Tag: reviews

Ed Sheeran, Macklemore and When Music Collides With Politics

They say that sport and politics don’t mix. Well, this past week it’s been the music industry and politics that have really kicked off.

At an Ed Sheeran concert in New Jersey, his support act, Macklemore, launched into a political rant about supporting Palestine. This upset both the promoters and the stadium owners, who basically said that if Macklemore carried on, the gigs would be cancelled.

Who you may ask is Macklemore? He is an independent American rapper and activist from Seattle, Washington. He is best known for his massive global hits in the 2010s alongside producer Ryan Lewis, operating as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. ‘Thrift Shop’ and ‘Can’t Hold Us’ were two of their biggest hits. Does being the support act give you the right to air your political views and therefore put the whole tour in jeopardy? In my opinion, no. The key word here is ‘support’, he wasn’t tbe lead artist. Feel free to air your views at your own gigs but this paying public had bought their tickets to see Ed Sheeran not to listen to your political views. 

It was a no-win situation for Sheeran, who, on the one hand, didn’t want to upset his fans, but also didn’t want to get involved in the political row that was brewing in the States and around the World. He therefore, reluctantly it seems, allowed Macklemore to be relieved of his supporting role.

This decision, however, caused more problems, as Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham, American singer-songwriter Finneas, and Irish folk band Beoga all quit the tour too.

This then forced Sheeran to come out and speak about the situation at his next concert. Tearfully, he said:

“What happened in Israel at the music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.

“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives, and the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

It looks like this has devastated Sheeran, who is known as one of the nice guys on the music scene. My brother-in-law, who is a musician and has played with the likes of Sting, Eric Clapton and the Lighthouse Family, to name a few, says he is one of the most generous musicians out there.

In June 2011, Sheeran released his official debut commercial single, “The A Team”. Despite being a dark folk ballad about addiction, it became a massive mainstream success, debuting at Number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.

This momentum culminated in September 2011 with the release of his debut studio album, [+] (Plus), which topped the charts, went multi-platinum and earned him the British Breakthrough Act award at the 2012 BRIT Awards.

Fast-forward to June 5, 2012, here in Mallorca, and Ed Sheeran appeared on stage at Mallorca Rocks. For those not familiar with the brand, Mallorca Rocks was a popular open-air live music venue and hotel complex located where the Fergus Club Waterpark is today. It operated from 2010 to 2014.

I remember thinking at the time how talented he was as he just stood there with his guitar, belting out songs. There were 3,000 people at that gig, which was just over half full, but he captivated the intimate crowd using nothing but his raw talent. Critics noted that he “left everyone smiling” by completely owning the open-air poolside stage with only his acoustic guitar, a microphone and his signature custom loop pedal.

When he returned to the hotel on July 22, 2014, the stakes were completely different. It was the hotels fourth-birthday celebration and a massive milestone for the brand, but it also marked a bittersweet chapter for them as they announced they were going to close at the end of the season.

Sheeran had transformed himself from the rising indie-folk star of 2012 into a global juggernaut. He had just released his massive second studio album, [x] (Multiply), only a month earlier, in June 2014. Before heading out to the island, he noted in a press release how excited he was to “get back out there in the sun and play some of the new songs this summer”. The crowd got a live taste of freshly released mega-hits like “Sing” and “Don’t”.

In 2018, we went to Wembley Stadium in London to see him play live in front of 80,000 people. He was exactly the same as when I first saw him at Mallorca Rocks six years earlier, in front of 3,000 people. A man and his guitar, belting out hit after hit.

I, for one, hope Ed Sheeran can come through this, as he is without doubt one of the most talented and generous music performers of our generation.

Tony Hadley’s Musical Journey: A Night at Port Adriano

On Friday morning, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tony Hadley on my radio show on Wave Mallorca. Having grown up listening to Spandau Ballet, it was a bit surreal to be talking to the man whose songs were such a big part of my youth and whose voice has, without doubt, stood the test of time.

On Saturday night, he performed at the Port Adriano Music Festival in a beautiful setting right next to the marina.

Tony Hadley can turn his hand to any song. He learned his trade by singing in his school choir and entering singing contests at Butlins and Pontins. His swing and operatic influences come from his mum and dad, who used to play Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Mario Lanza while preparing the family’s Sunday lunch.

You naturally associate Spandau Ballet with True and Gold, two anthems in their own right. Tony mentioned that those are the two songs he is always asked to perform, but interestingly, when the band played Live Aid at Wembley in 1985, Gold wasn’t on the set list.

