10 years ago, I went to Manchester to see Yazoo live

Earlier this year (2018) I saw Erasure live. 30 years ago (1988) I also saw Erasure live. But 10 years ago (2008) I saw another Vince Clarke group live. It was, of course, Yazoo. And I saw them at another Apollo venue, Manchester Apollo whereas I saw Erasure at the Hammersmith Apollo, both times (although back in 1988 it was called Hammersmith Odeon).
It all started through an internet fan forum when this question was posed by another user: "What is your synth-pop top 5?" My answer was this:

1.Depeche Mode

2.Pet Shop Boys

3.OMD

4.Yazoo

5.Erasure
However, I added an extra comment to my answer: "The only ones I haven't seen live are Yazoo (Pretty much impossible now, I guess... Although reunions are always possible...)". A few days later their reunion was indeed announced

in the form of their Reconnected tour and tickets went on sale. I bought one for Manchester on the 7th of June.
The night before, I flew to London and early the next morning I took the train to Manchester. I settled in at my hotel, found where Manchester Apollo was and once there I met my Swedish friend from the same internet forum for the first time in person and had a couple of pints at the local.

Then I went back to my hotel and had a chance to walk around Manchester for a bit. I was to return there again in 2011 for Roger Waters and in 2016 for the city's very own Stone Roses.

Unfortunately, back then I believed what was stated on concert tickets, ie that cameras were not allowed, so the only photos that I took inside the venue and during the gig are those that I took with my mobile, a SonyEricsson W880.

I even filmed one video with it, at a very low resolution, but I also manaaged to find one more on YouTube from another user.

What is true, is that compact cameras are allowed, it's professional (SLR) cameras and video cameras that are not usually allowed.

The gig started with "Nobody's Diary" a song that was never performed live before the 2008 tour (as indeed were all the songs from their second album "You And Me Both"). And because Yazoo had only released two albums, we heard a lot of our favourite tunes from back then.

After the end of the gig, I remember my Swedish friend stating that "this woman was born to sing!"

After the gig, we sat and waited outside the Apollo for a while; there was a rumour going on that either Alison or Vince may show up.

Finally, I took the bus back to my hotel.
The next day,at Manchester Piccadilly station from where I would take the train back to London, I spotted a billboard advertising a Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band concert at Old Trafford, that had already taken place. I was about to attend my very first Bruce Springstten gig at the end of that same month in Paris, but that is of course a subject for another blog post...

SETLIST:
01. Nobody's Diary
02. Bad Connection
03. Mr. Blue
04. Good Times
05. Tuesday
06. Ode to Boy
07. Goodbye 70's
08. Too Pieces
09. In My Room
10. Walk Away From Love
Interval:
      I Before E Except After C
11. Anyone
12. State Farm
13. Sweet Thing
14. Winter Kills
15. Midnight
16. Unmarked
17. Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)
18. Situation
19. Don't Go
Encore:
20. Only You

2016 Lemons later...

A lemon. Having travelled all the way from Athens, Greece, it finally came to rest under one of the seats of Manchester's Etihad Stadium, having seen its favourite band, The Stone Roses live...
Several years ago, I was warned by a fellow blogger, to avoid writing a "Year In Review" post at the end of the year. So I'll try not to do that. (And I hope that she'll probably be reading this from somewhere in Poland). I won't mention every gig I went to in 2016, but I will instead stop at some key moments that happened this year which I have been waiting for for several years. (As Bruce would say, they've been a lot time coming). These were the "lemons" that I was expecting 2016 to give me on my very first post of the year.
Well, obviously, I finally saw The Stone Roses live this year. And not just anywhere, but in Manchester. And they played the full first album, including, most importantly for me "This Is The One". But what other key moments were there for me in 2016? Bruce? Well, it was only the 12th (and 13th) time that I saw him live. But... I didn't know if I could make it, if I would be able to see him this year. However, I was really looking forward to hear the full River album live, having already heard the full Born To Run in Padova and the full Born In The U.S.A. twice in Milano and in Paris. So, when Bruce announced that after the end of the US tour he would stop playing the full River I was somewhat disappointed. Now what would I get? Another one (or two) of the "Greatest Hits" shows? Was that worth waiting for? My question was answered when Bruce came up on the San Siro stage on the evening of the 3rd of July starting once again with "Land Of Hope And Dreams" exactly as he had done 3 years before in the same stadium. Because once he comes up on stage, no matter what he's playing (even "Pony Boy" I guess), you forget all your doubts, enjoy the show, and wonder why on earth did you ever doubt that you were going to have a good time (again). And he did play most of The River (at least on the first night). Now one of the reasons I was looking forward to a complete performance of The River was that I would be guaranteed to hear one of my favourite songs, "Sherry Darling", which up until then I had experienced only once, in Udine in 2009 (my last concert with Clarence). Bruce did not disappoint me and he played it both nights and I got to hear it for the 2nd and 3rd time. The 2nd time I got to sing along with it at the top of my lungs with no people pushing me. The 3rd time though, i got to dance to it with my girlfriend. So, thanks Bruce!

