Live In 2019: NOT The Rolling Stones at Acapela Studios, Pentyrch, Cardiff on Saturday 23rd June 2019

God moves in mysterious ways. After a week from Hell, I almost didn't go to this gig. I just didn't have the heart to enjoy myself. But the Big Man knew best and I made the decision to go. And so it proved to be the perfect remedy to the sadness that has gripped me all week. The sadness will return, I know. But for a couple of hours I was transported to a place where all of your worries fade away and are replaced by huge smiles, laughter and a general sense of well-being. That is the healing power of Music. It's magical essence that has the ability to transport you and make you feel alive and positive.

Not The Rolling Stones came to the Acapela Studios with the reputation of being THE best Rolling Stones tribute acts in the UK. And they certainly lived up to their billing tonight.

With Mike Jagger they have a front man who is SO like his namesake it is frightening at times. He, and 'Keith' have certainly done their homework and have the individual mannerisms of The Glimmer Twins down to a T. 

The big question on the night was what songs they would pull out of the impressive canon of songs that belong to The Rolling Stones.

And you know you're onto a winner when your first song of the evening has the crowd on their feet immediately and singing along from note one. As the first chord crashed from 'Keith's Telecaster we knew we were in for a great evening. And the first song? Well, here we go.

Jumpin' Jack Flash

The Acapela was Sold-Out, it was bouncing from song one and it was like an oven in there. It must have been very much like those early Stones gigs but the band tonight had over 50 years of songs to chose from.

The next song lifted the roof even higher as the band launched into another uptempo toe tapper guaranteed to get the audience dancing.

Let's Spend The Night Together

By this second song, the band might just have well been The Rolling Stones and I don't think the real band would have got any more applause or praise than these guys got tonight.

The next two songs took us right back to the band's roots with The Last Time and  Not Fade Away.

After such a frenetic opening the gig had to drop a couple of gears just to let the audience catch it's breath. With spookily authentic versions of Beast Of Burden, Wild Horses and a nice surprise in the form of the lesser played Dead Flowers from the Sticky Fingers album. The Stones wee always suckers for a good old Country song.

Dead Flowers

The show tonight was once again a game of two halves and with everybody ready for some more dancing and singing there came a trio of killer Stones classics to take us to the end of part one.

Street Fighting Man

The dancing continued, both downstairs and upstairs when the disco-era Miss You made an appearance. Below is a video of tonight's performance.

Miss You

And Part One ended with a classic, which also happens to be one of my favourite Stones songs. And they played a killer version of it and left the stage for a break and let everyone have a much needed drink and cool down as the Acapela was now like an oven.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Sometimes, you just want to go out to a gig and have a good time, if you know what I mean. Throw away those inhibitions and shake your body and singalong. And tonight certainly delivered in that respect with the whole building entering into the spirit of what was going down in the Chapel.

And Part Two was even more uptempo than Part One.

Part Two opened with an absolute Stones classic in the form of the exquisite Sympathy For The Devil.

Determined to keep up this high-octane momentum, the following two tracks are pulled directly from the Stones Greatest Hits package with It's Only Rock n Roll and Tumbling Dice - both tremendous songs and worthy of a place in tonight's set list.

There are quite a few of my favourite Stones songs that were unlikely to get a play tonight such as Sad, Sad, Sad, I Can Almost Hear You Sigh, She's A Rainbow and Undercover Of The Night but they did manage to slip in one mostly unheard song with the lovely Waiting On A Friend from Tattoo You.

Waiting On A Friend

Next up for me was the highlight of the evening with a fantastic version of Gimme Shelter in which the female keyboard player stepped out from behind the keys and gave Mick as good as he gave in the vocal department. It really was a tour-de-force.

The Stones used to open their shows with Start Me Up for many years and now relegated to a mid set scenario it has lost none of it's power or urgency. A real call to arms for the fans to see them through until the end of the show. The venue now as a Rocking and a Rolling in all of the right places as even more took to the floor in front of the stage and danced the set away.

With only two songs to go it was finally Honky Tonk Women that tipped the audience over the edge as a lady, whose birthday was tonight, decided it would a fantastic idea if she got up on stage and helped out the guys vocally. And with all the graciousness and patience they could muster, the band played along with the prank and let her have her time in the sun.

And how did they follow that? With the last song of the set in the form of an electric Paint It Black.

It was then encore time and the band had two songs with which to finish a triumphant evening. First up we had this beast of a track.

The honour of final song of the evening went to another cold Stones classic - Brown Sugar - by which time the audience had sung their hearts out, danced the night away and had probably the best night of live music they'd experienced in quite some time.

