Not actually in the same week, but within 7 days of each other. Just before things started shutting down due to COVID19 @hockney and I met up again in London to see The Fierce and the Dead again.
It was a bit of deja vu as it was at the same venue we last saw them and we went for dinner at the same pub as last time. The Hope and Anchor is a pub in Islington with a small theatre upstairs and a basement music venue. We saw some of the band in the bar and Kev the bass player was in the ticket booth to draw the band's logo on our hands instead of stamping us. The guys know us by now as we have each seen them six times. There were some new shirts on sale and neither of us could resist. Unfortunately they were only available in XL and XXL, but the price was right.
The venue is tiny with a small raised stage, but the crowd was small and loyal. Support was Kavus Torabi who has played in various bands for many years, but has a solo album out. He was looping a harmonium which created some nice textures and he also played some acoustic guitar. I have to say I was impressed by his ability to play quite complex riffs whilst singing. The songs would probably be considers somewhat psychedelic in style. I think one was called The Skulls We Buried Have Regrown Their Eyes. Interesting, but not my usual taste. He said he last played that venue over twenty years ago on a day when he also got arrested.
The main act came out shortly after in matching shirts. This was meant to be a warm-up for an appearance at a festival in the Netherlands, but that was sadly cancelled later. They plays a lot of my favourite tunes. They ended up doing the first one twice as guitarist Steve had some technical issues. Other guitarist Matt was playing his new Shergold guitar instead of his usual battered Telecaster. The guys all use a range of effects for varying textures, including Kev on his bass. Drummer Stuart is a real demon who drives them on despite having an injured arm this time. Matt also played some keyboards, but I do love his guitar playing. I find it difficult to describe their music. Some of it is really heavy, but others are almost pop with intricate lines weaving through them. I think some of it would work great in film soundtracks or video games. We all joined in with their only lyric, which is just two words. They played a great set and it is such a shame that they will not be playing live again for a while. This is affecting bands everywhere and affecting them financially. You can support bands by buying their music. You can find and listen to TFATD music on Bandcamp. Prices are very reasonable for downloads.
The following week my wife and I met up with the same friends we saw Bowie Celebration with a couple of months back. This time it was for Holy Holy who we saw a year or two back in Cambridge, but this time it was at the famous Roundhouse. This consists on original Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey, legendary producer Tony Visconti and Heaven 17 singer Glenn Gregory. Tony's daughter plays acoustic guitar and sax. They have a fine pair of guitarists who do some cool harmony parts.
Before the gig we needed some food and so popped down the road to Camden Market. We found Rudy's Dirty Vegan who served some great burgers. Even the carnivores were impressed.
I bumped into Amy Winehouse near there, but she did not have much to say. You cannot see it, but I was wearing my TFATD shirt.
I had never been to the Roundhouse before. It is an impressive structure that was originally used for shunting trains with a turntable in the middle, but it has been a music venue for decades.
The gig was a special one as it marked exactly 50 years since Visconti played there with Bowie in a band called The Hype that may have been the first outing for glam rock. Support was from Keith Christmas who played on Bowie's Space Oddity album fifty years ago. He brought along a guitar he used for that session. He plays some fine fingerpicking and slide on some folk-tinged songs.
This was zoomed on my phone and so the quality is not great.
The main act kicked off by playing through the whole of The Man Who Sold The World album. I do not know it that well, but the hits sounded great.
Then it was into a bit of a greatest hits show with quite a spread. I think it was largely from the 70s with some 80s tracks. It was nice that they included Where Are We Now? from Bowie's penultimate album in the encore. Glenn does a great job on vocals without trying to exactly recreate Bowie. I have seen a couple of tribute acts, but I really prefer to hear someone be themselves. It was a really good night out. @hockney told me he is not keen on the venue, but I quite liked it. The acoustics were not bad and the lighting was good. The seating was way back around the edge of the hall, but we were standing fairly near the stage with a good view. From what I saw the other facilities there are pretty good and I assume the place has been renovated fairly recently.
It may be a while before I get to another live gig. I did not have any booked up, but my daughter has a couple of festivals lined up for the summer where she does some volunteer work. We do not know if those are going ahead yet.
Some artists are doing streamed gigs, so you can still show your support for those.
Music will live on.