Another key moment was when I realized I was going to hear "Drive All Night" for only the second time, after my first time in Torino in 2009. And whereas back then, it was just a sign request (albeit a very clever one) we weren't sure if he was going to play it. This year in Milano, there was no warning. The lights were already off and suddenly the piano intro was heard, courtesy of Professor Roy Bittan as a chill went through all over my body. Which left only one thing... "Point Blank"... for the first time ever. I knew when it was supposed to come in the setlist. And the lights went off. And then there was silence for several seconds. And then there was Roy Bittan's piano and I knew that was it.
Yes, there were a lot of important moments for me in 2016, which I realize that was not a very good year for music. But these few ones from Manchester and Milano were the most important for me. I guess that paraphrasing The Stone Roses you could say that "these were the ones I was waiting for"...

Party like it's 1989 - The Stone Roses in Manchester

It was back in November of last year that the streets of Manchester were suddenly filled with posters of lemons. Immediately we went on Stone Roses alert! True enough, the next day two gigs in Manchester were announced for the 17th and 18th of June. Tickets would go on sale on November 6, 9AM GMT. From Stone Roses alert we went to ticket stress mode. On that day, a few minutes before 11AM Greek time I had two computers and several browsers open on two different sites. My initial plan was to go for the 18th of June gig, but when the box office opened it was complete chaos and total mayhem. The sites would put me in a queue and when I got at the "front" of this virtual queue I got put on the back of a new one or was told that tickets were not available. At one point one of the sites crashed. I was switching between the 17th and 18th of June gigs in a desperate attempt to find something. Meanwhile two further gigs were added; one on the 19th and then another on the 15th. And finally I was allocated two seats on the 17th! Whew! The hard part was over. All we had to do now was wait for June...
...And June finally came and the dream was about to come true. In the afternoon of June 17th we took the tram from Manchester city centre to Etihad campus (and got souvenir tram tickets labeled "The Stone Roses").
As usual, we went first to the merchandize stand, to get ourserves sorted.

Then, we slowly went on our way to our gate, which involved walking around the stadium. We then passed through security which was a big tighter than usual, but that's understandable, right?
We found our way to our seats, high up, but at least covered in case it rained. And as we were watching the stadium starting to fill up and were waiting for Buzzcocks, the first support act, we had time to appreciate the fact that one of the songs played through the speakers was "Hallelujah" by The Happy Mondays, the other big act of the Madchester era.

 

So Buzzcocks came up on stage and treated us to several songs dating as far back as the 70's not forgetting their trademark "Ever Fallen In Love". Even I am not old enough to remember this, I first heard it circa 1987 in its cover by The Fine Young Cannibals.

The next act were Coral. Coral had been playing support for Paul Weller when I saw him at the O2 Arena back in 2009. However due to some closed lines at the tube I had arrived late and missed them, so I finally got to see them now, 7 years later...

Public Enemy seemed a strange choice for a support act, but maybe not so if you take into account how much Ian Brown was into hip-hop. This was actually one of the factors causing friction between him and John Squire who was probably more into Led Zeppelin as evidenced from the second album... And still you have to appreciate the fact that this gig gave us a chance to see live not just one great hip hop act from the 80's but the greatest hip-hop act ever.
Their set started with a warm up from their offshoot PE2.0 who even gave us a Prince tribute .

Then the main act came on with "all the hits". Yes, it's fair to say that. You see, I was expecting "Fight The Power" and "Don't Believe The Hype" but I never thought they would play "Shut 'Em Down", from the 90's my second favourite Public Enemy single (after "Fight The Power"). We also got DJ Lord showing us his ablilities when mixing "Seven Nation Army" with Nirvana. Finally Flavor Flav finished the set telling us to "f**k racicm" but more importantly "f**k separatism".

And now, what the world is waiting for... The Stone Roses!

