Jah Wobble with Smokin' Coconuts

My first paid gig of the year was to see Jah Wobble at The Cluny. There was a support which turned out to be The Smokin' Coconuts who opened with "Animals" , very reminiscent of The Baghdaddies and I was immediately hooked.


After forty minutes they left the stage to applause.

Jah Wobble and combo were on stage very quickly and we were treated to heavy subsonic bass, lots of dub sound and absolute diamond geezer banter. Jah Wobble's back catalogue is probably as huge as anyone you can think of covering almost every spectrum and influence you can think of barring outright commercialism.

Last night they revisited Metal Box and Harry J All Stars "Liquidator" amid new stuff and favourites.

I know this is short but what else can I say about a man who is a total down to earth legend , entertaining , accessible and challenging all in the same package. If you get the chance to see either Jah Wobble or The Smokin' Coconuts take up the opportunity, you will not regret it.

Hot , Green and Spicy

A short post this mainly thanking my friend Barbara Blair for publicising the 2013 Green Festival and the excellent ska band Too Spicy. I caught half their act , but the combination of weather , great music , stage presence was brilliant.

The only cover I noticed was Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up" , which was the start of me watching them. I bought their EP which is fine but doesnt capture their live sound , remember thinking that about the early Baghdaddies albums. The other songs I now know the title of were the classic "Fixin'" (on the EP) and "Radical Killer".

Anyway , if you get a chance , go and see them , a wonderful addition to the live music scene , and hope they're around for a long time.

Street Life - Blackbeard's Tea Party

The last few weeks have seen some excellent bands performing for free in Northumberland Street, Soznak and The Baghdaddies i have known for years , but today came across an excellent young band who played some great Sea Shanty based based music. Bought their CD which opens with a cracking version of "High Barbary" and was talking with them about the Rogues Gallery project. Anyway below is the video from todauy and above is some related music.

If you gert a chance go and see them , I believe they are on at the Cumberland Arms very soon.

Memory of a Free Festival - MOTFEST Sunday 2009

The Mouth of Tyne Festival has been going for a number of years now (see the website here)and still maintains the essence of a decent free festival , no wristbands , no fenced off areas, decent music and you can get a decent drink either at the Iron Horse Saloon in the Priory on at one of the many pubs along Front Street such as Hugo's and The Turks.

The rain kept off and early in the afternoon with visited the trad jazz stage. I'm not really a fan of this sort of music but the bands fit the event and it's enjoyable to lie on the grass, drink beer , and soak in the atmosphere. We caught the Hot Five Jazzmakers from Canada and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band from Switzerland , both were excellent. Any bands available are on the carousel at the bottom of this post.

Next up were the excellent Soznak in Front Street . They should have been on the main stage. If you've never heard them think Baghdaddies with African instead of Middle Eastern influences. And the video is the rather wonderful "Weekily":


Unfortunately , we had to leave them early to see the wonderful Teddy Thompson who even covered Abba's Super Trouper , has the most amazing voice and held the crowd spellbound for an hour. The guy is a genius , just like his dad.

Amazingly the headliners Dodgy were even better , being greeted by bright sunshine and steaming through hits and album tracks delighting the crowd. Someone got "Staying Out For The Summer / Good Vibrations" here:


The problem was that the Baghdaddies were in South Shields when Dodgy were on so here's them doing "Not Drowning But Raving":



Here's some stuff from the afformentioned bands on Amazon: