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May 2023 Archive
18.05.23 > Katie at the Royal Albert Hall
It was a long road to get there but the musical match made in heaven finally happened as Katie performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Tuesday evening. This was the event many fans had been looking forward to back in 2020, only to be devastated when covid restrictions caused the entire 2020 tour to be cancelled. It is sad that not everyone who was going to go three years ago was able to be there this time but for those who were it was a case of good things coming to those who wait.
For anyone interested in architecture, the RAH is undoubtedly a glorious and iconic building. Inside it is something of a labyrinth and contains all manner of impressive bars and restaurants but the auditorium itself is surprisingly small, though it probably doesn't feel that way if you're the one standing centre stage. But if you've only ever seen it on television with an event such as Last Night Of The Proms you might have had the impression it is a large theatre.
The stage is surprisingly small. I say 'surprisingly' because you are hard pushed to imagine how an entire Philharmonic Orchestra is able to squeeze on to it when Katie and her band of four musicians seemed to have gobbled up most of it on their own. I was struck by how amazing the Gori Women's Choir would have sounded there but couldn't imagine where on earth they could have stood.
What the compact vibe of the theatre does do is give an amazing feel of intimacy. For the performer, it must feel like they can reach out and touch the entire audience and the surprising number of levels of boxes seems to reach to the ceiling. Depending on who you are, I guess it could be either intimidating or exhilarating to stand on that stage looking out at the sea of faces all around you. Katie, as you probably know, is a particularly cool customer but there were a couple of moments this evening when you wondered if even she was feeling a tad nervous. That would be quite understandable of course–not just for the weight of history of the venue around her but also, as she revealed to the audience, this show was the only one of the tour that would be recorded. (Possible future live album? Let's hope so.)
If Katie did have nerves they didn't really show during her performance, which was of the high standard that has become one of her trademarks. She was ably supported as usual by her band, with her brother Zurab dazzling with a few solos. I'd love to see that band cut loose for a jam session inside a late night jazz club. There was the odd moment where Joe's drums came across perhaps a tad too loud but it is worth remembering that the show was being recorded and hence the equipment was probably set up to sound as good as possible in the recording, which may not have been the optimal setting for the audience on the night, though it is only nit-picking and Katie's vocals were fine.
There is an unusual demographic with the audiences at Katie's shows. They seem to range from 20s to 80s and include all nationalities. Like many artists that are not so much in the public spotlight, Katie has a core of fans that are familiar with most of her work but the anomaly remains that her two biggest hits are ingrained on the public psyche from her extraordinary Wogan-boosted breakout year two decades ago. It is predictable, and a little frustrating, to hear the raucous applause and whistles when she sings "Nine Million Bicycles" and "Closest Thing To Crazy" and compare it to the gentle, polite applause which follows her other songs (though "Wonderful Life" does get a more energetic reaction, no doubt because of a certain television advertising campaign). However, this does not surprise me in the least. Whenever I mention Katie to anyone it is nearly always her two early chart successes that they know her for and it is quite rare to stumble across someone who is familiar with her work from the last decade or so. That always saddens me because they are missing out on some sublime music. What seems to happen a lot is that when people see Katie is performing in their town it reminds them how much they loved her back in the day (and probably every household has a copy of "Call Off The Search"), so they feel a wave of nostalgia and decide to go see her live. Of course, they are patiently waiting for her to perform the big two, but in my experience they usually end up being blown away by the whole show. Hopefully, they go home and begin to explore more of the back catalogue they have been missing.
As for this particular evening, all I can say is that it must be a special moment indeed in the life of any artist to stand in the centre of the Royal Albert Hall amidst a rapturous standing ovation and that humble Georgian smile as she takes it all in was wonderful to witness. The little girl from Kutaisi has come a long, long way.
One thing that is happening more and more now, mostly as a result of Katie's Instagram chats with fans during lockdown, is that fans are becoming friends and meeting up quite a lot. At one point on Tuesday evening there were eleven of us around a table at the Italian restaurant in the Royal Albert Hall. The group comprised of fans not just from across England but also from Portugal, Belgium and Denmark. We are a wide range of people of varying ages and nationalities all united in our love and appreciation for one special lady from Georgia.
14.05.23 > AYMHM 18: Passages
A good album you may have missed... (see them all HERE)
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PassagesRavi Shankar & Philip Glass |
North Indian classical music and Western contemporary classical music are worlds that you might think could never collide. Perhaps that is part of the reason why in 1990 two giants of those genres, Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, decided to have a go at such an unlikely arranged musical marriage.
Now, two such accomplished composers with such different backgrounds working on the same music might have been very difficult to make happen without disagreements and ego clashes. The solution they used to avoid this was genius—both of them wrote three basic themes, a bare structure of a song, and then they swapped them, leaving the other to complete the piece in any way they saw fit. This fascinating strategy worked perfectly and the resulting six tracks are all gorgeous. Whilst there was always the potential for this experiment to go badly wrong, I think the deep mutual respect the men had for each other ensured they put a lot of thought and care into the process and it is hard to imagine the result could have been any better.
Sadly, this collaboration was a one-off. It was a concept that intrigued both men but after creating such a beautiful piece of work there was nothing left to prove and both still had much to achieve in their own musical spheres but in Passages they showed the world that any collaboration can be made to work with mutual desire and respect.
Listen to Passages on Spotify via the link below:
Play on:
02.05.23 > 2023 Germany Summer Tour
Katie's love affair with Germany continues with another summer tour this July. She will be playing seven dates at the end of the month, all at different venues. click HERE to see details and ticket links.
