SPARKS

Billy Stevens · Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:48 pm Post subject:

In case you missed it on the General Discussion

can't believe ANY negative comments, "wrong chords", "wrong songs" lets be honest up to a couple of months ago we had all resigned ourselves to never seeing them live again! It was a true thrill for me, just to see them on a stage again. They are both in their 60's and although we have all been to lots of Sparks gigs, there are also people who are at their first, so the 80's stuff (let's be honest it's an acquired taste and was done at 21/21) is not going to recruit new fans! Playing the 70's and the 00's is the best way to please everybody surely. I am at this moment watching Meatloaf live in 1978 who I must admit I was a fan of, and he couldn't sing then! I am going to Frankfurt and Manchester to see Ron and Russell again because who knows this could be the last time live! So lets stop being technical and just embrace this chance we have!

Rant over!
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Deano · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:41 am Post subject:

If this had premiered in the USA or if they eventually play it there,the set-list would have had more 80s stuff because Sparks were flavour of the month there in the early to mid 80s.In the UK the 80s were a pretty quiet time for Sparks,hence maybe the reason why they left the 80s out.Its just a regional thing i reckon.Ron's smile at the end of the show was worth the admission petrol hotel meal price alone.

alanphair · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:06 am Post subject:

I went with trepidation as I thought maybe my love for the music was on the wane. But from the moment Ron started his overture, I knew I was going to really enjoy my 30-oddth Sparks concert.
I particularly enjoyed the LilB and HYL tracks - stripped-down versions of stripped-down music worked really well for me.
Mother Earth was a highlight too and I'm sure Russell was touched by the singalong.
The slow version of My Way worked for me. I had expected some kind of different take on the songs so it was good to hear this done differently.
I suppose the earlier guitar-heavy songs worked less well for me, especially At Home, This Town and Something for the Girl.
When I'm at the Edinburgh show, it would be even better to hear a couple of slower ones - Change, Slowboat - and fewer from Kimono/Propaganda.
But no band helps me to forget the stress of work etc and send me home with such a hugh smile on my face.
Thank you Ron & Russell so much.

Loreley · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:55 am Post subject:

Deano · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:16 am Post subject:

I would'nt have minded if they'd thrown in some 80s also.If they are going to play some 80s in October i will just about have enough time to grow a mullet and dust off that Fila bj tracky top and dig out those trusty Adidas Ivan Lendl trainers.Not strong enough to bring the mobile phone though,that will definately have to stay at home.

SteveBoyce · Sub-Deity Joined: 17 Jan 2002 Posts: 770

Actually sorry lazysunbathers but I can't go so far - what it said on the tin was "two hands one mouth" and they absolutely proved their point on that. The rest was PR stuff which will often set unrealistic expectations if you take it literally. What I think was, 4 months to select and arrange 25 songs from a longlist of 50 was a very short period of time and sometimes that showed - imo anyway. For example, they had put a new edgier chord under Perfume, nice start but undeveloped. Now they have another 3 months to make what was already a great show even better - remembering they are playing not only in Barbican to (I am sure) a full house of dedicated fans, but also in Bochum for example.

There are a few things that I think are important
- a nice flowing arrangement for "My Way" (especially as a closer for the main set), the tempo is right but the arrangement needs rethinking from scratch. Also, there was already too much of that "dah-da" left hand earlier in the set.
- take out one or two songs which didn't work (either alone or in context) and one or two which are (imo) more for the fans
- do some more work for songs which were on the way, e.g. Perfume.
- add some more "melodic" material - and here there is *plenty* of strong material from the 80's to choose from, despite some of the negative comments, from Nicotina to Kinda Like the Movies and many others
- Here Comes Bob would be a great lyrical choice but this is a personal feeling more than anything!!!!
- finally the Encore I thought was great and I think non-fans will appreciate it but just from my previous comment could be (even) better

Reacting to other comments above, I may have noticed one or two wrong notes but hardly anything and I think many alleged wrong notes may be exactly because they had made changes and played with expectations, e.g. at end of Under the Table.

Sound was fine for me so I am sure, as often, it depended on where you stood. Just to say it again, Russell's singing was tremendous.

Meant to be positive feedback! YMMV...

