Post by allesanderes on Nov 19, 2009 7:11:05 GMT -5
(this is a big one, didn't really want to lose it in the middle of another thread)
Hello all,
despite there being already a wealth of reports and comments on the Dublin concert, and despite being unsure that I can add anything of real significance to the Fan community before the Dublin gig fades into memory and is eclipsed by the other concerts... I have decided to add one more post after all, with a bit more personal background.
I will be glad if some of you gain pleasure or benefit from it.
I am in a priviliged position, relatively. No, I didn't get backstage at the concert to talk personally with Yusuf, but compared to most other Cat/Yusuf fans who are under about 45 I am very lucky as I have seen him 3 times live by now -
at 'A night to remember' in Royal Albert, in Shepards Bush, and now in Dublin.
Ok, so I was at none of the 'classic' Cat concerts in the 70's, but I suppose few 5 and 6 year olds were!
All the years as a young teen and into my twenties and early thirties I never imagined I would ever see him live, my favorite musician.
When we lived for a while in London, wondered would I ever bump into him, but of course never did, as London is rather big after all! So, not long before we were due to leave London and return to Ireland I found out he was going to be at the
Royal Albert Hall, I had to go.
Ok, it wasn't much of a 'Cat' concert, but I had now seen the man. He _did_ exist!
Of course when the Island 50 concert came up - a proper, contemporary music concert - I had to go, again!
Now, when I heard he was coming to Dublin, I had to go! No question.
His first big performance, and he was honouring us in Ireland with it. Fine, Dublin is not my hometown, but its on this island, rather than the neighbouring one! My wife and a friend who for over 20 years has been a Cat fan also(though not as big!) were coming too.
Now, life has a way of getting on top of you.
Last Sunday, before the concert, I was making arrangements with my friend to as to where to meet, but we both remarked on how worn out and tired we were from the previous weeks, and how, if we had not bought the tickets in advance, we might not even have gone, it seemed such a trek. 'WHAT?' I hear the cries of the fans who would five their right ear to see him live, but you know, thats what happens when things are put in your lap, sometimes you don't appreciate them!
Whats that about a prophet in his own land?
1 1/2 hrs drive later we met my friend at a car park in central Dublin and then walked the 20mins to the venue. Thank God it was dry, as it often isn't. Told my friend about the musical bit, though we weren't sure what exactly it would be.
She was surprised to hear about it at all, not having taken any concious notice of it in the advertising - and I rate her as highly intelligent and with it. If it escaped her, it escaped many others.
We took our seats, about half way down , almost head on to the stage.
Out he came and straight into Lillywhite - fantastic.
The mood was great, a few hecklers shouting up songs for him to sing, but you get that at every concert. He was full of praise for Irish music and glowing about Dublin. He excitedly mentioned several times the great surprise that lay ahead. I am cringing now as I listen to this again, in light of what followed.
You can get the set list on yusufislam.com, but it missed out 'Welcome Home', which came between 'Boots and Sand' and 'Fill my eyes' for the first set.
My Highlight was 'Waterside', one of my all time faves. I felt the rendition was slightly flavoured towards the song on 'Another Cup' whose name escapes me, the one that starts with the same intro. Oh Yeah, 'Be what you must'. But it was still brilliant.
By this part of the concert, what had started as a guitar only set had been complemented by the full works of bass and drums and keyboard. My wife is pregnant - almost there- and the baba was going mad in her tummy! Loving it!
As we came to the intermission, the mood was good, everyone seemed pretty happy.
Got talking to our neighbouring seat - a couple over from Norway for the concert. They were pleased with it, he knew all the songs played so far, as did I, but not my friend who only knew the Cat material, but was still well pleased.
After the break Yusuf returned in a different outfit and introduced the musical, everyone happy and fine. But then after about 20 minutes, a noticeable change in the mood of the crowd.
Now, as I hope you can tell from the above, I am a _big_ fan (I am the biggest Cat/Yusuf fan that I personally know - though not as big as some of the other majicatters, who for example rather than just saying their favorite songs from Albums can instance particular versions of songs from concerts when listing favorites!).
But even then, I was, we three in my little group were, wondering what exactly is the running order now - is this musical the whole 2nd half and then basta, go home? We didn't know. We hadn't been told.
yes, a brilliant first set, but only 40 minutes of the real man, and then someone else singing his songs? We didn't know. And after paying at least 100 Euro (about 140 USD) some people were not happy with that.
