Jackie Lynton - Saturday 30th June - Scratchers, Farncombe

Hadn't seen Jackie for a while, so took took the train out to the country for a free pub show. Standard affair of rock, blues and Quo references, although Jack was feeling the heat a bit and was struggling to breath on occasions, meaning a shorter than normal set. Good to see "Tulsa Time" remains a staple on the set!

Seriously hot in the pub (who don't open the doors when there is live music on!), but well worth the notes put into the collection bucket at the end and the gamble of the last train home.

Billy Idol - Saturday 23rd June - Brixton Academy

Mr William Broad must be a creature of habit. If he plays a headline show in London, you know it is going to be at Brixton! Not my favourite venue, but far from the worst (as long as you are downstairs), so we saunter off to the Academy for an evening of punk and pop. It's sold out, so we don't leave it too late before going in - with a stop to collect the tickets on the door (despite paying for delivery!)

The venue is pretty full and the show good - with a fairly predictable set. No complaints here though - enjoyable as always.

Setlist
Shock to the System
Dancing With Myself
Pumping on Steel
Can't Break Me Down
Cradle of Love
Scream
Prodigal Blues
Eyes Without a Face
Guitar Solo
Don't Need a Gun
King Rocker
Blue Highway
Instrumental Jam
Rebel Yell
+
White Wedding
Mony Mony

Billy Joel - Saturday 16th June - Old Trafford, Manchester

Billy Joel's only UK show for 2018 is at the home of Manchester United, Old Trafford. Heavy security, triple bag scans and long queues to get in didn't deter a sell out crowd from largely being in place for the start of the 2.5 hour show (although reports of viewing difficulties from the side of stage did materialise later).

We had no such issues being face on - albeit miles away from the stage. The volume was surprisingly loud and Billy seemed to be enjoying himself. Personally, I enjoyed the various snippets of songs paying homage to British Rock bands through the years, but I would expect some fans who maybe hadn't seen him so often would rue the omission of songs such as "Only The Good Die Young" due to time constraints. "Big Shot" was also on the original scheduled setlist, but is no loss in my book!

The Battle Hymn of the Republic (interpreted in these parts as "Glory Glory Man United") was a cheeky introduction and Billy's humour was evident throughout. He was also armed with a fly-swatter which was twirled like a drumstick throughout the show when one hand was enough on the piano.

"Half a Mile Away" got a European debut and the crowd seemed to enjoy the "fielder's choice" option of choosing the set on 3 songs. "Just The Way You Are", "An Innocent Man" and "And So It Goes" missed out on selection.

A quick mention must be made of Tommy Burns, who's guitar playing was fabulous and seemed to enhance the rockier elements of the set.

Overall, a really good evening - made even better by the fact that the hotel was a 2 minute walk away!

Setlist
My Life (With ‘Glory Glory Man United’ snippet)
Pressure
The Entertainer
Your Song (snippet)
Vienna (Preceded by 'Rule Britannia')
The Longest Time (Preceded by 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' snippet)
Half a Mile Away
Zanzibar
New York State of Mind
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) (Followed by snippet of 'Layla' instrumental)
Don't Ask Me Why
Sunshine of Your Love (snippet)
Ruby Tuesday (snippet)
Honky Tonk Women (snippet)
The House of the Rising Sun (snippet)
A Salty Dog (snippet)
Good Times Bad Times (snippet)
Glad All Over (snippet)
The Downeaster Alexa
Allentown
Fire (snippet)
Sometimes a Fantasy
Bohemian Rhapsody (snippet)
Sultans of Swing (snippet)
She's Always a Woman
The River of Dreams / A Hard Day's Night
A Day in the Life
Nessun Dorma 
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
+
We Didn't Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
You May Be Right (with Rock And Roll snippet)

Bryan Adams - Thursday 31st May - 02 Arena

Night 2 and we have shifted to East London and a view from the side. A much more elderly crowd on this side of the arena meant we stayed seated for 80% of the show. Show was good - only real change was the live debut of a song from Bryan's "Pretty Woman" Broadway musical (with singer Samantha Barks), but sitting at the side feels like you are observing the show as opposed to being part of it, which was how last night felt.

