The Union - Thursday 21st February - Islington Academy

Glad I took the photo early in the set!

A chilly evening in Islington. After a couple of drinks at the Highbury and Islington end of Upper Street, we got to the Academy in plenty of time to see the support slot from Little Angel's frontman Toby Jepson. Playing a selection of solo and band material (all acoustic), he was in good voice although the crowd seemed slightly reluctant to get into full sing-a-long mode.

Then it was time for The Union. Having seen the rehearsal a couple of weeks ago this was a show I was looking forward to. I hadn't imagined it would only last 2 and a half songs! Unfortunately singer Peter Shoulder was suffering from a bad bout of flu and decided he couldn't continue. To be fair, the vocals hadn't sounded bad out front but the band rightly wanted to present their set in the best light. The show is due to be rearranged and hopefully Peter will recover soon.

We were trying to remember other shows I've been to which have been cut short midway through. I remember T'Pau going off twice in the late eighties - once when Carol Decker had nearly lost her voice (and they rescheduled) and once when I vaguely recall she'd fallen over at Hammersmith (I may be wrong on that!). Also Roger Daltrey went off at Wembley Arena in 1989 with the Who, leaving the others to do the encore without him (which led to an excellent Townshend version of Won't Get Fooled Again with full guitar smashing). Gary Moore cancelled after the support had finished, but hadn't started his set. Oh and Little Steven was bottled off at Quo's Selhurst Park gig in 1984! So, unless my memory is going (it is!), this was the first one in the last 20 years of gig going for me.

We briefly met Toby Jepson on the way out and he was very welcoming and happy to have a photo taken with Richard which was nice.

Setlist
Step Up To The Plate
You're My Jesus
Tangled Up In You (half)