Billy Idol - Wednesday 19th October - Wembley Arena

Brief review:  Mr Broad has moved from his regular London Venue (Brixton Academy) to the hanger that is Wembley Empire Pool (sorry, I mean the OVO Wembley Arena). Ably supported by Toyah and less ably by Killing Joke. I'm still not sure if the latter are a novelty band or if their image is just "be weird". Not my cup of tea at all!

Billy was good, but our view was not as good as you would expect from the 2nd row. Sound and set were decent though (and Billy's little sister was in the audience - namechecked in White Wedding), but I couldn't help but think that original support The Go-Go's would have upped the overall entertainment level quite significantly. 

Venue and View:  2nd row on the right. view obstructed by articles left on the stage and a huge black covering, so no view of drummer throughout as well as the big screen!

Setlist
Dancing With Myself
Cradle of Love
Flesh for Fantasy
Cage
Speed
Bitter Taste
Eyes Without a Face
Mony Mony
Running From the Ghost
One Hundred Punks
Blue Highway
Rebel Yell
+
Rebel Like You
Born to Lose
White Wedding

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

Pete Townshend's Classic Quadrophenia - Sunday 5th July - Royal Albert Hall

So, a bit more Who-related music, this time in the fine setting of the Royal Albert Hall and a box no less, courtesy of a kind colleague of Richard.

The classic Who rock piece has been given an orchestral makeover and score by Rachel Fuller, partner of composer Pete Townshend and was presented here in it's entirety with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Main vocals were supplied by Alfie Boe, ably assisted by Billy Idol, Phil Daniels and Mr Townshend himself, albeit only occasionally.

Now, I wasn't quite sure how this was going to be. On the album, Alfie Boe's vocals are quite a culture shock compared with the Roger Daltrey sound we know so well singing these songs and the mix seems to lack some of the music. Presented here though, it all sounded a better blend of sound and there is no doubting Mr Boe's vocal talents.

An enthusiastic audience lapped it up - Billy Idol was in good voice and Pete Townshend looked very suave in his tux. We knew he would only appear for a handful of songs, but the crowd reaction when he did paid homage to the event and the material.

So a thumbs up from me - having played the album again at home, it's unlikely to get much of an airing compared to either the original or soundtrack versions, but a good night none the less.

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 
+
The Real Me (with full cast)

Billy Idol - Thursday 31st July - Brixton Academy

2.5 years on from seeing Mr William Broad at the same venue and tonight's show was just as much fun. Luckily his new album is a Greatest Hits compilation (again!), so that's pretty much what the crowd wanted and what they got.

In fact, bar a couple of numbers, check out the 2006 review and you'll have this one covered too. Good stuff!

Setlist (Richard Thinks!) Cradle Of Love Dancing With Myself Flesh For Fantasy White Wedding John Wayne New Future Weapon To Be A Lover Sweet Sixteen World Coming Down Eyes Without A Face Ready Steady Go Blue Highway LA Woman Rebel Yell + Hot In The City Speed Mony Mony

Billy Idol - Brixton Academy - Friday 11th November

Billy Idol. Not my normal type of show, I must admit. Not too sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a good fun evening.

We met in the at Alexandra, Clapham Common. Despite the fact it's no more than 50 yds from the tube, I headed off in completely the wrong direction - but once I found it, it was a pretty decent pub. Deciding with Richard that we'd have a mini crawl to Brixton - next stop was the "Bar Local" which had Becks on draft - good effort! Torrential rain meant a quick dash 20 yds to the next bar (Belle View) for a swift Staropramen.

The rain had then stopped, so a 5 minute stroll in the general direction of Brixton bought us to another pub in Clapham Park Road (no, I didn't get the name). A short bus ride (until it turned South unexpectedly) and a swift half in the Trinity Arms, together with a good chat with a Classic Rock fan (hope you got your Deep Purple ticket) and it was time to go in...

A brisk frisk on the door (pointless as Richard's 100 - perfectly legal - prescription tablets went unnoticed). Just in time too as Mr Idol came on at 8.40. It was more packed than I was expecting (bearing in mind tickets were still available at the box office), but we secured our normal Brixton standing location in front of the left hand speaker, about 15yds from the front row.

Now I'm not familiar with much of his work, other than the hits, but what we got here was 2hrs 20 of good quality "rock 'n' roll". Not wishing to offend anyone, but punk this was not, what with Billy's delicate throwing of the microphone from one hand to the other (mildly amusing actually), handing out of drumsticks, acapella "Twenty Flight Rock" and a bit of percussion from the man himself. I'm tempted to say that this was a fairly mainstream rock show - and I mean that as a compliment - I enjoyed it all the more for that.

The only time I'd seen him before was part of the Who's Quadrophenia tour, where Billy played the Punk (to PJ Proby's Godfather), but these were his first UK solo shows for ages.

Sound was awful for the first 4 songs (always is at the Brixton Academy) and then improved so that the vocals were much clearer.

The audience was polite - a real mix of middle aged men and women and some fantastic mohican style haircuts (great effort by the blonde girl who passed us a couple of times - how can you get to sleep with your hair like that?!!). We noticed a couple of girls behind us were struggling to see (yes, I'm one of those annoying 6ft 3" blokes you always end up behind, just as I always end up behind the 6ft 5" bloke with a tall hat!), so we let them stand in front, which seemed popular.

The only mildly irritating thing was the lead guitarist. If he'd just got on with things and played it would have been fine. However, 3 extended guitar solos (OK, but not great), playing behind your head and with your teeth - oh come on! He wasn't bad, but Jimi Hendrix he was not !!

After pretty much all the hits that we knew, most of the new album (not bad), and a few "Generation X" oldies, the show closed with a 20 minute "Mony Mony". We had heard that Billy sometimes does the Who's "Who Are You" or Led Zepps "Rock 'N' Roll", but sadly not tonight.

We retired at just past eleven to the "Oh Canteenho de Portugual" - a bizarre place if ever there was. We were the only people in there speaking English, but everyone was friendly and the beer was good. The Portuguese equivalent of "East Enders" on the TV was gripping! Check it out if you're in the Stockwell / Brixton area. Especially if you need some "Green Apple" Mentos sweets!