A sold out show at G-Live. The announcement of 2 support acts had me fearing again for the accuracy of the stage times and the viability of our last train home from the nearby London Road station. The first act - 'The Opera Duo' did a decent version of Barcelona and 'Nessun Dorma' in their brief 3 song set. They were followed by 'Woman' - whose unique brand of vocals and strings provided an unusual take on a range of covers from Sweet Child O'Mine through Black Betty to Fat Bottomed Girls. They were well received.
Spike Edney and his SAS band appeared and rattled through a few favourites from their covers repertoire with Jamie Moses and regular guests Patti Russo and Madeline Bell joining in. A highlight was the appearance of Midge Ure for Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Vienna and a rousing Delilah!
The 29 Riffs song then got an outing and sounded as good as ever. Next up was the return of Roger Taylor's 'Cross' for the first time in 20 years. Many of the crowd had travelled long distances to witness this historic occasion. Now I'm a big fan of Mr Taylor and own pretty much all of his solo output as well as the full Queen catalogue. Some of his material outside of Queen is fantastic - unfortunately, IMHO, very little of that was recorded with The Cross! I was left underwhelmed - especially as he left the stage for a few of the weaker numbers and dragged out others.
The folly of a double support act meant we had to forego the Christmas sing-a-long at the end. Although a good evening, I couldn't help but think this was the weakest of all the SAS shows I have been to over the years with a noticeable lack of the usual roller coaster of surprise appearances. Maybe we've just been too spoiled in the past.
Setlist
THE CROSS
In Charge of My Heart
Top of the World, Ma
New Dark Ages
Man On Fire
Ain't Put Nothin Down
Liar
Dirty Mind
Cowboys And Indians
Power to Love
Heaven For Everyone
Sister Blue
Final Destination
+
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
No comments:
Post a Comment