Week 32

Week 32 – Thursday 11^th August – Alice Russell - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - £12

“If Ari Gold ate all the pies. . .”

Week 32 gave Sandro and me an interesting poser to ponder. Should we opt for soul singer Alice Russell on Thursday night or the Islamic punk rock of The Kominas on Friday?

Of course we could have done both, but it wouldn’t have been a poser then. With the beginning of the football season on Saturday, which would have limited my drinking to a dangerously healthy level, we opted for a trip down the rabbit hole to see Alice.

More light had been shed on the mystery surrounding The Globe since last week. The man who’d run the show since it became a music venue in 2008, i.e. the old boy on the door (who I learned was called Allan Jones and also happened to be a member of sixties rock band Amen Corner), had apparently been forced from the premises by the landlords, which was deeply distressing news.

However, the venue itself had supposedly only closed temporarily for refurbishment (which hopefully means installing air conditioning), before plans to reopen and continue as a live music venue soon. Of course, Cardiff doesn’t have enough venues to sustain Gigaweek without The Globe so as far as we’re concerned, the sooner the better, Alice Russell had originally been due to appear there, but this sudden turn of events led to her gig being relocated to Clwb Ifor Bach.

Joining us for only the second time this year were the wonderful Parge and Her Margesty, who were celebrating their 33^rd wedding anniversary the following day. They’d both been keen on The Kominas’ Islamic punk rock but were more than satisfied with a bit of soul instead.

-------

Sandro and I treated them to our joint anniversary present; a pre-gig pint at The Gatekeeper in the city centre. The news had been dominated this week by the riots in London and the copycat riots that had kicked off among the cool kids in other cities in the UK, so the topic of discussion was obvious. “If you were a blithering idiot, and let’s be honest, at least one of us present is,” Sandro said nodding in the general direction of someone behind me, “what shop would you loot?”

“I wouldn’t loot. I have dignity and I’m a respectable citizen.” Her Margesty replied,

“Ann Summers.” Parge said without skipping a beat,

“A cheese shop!” I said panicking.

“You don’t even like cheese though?” Sandro said.

Bugger. He was right.

“What about you?” I asked him.

“It depends,” he replied thoughtfully. “If we’re talking short-term loot before normality is restored, probably a jewellery store I suppose, expensive goods that could be sold on. If we’re talking long-term, apocalyptic scenario, then Greggs the Bakers. Obviously.”

Each delighted to be among such creative looters, we crossed the street to Clwb and headed upstairs. Much to my surprise there was already an impressive crowd of eager fans when we arrived and as a result it was something of a sweat-fest in front of the stage.

Desperate for drinks to cool ourselves down, Parge obliged with a trip to the bar. “Nice pear,” he said handing Her Margesty a Kopparberg pear cider, to which she shook her head and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time in thirty three years of marriage.

-------

There were no support bands, and back in the humid arena Alice appeared on stage sporting a hairstyle that rivalled Wibidi’s dreadlocks; short blonde hair with an extravagant quiff. She was accompanied by a five-man band, including a backing singer and dancer who Sandro mercilessly pointed out resembled a bloated Jeremy Piven, before showing off his own chiselled abs.

Along with Alice and Ari were two guitarists (one of whom was Welsh as Alice told us gleefully), a drummer and a keyboard player and together they created an energetic and soulful vibe that inspired plenty of hip swaying and toe tapping, even tempting me to rock out the Zoidberg. Fortunately, I resisted and instead swayed gently whilst stewing in sweat, which made me even more attractive than you might imagine.

“Is it me, or are people moving about for no reason?” a bemused Marge asked when we escaped the humidity to buy another drink. “I think it’s called dancing,” I replied wittily.

“I can dance with the best of them,” she said showing off her signed photo of Len Goodman (“To Marge, Nice Cha-cha-cha, Love Len. Call me x . . .Seven!”), “but I just don’t think they’re giving me a reason to.” While Her Margesty didn’t quite feel the urge to dance, most of the audience did and it was quite a spectacle.

British Soul doesn’t quite boast the legendary names of America (Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, James Brown vs. err. . .Tom Jones? ) but the women have led the way in recent years, with the likes of Adele, Duffy and Amy Winehouse becoming household names. Alice Russell hasn’t quite done the same and while we couldn’t possibly have named any of her songs beforehand, we could still appreciate her voice and the party atmosphere the band created. They weren’t quite on a par with The Commitments, but who is?

-------

With constant reminders recently on the radio of the untimely death of Amy Winehouse, I’d expected a ‘Valerie’ or a ‘Rehab’ from Alice in tribute, but it wasn’t to be. Who needs such hits though when you can wheel out funky numbers such as ‘Big Shiny Laser’ eh? Alice left the stage beaming like a Cheshire Cat, and we retired to Dempsey’s for a post-gig tea party, to discuss how I could shoehorn as many irrelevant Alice in Wonderland references into my next Gigaweek entry as possible.

“So, how does it feel to be making your second appearance in the world of Gigaweek?” I asked Parge and Her Margesty.

“What? Oh, that. Yes, what an honour,” Don replied, “I don’t read that tedious nonsense of course, but if it keeps you off the porn sites, I’m all for it,”

“Thanks, Pa.” I said proudly.

“Oh, God, not that one dimensional drivel again. You’re not still doing it are you?” Marge said supportively. “No wonder kids are rioting, with shit like that polluting the internet.”

Indeed.

-------

August

30-5 - Wibidi - ✓
6-12 – Alice Russell - ✓
13-19 - ?
20-26 - Reading

27-2 - Reading