Playhouse

Edinburgh

18-23 April 2016

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A helter skelter slide round the Beatles songbook.

I counted 38 great-sounding performances in a two and half hour show with a 15 minute interval.

Let It Be begins with Paparazzi cameras flashing, girls screaming, and multiple, nostalgic projections from that ‘special’’ decade…

The show takes us from the Cavern Club, through the famous ‘shake your jewelry’ Royal Variety performance to the Shea Stadium ‘happening’ – we see and hear as good a Beatles covers band as you’re likely to encounter. Multiple costume changes, amusingly performed character observations, ‘fab’ harmonies, witty banter – all mixed up with Rickenbackers, Epiphone’s, Les Paul’s, psychedelic Stratocasters,Vox amps, dazzling, realistic lighting and sumptuous, inventive projection montages of each musical/cultural phase – documentary footage, comical 60’s adverts, spoken Beatles quotes, and filtered 60-esque video of the Let It Be band projected onto two retro TV’s, either side of the stage throughout – a feast for eyes and ears.

The first half of the show is a chronology of classic tracks and performances, three or four from each famous gig. We get – I Saw Her Standing There, Twist and Shout, a solo Paul doing Yesterday, and a cacophonous Day Tripper from the Shea Stadium concert.

Then onto the tunes the Beatles never toured, with help from a clever fifth Beatle on keyboards supplying the needed orchestration for the more complex numbers – Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (and reprise)- Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, When I’m 64. The first half ends suitably with A Day In The Life.

Act Two begins with Magical Mystery Tour and some dreamy, gossamer-like bubble projections – we get Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love. Somehow this managed to not be clichéd psychedelia – the look and feel achieved through a contemporary technological lens.

Thereafter the fine musicianship of the Let It Be band comes to the fore – with an acoustic set featuring Blackbird, Here Comes The Sun and In My Life. We effortlessly slide back into electric performance with the perfectly executed Clapton solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps – the highlight for me, followed by the classic Abbey Road medley from Golden Slumbers to The End.

Two encores pelt out Revolution and Get Back and the show concludes, inevitably with a cathartic outpouring of Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Hey Jude.

Throughout, the band perform the tracks with great skill – guitar lines and harmonies are delivered with aplomb, the backbeat is tight and loud and lead vocals powerful and Beatle-like.

The stagecraft is lovingly realized, costumes are bang-on, and the lights and projections complement the music intelligently and highlight tremendous creativity in multimedia.

The audience – mainly seniors but with many kids and twenty/thirty/forty somethings in the mix  – sang, clapped, screamed, danced and waved their phones in the air, and left the auditorium with palpable grins on their faces.

The only downside for me was the absence of performances from Revolver – a personal favourite.

Nevertheless, walking to the car after the show my ten-year old daughter turned to me and said – ‘that was awesome dad’.

If you need a pick-me-up from the cynical, binary machine of modernity – go have a knees-up with Let It Be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Reviewer: Cal Egan

Jo D’Arc first came to my attention as the beautiful bass player with the Girobabies, having seen this brilliant band many many times over the years, it was at the ReAct benefit gig in Edinburgh back in January this year. Jo  gave a solo performance of experimental art noise. Now this was right up Divine’s street. Hmmm I thought, now this lady has talent. Fast forward to The Barrowland/ Yellowland musical adventure. The Twistettes were the first band on the bill of delights. Joined by her sister Nikki  on drums and backing vocals, Jo completed the duo with her bass lead vocals. This sibling couple unleashed a set that had Divine pogoing like he was 19 not 49. Drum’n’ Bass delivered with all the flavors that immediately brought comparisons with Blondie, the Stranglers and The Cramps. Obvious influences performed with Drums and Bass only. Now The Twistettes also draw similarities with The White Stripes. What The White Stripes lack is the true Punk Rock ethic. Oh Aye, The Twistettes gained a loyal fan in Divine that night. Live, they are fucking ace.