Put another way - if someone was told, "Pay 100Euro for a 40 minute concert, then a bit of musical excerpt", I am sure there would have still been a decent crowd at the gig, and would have appreciated it. But from all the commments about, people were of the understanding before the concert that they would be getting a full length concert, and yet now it looked to most all of us that this was it.
The actors were excellent, the music pretty good - as someone else has said 'Remember the days of the old school yard' was really good, but it wasn't the real man! Was he never coming back?
People began filing out, I would guesstimate 300-400 out of about 10-11,000 present. Others started jeering and slow clapping.
My friend said she was mortified. For those who don't know, that means embarrassed to the power of 10. Or 100.
The musical lasted 40mins.
Then another little break, and everyone wondering what on earth would happen now. Someone said they were worried their might be a riot. A little panicky, maybe, but it gives an idea of the uneasiness in the crowd. Uneasy because we didn't know what was happening in the concert, uneasy because we wondered were the jeerers and hecklers going to get rough. It turns out from a radio interview
(see my previous post 1/2 way down this page....
majicat.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dublin&action=display&thread=3174&page=6
for details of how to listen to a radio commentary from people the day after the show)
that some of them were very abusive to staff at the venue. And they were repectable looking middle aged lads in suits..
But he came back. Shaken.
Shaken Stevens (sorry couldn't resist).
I had binoculars, I wondered was he crying, or close to it. Thats how we felt anyway.
The mood was low enough. He really had to pull it out of the bag to get the crowd going - but he did. Bad Brakes shook the house! Moonshadow and particularly Peacetrain were brilliant!
That was the end of the set, but a raptourous applause brought them all back on stage for an encore - 3 tunes! Yippee!
....But some of the crowd jeered again when he said he was going to play new material. Jeering on an Encore. Those people were a shame on our country.
After the encore, a good clap, but we thought it was all over. Just as people had given up on the clapping - he came out again!!
Father and Son. Sneaky last minute miracle for those who had been shouting out all night for it! And then came Ronan Keating and he bowed down to the great man - bit like the way Bono came on in Shepards bush. Wait a minute - 2 paddies! We are not _all_ bad!
As we left, everyone was still in a bit of shock I think about what we had witnessed. The return of a marvellous musician marred by impatience. The Norwegians beside were shocked, and wanted to know if that was a typical type of Irish concert behavoir - what could we say except that it wasn't...
The night was massively memorable, but not necessarily for all the right reasons. Saw a good few sub-10 year old kids going out too! Something to tell their kids and grandkids.
==================================
The reasons why people were so impatient and aggressive could be anything - but from my own feelings and having spoken to friends about it and listend to the radio and read the reports, I think the following are some of them:
- Ireland played a big rugby match that day (vs. Australia) and no doubt some people were well oiled and just cantankorous
- Some people, like my friend, had not taken the slightest regard to the fact that there would be this musical, so were in no way prepared for it; and indeed most of us thought the evening was over when the musical was over, and felt disappointed over that
- we weren't told. Like when you are stuck on a train going nowhere, a bit of information soothes the nerves, but it was missing; and the jubilation of the even wasn't enough to take its place- In Ireland generally, there is a mood of discontent. We have gone from Celtic Tiger to smushy economy in 2 years, massive paycuts, massive rise in unemployment, looming bad times ahead, and there is genuinely an air of disquiet about the place. This unfortunate time in the concert may have just been a
manifestation of that.
There is no excuse for what happened, but there may be genuine reasons.
Thats not to say I have necessarily enumerated them correctly.
==================================
Where to from here?
Yusuf is back on the Road to Find out.
Maybe not spiritually, as he has found the path, but musically. He has new material, and the musical.
I don't know about the other majicatters, but while I like the new albums, I prefer the older ones. Of course I have lived more with them, they fit like a favorite pair of shoes. The road he will travel with the new material - will it bring along the old fans, will new listeners take it up? Will we follow his new road - well, I will, but will others?
Also, for the last 30 odd years his songs have been fixed, like those of a long gone friend, and we know them gbackwards. But they are his songs, and he is changing them again- how does that fit? They are not sacrosanct after all! (thinking about the 'be what you must'/waterside and lilywhite/lilywhite 2009 and peacetrain instances). Some of us will rejioice in this, will some be disappointed?
And the musical - I think its absolutely going to be excellent. But there again, I wonder will younger people exposed to the musical maybe before they know any Cat Stevens/Yusuf music as such only experience it then through the musical and identify it as that? In other words, will his music be just the sound track to a musical, rather than as the possible soundtrack to their lives, or part of their lives?
Just thoughts, ramblings, of a fan after a few days thought from a thought provoking evening...
