On Sunday night I took my family to the Powerhouse to see the wonderful The Idea of North and the inimitable, indescribable and totally incredible James Morrison. What a fantastic performance!
The concert was to celebrate the release of their new collaborative album, Feels Like Spring, which, let me tell you, is just awesome. But another reason that the concert was so special to me, was that my whole family there - my whole original family that is - Mum, Dad, Mel, Beck and myself. The first time in I don't know how long since we attended something like that, just us - no kids, no husbands - just us. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with the extendeds, but it was truly special that it was just us.
I had decided to give this concert to Mum as her mother's day gift, and then it kind of spiralled from there, as I realised I could knock off everyone else's birthday present as well. And it was truly fantastic, we had a brilliant time. One of the funniest moments of the day though, occurred before the actual concert. You see, Dad had been playing a gig at Morris Feng's (his dentist - what a name for a dentist!) and so I had picked Mum up and we had hung around the flat here. Mel and Beck picked us up en route - but Dad had already arrived at the Powerhouse. As the time was getting close, he walked around the very small car park and baggsied a spot for us. We however were stuck in one way traffic trying to get back around, and meanwhile another woman was trying to park in our spot. She was asking Dad to get out the way and he told her he was minding it for us as one of us was handicapped and some able-bodied blighter had parked in the disabled spot. She then found a spot two cars down from us - but at the same time as we were pulling in - so Dad runs over and tells us that one of us has to act disabled because of his white lie and because the woman could see us. So, Beck being the actress, we volunteered her. Well! I have never ever laughed so hard - Beck gets out and does her impression of, well, I don't know how to say it in PC terms - but in non PC terms, a spastic - sooooo funny! And then Dad decides to be PC Plod and leave a note on the windscreen of the people who had illegally parked in the disabled park - as only Dad would do - and we all thought that was terribly amusing too!
The concert itself was spectacular (Smile was a particular favourite - with comedic moments by James and the drummer, and Dear John was another favourite) and the playing just wonderful - it was a true 2 hours or so of Heaven. They are such brilliant singers, TION, and their harmonies were so intense, so clever and so spot on. And James, well, he is such an amazing entertainer, that man - and such an awesome musician. One of the things that James Morrison is particularly known for, outside of his fantastic playing ability, is his interest in inventing things and in technology - he did after all invent the "Morrison Digital Trumpet" which is a midi trumpet which can play any instrument and any sound - and doesn't require you to buzz your lips like when playing a regular trumpet. At the last concert of his I went to, in January when Tara was visiting, he had a keyboard that would let him "sing". And today of course was no different, as he pulled out his latest invention - the Bass Trumpet. Actually its not the first Bass Trumpet in the world, but by golly was it a beauty - and the sounds he could get out of it! Think like a Eupho but with a slightly brighter sound. Yummy. But that wasn't all - he also had something else. Something I was very envious of. In fact, extremely envious.
I speak, of course, of the iPad. Now I know that the iPad has only just come out in Australia, and he probably got his in America or something, and I have actually seen one - my friend Justin has one - but I had never ever thought of using an iPad like he was using it. He had all his music on it - it was awesome. I thought he was using a pdf or something of his music but I later found out from Justin that he would have been using an App called iReal Book, an amazing App that has hundreds of Jazz Charts on it - and the ability to add your own. So of course I had to download it the next day to my phone! Anyway, here is a little bit of illegal footage of the Bass Trumpet that one of our party (who will remain nameless but is blonde) took on their phone:
It was such a brilliant concert, we had such a good time - and then to cap it all off Dad took us for dinner at Sitar in Albion which we enjoyed on Bartercard! A truly top evening, thanks family!
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