anklesandwrists

Hello cherubs. Miss me?

Yes, after an enforced absence, due to boring old real life getting in the way of the fun stuff, Im back to force my opinions right down your throats. Feel the joy!

But enough of the half-arsed sexual innuendos. You all wanna know what I'm writing about today don't you? Well as it happens, I went to see Focus last night so I thought I'd tell you about that. A good way to get us re-acquainted don't you think? Yes.

Last night's shenanigans took place at Baby Blue, a venue situated in my beloved Liverpool's Albert Dock. While the top half of said venue serves cocktails and overpriced food to footballers, WAGS, accountants and various other twats, the cellar part has been turned into a small, but functional, gig venue which seems to be carving out a niche in putting on gigs by a selection of hoary old rock and blues acts - the type that your Dad used to lie to his mates about owning their albums. Last month they even dug up Stan Webb and had him playing there! Kudos to this venue however for providing an outlet for this particular gig scene in the city centre - previously acts of this type were often banished to surrounding crap-holes like Birkenhead & St Helens, the poor darlings.

Support act? Fuck off. I'm far too cool for that. So it was into the venue at 9 on the dot, in the company of fellow prog-warrior David, his girlfriend Becky and a rather apprehensive Rosie who wasn't really sure what the score was after I frantically explained, inbetween ciggie puffs, what to expect. "It's prog, Ro. You know, prog-rock? Dutch prog-rock in fact! Lots of drumming and yodelling too. You'll love it. Honest".

And by God, they were fantastic. Regular readers will know I saw this group in London last year, ably supported by Martin Turner and Groundhogs, but the set was only an hour due to the package nature of that tour. Tonight we were treated to two sets of an hour each. The band lineup was unchanged since their last UK jaunt but up-close in the wonderfully cramped and sweaty venue I really got to see them at work - a nice spot to the side was secured where I could observe the true genius of the group. Thijs Van Leer, you say? No darlings, I'm referring to powerhouse jazz monster, the ABSOLUTELY MOTHERFUCKING AMAZING Pierre Van der Linden. I've seen alot of drummers in my short time on God's earth, but never have I been left as amazed as I was last night. Despite being at the advanced age of 63, this beautifully-talented genius drove his group along in a manner which would put most other drummers to shame. So much so that I even broke my cardinal rule about not speaking to musicians and got my pic taken with him between sets. What can I say? I turn into a fanboy when faced with such genius.

A lot was packed into the two hours, including recent compositions which were surprisingly good - there was no sense of just waiting for the old stuff to be played. But oh! The old stuff was most certainly played - Eruption, House of the King, Sylvia, Focus 1 all flew by in a haze of jazz-prog goodness. The night ended with a 15-minute fuck-off version of 'Hocus Pocus' (seven of those minutes being taken up by Van der Linden's monster drum solo). The crowd, my three companions included, trooped off happy.

I heard someone say afterwards that the band 'err on the right side of ridiculous'. It's a good description. I openly laughed at several points during the set, but sometimes fun is needed in music and Thijs Van Leer's over-the-top stage persona certainly brings a sense of joy to the proceedings. This benevolent leader, ably assisted by his three talented lieutenants are a revelation and I'd encourage anyone to go and spend a couple of hours in their company when they're next playing near you.