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| Skatalites unlock their treasure
chest |
REVIEW: THE SKATALITES
JAZZ CAFE
THE Skatalites have a long pedigree: the band were one of the
originators of Jamaican Ska.
And at the Jazz Café on Thursday they showed exactly why,
40 years after they became known, this current derivative of the
original band can still pack a dance hall and why fans of reggae
music will always be coming back for more.
Since forming in 1964, the band, unsurprisingly, now sport an almost
new line up.
Only the drummer, Lloyd Knibbs, remains of the instrumentalists
though there is plenty of pedigree in the horns section including
Vin Gordon, son of original member and legend Don ‘Man in the
Street’ Drummond. The crowd was at capacity and as the band
tore into a James Bond rendition, the whooping and skanking commenced.
When the intro to the ‘Guns of Navarone’ sounded, possibly
the best known and most popular of their tunes, the crowd reacted
as if it were a brand new hit that no one had heard before.
Doreen Shaffer, who has been singing with them from the heady days
of the 60s, made a guest appearance and added some sweet vocals
to some laid back Studio One riffs.
The Skatalites are always a pleasure to see when they unlock their
treasure chest of classic gems and this was no exception. This was
a fantastic performance which married brilliant musicianship with
simple melodies.
Mark Brewin
Jack and Meg on Ally Pally hill
REVIEW: THE WHITE STRIPES
Alexandra Palace
ENIGMATIC frontman Jack White put on a good show at the Alexandra
Palace on Wednesday, but something wasn’t quite right.
With little audience interaction until the end when Jack said “thank
you, England,” – we’re so small town to those Yanks...London
isn’t England! – the atmosphere felt flat despite the
frenetic guitar riffing and manic head-shaking onstage.
The crowd seemed unimpressed, and it took the Burt Bacharach track,
which the band covered on their Elephant album, I Don’t Know
What to do with Myself, to get folks singing along.
Although Ally Pally was packed, only the group at the front were
clapping along by the end – stragglers at the back looked like
they’d rather be at a dinner party.
With scarecrow black hair and an undertaker’s hat, not forgetting
the bulging red, clinging catsuit and a diamante stocking belt around
the waist, Mr White looked every inch the rock star.
He’s real rock ‘n’ roll y’know: two ex-wives,
one movie star Renee Zellweger, and the other drummer Meg White
who he bizarrely pretends is his sister. Then there is his new super-model
wife Karen Elson, who he married on a canoe on the Amazon.
Grooves was particularly looking forward to the ‘doorbell’
song, which is always ringing in my head but it was zipped through
right at the beginning of the set. And that was part of the problem:
were the duo just exhausted after a gruelling touring schedule,
or did they need a more intimate venue? And then there was the sound
system which sounded awful when they finally kicked in with Seven
Nation Army.
All feedback, it sounded more like a school band’s first foray
onstage.
Their roadies, who were dressed in black suits and had clearly made
the effort with their appearance, should have spent more time getting
the knob-twisting right.
Madge returns to debut venue and shows she can still Koko
REVIEW: MADONNA
KOKO
IT is good to see a bonifide superstar not too precious to gurn
and get into the groove.
Madonna launched her new album, Confessions on a Dancefloor, at
Koko in Camden Town on Tuesday night, the venue where she made her
first British appearance in 1983 when it was the Camden Palais.
Performing four tracks from the album, as well as the song she played
all those years ago, Everybody, the queen of pop proved why she
still deserves, the global adoration she has enjoyed for two decades.
“It’s so f*****g good to be back. I gotta tell you the
last time I played here was 22 years ago,” she said launching
into her new single Hung Up, which samples the Abba song Gimme Gimme
Gimme. A clever business woman, perhaps it’s no mistake that
it refers to phones when she worked in collaboration with mobile
phone giant Motorola.
It sounded great, and her fans, some of whom had slept overnight
outside to get to the front, loved her. She told them they had a
“New York state of mind” because, like her, “they
never take no for an answer”.
Arriving onstage in a discoball and purple leather, no-one could
say Madge doesn’t know her audience: this album has been perfectly
made for the gay market and the teenyboppers.
After two relative flops – Music and American Life – which
received meagre enthusiasm, she obviously felt it was time to give
the people what they want.
Whether Madonna was creatively stretched on this album, in the way
that she was on say, Ray of Light, is a question mark. She is, however,
a great showman, and has a genuine love for performing. Something
missing from many big bands is a respect for their audience, and
an interaction with them.
Madonna shines here: stalking the stage, acknowledging fans in every
direction – even the toffs in the God’s – and dancing
with her eyes locked on someone, or picking out ardent followers
with “I’ve seen you before”.
Everybody knows she’s not hot stuff anymore, and her music
doesn’t really excite in the way it once might have, but her
star quality is what gets us all going. The material girl hasn’t
lost it.
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