Woodedz - Sunday 7th September - Dugdale Centre, Enfield

New town, new venue. Well for those of us from south if the river anyway. It looks to an outsider that Enfield has a nice part - Enfield Chase, and a not so great part - the town. We found 3 nice pubs in the former - the riverside one being particularly pleasant.

The venue - the Dugdale Centre - is firmly in the town. It is a modern theatre complex and stands out from its slightly rougher surroundings. 

In case you don't know, Woodedz are John 'Rhino' Edwards from Status Quo, together with his 2 sons, Freddie and Max. The audience - primarily Quo fans were here in support of this charity show raising cash for the local Papworth Hospital. 

Not really knowing what material to expect, it was good to hear a large chunk of the Rhino's Revenge album, some obscure and not so obscure Quo tacks and a smattering of covers. The only downside was a dreadful song which appeared to be called 'Secretary' with truly cringe-worthy lyrics ("you want a double entendre, I'll give you one" etc). 

Otherwise, well worth the tenner entrance fee and trip across town. Now if only the venue could afford a stage...

Scouting For Girls - Friday 8th August - Brighton Racecourse

So, another chance to see Scouting For Girls - this time in the environment of Brighton racecourse after an afternoon of horse racing. The concert area itself was on a smaller scale to similar events at Epsom and Sandown and as a result a reasonable view could be had by all.

Bizarrely, the setlist was completely different to the Borderline show. A couple of covers were thrown in - Carly Simon's Bond theme, 'Nobody Does It Better' was a highlight and there was a recent Daft Punk song which has apparently been at number one for ages. I was possibly one of about 3 people in the crowd who didn't know it! Otherwise the greatest hits went down well. 

If anyone has the setlist, please pass comment. This was a nice evening in the sun without the hassle often associated with outdoor shows. 

Scouting For Girls - Tuesday 16th July - Borderline, London

Scouting For Girls turn up the heat

Scouting For Girls warm up for their forthcoming tour of British Racecourses with an intimate show at the Borderline - scene of their first London gig 8 years ago. With the temperature outside in the high 80's the heat in this underground venue was intense - for some reason the air conditioning was on at the back of the venue, but not on the floor at the front.

Funnily enough, we didn't feel like consuming much beer, so stayed away from the (empty) bar.

Anyway the heat didn't stop the predominantly female crowd enjoying the boys run through some new and more familiar material. The standard highlights included "I Wish I Was James Bond", "Elvis Ain't Dead", "Michaela Strachan" and of course, the finale, "She's So Lovely". One thing I do like about the band is that they seem to genuinely enjoy playing and engaging with the audience. Couldn't ask for more and looking forward to my family trip to Brighton next month to see them again.

Setlist
Make That Girl Mine
Millionaire
Without You
Summer In The City
Love How It Hurts
Take a Chance On Us
Silly Song
Famous
This Ain't A Love Song
Keep On Walkin'
I Wish I Was James Bond
It's Not About You
[Happy Birthday to Audience member]
Heartbeat
Elvis Ain't Dead (inc I Can't Help Falling With Love With You)
+
It Always Rains In L.A.
Posh Girls
Mountains of Navaho
Michaela Strachan
She's So Lovely

Bryan Adams - Sunday 14th July - Guildford Stoke Park

The only UK date this year for Bryan Adams as part of the "Magic Summer Live" event in Guildford. Not being too keen on the rest of the bill, our attendance was obtained by a "2 for 1" offer a few weeks before the event. A really hot day meant refreshment was sought in a couple of pubs by the river before heading to Stoke Park. We caught the end of James Morrison's set, but were confident we'd not missed much for the rest of the day.

Bryan himself seemed very relaxed and played a solid set. The electric version of "I'm Ready" was unexpected and most welcome. "Summer of '69" was as brilliant as ever (albeit quite short) and the crowd engaged well after a long day in the sun. A man was called from the audience (a first according to BA) for "When You're Gone" and all in all this was an enjoyable Sunday evening.

Setlist anyone? (the one on setlist.fm is wildly incomplete)

The Who - Monday 8th July - Wembley Arena

The Punk & the Godfather?

I'm not going into details other than to confirm that the Who are officially brilliant !

Setlist

I Am The Sea
The Real Me
Quadrophenia
Cut My Hair
The Punk and the Godfather
I'm One
The Dirty Jobs
Helpless Dancer
Is It in My Head?
I've Had Enough
5:15
Sea and Sand
Drowned
Bell Boy
Doctor Jimmy
The Rock
Love, Reign O'er Me
+
Who Are You
You Better You Bet
Pinball Wizard
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again
Tea & Theatre

Fleetwood Mac - Friday 7th June - Tampa Bay Times Forum

View from the cheap seats!

So, definitely a new venue for me here! The Tampa Bay Times Forum provided a stop off on Fleetwood Mac's US tour. With tickets considerably cheaper than when the UK dates were announced shortly afterwards, we snapped up a few "nosebleed" seats and had a family outing.

