British Sea Power with Derwent Brass, Derby Theatre

Sea Of Brass

Now this is something different from the band that have brought us performances in churches, museums, on sea forts, in libraries, on boats, at village fetes, on oil platforms, in the highest pub in Britain, at the Chelsea Flower Show, at Jodrell Bank, in the Czech Embassy etc etc. Need I go on...

Tonight we’re at the theatre in Derby and we’re all seated, which takes me out of my comfort zone somewhat even if I am seated rather comfortably. The last time British Sea Power were in Derby we all nearly died in the sweltering July heat at The Venue, which that night was indeed your proverbial sweat box of a venue, so this evening is very very different.

For the last two years the band have been putting together their Sea of Brass project working with arranger/conductor Peter Wraight. Wraight has created bespoke brass parts to go with some of BSP’s finest moments. The band are now touring the finished article in conjunction with brass bands from up and down the country.

So tonight there are the men in suits from Derwent Brass taking up one side of the stage and BSP, along with the usual foliage, taking up the other.

The audience too seems split down the middle. It’s an odd mix. There’s either a lot of very elderly BSP fans or they're here for the brass. A chap next to me makes the very valid comment of how do you play the trombone with a face full of smoke. I guess we’ll see. I wonder if they’ve rehearsed this with the smoke, I also wonder how they’ve rehearsed this at all given it’s a different brass band every night.

The set list features, perhaps not surprisingly, many tracks that have a more gentle orchestral feel to them such as the opening ‘Heavenly Waters’, which was a mere b-side to early single ‘Carrion’. It is indeed a treat of the not often played tonight with songs such as ‘A Wooden Horse’ from their first album and ‘Albert's Eyes’ off the ‘Remember Me EP’ making an appearance.

It’s not all gentle though. This trio is followed by ‘Atom’, quite a fast one. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. It goes very well as it turns out, judging by the exhausted state of the brass band afterwards. In fact they give them the next song off as BSP change lead singers and Hamilton takes the mic for ‘The Land Beyond’ unaccompanied by the brass.

The obscurity continues with ‘No Need To Cry’ (rarely played from ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’), ‘Once More Now’ (‘Valhalla Dancehall’) and ‘The Smallest Church In Sussex’ (‘Remember Me EP’) with it’s terrible lyrics.

Some of the audience look a bit bemused and sadly a few leave early. In fact some of Derwent Brass look a bit bemused too but mostly they seem to have a riot. It’s a far cry from the solitary cornet player the band usually employ. Phil’s here as well by the way.

Whilst some songs have been stripped back to make room for the brass parts others like a loud, mind altering ‘Machineries of Joy’ have gone the other way. Then there’s the brilliant ‘Lately’, always a treat but often a rare one. Tonight the song soars higher than ever with the accompaniment of the brass.

Another unlikely bed partner for the brass is ‘Lights Out for Darker Skies’ which is a lively end to the main set with the Derwent Brass clearly now in full flow. 

The encore follows with a tremendous ‘Waving Flags’, naturally the ‘The Great Skua’ and the oddity that is ‘When a Warm Wind Blows Through the Grass’.

Overall this was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The only thing lacking was a Bi-Polar Bear. Where was he/she?

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The Hold Steady, Academy 2, Manchester

Supported by So So Glos

I suppose the advantage of having a university hopping Daughter is that not only do you get to see different cities but in this case also different music venues. Tonight I am inside her latest place of learning Manchester University or more precisely their students union in the Main Debating Hall as it was once known before being rather unimaginatively rebranded 'Academy 2'. This fits in with the equally unimaginative 'Academy' next door and 'Academy 3' upstairs. None of which have anything to do with those other Academies, the ones with a mobile phone company’s name attached to the front. Not sure how they get away with that. The place holds 900 and is probably about three-quarters full tonight.

