The Fleece kicked out the tribbers, women ruled supreme, Qu Junktions laid on the mambo ska and opera blew hot and cold… Pin back your lugholes while Venue’s Team Music rewind through a year of rock, jazz, classical and roots.

ROCK

“We’ve got to come out with a statement of intent. We want to distance ourselves from corporate stuff. A lot of reps have come in from breweries saying ‘Can we promote this, have a banner there?’ No, not really. We want to give out the message ‘We’re putting this on because it’s good’, not ‘Because it pleases the sponsors’.” Thus, the Blue Aeroplanes’ Chris Sharp, talking to Venue back in June about the group’s acquisition of the Fleece. And there was much rejoicing. Still, talk is cheap and tribute bands are easy money, so it’s for all that’s happened in the six months hence that we’ll reserve our biggest cheers. As previously noted in these pages, and contrary to popular perception, the once mighty venue had never fallen as low as staging only covers bands, but there were weeks it came pretty close. Since the takeover, both the quality and frequency of gigs have risen faster than all but the most optimistic could have hoped, with the Fleece very clearly back on the go-to list of London-based gigging agents. Meantime, Whole Lotta Led’s pre-contracted appearance at the start of the month marked tribbers’ end. Hurray and good riddance!

Elsewhere in Bristol venue land, Mr Wolf’s consolidated its 2009 takeover of The Junction via a change of name – No 51 – and booking policy, with only the occasional loud guitar allowed to echo from days of yore and impact on the largely acoustic-centric line-up. The team behind Stokes Croft neighbours, the Canteen, covered the waterfront with their fairy dust, sweeping out tumbleweed from the occasionally gig-staging River and seemingly overnight turning it into throng central as No 1 Harbourside, vastly increased live music schedule and all. Elsewhere, The Croft’s plush makeover saw it re-emerge as a genuine twin-stage venue, and the Grapes established itself as a smartly programmed, rock-centric complement to the largely jazz/roots-staging Coronation Tap in music-starved upper Clifton. Over in Bath, Sybil Bell and Ric Yerbury might have taken the reins at Moles last year, but it was 2010 that saw them make good on a promise to establish the venue as “more than just a night club”, expanding from basement to pavement with a heritage-on-sleeve-wearing music-themed cafe-bar.

As far as acts filling said stages went, 2010 was Year of the Woman, with – at merely the summit of a lengthy list – Claudia Aurora, Hazel Mills, Jane Taylor, Katey Brooks, Emily Breeze and Suzy Condrad all turning in career-best releases and gigs. And that’s before we factor in the late-coming, supremely promising Anika (see live review on p.80). Among other newbies, Wilder gigged their hometown with increasing frequency as they looked to make good on a rather large deal with Rough Trade, and we were particularly taken with the banjo-/accordion-driven krautfolk of The Bad Joke That Ended Well and the glowstick-waving, hook-filled pop-punking joy that is a Last Rights gig. There were welcome returns, too, of long-time Venue faves The Weary Band and Termites, and even godfathers of whatever the hell the ‘Bristol Sound’ might be, The Pop Group. Here’s hoping we one day see a similar resurrection from Babel, the none-more-roof-raising folk/rock splicers having gone their separate ways in Germany back in July. More as well, please, from the constituent parts that ’til this year formed the poptastic On Off Switch.

Finally, a nod of thanks and recognition to Bristol’s finest-by-a-mile disc emporium, Rise Records. Don’t know whether it was the vast range, the value, the ongoing commitment to smartly programmed live in-store shows or peerless stock of local releases – whatever it was, scooping the Independent Record Shop of the Year 2010 award was richly deserved indeed. (Julian Owen)

JAZZ/WORLD

2010 started well for jazz and world music with new Bristol venues No 1 Harbourside and No 51 creating extra regular gigs in Bristol, while fledgling places like Bath’s Chapel Arts and Bristol’s Metropolis and Future Inns spread their wings to welcome a steady stream of national and international names, and the Colston Hall managed to squeeze lots of treats into their Hall 2 and Foyer spaces. Stand-out visitors among many brilliant jazz gigs included Dan Berglund’s proggy Tonbrucket (St George’s, 1 Apr) and Maceo Parker’s tireless funk supersession (Metropolis, 21 Oct). Bath Festival’s fearless double-bill of Acoustic Ladyland with Led Bib (Pavilion, 28 May) shook things up memorably while the cosmic glitter, powerhouse playing and sheer scale of Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra (7 Apr) brought the Colston Hall to life like never before. Big thanks go to St George’s Bristol for two notable and ambitious commissions: Adrian Utley’s Electric Guitar Orchestra’s riveting reading of Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ (4 Nov) and the (now renamed) Bristol Reggae Orchestra’s debut (1 Mar). The BRO also added sparkle to Bristol’s Harbour Festival, where a packed and sun-drenched crowd got full value from Ska Cubano’s (1 Aug) ultra-assured mambo-ska but (a bumper year at WOMAD notwithstanding) the year’s top world music night had to be Qu Junktions danceathon of Konono No 1 and Omar Souleyman (Metropolis, 11 May). It was career development time for James Morton relocating to London to capitalise on critical acclaim for his Porkchop debut recording, while uberdrummer Daisy Palmer has likewise gone east following her recruitment into Goldfrapp. Both will be sadly missed. James Gardiner-Bateman, on the other hand, popped back from The Smoke with some impressive Royal Academy pals and, as All-in-one Helmet, clinched Future Inns’ first Future of Jazz competition (5 June) – an excellent event that also showcased stylish newcomers-to-watch-for The Lund Quartet. (Tony Benjamin)