And we all knew how they were going to start. "I Wanna Be Adored" is the perfect opening song, followed by "Elephant Stone" and "Sally Cinnamon" and and and... By that time I knew I was living a dream come true and I could not believe it. They played b-sides, they played standalone singles, they played 3 songs from the second album (including "Love Spreads" but not "Ten Storey"), they even played their new one "All For One" which may not be a great song but it's a fitting singalong anthem for such an occasion, but most importantly they played the first album in full. They even played "Don't Stop", the backwards song! What more could I have asked for? You know at every gig you go you think at the end "Ah, but they didn't play this and this" and I myself could think of a couple of songs like "Going Down" (my favourite b-side and "Ten Storey Love Song" (which is first album material placed in the second one), but since they played the complete first album, and especially "This Is The One", I was more than happy, I felt complete. Even if I walked out of the stadium after "This Is The One" I would be content. During that song I shouted out to the couple who were in front of us "This is not This Is The One, this is The Greatest Song Ever Written". God knows what they thought...

The set ended appropriately enough with "I Am The Resurrection". It started with the first song on the album and ended with the last one.

 They did not play their second newie "Beautiful Thing" which is far superior to "All For One", but it was played through the speakers while we were exiting the stadium. And when we got out we noticed that it had actually rained. Of course we would not have noticed anything since we were under cover but we did not notice the crowd inside the arena noticing.

Well, that was that. After 27 years I had finally seen The Stone Roses live.
I forgive you boys... but don't leave town!

SETLIST:

01. I Wanna Be Adored
02. Elephant Stone
03. Sally Cinnamon
04. Mersey Paradise
05. (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister
06. Bye Bye Badman
07. Where Angels Play
08. Shoot You Down
09. Begging You
10. Waterfall
11. Don't Stop
12. Elizabeth My Dear
13. Fools Gold
14. All for One
15. Love Spreads
16. Made of Stone
17. She Bangs the Drums
18. Breaking into Heaven
19. This Is the One
20. I Am the Resurrection

Alison, τότε και τώρα

Όπου Alison, εννοούμε την Alison Moyet δηλαδή. Βέβαια όταν λέμε "τότε", μη φανταστείτε ότι θα πάμε πίσω στο 1982 (αν και τότε άρχισα να ακούω Yazoo, όταν πρωτοεμφανίστηκαν ως το καινούργιο group του Vince Clarke που μόλις είχε εγκαταλείψει τους Depeche Mode - και ναι, άκουγα από τότε Depeche Mode). Θα πάμε μόνο 2 χρόνια πίσω, στο 2008.
Όλα ξεκίνησαν από ένα διαδικτυακό forum, όπου τέθηκε το ερώτημα : "What is your synthpop top 5?" Η απάντησή μου ήταν η ακόλουθη:
1.Depeche Mode
2.Pet Shop Boys
3.OMD
4.Yazoo
5.Erasure
Δεν άντεξα όμως και έκανα και ένα σχόλιο: "The only ones I haven't seen live are Yazoo (Pretty much impossible now, I guess... Although reunions are always possible...)". Λίγες μέρες μετά ανακοινώθηκε το reunion και η αντίστοιχη περιοδεία. Αν αυτό δεν ήταν σημάδι της μοίρας, δεν ξέρω ως τι άλλο μπορεί να ερμηνευτεί. Έτσι στις 7 Ιουνιου του 2008 βρέθηκα στο Manchester για να δω τους Yazoo live και να συμπληρωθεί έτσι αυτό το "κενό" στο δικό μου synthpop top 5


Η συναυλία ήταν στο ιστορικό Apollo του Manchester



Δυστυχώς, τότε ήμουν νέος και ψαρωμένος στον συναυλιακό τουρισμό και πίστεψα αυτό που αναγραφόταν στο πίσω μέρος του εισητηρίου, ότι δηλαδή απαγορεύονται όλες οι φωτογραφικές μηχανές. ("Ευτυχώς" όπως θα λεγε και ο φίλος μου ο δόκτωρας). Έτσι, οι μόνες φωτογραφίες που έβγαλα ήταν με το κινητό μου. (Αυτό που τελικά ισχύει είναι ότι επιτρέπονται οι compact μηχανές και απαγορεύονται οι SLR και οι βιντεοκάμερες).

Ακούσαμε όλα τα γνωστά από τα νιάτα μας τραγούδια των Yazoo και ειδικά αυτά από το δεύτερο album τα οποία δεν είχαν παιχτεί ποτέ ζωντανά, μια και διαλύθηκαν αμέσως μετά την κυκλοφορία του. Θυμάμαι, μετά το τέλος της συναυλίας έναν Σουηδό φίλο μου να αναφωνεί: "This woman was born to sing!"

