Withered Hand with Friends: Adam Stafford and Samantha Crain

The Queen's Hall Edinburgh - 21 August 2014

I am way overdue on writing this, almost 2 weeks ago I was looking forward to Withered Hand and Friends. Here is what I can remember:

Withered Hand

This was my second time seeing Dan Willson and his band. First time was in a really small venue, The Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh, and it was a wonderful gig so I was really looking forward to this one in the slightly larger Queen's Hall.

Withered Hand

Despite there being two good support acts (see below) and Withered Hand having quite a following, the venue was only half full. I was really surprised, but perhaps this is the fate of bands performing during the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe? So many venues, so many shows.

I have subsequently learned that perhaps part of the reason for the limited attendance was the lack of prior notification. Dan is notorious for his lack of attention to detail, and neglected to publicise the concert to any great degree, only remembering to promote the gig through his email mailing list the day before.

The event was attended by many members of the Scottish indie "scene", including King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) and members of Frightened Rabbit, and despite the lack of notice, a lively disparate crowd of all ages turned up.

This was the fourth year in a row that Withered Hand had performed at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall at the tail end of the Festival. “Here we are again,” Willson announces. “Of the larger shows that I've played, it’s one of my favourite venues because it still feels quite intimate - it’s lovely. They start to get pretty soulless, once they’re big. The Queen’s Hall doesn't feel like that, it’s a cool place.”

Things got off to a cracking start with Horseshoe from the New Gods album, but Dan lost the lyrics about midway through and demanded that the band begin the song again. The enthusiastic crowd clapped and (perhaps ironically) cheered the balls-up. “Don’t clap! Don't f**king clap!” he chastised the smiling crowd.

Horseshoe was not the last song to mess up, and as is customary it seems, Dan has a load of lyrics written on his arm, and refers to them every now and then in ostentatious fashion, much to the crowd's delight.

The sound was great from where I was standing, but I was close enough to hear the stage monitors as well as the main speaker rig. I heard some fans complaining that the sound was a bit muddy from the back, and they couldn't hear certain instruments.  

There was a good mix of songs from both New Gods and the previous album Good News, and a really good cover of Charles Latham’s ‘Hard On’ which I had not heard them perform live before.

Willson was swapping banter with the audience members and the rest of the band throughout, and obviously enjoying himself as much as the crowd were enjoying the gig.

A rousing version of Heart Heart completed the first set, and the band went off for drinks of tea or something - but only for a minute or so. Dan came back alone to perform Cornflake solo (while most of the band members looked on from among the audience at the side of the stage) - this was a beautiful version of the song.

Rest of band back on the stage, they went on to give us really glorious versions of New Gods, Hard On and Not Alone - though there were a couple of re-start moments in there too, much to Dan's chagrin and the audience's delight.

A good gig, and although not quite as slick as last time, still very enjoyable.

---set-list----
Horseshoe
Providence
Black Tambourine
I Am Nothing
New Dawn
Love over desire
King of Hollywood
Love In The Time of Ecstasy
Fall Apart
Religious Songs
California
Between True Love and Ruin
Heart Heart

---encores---
Cornflake (solo) 

New Gods 

Hard On (Charles Latham cover)

Not Alone

Adam Stafford

Adam opened the proceedings, looking every inch the vulnerable accountant in his suit trousers, shirt and skinny tie. I'd only heard a handful of his songs (via YouTube) in the few days before the concert, after the full line-up had been announced - and I had been quite impressed with what I had heard. For the uninitiated, Adam Stafford info can be found here.

Adam Stafford

He uses layered vocals and guitar loops to great effect, setting up rhythm (both guitar and vocal) with melodic hooks as he goes - no pre-recorded stuff here, it's all live, well recorded live, while you watch and listen. The overall impression and sound was of a full band playing. 

Many of songs in the set were from his recent album, Imaginary Walls Collapse - including Vanishing Tanks and Shot Down Summer Wannabees. He also aired one new track which was as yet untitled, but he announced as "This is a new one, so it’ll probably be shite!

He also told a great story, about the last time he was in the Queen's Hall, back in 2007 when Donovan and David Lynch were promoting the benefits of transcendental meditation.  They had just proposed that regular group meditation can influence whole cities or countries - making them peaceful or "invincible", when some young kid stood up and asked "How do you know this stuff?" The TM gurus were unable to answer!

He finished up with His Acres. 

I enjoyed his whole set, and he was really well received by the crowd. I suspect Adam will have won many new fans from this performance.

Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain was up next. From Oklahoma, small in height, and elfin in face, she greeted the crowd confidently clutching her acoustic guitar. As with Adam Stafford, I had listened to some of her music in advance of the concert, and was looking forward to hearing her live.

Samantha Crain

Her voice was sweet, and her lyrics sharp - a kind of Sheryl Crow/Melanie crossover. She is also an accomplished guitar player as demonstrated on Teaspoon In The Morning.

Samantha told some good stories while guitar tuning between numbers ("Heaven would be 20 ready tuned guitars setup behind me", she said) about the inspiration for certain songs, and the lyrics for others e.g. Somewhere All the Time was inspired by the film Convoy, For The Miner is a Jason Molina tribute, and Devils in Boston was actually about New York but it didn't scan :-)

A beautiful set, and well received. If you see she is performing near you, go and see her, you won't be disappointed.

---set-list---

Santa Fe
Somewhere All the Time
Elk City
Devils in Boston (actually New York but it didn't fit)
Never Going Back? (not sure about this title)
Songs In The Night
Teaspoon In The Morning (guitar picking)
For The Miner (Jason Molina tribute)
Lions

Randolph's Leap and Guests

The Bowler's Bar, Glasgow - Sunday 27 July

I've got a wee bit behind with the whole gig review thang, so this is a week or so overdue. This was part of the East End Social project ....

"The East End Social is an ambitious new music project bringing a host of concerts, events and workshops to the east side of Glasgow. Running from April to August 2014, The East End Social promises an eclectic music programme across a range of venues, appealing to visitors and east end residents of all ages."

This particular whole-day-gig was organised by Randolph's Leap and Olive Grove Records under the banner "I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore" (click to view promo video recorded prior to the gig at the Bowler's Bar)

Randolph's Leap - Hosts for the day

The line-up for I Can't Dance To This Music: 

Randolph's Leap

State Broadcasters

Skinny Dipper

...plus stripped back sets from:

The BMX Bandits

Meursault 

Kid Canaveral
Adam Ross

... with Vic Galloway on DJ and compère duties

I was particularly looking forward to the Leap and Kid C as always, but also keen to see Meursault before he metamorphoses into a new entity, and of course the BMX Bandits. I knew little about Skinny Dipper or State Broadcasters, but if they were friends of the Leap they were bound to be good I reckoned.

Vic Galloway was playing some tunes, old and new - Blue Nile, Cocteau Twins, Pictish Trail etc. to keep the crowd happy, but at the appointed hour (13:00) Adam Ross of Randolph's Leap stepped up onto the tiny stage and did a few introductions before launching into the first solo acoustic set.

Adam solo acoustic set

He started with Cassie O’Tone "I sit here in the bath and pretend i’m doing the luge. I keep misjudging corners and break my skull in two" and followed with 3 new songs which all sounded pretty good - no idea of the titles, but something like Under The Sun, Regret, Place That I Linger. He finished his set with Psychic from the Real Anymore album. Lovely stripped back set and Adam's voice never fails to impress.

BMX Bandits were up next - well four of the seven Bandits with a guest appearance from none other than Adam Ross on drums (first of several guest appearances by Adam).

We were treated to a fine selection of Duglas T. Stewart's whimsical stories between songs, with the Bandits trademark humorous/sad lyrics during the set. Rachel Allison's lovely voice adding a real depth to the songs - which included:

Fireworks, And It's You, Do You Really Love Me  (Daniel Johnston cover), Students Of Life, Listen To Some Music and Disco Girl.

BMX Bandits, well some of them

Kid Canaveral's David MacGregor was next on the bill. Without his band members to reign him, he probably spent as much time chatting with the crowd as he did playing songs, but it was all good fun, and even funnier was his attempt to curtail his language (which can be colourful on occasion) as there were young kids in the audience :-)

David MacGregor representing Kid Canaveral

Despite the extensive banter, David manage to play: Her Hair Hangs Down, What We Don't Talk About, You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night (with well orchestrated audience participation and harmonies), Low winter Sun & And Another Thing. Really enjoyable set from David on great form.

Neil Pennycook was making one of his last appearances under the name Meursault.

This was the first time I'd seen Neil live, despite owning several of his albums. The first thing that struck me was the power of his voice. In the small Bowler's Bar venue, he didn't really need the microphone for the louder vocal sections, and indeed stood well back. 

