Tag: concert
Rodrigo y Gabriela
The story goes that Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero played in a thrash metal band in their native Mexico. Presumably having failed to thrash the charts the band split, jettisoning our nimble-fingered duo to Dublin, the buskers’ paradise. There they were spotted and snagged by the festival circuit. Massive success followed, with an album produced …
Omara Portuondo
At the time of writing, the Cuban singer is seventy eight years old and when she wants to, she can still belt them out. There just wasn’t much cause to do so this evening.
Before a rather small crowd in Brussels’ crummy Cirque Royale, which these days shares more in common with Morley Con Club than …
Lambchop
Before I saw the band in concert, I would never have called the music of Lambchop romantic. Somehow, within a couple of tracks from their new release OH (Ohio), I found myself feeling the lurve. It could have been the semicute gaucheness of singer/guitarist Kurt Wagner, though he is rather an acquired taste. It could …
Seun Kuti & Africa 80
Seun is the youngest son of the late Fela Kuti, the politically active leading light of Afrobeat. Having grown up in the thick of that scene, Seun now heads Africa 80, the second incarnation of his father’s band, playing the same energetic mix of funk, jazz, rock and highlife that electrified West African music in …
Arthur H: L’Abondanse
H, the son and nephew respectively of eccentric singers Jacques Higelin and Brigitte Fontaine, is something of a musical lacuna himself. Throughout the course of thirteen albums, the Frenchman has pinballed between jazz, rock, pop and disco and on L’Homme du Monde his latest effort he’s done all of them.
Looking like a cross between Joe …
Matthew Herbert Big Band
After an awkward warm-up from studenty noodlers Wixel, who might be the Flemish answer to Sigur Rós, the stage of Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique was quickly cleared and rearranged for the main event of the evening. Matthew Herbert, renowned for the idiosyncratic music he records under a schizophrenic array of monikers, led on his jazz band …
Toumani Diabaté
For over 700 years, the griots have wandered the plains and villages of Mali, as much a part of the landscape as cottonfields and the Harmattan dust clouds. Griots (or “jeli” to give them their local name) are the curators of national history. They tell stories and sing songs drawn from a vast, unwritten repertoire …
Salsa Celtica
I first heard of Scottish band Salsa Celtica back in 2004, courtesy of WFMU radio’s Doug Schulkind.
I was just starting to get interested in latin and world music at the time and I hoovered up Schulkind’s Culture Shock collection. The Give The Drummer Some DJ had put together twenty soundclashes in which Latin would rub …
The Lion roared
Cadillac Jukebox @ The Lion, Castleford
The problem with being a covers band is that your audience tends to judge you on the quality of your renditions rather than the quality of your musicianship.
Cadillac Jukebox singer Ian McMullen acknowledges this, but for him the enjoyment comes from being able to play a wide, often surprisingly eclectic …
Manu Chao in Concert
Serendipity. That’s what I thought when I managed to secure a couple of tickets for J and I to see Manu Chao on his short tour of the UK with the Radio Bemba Sound System.
J’s sister had left behind one of those hefty weekend newspaper supplements and I’d spotted the ad for Chao’s dates, of …
Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …
Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky Austria, 2007 A busy master forger, Salomon Sorowitsch is a man with little concern for political ideals. And that’s what keeps him alive when war breaks out and he ends up …
- Originally published: 4 Nov 2007 in Film
PANTONE swatch
As a leaving gift from my current business, I received a PANTONE swatch. It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? Thanks, J Limited! …
- Originally published: 29 Jun 2005 in Personalia
Hunting the hunters
The old boys’ sport of hunting continues apace in Belgium, for reasons of wildlife management, sport and pleasure. The law requires hunt organisers to apply to the relevant Region for a permit. However, …
- Originally published: 12 Oct 2009 in Editorial
Buying soap (and the accretion of experience)
Buying soap in Brussels on a Sunday is difficult. I hadn’t even brought my wallet but J had Visa. All we needed was an open shop or a cash machine: Almost every store big …
- Originally published: 23 Jun 2008 in Relocation
Grandes vacances 2009: South of France
Rather than face the nightmare of writing up a two-week trip on our return, I decided to keep a sort-of journal whilst on the road. This article shares with you some of the …
- Originally published: 5 Aug 2009 in Europe
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.