Still, it was easy to enjoy the skills of all the musicians - especially guitarist Keith Scott who excels with this type of material.

Only downsides again were venue related - painfully slow to get in via the (entirely valid) extended security checks and general incompetence of bar staff.

Setlist
Ultimate Love
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Run to You
Go Down Rockin'
Heaven
This Time
It's Only Love
Please Stay
Cloud #9
You Belong to Me
Summer of '69
Here I Am
When You're Gone
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
Back to You
Somebody
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
Cuts Like a Knife
18 til I Die
I'm Ready
Brand New Day
+
I Could Get Used to This
I Fought the Law 
I Can't Go Back (with Samantha Barks)
Straight From the Heart
All for Love

Bryan Adams - Wednesday 30th May - SSE Wembley Arena

The first of 2 nights of Bryan Adams. A painful journey up to Wembley was followed by a long queue to get in. Luckily the compensation was our great seats - 2nd row central.

No support, meaning a 2 hour plus show from Bryan who was in excellent voice. A decent setlist too including a couple of well chosen covers made for a 9/10 evening. Always good to hear "Whiskey In The Jar" - whoever the artist!

Looking forward to tomorrow at the O2!

Setlist
Ultimate Love
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Run to You
Go Down Rockin'
Heaven
This Time
It's Only Love
Please Stay
Cloud #9
You Belong to Me
Summer of '69
Here I Am
When You're Gone
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
Back to You
Somebody
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
Cuts Like a Knife
18 til I Die
I'm Ready
Brand New Day
+
I Could Get Used to This
I Fought the Law 
Whiskey in the Jar 
Straight From the Heart
All for Love

Cregan & Co - Friday 25th May - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

The excellent Jim Cregan and his band are back in Sutton for a fun packed evening of Rod Stewart classics and a couple of other surprises including a random Beatles cover! Still including Thunder's Harry James on drums and Ben Mills on vocals, a packed house enjoyed a raucous sing-a-long on most numbers!

Setlist
Baby Jane
Forever Young
Hot Legs
The First Cut Is The Deepest
Tonight’s The Night (It’s Gonna Be Alright)
Wild Side of Life
Downtown Train
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
I Saw Her Standing There
I Was Only Joking
Passion
Blondes Have More Fun
I Don’t Want To Talk About It
Young Turks
Maggie May
+
Sailing
My Way (snippet)
Twisting The Night Away (partial Harry James vocal)
Sweet Little Rock and Roller

The Rolling Stones - Tuesday 22nd May - London Stadium

So last night, I was maybe 5 yards from the stage. Today, at least 120 yards - maybe more! Still, I was cajoled into paying over £100 to see the Stones at the vast London Arena (Olympic Stadium). And guess what - it was worth it!

Support came from Liam Gallagher who had the decency to include a decent amount of Oasis material - almost all of it much stronger that his other stuff. Vocals were a bit dodgy to start with, but improved and we took the opportunity to "borrow" some empty seats for his performance and sip an outrageously priced (£6.90 !) pint of beer.

Organisation at the stadium was slightly haphazard. A sensible "no bags" policy led to long queues (after we had got in) and even tubes of mints were being confiscated at the gate. Most of the stewards were unable to identify which seats were reserved and which were not.

This eventually led to us being "evicted" (with load of other people), but we were happy enough to stand on the pitch for the main act. They delivered a fantastic setlist and belied the fact that most of them are in their 70's! I went to see them in 1990 thinking it was probably a "a farewell" show, but this had more energy and quality than I'd have dared to expect.

