musical interlude

For my own record as much as anything else,  I wanted to write about two very different gigs I went to this month. First was the long awaited Neil Young gig at the O2 Arena in Greenwich. Fantastic of course, the old-timer still thrashing it out on his guitar with Crazy Horse or solo with his acoustic guitar or on piano,  singing with "a shaky shaky voice that's as real as the day is long".
The venue was overwhelmingly huge and luckily the monitors showed what was going on on stage but I still think we had great seats.

He sang a good mix of early stuff (Comes a time, Powderfinger, Hurricane etc) as well as new songs from his latest album Psychedelic Pill. So glad I went!

Last night was a very different evening but still pretty amazing! 

Went to see Melange Collective in a tiny, tucked away Centre for Peace & Reconciliation in Bishopsgate. Everywhere you look are these massive glass and concrete towers shutting out the light (unless you're in them, high enough up for a great view and far enough away from the dirty grey street and us little people below). St Ethelburga's has a secret garden and a prayer yurt surrounded by mosaics and flowers.

Melange Collective are 7 people playing middle eastern and North African music with jazz influences. They are fantastic musicians.  Oud, cello, double bass, guitar, percussion, accordian, saxophone.