Nottingham Night Out

 Heading out for a George Gadd gig in Nottingham last weekend seemed like the ideal chance to drop round by the Christmas market.


Unfortunately most of the gift stalls had closed by the time we arrived - food stalls, bars, roundabouts and the skating rink were still open though, and the twinkly lights always look pretty.







Outside was cold; inside at Bodega very, very warm! It probably doesn't work for everyone but I find an hour or so letting loud music drift over me to be relaxing.

Then back out to the cold streets and sparkling lights.

Skerryvore at the Bodega, Nottingham

I haven't been getting out to a gigs these past few moths; in fact, since July when I saw Deaf Havana at Derby's The Venue

I've been wanting to see Skerryvore properly for a while though, and missed them last time they were in Nottingham, so a couple of weeks ago I was off out to the Bodega.






I first saw them back in 2013 at a Free Fringe Music event at the National Museum of Scotland, and loved their mix of traditional Scottish bagpipe and fiddle music with modern rock and electric guitars. I'm just sorry it's taken me so long to go along to one of their proper gigs.










The music this time seemed louder and 'rockier' than I remember, with a lot more hand-clapping and foot-stomping from the audience, but I still loved it.
If you think you know what bagpipes sound like, think again :)

Sean McGowan and Brand New Friend at Bodega

Bouncing between one problem and another, nights out have become increasingly rare, but we thought we'd mark the end of February, and hopefully a return to 'normal', by going to the Nottingham stop of Sean McGowan's current tour. Apart from a couple of emotional songs, it was an upbeat, noisy, bouncing night - just what I needed.













I've known Sean for several years, since the days when my youngest daughter promoted gigs, and, although he was never one of those guys who slept on my floor, I'm really excited by the success he's having. I've seen him at small independent venues in Nottingham - Chameleon Arts Cafe, JT Soar - and since then he's signed with Xtra Mile Recordings, brought out an album, toured as support for famous names like Billy Bragg and Will Varley, and as headliner.






I missed one tour of his, on account of feeling too old, but since then I think I've caught him every time he's back up here. This time the crowd had quite a few older faces in it - this is good, because it stops anyone querying if I'm the mother/grandmother of anyone playing, but also I think shows that the acts have a wider appeal spreading outside their own age group.













For this tour he was supported by Brand New Friend from Northern Ireland - a new band for me, and one I'd go see again. Along with the merch from Sean (t-shirt and sweatshirt as we're up to date with CDs) we picked up their CD, so I'll certainly be gearing more of them :)

All in all, a good night out, and a break from the current sad circumstances of my day to day life

Busy day at Bodega

Last Saturday proved to be a long, busy and enjoyable day at Bodega. We'd been intending going down to catch Sean McGowan on the Nottingham stop of his 'Graft and Grief" tour - in fact we'd bought tickets the day the gig was announced, so had been looking forward to it for some while. Then, at almost the last minute, youngest daughter (playing as Ayres) was offered a slot at the afternoon Acoustic Sessions held in Bodega's bar, so the evening out morphed into a longer musical extravaganza.

daughter (Ayres) in action

The afternoon session started quite early, just before three, but we didn't make it down town till about half past four, and so managed to catch most of the set from the act before my daughter - Holly Redford Jones - and then the last two acts afterwards - Sarah Walk (all the way from the US!) and local indie band, Vega Bay.

There's always a slight problem for musicians playing in bars in that not everyone is there to listen to the music, so there's an amount of background chatter to cut through. I really enjoyed the afternoon but another time I might be more inclined to grab a seat right at the front, or nearest the speakers!

Vega Bay

  As you can tell from the photos, the performance area was at the front of the bar, with an open window behind the musicians (so they're all in silhouette!) and it was interesting to spot people walking past on the street, stopping to listen for a while and sometimes coming in. I've now spent enough time sitting in pubs listening to folks play to know that the quality was higher than average, so I'll be keeping an eye out for who's playing and hoping to drop back round.

Then after a quick bit to eat, it was off upstairs to the music venue proper.

Sean McGowan

First up were support act Happy Accidents, a group I've heard of and listened to on-line but never seen live before, with their bouncy pop punk sound, and a female drummer! How cool is that?