Meursault - Neil Pennycook

The set consisted of a mixture of Meursault tunes and some interesting covers. Set list was roughly: Flittin' (great version - Adam on Drums again!), Death to Meursault, Lioness  (Jason Molina cover), Memoirs of a Stockbroker? (Mungo Jerry cover), Lament For a Teenage Millionaire, Day Drinker (Adam Faucett cover) and a couple more. This was a compelling performance by Neil and well received by the audience.

After a considerable amount of sound engineering, Skinny Dipper ("almost a girl band") took the stage - all 9 of them!

Skinny Dipper stage crowding

No need for Adam's presence this time, they brought their own drummer :-) Skinny Dipper are a new band with three members of Randolph’s Leap in them. They’ve got a new EP coming out towards the end of the year or the start of next year.

Skinny Dipper have been described as "sunshine-pop harmonists" and they did just that - bright, mostly happy tunes well performed with big strings, brass and keyboards backing. This was a lovely set in a (by this time) well packed Bowler's Bar.


Press labelled as "Caledonian alt-country charmers", State Broadcasters were on next.
Completely unknown to me me prior to this gig, the Broadcasters line-up unusually included a harp, a cello and two trombones, as well as the more usual guitar and keys. 

State Broadcasters

Their songs were ear-catching and sounded great in the tiny venue. Of course, they too needed a drummer for a couple of tracks and enlisted the help of Mr Ross. By this time Adam was beginning to get embarrassed at being described as the Jools Holland of the drums, but he worked his way across the stage, through the band, eventually found the drum stool and proceeded to drum through the next couple of numbers very ably. State Broadcasters are definitely worth further investigation on this evidence. 

Finally it was the turn of the hosts - Randolph's Leap, who on this occasion were a trombone player short of the full Leap ensemble. 

Adam glad not to be drumming

Exuberant and fun as always, there were a couple of songs I'd not heard the Leap do live before - namely Crisps and Undergod, but perhaps that was due to the missing trombone of Fraser Gibson. 

One of the highlights of their set was their cover of Camper Van Beethoven's "Take The Skinheads Bowling" where Adam insisted that Neil (Meursault), David (Canaveral) and Graeme (State Broadcasters) join him on stage for the vocals. A wild and crowd-backed version of Skinheads followed with wholehearted chants of "Got big lanes" and "All the same" etc.

Funnily enough, in the following song, Counting Sheep, Adam inadvertently swapped back into Camper Van Beethoven mode and mixed up the lyrics, to much crowd cheering. 

As always, Randolph's Leap live are something not to be missed and their set ended a very fine afternoon and evening of quality music, friendly banter and inter-band camaraderie.

Set-list was: Goodbye, Foolishness Of Youth, Nature, Isle of Love, Weatherman, Microcosm , Undergod, Hermit, Take The Skinheads Bowling (Camper Van Beethoven cover), Counting Sheep, I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore and Crisps

Broken Records with Kid Canaveral and Book Group

Queen's Hall  - Saturday 2nd August 2014

As the press office at the Queen's Hall put it "This is a homecoming show by Edinburgh's Broken Records to celebrate the recent release of their eagerly anticipated third album Weights & Pulleys. As well as a full performance featuring the new material and old favourites, the night opens with special musical guests Kid Canaveral and Book Group and will be the best way to kickstart your 2014 Fringe."

Broken Records release history:- 

Until the Earth Begins to Part (2009), Let Me Come Home (2010), Weights & Pulleys (May 2014)

I knew little of their first two albums (on 4AD records), but recently heard "Winterless Son" on BBC 6Music late one evening and more or less went straight out and bought Weights & Pulleys the next day. The new album was recorded in Edinburgh, and with the support of the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, it was released through their own newly created label, J Sharp Records. So I was looking forward to hearing not just the new album, but some of their back-catalogue too. Even better, as an added bonus, one of my favourite live acts, Kid Canaveral (full band) were supporting, along with another local band, Book Group.

Rory Sutherland fiddles up a storm

Broken Records has increased in numbers and it was a 9-strong band that entered the stage area accompanied by a single strobe light and rising excitement and cheers from the crowd. Two drummers (two!), horn section, strings, multiple guitars, keys and extra bass made a marvellous sound in the small Queens' Hall venue. 

Along with the massed instruments Jamie Sutherland's voice was strong and the opening song Ditty (We Weren't Ready) was a real show kick-starter. This was followed by Winterless Son. The crowd were dancing and the sound was great - not to mention the light show. This is the first "indie" band I've seen with such a slick setup, lights, instruments, sound equipment - even a "guitar roadie" constantly re-tuning the guitars. I guess this might hark back to their 4AD days?

