Keith Emerson & The Nice - The Anvil, Basingstoke Sat 11th October 2003

Well the week-end didn't start too well - got home on the Friday & looked at The Anvil web site, just to see if the concert was a sell-out. Saw the message on the screen - due to a serious security incident, The Anvil is closed this evening & tonight's performance has been cancelled. (It was a concert by Paul Carrick - singer with Mike & The Mechanics). Hmm, OK - went downstairs to look at the TV - the whole of Basingstoke Town Centre had been cordoned off as a suspicious looking parcel with wires sticking out from it had been found inside The Anvil. The Police were called & so was the Bomb Squad. A controlled explosion resulted.

OK - Saturday morning, looked at the web site again & all was OK - The Anvil was re-opened again (!) Picked up the children at 5pm & went off to get some food. Got to The Anvil at around 7:15 & went into the Foyer. Lots of people there - average age about mid-40's. We saw another couple of kids there, so Catherine wasn't the youngest there.
Milled around & looked to see if there was anyone I knew there. I saw a person who works here at Hursley, but that was all. The time on the ticket was 7:45, & by 7:40 the doors into the Concert Hall still hadn't opened. I saw a member of the Road Crew standing by one of the food counters, so I asked him if he knew what the delay was. He said that it was going to start at 8pm due to the football match being played that evening (England v Turkey). So I got chatting with him. I asked him how last night's concert went (at Northampton), he said wonderful - a standing ovation after the first song. He said that he'd come out of retirement to crew on this tour - his best mate Baz had called him & asked him if he wanted a job. He jumped at the chance as he hadn't worked with Keith since the days of Patti Arnold. He was actually waiting for some sandwiches to be made for Keith. They eventually arrived (a mixture of Salmon & ham) & off he went to give them to Keith.

7:45 got let into the Concert Hall. We were about 8 rows from the front, but the way the Auditorium is staged at Basingstoke we were level with the stage so had a perfect view. The stage was setup with the keyboards to the left (modern keyboard to the left, Moog at the back with all the wires & knobs & lights on it - ribbon controller sitting on top of its keyboard, then Goff organ to the right with another modern keyboard on top of that). Behind this were two drum sets, then the guitar amps to the right. Had a look around - the Auditorium was almost full - out of 1500 capacity, I'd say about 1400 people there..
Lots of multicoloured swirly lights were being focused onto the keyboard setup, & some gentle classical music being played over the PA. At about 8pm, the lights dimmed & Keith, Brian & Lee & Dave Kilminster came onto the stage....

They started off with a mixture of America & Rondo with some other pieces & phrases thrown in. Dave Kilminster was doing the Davy O'List parts. Keith played one of his keyboards backwards standing behind it - this impressed Catherine no end....
They finished the song & yes, as the Roadie said there was a standing ovation. They then went into Tantalizing Maggie & Little Arabella & Brandenburger & Hang onto a Dream. During this song, the bit where the song naturally stops before the band come in - Keith stopped & said to his sound man "can you get rid of the hum" The hum went, everyone clapped & they carried on.
They ended the first half with the Karelia Suite - the thing that surprised me most was the drumming of Brian Davison. I didn't realise how good he was. OK, not brilliant, but a very good drummer all the same. Lee's singing perhaps left a bit to be desired, as especially during the first couple of songs it was difficult to understand what he was saying, but overall a thoroughly enjoyable first half.

We then had an interval of about 15 mins...Lots of drink being served in the Foyer - the amount of Tea & Coffee being sold probably reflected the age of the audience !! During the interval, Keith's piano was rolled out into centre stage, so we knew what to expect ! James, Catherine & I had some ice cream - James had double chocolate, Catherine had natural vanilla & I had Honey & Ginger (yummy)

The second half started with Keith pushing Dave Kilminster onto the stage to sing one of the songs from his solo album that he's recording. It was OK. Then Keith came out and gave us some piano pieces. I can't remember the names (possibly Blade of Grass first, then 'something' then a Ginestera piece - the one that's on the Albert Hall CD). Great applause at the end....

Piano got rolled away & Keith introduced Pete & Phil on drums and bass & they played the whole of Tarkus. Dave Kilminster's guitar took the vocal bit from the first bit, but sang Battlefield. (During the line "did you stand beside the spectral torch - Dave made the word 'stand' last for about almost a minute...) During the middle Keith got out his ribbon controller - bit of a let down I thought - got a couple of sparks from it, rubbed it on his bum then stopped using it - probably lasted about 30 seconds.
After Tarkus we got Touch & Go then FFFTCM (of course) - during the middle Keith got Brian & Lee to come back onto the stage & all six of them playing along.
The end - standing ovation again - we got an encore of Honky Tonk Train Blues, then sadly the house lights came on - it was then 10:45 pm. A very enjoyable evening was had by one and all.

James seemed to enjoy the second half better than the first - more of an ELP fan than a Nice fan, & Catherine was impressed with it all, which surprised me as I thought she'd be the more sceptical of the two of them.

Now they know what real music is all about !!!