Billy Joel - Friday 7th July - Hyde Park, London

Brief review:  Billy Joel at Hyde Park as part of the British Summertime shows. We naively assumed this would never sell out at the high prices bearing in mind his demographic (70,000 standing tickets at £100 minimum a go? "No chance!") - and of course it did! That meant a late scramble for resale tickets and luckily a mate had a spare!

Despite skipping most of the support acts (I caught the end of Daryl Hall who sounded... errr "rusty"), the headline show was predictably excellent. Joe Jonas joined for Uptown Girl which was slightly underwhelming compared to other guests who occasionally play with Billy, but he performed more than adequately.

Venue and View:  In a slightly different postcode from the stage, but in the front 20% to the left. Apparently impossible to find for those friends bringing back beer!

Setlist
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
The Entertainer
Vienna
Zanzibar
Start Me Up (Snippet)
An Innocent Man
The Longest Time
Don't Ask Me Why
New York State of Mind
Allentown
She's Always a Woman
Sometimes a Fantasy
Only the Good Die Young
The River of Dreams (With River Deep Mountain High interlude)
Nessun Dorma 
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
+
We Didn't Start the Fire
Uptown Girl (with Joe Jonas)
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
Big Shot
A Hard Day's Night 
You May Be Right (with “Rock and Roll” interlude)

My Life (with “Ode to Joy” intro)

The Rolling Stones - Sunday 3rd July - Hyde Park, BST Presents…

Brief review:  The Rolling Stones are synonymous with Hyde Park. I really enjoyed the last time I saw them at the Olympic Stadium, so despite reservations about the high cost, their age and "standing in a field miles from the stage", decided to go along. It was a good decision. The band looked remarkably sprightly for their age and Mick Jagger in particular was full of energy and delivered vocally too. Surely this really is the last time, but if so, what a great way to bow out.

Venue and View:  Hyde Park. Outside of Golden Circle, so at least 100 yards from the stage on the left hand side. Sound a bit louder & clearer than normal for this venue. Decent view of the big screens.

Setlist
Get Off of My Cloud
19th Nervous Breakdown
Tumbling Dice
Out of Time 
Angie 
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Like a Rolling Stone
You Got Me Rocking
Honky Tonk Women
You Got the Silver
Happy
Miss You
Midnight Rambler
Paint It Black
Start Me Up
Gimme Shelter
Jumpin' Jack Flash
+
Sympathy for the Devil
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Elton John, Madness, Status Quo - Sunday 11th September - Hyde Park, London (Radio 2 Festival In a Day)

I'm sure I've mentioned in these pages before abut being "done" with Hyde Park and that I won't be going to any more shows there. Well, this turned out to be the show that broke that promise with the attraction of Status Quo (before they announced their warm-up last Friday) and the fact you don't really get to see Elton John for £45 these days anywhere!

And to be fair, with no "Golden Circle" and a reasonable capacity (55,000) we were able to turn up during Gregory Porter's set and get a good spot for Quo near the front. Madness were also quite good fun and we could even move forward further for Elton. I couldn't have coped with the full 11 hours, but it was a good afternoon.

After a tiring, but excellent, 3 gigs in 3 days, I think I'm due a rest.

Setlists

Gregory Porter (approximate)
Liquid Spirit
Take Me to the Alley
Don't Lose your Steam
Hey Laura
Musical Genocide
Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Status Quo (Acoustic)
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Paper Plane
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Claudie
That's a Fact
Hold You Back
Rollin' Home
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
Burning Bridges (On and Off and On Again)

Madness
One Step Beyond 
Embarrassment
The Prince
Life Has Just Begun
NW5
My Girl
Can't Touch Us Now
Wings of a Dove
Herbert
House of Fun
Baggy Trousers
Our House
Madness 
Night Boat to Cairo
Mr. Apples
It Must Be Love

Elton John
The Bitch Is Back
Bennie and the Jets
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
Philadelphia Freedom
Looking Up
A Good Heart
Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
Tiny Dancer
Levon
Your Song
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
I'm Still Standing
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Crocodile Rock

The Who - Friday 26th June - Hyde Park, London

I Can See For Miles. And we needed to.

So, probably my last Who show of the year (4 in a couple of months isn't bad going). An unpleasantly busy Hyde Park and a massive Golden Circle area (£100 + a ticket) meant that even being only 7-8 yards back from the main barrier, we were still at least 130 yards from the stage. Even being near a speaker this meant with Hyde Park's ridiculous noise restrictions the audience could chat or sing easily over the volume of the band - and we are talking The Who here - not some acoustic folk outfit.

It really is not a great environment to see anyone. Earlier, I'd caught the end of the Kaiser Chiefs from about half a mile away - I think they were predicting a riot of some sort, but it was too quiet to be sure. Paul Weller was good, but the reaction to the Jam material (2 songs only) must tell him he needs to include more in a festival set.

The Who, from what we could hear, were good, if not at their devastating best. The fear is that this could be their last ever London show, so it was at least captured for a DVD. The view from the stage must be great, but surely London can find a more appropriate outdoor summertime venue.

Final note on the state of some people leaving the venue. Many were passed out or literally being carried / dragged by friends or family due to over indulgence. Really - what is the point? You can imagine their conversation:-
Q: What did you get up to at the weekend?
A: I went to see the Who - cost me £75 and the same again on beer.
Q: What was it like?
A: No idea.

I call that a Bargain...

Setlist
I Can't Explain
The Seeker
Who Are You
The Kids Are Alright
Pictures of Lily
I Can See For Miles
My Generation
Behind Blue Eyes
Bargain
Join Together
You Better You Bet
I'm One
Love, Reign O'er Me
Eminence Front
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again

The Who - Hyde Park Calling - Sunday 2nd July

40,000 in a field? Not my idea of fun. Most of the other bands on the bill? Not my cup of tea. But the lure of the Who proved to much, and here I am, reluctantly at an outdoor festival. 

We arrived just in time to see Razorlight on the main stage and moved away ASAP - their singer cannot sing! Went instead to see Primal Scream on the "B" stage (in a tent!) and that was much better. Not going to go into too much detail on the Who, other than to say they were excellent as always! Oh, and the Bitburger beforehand in the Star was nice too. No sign of "Pogo Patterson" though. 

PS Hello to my new "Pompey" friend I met on the last train back to Sutton. Nice to meet you and apologies for suggesting you may be called a "skate" in some quarters !! (Well, if you will insist that Fratton Park is "nice"...)

Setlist

I Can't Explain

The Seeker

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

Who Are You

Bargain

Behind Blue Eyes

Real Good Looking Boy

Drowned

Mike Post Theme

Baba O'Riley

Love, Reign O'er Me

The Kids Are Alright

My Generation

Won't Get Fooled Again

+

Substitute

Pinball Wizard

Amazing Journey

Sparks

See Me, Feel Me