Live gig list/history
Hello there, as a few people have asked for a list of live concerts and gigs, I thought it would be a good to put up some dates here for people to add to, and even talk about the gigs. Thereby we can slowly build up the jigsaw of what has been a pitifully restricted yet rare catalogue.
Cornershop played The Buzz club at The West end Centre in Aldershot 1993, when ‘Days of Ford Cortina’ came out. I put the gig on but can’t find a record of the date, does anyone know please? Thanks!
Hey, are you planning to come to South America? It would be cool to see you in a summer festival here in Buenos Aires!
Gira de Cornershop por España: Granada, Alicante, Bilbao, Mallorca, Barcelona y Madrid:
http://www.musikota.com/blog/gira-de-cornershop-por-granada-alicante-bilbao-mallorca-barcelona-y-madrid/
25 febrero 2010 Centro Cultural Caja Granada Granada
26 febrero 2010 Hall Alicante
27 febrero 2010 Kafe Antzokia – Bilbao
28 febrero 2010 Teatre Lloseta Palma de Mallorca
1 marzo 2010 Sala Bikini Barcelona
2 marzo 2010 Sala Moby Dick Club Madrid
Review of the Brussels gig at http://muziekfriek.wordpress.com/ (in Dutch, I’m afraid).
Hi,
I’ve trawled through my diaries and have come up with these past dates but I know there should be more, including a very memorable gig at Kings Cross:
Friday 21st May 1993 – Tunbridge Wells (Forum) -with Mambo Taxi
Wednesday 16th June 1993 – Highbury (The Garage) – with Mambo Taxi + Shampoo
Saturday 10th July 1993 – Nottingham Heineken festival – with Blur + Back to the Planet
Tuesday 20th July 1993 – Poplar (Woolmore Primary School)
Thursday 16th December 1993 – Hammersmith – with Boy George
Saturday 8th January 1994 – Leicester – with Mambo Taxi
Tuesday 18th January 1994 – Camden Palace
Friday 21st January 1994 – Tunbridge Wells (Forum) – with S*M*A*S*H
Thursday 31st March 1994 – New Cross (The Venue) with The Senseless Things
Thursday 8th September 1994 – Camden (Falcon)
Saturday 15th October 1994 – Camden
Saturday 11th March 1995 – Whitechapel (Davenant Centre)
2nd March 1998 – Brighton (Concorde) with Les Rythmes Digitales
Cornershop
Its not every night the Brighton Concorde can boast to have something for everyone in one hit. Their name in lights, reminiscent of a fifties film set was the first impression of the arrival of Cornershop to our Sussex coast. A seemingly relaxed and friendly looking bloke, the new bass player led the seven strong band on to begin with a version of “Heavy Soup” a fitting name for a warming introduction, an instrumental, almost a jam gave us a brief taster of what we were in for. Lead, rhythm and bass guitar together with a percussionist, drummer and sitar player all part of the innovative and dare I say. The horrible pretentious word, ‘eclectic’ and mould breaking Cornershop.
It was, I think about a quarter of the way through “Jullandar Shere” I became aware that I was totally hooked for the evening, sucked in to this fifteen minutes of trance-like anthem. My, how I wished I understood Punjabi in this moment. The evidently contradictory Tjinder Singh, seemingly expressionless yet boldly chanting with intense brown eyes glancing upwards as if to draw strength from above. This mix of sequenced electronic drum beats, a hardcore British rock drummer, tight guitars and a bongo player that looked as though he may take off left me wanting to rewind this brief experience of my life and play it back very slowly… “Staging the plaguing of the raised platform” was the third, triumphant and more melodic offering, set against a backdrop of a hypnotic drumbeat and what sounded like a children’s choir blasting through the speakers with ‘making the dope, dope’ and causing me to investigate the crowd at the front, initially thinking it was the crowd joining in with the Singing! “Good Shit” gave us a possible T-Rex influenced or a real English rock sound spiced with tambourines, Latin guiro and again Tjinder’s focused gaze, deadpan vocal and strange aura of calm.