Thanks for reading,
took me blinking ages to type, when I should be working..... ;-)
Gavin
Hello all,
despite there being already a wealth of reports and comments on the Dublin concert, and despite being unsure that I can add anything of real significance to the Fan community before the Dublin gig fades into memory and is eclipsed by the other concerts... I have decided to add one more post after all, with a bit more personal background.
I will be glad if some of you gain pleasure or benefit from it.
I am in a priviliged position, relatively. No, I didn't get backstage at the concert to talk personally with Yusuf, but compared to most other Cat/Yusuf fans who are under about 45 I am very lucky as I have seen him 3 times live by now -
at 'A night to remember' in Royal Albert, in Shepards Bush, and now in Dublin.
Ok, so I was at none of the 'classic' Cat concerts in the 70's, but I suppose few 5 and 6 year olds were!
All the years as a young teen and into my twenties and early thirties I never imagined I would ever see him live, my favorite musician.
When we lived for a while in London, wondered would I ever bump into him, but of course never did, as London is rather big after all! So, not long before we were due to leave London and return to Ireland I found out he was going to be at the
Royal Albert Hall, I had to go.
Ok, it wasn't much of a 'Cat' concert, but I had now seen the man. He _did_ exist!
Of course when the Island 50 concert came up - a proper, contemporary music concert - I had to go, again!
Now, when I heard he was coming to Dublin, I had to go! No question.
His first big performance, and he was honouring us in Ireland with it. Fine, Dublin is not my hometown, but its on this island, rather than the neighbouring one! My wife and a friend who for over 20 years has been a Cat fan also(though not as big!) were coming too.
Now, life has a way of getting on top of you.
Last Sunday, before the concert, I was making arrangements with my friend to as to where to meet, but we both remarked on how worn out and tired we were from the previous weeks, and how, if we had not bought the tickets in advance, we might not even have gone, it seemed such a trek. 'WHAT?' I hear the cries of the fans who would five their right ear to see him live, but you know, thats what happens when things are put in your lap, sometimes you don't appreciate them!
Whats that about a prophet in his own land?
1 1/2 hrs drive later we met my friend at a car park in central Dublin and then walked the 20mins to the venue. Thank God it was dry, as it often isn't. Told my friend about the musical bit, though we weren't sure what exactly it would be.
She was surprised to hear about it at all, not having taken any concious notice of it in the advertising - and I rate her as highly intelligent and with it. If it escaped her, it escaped many others.
We took our seats, about half way down , almost head on to the stage.
Out he came and straight into Lillywhite - fantastic.
The mood was great, a few hecklers shouting up songs for him to sing, but you get that at every concert. He was full of praise for Irish music and glowing about Dublin. He excitedly mentioned several times the great surprise that lay ahead. I am cringing now as I listen to this again, in light of what followed.
You can get the set list on yusufislam.com, but it missed out 'Welcome Home', which came between 'Boots and Sand' and 'Fill my eyes' for the first set.
My Highlight was 'Waterside', one of my all time faves. I felt the rendition was slightly flavoured towards the song on 'Another Cup' whose name escapes me, the one that starts with the same intro. Oh Yeah, 'Be what you must'. But it was still brilliant.
By this part of the concert, what had started as a guitar only set had been complemented by the full works of bass and drums and keyboard. My wife is pregnant - almost there- and the baba was going mad in her tummy! Loving it!
As we came to the intermission, the mood was good, everyone seemed pretty happy.
Got talking to our neighbouring seat - a couple over from Norway for the concert. They were pleased with it, he knew all the songs played so far, as did I, but not my friend who only knew the Cat material, but was still well pleased.
After the break Yusuf returned in a different outfit and introduced the musical, everyone happy and fine. But then after about 20 minutes, a noticeable change in the mood of the crowd.
Now, as I hope you can tell from the above, I am a _big_ fan (I am the biggest Cat/Yusuf fan that I personally know - though not as big as some of the other majicatters, who for example rather than just saying their favorite songs from Albums can instance particular versions of songs from concerts when listing favorites!).
But even then, I was, we three in my little group were, wondering what exactly is the running order now - is this musical the whole 2nd half and then basta, go home? We didn't know. We hadn't been told.
yes, a brilliant first set, but only 40 minutes of the real man, and then someone else singing his songs? We didn't know. And after paying at least 100 Euro (about 140 USD) some people were not happy with that.
Put another way - if someone was told, "Pay 100Euro for a 40 minute concert, then a bit of musical excerpt", I am sure there would have still been a decent crowd at the gig, and would have appreciated it. But from all the commments about, people were of the understanding before the concert that they would be getting a full length concert, and yet now it looked to most all of us that this was it.
