SPARKS

[powpowpow]

yeah russell's voice carried on magically in aeroflot, i noticed that and i was there..

i was front row, left hand side, and incredibly you could hear his voice without the mic from there, and as usual he carried on like a hero.

agreeing with mark though, this was the weakest one, but also my least favourite album and i wasn't expecting to be won over. it did feel nice to have our private band back though, with all those crowds from last night gone.. ;)
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medic! medic! medic! medic!

[Alex Robertson]

I don't know if anything was noticed live...but just prior to the mic packing up there was a loud bang...I wasn't sure if a speaker had blown up or someone had burst a balloon...lol...obviously just something on the mic's transmitter pack

[Eve]

ok. Thought the band worked hard for things last night - and not in the same way that Plaigiairism was hard work.

I also thought we as a crowd seemed a little low key?

I heard the bang and so did several other people. When the vocals dropped out I was looking over towards the sound desk and it didn't seem as people picked it up so quickly, it felt like ages till the roadie comes over and hands Russell the mike over by Ron - that doesn't work either (not switched on?) and it gets thrown off stage. Song continues till 'thank you for flying Aeroflot' by which time Russell has detangled Jim's mike (which he then uses for the rest of the show).

I can't help think of the irony this happened during Aeroflot, an airline with a reputation of unreliability of comic proportions.

Guitars - There seemed to a cable issue. Jim playing but no sound so switches guitars but that ain't right either, don't remember him switching back though it must have happened at some point as roadie Bob comes back with a new cable and makes a lead switch while Jims playing and suddenly we have the guitars back.

Loved, loved, LOVED Katherine Hepburn.

[sean's sparks thing]

After Plagiarism this was a little low key, but I enjoyed it very much...and as has been quoted above, if things are going to go wrong (re: mike) Aeroflot is the most apt song to happen in!
Couldn't have planned it better!

[Lady Is Lingering]

The live stream was awful for me. Worst it's ever been. It kept freezing and then jumping ahead by 30 seconds or more. Couldn't enjoy it at all, damn it. Lucky for me I'll be at the rest of the gigs in person. Yeaaaah! So no freezing for me anymore.... unless the air conditioning is still acting up.
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[Bri77_uk]

Despite the problems, it was a great gig - I happen to like Balls as an album, and the overly heavy bass actually made it better imo. From where I was stood on the left, it was a sruggle sometimes to hear Russell at all after the mic blew itself (and my eardrum) so I guess the backing mic was set to the other speaker. It was better by the last few tracks, but it ruined calm before the storm.

Katherine Hepburn was perfect - Sounded really modern and I reckon it has hit single written all over it... It was the song both I and my brother were singing to ourseleves when we left.
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Bri.
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Photoshop Photoshop Photoshop shop Photoshop shop

[timahall]

I consider this Sparks' most underrated album. Not their best by a long shot but it has some fantastic songs on it (Calm before The Storm, Bullet Train, More Than A Sex Machine...) and deserves more love. I was never that fussed on Angels though and could never understand why it was a fan favourite (and a single?!). Anyway, they did this great wee album justice last night despite the technical difficulties.

Back to London for me tomorrow for Lil' Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers! :D

[Kermit]