Last night’s set was, of course, heavily Spandau-based, but it also included a few of Tony’s own songs. The band were tight, as were the harmonies, and it was great to see and hear live percussion and, of course, the iconic saxophone. After the first few songs, I turned to my wife and said, “Spandau have such a great catalogue of songs, and we haven’t even reached the biggest hits yet.”

Interestingly, he opened with To Cut a Long Story Short, the band’s very first single, released in 1980. A remarkable 46 years ago!

Tony also mentioned that Through the Barricades is his favourite Spandau Ballet song, which he performed with a subtle swing feel, helped along by a glass of Jack Daniel’s to keep the vocal cords lubricated!

The finale was exactly as it had to be: True, followed by Gold, and he left the stage to a standing ovation.

He probably won’t thank me for mentioning that he’s now 66 years old, but in my mind—and, I’m sure, in the minds of many of you reading this—Spandau Ballet simply isn’t Spandau Ballet without Tony Hadley.

From memory, here was last night’s set list:

● To Cut a Long Story Short

● Highly Strung

● Only When You Leave

● Alibi

● Walk of Shame

● Round and Round

● Soul Boy

● I’ll Fly for You

● Through the Barricades

● Somebody to Love

● Lifeline

● Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)

● True

● Gold

Tony is back on the road in November and December with his Big Band Tour, performing all over the UK. For tickets and more information, please visit https://tonyhadley.com.

Quality Street

If you’re visiting London you’ll be inundated with recommendations of where to visit. One place that might not be high on some peoples lists is St Pancras International Station. It opened in 1868 and is a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture and one of the most elegant stations in the World.  It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium, Netherlands and France with an exciting collection of shops, restaurants and bars, including Europe’s longest Champagne bar. It is normally the station I go to if I’m going to watch Arsenal, the theatre or go shopping. 

One of the things I love about St Pancras is the piano that is in the middle of the concourse. Now this isn’t any old piano, on the 4th of February 2016, Elton John performed a medley at the station, to promote the album “Wonderful Crazy Night.” Following his performance, he donated the piano to the station, marking it with the inscription, “Enjoy this piano. It’s a gift.

Last week that famous piano hit the news, if you could call it news. It was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in a long time. A guy was playing and live streaming on his you tube channel, when a group of Chinese tourists who happened to be in his shot asked him to stop filming them. They apparently were waiting to use the piano and as the guy who was playing said, “well why don’t you go away and come back when I’m finished?” They refused. You couldn’t make it up. The next day the piano was sealed off and the station said it was due to maintenance work. Can someone get a grip please!

I noticed when travelling to the UK that there was a piano situated between gates C and D in the airport at Palma. One of the things I’ve always wanted to do is play the piano. I can play Match of the Day and the Wombles of Wimbledon, so you can tell I’m no Elton John. It’s on my list of things to do in retirement. 

All this though reminded of how much I love watching street entertainers. Talented musicians have taken to perform on London’s transport network since 2003 with the London Underground Licensed Busking Scheme, brightening people’s journeys with genres from rock, to classical and pop for 364 days-a-year. 20 years on, the network now has more than 200 registered buskers, the busking scheme has up to 39 pitches across 25 central London stations which are clearly defined by a semi-circular floor graphic. 

Staying in London, I would thoroughly recommend you go to Covent Garden as the street entertainers there are second to none. Since the 1660s Covent Garden has never missed a chance to put on a performance. The first record of Covent Garden street entertainment came in 1662, when Samuel Pepys’ diary notes that a marionette show featuring a character named Punch took place on the Piazza. The best place in my opinion to watch the entertainers is the roof terrace at the  Punch and Judy pub. The pub was built in 1787 and was named after the Punch and Judy shows performed there for the children of the flower sellers.

We have street entertainers in Palma, particularly in and around the Cathedral area. I love to watch the statues, who are amazing. All street entertainers should have a licence that can be applied for at Palma Town Hall. 

Our holiday in Jamaica was enhanced by the guys that wandered the beach during the day. In particular the guy in the picture with my son Jude. He did his version of Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ whilst basically strumming his guitar up and down with no actual tune. No offence but he would have been better off singing ‘One Tooth’ as he was dentally challenged. But he was very grateful for the beer we invited him to, to persuade him to move on. He would in fact treat us to the same rendition pretty much every day and in a strange way we used to look forward to his performance. 

The Bob Marley film ‘One Love’ should arrive in our cinemas here in Mallorca around February 14th. He is still revered in Jamaica and it’s a film I’m very much looking forward to seeing after our holiday there.

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com