The US make a gig going experience very easy. Car parked within 2 minutes walk of the venue, seamless "Will-Call" pickup and lots of legroom in a venue about the size of Wembley Arena.

With Christine McVie not in the current line-up, several of my favourite songs were missing. The middle of the set was a bit slow going (does any Fleetwood Mac fan really want to hear the words "and here are 3 songs from the album Tusk"?), but things picked up form Big Love onwards. You could be picky and say there was a slight self indulgence from Lindsey Buckingham with elongated solos, Stevie Nicks with the choice of a a solo song and Mick Fleetwood with the percussion solo, but I don't think you'd have found many in the near sell out crowd complaining. Knowing the setlist in advance meant we could slip out after 2.5 hours to miss the second encore and still feel we had got good value for money as we drove back up the I4 to Orlando.

Setlist
Second Hand News

The Chain

Dreams

Sad Angel

Rhiannon

Not That Funny

Tusk

Sisters of the Moon

Sara

Big Love

Landslide

Never Going Back Again

Without You

Gypsy

Eyes of the World

Gold Dust Woman

I'm So Afraid

Stand Back

Go Your Own Way

+

World Turning

Don't Stop

+

Silver Springs

Say Goodbye

Joe Cocker - Monday 14th May - Hammersmith Apollo

Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong. View from on high.

A one-off show for the man from Sheffield at London's Hammersmith Apollo. The speed of ticket sales meant only a seat in the balcony. We rather unkindly joked how the rather "mature" audience could be so quick of the mark to secure the best seats!

A solid set and the standard strong vocals/screams meant this was well worth the effort. I was especially pleased to see the Bryan Adams track "When The Night Comes" in the set. Joe looked in good health and hopefully his parting shot of "see you next time" will ring true.

Setlist
I Come In Peace

Feelin' Alright

The Letter

When the Night Comes

You Love Me Back

I'll Be Your Doctor

Up Where We Belong

Come Together

Eye on the Prize

You Don't Need A Million Dollars

You Are So Beautiful

Younger

Fire It Up

N'oubliez jamais

You Can Leave Your Hat On

Unchain My Heart

With a Little Help from My Friends

+

Summer in the City

Cry Me a River

T'Pau - Friday 3rd May - Burgess Hill

Carol Decker 2013

A pleasant evening in the "Rock & Roll capital of Sussex" - Burgess Hill. Carol Decker and T'Pau mark the 25th Anniversary of their debut album "Bridge of Spies". The all-seated venue was more populated than I'd been expecting and it was good to see co-founder and songwriter Ron Rodgers in the band.

The set was based around the hits - no surprise there - and it was good to see Carol's vocal power in evidence and also her sense of humour when addressing the audience with a few funny anecdotes.

After the show, we were lucky enough to have a chat with both Carol and Ron and they kindly signed our ticket stubs for us. Good to hear that Ron is still writing and performing with a band close to home and hopefully the success of this nationwide tour will lead to others in the future.

If anyone has the setlist then please add a comment.

The Bluefields / Mick Ralphs Blues Band - Friday 12th April - Borderline

The Bluefields are yet another band of blog favourite Dan Baird. Having not purchased with or the band's CDs (until tonight), I wasn't disappointed with the blend of country / southern rock that wouldn't have been out of place with most of Dan's other projects. What was bizarre was to see him on bass though.

The evening had started with the excellent Mick Ralphs and his Blues band, making this an exceptional value ticket. Mick even through in a pair of Bad Company Songs which was certainly appreciated by many of us.

One interesting touch from the headliners was the encore of 4 covers - each chosen by a member of the band. All good fun and a bonus "Ling point" too. The band very kindly stopped for a chat after the show and signed my 2 new purchases.

Setlist *
If Not Now When
Don't Blame Me
Don't Let Me Fall
Bad Old Days
What You Won't Do
Lay It On The Line
Flat Out Gone
Trainwreck
Nobody Loves You
Sweet Medusa
She's So Sick/100 Watt Girl
Suicide Doors
Belong
Wake It Up
Repair My Soul
+
Sin City
California Man
Jesus Just Left Chicago
I Fought The Law

*Setlist not 100% confirmed, but this isn't far off!

Glitter Band / Paper Lace - Thursday 11th April - Croydon Fairfield Halls

Yep, I know. Not 2 bands you'd expect to feature on this blog. But, showing my age, these are 2 bands I listened to whilst growing up in the 70's. And a local trip to Croydon was an opportunity not to be turned down, although by the sparse audience, not many others shared that view!

Paper Lace did not disappoint with a greatest hits set including the brilliant "Billy Don't Be A Hero". Of more surprise was a really good version of Quo's "Whatever You Want" and the Eagles "Heartache Tonight".

The Glitter band also wisely stuck to their hits, both those recorded under their own name and those with the now disgraced Gary Glitter. As you can imagine this let to a bit of a sing-a-long and a feel good evening. So, if they come around again, park your street-cred at the door and go and have some fun.