis, buses, trains and even a boat ride up the Thames when trains and tubes colluded to make things difficult! However, we all made it there in good time on a very chilly night (Phil perhaps a little colder from the crisp river breezes!)

I'd been to the O2 once before when it was still the Millennium Dome, which was impressive to say the least, but I was keen to see what it had to offer now as a concert venue, and again, although it had changed a lot. Word to the wise here though; parking. a complete farce! I looked on-line prior to the event and was tempted by the 'Pre-Booking' to save money and disappointment, but for whatever reason, decided against it and to take my chances when I got there. Well, I'm glad I did!

On-line booking offered parking tickets from £11-20 or so, and then approaching the dome, both stewards and a big digital board pushed you into parking in Car Park 1 for 'Depeche Mode Parking', at £25. Ignoring this, as we wanted to hook up with Phil whose boat would dock right outside the dome, we found plenty of pay and display spaces, right outside the entrance itself, at just £3 all day Sat/Sun. A heck of a difference and we felt sorry for those who were robbed by following instruction by signage and stewards alike, who then would have had the poor fortune of having to walk through the £3 parking area on the way in, to have their noses rubbed in it! We were lucky.

Having got inside the main dome, we had a little trouble establishing where to actually queue to gain entry to the gig itself, joking that that when someone told you to go around the other side, that there were surely no sides, being fairly round in structure!

We eventually got duly processed and tagged, but were surprised and disappointed that your ticket was taken from you and replaced with a wrist band; what happened to keeping your ticket as a souvenir of the event? Puzzled, we walked through into an amazing stadium, with seats that seemed to reach up into the heavens, but with standing tickets were able to find a nice spot about 1/4 of the way back from the stage and off to one side for good viewing with ready access to the bar at the back for a few pre-show sherbets.

As the support band ploughed through their numbers (we didn't catch their name or see any signage to tell us who they were) we remarked on the sheer size and scale of the venue and how the acoustics sounded great with just the slightest reverb bouncing back off the far "side" a split second later, which was weird but didn't really detract from the overall quality of sound. A steward informed us that the venue should have taken up to 20,000 people both seated and standing and they expected around 17,700 that evening so it would get close to capacity.

I expected a fairly electric atmosphere! Knowing that DM's 'Sounds of the Universe' world tour was well and truly done, and this gig was now re-scheduled for well afterwards, I expected a mixture of old and new and that's exactly what we got. However, they almost appeared on stage unexpectedly, without the usual slow build up to raise the suspense and anticipation, so it came as a bit of a surprise when they just cracked on with things, which, I feel, didn't get the crowd going as well as they would have done at previous gigs.

After a few numbers from SOTU, it also became apparent that the acoustics were not that great at all, we think that once the venue filled with people, the sound was dampened down a lot and so almost muffled and distorted it when played loud. On the upside, the visual displays behind the band and lighting was, as usual of the Mode, very different, exciting and stimulating, with wonderfully surreal and evolving imagery for each track.

The only other slight disappointments I guess for me was that they didn't take the time even a few tracks in to the set just to say 'sorry for the long wait guys' and also that the usual energy and passion seemed to be lacking compared to the last time I saw them with Phil at the Manchester Evening News Arena several years ago. That being said, I reminded myself that this was now on the back of a very long and comprehensive world tour, rather than before one, and like us, they are getting a little older, they must have been pretty exhausted!

Don't get me wrong though, I am not one of life's complainers by any means, and after a slow start, once they started plugging the old anthems it really started to gather momentum and they started to get the fans back on side and singing again, as you might expect. Highlights included Behind the Wheel, Home, In Your Room, Never Let Me Down Again which got the usual frantic arm wave going as expected, Enjoy The Silence which got the heartfelt singing underway from the crowd, and a passionate rendition of Personal Jesus certainly seemed to make the crescendo of the evening. At various times poor Dave Gahan needed the crowd to sing for him a little more than usual, but Martin Gore's solos were soulful and poignant as ever, and by the end of the set, the crowd seemed satisfied enough.

Two more surprises were in store at the end of the evening; firstly, the expected and usual 'thank you, leave the stage, wait for the cheers and stamping feet, OK go on then we'll do another few tracks encore' didn't happen. The crowd wanted it, and waited patiently with due applause and encouragement, but after a short wait, the sound cut, the lights came on, and we were treated instead to a dazzling array of corporate brand advertising around the perimeter of the stadium, which, wasn't quite what we were all after by any means!

Slightly deflated by this, we shuffled our way out to find the second surprise; not only did the O2 stewards then decide to give us a souvenir ticket back on the way out (weird and of course, not the actual ticket you had nursed for 12 months or so). Then everyone was funnelled painfully slowly right around the perimeter, to the main entrance in order to leave the venue (rather than just throw open all the doors), which took ages and was completely unnecessary. A ploy to get you to part with more cash and to sample the shops and restaurants that make up the outer perimeter no doubt, but which just caused a lot of frustration and boredom.