The band have been tagged with various labels over the years, comparing them to Arcade Fire, The National and even Springsteen amongst others, but I think that the combination of good songwriting and their varied set of instruments (accordion, violin, trumpet and trombone) makes them unique, but they definitely should work on keeping that individuality. The new album is mostly glorious with several stand-out-on-first-hearing tracks. The others grow with more listening.

Set-list was:

BR Set-list

Kid Canveral

I'd just seen David Canaveral last weekend doing a lovely acoustic solo support for the Leap at the East End Social gig, but was looking forward to the full line-up and some of their more up-tempo and electric guitar driven tracks.

The Kids in full flow

They kicked off with the slightly unseasonal but rather fine Low Winter Sun, followed by Without A Backing Track, with Kate Canaveral on lead vocals and David, Rose and Scott doing the driving rhythm. The recent single Who Would Want To Be Loved was next, combining some lovely Kate and David guitar with the irresistible lyrics “You start to feel that you’re destined to drown in your kitchen sink, and nobody waits forever because everyone dies eventually.”

After the heart-achingly beautiful Her Hair Hangs Down, David turned to the audience and looking at the possibly slightly inebriated guy in the cowboy hat who was dancing to every single song, he said with a big grin "D'you know, I think that's the first time anyone has danced to that song at a gig"

Medicated?

This was a really smooth but uplifting set from Kid Canaveral, and as they finished up with a great full on version of A Compromise, and despite considerable audience appeals for "More!" they exited the stage and the lights came up - no encore. The price of being a support act I guess.

KC Set-list: Low Winter Sun, Without A Backing Track, Who Would Want To Be Loved, Her Hair Hangs Down, Skeletons, Sometimes and A Compromise.

Book Group

Previously know as Bad Books, but were forced to change to Book Group due to an existing Manchester group of the same name.

Book Group

Described as "thunder drums + pop fuzz hooks. Prone to use of megaphone", this was my first hearing of Book Group. They were entertaining. The songs were pretty catchy and seemed well written, but the sound was not always great, particularly on the vocals.

Listen to Some of the tracks from their recent EP "Tantrums" here 

Tom Jones

Edinburgh Castle Sunday 20 July 2014 

After the very wet BBC One Live concert the previous night, it was such a lovely contrast to be bathed in early evening sunshine overlooking the Castle esplanade.

View across the Forth to Fife from the Castle

Tom Jones has little to prove. He is that rarest of commodities – a living legend who still genuinely deserves that title. 

Tom in full flow

The crowd were enjoying the balmy evening and as is probably standard at Sir Tom's gigs, many had come dressed to impress ...

Tom Jones masks?

Welsh daffodil

[Note - all the video links in this blog entry are from the Net - variable quality, but nicely capturing the atmosphere.]

I'd never seen Tom live before, and fully expected the fairly standard greatest hits set performed in crowd-pleasing fashion, however, what he gave us on the night was much more than that. 

From his entrance stage-right, he began with the John Lee Hooker blues classic Burning Hell. His band were glorious - obviously hand picked, and every song was delivered in a refreshing slightly unusual form.

We were treated to a relaxed lounge version of  Mama Told Me Not to Come followed by a version of Sex Bomb which was full of jazz piano and brass.

It almost seems churlish to mention that he’s 74 years old, but relevant in the context of his voice. He still has the vocal range, and the confidence to mix it up, of someone 50 years younger.

Off-stage, although the crowd ranged in age terms from eight to 80 and was mostly balanced between men and women, the ladies were clearly in charge. Undies were inevitably thrown during Sex Bomb and again often throughout the show.

Bridget Jones knickers?

Jones didn't rise to the bait but, remaining quietly dignified, he allowed himself the occasional chuckle as the offending articles were quietly shunted to the side of the stage.

Musical diversity continued with the accordion and steel guitar driven version of Dylan's  Tomorrow Night, a beautiful Spanish guitar rendition of Delilah ("There's lovely" said Tom as the guitar intro finished), and a slightly Eastern European folk feel to It's Not Unusual. 

There was the rock/blues cover of Howling Wolf's Evil, a fabulous version of Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song ("I was born like this, I had no choice, I was born with the gift of a golden voice"), the slow tear jerking I'm Never Gonna Fall In Love Again and the country and western flavoured Raise a Ruckus Tonight.

