Torpes in the UK

"Tenho muito orgulho no trabalho que estou a fazer" Tema: Portugal em Farrapos 2013

2013-06-06T09:18:00.001+01:00

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter levado 460 000 pessoas para o desemprego."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter levado à falência dezenas de milhar de empresas."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter empobrecido a esmagadora maioria dos portugueses."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter criado uma dívida pública impagável, próxima dos 130% do PIB, mais 20% do que há dois anos."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter retirado o complemento de solidariedade aos idosos com pensões mais baixas."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter reduzido drasticamente o número de pessoas com RSI."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter baixado de forma acentuada o valor e a duração do subsídio de desemprego, numa altura em que as possibilidades de arranjar emprego estão perto do zero."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter deixado mais de 22% de crianças a viver em Portugal no limiar da pobreza."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter contribuído para aumentar exponencialmente o número de sem abrigo por todo o país."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter contribuído para a conflitualidade entre velhos e novos e entre trabalhadores do privado e funcionários públicos."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter contribuído para um aumento do tempo de espera para cirurgias e consultas nos hospitais públicos."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter aumentado as taxas moderadoras nos hospitais e nos centros de saúde, afastando reformados e pobres das consultas e contribuído para uma potencial redução da esperança média de vida."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter contribuído para um aumento da taxa de mortalidade infantil, que antes da minha ascensão ao poder era a 4.º mais baixa do mundo."

"Tenho muito orgulho no facto da qualidade do ensino ter piorado bastante devido ao aumento do número de alunos por turma e da degradação geral nas escolas devido à desorçamentação na Educação."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter reduzido bastante a quantidade de comida a ser servida nas cantinas escolares, até um ponto de manifesta insuficiência nutritiva, numa altura em que cada vez mais crianças apenas conseguem ter uma refeição por dia, a que comem na escola."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter chumbado uma proposta da oposição que visava o fornecimento de pequeno-almoços nas escolas, para combater o cada vez maior número de alunos a irem para escola de barriga vazia."

"Tenho muito orgulho no facto de Portugal ter regressado a níveis de emigração iguais aos anos 60 do século passado, mais de 100 000 portugueses nos últimos dois anos."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter cedido toda a soberania do país a interesses estrangeiros, traindo despudoradamente 900 anos de História independente, como Miguel de Vasconcellos fizera nos tempos da ocupação filipina."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ser mentiroso - menti para ser eleito e quando cheguei ao poder quebrei todas as promessas que tinha feito."

"Tenho muito orgulho em ter transformado Portugal num país pobre, triste e sem qualquer esperança no futuro, a caminho dos níveis de desenvolvimento de há quarenta anos."

Pedro Passos Coelho, um primeiro-ministro orgulhoso do que está a fazer a Portugal.

Publicada por Sérgio Lavos no site Arrastão

Opera North's "Faust" (9th November 2012) Location: The Lowry, Salford Quays, UK

2012-11-10T17:02:00.000Z

Directors: Ran Arthur Braun/ Rob Kearley

Music: Charles Gounod

Libretto: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Conductor: Stuart Stratford

"As part of their 2012/2013 season Opera North have revived and re-imagined Charles Gounod’s best known opera Faust.

The story follows middle-aged scholar, Faust, who is searching for a meaning to his life and considers ending it all. Redemption of a form comes in the shape of Méphistophélès (Satan) who offers him what he wants in return for his immortal soul. The sight of a beautiful young woman decides Faust and the deal is done. Faust becomes young once more.

The woman Faust has become enamoured with is the sister of seasoned campaigner Valentin, who leaves on a mission after first advocating his friends to take care of his sister. Faust meets Maguerite and after initial rejection on her part, finally woos her away from her other suitor Siébel and they come together.

However Faust leaves Maguerite pregnant and in desperation she has the child aborted. Her brother returns from war and upon finding out what has happened to his sister, refuses to forgive her and curses her to hell. Faust, feeling remorse, attempts to free Marguerite from where she is being held on the charge of infanticide, but the sight of Méphistophélès drives her to death and redemption. Faust, left alone, despairs and takes the only action he feels is suitable.

Opera North have taken this plot from nineteenth century France to a modern day setting complete with blue-tooth headsets, mobile phones and tablet computers. Valentin is a politician, and the people are ruled by money, the stock exchange and casinos. Unfortunately while the re-staging is a clever idea, it is often disharmonious with the meaning of the libretto. You also have to wonder whether the chauvinistic attitudes displayed towards honour and abortion have any place in a modern setting.

Having doubts about the staging thankfully does not distract from the powerful performances on stage. Peter Auty as Faust is excellent, swinging from despair to joy and finally back to total despair, he conveys every emotion through his voice and actions. Jaunita Lascarro is a sweet looking Marguerite and again is convincing at the myriad of emotions she has to go through. However the show is stolen by James Creswell as the suited and pony-tailed Méphistophélès, who slides from foreground to background, making sure that everything is going his way.

The other major roles Wagner (Paul Gibson), Valenin (Marcin Bronikowski), Siébel (Robert Anthony Gardiner) and Marthe (Sarah Pring) are all consistently accomplished and the whole show is completed by the first-rate Opera North Chorus.

In line with the modern setting, the scenery, by Ran Arthur Braun, is minimalist. A few wooden boxes, large screens that move across the stage and a background video screen. All of the places and atmosphere are created by the video projections by Lillevan, from the tower blocks of a city, through stock numbers flashing by, to close ups of the protagonists, everything is played out in modern media.

The music though is still played in traditional form with the large orchestra skilfully put through their paces by conductor Stuart Stratford.

At three hours long, sung in French with English subtitles, Faust is not an easy night out. But if you appreciate opera and can get past the jarring discrepancies between the meaning and the staging, then Faust is worth seeing."

Reviewer:Helen Jones in the Public Reviews

Opera North's "The Makropulos Case" (8th November 2012) Location: The Lowry, Salford Quays, UK

2012-11-09T16:00:00.000Z

Music & Lyrics: Leoš Janáček

Director:Tom Cairns

Conductor:Richard Farnes

"Legal proceedings, intrigue, virtual immortality, and a talented diva all seem unlikely subject for opera but in Leos Janacek’s The Makropulos Case, based on Karel Capek’s 1922 play of the same name, they combine perfectly into an opera which starts in a dull legal office and builds to great proportions as things are revealed not to be as straightforward as they originally seem.

Opera North’s excellent production of this piece owes a lot to the fantastic casting of Ylva Kihlberg in the leading role of opera star, Emilia Marty. Siren like, she glamorously dominates every scene, at first calculatingly cold towards all her male admirers then touching and tender in an epic Act Three where she reveals the secrets of her long life and revels in her release from it in a beautiful finale.

The whole cast deserve the highest plaudits. The most sparkling cameo from Nigel Robson as Count Hauk-Sedorf, the aging lover of a woman he assumed to be long gone, with the wicked sparkle in his eye brings true joy to an opera filled with the most sublime cynical dark humour. Paul Nilon’s Albert Gregor is another joy to behold, endearingly bumbling his way through the legal case and his attempts to woo Emilia. Robert Hayward captures the very essence of noble entitlement with more than a hint of the underhanded schemer about him. Stephanie Corley as Kristina and Adrian Dwyer as the ill-fated Janek provide the young love interest in contrast to the cynicism of the leading characters.

Opera North’s orchestra under the baton of Richard Farnes brings out the best of Janacek’s very dark, very minimalist score. The English translation of the work is used here, allowing the dry, black fantasy humour to work its spell on the Lowry’s audience.

The detailed set, with Hildegard Bechtler’s design and Bruno Poet’s atmospheric lighting works in harmony with the opera. From Act One’s office, packed high with legal files, through the backstage area of an opera house with sumptuous red sofa, to the final, moving scenes in Emilia Marty’s hotel room, the bed draped in white material, the whole effect is one of great vision.

The Makropulos Case is an opera of the darkest humour and Opera North’s sharp production brings out every single aspect of this. A sharp, witty production with a top class cast, Opera North’s great orchestra all played out on a simply detailed set is what is presented here. It would be hard to find a better production even if you lived for three hundred years."