Steve
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allydodd · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject:

A triumph is what the show was! Struck speechless for a week in respect of the experience I’ve virtually been.

You all dared Sparks to come back, in your various devious ways. Last Wednesday there was no was stopping them.

They wrongfooted everyone. Hands up who had as template that down-tempo celebrated closing number “Change” for the show? Instead a relentless assault of Ron’s rumbling keyboards Ron Playing

' was punching out hook after hook to great rapture. Like a teenage boxer with angst in his pants, blazer-vested boyish Russell

blazed about the stage with vivacious virility and delivering vocals with vigor. We were stunned.

Change was evidently too slow for the qualifying trials.

Yet it was a resounding selection. With twenty two albums – some of which whirl classic

after classic - what do you leave out? If this was the pilot for the tour, then there’s got to be a fair amount of familiar favourites for the more transient fandom of Sparks. Recollecting how “Never turn your back on Mother Earth” repeatedly was shouted from the balcony of a Glaswegian concert hall one tour, it seemed a shame at the time when the solitary noisy fellow might have left feeling a wee bit alienated

without the uplift of anthemic solidary. Not here.

Ron’s overture I thought was risky in hanging out the clothes to dry before they’ve been worn.

However, the howls of appreciation from the audience showed these melodies were sparking up such a warmth of atmosphere that it promised a hot show till the final chord hard vibrated into the ether.

And Russell was BRILLIANT. As soon as he launched into the intellectually ingenious and musically marvelous, “Metaphor”, we realized not only that the format worked but we were hearing the boys at their personal best. A privilege indeed.

So, the crowd went a bit quiet for the Bergman? Yes, we did. A pregnant pause reflected the kind of frustrated passage of the moody musical into fruition. Sad that is. It is, after all, a magnificent piece of musical endeavor. Russell joked about the eventuality of it growing into the film, a media held close to their own hearts. It took Tommy six years to finally be made into a film, (and worth the wait, I may add). Maybe I was a bit too choked to cheer for hearing its long awaited live debut by its parents.

It may have been lost on the many dedicated fans, who made the expedition from overseas for this very special celebration of Ron and Russell’s musical achievements, that

the bunting by the unedifying exterior of the hall was not for Spark but for the Queen (the monarch and not Brian May’s group which are now struggling to fill the HMV forum). Earlier in the month, British televisions had been treated to the pick of the UK’s musical establishment for an evening devoted to a glittering gush of a celebration of the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s contrastingly sedate and steadfast service as monarch to her subjects from far and wide. The patchiness of the range of performances that compulsive evening had sadly left a lot of the people

pondering the merits of musical euthanasia and considering whether pop eye candy is best enjoyed with the sound turned down. When Sparks hit the stage on Wednesday it was with an act of spellbinding energy. The Times had christened Russell the world’s best falsetto, and he was delivering a sound defying to better than our imagination’s most ambitious conjuring trick. And our heroes didn’t let up until we were crying out for more. Faith in the future of our favourite flavour of rock was firmly but lovingly refreshed.

Billy Stevens · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:09 am Post subject:

Sparksswede · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:47 am Post subject:

OOH PLEEEAASE Sparks come to Sweden soon and perform preferably (I don't know if that's correct english language) at Södra Teatern in Stockholm!!!!

LOOONG for you to come back there!!!!

MrDemotime · Site Admin Joined: 20 Dec 2002 Posts: 426

rod · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:44 pm Post subject:

Sparky Rickmaniac · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:42 pm Post subject:

Ally's nailed it, as usual

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lilywearsmoschino · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:07 pm Post subject:

Great post, Ally! Inspired, as always!!
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Billy Stevens · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:51 pm Post subject:

and not a mention of Gemma Ray

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allydodd · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject:

GARY JOHN BARRETT · Certified Fan Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 83

Billy Stevens · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:15 am Post subject:

Bobby Muir · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:18 am Post subject:

And Ally did get the beers in!

My bum had hardly hit the chair before the bold Ally's wallet saw the light of day and a frothing pint of £4.20 ale was sliding its way down my parched throat.
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Eric Murray · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:41 pm Post subject:

God bless these Lothian miners clubs for both Ally and Bobby.£ 1.50 a pint.