Thunder - Saturday 20th February - Wembley Arena

So, following their warm up show at the tiny 100 Club, here is the full on arena show at the cavernous Wembley. A decent turn out (curtain 2/3 of the way back) and a large standing area probably meant a crowd of around 6,000 at a guess. And they were loud!

We'd taken the decision to skip the supports (King King and Terrorvision) and actually had a very enjoyable hour in the 'Duke of York' near Marylebone, watching the Swedish heats of qualification for the Eurovision Song Contest (I kid you not!).  Top tip - put a couple of quid on Lisa Ajax to win it - you heard it here first!

Anyway, back at Wembley, you'd have found us in the 'normal spot' - about 6 people back on the left hand side. And what a great show it was. Slightly different (and extended) set. The Wonder Days new songs sounded fantastic at volume and the old classics are timeless. Even one of my least favourite Thunder songs - Empty City - sounded good. The finale of Dirty Love romped past the 10 minute mark, wining my bet with Rich. Great crowd, great band, great night. 

Setlist 

Wonder Days

Black Water

River of Pain

Resurrection Day

Like a Satellite

The Devil Made Me Do It

Empty City

Backstreet Symphony

I'll Be Waiting

The Thing I Want

When the Music Played

Love Walked In

I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll

+

Serpentine

Dirty Love (inc Shakin' All Over)

Wendy James (2) - Monday 15th February - Old Blue Last, Shoreditch

So if the earlier post had a potential 25 year gap between seeing Wendy, here she is again a mere 3 hours later with a free show at the Old Blue Last - a new venue for me. More of a straight through gig, with little in between chat, she did mention that this was "much less stressful" than the earlier show. 3 Transvision Vamp songs in amongst the solo material kept the crowd happy. Despite my back hurting (a lot) from the standing this was good fun. And for free - that rarity in London - a bargain night out. 

Setlist

I Want Your Love

Bad Intentions And A Bit Of Cruelty

King Rat

I'm Freaking Out

You're a Good Man, Sister

Speedball

Indigent Blues

The Moondead In The River

Tell That Girl To Shut Up

If Looks Could Kill

Bitter Funny

You're A Dirtbomb, Lester

+

Farewell To Love

You Tell Me

Baby I Don't Care

Wendy James - Monday 15th February - Rough Trade East

The longest gap I have had between seeing an artist is 'Alan Lancaster' (Quo 1984 to the 2013 Quo FF line-up reunions). Having seen Transvision Vamp in October 1989 at Hammersmith, Wendy James goes into a probable 2nd on that list (although there is a chance I saw TV again later on their Velveteen tour). She is playing a set at the Rough Trade East record store to support her new album "The Price of The Ticket". Aptly, a purchase of that very CD got us in to see the show. 

An intimate crowd then got a run through of many of the new tracks with some old favourites thrown in for good measure. In between songs Wendy told a few stories about the creation of the songs and her younger band helped out with which albums the other songs came from. She seemed a little nervous and detached, but overall it was a good fun 50 minutes or so. 

Wendy was kind enough to sign the new CD afterwards where with a glass of red at hand she was a bit more relaxed. 

Set list included (in no particular order):-

Bad Intentions And A Bit Of Cruelty

King Rat

I'm Freaking Out

You're a Good Man, Sister

Tell That Girl To Shut Up

If Looks Could Kill

You're A Dirtbomb, Lester

Speedball

Indigent Blues

Baby I Don't Care