“He’s still sex on legs,” swears Claire. “Snake hips.”
Alabama 3, Brixton Electric
14 Bis, Barra de Sao Joao
14bis, discovered on a Brazilian sampler CD and by happy coincidence also playing during the World Cup.
Some two hours outside Rio at a Crustacean Festival.
Penetration, The Globe, Cardiff
Amazing that nearly 35 years after their last gig in Cardiff, Penetration were back in town.
Amazing, too, that they’ve never really reaped the rewards for their three-minute punk singles – among the best of an era.
This was a band that took a Patti Smith song and improved it.
Laugharne Festival
Did cosmic intergalactic forces divert David Icke from a key mission? And how did Ray Davies survive the curse of Neath to prosper?
Just some of the conundrums the 2014 Laugharne Festival failed to solve.
Icke did not attend and his entourage were reportedly uncontactable. The Kinks’ genius fortunately did appear and was full of bizarre, well-observed tales from an extraordinary career.
Yellowman, Dillinger – Globe, Cardiff
Albino Jamaican reggae star should have a word with the Football Association of Wales.
His Adidas gear/kit put the national side’s recent deal into perspective – we’ve definitely come out with the short straw – why can’t we have what he’s got?
How come he’s got the decent threads – tidy daps, long socks, football shirt and bit-too-long shorts and we’re lumbered with a far less impressive kit? Hmmm.
The night Bjork played Penarth
Yes she really did!
GUEST POST from Milford Haven boy Nigel Bowen (Biffo to his butties):
Alabama 3, Forum, London
Only got one I-knew-a-rock-star tale of before they were famous and this is it:
In 1983, at university I found my shaving mirror covered in a talc-like substance.
“Do you know what’s happened here,” I asked my flatmate.
Dakh Daughters Band, Lviv
Second time around, and it’s still the best show in the world.
Dakh Daughters Band headed to Lviv in Western Ukraine to play two concerts in what is regarded by many as the spiritual capital of the country.
Here Ukrainian is more widely spoken than Russian than in the east, which is regarded as more Russian.
Amanda Palmer, Klub Studio, Krakow
![IMG_2983[2]](https://milesfromnowhere.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/img_298321-e1383651911357.jpg?w=700&h=291)
In Bristol, in July, being a bit late to the party and having heard only the one song, I wasn’t really on the wavelength.
This time, I got it. The show was better, the audience wildly enthusiastic, the performances more intense and dynamic.
Womex 2013 – Les Tambours de Brazza, Rascasuelos, Transglobal Underground, Ljova and the Kontraband
Ljova and the Kontraband
American band try their hand at Russian klezmer song.
9Bach and Winston McAnuff at Womex 2013
Just a quick update of YouTube videos. 9Bach, the Welsh language band who offer a new take on traditional folk songs were excellent at the Womex 2013 event at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff.
Womex 2013, Day 3
Could it get any better? The short answer was ‘Yes’.
The sheer unexpected excellence of pretty much every act was a revelation. I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say that, with apologies to the National Eisteddfod, there can’t have been many better festivals/musical gatherings in our long and glorious history.
Miles from Nowhere 