Reviewer:Iain Sykes in the Public Reviews

Opera North's "Don Giovanni" (7th November 2012) Location: The Lowry, Salford Quays, UK

2012-11-08T17:03:00.000Z

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo de Ponte
Director:Alessandro Talevi
Conductor:Anthony Kraus

"When Don Giovanni premiered over 200 years ago in the Bohemian city of Prague, it was a smash hit. The Czechs were a bawdy lot, unlike in Mozart’s adopted city, Vienna, where his recent opera The Marriage of Figaro was coolly received by polite society.

Don Giovanni is at some odds with opera per se. The authors (the libretto by theatre poet Lorenzo de Ponte) purposefully mix and match the styles of music and of story, throwing traditional form to the wind. It’s a basic plot but which leaves a lot open to interpretation.

Director Alessandro Talevi has picked up this gauntlet and with some degree of confidence has straddled time and space, genres and styles to create a rather mesmeric but sometimes bewildering cacophony. There are cheeky nods to new dance crazes fused with rock and roll, there’s a Punch and Judy style puppet show and even some fairly raunchy sex scenes.

With beautiful, almost faultless design by Madeleine Boyd, the staging is set in a shabby and faded music hall, giving rise to the notion that we are about to see an time-old story, a moral tale for modern times. This is all fine and dandy but the confusion sets in when the cast of characters emerge dressed in costumes through the annals of time.

Don Giovanni and Leporello (William Dazeley and Alastair Miles) are a music-hall double act from the turn of the century, perhaps a little later. Anna and Ottavio (Meeta Raval and Christopher Turner) are done out in Victorian mourning respectability, Zerlina and Masetto (Claire Wild and Oliver Dunn) are 50’s hipsters and Elvira (Elizabeth Atherton) – is sometimes in bridal white, sometimes in Madonna’s 80’s garb.

I’m all for ambition, and for the new but when style barges its way past simple storytelling, upstaging it and, often, losing it, it starts to grate and no amount of pretty costume and well-considered lighting will affect that. The most powerful moments come when Talevi allows the singers to simply tell the story. The trio, ‘Proteggra il giusto cielo’ – ‘May the just heavens protect us’ is a fine example of such moments and we are reminded of the clarity and power of the music in these all too brief hiatus’.

Talevi is an excited director with no shortage of ideas and this production – with is bitchy, brash, brazen lust for life – would almost certainly have had Mozart squealing with delight."

Reviewer: Sally Cinnamon in the Public Reviews

Birmingham Royal Ballet's "Swan Lake" (19th September 2012) Location: The Lowry, Salford Quays, UK

2012-09-20T20:00:00.000+01:00

Orchestra:Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Music:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Choreography:Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa

There is no way I can pretend to know anything about ballet. My only real experience of ballet is when I went to see the Moscow City Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty" and it was a bit disappointing (see review here), but I decided then I wouldn’t let this be the only factor to judge my appreciation of this type of art. So, when the opportunity knocked, I decided to make a second attempt at ballet, by seeing one of the most prestigious ballets ever, the Swan Lake.

The Lyric Theatre at the Lowry is so big that it can dwarf productions. The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s version of “Swan Lake” uses every inch of the stage to give a show on an epic scale. Massive marble pillars create a chilly royal court while overgrown neglected trees give an edge of menace to the forest. Dark foliage hanging over both sets generates the sinister atmosphere of a dark fairy tale.

Extravagant costumes worn by the corps de ballet emphasises the Prince’s dark, depressive, clothing and reflect Tchaikovsky’s lush score – a geniality combining vibrant strings with dramatic brass. Shows in which characters simply stand and watch while others dance can be static but here the quality is so high it is entirely credible that people would just want to observe the performances. The range of dances is amazing including flamenco and Russian variations. For absolute spectacle, however, nothing can beat the sight of the swans gently rising from the mist.

The large scale of the production does not take precedence over the storytelling, which is clearly conveyed in the vivid choreography by Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa. There is an intimacy in the telling of the tale, as the effect on the individuals is shown. After the death of his father, Prince Siegfried (Chi Cao) slides into depression and resists the urging of his mother to find a wife. He falls in love with Odette (Nao Sakuma) but she is cursed to spend daylight hours in the form of a swan. Siegfried’s love, if true, could save her but an evil magician has plans to ruin the lovers’ intentions.

Seigfried’s indifference to the seductive dancing of potential suitors in Act 1 makes clear his depression. Cao gives a tortured and highly internalised dance to show Seigfred’s withdrawal from society. This contrasts marvellously with his spirited duets with Sakuma particularly in Act 3. Sakuma gives distinctly different performances as the White and Black Swan. Her distorted limbs give Odette an alien feel and her tiptoe vulnerability gives the sense of an imprisoned creature seeking freedom. As Odile, the Black Swan, she is more seductive and her movements wilder – even cruel.

There were exquisite performances all round, especially from the swans, and Tchaikovsky’s famous score, performed by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, is beautiful. The Birmingham Royal Ballet provides a powerful version of a classic ballet, which will delight both veterans of, and newcomers to the genre.

Overall this was a delightfully charming production which was a pleasure to watch and has given me a real appetite to see more ballet.

"Só neste país" Tema: Portugal em Farrapos 2012

2012-07-11T12:12:00.000+01:00

Eis aqui um excelente artigo de opinião que é deveras certeiro!

Partilho-o aqui com todos vós, pois o mesmo explica de forma bastante sucinta o problema que eu e outros emigrantes temos em explicar o que se passa no nosso pais. Para ler e reflectir...

Só neste país

"Falar mal do país sempre foi um desporto nacional. Não sendo um exclusivo Português, Sérgio Godinho relembra-nos aliás que «Só neste país é que se diz “só neste país”», o que é bastante sintomático da forma como os portugueses sentem Portugal. No entanto, dramatismos à parte, existem de facto momentos onde o amor ao país tem particulares razões para dar lugar a uma espécie de vergonha vexada sobre o estado a que chegámos. E, por mais paradoxal que possa ser, nem tudo é explicável pela crise, pela dívida e pelo resgate/sequestro a que o país está sujeito.

Portugal tem sido brindado com um conjunto de episódios dignos de um qualquer regime corrupto nas profundezas de África ou da América Latina (com todo o respeito por tais continentes e seus povos, como é óbvio). Para se perceber bem a gravidade do que falamos, nada como o seguinte exercício: explicar a um estrangeiro o que por cá se vai passando. Peguemos então no caso da licenciatura de Miguel Relvas. O braço direito do primeiro-ministro, o homem forte da atividade política do governo conseguiu obter uma licenciatura num ano, beneficiando de equivalências a 32 das 36 cadeiras numa das maiores e até agora mais prestigidas universidade privadas do país. Comentários para quê? Se acrescentarem ao vosso interlocutor estrangeiro que a licenciatura do anterior primeiro-ministro do país, embora com uma dimensão infinitamente menor, também levantou suspeitas, verificarão pelo seu ar abismado a gravidade do que estamos a falar.

Mas vamos a um outro episódio. Descrevam a um estrangeiro o caso secretas-Ongoing. Ou seja, um grupo empresarial com ambições em ramos como a energia, telecomunicações e média, e que foi integrando diversas figuras públicas, começa a recrutar para a sua estrutura quadros dos serviços secretos portugueses. E como Portugal é um país de brandos costumes, tais quadros não se inibem de continuar a usar informações do seu anterior trabalho, como conseguem mesmo que ex-colegas lhes dêem uma pequena ajuda aos negócios usando para o efeito os meios dos serviços secretos. No fundo, ficou o país a saber que algo tão sensível como os seus serviços de informações podem assim ser facilmente mobilizáveis por interesses privados. Coisa pouca, portanto.

Como terceiro exemplo, tentem explicar a um interlocutor estrangeiro o processo BPN: um banco liderado por um conjunto de personalidades ligadas a um dos principais partidos portugueses apresenta um buraco financeiro vertiginoso, fruto de falcatruas indiscritíveis. Tudo acabou por ser coberto pelo Estado, ou seja, pelos contribuintes portugueses. Contem também que um dos principais responsáveis por tal Banco era até há pouco conselheiro de Estado e um homem do círculo restrito do atual Presidente da República. Acrescentem que o Presidente português está ligado ao presente caso não só por um leque alargado de amizades, como pelo facto de em tempos ter conseguido mais-valias bolsistas formidáveis com o referido banco. Possui também uma casa de férias numa herdade lado a lado com alguns dos principais suspeitos fruto de um negócio com a sociedade detentora do banco em questão.

