The Ataris - Tuesday 27th May - O2 Academy, Islington

Brief review:  A rare indoor headline show in the UK for Kris Roe and his punk-rock band from Indiana. This led to an extended set and very good it was too. Leaning heavily on the excellent "So Long, Astoria", the band even namechecked the ex London venue of the same name and showed decent local "Crossrail" knowledge! Hopefully they enjoyed the show and will be back sometime soon.

Venue and View:  End of the bar, half way back on the left

Setlist
In This Diary
Unopened Letter to the World
The Hero Dies in This One
Takeoffs and Landings
Your Boyfriend Sucks
Car Song
Boxcar
1*15*96
The Boys of Summer
I.O.U. One Galaxy
All Souls' Day
San Dimas High School Football Rules
I Won't Spend Another Night Alone
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Eight of Nine
So Long, Astoria

Tyla - Friday 19th April - Aces and Eights, Islington

Brief review:  A brand new venue for me in Islington. Tyla's show was in a similar vein to others I've seen - lots of stories - many amusing, interspersed with his songs through the ages.

Venue and View:  Seated at the rear of the small downstairs venue.

Setlist
Heroine
State I'm In
Angel
How Come It Never Rains
Billy Two Rivers
Last Bandit
Drunk Like Me
How the Beautiful Fall
Ballard Of The Knucklemen
Trail of Tears
Errol Flynn
Satellite Kid

Luke Morley - Wednesday 31st January - O2 Academy, Islington

Brief review:  Luke Morley from Thunder promoting his new album - Songs From The Blue Room - which is rather good. The band includes Chris Childs (also Thunder), Dean Howard (T'Pau and many others) and the brilliant Sam Tanner on keys. Excellent evening with a number of other muso friends spotted in the crowd.

Venue and View:  Front Left, standing

Setlist

I Wanna See the Light
Damage
Killed by Cobain
This World
Errol Flynn
Quiet Life
The First Day
I'm the One You Want
Nobody Cares
Lying to Myself
Watch the Sun Go Down
+
A Better Man
Go With the Flow
Lola

Quireboys - Saturday 2nd September - O2 Academy, Islington

Brief review:  The Quireboys (version without Spike). Moved from the much larger Kentish Town Forum, the O2 Academy is probably a more realistic venue for the band at the moment. Not packed, but enough there to make an atmosphere and the band were on good form. Griff's vocals are definitely improving show on show and the band are as solid as ever.

Venue and View:  Front right, standing.

Warner E Hodges - Thursday 23rd May - Hope & Anchor, Islington

One Liner: New venue for me and it was tiny! And Warner was loud! Decent set including some AC/DC, Pink Floyd and sing-a-long John Denver!

Quireboys - Sunday 10th February - Garage (Upstairs)

One Liner: Spike and the boys in a traditional "Sunday" London show. Moved to the cosier upstairs part of the Garage, the band were on good form as always. Set was a bit shortish though.

Setlist
There She Goes Again
Misled
Roses & Rings
Devil of a Man
Mona Lisa Smiled
Hello
Beautiful Curse
Whippin' Boy
Have a Drink With Me
Late Nite Saturday Call
Sweet Mary Ann
7 O'Clock (with Rebecca Downes)
+
I Don't Love You Anymore / Fool to Cry
Sex Party

Wayward Sons - Wednesday 25th April - Islington Academy 2

Toby Jepson - ex front man of the "Little Angels" has a new band and they are playing a sold out show at the Islington Academy 2 (the small 250 standing only venue upstairs). I don't know any of the material, but I like Toby, so it seemed too good to miss.

We were slightly late arriving and the band had just come on, meaning we could barely get through the door. Our "normal spot" (front and left) was out of the question, but with a few friendly smiles, managed to squeeze to the far right of the venue near the emergency exit and a partial view of the stage without blocking anyone else.

The band were very good and it was one of those shows where it didn't matter that I didn't know the new songs. I did enjoy the snippets of Blondie's "Union City Blue" and a very short end part of "Bohemian Rhapsody" too. The Wayward Sons have been getting rave reviews in the music press and so I'm sure they'll be playing bigger venues sometime soon. Predictably, a couple of Little Angels covers went down very well and I'm glad things are looking up for Toby.

Setlist
Alive
Ghost
Don't Wanna Go
Give it Away
Killing Time
Crush  / Union City Blue (snippet)
Small Talk
Standby Heart
Be Still
Radio Denial
Something Wrong
Kicking Up Dust 
Until the End
+
Backslide
Young Gods 
Bohemian Rhapsody (end part only)

Magnum - Friday 9th March - Islington Assembly Hall

Brief Review: It's 2018 and Magnum are still going strong. That in itself is a reason to celebrate and even if stalwart Mark Stanway and recent collaborator Harry James have moved on, this evening demonstrated the unique appeal of the band from the Black Country. Bob Catley's vocals were better than the last few tours and Tony Clarkin's guitar as effortlessly brilliant as always. Add in the energy that Al Barrow brings to the party and it was clear that the band and crowd were enjoying themselves.