Tonight was one of the best nights I've ever had at Acapela. And it came at just the right time for me. A gift from God. And those 6 people up on that stage who gave everything they had tonight. I think they might have been surprised at how well they were received.  The Acapela is probably not their normal type of venue. It just goes to show that no matter what type of venue bands play at - although the Acapela happens to be quite brilliant - it's the relationship between band and audience that matters. And tonight at The Chapel they were both literally singing from the same hymn sheet. If they come back. I'm there!!

The Not The Rolling Stones Official Website

Twitter - @NottheRStones

all photos copyright Nick Baker 

MOVIE SPECIAL: ROCKETMAN

Ever since the days of sitting with me old mum on the sofa watching those famous Rogers & Hammerstein Musicals such as South Pacific, Carousel, etc I have always been a sucker for a music film - be it Musical or Music Documentary. So I have been looking forward to seeing Rocketman for quite some time.

But anyone expecting the linear format of  last year's hit Bohemian Rhapsody will be disappointed.

Directed by Brit Dexter Fletcher, who was credited with saving Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman is more closely related to touchstones such as Baz Luhrmann, Tommy and those old Musicals I mentioned earlier. It probably needed a Brit who understands the sense of Camp that that the film MUST contain in order to tell a story of one of Britain's National Treasures. If this movie doesn't end up as a Stage Musical, I'll eat my Cornetto.

With Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin, Rocketman is really Taron Egerton's movie. And as Elton he is splendid. It follows Elton's story from where he is a kid in Pinner.

I won't spoil it by revealing the tracks - you can always look up the soundtrack if you're so inclined but suffice to say we have a great mixture of uptempo and slow classics.

The film concentrates on the important episodes in Elton's life.

In this case, songs are often heard out of chronological order to highlight an emotion or incident. And there are plenty of them. They are often incorporated to Set Pieces designed to show their importance to the story and are rather Theatrical in presentation, which is why, when you see it, you'll see what I mean about it converting to a Stage Musical.

Anyone who has seen the Elton documentary Tantrums & Tiaras will have an insight in what to expect. And although it's a glosssy and technicolour experience - it does contain the dark as well as the light.

It's difficult to mention individual incidents without giving too much away although anyone who has dug a bit deeper into Elton's story will know about his first American gig at The Troubadour which is one of the highlights of the film.

What to leave in and what to leave out must have been one hell of a headache for the scriptwriters but Fletcher has used what he was presnted and given us some memorable visuals to accompany the fantastic music contained within.

And a special mention here for the musical presentation.

All vocals were done by Taron Egerton himself (and various cast members) and he has done a great job in interpreting some of Elton's finest songs. 

Another excellent feature of the music is the lovely orchestral versions of the songs that form the basis of the film's score when the songs are not being sung.

The movie ends with the reunited Elton & Bernie for the Too Low For Zero album. I've always thought that it was an excellent album and is a genuine artistic and commercial comeback. It also contains one of my favourite Elton songs - not included in the movie.

Cold As Christmas

Rocketman Trailer

Did I learn anything new about Elton or Bernie, No but all in all a great night of music contained within an entertaining film. If you like Elton, you'll probably like Rocketman. You won't learn anything new about Elton or Bernie - but that's probably not the point.

Live in 2019: The Manfreds live at Pontardawe Arts Centre, Pontardawe, Wales on Friday 17th May 2019

Yes, I do sometimes forsake my beloved Acapela Studios to see gigs in other venues. The Pontardawe Arts Centre is only about 7 miles away from Fleet Towers so it's a fairly relaxed short drive to the venue. It's a lovely venue with a decent size hall with a balcony. One of the Arts centres that popped up in multitudes among the Welsh Mining towns and valleys that became homes from everything from Colliery Bands to Male Voice Choirs. There's always a lovely welcome with friendly staff and I just wish I had the opportunity to go more.  But the size of the hall suits a bigger audience to a lot of the music I listen to. But never mind, tonight it is almost sold out yet again for The Manfreds,

The band born from the Manfred Mann Band that ran from 1964 to 1979 and now features original members Paul Jones and Mike D'Abo on vocals, Tom McGuinness on guitars and vocals and Mike Hugg on drums. Now augmented by Simon Currie on Sax & Flute and Marcus Cliffe on Bass & Vocals.

Although we have a change in line-up tonight with Frankie Tontoh replacing Mike Hugg on Drums and Mike Gorman replacing Mike D'Abo on Keyboards. 

Playing once more, a game of two halves, the band came to the stage and launched with a surprise as the instrumental Why Should We Not kicked off tonight's show.

Why Should We Not

I've seen quite a few bands play 'The Nostalgia Circuit' but the lovely things about The Manfreds is that the band have all had a multitude of careers within music and call on this diverse musical blend which is interesting, informative and entertaining in equal measure.