E podíamos aqui continuar com os clássicos casos das Fátimas Felgueiras e dos Isaltinos deste país, assim como dos também batidos submarinos e Freeport. Portugal desenvolveu-se de forma tremenda nas últimas décadas, não haja dúvidas a este respeito. Mas os casos acima relembram-nos que o estatuto de país desenvolvido não passa de um rótulo. Continuam a passar-se coisas neste canto da Europa dignas de uma autêntica república das bananas, devidamente repleta de caciques, bimbos e chicos espertos. É o país que temos, não é com certeza o país que queremos."

Publicada por João Ricardo Vasconcelos no site Activismo de Sofá

Chris Cornell + Paul Freeman (16th June 2012) Location: The Lowry, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, UK

2012-06-17T17:37:00.000+01:00

Found this really good review to this gig. As it has a very similar opinion to my own and seems like it took all the words from my mouth, I decided to share it here with all of you instead of writing my own review. Credits to James Ellaby.

Chris Cornell

"Acoustic guitars and grunge have gone together well ever since Nirvana’s appearance on MTV Unplugged, so it is no surprise that Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has had such a success with his similarly stripped-back Songbook tour, and this was another triumphant, legacy-affirming performance.

Cornell still isn’t really a household name in the UK, despite enjoying great critical and commercial success with both Soundgarden and Audioslave, and – as he is quick to point out – doing the song to the most successful Bond movie of all time. Indeed, it’ s You Know My Name, from Casino Royale that he starts the set with, and it sounds great even without all of the bombast of the studio version. After that, it’s obvious that he could play pretty much anything from his ‘songbook’ and make it sound good with just his acoustic guitar.

Chris Cornell - You Know My Name (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

So much so that sounds from the audience for songs like Jesus Christ Pose and Big Dumb Sex follow, though he laughs them off with good humour. In fact, he does absolutely everything with good humour, taking the opportunity of a more relaxed and intimate performance to display a lot more of his personality than he gets to when on-stage with a band. He even makes a joke about this being the first time any of us had actually heard his speaking voice, which wasn’t far wrong. It was certainly the first time we found out how funny and downright nice he is.

There’s plenty of banter throughout with the audience and at one stage he even picks out someone from the front row who had a sign saying ‘Please Let Me Play Guitar With You’ and gets him up on stage to play guitar with him on two tracks, going as far as to let him plug his own band’s Facebook page. It could have been disastrous, but he did well, helping out on Doesn’t Remind Me and a really impressive Fell On Black Days. A night he certainly won’t forget and the same can be said for the couple who got up on stage to have their photo taken for Cornell’s Twitter feed. It was that kind of night.

Chris Cornell - Doesn't Remind Me (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

Chris Cornell - Fell On Black Days (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

But, of course, it was mostly about the music rather than telling jokes and kissing babies’ heads, and with a back catalogue of two great bands, a diverse solo career and quite a lot of songs from soundtracks, it was no surprise that the show ran on to two and a half hours and a whopping 27 songs. And you can’t get much more diverse than covering songs by both Tom Waits (the brilliant House Where Nobody Lives), Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson (his famous Billie Jean cover), and then finishing with a mind-blowing Day In The Life by The Beatles and a version of Imagine by John Lennon that strips away the hype and cynicism that surround it nowadays to celebrate the great song that it really is.

Chris Cornell - Billie Jean (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

Cornell’s voice is, of course his most unique instrument and still sounds as good as ever, possibly better than it has done for a while, and you certainly wouldn’t know that he’d been belting out the hits with Soundgarden at the Download festival last weekend. On songs like Blow Up The Outside World, Hunger Strike and Burden In My Hand, he sounds like he’s shredding his vocal cords to reach impossible notes at improbably volumes, but then shows no sign of it affecting his voice afterwards. Obviously he also provides more than able musical back-up for himself apart from a couple of songs where he gets help from his record player, including the affecting When I’m Down, with piano played by the late Natasha Shneider of Eleven, who I actually saw supporting Soundgarden around 16 years ago.

Chris Cornell - Hunger Strike (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

Moments like that help bring so much of Cornell’s warmth and personality into the music, and with songs like Black Hole Sun, Burden In My Hand, Wide Awake (Audioslave’s anti-Bush track was definitely one of the highlights), I Am The Highway, All Night Thing and even a plugged-in Mind Riot, this was an incredible night of great music from one of the most under-appreciated musicians around. His solo career has been patchy at times (though the title track from ‘his hip hop album’ Scream was performed and done very well), but this Songbook tour and live album – and Soundgarden’s reformation – mean that Chris Cornell is definitely riding high again and it was a privilege to hear him in such close quarters."

Written By James Ellaby

Editor of New Adventures In Hi-Fi

Chris Cornell - Black Hole Sun (Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16.06.2012)

Setlist

You Know My Name

House Where Nobody Lives (Tom Waits cover)

Scar on the Sky

Dandelion (Audioslave song)

Be Yourself (Audioslave song)

Can't Change Me

Wooden Jesus (Temple of the Dog song)

All Night Thing (Temple of the Dog song)

Hunger Strike (Temple of the Dog song)

Doesn't Remind Me (Audioslave song)

Fell on Black Days (Soundgarden song)

Burden in My Hand (Soundgarden song)

When I'm Down

Scream

I Am the Highway (Audioslave song)

Seasons

Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover)

Thank You (Led Zeppelin cover)

Sunshower

Wide Awake (Audioslave song)

Like a Stone (Audioslave song)

Blow Up the Outside World (Soundgarden song)

Encore

Mind Riot (Soundgarden song) (Never been played by Soundgarden since 1994)

The Keeper

Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden song)

A Day in the Life (The Beatles cover)

Imagine (John Lennon cover)

Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman, a Welshman who seemed incredibly comfortable in front of this sell out crowd, opened the show for Chris Cornell. His powerful voice and dual guitar and harmonica are spot on.

'Blind Man Blues' (written in a dressing room in St. Lewis whilst waiting to support Roger Daltrey) is a catchy pumping guitar track. he then toned back down with a sad song about divorce.He was joined by Georgia Herd for an excellent stripped cover of The National's 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' mixed with Springsteen's 'I'm on Fire'.

Excellent warm up. I need to keep track of this guy.

Ute Lemper: Last Tango in Berlin (3rd May 2011) Location: RNCM Theatre, Manchester, UK

2012-05-05T23:31:00.000+01:00

The RNCM Theatre is an odd venue to recreate a cabaret, but the phenomenal presence of this international award winning cabaret star allowed the audience to be transported back in time though her vital interpretation of the music of Brecht and Brel.

There are few better artistes on the stage today that can hold an audience in the palm of their hands than German chanteuse Ute Lemper.

A packed audience at the Royal Northern College of Music’s Theatre sat captivated under the spell cast by this exceptionally talented cabaret singer.

Here in Manchester, Lemper was accompanied intimately by just two instrumentalists, pianist Vana Gierig and the renowned bandoneón exponent, Marcelo Nisinman. Dressed in a slinky black evening dress Lemper looked as wicked as she sounded. With her flowing and sensual dance moves ramping up the steamy sex appeal it’s easy to see that the Münster-born temptress is also a film actress. It was not difficult to imagine the bawdy smoke-filled cabaret rooms of 1920/30s Berlin.

At one point Vana Gierig put the piano lid down for Lemper to sprawl across it seductively. It was a testament to Lemper’s performing skills that throughout the whole show the only props she employed were a feather boa and a bowler hat. Lemper used the red feather boa to show her comic side explaining how the boa (representing an amorous love token) had been passed around provocatively from Helmut Kohl to Margaret Thatcher to Angela Merkel to Nicolas Sarkozy to Carla Bruni to Cherie Blair and on to Samantha Cameron. At one point Lemper came down from the stage and singled out a guy in the front row for some spicy teasing. She pursed her lips to his neck singing, “Have you ever been bitten by a German? Don’t worry you won’t turn into one.”

I enjoyed how Lemper’s programme of songs loosely tracked Berlin history from the decadent songs of the Weimar Republic, through the rule of the Nazis and on to the erection and fall of the Berlin Wall. But there were some detours along the way as Lemper journeyed to the sordid quarters of Paris and then to the backstreet bordellos of late-night Buenos Aires.

