LIVE ROCK CRITIC: LIVE ROCK CRITIC 32 QUEE...

LIVE ROCK CRITIC:                          LIVE ROCK CRITIC 32 QUEE...:                          LIVE ROCK CRITIC 32 QUEENS DIAMOND JUBILEE CONCERT                                                     ...

                         LIVE ROCK CRITIC 32 QUEENS DIAMOND JUBILEE CONCERT

                                                                            

The opening number with Military Band and Robbie Williams was supported by an enthusiastic audience. It was still daylight when Will-i-am, in a nice Sergeant Pepper outfit repeated tonight is going to be a good night and Jessie Jay joined joined him, she was terrible. It is off key, not hitting the special notes right on or perhaps the Pop Pablum.

Cliff Richard started a bit flat but picked it up in thirty seconds. I think it was Cliff Richard, Bryan Ferry and the Zombies who started my attention to music. By the third Cliff Richard number I heard the sound I was first attracted to. Every song is different and has its own character. Cliff Richard, who must be very old, six decades of hits, was resplendent in his salmon cloured suit and he moved danced and sang with energy, rhythm and style.

Annie Lennox was not Eurhythmic, a bit flat all the time, the overly low “Whoaa” voice. She does not hit steady notes warbling around the right pitch, the schmaltz syndrome, Annie was schmaltzing with one of the most uninspired usages of a Les Paul. Annie smashed her microphone.

Terrible Soprano Renee Fleming. Horrible schmaltz for a rock concert.

good night and Jessie Jay joined him, she was terrible. Is it off key, not hitting the special notes right on or perhaps the Pop Pablum.

Tom Jones rolled out onto the stage smiling. I was not really a fan, highly electric in my youth. What a voice he has. I do not care much for  "Delilah"                                                                                               
 That tune seemed to be better, more dynamic more alive. Sound may be better now for once than it used to be, making the great range mobility and precision of Jones' voice audible. The multiplicity of tones, the overtone, maybe what makes a great voice great.

Robbie Williams sang “Mac The Knife” on key but I was not pleased, I do not like the vocal style Robbie Williams affects.

Kyliee Minogue I did not rate very highly, really shallow pop.

Great piano player Sir Elton John rocked his old but still entertaining tunes, different from one another. Elton John’s voice is on key, on metre, and strong really strong. It could be that a distinct characteristic sound and ambiance is what makes a great performance great. What was funny was the really short flashes of Elton’s lead guitarist Davie Johnstone, never more than two seconds of Davie enthusiastically and properly playing his Les Paul.

                                                                              

Stevie Wonder played next. Nightfall brought more and more light show. Buckingham Palace became a light show screen. London is looking like a magical mystery city; the buildings in the back-ground  and the giant ferris wheel psychedelically lit.

Stevie still has what so many lack. I have heard it one hundred times but his music moves along with nice changes.

“Madness” were the novelty act of the night, up on the roof of Buckingham Palace, and the Palace was turned into a light show of working class England. “Our House”, the madness hit was followed by a second distinct and different song with its own character and hooks. It was repetitious but with varying music that somehow  negated the repetition.

                                                                              

I fast forwarded through the commentators, comedians and commercials. No comment.

                                                                                                                                      

Paul McCartney performed “The Magical Mystery Tour” better than the original. The entire McCartney band is tight and together, with none of the contrived togetherness of other ensembles. The was an electric presence. The electric instruments were distinct. There were no blurry musical walls of synthetic sound. McCartney's costume, like many other performers at the Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert had a unique British retro rock look.                                                     

The musical finale “Live and Let Die” was performed magnificently by Paul McCartney and his band. The music soared and crashed, it twisted and turned and changed and blared rising to a crescendo of sound and light and smoke and fireworks. That was one of the greatest performances I have ever seen and heard.