2016/03/14 15:50:24
Glyn Barnes
I am debating if I should head off to the other side of Dartmoor to see Focus on Friday, They are in Tavistock so at least its still on the Saxon side of the Pasty Trench.

No of my usual parteners in crime are up for it so it will be a solo jaunt. I was looking for some recent concert footage, this from 2012 is the most recent I could find. No Jan Akkerman these days but Thijs Van Leer's yodeling and scat vocals seem as manic as ever.
2016/03/14 15:54:44
bapu
We need more yodeling and scat vocals in rock music.
 
After we get more cowbell, of course.
2016/03/14 16:00:15
jamesg1213
Found this from 2014;
 

 
I think I'd feel much the same about Focus without Akkerman as Tull without Martin Barre, the notes are same, but the character is lacking.
 
Then again, Akkerman hasn't been in the band for 16 years, so there might be some great new material.
2016/03/14 16:30:26
Glyn Barnes
jamesg1213
Found this from 2014;
 

 
I think I'd feel much the same about Focus without Akkerman as Tull without Martin Barre, the notes are same, but the character is lacking.
 
Then again, Akkerman hasn't been in the band for 16 years, so there might be some great new material.



Thanks for this. it dosen't seem as good as some of the film from 2006 -2009 but I am thinking I should go, its only  £15 for a ticket so there is not much to loose. If the weather is decent its a nice scenic drive across the moor. Of course I will come back via Plymouth, I wouldn't want to run into the "hairy hands" at midnight
, or worse still an un-lit pony.
2016/03/14 16:32:35
jamesg1213

2016/03/14 17:43:50
Moshkito
Hi,
 
None of the old bands, are in one piece at all, anyway ... but for my tastes, I would rather see the whole thing than a partial thing ... but that is a personal favorite ... while GONG was with a different drummer three times, the 3 versions were also different, jazzy with Pip, solid rock bottom with Pierre, and trippy with the youngster from Soul2Soul. Still GONG, but it was not the same ... and it was very good on all three different shows, but it lacked some punch, and I think that it would have been there with Steve Hillage, and that's not to say that Steffi was not a great replacement, but I think that Steve had more freedom to move around than Steffi, which did not make the band as good, or great ... seeing the DVD many years later in the "Unconvention" shows, it was actually more interesting ... though they still lacked the great keyboard work from the original. In these versions I saw, Steffi doubled up on keyboards, but it was not enough, I did not feel ... still great ... but the "depth" (can I say that?) that the keyboards added was missing during this period.
 
I would rather see Jan with Focus as well as Thijs. But maybe I have heard the albums from the early days so much, that I really was not ready to catch a second hand touch ... but if they came around, I probably would see them!
2016/03/14 18:08:49
Jesse Screed
If you are a rock performer I say you should not go.  It's to risky considering what is going down now.  Stay home and record a song.
 
Jesse Q. Screed
2016/03/14 18:14:17
Moshkito
Jesse Screed
If you are a rock performer I say you should not go.  It's to risky considering what is going down now.  Stay home and record a song.
 
Jesse Q. Screed




If I have a chance to say hello and take some pictures of the show and after the show, I probably would go ... right now, over here there is MAGMA and STEVE HACKETT to worry about, but I'm thinking that AL STEWART up north is more interesting than otherwise. Saw MAGMA as they came by here almost a year ago, was it ... ? And they were phenomenal!
2016/03/14 21:15:56
craigb
Glyn Barnes

Focus, or not?




 
If you choose "not," does that mean you're going to a Blur concert instead? 
2016/03/14 21:25:50
jb101
Moshkito
Jesse Screed
If you are a rock performer I say you should not go.  It's to risky considering what is going down now.  Stay home and record a song.
 
Jesse Q. Screed




If I have a chance to say hello and take some pictures of the show and after the show, I probably would go ... right now, over here there is MAGMA and STEVE HACKETT to worry about, but I'm thinking that AL STEWART up north is more interesting than otherwise. Saw MAGMA as they came by here almost a year ago, was it ... ? And they were phenomenal!


Definitely see Hackett.

I saw him a couple of months ago - great show - at the venue where the recorded Genesis Live.

That night, Shadow of the H was one of the most powerful pieces of music that I have ever seen live, by any band. Awesome, in the original meaning of the word.
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