Mick Ralphs Blues Band - Saturday 26th November - Jazz Cafe, Camden

Having seen Mr Ralphs on numerous occasions in various guise, this is the first time I'd seen him as a headline act in his own right. The fact that he'd be playing no Bad Company or Mott The Hoople Material in his own set was offset by the choice of support band - "Free & Co" - guess what they played !!! -;)

I got my first "2 pointer" of the evening by recognising drummer Phil Martini in their line-up - last seen (by us) in The Quireboys and The Union.

Mick and his excellent blues band then played a competent set. In fact that's doing a dis-service. For a set where we basically knew nothing but 1 or 2 snippets of songs, it was actually really good. I was also surprised that no songs appeared to feature the words "I Woke Up This Morning" !!). Later, I gained further "spotting points" by seeing Photographer Ross Halfin (working), Tracy Hunter (at the bar), Kurt Brandon (also at the bar) and rumours of a sighting of Jimmy Page (upstairs). Well worth the trip.

Setlist
Rock Me Baby
Hi-Heel Sneakers
Just a Little Bit
Next Time You See Me
Blow Blues
Mr. Charlie
Hide Away
It Hurts Me Too
Help Me
Further On Up the Road
Got My Mojo Working
Mamma Talk To Your Daughter

SAS Band - Friday 25th November - Clapham Grand

Brian May addresses the Clapham crowd

This was officially billed as the "Freddie Mercury Tribute", marking 20 years since the sad death of the legendary Queen frontman. That makes it 10 years since an excellent tribute show at the Hackney Ocean which featured Messrs May and Taylor plus guests like Bruce Dickinson with the SAS band.

Internet Forums were awash with comment that May and Taylor "couldn't be bothered" to turn up for this one, so it was a pleasant surprise when Brian May strolled onstage during Kerry Ellis's take on "No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)". This was followed by "Somebody To Love" and an impressive "Tie Your Mother Down" before he departed (turns out he was off to guest at The Darkness's show up the road in Hammersmith - where he also played "Tie Your Mother Down" amongst others!).

Still, as always, the band was held together by the SAS band  Spike Edney and Friends. A string of fairly low key guests - Madeline Bell, Chris Thompson, The Fabba Girls, Patti Russo & Tony Vincent - injected much fun into the evening. In fairness, it didn't compete with the event 10 years ago, but that didn't prevent it from being a fun night out with the chance to hear some great songs.

Setlist
No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) (Kerry Ellis and Brian May)
Somebody To Love (Kerry Ellis and Brian May)
Tie Your Mother Down (Kerry Ellis and Brian May)
Davy's On The Road Again (Chris Thompson)
Blinded By The Light (Chris Thompson)
We Got The Fire (Chris Thompson)
Don't Stop Me Now (Patti Russo)
Chain Of Fools (PattiI Russo)
Another One Bites The Dust (Patti Russo)
Mamma Mia (Fabba Girls)
Fat Bottomed Girls (Fabba Girls)
Dancing Queen (Fabba Girls)
+
Now I'm Here (Tony Vincent)
I Want It All (Tony Vincent and Chris Thompson)
Hammer To Fall (Tony Vincent)
I Want To Break Free (Madeline Bell)
Natural Woman (Madeline Bell)
Heard It Through the Grapevine (Madelin Bell)
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Chris Thompson)
These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Chris Thompson)
The Show Must Go On (Chris Thompson)
Under Pressure (Tony Vincent and Kerry Ellis)
+
We Will Rock You (All)
We Are The Champions (All)
+
You're The Voice (Chris Thompson and All)
With A Little Help From My Friends (Patti Russo and All)
All The Way (All, Acappella)

Who's Who - Friday 18th November - Half Moon, Putney

A nice Friday evening trip to Putney to see the UK's premier Who tribute band (alongside "The Mods" of course!). The Half Moon is being refurbished, so it looked a bit strange with the bar closed, but the venue open. A mid sized, enthusiastic crowd were treated to nearly a couple of hours of Who classics with the band returning for an unexpected encore after it looked like they were done and dusted. The Half Moon appears to be the only London venue they play these days which is a bit of a shame, but if you are a fan of the Who and get the chance to see these guys then I suggest you do.