For me, it was a slightly slow burner, but by the end, the whole venue was a sea of swaying arms and mass sing-a-longs. The only downside was the appearance half way through of a greasy haired idiot in front of us who's air punching and headbanging seemed to demand an exclusion zone around him. We always seem to pick them!

Setlist
When We Were Younger
Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies
Lost on the Road to Eternity
Crazy Old Mothers
Without Love
Your Dreams Won't Die
Peaches and Cream
How Far Jerusalem
Les Morts Dansant
Show Me Your Hands
Twelve Men Wise and Just
All England's Eyes
Vigilante
Don't Wake the Lion (Too Old to Die Young)
+
The Spirit
When the World Comes Down

Quireboys - Sunday 23rd April - Islington O2 Academy

More Quireboys and an electric show in Islington. Spike and the boys seem to favour Sunday nights in the capital - assume the venues are cheap then!

Decided to skip the ridiculous number of support acts (please stick to one maximum) and the venue was pleasantly busy enough without being packed. Only downside was not being able to get a phone signal or WiFi to enable the O2 2 for 1 Tubourg offer!

Show was good - with a slight change of set from recently. Loads of old favourites and a vocal audience. A real surprise with Black Mariah being in the encore too.

Setlist
Twisted Love
Too Much of a Good Thing
Misled
There She Goes Again
Gracie B
This Is Rock 'N' Roll
Mona Lisa Smiled
Breaking Rocks
Tramps & Thieves
Hey You
I Don't Love You Anymore
Roses & Rings
Sweet Mary Ann
7 O'Clock
+
I Love This Dirty Town
White Trash Blues
Black Mariah
Sex Party (with support bands)

Simon Townshend - Friday 30th September - The Islington, Islington

Show 2 on this Friday night. Getting towards the front of the queue for autographs / photos earlier at the JST show meant we didn't have to rush too much to get across town to Islington and allowed time for a pint in the Camden Head. Quite bizarrely, there are now 2 pubs called "The Islington" within about 150 yards of each other and it turned out that the gig was in the second of those.

A nice, but small music room with easy access to the bar provided an excellent view, although was possibly undersized for the amplification from the band! Simon and the guys provided an excellent set with a fair bit of between song chatter. Phil Spalding was great on bass (I last saw him on guitar with Johnny Warman when I was deafened in Barnes!) and with Simon's son - Ben - on bass and Mike Wilton on lead guitar, this was a good quality outfit.

Probably because I've seen Simon a few times over the last year or 2, I recognised most of the songs (but didn't note the setlist). Perhaps the only disappointment was the lack of the classic "The Way It Is" and a sparser than deserved crowd, but otherwise an excellent second gig of the evening.

Back towards home in Ganley's (Morden), we finished the evening with a pint listening to a third act who may or may not have been called the DB5's playing some solid Mod & Rock hits of the 1960's.

Graham Bonnet - Monday 1st December - O2 Academy 2, Islington

A return trip for me to Graham Bonnet and a new venue! The O2 Academy TWO! I'd only been in "one" previously.

So, I'm going to start with a moan. It's a Monday night. Why have 2 support acts on? Why have the headliner not come on until 10pm? Why only play for an hour? If you are playing for an hour, why include a cover and a ****ing drum solo? Why have to cut songs out of your set to accommodate the above?

Rant over. I'm probably just upset I didn't get to hear "Night Games". What we heard was good. We even got a 2nd Rainbow singer as Doogie White guested on "Since You Been Gone". It just could and should have been so much better (and longer).

Setlist
All Night Long 
Love's No Friend 
Makin' Love 
Bad Girl 
Always Be There 
Eight Days a Week 
The Witchwood 
Mirror Lies 
Seven Deadly Sins (Drum and guitar solos)
Since You Been Gone (With Doogie White)
+
Lost in Hollywood

Graham Bonnet - Wednesday 19th March - The Garage, Islington

A relative rarity for me these days - a headline act who I have not seen before. Sold on the premise that there was likely to be mainly Rainbow material played, this looked like it may be a nice evening out. And so it proved. Whilst not the most celebrated of the Rainbow vocalists, Graham fronted a solid set - with a backing band who had apparently only had 20 minutes rehearsal. I gather he'd flown in from LA - makes you wonder if the band were a sort of Rainbow / Deep Purple tribute band? Would their vocalist then get upset? They were certainly more than adequate in any case.

Mr Bonnet has quite a distinctive style - not sure I've ever seen a rock vocalist open their mouth so wide. Hardcore Rainbow fans tell me the material he sang on his only album with the band wasn't the best, but here all sounded fine and there were a few "favourites" thrown in for good measure - some of which he didn't sing on the original records.

Venue was a bit busier than anticipated - over half full and the show was good enough to make us book up for the next leg of the tour down the road in December. Maybe the set may have expanded by then.

Setlist
Eyes of the World
Love's No Friend
Since You Been Gone
Bad Girl
Makin' Love
Keyboard solo [Temple of the King / Tarot Woman (intro) / Toccato and Fugue / Mr. Crowley / Perfect Strangers]
Kill The King [Instrumental Version]
Drum solo
Catch the Rainbow
All Night Long
Lost in Hollywood
+
Long Live Rock And Roll

Doro - Tuesday 20th of November - The Garage, Islington

Ms Pesch

Off to the Garage in Islington for some German rock!