Sometimes she sang a song in its original language, as in the Jacques Brel numbers, “Ne me quitte pas” and “Dans le port d’Amsterdam”, and Piazzolla and Ferrer’s “Yo soy Maria” from the tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires.

As a multilingual artiste it was not surprising for Lemper to switch language mid-song. One gets a strong sense that Lemper not only performs her songs, she virtually lives them.

For an encore Lemper provided a medley of more popular hits including “Alabama Song” from Mahagonny and “Mack the Knife” from The Threepenny Opera both by Weill and Brecht followed by “All That Jazz” from the Kander, Ebb and Fosse musical Chicago and “Life is a Cabaret” from Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret.

In just one word, I would say Ute Lemper concert was just divine.

Wunderbar, merveilleuse, fantastic!

Deolinda (1st May 2011) Location: Band On The Wall, Manchester, UK

2012-05-02T13:56:00.000+01:00

It is not often – well, we can even say it is quite rare - we get the opportunity to see a Portuguese band playing live in the UK. With the exception of a random concert from Mariza here and there or Rodrigo Leão at the Barbican in London, normally no one else comes here. We can try to justify this fact with two possibilities. It might be because of lack of interest of the British promoters and public, lack of investment/promotion by the artists Labels/Management or just a combination of both.

All I have to say is that the British public don’t know what they’re missing…

Just to name a few Portuguese artists the British audiences need to hear:
The Legendary Tigerman, Wraygunn, Rita Redshoes, Dead Combo, David Fonseca, The Gift, A Naifa, Blind Zero, Moonspell, etcetera…

But let’s leave this discussion for other occasion and focus our attention on the band that did come to the UK to promote themselves. I was really happy when I heard of Deolinda’s small tour in the UK and especially with the fact that they were going to play one of my favourite venues in Manchester - Band on the Wall.

For those who do not know, Deolinda is a Portuguese band widely influenced by Fado and traditional folk music but also much more than this. Irreverence, ironic humour and social rebellion are not features usually associated with Fado, Portugal's melancholy national song. Yet Deolinda has blossomed into success by combining hearty songs rooted in the sound of Fado with lusty and even caustic contemporary lyrics.

Deolinda won the Newcomer award at the Songlines MusicAwards 2010 (for the album “Canção Ao Lado” on World Connection) and it is well deserved. Since their debut with “Canção Ao Lado”, the band already recorded their second album “Dois Selos E Um Carimbo” and released a CD-DVD box-set of their huge concert in Lisbon at Coliseu dos Recreios (a Portuguese mythical venue) called simply “No Coliseu Dos Recreios”.

Of course the gig at Band on the Wall was much smaller than the one in Coliseu, but surely it was much more intimate and cosy. It was nice to see some Brits on this gig and not just the Portuguese you would expect on a rare occasion to see a Portuguese band in Manchester.

Ana Bacalhau soon grabbed the audience with her quirky mannerisms and dances, as she covered the stage end to end and Deolinda offered us a set with some of their beautiful songs.

Just before any other song, Ana would explain the story within the song she was about to sing by acting the story out, and painting the scene where the story takes place with her words in the imagination of her listeners. She would then proceed to deliver the song with graceful beauty. "Ai Rapaz" was one of those songs where Ana Bacalhau, besides singing, also delivered the story with gestures and expressions so that the non Portuguese speakers could also understand it.

Deolinda - Ai Rapaz (Live at Band on the Wall, Manchester, 01.05.2012)

Among the songs that they performed were a few of their best-loved songs, "Ignaras Vedetas", "Fon-Fon-Fon", "Movimento Perpétuo Associativo" and “Fado Toninho”.

Deolinda - Ignaras Vedetas (Live at Band on the Wall, Manchester, 01.05.2012)

Deolinda - Fado Toninho (Live at Band on the Wall, Manchester, 01.05.2012)

One of the most beautiful moments on this gig was when Deolinda performed “Passou Por Mim E Sorriu”, one of my favourite songs. A story about how a smile addressed to us from someone you know or just from a complete stranger can lift up our spirits and just make our day. Beautiful, beautiful song.

Deolinda - Passou Por Mim E Sorriu (Live at Band on the Wall, Manchester, 01.05.2012)

Bacalhau has a natural gift to be an entertainer. She completely captivated all her listeners and created a sense of security, and community at the event that had members of the audience laughing and singing along. Those who weren't of Portuguese descent found the festive spirit contagious; clapping, stomping their feet, and joining in the singing when they could.

On their encore they sang "Que Parva Que Eu Sou”, a song that describes the vicissitudes of being a young adult in Portugal with all the problems of low wages and unemployment due to the economical crisis and the greed of a few. It was a great moment, really felt and appreciated by the Portuguese present at the gig.

At the end of the gig, all members of the band went to the Picture House bar to sign some CD’s and have a word with members of the audience.

I seized this opportunity to remind Ana Bacalhau and Zé Pedro Leitão of an occasion where we worked together and present them with a relic (Ana’s exact word). I offered them a Pro Tools recording session with a concert they gave with their previous band Lupanar in 2006 at Onda Jazz in Lisbon. They were really happy with this; especially because some of the songs they played on that gig were never recorded or released (they should have been released on a second Lupanar album that never saw the light of day).

Ana and Zé: It was very nice to meet you again after all this years, and it was a pleasure to give you guys this treat. Who knows?? Maybe those Lupanar songs will see the light of day after all!

Ah! E já agora muito obrigado pelo concerto no Band on the Wall. Beijinhos e abraços.

Uh Huh Her + The Spiels (21st April 2011) Location: Sound Control, Manchester, UK

2012-04-22T14:07:00.000+01:00

This was another unplanned gig I ended up going to. My other half won some tickets so we just went for it.

Not knowing a single song from an artist or band can lead to nice surprises. Sometimes you just start loving a band you never heard before and become completely hooked.

This was not the case. Uh Huh Her are not bad but they do not ignite that special feeling in me.

Uh Huh Her

Of course, many of the people were only there to see "Alice from the L Word", with one or two fans shouting "Marry me, Alice!" at the top of their voices, which was quite annoying. When will this people learn to separate reality from fiction??!! Alice and Leisha Hailey are two completely different people! One is real and the other is just a character from a television show. Is it really that hard a concept to grasp!? The only thing in common is that they are both lesbian. Due to this fact, Sound Control was packed with female couples screaming and shouting for their idol. I think that most of them weren’t even there for the music!

Leisha band-mate and partner Camila Grey was a nice surprise. Grey's voice was hot, smooth and beautiful, and her stage presence was really good. As Camila played the electric guitar, bass and synth with style and talent, Leisha showed that she’s not just an actress that decided to put up a band with her loved one. She really can sing and play.

Among all the songs they played, what particularly stood out was the duo's acoustic version of their most known song “Common Reaction”, in which we could really hear the expertise of the couple's voices and technical acoustic guitar playing. Another person worthy of mention was the band’s drummer. For sure the best musician in the band, he kept the songs tight and strong throughout the show.

In conclusion, it was a nice gig in a hot room full of lesbians but musically it didn't stroke all the correct keys for me to become a nerdy follower or to become a lesbian myself. J

Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction (Live at Sound Control, Manchester, 27.04.2012)

The Spiels

Regarding the support act, The Spiels, there isn’t much to say about them. I really didn’t like them at all. They were too amateur and insecure, no stage presence and just too needy. In between every couple of songs they kept telling us to like them on Facebook. Guys, you should get some merchandise and CD’s to sell at the end of your gigs and stop the needy requests to get followers on any social network. If people like your music they will be able to reach on Facebook. You do not need to give us the full web address during a live show!!

Photo Journal: The Chestnut Centre (April 2012) Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peaks, Derbyshire, UK

2012-04-16T19:00:00.000+01:00

The Chestnut Centre is a very relaxing place to visit if you enjoy wildlife and want to spend a quite and relaxing time faraway from the noise and confusion of living in a city centre.

This wildlife park is located in the Peak District National Park of Derbyshire and it is home not only to a unique collection of birds and animals, but to many wild birds and mammals.

In this visit I was able to enjoy the peaceful landscapes of the Peak District, check a large gathering of otters, deers, several species of owls and other indigenous wildlife, all in their natural surroundings.

I really recommend a visit to The Chestnut Centre.