Roxette - Tuesday 15th November - Wembley Arena

So, 17 years after their last Wembley appearance, the promoter books Swedish stars Roxette at Wembley Arena for the same evening as England v Sweden at Wembley Stadium. Genius! Thankfully, the smallish football crowd didn't hamper our journey to a pretty much sold-out gig too much.

Support was provided by Darren Hayes from Savage Garden - not my cup of tea, so after a cursory glance to acknowledge another "Chart Act", it was off to the bar!

Taking our seats about 18 rows back from the front, it was apparent that many people had travelled long distances to be at the show. If was also clear that Roxette attract a very diverse audience. At least everyone had grown up from the "teeny-bop" crowd from 2004 !!

The show itself was excellent - the set not wildly different from the Per Gessle solo shows also detailed on this blog. As expected, most of the backing band were the same as from that show, although  obviously Marie Fredrikson adds a great deal vocally and with a striking iconic image.

One of the highlights for me was a heavy electric version of the National Anthem as the guitarist was introduced  - last heard in this form by me at the same venue by a certain Mr P Townshend in 1989 !

Rumours are for another London show next year - venue and cost permitting, that would be fine by me.

Setlist
Dressed For Success
Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Wish I Could Fly
Only When I Dream
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
Perfect Day
Things Will Never Be The Same
It Must Have Been Love
Opportunity Nox
7twenty7
Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
Crash! Boom! Bang!
How Do You Do!
Dangerous
Band presentation + God Save The Queen
Joyride
+
Watercolours in the rain
Spending My Time
The Look
+
Listen To Your Heart
Church Of Your Heart

The Union - Friday 21st October - O2 Academy, Islington

The Union soundcheck to an empty O2 Academy

A rare treat indeed. As a result of a previous purchase, I was invited to the soundcheck and a meet & greet for the 3rd night of the Union's tour in support of their excellent new album "Siren's Song".

An early start (4.45pm!) and I was ushered with around 10 other lucky guests into the empty O2 Academy where the band had just gone on stage.

They then ripped through 3 new songs from the new album, at full volume - a private gig for the handful of us! I was surprised how "full on" the soundcheck was - no holding back vocally from Pete Shoulder for example.

Following that, the band came to the floor for a chat and were very friendly and hospitable. I had a chance of a few minutes with Pete and Luke (Morley) and then a few seconds with Chris (Childs) before the support band started sound-checking and it was time to go.

A brief solo pub-crawl of Islington followed and then it was time to pick up my ticket from the guest list - yay!

Although not quite full, the atmosphere was good and the band were on stunning form. Easily the best show I've seen from them and both music and especially vocals were fantastic. It was all over quite quickly (the Academy has an early curfew on Fridays), so I'd be hoping for a longer set next time around.

On the way out I bumped into Dave Ling ("Ling alert!") and had a brief chat - he seemed to enjoy the show too. Hope it isn't too long until the next one!

Setlist
Watch The River Flow
Burning Daylight
Black Gold
Saviour
Easy Street
Blame It On Tupelo
Lillies
Obsession
The Remedy
Cut The Line
Black Monday
Siren's Song
+
Come Rain, Come Shine
Step Up To The Plate

Wheatus - Thursday 22nd September - Kingston Hippodrome

A late decision - based on a bargain price (£4), nearby location and the fact that I'd never been to the venue - even when I was appropriately young enough to mix with the crowd it attracted. As it was, I was expectedly in the top percentile - age and height wise! And it's not every show I go to where full airport-style metals detectors are in play - tapers eat your hearts out!

 
So I was only ever going to know 2 songs (the cover of "A Little Respect" and their chart-topper "Teenage Dirtbag"), but I was really impressed by the musicianship, audience interaction and quality of all the songs in their hour or so long set (it may have been longer - we missed the start). The place was packed and even allowing for the fact that people were necking shots by the half-dozen there was a friendly atmosphere.

Brendan B Brown / Karlie Bruce

On our way out, the band were helping pack their gear into a transit, so I took the opportunity to offer my congratulations on a good show. Richard wanted to know why I chose to have this short conversation with backing vocalist Karlie Bruce as opposed to main man Brendan B Brown. You decide!

Setlist (probable)
Leroy Lemonade
Hey, Mr. Brown
Fair Weather Friend
Truffles
Something Good
Hump 'em n' Dump 'em
My Name is Jonas
BMX Bandits
A Little Respect
Anyway
Whole Amoeba
Teenage Dirtbag

Ludacris - Saturday 6th August - Angels Stadium, Los Angeles

Ludacris and band in the middle of the "Angels Stadium".
Those keen enough could queue to get on the diamond.