This was preceded by a long pub crawl - sadly all non-alcoholic for me, but including some excellent darts!

Arriving perfectly 5 mins before showtime we took our place in a 2/3 full venue and scored an expected 'Ling alert' point.

Having previously seen Doro supporting Saxon, I still didn't know too much material, but it was all solid enough apart from the outrageously long drum solo which was painful. The front of the venue pretty much dispersed to the loos for this part of the show. There must be a campaign online to ban these surely - if so, sign me up!

Anyway the rest of the show was enough to make me probably look out for a best of Warlock CD sometime soon. Raise your fist in the air London!

 

Setlist

Hellraiser
I Rule The Ruins
Burning The Witches
Fight For Rock
The Night Of The Warlock
Hellbound
True As Steel
Raise Your Fist In The Air
Für Immer
Metal Racer
Earthshaker Rock
Wacken Hymne (We are the Metalheads)
Revenge
Metal Tango
Hero
Breaking The Law
All We Are
+
Love Me In Black
East Meets West



The Union - Friday 21st October - O2 Academy, Islington

The Union soundcheck to an empty O2 Academy

A rare treat indeed. As a result of a previous purchase, I was invited to the soundcheck and a meet & greet for the 3rd night of the Union's tour in support of their excellent new album "Siren's Song".

An early start (4.45pm!) and I was ushered with around 10 other lucky guests into the empty O2 Academy where the band had just gone on stage.

They then ripped through 3 new songs from the new album, at full volume - a private gig for the handful of us! I was surprised how "full on" the soundcheck was - no holding back vocally from Pete Shoulder for example.

Following that, the band came to the floor for a chat and were very friendly and hospitable. I had a chance of a few minutes with Pete and Luke (Morley) and then a few seconds with Chris (Childs) before the support band started sound-checking and it was time to go.

A brief solo pub-crawl of Islington followed and then it was time to pick up my ticket from the guest list - yay!

Although not quite full, the atmosphere was good and the band were on stunning form. Easily the best show I've seen from them and both music and especially vocals were fantastic. It was all over quite quickly (the Academy has an early curfew on Fridays), so I'd be hoping for a longer set next time around.

On the way out I bumped into Dave Ling ("Ling alert!") and had a brief chat - he seemed to enjoy the show too. Hope it isn't too long until the next one!

Setlist
Watch The River Flow
Burning Daylight
Black Gold
Saviour
Easy Street
Blame It On Tupelo
Lillies
Obsession
The Remedy
Cut The Line
Black Monday
Siren's Song
+
Come Rain, Come Shine
Step Up To The Plate

The Union - Wednesday 21st March - O2 Academy, Islington

A 2nd London outing for the Union and not surprisingly (as their first album isn't out yet), the set was broadly similar to the show at the end of last year. I'm still not quite convinced that the material is as strong as recent Thunder stuff, although it's probably not fair to make direct comparisons. I shall reserve judgement for now.

The Union - Tuesday 15th December - Relentless Garage, Islington

The first ever gig from the Union. Thunder's Luke Morley joins forces with long-time guitar/vocalist mate, Peter Shoulder. This was at the "Relentless Garage" which used to be the plain old "Garage" at Highbury and Islington. I'm really not into this constant renaming of venues any more than I am renaming of pubs. 

We managed to get returns on the "lottery only" style of ticket allocation, but weren't totally shocked to find the venue not full!

The bar was expensive (and provoked a few comments from the punters) and the headline act played a short but accomplished bluesy set - all filmed for a DVD release next year. It'll be interesting to see how the album turns out too.

Photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharinahaack/4271996636/ 

Setlist Easy Street You Know My Name Black Monday Come Rain or Shine Holy Roller This Time Next Year Saviour Watch the River Flow + Lilies Proud Mary

Magnum - Friday 6th November - O2 Academy, Islington

Rammed, rammed rammed!

Yep, it was packed.. could barely get through the door. Once we did (upsetting several people), we squeezed over to the bar (where you could actually breathe and get served!). The show was good (complete setlist change) and featured many songs from the excellent "Into The Valley of The Moonking" album (rubbish title, great music!). Only complaint (besides the crush) was that the show could have been a bit longer.

We walked up past the Union Chapel on the way out. Attempted to gate-crash the last few minutes of the show - I've even forgotten the artists name (I know it's someone Richard likes!) Blagged our way in through an exit, but got in just as she'd left the stage. Unfortunately, no encore, but a nice try!

Oh and I should also mention the torrential rain (we got soaked!) and the very pleasant delights of the Baverian Brewhouse near Old Street.

Setlist
Cry To Yourself
Take Me To The Edge
Brand New Morning
The Moon King
When We Were Younger
No One Knows His Name
Dragons Are Real
A Face In The Crowd
We All Run
Les Morts Dansant
All My Bridges
All Englands Eyes
Vigilante
+
Don't Wake The Lion
The Kingdom Of Madness

Photo - ALX PIX http://www.flickr.com/photos/alxpix/4237450817/