I know you will enjoy the time spent there.

Otters at the Chestnut Centre, Chapel-En-Le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK (15.04.2012)

More Otters at the Chestnut Centre, Chapel-En-Le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK (15.04.2012)

Charlene Soraia + Dan Shears (14th April 2011) Location: RNCM Concert Hall, Manchester, UK

2012-04-16T14:16:00.000+01:00

You might not know her name and it’s unlikely you’d pick her out in a line-up, but chances are you’ll recognise Charlene Soraia’s voice. Her cover of The Calling’s “Wherever You Will Go” was huge in the latter half of 2011 after featuring in a Twinings advert.

It even made the top three in the UK singles chart, but anyone who came to this show purely on the basis of that one track most likely has been taken aback – she’s much more than a one-trick cover song. She’s an amazing singer-songwriter with her own credits!

But firstly let’s check her support act, Dan Shears.

Dan Shears

Dan Shears is supporting Charlene Soraia on her Moonchild Tour and there could not have been a better support act. Dan Shears delivered a delightfully sorrowful acoustic set, complete with angelic falsetto and a nice line in self-deprecating humour. He presented himself as Dan Shears: “Shears as in the gardening tool because nothing says rock star as gardening!”.

Melancholic and vulnerable, with an uneasy, vaguely unsettling flow, tracks like “London by Lamplight” and “Better Men” are reminiscent of “Bends” era Radiohead.

Dan Shears - My Dear Oscar (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

"One Dry Eye in the House of God" and "The City of Dreadful Night" has Muse written all over, but Dan's songs are so beautiful that we forgive him the fact that all his influences are well visible. When you pick up such great mentors as Thom Yorke and Matt Bellamy and compose these amazing songs we have to given him all credit. It is not easy to improve on something that is already a masterpiece.

Dan Shears - One Dry Eye in the House of God (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Dan Shears - The City of Dreadful Night (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

I was mesmerised with Shears’ talent, voice and composer skills since I saw him support Charlene Soraia at the Night & Day Café in Manchester last February, and this time he raised the bar even more. He was simply amazing.

Dan Shears - Lily (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Charlene Soraia

After seeing Charlene on her own at the Night & Day Café in Manchester in February, now it was time to see her together with her band at the Royal Northern College of Music and I have to say that I'm undecided with version I prefer.

Together with her band, Charlene cannot move a lot from what was rehearsed and do those amazing innuendos that she does when playing on her own, but the rhythmic compass of the bass and drums give Charlene's songs new colours and vivacity.

Charlene’s opening tune, the trippy “When We Were Five”, has a distinctly Pink Floyd feel about it, although tonight she avoids the glass-shattering shriek that kicks off the album version.

Charlene Soraia - When We Were Five (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

The rest of her tunes, like “Postcards From Io” and “Bike”, continue in a similar fashion, blissfully soporific yet strangely disobedient, each refusing to follow the line of least resistance.

Charlene Soraia - Postcards From Io (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Charlene Soraia - Lightyears (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

She demonstrates impressive dexterity on the Gretsch she rebuilt herself and it’s difficult to know whether to watch fixedly or just close your eyes and listen. Charlene granted us with the beautiful “Midsummer Moon In June” played on a mandolin, before swapping it for her amazing baritone guitar on the funky, upbeat “Animal”.

Charlene Soraia - Midsummer Moon In June (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Charlene Soraia - Broken (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

It is clear that the reoccurring theme of her lyrical inspiration is heartbreak – whether it is the bliss beforehand or the devastation of the aftermath. Charlene pours all of her emotions and a mental dialogue of what she’d say to each former lover into her song-writing. Some songs are more polite and share a sense of reverie for the time passed, but others are a punch at her past lovers, timidly cloaked by catchy guitar-driven melodies.

Charlene has an amazing aptitude for melting personal defeats into beautifully crafted lyrics, complemented with the sweet strumming of her guitar. Also, this girl has full control of her vocal range and can manipulate it in such a way that it wouldn’t be surprising if glass broke from the sheer height she reaches. Her voice is a carbon copy of her studio recordings, if not more of an oral treat for the eardrums.

Charlene Soraia - Forgiven (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Charlene also performed her cover of “Wherever You Will Go” as a closure to this gig. Thankfully, she never strayed into the territory of the Twinings ad, instead infusing the tune with much more soul and sassiness.

Charlene Soraia - Wherever You Will Go (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

She returned for an encore (after hiding behind the PA system) and granted us the amazingly funny song she only plays during live shows, entitled “Does She Fake Her Cum Face”.

Charlene Soraia - Does She Fake Her Cum Face (live RNCM, Manchester, 14.04.2012)

Charlene’s sincere behaviour adds to the honesty of her performance and everyone can see she opens her entire heart to her music and, in turn, to her listeners. The audience gets an earful of awkward conversations, fantasies of older men, and a fascination with the cosmos. Her humbleness is endearing and proves that the person behind the music is a true reflection of the music itself.

Photo Journal: Lake Windermere + Ambleside (April 2012) Location: Ambleside + Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, UK

2012-04-09T20:00:00.000+01:00

View from a boat cruise in the Windermere Lake between Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, UK

Windermere Lake view from Ambleside, Cumbria, UK

View from a boat cruise in the Windermere Lake between Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, UK

Ambleside, Cumbria, UK

See information related with Ambleside on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambleside)

See information related with Bowness-on-Windermere on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowness-on-Windermere)

Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six (6th April 2012) Location: Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK

2012-04-08T16:00:00.000+01:00

If you never heard of Louis Barabbas before, imagine a dubious possessed figure, wild-eyed and bearded like the prophet, frantically strumming a guitar and singing like Tom Waits would if his voice was a bit rougher.

The Bedlam Six has the usual rock line up - bass, drums, keyboards, lead guitar, rhythm guitar and, er, a trombone, used to good effect in most of the songs.

In this gig, Louis shared the lead vocals with Kirsty Almeida (replacing Alison Cegielka), a chanteuse with a clear, melodic voice. Her duets with Louis - and most of the songs are written to be sung as duets - worked surprisingly well, but not as good as when sang by Alison, where her smooth voice complements the rasp of Louis. In Kirsty’s case, her voice doesn’t have the range to ‘compete’ with Louis and sometimes it just disappeared in the mix.

The songs are consistently dark, dealing with a downbeat world of gloom and doom inhabited by eccentrics, inadequates and losers. If Weill and Brecht had written for rock bands, it might have sounded like this. One little line sums up the mood of the songs for me - “I’m a man of my word, and the word is deceit."

Great gig, great band and an amazing frontman.

If you are looking for the “next big thing”, it might be here.

Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six - "Living in the Aftermath" (live at the Deaf Institute, Manchester, 06.04.2012)

Note: Louis has lost his iconic beard now, as you can check on the video below.

All pictures by Shona Cutt

An appointment with The Waterboys (30th March 2011) Location: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK

2012-04-02T13:35:00.000+01:00

For a long time there has been a debate over whether rock lyrics can count as poetry. It is generally accepted and basic common sense that Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan are two artists whose words could stand alone – and then there is Jim Morrison, who thought of himself to be more of a poet than a musician.

The Waterboys’ front man Mike Scott has always written lyrics with a mystical, relaxed edge to them, and I’m sure he would hope to count himself among those that have straddled both the rock and poetry world.

But for his latest project he has taken a slightly different position. In “An Appointment with Mr. Yeats”, he has set the works of the Irish poet WB Yeats to music and for his latest tour he follows a half of Waterboys hits with another half dedicate to the album mentioned.

The first half of the show saw Scott and the impressive six-piece band tackle his back catalogue and the set went down a storm.

With early songs like “The Girl in the Swing” and “A Girl Called Johnny” showing Scott’s Celtic-punk swagger, he was in control of the show from the start.

My favourite songs on this first half had to be the majestic “The Pan Within” and the beautiful “How Long Will I Love You?”, two strong classics that continue to give me chills. Another great moment was “The Thrill Is Gone”, which slowed things down and stripped the sound back.

Although an amazing gig, there were too many long jams, in my opinion. It is one thing to attempt for epic, and another to just drag songs out with huge drums or organ solos.

The second half, whilst impressive in its ambition, it doesn’t have the same impact as the hits of the first half.