The actors were excellent, the music pretty good - as someone else has said 'Remember the days of the old school yard' was really good, but it wasn't the real man! Was he never coming back?
People began filing out, I would guesstimate 300-400 out of about 10-11,000 present. Others started jeering and slow clapping.
My friend said she was mortified. For those who don't know, that means embarrassed to the power of 10. Or 100.
The musical lasted 40mins.
Then another little break, and everyone wondering what on earth would happen now. Someone said they were worried their might be a riot. A little panicky, maybe, but it gives an idea of the uneasiness in the crowd. Uneasy because we didn't know what was happening in the concert, uneasy because we wondered were the jeerers and hecklers going to get rough. It turns out from a radio interview
(see my previous post 1/2 way down this page....
majicat.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dublin&action=display&thread=3174&page=6
for details of how to listen to a radio commentary from people the day after the show)
that some of them were very abusive to staff at the venue. And they were repectable looking middle aged lads in suits..
But he came back. Shaken.
Shaken Stevens (sorry couldn't resist).
I had binoculars, I wondered was he crying, or close to it. Thats how we felt anyway.
The mood was low enough. He really had to pull it out of the bag to get the crowd going - but he did. Bad Brakes shook the house! Moonshadow and particularly Peacetrain were brilliant!
That was the end of the set, but a raptourous applause brought them all back on stage for an encore - 3 tunes! Yippee!
....But some of the crowd jeered again when he said he was going to play new material. Jeering on an Encore. Those people were a shame on our country.
After the encore, a good clap, but we thought it was all over. Just as people had given up on the clapping - he came out again!!
Father and Son. Sneaky last minute miracle for those who had been shouting out all night for it! And then came Ronan Keating and he bowed down to the great man - bit like the way Bono came on in Shepards bush. Wait a minute - 2 paddies! We are not _all_ bad!
As we left, everyone was still in a bit of shock I think about what we had witnessed. The return of a marvellous musician marred by impatience. The Norwegians beside were shocked, and wanted to know if that was a typical type of Irish concert behavoir - what could we say except that it wasn't...
The night was massively memorable, but not necessarily for all the right reasons. Saw a good few sub-10 year old kids going out too! Something to tell their kids and grandkids.
==================================
The reasons why people were so impatient and aggressive could be anything - but from my own feelings and having spoken to friends about it and listend to the radio and read the reports, I think the following are some of them:
- Ireland played a big rugby match that day (vs. Australia) and no doubt some people were well oiled and just cantankorous
- Some people, like my friend, had not taken the slightest regard to the fact that there would be this musical, so were in no way prepared for it; and indeed most of us thought the evening was over when the musical was over, and felt disappointed over that
- we weren't told. Like when you are stuck on a train going nowhere, a bit of information soothes the nerves, but it was missing; and the jubilation of the even wasn't enough to take its place- In Ireland generally, there is a mood of discontent. We have gone from Celtic Tiger to smushy economy in 2 years, massive paycuts, massive rise in unemployment, looming bad times ahead, and there is genuinely an air of disquiet about the place. This unfortunate time in the concert may have just been a
manifestation of that.
There is no excuse for what happened, but there may be genuine reasons.
Thats not to say I have necessarily enumerated them correctly.
==================================
Where to from here?
Yusuf is back on the Road to Find out.
Maybe not spiritually, as he has found the path, but musically. He has new material, and the musical.
I don't know about the other majicatters, but while I like the new albums, I prefer the older ones. Of course I have lived more with them, they fit like a favorite pair of shoes. The road he will travel with the new material - will it bring along the old fans, will new listeners take it up? Will we follow his new road - well, I will, but will others?
Also, for the last 30 odd years his songs have been fixed, like those of a long gone friend, and we know them gbackwards. But they are his songs, and he is changing them again- how does that fit? They are not sacrosanct after all! (thinking about the 'be what you must'/waterside and lilywhite/lilywhite 2009 and peacetrain instances). Some of us will rejioice in this, will some be disappointed?
And the musical - I think its absolutely going to be excellent. But there again, I wonder will younger people exposed to the musical maybe before they know any Cat Stevens/Yusuf music as such only experience it then through the musical and identify it as that? In other words, will his music be just the sound track to a musical, rather than as the possible soundtrack to their lives, or part of their lives?
Just thoughts, ramblings, of a fan after a few days thought from a thought provoking evening...
Thanks for reading,
took me blinking ages to type, when I should be working..... ;-)
Gavin
