Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Big Country live; what can I say that hasn’t been said already about these guys? Even without the unique voice of Stuart Adamson they blew the roof off the ABC. Things got off to a bit of a ropey start with the unanticipated appearance of a young support act called something like Firefly or Foetus Fire or Flame Retardant? I’m sure it was something fire related anyway. They had some trouble getting their lead guitarist fired up and I’m sure I heard a few whispers of “isn’t that cute.”

The drummer is just out of shot in the pictures above, but you can just about see him behind his kit on the right. It ‘s a bit of a shame really for the guy, sitting there drumming his heart out on his kit and still being overshadowed by one belonging to Mark Brzezicki. I can’t complain too much about these guys, they did a good job considering that everyone was really there to see the main event. Their musical style didn’t really fit too well with BC, they seemed more of a modern rock band than a guitar rock one. They did their job well though, especially for a small local band plucked from Aberdeen at the last minute and dragged to Glasgow as a support act. The only major complaint I could level at them was the fact that the bass player spent the entire set with his back to the crowd. The lead singer was enthusiastic enough, but he too kept looking into the wings instead of out at the crowd. I guess they were nervous.

When Bruce, Mark and Tony finally walked on stage the audience erupted in a thunderous welcome. I’ve never heard anything like it since their triumphant Farewell gig at the Barrowlands back in 2000. This time you could feel some trepidation in the air. How would the band sound without Stuart? The however band didn’t mess about with an intro or a soliloquy about the past they just blasted straight into Driving to Damascus. Hats off to Tony Butler he’s really come on as a lead singer, he looked and sounded confident as he. The band were clearly enjoying themselves too as they laughed and joked on stage.

Old hits and new tunes followed in smooth crowd pleasing order with Tony and occasionally Bruce acting as lead singer. Their guitar playing and Mark’s frenzied drumming brought back memories of the old Big Country. They sound slightly different. That’s only natural but it’s clear the three guys are back having fun with music again.

The new material was good. I particularly liked You Lift Me Up. It’s stuck in my head and I can’t get it out! I also really enjoyed a new take on an old classic when Bruce sang Republican Party Reptile. It was very different from Stuarts version but in a good way.

Finally the audience went wild and the centre crowd became a bouncing frenzy one last time as the first bars of In a Big Country rang out. Then it was over with a deafening round of applause the band took a bow. Tony’s voice cracked as he thanked the audience and spoke a bit about the late Stuart Adamson and then they were gone.

Thanks to Kat and her quick camera reflexes I’ve managed to upload a quick blast of Steeltown onto YouTube, you can check it out here. My face hurts from smiling, my throat hurts from shouting, my legs ache from bouncing and my ears are ringing. Big Country is back friends, like the Guitar Rock Phoenix.

I always wondered how this thing worked.

Merry Christmas to all of you out there in Internet land. I hope you have a nice time and enjoy yourselves.

Don’t worry too much about the giant meteor…

This year’s award for most bizarre television series premise must go to the strange Babylon Fields. Without a doubt it has to be the most unusual idea I’ve ever came across in my life. In this bizarre world the dead have returned to life. Not as shambling flesh hungry zombies but as fully aware albeit undead versions of their former selves. Evidently from the clips and photos I’ve seen we’re not talking about a perfect resurrection here. They retain all of their memories, skills and emotions. They move, talk and act like normal humans apart from the fact that they are quite obviously dead. Autopsy scars, pallid skin and dark necrotic arteries hint that these aren’t normal health people.

The pilot seems to be a bizarre mishmash of themes and styles, one part drama and another black comedy. My guess is the writers haven’t quite figured out how to play the whole “dead come back to life” angle yet.

The story is fairly engaging as the dead try to reintegrate into society and it throws out plenty of hooks for a series. The loyal wife who is overjoyed at her husband’s return form the grave, an abused wife and daughter’s horror as their abusive husband/father almost instantly rises from the grave they put him in and a former cop who wants to solve his own murder. It also includes quite a few WTF moments such as two zombies discussing the quality of sex between a now undead husband and his living wife. The reason for the sudden return of the undead is left a mystery in the pilot It’s entertaining if more than a little gross but I think it’s probably a bit too much for the notoriously conservative American networks to touch. CBS have decided not to commission the show for a full run which I think is a shame. There’s far too little innovative TV of late and nobody could accuse an idea like Babylon Fields of being less than innovative.

The pilot seems rough around the edges, but to be fair it’s designed to inspire studio executives and not as a polished final project. If you’re curious I believe that the unaired network pilot is doing the rounds on various peer2peer networks. I’m not sure if it’s copyright infringement to download a series that’ll probably never be aired but better to err on the side of caution. You can also see a few clips on the feature page on tvweek.com.

In a fit of boredom I’ve cleaned up my entire flat. No doubt friends and family alike will be amazed by this uncharacteristic event but even I can only go so long without a tidy up. Now cleaning in and of itself is barely a decent subject for a blog, no matter how extremely unusual an activity it may be for the author. I did however find one detail amongst that brightened up that otherwise monotonous chore. The bizarre lable on Asda’s own brand of cheap cleaning bleach:

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That’s right it’s no ordinary bleach, this stuff is psycho-killer bleach. This stuff is the Dr. Josef Mengele of the cleaning product army. Some bleaches claim to kill 99% of all known germs, others claim to get your toilet pan whiter than white. Asda’s own brand ATOMIC BLEACH makes no such half hearted claims, it doesn’t boast about its’ cleaning power or its’ refreshing scent. It just flat out 100% GERM KILL. Asda Bleach doesn’t even give a shit about proper English grammar folks. It’s only in it for a total GERM KILL!

Beware germs! Your civilisation is at an end! The Destroyer cometh!