ROOTS/COUNTRY

Virtually every venue in Bristol and Bath has featured roots music of one sort or another during 2010. Particularly impressive has been the number of acts showing up in the new Hall II at the Colston Hall, whilst venues such as St George’s and O2 Academy in Bristol and Komedia in Bath have all featured sell-out shows. Bath Folk Club has featured prominent acts whilst a new club (Folk at The Orchard) in Bristol and the continuing success of Nailsea Folk Club have all kept the old-style folk venue alive and kicking. The Thunderbolt in Bristol continues to kick way above its weight with shows from the likes of Carlene Carter and the Michelle Shocked Band. Tunnels in Bristol has featured some excellent shows and St Bonaventure’s is still regarded as one of the major venues around the British bluegrass and Americana circuits. Ian Storrer has built up a great reputation for the shows he promotes at Future Inns in Bristol, and although the blues nights didn’t work out, the acoustic nights have provided some superb music with occasional blues acts incorporated. The region’s festivals (Trowbridge Village Pump, Priddy, Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, etc) all had a very successful year, ensuring their survival into 2011. Top shows for the year: Bellowhead (Old Vic, Bristol – twice!!), Chuck Prophet (Tunnels), Katrina Olsen & Peter Grayling (Jazz@Future Inns), Clapham County Line (Tunnels) and finally The Pretty Things (Thunderbolt). The interesting thing about these shows is that they range from blues to English traditional music and reflect the increasing diversification taking place in the roots scene today. And finally thanks go to local promoters Dan Ashton, Tim Martin, Jan Ayers, Steve Parkhouse and Marick Baxter who all put their own money on the line to bring us great music. (Tony Slinger)

CLASSICAL

You wait quarter of a century for the LSO to show up at the Colston Hall, and then two come along. 2010 might be remembered orchestrally for a searing Shostakovich 10 from Karabits and the BSO, and, as well as a tightly programmed summer season, Bath Phil devoted a whole evening to the joy of sex-lessness – marking the centenary of Bath-buried castrato (or was he?) Venanzio Rauzzini. But hardly surprisingly, the LSO stole the show, John Adams lighting the blue touchpaper to throat-grabbing effect in his ‘Dr Atomic’ Symphony, and Valery Gergiev, after an uncertain start, similarly explosive in the finale of Mahler 5. Operatically, Welsh National Opera boarded the Orient Express for James Robinson’s update of ‘Seraglio’, but thanks to the ash cloud, the conductor and four of the principal singer were stranded on platforms world-wide. The Magritte-inspired ‘Magic Flute’ tragically fell victim to sounds Rauzzini might have made ‘under the knife’, but Sarah Connolly was in glorious voice for ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’, and the summer ‘Meistersinger’ positively overwhelmed; Bryn Terfel and Christopher Purves the stars of a Lothar-Koenigs-conducted Richard Jones production with its emotional thermostat set at ‘max’. At Iford, Rossini’s ‘Cinderella’ went to the ball with minimalist verve and David Freeman rose to the rollercoaster challenge of Handel’s ‘Serse’ with typical acuity. Bath was less fortunate though, the Classical Opera Company’s Carry-On-up-the-Penitentiary ‘Zaide’ tilling thin ground for a rather lame ‘Duenna’ courtesy of English Touring Opera. But where Bath languished operatically, its festivals flourished, the farewell Bath Bach Festival taking an all-guns-blazing final bow, Joanna MacGregor’s International Music Festival ‘untangling’ Judith Weir, telling Stravinsky’s ‘Soldier’s Tale’ with inventive aplomb, and uniting Mark Padmore and Roger Vignoles in a heart-rending ‘schone Mullerin’. Mozartfest replied with aristocratic double helpings from the Belceas and a thoughtful account of the year’s 400th anniversary leitmotif, from Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St George’s to Cheltenham Festival: Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. A multi-bus pile-up to rival that of the LSO’s – and sjust as welcome! (Paul Riley)
 

Copyright Julian Owen, Tony Benjamin, Tony Slinger and Paul Riley 2010

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