Opening up are Brooklyn band the So So Glos with a number that sounds like off the shelf Stiff Little Fingers. I can't really pay them a higher compliment than that. It goes a bit Green Day after that but that’s not really a bad thing either. They’ve got a typical US Pop-Punk sound but are one of the best at it I’ve seen, although they are no newbies and have been around since 2007.

The chap next to be describes them as ‘scratchy’. I’m not sure quite what he means by that but it seems to fit them perfectly. They are, however, very good and soon have the majority of the audience gently head banging along. I’d certainly go see them again.

Half an hour later, the Hold Steady emerge to the sound of Lou Reed’s ‘Real Good Time Together’, which is very appropriate. The Hold Steady always seem to have a good time together up on stage and singer Craig Finn immediately enthuses the crowd to do likewise.

He thanks everyone for not staying home tonight and fiddling around on Facebook and/or Twitter but coming out to rock n roll show instead. Not a problem. Then they launch into their good time set.

They are my perfect band lyrically, as every song tells a story and also set list wise, as no two sets are ever the same. In fact each set shows more squad rotation than even José Mourinho would dare employ. Things are therefor never predictable but also you never quite get that set to die for. Clearly I’m asking for too much and also not accounting for the band’s own eclectic choices from their own back catalogue. Finn does like to go off on one lyrically and also thrown in something terribly obscure that causes most of us a bit of head scratching to place the track.

Finn goes off on one immediately tonight with the rambling opener ‘Positive Jam’, a slow-burning nugget from their debut album. Whilst tonight's terribly obscure moment is 'Knuckles', from the same album, five tracks in just after 'Ask Her for Adderall' which itself is a mere bonus track on a limited edition version of the ‘Stay Positive’ album.

It’s the punchy classics that go down the best though, like a rousing ‘Sequestered in Memphis’ but tonight there’s quite a bit of emphasis on their lighter moments as well, like the pleasant but more innocuous ‘The Sweet Part of the City’.

They only play four songs from their recent 'Teeth Dreams' album, which is a shame as it’s an excellent album. Yet still they thoroughly entertain with Finn (despite being almost as old as me) jumping up and down repeatedly and stubbornly refusing to stand still long enough for me to get a decent photo of him for this review.

The run in to the line is impressively punchy, through the popular ‘Chips Ahoy!’, newbie ‘Spinners’, their fourth album’s standout moment ‘The Weekenders’, an old classic in ‘Your Little Hoodrat Friend’, a sing-along ‘Southtown Girls’ and finally a most definitely pumping ‘Stay Positive’.

By contrast the encore seems rushed. A massive (obviously) ‘Massive Nights’ is followed by the return of the So So Glos to the stage for a cover of the Violent Femmes’ ‘American Music’. Then it’s all over and they tip us out into the evening drizzle after having confirmed that they still one of the best live bands around.

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The Twilight Sad, Bodega Social Club, Nottingham

Supported by Errors

When I previously saw the Errors at Summer Sundae in 2010 and a few months later at Stealth supporting, guess who, The Twilight Sad, the Errors were an instrumental band. As I said at the time, instrumental just doesn’t do it for me... they needed a vocalist. Well, apparently around about 2012 they found their voice and existing member Steev Livingstone took up the mic. I'm the last to hear, as ever.

Steev’s vocals though aren’t particularly clear and he sort of chants/mumbles his way through track one. I’m not being unkind but I don't think they've quite got the hang of this singing lark yet, perhaps they should advertise. Then out of nowhere they put a call out for Cecelia and young lass hops up onto the stage.

Yep, that does the trick. She does a couple of tracks that hints at a more accessible pop sound and then it's back to Steev for a few more chants. However their last track of just five, I have no idea of its title so I'll call it ‘the last track’, is the best tonight.

The Twilight Sad were once known for the ear shredding decibels they produced on stage but they get quieter each time I see them. Tonight I can stand right in front of singer James Graham with no risk to my ear drums, although he might have an eye out with one of his flailing limbs. Graham, as ever, puts his life and soul into each single track, singing every word as if might be his last.