The One In The Middle gives Paul Jones a chance to flash his best smile and I'm sure he mast have a picture in the attic as at 77 he looks fitter and healthier than a man half his age.

The One In The Middle

With such a wealth of material to choose from, and that's just from the Manfred Mann back catalogue, it's interesting to see which songs 'made the cut' in tonight's performance.

Perhaps the name of this year's tour, gave an indication of the variety of music we could expect tonight.

The hits just kept on coming as Sha La La and Groovin' from the 1964 EP of the same name,  showcasing what an accomplished set of Musicians we had on the stage.

The next song was the first of the 'Solo' songs of tonight's performance. Tom McGuiness formed a band in the 1970s with former John Mayall drummer Hughie Flint and called it McGuinness Flint. Although perhaps more importantly it also contained two up and coming songwriters called Benny Gallagher & Graham Lyle. These guys went on to become two of the best songwriters in the world and have written countless hits since those early days. Tonight we were treated to The Manfreds version of Malt And Barley Blues with Tom on lead vocals. It got a great response from the crowd most of which will have definitely been around for the original in 1971.

McGuinness Flint

Malt & Barley Blues

Next up, my highlight of the night. Mainly because my friend the multi-instrumentalist Marcus Cliffe , dedicated his solo song to my wife (who has been very ill) and myself. - a beautiful version of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready which he played using just a looped bass and vocals. A more complete version you can find on his solo album Heard - which also features tonight's keyboard player Mike Gorman.

Click here to hear the Marcus Cliffe version of People Get Ready

After an emotional song for me, we get another Manfred Mann hit with Just Like A Woman

Just Like A Woman

A the title of the Tour suggests, it is an assortment of musical genres on show tonight and next was  Simon Currie's Smooth Times from his latest album called Smooth Sax.

Click here to hear Simon Currie's Smooth Times

Smokestack Lightning was another highlight as it gave Paul Jones a chance to really give his Harmonica a good outing.

How Lucky Can One Man Be followed before the final track of the first half - the mega hit and chance for some severe crowd participation, Pretty Flamingo.

How do you start Part 2 of the evening? Easy, just play one of your biggest hits - in this case

 5 4 3 2 1. And for good measure, why not follow it with another hit, Watermelon Man.

5 4 3 2 1

By now the crowd are singing their hearts out and are up for absolutely anything. 

Next up it was solo time again as this time the spotlight shone on Paul Jones for a swinging version of Nat King Cole's Straighten Up And Fly Right from his recent solo album.

click to hear Paul Jones version of Straighten Up & Fly Right

Another classic hit followed as the band started up Oh No Not My Baby - the Goffin/King classic from 1965

Oh No Not My Baby

It's amazing how many hits the band had over the years and tonight they tried successfully to showcase their considerable talents with playing songs old and new and not so well known tunes.

Another unexpected highlight of the night was seeing Mr Cliffe & Mr Currie given the chance to shine on a fabulous interpretation of  Put It Where You Want It from The Crusaders first album back in 1972.

Kingpin and Come Tomorrow which followed kept up the momentum before one of the biggest songs of the evening.

And then it was time for one more solo song - they play it at most gigs and it's a guaranteed singalong moment in the show. Once more Tom McGuinness picks up his mandolin and takes lead vocals for a spirited When I'm Dead & Gone by McGuinness Flint

When I'm Dead & Gone

The honour of the final song of the set went to Mr Bob Dylan as the band played one of their biggest hits from the 60s - which turned out to be an epic as Paul Jones encouraged some severe audience singing which went down a storm as the girls and then guys in the audience took on different harmonies. The Mighty Quinn.

The Mighty Quinn

This obviously brought the house down and the audience rose to give the band a standing ovation. The band were not going to be allowed to leave the venue without an encore and they chose a singalong killer to come next as they played their biggest hit Doo Wah Diddy.

In recent years the band have always ended their shows with the aptly applicable If You Gotta Go, Go Now. The end to a perfect night of Nostalgia, Musicianship and of feeling fine. Any band that can make people leave a show with big grins on their faces deserve all the success they get. These guys have seen it all, done it all (many times over) and are STILL making people happy. And in Britain at this time - that's quite a gift to possess. Here's to hoping they make it to a 2020 Tour. I'll be there if I'm still on the planet.

click for the Official Manfreds Website

Live in 2019: The Luke Jackson Trio at Acapela Studios, Pentyrch, Cardiff on Saturday 11th May 2019

I've seen some excellent shows over the last few years at Acapela Studios. But the one I was privileged to attend on Saturday 11th May was one of THE Best Gigs I have ever seen there.

