The Roles Reversed: Orthodox Russia versus the Godless Politically 'Correct' West

When I was a child in the early 1970s, my mother used to tell me about the Soviet Union repressing religious practice.  This was done to motivate me to go to (Catholic) Mass on a Sunday.  Now, some 40 years later, like Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill have recently said, it is now the politically 'correct' West that represses traditional Christian religious and moral practice.

 Really love the beautiful music from the Orthodox Liturgy from St. Petersburg above.  Spent quite some time on Friday night reading American website accounts that were sadly being forced to admit that now the roles have been reversed:  Christianity is being somewhat advocated and preserved in Russia, while the Western world is now almost a 'godless kingdom' due to political 'correctness', a zealous multiculturalist ideology that disenchants people through reducing all phenomena to baseline issues of race and sex ('gender').

Submotion Orchestra Live at Warsaw Basen 27th November 2014

Below are the pictures that I took from the excellent Submotion Orchestra gig at Warsaw Basen last night:

A few months ago, I checked Submotion Orchestra out on Youtube after seeing they were going to play Warsaw Basen.

As a result, I started playing their 'Finest Hour' and 'Fragments' albums as background music while doing work on the computer, and, of course, got a ticket to see them at Warsaw Basen (at 55 złoty a real bargain).

Ended up standing at the right side of the stage above the 'pool level' next to the speakers (definitely won't be in this position next week for Swans as I value my ears), which was a good place for getting shots of the band, and, of course, vocalist Ruby Wood is very photogenic:
 

 Having only recently been introduced to Submotion Orchestra, and often listening to them as 'background music', I won't pretend to know any of the tunes by name, but this is quite nice as all the tunes seem to blend together as a soothing soundscape.

Moreover, like the Icelandic group Mum, another great 'soothing soundscape' band who I saw at the Basen last year, Submotion Orchestra really do come across well live, subtly mesmerising the audience.

Warsaw Koło Woods: Looking into Winter

Here I am in Koło Woods as I look into winter, expecting the temperature to start dropping below zero during the day before the end of November.  Let's hope the winter is not as bad as I expect. Remember encountering -32 in Warsaw about 10 years ago.

Mother's Cake Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 22nd November 2014

Here's a few pictures from Mother's Cake supporting California Breed at Warsaw Klub Progresja on Saturday night.

Having checked Mother's Cake out beforehand on Youtube, I was expecting the kind of Led Zep-type sound and 'reggae-ish' slower parts, but, at times, the band also sort of reminded me of ELP (who I love) especially when the drummer got onto a roll:

Been lucky enough to see some great support bands recently (especially Alcest with Opeth and Esben and the Witch with Solstafir), and now I can add Mother's Cake to this number.

California Breed (Glen Hughes) Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 22nd November 2014

After the Morrissey farce midweek, it was great to get the good, solid, melodic Rock served up by Glen Hughes and his California Breed bandmates at Warsaw Klub Progresja last night:

My favourite tunes of the night would have to be the storming version of 'The Grey' which the band came on with and the incredibly beautiful 'All Falls Down', plus the Deep Purple classic, 'Burn', of course.
 

And Glen Hughes is a great frontman/showman.  Below, he almost seems to be in prayer, and throughout the set he kept wishing the crowd 'God bless' (really like it when genuine goodwill is shown to an audience from a band):

And despite (like a lot of us now) getting on a bit, Glen Hughes was all over the stage, a truly great showman:

Also got a lot of time for young guitarist Andrew Watt (below) who looked modest and unassuming but also skilful throughout the set (as did the drummer, Joey Castillo):

Yeah, cheers lads, this was a great straightforward melodic Rock gig without any histrionics, just good music.

Song of the Day: 'The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood' by Sandy Denny

Already dark and miserable before 4pm on a Saturday afternoon, but this hauntingly beautiful version of 'The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood' by Sandy Denny really picks me up.  Full credit to the great person who has put these fantastic pictures together to accompany the tune too, of course.

The Morrissey Farce: Warsaw Stodoła 17th November 2014

So where do we start with the farce from last night?

Well, after a mildly entertaining 30-minute documentary-type show featuring the New York Dolls; Electric Chairs; and (surprise, surprise) a blood-horned bull, the crowd at Warsaw Stodoła were 'treated' to a 25-30 minute/6-song set starting with The Smiths classic:  'The Queen Is Dead':

During this half an hour, Morrissey looked quite energetic and, dare I say it, cheerful:

My favourite tune from the shortest set I've ever seen by a headline act anywhere?  That would have to be 'World Peace Is None of Your Business'. But, of course, in the rational world, none of this compensates for the nonsense that was to come.

Reading a bit between the lines here: Morrissey tries to give some kind of speech, a guy shouts something seemingly innocuous/inaudible out, and Morrissey, with a pained-looking expression on his face, retreats from his speech, goes through with a tune, but exits the stage left before the end of it, leaving his bandmates to finish the tune off (with them then looking equally as perplexed as the audience afterwards):

Then the band members went off stage for a while, then came back on demanding that the person responsible for upsetting Morrissey had to leave the building or the show wouldn't continue.  My friend Pete comically observed that all of this was done through an 'odious American voice'.

