Fleetwood Mac, 1977. *SEE JULY 1st UPDATE BELOW Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s two Auckland concerts in December sold out today in 15 minutes. Which raises a couple of questions: Firstly is the issue of pre-sales. I bought a ticket last week in one of the pre-sales because I’m a LiveNation member and happen to have…
Category: Music
Nelson Mandela In Hospital – Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna’ Come’
Nelson Mandela. With the news 94 year old Nelson Mandela is back in hospital, I wanted to end last night’s episode of The Two (co-hosted by Pam Corkery, Newstalk ZB Friday and Sunday evenings from 8pm) with a suitably incredible song for such an incredible man. I chose a song which these days is better…
The Genius Of Nile Rodgers – Collaborations With Daft Punk & Paul Simon
The biggest international hit of 2013, Get Lucky, is credited to “Daft Punk feat. Pharrell”, but it’s the rhythm guitarist with the dreads you see in the music video who really makes the song. If those scratchy rhythmic leads sound familiar it’s not just because they’re derivative of classic 70s disco and 80s dance music,…
Why Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage’ Is Their Most Underrated, Mega-selling LP
Fleetwood Mac during the Mirage era. The last couple of days I’ve had a couple of Twitter conversations with Ken Caillat, most famously the producer of the biggest Fleetwood Mac albums and the father of singer Colbie Caillat. I took it upon myself to let Ken know that amongst my fellow Fleetwood Mac buddies, the…
Robin Gibb’s Death 1 Year On – A Stunning Secular-Gospel Bee Gees Song From The Early 70s
The Bee Gees circa 1981. One year ago today I was lying by the pool in Bali, checking email and realising one of my heroes had just died. If you click here you can link to the piece I wrote later that day in a disastrously a/c-free internet cafe about Robin Gibb’s death and what…
Bobby Womack Live In Auckland – His Most Monumental Song
Bobby Womack. Things have been a bit of whirlwind lately and – forgive me Bobby – but I somehow forgot that soul great Bobby Womack was playing in Auckland tonight. Realising my error just before show time, not surprisingly I missed out on tickets to the man who once played guitar in Sam Cooke’s backing…
Wishing Billy Joel A Happy Birthday With His Saddest Song
Billy Joel. A very quick post to wish Billy Joel a happy 64th birthday. I hope Billy gets inspired by Rod Stewart who has said goodbye to years of writer’s block and has finally released an album of new, self-written songs (Time). And while it may not seem like a particularly long time, believe it…
Fleetwood Mac’s First New Music In 10 Years Reviewed – ‘Extended Play’
Fleetwood Mac are back with their first new recordings as a band for 10 years. Particularly from the thinking man’s guitar hero Lindsey Buckingham, there have been plenty of solo projects in more recent years and Stevie Nicks even managed an acclaimed solo album in 2011 (In Your Dreams). But this is the first time…
The Bee Gees 1972-74 – A Hidden Gem From Their Most Forgotten Era
For Anzac day I was trying to think of an appropriate song and funnily enough, a Bee Gees song popped on my iPod and there it was, the perfect song. A slow, almost genteel acoustic ballad, King And Country ranks as one of the Gibbs’ great forgotten works from their transition period in the early…
Paul Simon Concert Review, Auckland 2013 – The Michael Jackson Song He May’ve Inspired
Paul Simon. Dare I say it, last night’s Paul Simon Vector Arena concert in Auckland was even better than Simon and Garfunkel’s show at the same venue in 2009. That concert was more rooted in glorious nostalgia, never more emblematic than when the lights silhouetted the two “old friends” and despite it being 40 years…
Paul Simon Live In Auckland Tonight – His Farewell Song To Art Garfunkel
My all-time favourite lyricist is in town tonight and I can’t wait. About 10 years ago I saw Art Garfunkel solo, in 2009 I saw Simon and Garfunkel together but tonight will be the first time I’ve ever seen a solo Paul Simon show. I say favourite lyricist because I don’t know of any other…
Elvis’s Greatest Ever Song, As Featured On Newstalk ZB’s ‘The Two’.
At the end of each episode of Newstalk ZB’s top-rated The Two (Friday and Sunday evenings from 8pm) Pam Corkery and myself like to conclude with a song that means something. “Means” in the sense that it should never just be a song to wash over you and that there should be a reason for playing…
