Leothebear wrote:HNY all. I watched Jools between dozes last night. I've given it a miss over the last few years but thought I'd give it another chance.
The "star" was Rod Stewart. He was in his crooner mode. He was crap. Time's up Rod you're well past "past it". Same could be said of Paul Jones. The other relics weren't much better. Hilights were the Sugarbabes. Joss Stone was OK, but the star of the show had to be a very young Irish girl blues singer called Muireann Bradley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnFEEnzgg_A She sounded like she'd been born and raised in the heart of Louisiana.
Such a refreshing talent amongst all the old farts.
I watched it for a change and was reasonably impressed. I agree about the Irish girl with her blue grass tendency. Great singing, great on the guitar and such confidence in a 16 year old.
The utter disaster was Paul Jones - he couldn't hold a note and is way past it. Rod Stewart was actually better by some distance, bearing in mind his voice has never been much to write home about, but at least those notes he hit we true enough. One annoying feature was the three backing singers dressed in red. They didn't seem to have anything much to sing. In the last song, one of them proved to be an excellent singer, so the fact they just stood there almost without a sound was a waste. Their job was to flatter the men, which seems a bit stinky to me.
The elderly black lady whose name I've forgotten was also a disaster like Paul Jones - way past it. The second elderly black lady was slightly better.
Higher up the spectrum were the Irish band who were shouty and angry for no real reason. Then come the Sugarbabes who weren't great except in one song. Again. living on past glories, I think.
That leaves Joss Stone who was a good performer but not my taste - though she earned her place.
So the standout was Muireann Bradley, then the two younger solo women - Olivia Dean and Raye. Quite different styles but both have good voices with excellent voice control.
In general, I wish Jools would get rid of some of the tiresome old guard in the audience and find some more new people to interview. But on the whole, it was a good show and far preferable to the Rick Astley noise on BBC1.
I recorded the remainder of Jools after 12.30 or one-ish and caught up this morning.
Today we have the "treat" of the Vienna NYD concert, in which we see an audience of loads of old rich people being taught to clap along like sheep. I would flatly refuse. The only part of this concert which has ever been worth watching is the interval when there's usually some stunning views of Austria and a little light-hearted ballet.
Arb.