Cregan and Co - Friday 21st October - Boom Boom, Sutton

Brief review:  The normal excellent show from Jim and the boys. The "new" material fits in well and I'd certainly not heard them do Joe Cocker's "N'oubliez Jamais" before. I gather Jim may be producing another Quireboys album soon, so we may even get a reference there. Still, it's the Rod Stewart songs that the audience comes to sing and the Boom Boom crowd was in fine voice. 

Venue and View:  Midway back on the floor

Setlist
The First Cut Is the Deepest
The Wild Side of Life
So Many Rumours
Forever Young
Hot Legs
Best of The Bad Boys
You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)
I Was Only Joking
Downtown Train
N'oubliez Jamais
I Saw Her Standing There
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Blondes (Have More Fun)
Baby Jane
Young Turks
Maggie May
+
Passion
Stay With Me

Cregan and Co - Friday 3rd September - Boom Boom, Sutton

Brief review: Jim Cregan, Pat Davey, Harry James, Ben Mills and Sam Tanner were in excellent form as always for an evening of mainly Rod Stewart covers. There were (to our surprise), 2 new original songs, which were fine (guest Val Cowell adding some bluesy vocals on the first), but basically the rest of the show was a big sing-a-long. Just as you'd expect!

Venue and View:  Standing about half way back to the left. Pretty full!

Setlist

Downtown Train 
Forever Young
Hot Legs 
The First Cut Is the Deepest
The Wild Side of Life
You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)
I Was Only Joking 
Best of The Bad Boys [with Val Cowell of Bad Influence - Live Debut]
Anyone Who Knows Her [Live Debut]
Young Turks
Handbags and Gladrags 
Blondes (Have More Fun) 
Baby Jane 
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Maggie May 
+
Have I Told You Lately

Cregan & Co - Wednesday 30th December - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

An early "New Year" show from Jim Cregan and his band of merry men. A family outing for us this time, following the relative success of forcing the kids to watch Rod Stewart in Las Vegas. Here, at a packed Boom Boom club at Sutton Utd FC, vocalist Ben Mills let rip through a selection of Rod classics and highlights from "Family" (Jim's "other" band) plus Steve Harley's "Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile)".

As ever. musicianship was of the highest standard. Drummer Harry James becomes my artist seen this year with the most acts (Thunder, Magnum, Snakecharmer and here) and a special guest appearance from ex-Bad Company guitarist Dave "Bucket" Colwell for "Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller" ended off a great show.

Jim and Dave photo by Philip Crow

Cregan & Co - Tuesday 30th December - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

So, 2014 comes to an end with an enjoyable evening with Jim Cregan and his excellent band. A packed Boom Boom club the day before New Year's Eve witnessed 2 hours of mainly Road Stewart material (with Ben Mills on vocals) as well as a couple of other snippets from Jim's career with Family and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

As is often the case there were some amusing anecdotes from Jim and it's nice that he still plays the actual guitars that many of these classic songs were recorded on. Go and see them during 2015 if you can.

2014 has personally been a good year for gigs, this one being my 38th of the year (probably highest total for 10 years or so) and there have been very few (if any) duds amongst them. Highlights included the classic Quo line-up "final ever" shows at Hammersmith, Ian Hunter at Brighton and the Bryan Adams London shows.

Here's wishing all readers a very happy and prosperous 2015.

Cregan & Co - Monday 30th December - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

Jim Cregan and Ben Mills at the Boom Boom Club

Another evening of Rod Stewart hits, courtesy of Jim Cregan and his band. A strange mix of old rockers and young ladies here to ogle at vocalist Ben Mills  makes for interesting a people watching at their shows, but the musicianship and songs means that it's the performance that always commands attention. A busier than expected hall was uncomfortably hot at times, but the 2 set show sent everyone on their way happy. 

Thunder's Harry James was on drums - a bit strange seeing him again so close to the Wolverhampton Christmas shows.