This short UK tour of just three dates is to tease us with material from their upcoming fourth album ‘Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave’ from which we get six tracks. Opening with newbies 'There's A Girl In The Corner' and 'Last January', then thereafter we get tracks from all three of their other albums interspersed with new material. It’s a perfect Twilight Sad taster session.

Their classics like ‘That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy’, ‘I Became a Prostitute’ and ‘Cold Days From the Birdhouse’ are naturally well received but so too are the excellent ‘Don't Move’ off their last album ‘No One Can Ever Know’ and a rare outing for ‘Walking For Two Hours’ from their seminal debut ‘Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’.

Sadly all too soon Graham is thanking us polite (yet again) for turning up and the band depart to great applause.

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Splendour Festival, Wollaton Park, Nottingham

Once our old pals Scouting for Girls were added to the line up this year's Splendour Festival became unmissable obviously... well, not really. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition to go to Splendour even if, like this year, there is absolutely nothing on the main stage I fancy but the second stage looks ok, so here we are.

There are actually five different stages, but we don’t really go a wandering, and a visit from boxer Carl Froch but we don’t see him either.

The Beat are playing as we walk up, after delaying our departure due to one of the many cloudbursts. They are oddly way down the bill.

Amber Run are the first band we catch in the flesh on the Confetti second stage, just one of thirteen Nottinghamshire acts on the bill today and the first of many cut and paste indie outfits.

Saint Raymond is another local and is next up on the main stage. Singer Callum Burrows has upgraded himself to ‘Saint’ and this year Splendour have upgraded him from second stage to main but we’re in the beer tent from most of it...

And here’s another Notts act, A Plastic Rose are up on the Confetti stage. More cut and paste indie but certainly a cut above stage’s previous occupants.

Then the next downpour came, it must be something the Foxes said up on main as most of their crowd run for cover. The bouncers block the entrance to the allegedly full beer tent, which it isn't. L nips in the exit, her second most heinous festival crime after she got caught smuggling a bottle of orange squash into the Leeds festival one year and I follow. I’ve no idea why they have separate entrances to the beer tent, perhaps this is the reason.

The rain abates a bit as The Rifles take to the second stage. I saw this band eons ago and I’ve always felt I should see more of them but they don’t do anything to particularly stand out today.

You can hear Scouting For Girls quite clearly from the second stage, so there’s no need for us to move closer, even if we wanted to. In fact, there’s plenty of need to move further away but we await Reverend and the Makers who are late due to technical problems or perhaps due to a late running Scouting for Girls. The Makers arrive and launch into the irritatingly lively Bassline.

The Makers pull out everybody’s favourite tunes and put on a slick show. Unfortunately for them all those favourites hark mostly back to their début record. Their new album provides just two tunes tonight. Still, theirs is probably the best set of the day.

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I've always felt I should see The Happy Mondays before I die (or they do). Not that they're my sort of thing because they're not, just because they are sort of 'legendary'. So I try, briefly, to like them but soon decide that they are still nothing like my thing.

Along with Reverend and the Makers, tonight’s second stage headliners the Boomtown Rats are the reason I’m here. Although I’m sure The Rats couldn’t possibly top their amazing performance at Rock City last year but, to be fair, they come close. A truncated version of that set, including the same stage banter and Geldof in the same suit, goes down exceptionally well even if the crowd do ignore Sir Bob's instructions to take off their clothes.

Most of the crowd depart after the set closing Rat Trap which is a shame because Diamond Smiles in the encore probably steals the show and the Rats push the Makers close for performance of the day. McClure and co just shade it though, with the real ale tent coming in at third, as for the first time ever it lasts well into the evening this year.

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Finally to close the evening there’s Tom Odell, who I don't really know and he looks about 15 although he's actually 23. So I can't even say he's a young person’s Jake Bugg, who’s not my thing either but by now we’re heading for home.