Hey what a night! Pre-gig upstairs at the Eddie was a surprise birthday party for one of our gold ticketers and along with Sparks music we had party food and a wonderful cake with the cover artwork of "Exotic Creatures Of The Deep" on top with the birthday boy's head on it instead of Rons as in Plagiurism. Classic Cake!!! The pub provided another massive birthday cake as well with a rainbow over the freeway as decoration. Thanks so much to them all at the Eddie for getting in to the spirit of things and making our takeover of the bar during this marathon so much fun for everyone. We even had a few characters on the floor rolling around with the joy of it all!! (You know who you are sloppy lot). :)Lots of cake and sarnies, too much for everyone there so I made up a couple of plates of party food and cake and took it over to the band getting ready for the show tonight. Russ, Jim, Marcus and a few pretty ladies in the dressing room got to have a bit of a feast before they went on stage tonight. Hope you liked your cake guys!!!
So to the gig, a decent sized crowd, it was a hot day and warm evening outside but nice and cool in the Carling Academy. "Balls" Sees the return of the beautiful Tammy Glover on drums. Welcome back Tammy!! So good to see you back with the Sparks band. Looking great and with her "Balls" shirt ripped open revealing a lot of shoulder was looking very well sassy tonight Missy!!!!
So we kick in to tonights album's starter "Balls"! Sparks doing their best Prodigy imitation. Well Russell was ready to be the Fire Starter tonight in his red and yellow flaming trousers and waistcoat! A scorcher of an opening. I gotta confess this isn't one of my favourite albums but as with all of them so far the live experience just transforms each and every one of them. "More Than A Sex Machine" carries on the gentle dance vibe. I managed to pick up a couple of CD remixes in Amsterdam when on holiday there when it came out at the time with a host of remixes on. Well worth tracking down. Whoever posted the song on You tube with the guys performing on a hillside in an amusement park deserves the thumbs up! Looks like everyone was having fun on that day! Great clip!!
Then to my favourite track on the album , the wonderfully haunting and swaying "Scheherazade". This is where Tammy gets to join in on the vocals, whispering "Once upon a time, not so long ago, very, very, far away". I love the way this song just drifts along. Perfect song to be lost at sea with. Just magical to the very, very last note!
Back to Prodigy terrain with "Aeroflot" and Russell coming his nearest to a Johnny Rotten that he's ever gonna be. I really didn't like it at the time of it's release cos I don't like it when Sparks sound like other bands. Although we've all seen the influences of Sparks in many other bands. (mentioning no names). The mike balls up was really quite funny and quite apt for things to go wrong on in a song about an airline who certainly are well used to plenty of balls ups!
"Calm Before The Storm", the other single from the album was sounding good and got everyone happilly bopping along. The rest of the songs on "Balls" to me are nothing really to get over excited about although in the live environment it was all good fun. "Bullet Train" is propably my most unliked Sparks song. It's repeated words just got on my nerves but even tonight I confess to even quite enjoying it. "It's A Knock Off" has got to be the dullest Sparks song ever (imo), I haven't seen the movie and I won't be getting the DVD either sorry guys. "Irreplacable" is another dull one. "It's Educational" got a bit of life back in to things, nice to hear Tammy on the La La La's here though. Lovely magical voice you got girl.
Then Russells apologies again for naughty words forthcoming in the albums finisher "Angels" of all tracks. Slows it right down to a nice gentle end though. Naughty, Naughty Ronnie making Russ sing them words!!! The glorious operatic Tony Visconti mix of this one is so much better than the album version and no swearing on it either.
Then to the finale of "What Would Katherine Hepburn Say?". A song for Kristy Haydon but sang by Russell tonight. It's a lost classic but tonight's performance really brought this kinda lack-lustre tune in to all it's glory. With the backdrop of the lady herself and with Russell singing it it got completely transformed in to a real proper Sparks song. The way the band rocked it out towards the end was incredible and was really the highlight of the night. Please release this live version on a physical single as an extra bonus to the next single somewhere. No download only again for the next single please. It's gotta be "Lighten Up Morrissey" with a few extras. Sparks fans will go out and buy a physical release with extras if it's done right!!! Let's have a hit for September!!
But a great gig. The last of the comfortable ones I fear. Back over to the Eddie to finish off the birthday cake and chew the fat with Mr Jimbo Wilson! Great stories. Fun times. I can't believe we're so near the end of it all. What are we gonna do when Sparks take off to Estonia on Saturday morning? There will be a tear or two I'm sure.

[Orange]

[Bri77_uk]

[Alex Robertson]

There was a link to David Alston's excellent cover of KH....if I can't find it and bump it up for you,I'm sure some other kind soul will...

[Raoul]

http://www.mediafire.com/?1yqjltjtbwd Katarine Hepburn-David Alston
http://www.mediafire.com/?5kj9gbdf24y With All My Might /EJ Norman

[themightybishop]

balls indeed!!
only thing to add is that russell seemed to throw a bit of a hissy. when bob gave him a second mic, he sang into it (sounded good to me) then chucked it back in bob's direction with some venom. i think he might have been miffed that bob had kind of pushed past him mid-song a bit earlier.
i don't think russell's one to mess with! sound problems aside, it was a show that got better as it progressed. the last 4 songs, not ones i listen to much, were brilliant.

[Robin Davies]

[rileyrempel]

OK - I've never commented after my original comment before, but I've got a couple things to add.
Number one - Russell's outfit was really great. I forgot to say something about that.
Number two - Balls isn't my favorite album either, but Irreplaceable is definitely their saddest song. Seriously - it makes me want to cry every time I hear it.
Number three - this album gets extra points for the most naughty words.
There were some problems with the mics/cabling, but that's not the worst thing that could have happened. I've performed live, and I can think of things that were much more troubling.
For instance, I was playing as a one person band once (I play the synth so all of my stuff is sequenced) and someone tripped over the power cord. End of song. Well - I started it again, but it was a hell of a surprise.
There was another time when I was playing the drums - I hit the crash cymbal and it flew right off the stand - I didn't notice it cause I was looking elsewhere, but the next time I went to hit it, the thing was gone. Luckily, I have that on video - it's really kind of funny.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that live shit is totally unpredictable. Things go wrong and things go on. The only really great sin you can commit onstage is either being condescending to your audience or just giving up - and they've been giving it their all every night, so I have to give them kudos.

[Bri77_uk]