Με αυτές τις αναμνήσεις λοιπόν, ήταν που έτρεξα να βγάλω εισητήριο για το μέγαρο ώστε να δω τον παίδαρο (την Alison δηλαδή), ως solo καλλιτέχνη πλέον στις 20 Μαρτίου.



Η πρώτη μου εντύπωση μόλις βγήκε στη σκηνή, ήταν ότι είχε μείνει η μισή (από πλευράς μεγέθους) σε σχέση με το 2008. Βέβαια, αν και δεν την έχω δει από πολύ κοντά, νομίζω ότι είναι και πολύ ψηλή. Εγώ έτσι κι αλλιώς από την δεκαετία του 80, όταν ήταν στα full κιλά της, την θεωρούσα όμορφη, οπότε ποτέ δεν με ένοιαξε αυτό. Ευτυχώς δεν τηρήθηκε το "πρόγραμμα" που αναφερόταν στο δελτίο τύπου (το οποίο ήταν μάλλον το tracklisting της καινούργιας συλλογής που η εταιρία επέμενε να κυκλοφορήσει, όπως ανέφερε η ίδια σε μια πρόσφατη συνέντευξη), με αποτέλεσμα να απολαύσουμε ένα παραπάνω κομμάτι από τους Yazoo, και περισσότερα από τα 2 πρώτα albums που είχαν σημειώσει και τη μεγαλύτερη επιτυχία. Τα περισσότερα κομμάτια ήταν με διαφορετική ενορχήστρωση από αυτές που έχουμε συνηθίσει από τα albums (και σε ορισμένες περιπτώσεις ακόμα και τζαζέ θα μπορούσα να πώ)
Κάποια από τα κομμάτια που είπε, όχι με τη σειρά που ακούστηκαν, αλλά με χρονολογική περίπου σειρά, όσα θυμάμαι βέβαια

Only You
Situation
Don't Go
από τους Yazoo. Σε αυτά θα μπορούσαμε να προσθέσουμε και το Ode To Boy II που το είχε ηχογραφήσει και με τους Yazoo ως Ode To Boy (σκέτο)
Love Resurrection (το πρώτο της solo single)
All Cried Out (το δεύτερο, που ποτέ δεν με ενθουσίαζε και ιδιαίτερα, αλλά στο κοινό άρεσε και το χειροκρότησε)
That Ole Devil Called Love
Is This Love (αγαπημένο από το δεύτερο album)
Weak In The Presence Of Beauty ("This song is like old boyfriends. You know you loved them once...")
Ordinary Girl (σε ενορχήστρωση "without the kitchen sink" όπως το παρουσίασε, και κατάφερε να αρέσει και σε μένα που ποτέ δεν με ενθουσίαζε)
Love Letters (Έγινε "ο χαμός")
This House
Ne Me Quitte Pas
It Won't Be Long
The Windmills Of Your Mind (Το γνωστό μας από την "Υπόθεση Τόμας Κράουν". Ή όπως με ρώτησε μια κυρία στο stand με τα CD "Ποιο ήταν εκείνο το Ελληνικό που είπε; Εκείνο μωρέ της Κανελλίδου..." )
Αυτά είναι όσα θυμάμαι, και αφησα για το τέλος το τελευταίο κομμάτι (της... κανονικής διάρκειας): Όταν το 1994 είχα σχεδόν ξεχάσει την Alison Moyet έβγαλε αυτό το καταπληκτικό κομμάτι και με άφησε σύξυλο : Whispering Your Name. Αυτό που μου έκανε εντύπωση είναι ότι το θυμόταν και το Ελληνικό κοινό.

Μετά το τέλος της συναυλίας χτύπησα (κυριολεκτικά το "τσάκισα") το stand με τα CD's. Και επειδή οι κοπέλες που τα πουλούσαν όπως ομολόγησαν δεν είχαν ιδέα από τη δισκογραφία της Alison, ανέλαβα να καθοδηγήσω το αγοραστικό κοινό: "Αυτή είναι συλλογή του 1995, αυτή του 2001 και αυτή η καινούργια", "Σ'αυτό το album βρίσκεται το κομμάτι που ψάχνετε", "Μήπως υπάρχει άλλο ένα Essential για τον κύριο;", "Όχι κυρία μου δεν είναι της Κανελλίδου το κομμάτι"...