When the editor at mission control of The Mumble gave me the joyful task of reviewing The Twistettes new long player I jumped at the chance. What a brilliant work of art it is, the whole album gave me the thrill that I got when I first heard Off The Bone by The Cramps. Jilt To The Jive is immediate ear candy that excites as much as the bands brilliant live performance. Raw Punk Rock Power that will get any party off to a good start. Organic meaty with fantastic vocal performances by Jo. Every track on this Album could be a successful single. I couldn’t give a verdict on the best track. Because the album needs to be heard as a whole. The Twistettes have created the future of popular music. Mark my words, Dark sisters are going to be massive. The album launch is at Stereo in Glasgow on The 23rd Of April. This will be an intimate gig, Divine guarantees a quality night. Come on down and see why I am so enthused by such brilliant muse. the Girobabies will also be performing on the night. the anticipation grows.

5. Broken Angels. An ode to the damaged Shaman, Searching for the answer to heal.

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6 Suck It, Fake It : Divine Chooses this. The very first Single to be released off of the long player, as a possible contender for star track. But with tunes as good as this.Its difficult to choose.

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7.Lamp Post Light : The closest we are gonna get to a ballad on the album, A sonnet dedicated to finding a suitor in the Light Of The Lamp Post.

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8.Turn It Up. : Class

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9. Insignificant : Quiet the contrary, this is very significant and another Bass Heavy boogie number.

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10. Is this It! : Well it is the final track on the Album and finishes it off in fine form. Just like The album as a whole, It moves one to pogo in the living room

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Reviewer : Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert

 

The Mumble – So where did you record the album & how long did it takeJo – We recorded in LoFi Studio in Glasgow with Robbie Gunn AKA Sundogs. The studio was great, a load of really nice gear, lots of space and a pretty cool relaxed vibe. We recorded the full album all in one day though so not much time to do any chilling! Robbie was brilliant to work with. i think it really helped that we had a similar outlook on how to approach the album for our sound. No messing about, keep it nice and raw and trying to capture as much of the live noise as possible.The Mumble –Which of the songs are the most important to you personally as a songwriterJo – Ahh, not sure I can answer this! They’re all important in different ways to me. The songs range from being about society, politics, being a woman in society, life, love, sex and friendships. All of these are mega important to me. It was just whatever came out the day i ended up writing that song i suppose!The Mumble – where can you get the album 

Edinburgh Science Festival

Summerhall

April 6th

When I walked in the Dissecting Room of the Summerhall to the ambisonic soundscape of Kraftwerk, & took my seat at a round table in front of 6 pairs of exotic beers, I thought to myself, ‘I fuc£ing love science, me!’ A few moments later Barnsley-born Pete Brown idled onto stage with a bottle of beer in his hand like a good-looking Les Dawson, & cracked on with his investigations into whether music makes beer taster better, & if it does, why? In his pre-amble, he declared he was proud to be in the Summerhall, a homecoming if you will, because it was four years previously that he’d played a bit-part in ‘Sensory Dining,’ from which catalyst his four-year odyssey & investigations into the science behind music & sensorary taste evolved.

Before our glorified beer-tasting session kicked off, we witnessed a man funnier & more confident than most professional comedians off load a wide plethora of interesting information into our minds, from retronasal taste to musical synesthesia. Using excellent VJs & nightclub style lighting, Pete immersed us in his journey, an anecdotal lecture into why beer & music have been pleasant bedfellows since time immemorial.  Then we got to the science bit, where Pete made us sip different beers to different songs from his personal collection.

To Goose Island’s Urban Wheat he attached Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon,’ while the 8.5 percent Duvel got The Pixies ‘Debaser.‘ When he explained that the Joy Division’s dark, brooding & oily album, Unknown Pleasures, was recorded only a stone’s throw from the brewers of the equally  dark, brooding & oily Old Tom in Stockport, I thought for a moment there might be something in it. But by the end of it all, after tossing us into a shipwreck barrel of conflicting opinions & subjectivity, Pete admitted that the whole things was ‘remarkably inconsistent.‘ So science, perhaps not, or at least not yet, but getting drunk & listening to decent tunes while trying out tasty new beers is always a winning combo!

Reviewer : Damo Bullen