Spiritualized

Anyone here go?

Yes I did. It was an absolute, stone cold, 24-carat triumph. It was Steve and his regular band plus three (superb) female backing singers, a string ensemble, harpist and horns. And they had clearly rehearsed it a helluva lot because they synced beautifully.

Opened with It's Not Too Beautiful, after which the first half was mainly solo stuff, with a couple of Beta era songs thrown in. Then an interval, after which they did six songs without the band, just the orchestra. Those were softer and more stripped down, and were heart-breakingly beautiful at times. Dr Baker (always a favourite of mine) was simply sensational.

Then the band came out and they ripped through some mainly older stuff, including of course Dry The Rain, which tore the roof off the joint and had us all piling out of our seats to dance at the front! The wall of noise from the crowd at the end of that sent shivers down my spine - a tidal wave of love for the man.

Finished with a barnstorming I Walk The Earth which again brought the house down.

One of those one-off, transcendent nights of live music which are truly life-affirming and remind you why you invested so much in a performer over so many years - for me up there with seeing Steve Ignorant doing Crass at Shepherd's Bush and the Slowdive reunion at Kentish Town.

Sounds like a superb night! Wish I could have been there....

Greeny wrote:Yes I did. It was an absolute, stone cold, 24-carat triumph. It was Steve and his regular band plus three (superb) female backing singers, a string ensemble, harpist and horns. And they had clearly rehearsed it a helluva lot because they synced beautifully.
One of those one-off, transcendent nights of live music which are truly life-affirming and remind you why you invested so much in a performer over so many years - for me up there with seeing Steve Ignorant doing Crass at Shepherd's Bush and the Slowdive reunion at Kentish Town.

Hopefully he releases it on something. I saw him twice in October and those shows were fantastic. I can only imagine how special this must have been. I did order a shirt, a coffee mug and a signed A3 print which is pretty cool. Absolutely love giving my money to anything to do with Steve Mason, King Biscuit Time, The Aliens, The Beta Band considering the joy those guys have brought to me over the years.