But the 'fun and laughter' was far from over.  After a guy had voluntarily left for allegedly offending Morrissey, the latter still didn't appear, and a daft-looking conference ensued at the front of the stage:

Then, even the daft-looking conference disappeared from the stage, and the poor souls in the crowd were left solely with a backdrop for 'entertainment':

Soon after this, it became apparent that the show wouldn't go on, and the crowd retreated to the bar, some feeling cheated, others trying to make excuses for a (hyper-) sensitive genius.  Guess I would be in the former camp.

And the farce continues:  today, I've heard that all of us from last night have been offered a free ticket for the Kraków show tomorrow night.  All what I can say here is that they just seem to think that we're all idiots.

Solstafir (and Esben and the Witch) at Warsaw Proxima 17th November 2014

Saw Solstafir up at Warsaw Proxima last night and here are are a few of my pics from the gig which I guess try to capture some of the Viking-type mysticism served up by the band (or that's the way I interpret it, anyway):

 
Won't pretend to know any of the songs by name, as, like many of the modern-day Prog-type bands, the tunes kind of merge together as a nice coherent whole without me knowing any of the names of the individual parts. 

Don't really like the Proxima as a place for gigs, but last night it was okay.

Solstafir vocalist 'Addi' Tryggvason (below) is a great frontman, and joked about there being nothing much in Iceland but black sand (referring to the name of one of their tunes):

He also affectionately referred to his fellow guitarist as 'Gringo':

Just capturing a bit of the on-stage 'anthropology' here with 'Addi' tuning up his flying V (below):

Special mention here for second band on, Esben and the Witch, who I only discovered on Youtube a few days before the gig, but who were also excellent:

Singer and vocalist, Rachel Davies (below), has a great voice in the kind of Siouxsie Sioux vein:

Yeah, I really enjoyed Esben and the Witch despite not knowing much about them:

And the first group on, Obsidian  Kingdom, well with all the growling/grunting, they weren't really my cup of tea, but they still seemed to go down quite well:

Discovering Interesting Music: Esben and the Witch

Saw that Esben and the Witch will be supporting Solstafir up at the Proxima in Warsaw tomorrow night, so I checked them out on Youtube (above) and think that they're well worth seeing.  Like many people I guess, they remind me a bit of Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Skid Row and Saxon Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 15th November 2014

Here's a few pictures from Skid Row at Warsaw Klub Progresja last night.  Hope they convey how pumped up the band were:
 

Saw Skid Row back in 1992 at Castle Donington, and I can only really recall it 'pissing' down all the way through their set.  But last night, I enjoyed them much more than I'd expected, as they were clearly up for it:

Favourite tunes from the Skid Row set last night?  They would have to be '18 and Life' and 'Youth Gone Wild'.  Full credit to the band for getting such a good atmosphere going last night.

And Saxon?  Well, I decided to see them for a bit of NWOBHM nostalgia, but, if truth be told, they're not really my cup of tea.  Still, I recall them coming onto the scene back in the late 1970s, and it was a bit of a shame that I hadn't seen them until last night.

Moreover, all the old Saxon stuff ('747'; 'Wheels of Steel'; 'Strong Arm of the Law'; 'Denim and Leather' etc.) has a kind of anthemic quality, and Biff is a character, of course:

And, more than anything, this gig had an obvious 'old school' feel to it.

Unfortunately, only caught the last tune of the opening band, Halycon Way:

Song of the Day: 'The Great Misconceptions of Me' by WASP

My favourite WASP track by a wide country mile, but why?  Well, for me, it's a more than decent attempt at Prog by a band that's not normally associated with Prog Rock.

Also great that somebody has put this footage from Castle Donington 1992 on Youtube, as this was one of the last Doningtons that I went to - think the last one I went to was with Kiss (with the make-up back on) a few years later.

My memories of the 1992 Donington:  for me, WASP were the band of the day, but special mention has to go to Slayer (not usually my cup of tea) for 'cutting through the elements' (being heard crystal clear against unfavourable, stormy weather conditions).

Also saw Skid Row at the 1992 Donington who will be on in Warsaw this evening supporting Saxon at the Klub Progresja.  Again, Skid Row are not really my cup of tea, but I do really like one track, '18 and Life' (below from the 2014 Downloader Festival at Donington):

Again, great stuff that somebody has put this on Youtube.  Should be a decent gig with Saxon; Skid Row; and Halycon Way.  If I'm honest, none of these bands are exactly my cup of tea, but I think it'll be worth going for an 'old Rock world' kind of atmosphere and anthropology. 

Warsaw: The Polish Flag at Arkadia

Flying proud near the Arkadia shopping centre in Warsaw, the Polish flag on top of a big, newly-built flagstand (up and ready for Independence Day):

Good to see a European country not frightened of flying its flag so proudly (Britain and England take note):