“An Appointment with Mr Yeats” might have been a bold move, but it is entirely logical. Mike Scott covered the Irish giant’s “The Stolen Child” to great effect and success on the acclaimed “Fisherman’s Blues”. Sadly, this amazing song wasn’t played on this show to my disappointment.

The Yeats project took two decades in the making and is clearly something that Mike Scott has completely thrown himself into. He has styled the Irishman’s verses onto songs that kept all their referencing to The Waterboys’ history. In my opinion, it was all a bit pretentious and the music was a bit over the top for the poetry. Sometimes simplicity is way better that an intricate piece of music.

The bravery of rendering “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, for example, as a heavy, fatigued blues is undermined because the peace of this serene verse is destroyed. Live, as on the album, quality came only in parts. “The Hosting of The Shee“ was notable for some enthralling electric guitar, “News for the Delphic Oracle” for its keyboard riff. Yeats’ experiments in mythology are beautifully showcased on “Song of Wandering Aengus” and the stunning “White Birds”, with its tale of a “sadness that may not die”, is just lovely.

Bits and pieces of the old Waterboys’ catalogue kept resurging on these songs – “September 1913” has the “Whole of the Moon” piano all over it. A Good moment was “Politics”. A song that proves my point about simplicity.

Two encores gave Scott the chance to bring out the big hits.

On the first encore, we had a mesmerizing and euphoric version of “Don't Bang The Drum” and the “The Whole of the Moon” was a huge party - just fun and mischief between friends who had a little bit too much of alcohol.

The Waterboys - Don't Bang the Drum (live Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 30.03.2012)

On the second encore, Mike Scott gave us a powerful and felt rendition of “A Man is in Love” (great, great song) and ended the night with the beautiful and folksy “Fisherman’s Blues”. Great finish to a great gig.

The Waterboys - A Man is in Love + Fisherman's Blues (live Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 30.03.2012)

After analysing both parts of this gig, we can conclude that Mike Scott is a better pop star than WB Yeats.

This was the first time that I was seeing The Waterboys live and it is amazing that Mike Scott still has the same voice and that the old hits continue to grant me the same emotional state as they did 20 odd years ago. Pity I wasn’t indulged with “Red Army Blues”, but maybe that would be asking too much…

Sinéad O'Connor + Elizaveta (15th March 2011) Location: Manchester Cathedral, Manchester, UK

2012-03-18T15:27:00.005Z

Given her notoriously “complex” relationship with religion, the setting of Manchester Cathedral for the final leg of Sinéad O’Connor’s UK tour was appropriate. Two decades ago O’Connor caused uproar by tearing up a photograph of Pope John Paul II live on American TV. She triggered further controversy by being ordained as a priest for a breakaway branch of the Catholic church, and asking to be addressed as Mother Bernadette Mary.

Sinéad O'Connor

On this occasion she said nothing controversial, exception made for some four-letter words and a few sexy jokes. But silhouetted against the medieval architecture, songs overflowing with psalm fragments and haunting folk melodies, she was startling nonetheless.

More relaxed in her own skin than one could expect, the singer messed around with her seven-piece band throughout the show. She started with “The Healing Room”, but the first song to get the crowd howling into the cavernous hall was a nod to the start of her career, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.

Light hearted songs from her newest album, “How About I Be Me (And You Be You?)”, were mixed in with her most powerful songs, including an a cappella version of “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” which was just out of this world, given the splendid acoustics of the Manchester Cathedral.

Sinéad O'Connor - The Wolf is Getting Married (live Manchester Cathedral, 15.03.2012)

Predictably her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” got a good response from the audience. She encored on serious issues with “Take off Your Shoes”, a denunciation of child abuse scandals in the Catholic church, and “Psalm 33”, for which she accompanied herself on the guitar remarkably badly (Sinéad was never known by her guitar playing attributes).

Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares to You (live Manchester Cathedral, 15.03.2012)

Sinéad O'Connor - Psalm 33 (live Manchester Cathedral, 15.03.2012)

A fitting warm up to their St Patrick's Day celebrations, O’Connor charmed her audience, fooling about and laughing at herself on stage. There were glimpses of the fiery persona that made her name, but she seems to have found a degree of the inner peace that so many of her songs aspire to. Ending the night singing a monks’ prayer, “Before We End Our Day”, O’Connor gave us her spiritual show, yet so down to earth also.

Elizaveta

Prior to Sinéad O'Connor concert, we had the pleasure of getting introduced to Elizaveta and what a nice surprise it was! Music’s next miracle stopped at Manchester on this day.

She began with a pause. Elizaveta sat at the piano and stayed frozen, a toybox ballerina waiting for her cue, until the crowd’s initial applause died down. And from there, she unleashed a broken dam of emotion.

Elizaveta has been promoting her new album, “Beatrix Runs”, and her new single “Meant” was clearly the show’s emotional peak. Her silk voice came out in a crawl, filling up our senses and emotional void.

Elizaveta - Dreamer (live Manchester Cathedral, 15.03.2012)

Elizaveta calls herself an alchemist, of both music and flowers, and like a proper alchemist; she keeps her powers secret offstage. But her alchemy takes shape onstage. The quiet artist is no more. When Elizaveta unleashes her classically trained operatic range, it creates new notions of vocal power. Opera singers typically fill concert halls with their vocals. But in a cathedral, the effect is unearthly. The air itself shakes with ferocity on songs like “Odi et Amo” also from her album.

Elizaveta’s opera training gives her tools that almost no one else in modern pop music has. And she knows that we go to concerts, not solely to be entertained, but to feel. It is a rare artist who delivers completely on that expectation.

“Beatrix Runs” is an ambitious work of art, a level of work missing in contemporary music.

She once said “I’d just like my album to connect with as many people as possible”. If the music itself is any indication, her goal should have fewer obstacles by the day and she will be on her way to stardom shortly.

Michael McIntyre: Work in Progress (14th March 2012) Location: The Comedy Store, Manchester, UK

2012-03-16T15:21:00.000Z

In preparation for his huge UK and Ireland arena tour this autumn, Michael McIntyre has been performing a number of warm-up gigs around the country this spring and summer and I had the chance to see his work in progress in Manchester, at the Comedy Store.

It is always interesting when you see celebrities in real life, especially when you see them this close up, purely because it is easy to forget that he is just a person like you and me (although a very funny one), and not just an image from inside the TV. In fact his humanity and modesty took me by surprise, as when I think of his comedic styling, I tend to think of a comedian whose material is highly polished and very slick.

Michael McIntyre performed some new material for about an hour and a half and I can say that some of his new material is funny as hell. These shows are meant to test some new gags and improvisations kept showing up. Sometimes these improvisations are the best part of this type of show and where the comedians get their best material.

The first thing he told us was that he had no idea if he would be funny, as due to the fact his show was still several months away, he was under prepared and that his work tonight was not representative of his best. But that was not the case. He was hilarious. Within minutes he had the audience in the palm of his hand; however, it wasn't his new and slightly un-refined jokes that did the most damage, but all the improvisations. The way he dealt with people was incredible. The speed at which stand-up comedians must think to deal with hecklers is sensational!

For those who know Michael McIntyre and his comedic genius, a review done by me will do nothing to increase his already fantastic reputation, yet I feel credit should be given when credit is due for those who don’t know him. Michael McIntyre is a funny, funny man and he is only surpassed by his own hair!

Michael McIntyre On Walking

(I do not have any video from this gig, so here's something form the BBC)

"Madama Butterfly" by the Ukrainian National Opera of Kharkiv (9th March 2012) Location: Opera House, Manchester, UK

2012-03-12T13:11:00.000Z

Music: Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica

Director: Ellen Kent

Conductor: Vitalii Kutsenko

Performed by: Ukrainian National Opera of Kharkiv

Ellen Kent’s company specialises in touring opera to parts of the world that rarely attracts this type productions. The objective is praiseworthy but the result is not entirely satisfactory.
“Madama Butterfly” is a heart-breaking clash of cultures and sexes that leads to tragic results. Globe- adventurer sailor Lieutenant Pinkerton ( Andriy Perfilov) has a girl in every port . He perceives his arranged marriage with Cio-Cio San aka Madama Butterfly (Elena Dee) as a lease with an option to quit. Butterfly on the other hand is so convinced that the commitment is permanent that she accepts being ostracised by her community and family.

