A short post bringing the blog up to date with a few non-birdy things.
A couple of weeks ago Margaret and I took the unusual step of going all the way to Reading to see a Genesis tribute band. This might seem a long way to go just to see a tribute band, but the reason we went is that my brother has a friend who intends to manage them. The band,who haven’t even decided on a name yet, were doing a dress rehearsal and wanted an audience of friends and colleagues. My brother and his wife travelled down from Derby and spent some time at Henley-on-Thames before meeting us for a meal in Reading. It was my sister-in-law’ birthday, so that was another reason for going. Unfortunately we have no photos of the event.
The band was superb and sounded just like Genesis. However the concert did remind me why I never really got into Genesis, in spite of listening to most of the progressive rock bands in my youth. Sure, some of their numbers like ‘Los Endos’ (which the tribute band concluded with) were great as were some of the slower numbers, but Phil Collins’ voice often sounded shrill and his lyrics were often obscured by all the heavy guitar and keyboard sounds. I would have preferred it if Genesis had performed songs where the lyrics were delivered during the quieter moments (although Genesis fans probably don’t agree with me). Of course, as the tribute band were an exact copy of 1980’s Genesis they sounded just like that as well. However we really enjoyed this free concert, it was nice to see my brother and sister-in-law again and the drive wasn’t too bad, we were home by midnight.
The second concert was on the 11th June when we went to the BIC in Bournemouth to see The Moody Blues, a band that I really liked in the late sixties and early seventies and saw once during that period in Leeds. After that time I increasingly found the poems on their albums to sound bit pretentious and I just played a ‘best of’ album when ever I wanted to hear their melodic harmonies backed by the sound of a Mellotron.
Of the now seven strong band, three members remain from the famous sixties line up: Graeme Edge (LH drums), Justin Haywood (guitar) and John Lodge (bass)
The band used some imaginative visual effects and projections ….
…. including lots of photos of them in their heyday.
Justin Haywood and John Lodge. The Moody Blues recently celebrated their 51st birthday although Haywood and Lodge didn’t join until 1966. Why is it that ageing rock stars don’t go bald like the rest of us?
I mainly know their songs from the late sixties and early seventies and much of the first half they performed later numbers, but they ended the first set with a lovely rendition of ‘The Story In Your Eyes’. In the second part they played more oldies such as ‘Ride My See Saw’, ‘Question’ and of course ‘Nights In White Satin’.
Our granddaughter Kara has just finished her GCSE exams. She came round last weekend in a state of great excitement, all dressed up for the end of school prom.
Janis and I spent some time photographing her in all her finery in our garden. Fortunately the weather was good.
Older sister also got in on the photoshoot.
Not only was Kara off to the school prom but immediately afterwards she and a friend took a taxi to Heathrow where they boarded a plane to St Maartin in the Caribbean to visit some of Kara’s relatives. We know from Facebook that she is having a wonderful time. Not bad for a 16-year-old!
And finally returning to a bird related theme, I was amused by this photo which was sent via Twitter highlighting the shocking and totally illegal slaughter of birds of prey in the Forest of Bowland.
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