16 October 2008

Heather Nova (Shepherd's Bush Empire) 13/10/08



I was priviliged to catch the first gig of Heather Nova's new European tour, to support the release of her new album The Jasmine Flower. I've been a fan since I was about 16 - she was one of the first musicians that I independently discovered, I had her first album on cassette tape, and I snuck out of school one lunchtime to go meet her at a signing in a Queen Street music shop. She played one gig in New Zealand back then, and never again in 12+ years. One of my many-vaunted advantages to living in London - you get to go to these kinds of amazing concerts!

So it was a great night, with an excellent setlist and a talented band. Of course I would have liked to hear more songs, including a couple of personal favourites, but it was a pretty good spread from her many albums, and I had a few emotionally charged moments.


Band:
Heather Nova: vocals, guitar, keyboards
Berit Fridahl: guitar, backing vocals
Bastian Juel: bass, backing vocals
Geoff Dugmore: drums, percussions, Cajón

Setlist:
Ride
Heart And Shoulder
Blood Of Me
Motherland
All I Need
Not Only Human
Heal
Walk this World
Fool For You
Redbird
Beautiful Storm
Maybe Tommorow
I Wanna Be Your Light
London Rain
Island
Like Lovers Do
Winterblue (with lyrics from Don Henley - Boys of summer)

Encore:
Paper Cup (dedicated to Heather's parents, who were in the audience)
Renegade

Second encore:
Every Soldier Is A Mother's Son

Lisbon

Had a work conference in Lisbon, which was a nice treat. I've not travelled for work before, and I hadn't been to Portugal yet, so that's two new things for the price of one. We were inside the conference room at our hotel for 95% of the stay, but I did manage to at least walk around the local neighbourhood and have a lookee-loo. 

Lisbon is a curious blend of normal cityscape and derelict building sites. I passed many abandoned and boarded-up estates, even on main commercial streets. Here's a typical example:

A quiet moment in the park... The sun was a welcome switch from London skies!

Of course, being so close to Spain, Portugal boasts delicious tapas! I also had some excellent mojitos when we went out for dinner. One of the places I ate was a converted convent, where the menu was supposedly the same as what the nuns would prepare for their charges.

Work colleagues (trust the Aussie to be causing trouble...)

London staff ratio is 4:1 women to men. What a hardship!


Cheney

Not everyone's a fan...

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Took Dad to see this at the BFI just before he and Mum left the UK. Was amazing to see a high quality print on the big screen. As when I first watched the DVD release of Director's Cut, I noticed a lot of extra detail I'd never seen before. Such an incredible film...

Also dovetailed this with an interview with Michael Deeley, producer of Blade RunnerDeer HunterItalian Job and others.

Got to meet him afterwards at a book signing.