“Mar Sharl” saw the introduction of the Tamboura one of India’s most famous stringed instruments played by rhythm guitarist Ben Ayres, more thought provoking Punjabi lyrics, oddball samples and frantic guitars. “Butter the Soul” had the un-obtrusive yet charming sitar claiming all of our attention over the now established pace yet still intriguing East/West mix. It took me a few seconds to recognise the cover of our timeless Beatles classic Norweigan Wood (this bird as flown) which began with a acoustic guitar on pick-up and ebbed into gentle Punjabi lyrics…innovation at the extreme!! A familiar sight for the group l am sure as the crowd lurched forward on hearing Tjinders first few bars of “Brimful of Asha”, the tribute to Indian film star Asha Bolse, as if to remind us this band are capable of so much more than this chart topping smash, the black on white backdrop projected “Handcream for a generation” a suggestive reminder to us all to give this thought provoking new album some time.
Lessons learned from Rocky I to Rocky III” is a humorous and tongue in cheek song, directing a blow at manufactured nu-metal, and saw a still relatively sullen Tjinder completely straight faced while citing ‘ the overgrown super shit’ (first letters spelling TOSS) and ‘chicks with dicks’ and set against what must be the most powerful riffs to echo around the room for a long time.
A quick ten minute break and they were back. With a mammoth fourteen minutes of “Spectral Mornings” the frantic percussionist still with barely a bead of sweat, percussion instruments being passed around the group who as well as the crowd were now at the stage of whipped up frenzy, Singh the exception of course, this enigmatic man almost aloof but in my opinion a fresh, magical talent who’s song writing and production abilities fully compensate for a lack of stage presence. Cornershop, unlike many bands are the type you could revisit again and again, noticing subtle ingredients maybe missed the first time. They are back and we welcome them with open arms and open minds.
Michaela
Brighton Concorde / 15.04.02
Review: Cornershop till you drop
Nick Hasted
Wednesday, 4 March 1998
Cornershop
Brighton Concorde
Tjinder Singh stares into the middle-distance. All he sees are fans of his band. Jammed into the low confines of a one-time jazz venue, they can’t see him. When this gig was booked, it must have seemed an expansive space for . That was before “Brimful of Asha” became the most exhilarating Number One in years, and everything changed. The album it’s from, When I was born for the 7th time, had helped, one of the few sparks in last year’s musical gloom, a smooth yet never settled ride through every life-affirming sound Singh had heard, from bhangra to hip-hop – music from the better times in his head. But the weeks surrounding “Asha”‘s astonishing ascent seem to have taken their toll.
Interviewed while touring American stadiums with Oasis, Singh sounded as if the effort of achieving success had drained him of the will to sustain it. The insurrectionist spirit of his band’s beginnings, burning effigies of rumoured racist Morrissey in 1992, seemed gone. Reports on this tour’s start suggested no spark. And how does anyone deal with becoming a pop star overnight, anyway? So Tjinder Singh stares at the crowd, and the crowd stare at the space where they think he must be, and the trial begins.
At first, the rumours seem true. Singh doesn’t move, he merely seems numbed. Only the band spread at his sides, playing Indian classical instruments and wired-up electronics, give the crowd something to miss. Tracks from When I was born for the 7th time are played accurately, “Brimful of Asha” passes with pleased applause, no more. “Norwegian Wood”, translated slyly back to its Indian roots, inspires requests for more Beatles songs.
But as one song follows the next, the album’s spell begins to be cast. Its stitching of sitars and beats from bhangra and techno, Singh’s swaying from English to Indian lyrics, becomes one sound, seeping into moving, happy bodies. And, as the pressure fades, dare much more. They start a song which becomes a mantra, and then consumes surely half the gig, unstopping. Singh sings Indian words, shifting every few minutes. His band change beats the same way, layer textures, slip genres, but keep the song the same, keep you moving hypnotically. Singh walks off after a while. The band continue for some time. Then they follow. In a set that lasted no more than an hour, they’ve given us something special.
Afterwards, past 1 am, Singh can be seen still in the half-emptied venue, grinning beautifully as people come up to talk, or get his autograph. He’s passed the test he’s been set, behaved gracefully to everyone he’s met. He’ll make a fine pop star yet.
will be performing
at London ULU tonight
and Thursday, and appearing
at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in
London on March 12.
BACK TO SCHOOL!
Cornershop Woolmore Primary School, Poplar, London July 20th
“Cornershop-Mania has been breaking out among the pre-teens of east Lonodn, following the band’s recent gig at Woolmore Primary School, Poplar.
The band have been bombarded with fan letters and drawings from youngsters in the 270-strong audience.
The gig took place on July 20, two days after Cornershop’s appearance at The Phoenix Festival. The audience ranging in age from four to 11, comprised the entire school population plus one class from a neighbouring school…….” Melody Maker ’93