My Song of the Moment

The song dominating my mental jukebox at the moment has to be the sublime 's1' by (Polish band) Blindead.  

Saw Blindead at the recent 'Prog in the Park' Festival in Warsaw and they were fantastic.  Would describe them as a kind of Heavy-ish, Gothic-type Prog band, something like a mix of Faith No More with The Sisters of Mercy.  But perhaps the beauty of their music lies in it being beyond definition.

Eastern Poland: A Beautiful Garden

Have always had a soft spot for sunflowers so I loved this garden in Eastern Poland:

Can't recall ever seeing this flower/plant before:

It almost had an ethereal or science fiction kind of appearance, it was incredible:

Kotek and the Vase

Nice shot of Kotek putting one of his paws inside a vase, possibly believing there's fish inside it.

Thomas Hardy's Wessex: Weymouth Town Bridge

Walking near and over Weymouth Town Bridge, I guessed that this place had to have some Thomas Hardy significance.

In 'The Hardy Way' (page 172), Margaret Marande relates Town Bridge to Hardy's 'The Harbour Bridge' poem which was based on a "previous bridge, built in 1824 in stone, with an iron-swinging central section".

Really enjoyed the whole of the walk from Weymouth seafront up towards Town Bridge, the turquoise water was incredibly beautiful:

Dotted along the sides of the water, many (young and old) couples could be seen eating fish and chips and taking in the sunshine.

Manchester: Near Piccadilly Train Station

Had some time on my hands while waiting for my train down to Bristol from Manchester Piccadilly, and, for obvious reasons, didn't want want to hang around in a crowded train station, so I went on a bit of a wander round.

First, I crossed the modern, metal bridge above, and soon came across the still darkness of the canal:

And then a menacingly big, red-bricked, court building:

The court building and dark, still canal were juxtaposed together:

Can remember the old pub below from walking down to concerts at Manchester Apollo, almost a lifetime away now, seeing UFO; Def Leppard and Magnum; The Scorpions; Rush; MSG; Motorhead; Triumph etc. in 1980:

Killarney: The Franciscan Friary

Another of my highlights from visiting Killarney, the Franciscan Friary:

Got a nice surprise here:  a beautiful high altar apparently untouched from post-Vatican II destruction:

Have just read somewhere on the Internet that the altar is of Flemish style.

If my memory serves me right (from what I read inside the church), the relic below is of an Irish monk who was murdered by Cromwellian troops:

 

Outside the Friary, there was a sense of continuity between the present and past through deceased monks being buried in graves near the crucifix above:

Warsaw 'Prog in the Park' Festival

Just a few shots and quick reflections from yesterday's 'Prog in the Park' Festival in Warsaw.  Arrived just in time to catch the back end of Lion Shephered (above) who sounded quite good.

But the band I was really looking forward to seeing were Blindead:

And they didn't disappoint, they were fantastic (especially doing 's1'), the first time I've seen them live:

Thankfully, the big canopy at Park Sowinskiego kept the crowd dry, away from the rain:

Below, Blindead taking a well-deserved round of applause at the end of a great performance:

Before yesterday, I'd only been to Park Sowinskiego twice (to see Sigur Ros and Patti Smith), and the setting is quite beautiful:

This was the second time I'd seen Solstafir having caught them once before at the Proxima in Warsaw.

As expected, I recognised most of the Solstafir set without knowing any of the song titles.

Unsurprisingly, hardly anybody remained in the (quite good quality) beer area while Riverside were on stage:
 

'Conceiving You' and 'The Depth of Self-Delusion' were my favourite two tunes of the set.

Have now seen Opeth a couple of times, and still don't quite know what to make of them.

Like some tunes (the ones without grunting); less keen on the ones with grunting; and enjoy the storytelling between tunes.