Kassidy review, numero uhh...two.

Hi everyone,

I'm going to blog about Kassidy, even though Miss B has already done it I'm feeling unoriginal and she has a memory like a goldfish, so I'm going to expand her ideas and correct her errors.

Well basically I received a phone call many, many nights ago now. It was Miss B she was muttering on about some band called Kassidy and in my daze of thinking about the hunger games (yes I'm obsessed, any other obsessed readers? No?) I agreed to something I thought I would come to regret but didn’t! This, unsurprisingly enough was Kassidy's gig in the Perth Concert Hall.

My first dilemma was, 'What was I going to wear?' well let me tell you this was not an easy choice. I've been to a gig before and dear lord was I under dressed. What did I show up in? Jeans, flat shoes and a t-shirt. What did everyone else show up in? 9" heels, tiny dresses and... little else. So you can understand my concern. In the end I opted for an in-between look, not to casual and not to dressy, I wore leggings and a floaty top (one of Miss B's errors as I was not wearing jeans).

We arrived to the sight of a few hardcore leather clad guys swaggering down the street looking rather warm in their attire, considering it was 20 something degrees (many people in Scotland consider this the kind of weather to wander around practically naked, resembling a lobster) so when we saw them we felt slightly worried for their sanity. But not to worry! We found out later that it was part of their 'look' for the band as they were one of Kassidy's supporting acts called The Blindfolds (http://www.facebook.com/blindfoldsmusic - their facebook page) I don’t normally like their kind of music but after they had performed Miss B and I both agreed they were an extremely good exception to our usual genre. Kassidy also had another amazing support act called Jamie and his friend Shaun, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere! Anyway they were truly amazing!

But drum roll please... (Imaginary drum roll sounds in head) for the headline act KASSIDY! (http://www.kassidymusic.com/ - official website) After a longgggg interval filled with endless Adele songs to which Miss B and I were slightly confused considering Adele had nothing to do with the concert, but yes after this we were feeling rather dubious as to whether Kassidy could live up to their headline acts. When all of a sudden, the lights went down and on swaggered the band themselves. Followed closely by cheering. After a little introduction they were off! And wow. Seriously, wow. They were good! They were incredible! (Even though I was temporarily blinded by a series of strobe lights and momentarily fearing for my health and wondering if it was possible to suddenly develop epilepsy.) They played many, many rather amazing songs and any doubt I had about them living up to their supporting acts vanished. They were so fantastic I wish I could go see them again. But, unfortunately it was a one-night thing and in the morning they were on the road again.

All in all I'm thankful (for once) about my Hunger Games obsession because without it dragging me into the black abyss of my imagination and creating all to frequent daydreams I would never have witnessed this act of sheer musical gold. Basically what I'm trying to say is, watch out because this wont be the last you hear of Kassidy.

Bobbie x

Oh the randomness of it all!

Hiiii guys,

I'm being forced to blog. Literally forced. I don’t mind normally because I like blogging but, I'm afraid I have nothing to blog about so I may ramble on...and on in my quest to find a purpose to this post.

Lets begin with the fact that I'm now watching Eastenders and its on mute so I can concentrate therefore I cant tell you what’s happening, but let me tell you some drama is likely unfolding somewhere.

This concludes my post because I have had a sudden thought of what I am going to blog about.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Oh and there wasn’t much rambling along the way.

:)

Nigel Kennedy Review

On Sunday night I went to the Perth Concert Hall to see Nigel Kennedy performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton, as part of the Perth Festival of the Arts.

My initial thought was just the fact that I was going to see a world famous Violinist who, as I later found out, likes to swear a lot. I was also looking forward to seeing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra after listening to them on the radio and watching them on the BBC Proms...in my living room of course. I knew they would be good, but I didn't realise that they would sound as amazing as they did!

They performed was Johannes Brahm's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77.

· Allegro non troppo

· Adagio

· Allegro gioscoso, man non troppo vivace

To be honest, there was so much in the concerto that it's hard to pick out specific points. But, just the way they played gave me goose bumps. I was sat in my seat grinning like I was on one massive high. That's how the whole thing made me feel, completely high.

As Nigel Kennedy walked on. My mum immediately commented on his peculiar attire. I thought he looked like some kind of mash up between a pirate and a middle aged disco fanatic. When he started to play I immediately forgot about what he was wearing. His playing was beautiful. It was so amazing. Just...the way he played the violin, just thinking about it, as you can probably tell renders me absolutely speechless. With the orchestra accompanying him, the sound reverberated around the concert hall. It sounded as if they were one, not a hundred different instruments, but one whole instrument playing together. And when they stopped, I think the audience clapped for about five minutes.

Then, Nigel was called back as an encore. He looked at us all and asked, "Fast or slow?"

The audience immediately shouted, "Fast!"