Only Green, Green Grass of Home and You Can Leave Your Hat On were closer to the original and traditional Tom Jones delivery.

He finished a rather excellent 90-100 minute set with an encore - Kiss

Still on top form

The consummate professional, Tom seems to be able to combine careful precision but at the same time appear to be care-free and having a great time. Having now seen the Man once, I would recommend seeing him live - you might be surprised. Great gig!

------ Support ------
The support was James Walsh who is probably best known as the front-man of UK rock quartet Starsailor. 

James Walsh

He was at the Castle to promote his new album Turning Point which, based on this performance is well worth a listen.

BBC One - Live at Edinburgh Castle

Saturday July 19th - Edinburgh Castle - Various Artists. 

Back in May 2014 I heard that BBC One were doing a live gig in July at Edinburgh Castle.

Presented by The One Show’s Alex Jones, the line-up included some acts I was keen to see, namely Paloma Faith, Smokey Robinson, Rizzle Kicks and OneRepublic. 

The line-up also included plenty of popular classical performers - Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

The music was to be interspersed with comedy on the night: "as Bill Bailey performs his unique brand of musical humour and Fred MacAulay makes a special guest appearance."

"Sounds like it might be a good night out" I thought to myself and shelled out for the tickets.

As the date approached - other acts were added: Jessie J (who made some fatuous reference to "deep fried mars bars" when asked about playing in Scotland), Culture Club (newly reformed - this was to be the first time the 80s group had performed together in 15 years), Kaiser Chiefs (no introduction necessary), Ella Henderson (X-Factor finalist 2012) and Pumeza Matshikiza (S. African soprano).

The night of the concert was a wet one. Thick mist, heavy intermittent rain, but not too cold. Armed with waterproofs, hats and a strange assortment of plastic ponchos, the crowd filled the seats. The mist was so dense that you couldn't tell there was a castle behind the stage, and it was tough to see one end of the Castle Esplanade from the other, but the crowd seemed up for some fun.

Pillars in the mist

Caped crusaders

So, before everything kicked off, before cheery Alex Jones appeared, before any band took to the stage, we got the "warm-up comedian". He gave instructions to the audience about how we should react when one of the many hand-held cameras panned past our happy faces (hands in the air, scream as loud as you can) and generally warmed up the wet and cold crowd. 

Then, still before the BBC cameras started rolling, the Kaiser Chiefs came on to much applause. They explained that they were going to do one number before filming began, so that we could all practise being excited, and launched into "I Predict A Riot" (the link is amateur dodgy footage). 
Despite being slightly unimpressed with the constant instruction on how happy we should all try to appear, I actually enjoyed this kick-off number by the Chiefs. Ricky Wilson (smaller than I imagined for some reason) bouncing all over the stage and kicking over his mike stand - so rock n roll! 

Kaiser Chiefs

Then, with the crowd suitably warmed up, just as the cameras started filming live, the bottom half of the right-hand impressive video pillar gave up the ghost and stopped working. The crowd didn't care as the Kaisers launched into "Ruby Ruby Ruby" and then "Coming Home" but I'll bet the myriads of stage crew probably had the voice of Live Event Production Manager, Steve Nolan, in their ears as they battled to get the damn thing working - which they eventually did, just after the Kaisers finished. 

Jessie J was up next. Dressed appropriately for the weather, she performed Price Tag and Keep Us Together 

Jessie J

The crowd sang along to the extended version of Price Tag, but the "brand new track from my new album" Keep Us Together lost the momentum thus far. Jessie seemed to enjoy it though :-)

I was quite looking forward to Rizzle Kicks and when they started their set with Down With The Trumpets backed by the full brass section of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, things were sounding pretty good. 

Rizzle Kicks

Unfortunately their second number Tell Her was a fine example of harmonies gone wrong. No auto-tune out there lads... I had to admit, this was dire!

Bill Bailey was up next, doing his unique style of comedy laced with music, this time based on the Match of the Day theme tune.... the lounge version, Polish cartoon version, Jewish folk song version and so on. Bill definitely raised a smile or three with the audience.

Paloma Faith was the next act on stage. I like Paloma - always slightly off the wall, but what a voice. Given that Rizzle Kicks were not as good as I'd hoped, my fingers were crossed for Paloma.

Paloma Faith

She came on (during a particularly misty weather moment) with her three backing vocalists and some very high shoes, said "Hello beautiful people" to the crowd and gave us Only Love Can Hurt Like This and Trouble With My Baby

No disappointment here - I loved her performance, just wished there had been more than two songs.

