Anna Meldrum and Duke Special

penski

penski

penski

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I was priveleged to see the above live last Friday night at The Sage in Gateshead. A great venue if you have never been before; stunning views and absolutely superb acoustics.

Anyway, first up was Anna Meldrum playing her first gig outside of Glasgow. Indie Girl With A Guitar. Yawn, thinks I.

How wrong I was, she has a cracking sense of humour, a lyrical nous beyond her years, a great voice and an ability to hold an audience well.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=170747035 has a few tracks on it.

The main act, Duke Special, is one which I have had the pleasure to see many times over the last few years and he never disappoints. Use http://www.dukespecial.com to bring yourself up to speed. Spoilers below if you're seeing him on this tour...So DON'T READ IT!

We got a set mixed from older songs and stuff from the new album, Temperance Society Chip Bailey came out and did his bit on percussion when required (clicky for STUFF!) - this guy is one of the most interesting and well-developed percussionists I have ever seen. His sense of scale and polyrhythmic identities is simply stunning.

My girlfriend's parents had been to see him in Notts the night before so I was expecting an encore; in Notts, he wheeled a second piano out into the audience.

At the Sage, the audience is seated so that was impossible. Instead we got 'Follow me!' as he marched through the audience, out the hall doors and downstairs to the foyer where another piano was waiting.

So in quite possibly the strangest gig experience ever, we were treated to half a dozen singalong tracks sat in front of the Sage's huge glass facade....

Some vids on youpube: http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=duke+special+sage

You can see muggins in a few of them :p

*n
 
If you check out youtube for a London Duke Special gig from last year, theres a mate of mine walking past the stage coming back from the toilet and hes asked if he plays any instruments. As luck would have it he plays the drums so next thing he knows hes up on stage playing on a song called "Last Night I Nearly Died". He couldnt believe it! He played pretty well and got a huge ovation from the audience! Quality!

EDIT: Found it!

 
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I've been waiting to buy Duke Special's albums and this has reminded me.

I remember he's done joint gigs in the past with David Ford, which would be amazing.
 
Yeah, I first saw him and Chip supporting David Ford a few years back (just after Ford released his solo debut).

*n
 
Been to the Sage a few times (for classical stuff) but the highlight for me was the Kodo Drummers. We were in the big hall and it highlighted just how effective that place is, acoustically. My entire body was shaking at times from even the smaller drums. When they wheeled the big buggers out, children started crying :D

Sorry, more a comment on the Sage rather than the artists you saw, but I got this strange sense of deja vu when you described going out into the foyer - was there a thread with something similar recently?
 
Luw said:
Been to the Sage a few times (for classical stuff) but the highlight for me was the Kodo Drummers. We were in the big hall and it highlighted just how effective that place is, acoustically. My entire body was shaking at times from even the smaller drums. When they wheeled the big buggers out, children started crying :D

Sorry, more a comment on the Sage rather than the artists you saw, but I got this strange sense of deja vu when you described going out into the foyer - was there a thread with something similar recently?
Click to expand...

I think I mentioned it in GD in thread I made about it kicking off at the Bensham Jockey...

*n
 
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