The musicians who were performing were The Luke Jackson Trio - who consist of Luke Jackson on Vocals and acoustic guitar, Andy Sharps on Bass & Vocals and Elliott Norris on Drums, Guitar & Vocals.

I have seen Luke at least once a year since he released his first album to critical acclaim in 2012 with the Matyn Joseph produced More Than Boys. In 2013, Luke was pipped to the post of the BBC Folk Horizon Award by fellow Singer/Songwriting youngster Blair Dunlop. And it has been my delight to see how both of these artists have grown both as songwriters and performers in the past 7 years. Indeed I will be catching up with Mr Dunlop in a few weeks time. But tonight the Acapela belonged to Luke Jackson. And by God, he owned the venue!

Luke has the opportunity to play with Andy as a Duo or with Elliott added to create a trio. Tonight we are treated to the Trio performance.

Tonight Luke takes to the stage alone to perform a blistering version of Ain't No Trouble which can be found on his trio album - This Family Tree. And he blows the audience away immediately. It's remarkable how the strength and depth of his voice has increased in just the last year. Let alone since 2012.

Ain't No Trouble

You could literally feel the anticipation in the air as the audience realised what an evening they were in for. To rapturous applause, Andy and Elliott came to the stage and launched into a splendid version of Anything But Fate which morphs into the Motown classic, I heard It Through The Grapevine. Quite a leap I hear you Folk fans saying but not for this young man. Ever since his debut album, that voice has been his trademark and I hear as much Soul in hos voice as Folk. And thinking about it, one of the beauties of following both Luke and Blair Dunlop's careers has been to see them shake off their Folk roots to become impressive Singer Songwriters who have the ability to move between genres. It's a beautiful thing to see. And for me, Luke is now a Soul singer as much anything else.

Anything But Fate

The thing that made tonight SO special for me was to hear the quality of the new material that Luke and the boys are currently working on. With a new album hopefully before the end of the year it was a chance for Luke to try out new material before a live audience. And if the songs he played tonight, many peppered throughout the sets, is anything to go by, it'll be featuring once again in this blog but in the Albums of 2019 section.

We had a glorious new song next in the form of Honeycomb.

It's no surprise any more that a Trio can generate so much energy - it worked for The Police, Cream, ELP and many others in the past and works well too to Luke and his cohorts. And with Elliott being an accomplished guitar player there were enough colours in the sound tonight to provide plenty of contrast to the music.

In the first half, we are treated to more brand new songs such as Aimee, Heavy and Red Oak. And I have to say the quality of the new material is first class and shows even more progression in Luke's songwriting. As to what songs will finally make the cut for the new album, we'll have to wait and see but I'm sure it's destined to be brilliant.

Luke and the band bring the first half to a close with Sister from the Fumes & Faith album.

After a short break, the boys come back to the stage with an acapela version of Poor Johnny. What a great way to kick off the second half. If they hadn't already got the audience in the palm of their hand, this just sealed the deal.

A snippet of Poor Johnny from the night

Looking spookily like a young Brian Wilson in his white T  Luke returns to the Trio album for the slinky Is It Me.

Is It Me

Again, the second half showcased two excellent new songs - Eliza Holt and A Queen In Her Own Way. I won't spoil these by revealing their genesis but it proved how adept Luke is now with his relationship with his audience. He has become quite the raconteur over the years and his explanation of how the songs came about is quite entertaining and engrossing.

On the night, these songs were on either side of Luke giving us a rather special version of Dylan's classic Forever Young. And you could have heard a pin drop in the audience. The great thing about Acapela audiences is that if the music demands it, they will sit and listen attentively.

Forever Young

It was downhill all the way with a trio of fabulous songs with Finding Home, Doctor and the Solomon Burke Classic, Cry To Me. And if you ever wanted proof that this boy has Soul - here it is - absolutely fabulous.

Cry To Me

This brings the show to an end and by now the crowd is ecstatic. There was no way on earth these guys were not coming back. And oh, how they came back. With an absolutely spine tingling version of Every Flame - which you'll see below.

Every Flame

The audience gave a standing ovation for this song alone. 

And they still had one more surprise to go. A really show stopping version of The Road.

The Road

They guys left the stage to another standing ovation,

And as a coda to the show - five minutes plus after the show had finished, the audience were still singing On The Road as they left the building. I have NEVER seen this before at Acapela and even Luke came out with his phone to film the response. Incredible scenes.

And from someone SO young.

I cannot recommend Luke Jackson highly enough. A man of real talent and the knack of picking a really good cover to boot. See him as soon as you can.

click for the Official Luke Jackson Website

Twitter - @lukepauljackson