Vitalii Kutsenko conducted with obvious passion and at times the volume of the music obscures parts of the chorus and the lower notes sang by Seigiy Ledenov. But this is not a problem for the principals. Soprano Elena Dee soars above the music; her powerful reading of the opening aria in act two catches the conflicting emotions that rule Butterfly – a desperate longing mixed with a relentless hope. Dee gives Butterfly a surprising level of self –assurance: she knows her own value as a Geisha and can endure public disgrace. Her innocence, however, actually borders on naiveté leading to her putting her trust in the wrong man. Andriy Perfilov cuts a striking romantic figure in flowing hair and dress whites but struts across the stage like a overconfident conqueror taking his pick from the colonials. Perfilov convincingly shows the darker side of Pinkerton relishing the opportunity to ravish the emotionally frail fifteen-year-old Butterfly.

This production is clearly a labour of love for producer Ellen Kent but she directs the opera with the narrow vision of someone who is so convinced of the inherent quality of the work that she does not see the need to stage it in an imaginative manner. The result is a production that is technically impressive but dramatically static. The lengthy instrumental section in act two, which leads to the re-introduction of Pinkerton, demonstrates this deadening approach by being played over a puzzlingly empty stage.

This production of “Madama Butterfly” shows that the best intentions and fine performances without imaginative direction are insufficient to deliver a truly memorable production.

Disappointment…

Charlene Soraia + Dan Shears (25th February 2011) Location: Night & Day Café, Manchester, UK

2012-02-26T19:57:00.000Z

When a gig is sold out, you expect to be packed into a room so tightly that you leave wondering whether it’s your own sweat that has drenched your shirt or the fat bloke’s that you were stuck behind all night. So, this evening was a nice change. The Night & Day Café approves of personal space and doesn’t pack as many people in as possible. You don’t even have to fight your way to the bar whilst waiting for the acts to take to the stage. Headlining was Charlene Soraia, demonstrating that she is a lot more than that girl who did that cover of The Calling. You know, the one on the Twinings advert.

Dan Shears

Wandering through the crowd then onto the stage is the first and only support act of the evening, Dan Shears, showing off his folk style and very impressive vocal ability, sounding comparable to Muse‘s own Matt Bellamy at times on songs such as “The Devil’s Favourite Love Story”.

Unfortunately for Shears, he lacks the stage presence to keep the crowd’s focus and with a similar rhythm and vocal approach to each song, the crowd soon start to talk amongst themselves. Whilst this to some degree is expected for a support act (specially in this country), when coupled with Shears‘ voice which is designed more for control than power, he gets drowned out a little at times. New track “In The Shadows Of Better Men” is faster paced and gets the crowd involved, but this quickly changes with the set closing love ballad “Lily”.

The audience didn’t pay much attention to Dan Shears, but for me he is one to watch and follow.

Charlene Soraia

Calmly walking on to the stage, Charlene Soraia sat in front of a sold out venue with her guitar and plays an array of songs that truly demonstrate her talent.

Charlene adopts a very intricate, bluesy finger-picking style on guitar which is gently reverberated, delayed and chorused through a small collection of effects pedals that sit atop a coffee table in front of her, and marries this with a sublime vocal range that, at times, had the glassware worried.

The subjects of her songs are quite unworldly and fairytale like, but at the same time have a modest charm about them.

I have to make a quick note about her stage presence, too – amazing. Not an ounce of pretence or arrogance, instead we were guided through the evening with the girl-next-door, with odd anecdotes and mumblings that I’m sure made sense in her head, all adding to the charm of the evening.

She managed to keep the crowd interested with humour throughout her set, with stories of opening track “Lemonade” being about attractive older men (her inspiration was Alan Rickman) and yelling “Hi!” when someone’s phone rang during “Wishing You Well”. Halfway through the proceedings, she got the biggest reaction from the crowd when Soraia played “Wherever You Will Go” and delivers it perfectly.

Charlene showed throughout the night that she’s much more than just that one song, providing a top-notch vocal performance on “Postcards From Io”.

Charlene Soraia - Postcards from Io (live Night and Day Café, Manchester, 25.02.2012)

She also showed off her self-taught guitar skills on a baritone guitar on the darker track “Animal” (which is one of the best songs I’ve heard this last decade), and then on a mandolin for “Midsummer Moon In June”.

Charlene Soraia - Animal + Forgiven (live Night and Day Café, Manchester, 25.02.2012)

Summing up tonight perfectly is final song of the night “Does She Fake Her Cum Face?” which demonstrates Soraia‘s ability to sing and play brilliantly, but keep things light-hearted despite a slow-paced relaxed vibe.

It just goes to show that you don’t need to be running all over the stage to give an outstanding performance, and that Charlene Soraia should be known for a hell of a lot more than one cover song.

I hope Charlene achieves was she deserves. She’s a true superstar in the making, with the personality to match. A top, top night.

Mastodon + The Dillinger Escape Plan + Red Fang (6th February 2012) Location: Manchester Academy 1, Manchester, UK

2012-02-19T08:54:00.003Z

After seeing several Mastodon gigs in festivals, I was going to see them for the first time as the main act. It would be their show, their rules.

Whoever put this line up together has been pretty clever. There's something here for every Mastodon fan as an aperitif before the main course; could the night match my expectations?

Red Fang

Red Fang were the ideal men to agitate the horde and get things moving with their infectious stoner rock. Every song is a compendium of Jurassic riffs; “Throw Up”, for one, is a red-blooded track worthy of doom greatness. They were snare-tight, but there wasn't the demanding technicality of those that followed.

The crowd just let their neck muscles do the hard yards, and by the time we get to “Good to Die”, all bars have been deserted and the crowd response was as loud as I've heard for an opening act. Good, pungent, in-your-face stoner metal.

Setlist

Hank Is Dead

Throw Up

Malverde

Wires

Good to Die

Sharks

Prehistoric Dog

Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

The Dillinger Escape Plan

If Red Fang succeed through head-banging communion, The Dillinger Escape Plan do it so by relentless battery.

It takes a couple of tracks for their radical assault to engage: the mix is a little muddy and the impact relies on the brute physicality pouring from the stage.

I know that The Dillinger Escape Plan have loads and loads of fans, a high pedigree in the annals of hardcore insanity and they even worked with the genius Mike Patton, but they are not really my cup of tea. For me, there’s too much noise and no definition whatsoever on their mix. Even Patton’s “Adult Themes for Voice” is more endurable.

Setlist

Panasonic Youth

Room Full of Eyes

Milk Lizard

Farewell, Mona Lisa

Gold Teeth on a Bum

Black Bubblegum

When Good Dogs Do Bad Things / Chinese Whispers

Endless Endings / Good Neighbour

Sunshine the Werewolf

43% Burnt

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Black Bubblegum (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

Mastodon

With a reputation as one of the heaviest rock bands in the world, Atlanta rockers Mastodon look so very metal and didn’t disappoint one bit. The band is an explosion of messy hair, tattoos and Amish beards and they looked as if they have just crawled on stage after a fight in which somebody died, and sounded so heavy you suspect the venue would need to check its foundations afterwards.

The Americans are the kings of progressive metal, and make a noise so pulverising intense that standing within 70 metres of them makes it feel as if Dailor's jazz fills and double bass-drum rhythms are taking place within your stomach. However, behind the walls of riffs are layers of melodic subtlety and technical virtuosity which gives them an appeal beyond metal. Troy Sanders' vocals are beautifully mournful. They do multipart harmonies as tightly as the Bee Gees. Listen to them long enough and you start hearing (or perhaps imagining) symphonic textures worthy of Bach or Schubert.

"Dry Bone Valley" and "Black Tongue" are opening battle cries leading a charge into the uncompromising minefield that is the Mastodon back catalogue. The whole thing is a battering of senses and I don't think I've ever witnessed anything as heavy as this evening's roaring rendition of “Circle of Cysquatch” - it is sweet, sweet pain. "Sleeping Giant" packs a huge punch with the gloomy push of the verses driving a gale from the speakers.

Mastodon - Black Tongue (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

The marathon set rampages from older songs about mythological creatures to moodier selections from last year's acclaimed album “The Hunter”, such as “All the Heavy Lifting” ("Just close your eyes and pretend everything's fine").