To which he replied, "Don't be so immature!" before beginning to play a Scottish jig, which as we asked for, was played faster and faster. Once he had finished the piece he said to the audience,

"Now for the f****** cultural s***!"

While I sniggered to myself, Nigel started to play this slow, peaceful, beautiful tune involving a lot of double stopping. I think of Nigel as two different people, there's Nigel the ordinary guy with an extraordinary dress sense, the guy who's kind of the 'joker' and then there's Nigel the violinist who can play pieces with such sensitivity and passion it can bring people to tears.

After the twenty-minute break the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra took to the stage again (minus Nigel) to perform Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6 in B Minor 'Pathetique'.

· Adagio - Allegro non troppo

· Allegro con grazia

· Allegro molto vivace

· Adagio lamentoso

The beginning of the first piece features the mournful tones of the bassoon, accompanied delicately by the string section. When the piece picked up momentum and volume I felt the drama attached to the notes, but also the sense that the piece was carrying a kind of sadness. I thought the next movement was quite quirky, and much more uplifting than the last movement. As the piece goes on it seems to become more and more cheerful. The brass in this movement is bright and playful as are the violins. The third movement has more power than the previous two and much more speed. It makes for an exciting listen. I found it much more entertaining to listen to, and the Philharmonic Orchestra played it to perfection. The last movement I found wasn't quite to my taste; I guess I go in for the more exciting pieces (I am a teenage boy). But I do give my credit to the orchestra because they were absolutely fabulous and probably the best orchestra I have ever heard playing. In all I thoroughly enjoyed the orchestra and Nigel Kennedy and would be happy to see them again some time...hopefully. Ten out of ten!

En plus (oui, I kind of speak French) because I am waaaay slyer than Miss B, (and because my mum told me to) I went back stage to go see Nigel. And guess what I got!

Granted the picture is pretty bad, sorry 'bout that folks :P
Murray

Kassidy Review

On Friday night, Bobbie and I went to see a band called Kassidy perform at the Perth Concert Hall (Horsecross) as part of the Perth Festival of the Arts. I have to admit, before I went I knew next to nothing about Kassidy apart from the information about them on the Horsecross website. So I was going to a gig thinking 'Scottish, hairy and cuddly' hmmmm...

To prepare myself I watched a couple of their songs on youtube, 'Oh My God' and 'I Don't Know' and to my relief I found I quite liked them! Bobbie, on the other hand was pretty much clueless. So when I rang her up to ask if she wanted to come to this gig with me, I was quite surprised to hear her say, "Yeah, sure,"
Then we both paused. What do you wear to a gig? In the end we just wore jeans and casual tops. I think we're lucky we both passed over the idea of 'dressy' clothing because we would have stuck out like two proverbial sore thumbs.

Not a lot of people turned up for the first support act, which was their loss because it was actually very good. I will have to phone up Horsecross sometime to double check, but I think the singer/songwriter was called Jaime and his friend whom he used to gig with in college was called Shaun. Their playing was pretty much flawless, and apart from the odd mumble into the microphone I couldn't understand, I really enjoyed listening to them.

The next support act were a band called Blindfold. They looked like a punk rock band straight out of the late 70's, complete with leather biker jackets. Bobbie and I actually saw the lead singer and one of the guitarists outside the Horsecross.
"Look! Biker people!" was Bobbie's immediate reaction. It all made sense though when they appeared on stage. As might be expected from their nonchalant swaggers, general appearance and the way they played with careless abandon, Blindfold owned the stage. The lead singer's screaming vocals, backed by the blasting electric guitars, thumping bass drum and keyboard, made for a thrilling performance. Bobbie and I don't normally even like that type of music, so maybe it was the way the drummer mimed to every lyric, or the seemingly drunk keyboard player - whatever it was, we liked them.

So, my thoughts for Kassidy after Blindfold's performance? They had better be nothing short of spectacular!

Kassidy's arrival on stage was accompanied by an explosion of strobe lights and red spotlights. All in all very dramatic. Then they started playing. All my doubts were immediately laid to rest. Every song they played was exciteing which is a difficult element to keep consistent in a performance, they made everything seem funny like when the keyboard player started on the wrong chord, and in a single gig, they became my new favourite band. But the thing I like best about Kassidy was not the standard at which they perform or even the way they seem so in sync with each other, it's the fact that their band seems so fair and inclusive to all it's members. Each member had a chance to sing lead vocals, and it's that sense of equality that I think will really take them places.

Because I also happen to be quite sly I managed to get a list of the songs Kassidy played at the gig. They are as follows...

• GetBY
• WAR
• Take Another Ride        (my personal favourite)
• Waking Up Sideways
• That Old Song
• Home
• Oh My God
• Hunted
• I Don't Know
• Night In The Box
• One Man Army
• Stray Cat
• The Lost
• Traveller
• This Life is an Ocean
• Betrayal

Miss B xxxx