Rock Night!

So last night I went to a rock concert. In the village. Yes - sleepy little Moulton in Cheshire hosted Wille and The Bandits, an indie band who've toured with Deep Purple and Status Quo and are apparently on the verge of making it big. Now I've seen the Quo and Rainbow in concert and am not averse to a bit of rock (the red leather mini in previous posts might be a bit of a giveaway?) But in Moulton? Hosted by local music appreciation group Malt 'n' Music, the gig was a huge sell-out success and our little village hall was rocking until late.

But it got me thinking. The last live music concert I went to was probably Meat Loaf way back in the early 1990s at Wembley. I stopped going to standing-only venues (Deeside ice rink in my teenage years) as I have a real fear of large crowds. Standing in the middle of hundreds of people is my idea of hell and I like the security of a seat - yes, and the comfort too as I get older!

But when I was 17 or so, I used to see a lot of indie bands. In the backstreets of Birkenhead (say it with a Scouse accent - it has to be done - Beerkin-ed), behind Hamilton Square station was a place called the Sir James Club that used to host lots of local bands. My friend Ruth and I would go and watch whoever was playing on rock nights and on several bank holidays they'd run 24-hour rock-marathons with several bands and a rock disco. Sometimes I'm amazed that my parents were so relaxed about all this - although maybe they didn't always know! I even remember dancing on the tables in the BierKeller in Liverpool one Saturday night ....

So I did a little bit of digging. I don't think Alternative Radio ever made it big, despite winning Battle of the Bands in the 1980s. But apparently they are still touring....

Or how about French Lessons? Another 80s band and I still have their albums on cassette. I even managed to run them through some software and convert them to digital files a few years back, so the tracks are on my iphone now and still as good as they were 30 years ago. I recommend them - can't find anything on YouTube but you can download for free from their website.

Who would I go and see now? I did like the small local venue of our village hall. I liked being able to dance at the front and knowing most of the people there. On a bigger stage I'd like to see Blackmore's Night as I've always loved Ritchie Blackmore's stuff and I like the way they've rocked-up Bob Dylan and other folk tracks. I'd probably go and see Jethro Tull again too. And I confess I'd love to see Alice Cooper in concert, though I don't think I'd dare ...

I'm looking forward to seeing what Malt 'n' Music put on next locally. And I really, really want to get my daughter Clare up on stage - even if she only performs one song. She's singing in a competition in a couple of weeks and has such an amazing voice, but she's a classical singer and is far happier with something from Rodgers and Hammerstein than anything from the top 40. She sang at a friend's birthday party last month and blew everyone away ...