Then on to Sean McGowan. I saw Sean at JT Soar in Nottingham back in spring, and had the impression then that he had big news that he couldn't quite share at the time. Well, not long after, he announced a record deal with Xtra Mile Recordings, a new album (released last Friday) and this tour, his biggest ever headline tour, to promote it. Exciting times for him!  Now supported by a band, his sound is louder and 'rockier' than before. He played a mixture of songs from his new album and old numbers. Milbrook Road and Patchwork remain my favourites but perhaps only because they're the ones I first heard from him nearly two years ago.
He's back in Nottingham soon, as support for a much more well known artist*, but he wasn't really to be drawn on who (though my daughter has a really good guess, and from the look on Sean's face was right!)





*this has been announced now, so it's ok to share that Sean will be back supporting Billy Bragg at Rock City in November. I've always loved Sean's music since I first heard him and it's wonderful to see him being discovered, and getting the opportunity to play to larger audiences. I wonder where he'll be heading next ...

While the teen's away ...

As my teen's been away for the past few days in Rome, I thought it only fair that I too had a bit of a special weekend. So, in between the boring adult stuff like grocery shopping and a trip to Ikea, I went out to a couple of slightly more fun things ...

James Veck-Gilodi (Deaf Havana)

First up was an afternoon appearance by Deaf Havana at Nottingham Rough Trade to promote their new album, All These Countless Nights. Now, they've long been a favourite band of the teen's and she's seen them live several times, but I hadn't.

The audience space wasn't very big, and was absolutely jam-packed, making it difficult to see the band but, after so many years of listening to Deaf Havana cds and vinyls, it was great to hear them live at last.

Kevin Devine

Monday night (this was a long weekend after all) was time to head to Bodega, where US acts Kevin Devine and Laura Stevenson were playing, supported on the UK stage of their tour by The Lion and The Wolf, and, in Nottingham, by local singer/songwriter George Gadd. It was actually the opportunity to sneak out on my own (without the teen) and see George Gadd that drew me along, but I seem fated to always miss him - previously events have clashed and this weekend confusion over timings plus traffic problems on the way meant we arrived for just his last song. Strange to say, of the other acts, I enjoyed The Lion and the Wolf (actually one guy, named Thomas George) most, maybe because I've heard his music on line, and was certainly surprised that after three quiet-ish, acoustic acts Kevin Devine proved to have a noisier rock sound. All great fun though (and maybe one of these days I'll get to see George Gadd)



Walking back to the car it wasn't possible to miss the Big Wheel in the Market Square, but that was something I wasn't going to try - I'd rather take photographs from safe on the ground.

A 'proper' gig - Skinny Lister at Bodega, Nottingham

I saw Skinny Lister for the first time at Curious Arts Festival this summer, and absolutely loved them and their strange mix of rock and sea shanties that had everyone there toe-tapping and jigging along. Ever since then I've wanted to catch them again - in fact almost straight away I checked to see where and when they might be on tour, and, yes! they were coming to Bodega in Nottingham, promoting their new album The Devil, the Heart & the Fight but, oh so sadly, tickets were already sold out. Fortunately, in these days of social media, that's not the end of the world, and at the last minute I (or at least my teen acting for me) struck lucky as someone had two spare tickets.

With apologies to the other guys I've seen performing here and there, this was really my first 'proper' gig, and I was getting mixed feelings of being excited but nervy. This, of course, is the point at which I begin to wonder how stupid this whole idea is - aren't I really too old for this sort of thing? I've whittled about this before, pulled out of plans at the last minute and I'd made up my mind that in future I wouldn't use my age as an excuse, but bite the bullet and GO! 

My teen seemed less worried by my age, and more that I would talk to strangers; probably about knitting or something. Perhaps with that thought in mind, she abandoned me as soon as we entered the venue - she tried to get down near the front, while I went up to a slightly raised area from where I think I got a better view of the band, but possibly at the expense of feeling a little out of the thick of things. Even so, I stamped and clapped my way through the evening, and I couldn't have helped support a guy crowd-surfing with a double bass anyway! 

going for a ride with the bass

It was such a wonderful evening! 

Skinny Lister were as great as I'd remembered, full of enthusiasm and energy, though on this smaller stage there was less space for dancing, and a risk that one of them might get punched by the accordion or a flying elbow. I love that their music is almost impossible to sit still to, and leaves me with a huge grin on my face.

And I certainly wasn't the oldest there!

Something I haven't got round to yet though is buying one of their cds. 

At Curious Arts, I'd left my money in the tent; last week I took my money along but was put off by the crowds flocking round the merch table after the gig. 

Still, it just means I'll have to see them again ...