"Local boy made good" Ronnie Corbett was on next, in his dinner jacket and dodgy tartan trousers.

Ronnie Corbett

He started with an a cappella  version of Westering Home (with lyrics related to his lack of height) which wasn't even slightly funny. He then started to tell a joke about him and his wife travelling up to Edinburgh by train, but completely lost the plot, forgot what he was going to say and stuttered on for a few seconds. I'm not sure if it was too much hospitality before coming on, or if he is actually ill, but it was pretty embarrassing. Fortunately he cut to his introduction of the next act...

Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe came on and performed Barcelona. It was ok, but not great. 

Kathy and Alfie

Alex Jones thought it was "Brill-ee-ant" so maybe I was just being over critical.

Previously unannounced, we then got Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott (Beautiful South) who didn't waste time with pleasantries but quickly gave us DIY and Happy Hour.

Beautiful South

This was cheerful singalong stuff, and the crowd seemed to enjoy.

Ella Henderson was introduced next and she came on confidently to perform a couple of songs - Ghost and Believe.

Ella Henderson

Her cover of Cher's Believe was pretty good and definitely the better of the two songs. The crowd joined in and accompanied her on the last chorus.

Fred MacAulay was up next - he did a short stand-up routine which was slow to start, but did get some laughs as he talked about his December Kilimanjaro trip and the Band Aid song "There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time". 

One Republic were next and once again, I had reasonable expectations having heard some of their live recordings before. They performed Counting Stars and Love Runs Out. Counting Stars sounded a little pedestrian and by the numbers, but Love Runs Out was pretty good.

One Republic

However, I have to admit to being very slightly disappointed - I think they'd be much better in a smaller more intimate venue.

Alex Jones then introduced Boy George but it was just a quick chat about how long it was since he'd performed live before Il Divo came on and murdered Amazing Grace. 

Il Divo

This was muzak at its most mediocre, despite the efforts of the massed pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. 

Bill Bailey came on again to provide some comedy relief 

After the earlier faux classical offerings it was a refreshing change to hear Pumeza Matshikiza the S. African soprano. 

Pumeza Matshikiza

She sang  Thula Baba/O Mio Babbino from the Castle entrance just behind the stage. Her performance was such a stark contrast to the mediocre tunes from Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe and Il Divo. This was one of the highlights of the concert for me.

Culture Club looked pretty good as they trouped on and they sounded good too. George's voice seems to have improved with age.

Culture Club

They did Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon great saxophone on the latter. Unexpectedly good performance from Culture Club - old material, but still sounding good.

Bill Bailey was back to cheer us up with his "car-horn-o-phone" medley, the highlight of which was the 1812 Overture with Castle cannon backing.

Bill Bailey

Alex Jones then introduced Smokey Robinson - great set, but unfortunately all the individual video footage has been removed from YouTube with the exception of his duet with Jessie J on Cruisin'

Smokey Robinson

Unless of course you can find the whole concert footage and sit through it until about 1:45:00 to hear Tears Of A Clown, Cruisin', Tracks Of My Tears in that order. Tracks of my Tears was the stand-out song, with audience participation. Smokey's voice was good, and he looked quite fit for his age, but his face did look a little bit stretched :-)

Smokey left the stage and from the back of the Castle esplanade former swimmer Gregor Tait and former track athlete Lee McConnell jogged in to a burst of The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles from the pipes of the Royal Dragoon Guards. This was the final leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay, before it went to Glasgow for the Games opening ceremony. The baton was handed over to Fred MacAulay to transport it to Glasgow. Alex Jones had to take charge of Ronnie Corbett who was wandering aimlessly on the stage, but as she shepherded him on stage, he stepped on the hem of her dress and ripped it big-time! 

Ripped!

Alex coped admirably and while keeping Ronnie out of harms way, she introduced the final and previously unannounced act...Incongruously enough it was John Miles with his one big hit Music which was performed in rousing (if slightly overblown) fashion, by Miles himself at an all white grand piano, the full Scottish Symphony Orchestra and London Community Choir, while the castle was lit up in the misty background by an impressive closing firework display.

John Miles

All in all it was an interesting evening. Less of a concert, more of a TV spectacle I think, but there were some memorable moments - sometimes for all the wrong reasons!

The Full Live BBC broadcast was available here (2hr 10min), but sadly no longer and I can't find an alternative.