It was a wonderful Wednesday in London thanks to my old friends at Universal Music (Ireland) who kindly invited me along to dinner and a concert with some great people in attendance, chief among them being Marty Whelan.
Marty continues to be one of the most resilient and respected figures in the entertainment world. He has taken the knocks and he has kept his head held high. Off screen or radio, he is one of the more congenial and entertaining of us presenter types (some can be quite dull in real life!) so I was thrilled when I heard he was going to be part of this night out on the town.
We met for dinner at The Standard Hotel where we all caught up on the latest news but also reminisced about previous trips and encounters with pop stars down through the years.
Journalist and raconteur, Stuart Clarke reminded me of our trip to Manchester when we got to meet Paul McCartney backstage before the gig. It was an honour for me as his biggest fan but when I asked him to step in for a photo, he raised his finger as if to say ‘No’ (he wasn’t doing photos that day) and the camera clicked regardless.
The upshot of it is a photo of me looking wide-eyed and demented as Paul raises his index finger in protest. Luckily, it looks as though he’s giving it a bit of rock and roll finger pointing so although I got away with it, I still tell the story against myself as it illustrates my unhinged fandom.
I’ve never got to interview Macca in my 20-plus years in the business (so far) and sometimes speculate that after ‘Photo-Gate’ he may have taken an injunction against me. If only he knew who the slender 51-year-old who runs past his house in St. John’s Wood most days was, his people might act on the legal order!
We also remembered the time I was brought to The Cavern Club in Liverpool, a hallowed venue that saw The Beatles kicking off their career back in the day. In 2018, Macca played a very intimate gig there and I was very lucky to be part of the crowd.
Some time later, my daughters found me at the TV with the pause button pressed. I explained that I was at the gig they were broadcasting and had paused when the camera caught a part of my back with Paul in the same shot. They shook their heads but also burst out laughing at the utter madness of the scene they came upon. All thanks to Universal, this is my point!
Anyway, back to Wednesday and Lucy Ebbs of Universal and her wonderful colleagues who had better war stories than mine, including a great yarn about Taylor Swift handing out cookies (biscuits) to label executives in a house near London as part of a promotional tour.
Myself and Marty spent a great deal of time catching up on each other’s lives and concluding that all is well in the world. Then it was off to the London Palladium, a venue I had never been in but that featured throughout my childhood as a TV staple on occasional Sunday nights.
Bruce Forsyth used to present variety shows there and all the great acts of the day showed up to do a turn. In fact, Bruce’s ashes are under the stage as his family felt the sounds of show business should forever ring in his ears. God help him.
As it turns out, the Palladium is a beautiful hall and we were there to see Elton John, above right, perform tracks from an album he has recorded with American country star, Brandi Carlile.
I knew nothing of her but she has won a zillion Grammys and is huge Stateside. On stage, Elton explained that he felt Brandi (his pal) deserved a bigger audience and so they recorded an album.
In fairness to them both, the tracks are phenomenal and brought to mind Seventies Elton but with a country music twang courtesy of Brandi’s incredible voice.
The whole event was filmed so you can watch it yourselves in a few months’ time but it was a privilege to see such quality up close and kudos to Elton John who continues to fly the flag for younger artists in the music world from Kneecap and Fontaines DC to Sabrina Carpenter and Chapell Roan.
He’s physically on the frail side but once he’s sitting at that piano, there’s no stopping him and no denying his status as one of the all-time greats.
Glastonbury
I’ve never been to Glastonbury and am not sure if I’ll ever go. Camping was never my thing but maybe if I sort out a decent tepee, there’s an outside chance I’ll get there.
I say this because it was a great buzz to read about the big Irish presence that will be making itself present at the revered grounds this summer
CMAT, The Hothouse Flowers, The Coronas, The Script and The Riptide Movement are among the musicians who will be entertaining the masses so expect to see plenty of tricolours waving in the skies that weekend.
One to watch
One to recommend this week is for fans of the gangster genre. One of my all-time favourite films is Goodfellas, the Martin Scorcese masterpiece starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta.
I won’t get into the detail but if you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favour and look at it as this is a stunning, difficult, beautiful classic of modern cinema. With this in mind, I was very excited to go to The Alto Knights on Monday afternoon.
Starring Robert De Niro as a 1950s gangster with very similar stylistic twists clearly influenced by and borrowed from Goodfellas, this could’ve been brilliant but it’s only very good (which isn’t a bad thing either).
I realise how confusing that last sentence reads but when you watch The Alto Knights, I think you’ll catch my drift. I’m glad I saw it but, unlike Goodfellas, it comes with a qualified recommendation.