Mastodon - All the Heavy Lifting (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

However, for all the intensity, there's a sense of mischief and fun in the way Dailor grins throughout and Sanders enjoys leading the crowd sing-along into the hard rockin' “Curl of the Burl” opening line: "I killed a man 'cause he killed my goat". Mission accomplished. No one leaves the venue unsatisfied.

Mastodon - Curl of the Burl (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

Forget Metallica, forget all Nu-Metal bands, not to speak of emo bands (urgh…). The future of Metal is here and it is called MASTODON!

Mastodon - Crack the Skye (Live Manchester Academy, 06.02.2012)

Setlist

Dry Bone Valley

Black Tongue

Crystal Skull

I Am Ahab

Capillarian Crest

Colony of Birchmen

Megalodon

Thickening

Blasteroid

Sleeping Giant

Ghost of Karelia

All the Heavy Lifting

Spectrelight

Curl of the Burl

Bedazzled Fingernails

Circle of Cysquatch

Aqua Dementia

Crack the Skye

Where Strides the Behemoth

Iron Tusk

March of the Fire Ants

Blood and Thunder

Encore

Creature Lives (with Red Fang)

Christina Perri (16th January 2011) Location: HMV Ritz, Manchester, UK

2012-02-15T21:23:00.000Z

After the massive success of “Jar of Hearts”, the young singer - songwriter from Philadelphia landed in Manchester for her first headlining tour.

The story of Christina Perri has the flavour of a fairytale; young singer - songwriter moving to Los Angeles in the hope to land a record deal and have a breakthrough in the music industry.

After years of waitressing during the day and recording at night, her song “Jar of Hearts” was featured in a routine of the popular dance program So You Think You Can Dance. After its exposure on the show, the digital single sold more than 100.000 copies in a month, Christina signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and now she’s know worldwide and touring everywhere.

Initially scheduled for the Manchester Academy 2, the show was moved to the bigger HMV Ritz, due to ticket demand, and at 8.30pm sharp Christina and her band walked on a stage decorated with flowers and special lights that created the perfect atmosphere for her tales of love lost and heartbreak, and this is truly her blessing and curse.

As showed by the reaction of the large audience her music and her unpretentious lyrics really resonate across male and female of different generations, but it would be a lie to say that she offers anything different or better from what other thousands of singers out there already did in the past.

Nevertheless Christina has proved to be an incredibly professional singer. Those who only listened to her record might have been deceived by her honeyed vocals and her knack for melodies, but live is where she shines.

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (live HMV Ritz. Manchester, 16.01.2012)

Her voice was pitch perfect all the way through and, thanks to the more rockier arrangements of the songs, she had the chance to show that she could definitely soar and not only gently whisper.

Christina Perri - Sad Song (live HMV Ritz. Manchester, 16.01.2012)

Mostly importantly though she proved to have an undeniable charisma and likability. The massive sing-along that “Jar of Hearts” ignited resembled very much what happened to Adele and her “Someone Like You” and it was easily the highlight of the night.

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts (live HMV Ritz. Manchester, 16.01.2012)

Christina has massive room for improvement and hopefully the audience will stick around to see what she has to offer next. It was a really enjoyable gig, much better that I was expecting.

Setlist

Miles

Bang Bang Bang

Daydream

Distance

A Thousand Years

My Eyes

Crying (Roy Orbison cover)

(new song )

Sad Song

The Lonely

Bluebird

Mine

Encore

Jar of Hearts

Tragedy

Arms

Henry Rollins - The Long March 2012 (12th January 2011) Location: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK

2012-02-12T20:24:00.001Z

It has now passed a month since I went to see Henry Rollins stand-up show and I’m still thinking: How does he do it?

How does Henry Rollins stand there for more than two hours and do all this stuff? A non-stop flow of talk that is funny, impassioned and full of sharp observations. There are no gaps, no ‘erms’, hardly any breathing in, just a concise tumble of words and brilliant observations that is captivating and inspiring and stands out a mile in a world that is so dumbed down that it’s grinding to a halt.

Rollins hits the stage at 8.00pm sharp, not a second earlier or later, dressed head to toe in black, pumped up. With his hair now grey and cropped, he is the picture of Zen simplicity - no baggage, no extra weight, and no useless extras.

He grabs the microphone, wraps the lead round his wrist like in the old rock ‘n’ roll days and it’s straight into the word flow. Standing there bare in front of a thousand people, Rollins covers everything from his world travels filming a series for National Geographic which saw him eating rats’ livers, hunting for poisonous snakes and travelling to the Rat Temple in India to his days in punk rock. He talks of his trip to North Korea, Tibet, Haiti and even a trip down to the local hypermarket in LA with his “reptilian” assistant.

It has been a long and strange trip for Rollins, the former front man of Black Flag, who cut some of the most intense records ever made, who toured America with gigs like a war zone. In the middle of all the madness he found a talent for spoken word and it ended up being his main vehicle.

A Rollins show is powerful, visceral and intense. It is an amazing flow of words and wisdom with a lot of humour whilst making powerful points. The brooding physicality and danger that was part of his whole Black Flag thing is still there but channelled into this astonishing spoken word performance.

There’s a great bit in the middle when Henry sticks it to the Republican candidates fighting it out for the candidacy. He laughs at their strange freak show of candidates; it’s funny and scores good political points. Prior to that he couldn’t help laugh at George Bush and his struggle with language (he does this every time but it’s always funny). The angle is of a proud American who is bemused by the way his country has been kidnapped by the bad guys.

Rollins is one of few sane voices out there.

He has taken punk rock into all sorts of places where it is not allowed to exist in. He has learned that you can make your point by talking, that you don’t have to shout and scream to make people listen. The shouting and screaming was of course pretty good, perhaps the best ever but as you listen to him thunder though this vast range of subjects you really DO listen and if it’s a rallying call for the liberals then that’s cool - there is hardly anyone else out there, is there?

For a more detailed review, please check it here. I couldn't have written anything as good...

Since I didn't get any footage of Rollins' show in Manchester, here's something from the same tour but in Dublin, Ireland.

Apologies...

2012-02-10T14:32:00.012Z

I know it has been a while (almost 2 months) since my last post and for that I apologise to my eager readers.

In December I took some Christmas holidays and went back to Portugal to see friends and family. Had a really good time, just relaxing and chilling, eating and drinking. Good times!

Back in the UK, I had a letter from the landlords stating that they weren’t going to renew our letting contract so January became a hectic month (really busy finding a new house to move into) and February seems to be taking the same road. With all of this occupying my mind and soul, I had no time whatsoever to visit my blog and give you some updates on the recent gigs I've been to.

I promise here and now that in the following days/weeks all is going to show up here. So stay tuned for reviews on:

- Henry Rollins

- Christina Perri

- Louis Barabbas + Bridie Jackson and the Arbour + Richard Barry

- Mastodon + The Dillinger Escape Plan + Red Fang

Thanks for your patience. I’ll write to you soon.

Sarkozy: O Hipócrita Tema: Portugal em Farrapos 2011

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000Z

(...)

Em recente entrevista, Sarkozy explica porque não baixa salários nem pensões: “se formos nessa direcção, colocaremos a França em recessão e em deflação. Se reduzir as suas receitas ao mesmo tempo que baixa as suas despesas, você não resolve os problemas de défice. Eis porque, em 2009, decidimos investimentos de futuro na ordem dos 35 mil milhões de euros. É o contrário de uma política de rigor e de austeridade". Sarkozy não quer para a França a cura que impõe aos outros e até explica porquê. Deve pensar que somos mesmo muito estúpidos...

Autoria: Miguel Portas (BE)

excerto retirado daqui

“A Auditoria a que temos direito” Tema: Portugal em Farrapos 2011

2011-12-07T12:16:00.001Z

(...) numa situação insustentável, quais os direitos que iremos defender, quais serão as prioridades, quem iremos proteger, quem iremos condenar? Deveremos proteger quem especulou contra a nossa economia, condenando milhões de portugueses à privação e à pobreza? Ou deveremos proteger os direitos que dão forma à nossa democracia, impondo pequenas perdas a quem nunca conheceu semelhantes dificuldades? A esta pergunta, nenhum cidadão hesitará em responder. Só uma auditoria séria e competente a poderá colocar a todo o país.

Autoria: José Gusmão (BE)

excerto retirado daqui

ver link: Dia 17 de Dezembro: Auditoria Cidadã à Dívida Pública