grumpyf1

Sunglasses when it's dark? Check. Rock God? Check. Brace yourselves, I’ve got some shocking news. My faith in humanity has been restored. In London. That’s a lot to process, isn’t it? First off, I can reassure you that I haven’t been kidnapped and a cheerier, equally dashing, doppelganger parachuted in to replace me. It’s fair to point out that this may also be a fleeting version of me, destined to have evaporated like the mist on a sunny morning by the time you read this. But hey – I’m in a happy place for the time being. All thanks to a trip to Wembley Stadium last Saturday to see Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra. I haven’t been there for 25 years... or ever, if you take into account the fact that it’s been replaced since I went to the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert in ’92. True, the day could have started better. As we approached Arnside station in the car, a train was rattling across the viaduct, accompanied by a dawning realisation that we’d got the departure t...

Good things come to those who wait. And I had to wait more that 30 years to catch a musical hero doing his thing live. Was it worth it? Some time in the early 1980s, me and a couple of friends had cycled into the slightly rough end of a nearby town, and were zipping around a block of garages in a high-speed game of “tag” – we didn’t have mobile phones then, so we had to find other ways of entertaining ourselves. Around a corner was a vandalised car. Some cassette tapes were scattered around on the ground, shiny-brown contents blowing around like synthetic grass, broken free of their cases by cruel stamping. One of them was pretty much intact, with just a few feet of tape flapping in the breeze. On it was a swirly logo consisting of three letters: ELO. I sort of knew ELO – I’d heard their late 70s stuff as I started getting interested in music. The album was “Time”, and – dexterous use of a screwdriver, Stanley knife and slivers of sticky tape later - I had a working cassette,...

Hold on tight! This week sees the return of a man who is definitely a musical genius with a capital G. Don’t walk away – it isn’t strange magic... Jeff Lynne is back! Yes, the be-afro-ed one with the shades who bestrode the 70’s with orchestral rock of the highest calibre did apparently not turn to stone, or purchase a ticket to the moon, for this week sees the release of not one, but two albums, all over the world. Considering it’s 22 years since the ELO frontman/writer/guitarist/everything else too’s last solo outing, it’s true that this could cause some confusion. For a man heading into the twilight of his career, it’s an ambitious outing – “Long Wave” is an album of covers of songs from his youth, whilst “Mr Blue Sky” is a best-of... but re-recorded entirely by his Jeffness as - get this! – he wasn’t happy with the original versions. Don’t bring me down, Jeff – they were awesome. But I guess that’s the way life’s meant to be. If he wants the world to know “I’m alive”...