Overall, the venue though impressive at first glance, was not the best stadium for Depeche Mode in our opinion. And as for the band themselves? Well, a little older and a little tired from what we could see and hear, but nevertheless, they've still got it, after all these years!

Our concert virgin remarked how much better they were than she expected after all this time, and personally, whilst I left the gig not quite in an ecstatic state this time around, I certainly had a great time, sang my chops off, and would wait another 12 months with a postponed ticket to see them again, although, hopefully, next time, at a better venue and at the start of a tour again!

It was great to receive an invitation to Kev and Carrie's annual BBQ at their farm cottage just outside Basingstoke. Last year's gig was unfortunately cancelled for various reasons and when I heard it was back on this year, I was chuffed.

By the time I arrived around 2pm there were already a dozen or nmore tents pitched in the back yard and FuZeD were just tuning up and by the time I had popped the top of a cold beer and greeted a few pals, they were off and rockin!

Subsequent performances by "Old Dogs, New Tricks", FuZeD and others were excellent and included old favourites such as the Pretender's "Brass in Pocket", Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the years", Free's "All right now" and the Rolling Stone's "Honky Tonk Woman" to name but a few.

As the bands played and the BBQ sizzled, a few dark clouds gathered overhead and then the rain fell...but only for about 20 minutes (long enough for us to throw a tarp over the bonfire). Then the sun came out and an hour later things were bone dry again.

Around 11pm, the amps were switched off, the bonfire was roaring and we were settled down for an unplugged set which finally wound up around 4am.

Another great gig...and thanks to Kevin and Carrie for all their hard work and effort.

Gonna miss it next year...

Video clips now available

Check out the Hyde Park 2009 Photo Gallery
...and don't forget to check out the Neil Young Video clip

The annual Hard Rock Callin' gig in Hyde Park is always a good one and this year featured two classic headliners; Neil Young on the Saturday and Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band on the Sunday.

Unfortunately, this year tickets were snapped up at an unbelievable rate; so fast in fact that all I could manage to get hold of was a one-day pass for the Saturday. Disappointing, but certainly better than no ticket at all.

And so on a gloriously warm summer afternoon, I headed into London on the train, sweated buckets on the tube due to the inevitable signal failures on the Picadilly line and finally emerged at Green Park (after the tube came to a more permanent halt and we were all kicked off the train). A casual stroll down a shady walkway and across Green park followed and 10 minutes later, I was walking past the touts and through the archway that is the Hyde Park entrance.

Once through the gates, I headed over to the shady south-eastern corner to stand in the blissfully cool mist of the cooling tent, drank a litre of water and then grabbed a beer before heading over to the main stage in time to catch the second half of the Pretenders. A classic set of tracks included Don't Get Me Wrong, Brass in Pocket and Back on the Chain Gang. A very nice start to the day.

This was followed by a terrific Texas blues set by Seasick Steve and interesting sets by both Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 and the Fleet Foxes. One trick that the organisers seemed to miss this year was the lack of any kind of MC and I hunted high and low for a lineup list without success.

Just as the Fleet Foxes completed their set, the thunderheads that had been gathering on the horizon most of the afternoon, clubbed together and began heading towards the park, with distant flashes of lightning and deep rumbles of thunder giving an ominous feeling. Within a few minutes the first large drops of rain were spattering across the dry dusty paths of the park and then the showers began in earnest.

The more prepared among the crowd popped up umbrellas or donned plastic raincoats (one or two Blue Peter badge holders made use of large black plastic bin liners as makeshift ponchos) while the rest of us rather stupidly clustered under the Oak and Chestnut trees that ringed the grounds. Nobody's spirits were dampened and everyone laughed and joked together as the rain fell hard and fast. 20 minutes later the rain abruptly stopped and people dispersed in good natured anticipation of the headline act.

Promptly at 8pm, Neil Young walked unannounced onto the main stage to the roar of the crowd and before the roar had even begun to subside, he kicked off with Hey hey, my my. Awesome start! This was followed by Mansion On The Hill, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and old classics including Cinnamon Girl, Needle And The Damage Done, Comes a time, Heart of Gold and Old Man. Classic numbers all.

Having got the crowd in the palm of his hand, Young played an extended version of Rockin' In The Free World as his finale. For an encore, Young had a real surprise; a version of the Beatles: A Day In The Life...complete with special guest Paul McCartney! Nice encore and the crowd appreciated it, but it was a little disappointing that other classic tracks such as Powderfinger and Like a Hurricane were not on the list.

On the whole, it was a pretty good gig and well worth the ticket price, but as I was heading home, I couldn't help comparing the gig to previous Hyde Park concerts and thinking that I'd seen better.

... but not much better

Check out the Hyde Park 2009 Photo Gallery
...and don't forget to check out the Neil Young Video clip