Month: July 2023

Gigs from Abroad Part 11 – Lisbon

Portugal has always been one of my favourite countries to visit and I have had two separate holidays to the Algarve resort over the years. I have never had opportunity yet to visit Porto but have been fortunate to have visited the vibrant city of Lisbon twice.

Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal with a population of around half a million, it has a spacious harbour area and serves as a gateway to both the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Europe. The city suffered a huge earthquake and subsequent fires and tsunami in 1755, which could most certainly be quantified as a ‘bad day’, before it was subsequently rebuilt.

Lisbon skyline. Image Credit wallsdesk.com

In 2005, Lisbon hosted the MTV Europe Music awards with an ‘understated’ opening sequence of a leotard clad Madonna bursting out a shiny disco ball! It is also the host city for the Portuguese version of Rock in Rio, which is allegedly the largest rock festival in the World.    

In 2010 Gill and I had four nights there and initially managed to navigate the local bus from the airport to find our hotel near to the metro station of Parque. There was a local El Corte Ingles, or ‘Debenhams’ as I used to call it, in the basement of said establishment there was a terrific little tapas bar which fortuitously was located adjacent to the metro entrance.

The metro itself was clean and highly effective to traverse on and contained the most extended escalator I can recall at one of the station stops in the Old Town, longer even than the one at Angel tube station in London. In my humble opinion I have also sampled some of the finest curries ever whilst in Portugal as the combination of hot weather and the clay oven cooking style enhances them immensely.

We had booked the trip a substantial time period before we actually travelled but we discovered that Benfica, one of the two football teams in the city were playing at home in the Europa League on our final night there and it soon become evident that the opponents were to be Liverpool. We inadvertently headed to a shopping arcade near the ground on match day and the crowds were beginning to gather.

We then had some tea near the main train station whilst the match was on with Benfica obtaining a controversial 2-1 win before Liverpool triumphed overall after the second leg the following week. Post-food we headed out of town and stayed local for the rest of the evening to avoid any after match activity. The following day our flight back was into Liverpool, which was delayed, there were a few casualties on the plane but overall, thankfully most wanted to sleep and just desired to arrive home as quickly as possible.

In February 2016 the annual lads trip made its longest commute thus far by paying a visit to the city. On the traditional train trip on the Saturday, we visited Sintra which was a 45-minute trip away. We had a sally around the town and visited a little battered bar next to the station.

Pena Castle Sintra. Image Credit travelawaits.com

We had unfortunately and inadvertently picked the coldest February weekend for many years to visit and as a result we didn’t over dwell in the harbour area. In one bar we saw Leicester obtain a last-minute winner which was celebrated by the neutrals in residence as they were in the process of progressing to their most unlikely title triumph that year.

In the evenings we were in residence in the old town around Barrio Alto with many pop-up establishments everywhere, numerous doorways just opening to reveal small bars later on in the evening or even early in the morning. In one such establishment Lisbon Arroz Doce we sampled some of the local nostalgic fado music by watching an act called Vanessa Bowl. The bar name itself translates as a local moniker for rice pudding and opens until 3am at the weekends.    

Lisbon Arroz Doce. Image Credit en.tripadvisor.com.hk

On a topical footnote, my blog provider contacted me last week regarding whether I desired to utilise their AI capability to craft my articles. After my initial reaction of being somewhat insulted, my next thought was that it was an oxymoron as they could never ever replicate my personal experiences. So, for the record this is the ‘Real Jimmy’ not the ‘AI Jimmy’ continuing to pen these missives!      

Manchester Venue 92 – Band on the Wall

At the top end of Oldham Street, you find the Comedy Club and the iconic Crown and Kettle public house across on the other side of busy Swan Street. Hundred yards to the left of there is the oldest venue in town, Manchester Band on the Wall, which sits opposite to the Fringe Bar.

Crown and Kettle interior. Image Credit eatmcr.co.uk

The venue was originally opened as the George and Dragon pub in 1803 within a big market area, even in those very early days it had a licence for song and dance. It was located near the old gathering place of ‘New Cross’ where many an Industrial Revolution demonstration took place. The landlord in residence between the 1930’s and 1950’s was a no-nonsense chap called Ernie Tyson who decided to expand the repertoire and created a stage halfway up the wall at the rear of the pub, hence the name of the establishment was formed.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s it sat in the jazz domain before punk hit and the Buzzcocks and Joy Division played early gigs, the latter allegedly signed in blood their recording contract there with Tony H Wilson. The venue is registered as a charity so allows more artistic freedom and its music resides mainly in the roots and soul genre and because of this not one I have visited regularly. To exemplify this musical ethos, Craig Charles has for many years undertaken a monthly DJ residence there.   

It is an award-winning establishment and has recently been refurbished, it has an initial bar area as you enter which now has the ability to stage smaller performances with an 80-person capacity. Then to your left there is a step free access into the main music room with an additional balcony overlooking the stage and this area now has an increased capacity of 500 due to an expansion into the adjoining three-storey Cocozza Wood building.  

Band on the Wall. Image Credit DesignMyNight.com

One of the seminal and most influential bands of my youth was Husker Du and I was fortunate to see them twice back in the day and at the first gig had a brief chat with the band and I have been playing a lot of their considerable output recently. Post their breakup in 1988 I kept a close eye on the individual output of the members of the band and saw Sugar several times and Bob Mould solo a couple of times.

The drummer Grant Hart was less prolific in his output and toured far less prior to his untimely death in 2017. His passing hit me like a sledgehammer in much the same way Mark Lanegan’s did, perhaps also inciting selfishly the mourning of your past youth! 

He was a fabulous drummer with my personal favourite of his art being the thunderous driving rhythm of Husker Du’s ‘New Day Rising’, go on have a listen to it right now! He also released some terrific solo records, particularly the first two ‘Intolerance’ and ‘Good News for the Modern Man’, the initial one being issued via the legendary SST records.  

I was therefore excited when I saw the news he was touring in December 2011, so tickets were purchased and off we popped. I was a tad worried when I saw it was just Grant and a backing track machine but surprisingly it worked with him topping up the sound on his guitar.

He had a considerable back catalogue and was inviting requests from the audience, however when one punter somewhat rudely stated ‘you need to play xxxx’, he was met with an instant withering response ‘you need to be on the streets man’! Standout tracks that evening were ‘2541’, ‘The Main’, ‘Never Talking to You Again’, ‘There’s a Girl who Lives on Heaven’s Hill’ and ‘Green Eyes’.  

Grant Hart. Image Credit SFGate

My other three attendances were all part of wristband events, the first in May 2018 was to see Desperate Journalist, a decent post punk band from London. At the following years Dot to Dot event, I witnessed part of an excellent set from Kilmarnock’s Fatherson. I very nearly saw them in Edinburgh a few years earlier but was glad to finally catch up with them. My final appearance was in November 2019 to see a local artist called Elysse Mason who reminded me to a degree of Lana Del Rey.