Simon Townshend – Wednesday 7th March – Eel Pie Club, Twickenham

A “limited number of tickets” were available for the official launch party for Simon’s new album and Richard and I snared a couple when they became available. Our search for a pub in the vicinity with a dartboard proved to be in vain, so we had to settle for the entertainment of seeing Stevenage take the lead against Spurs and Lionel Messi’s first 2 of is historic 5 goals in a Champions League game.

We wanted to get in relatively early as support was provided by Mollie Marriott, who as a quick Youtube search will show you, has a very impressive voice. According to Rich, the phrase I used on the night – “I’ve checked her out on Youtube” – sounds dodgy and could mean something else entirely! In any case, she and her band were as good as I’d hoped, playing mainly original material but finishing with an alternative take on a rock and roll number (unfortunately the title escapes me!)

So onto Simon’s set. We secured a good view outside the “dressing rooms” at the side of the stage and were treated to an extended set. An early surprise was a version of the early Who track – “I’m The Face”. From there there was a mix of new material (all pretty good), some old classics (especially good version of “The Way It Is”) and his brother’s “Going Mobile”. Slightly surprised that there were no guests (Roger Daltrey had shown up for 4 songs a few shows earlier), but all in all a good evening. Unfortunately the CDs for signing sold out before we got a chance to grab one, but at least that meant we got a civilised train home.

Setlist
Electric Friend
Something New
I’m The Face
Flyaway
There’s A Girl
Come Back
Making Waves
She Asked Me
Anyway She Moves
Make It
Bed of Roses
Looking Out Looking In
Still Love
Going Mobile
Stay
Forever And A Day
+
The Way It Is (Solo Acoustic)
Twenty To Eleven
The Dirty Jobs
I'm The Answer

Rock-Ola - Wednesday 11th November - Eel Pie Club, Twickenham

A first ever visit for us to the "Eel Pie" club in Twickenham. Not the original, this is in the top floor of the Cabbage Patch pub. Rock-Ola are Pete French (who we knew little about) and Bernie Marsden (ex Whitesnake). The first person we saw at the bar on the way in was Neil Murray (Rock bass player extraordinaire) which led us to think it should be good. 

Someone else in front of us signed a few autographs, but we couldn't work out who he was, despite looking familiar (think a cross between Bernie Ecclestone and Ian MacLagen!) 

And guess what? It was good. It's always nice when you take a gamble on some of these shows and it pay off. The set was basically blues-driven with some Whitesnake / Led Zep stuff thrown in. Couldn't tell you what all the songs were, but all were listenable to and the instruments and vocals were performed with passion. And it's not often you get to stand next to an 8/10 lookalike for Avram Grant!