The predictable "breather" was when Keith Richards sang his 2 songs which most of the audience clearly didn't know or care for. Surely he'd have been better singing another classic Stones song that he co-wrote (even if Jagger sang on the original).

That aside - a great evening!

Setlist - Liam Gallagher
Rock 'n' Roll Star
Morning Glory
Greedy Soul
Wall of Glass
You Better Run
Some Might Say
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Live Forever

Setlist - The Rolling Stones
Street Fighting Man
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
Tumbling Dice
Paint It Black
Ride 'Em on Down
Under My Thumb
Fool to Cry
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Honky Tonk Women
Before They Make Me Run
Slipping Away
Sympathy for the Devil
Miss You
Midnight Rambler
Start Me Up
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Brown Sugar
+
Gimme Shelter
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Monday 21st May, Boom Boom Club, Sutton

Some excellent news in that Dan Baird is over his recent health scare which forced him to miss the last tour. I believe this was only his second show back and it was a belter. Decent set, great band as always and fantastic to see Dan looking so healthy.

One very pedantic point - Dan usually does a CCR or John Fogerty cover in "Two For Tuesday"- often "Proud Mary", occasionally something else. To fit the song lyrics, why doesn't he do 2?

Setlist
Dixie Beauxderaunt 
Knocked Out Cold
Sheila / Do You Wanna Dance
Damn Thing to Be Done
Two for Tuesday / Proud Mary
All Over But the Cryin' 
Dan Takes Five 
Nothing Left to Lose
Crooked Smile
Julie + Lucky 
I Love You Period
Shake It Til It's Sore
Keep Your Hands to Yourself 
Dang Me 
Mon Cheri 
Moving Right Along
Licka Sense
Runnin' Outta Time
Railroad Steel 

Elio Pace & David Brown - Sunday 13th May - Leicester Square Theatre

Regular readers of this blog may recognise the name "Elio Pace" as the singer-songwriter who has been touring the last few years with his "Billy Joel Songbook" show, which I've seen a couple of times and can definitely recommend. Tonight is slightly different as he has persuaded David Brown - a member of Billy's band from the mid eighties to mid nineties to join him. The plan is to celebrate 2 of Billy's albums that David played on in their entirety - Glass Houses and An Innocent Man.

Presented with intros to the songs, anecdotes from both Elio and David plus a brief Q&A with the audience, the fantastic band breathed new life into the classic songs in a two and a half hour show. I remembered being impressed with David's playing at Wembley Arena in the early 90's, but it was a joy to see him play in such an intimate setting. Elio was clearing enjoying himself too and was on top vocal form. If they can arrange for this pairing to work again sometime soon then I will definitely be back.

Setlist
[Set 1: Glass Houses]
You May Be Right
Sometimes a Fantasy
Don't Ask Me Why
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
All for Leyna
I Don't Want to Be Alone
Sleeping with the Television On
C'était Toi (You Were the One)
Close to the Borderline

Through the Long Night

[Set 2: An Innocent Man]
Easy Money
An Innocent Man
The Longest Time
This Night
Tell Her About It
Uptown Girl
Careless Talk
Christie Lee
Leave a Tender Moment Alone
Keeping the Faith

[Encore]
Shameless

Ilona & Friends - Wednesday 9th May - The Bedford, Balham

Rich and I had caught the end of Ilona's set supporting Bucket & Co a few months ago and she sounded really good. So, the opportunity of a few never before visited pubs around Wandsworth & Balham and a free show was one not to be turned down.

The support band - will need to look up their name! - were very pleasant and a decent crowd applauded warmly.

On that previously mentioned occasion at Raynes Park, Ilona had performed solo - here there was a full band. No surprise that I knew none of the material, but it was all very good with band and vocals excellent. We were lucky enough to be given a free 1 song charity CD afterwards  and the band were all easily accessible if you wanted a chat.

Found myself humming "Money's out the door, love's out the window" the next day.

Good enough that a return visit will definitely be on the cards!