Errr...an unexpected "treat". Whilst on hols in the US, it transpires that some of the baseball teams do what the racecourses in the UK do and put musical acts on after the sporting entertainment. So after seeing the Angels well and truly thrashed 5-1 we had the delight of seeing the "multi-award and multi-grammy winning hip-hop artist and actor".

I must be honest and feared the worst - this isn't likely to be my cup of tea at all, but as my son was keen to stay - and within reason I'll try any music once - we decided to give it a go. 

Now I'm not wanting to offend anyone who likes this style of hip-hop or thinks that Ludacris is the best thing since sliced bread, but at the end of the first song, my son says "Can we go now please?" whilst covering his ears. So we did, as the 2nd and 3rd songs played whilst we made our way out of the stadium (with several thousand others!), I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the tracks. Lots of bass and shouting is a fair description.

Roger Daltrey - Wednesday 13th July - Southend Cliffs Pavillion

A trip to the "far east" to see the Who frontman. Following on from the performance at the RAH earlier this year, we basically got the full version of Tommy and selected other solo and Who highlights. With a largely American band plus Simon Townshend (who's limited edition EP I purchased from the merchandise stall), the band had obviously rehearsed a stack of material as the setlist appeared to change on each night of the tour. This meant we got treated to an impromptu "Bargain" when one of the musicians was having problems with his instrument. We also got a Taj Mahal blues number & Johnny Cash Medley as per the "Killing Cancer" charity show.

The only downside was having to put up with "Tattoo" - in my opinion up (or down) there with the few poor songs the Who ever recorded! Otherwise a great night out, even if it meant getting home in the early hours

Setlist
Overture
It's a Boy
1921
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Eyesight to the Blind
Christmas
Cousin Kevin
The Acid Queen
Do You Think It's Alright?
Fiddle About
Pinball Wizard
There's a Doctor
Go to the Mirror
Tommy, Can You Hear Me?
Smash the Mirror
Sensation
I'm Free
Miracle Cure
Sally Simpson
Welcome
Tommy's Holiday Camp
We're Not Gonna Take It
+
I Can See for Miles
Behind Blue Eyes
Days Of Light
Freedom Ride
Going Mobile
Real Good Looking Boy
Johnny Cash Medley
Going Mobile
The Kids Are Alright
Tattoo
Young Man Blues
Bargain
Baba O'Riley
Without Your Love
+
Red Blue And Gray

Scouting For Girls - Thursday 14th July - Epsom Racecourse

An evening of racing on Epsom Downs, followed by one of their music nights. Having won precisely nothing on the gee gee's it was good to be cheered up by some good time rock and pop. With family & friends in tow, we all had a good evening out as the band ripped through the best of their 2 albums. No covers of any James Bond themes this time around, but we did get "Michaela Strachan" and a really good version of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You".  Hope their third album is as good as the first 2.

Jimmy Barnes - Saturday 6th July - Shepherd's Bush Empire

After 6 weeks without a gig, I was looking forward to this one. Aussie legend Mr Barnes belting out his hits in front of lively - mainly Australian - crowd. Added bonus for us was the support being provided by "The Union" - hopefully warming up for some headline shows of their own later in the year. Luke, Peter and the boys played a solid 40 minutes or so and I'm hoping that those in the crowd who hadn't see them before were impressed. They wisely stuck to the heavier end of their material and it seemed popular.

After a short break, Jimmy and his band appeared. The normal selection of family members included (daughters on backing vocals, son on drums etc) and the band were on good form. Pleased to say he played pretty much everything I was hoping to hear and a good time was had by all. I'm guessing the SBE's bar takings do well when the aussies are in!

Texted an Australian friend to find out which is the "Unofficial Aussie National Anthem" - "Working Class Man" or "Khe Sanh"? I am told it is the latter - just!

Tried to go and watch the David Haye fight afterwards, but not prepared to pay ten or 20 quid to get to a packed pub to watch the last few rounds. Ended up watching the final round through the window of the Larrick in Putney whilst an alternative brawl took place around us involving one bloke who was so drunk, he couldn't stand up. Sounds like we didn't miss much anyway.