Mike and the Mechanics!

So after the sad start to last week, as I mentioned last time the week ended on a slightly higher note.. those of you who have hung around here long enough (in the hope that I might actually write something interesting, or let's face it, even about wargaming full stop!) will know that I do have more than a passing interest in rock music - especially the classic type....

It was with no little joy then that I heard last year that not only were Mike and the Mechanics releasing a new album, but were also going on tour... having snapped up tickets for the family and I immediately, I had to then wait six months for the concert, which ended up being last week - serendipitous really, as I needed cheering up...

The "Mike" in Mike and the Mechanics of course, is Mike Rutherford of Genesis fame, and quite apart from that musical connection, is one of very few rock guitarists who I consider to be an understated genius on the Fender - nothing histrionic from our Mike, just solid rhythms of almost machine line regularity - the guy plays with soul...

One of the reasons for the long delay between tours was because of the untimely death of one of the singers in the earlier formation of the band (Paul Young formerly of Sad Cafe), Mike had always said he couldn't see him going on stage and not looking over to see him, but time is the great healer so this time (11 years later!) round, the Mk2 version of the Mechanics comprised Andrew Roachford (of not surprisingly Roachford - who did "Cuddly Toy" amongst others and a young relatively unknown guy called Tim Howar, a Canadian actor/singer.

So how was the concert??? Absolutely brilliant - they were dancing in the aisles before the second or third song had even finished.... not only that, but for only the second time ever we also got a free ticket upgrade - ninth row centre!

Fantastic night - both new singers are genuinely talented and the old songs (of whih there were many) sounded outstanding, a fresh slant undoubtedly on sold old favourites.. so what did they play? Two or three songs from the new album (which I really like), couple of handfuls of the old songs ("Over my Shoulder", "Cup of Coffee", "Silent Running", "All I need is a Miracle", my all time favourite "Living Years") and if that wasn't enough they even played a couple of Genesis tracks as well "Know What I Like" and "Can't Dance" - outstanding evening.. they looked like they really enjoyed themselves, but I bet it wasn't as much as me and the family did!