Wendy James - Friday 1st October - Islington Academy 2

Brief review:  Whilst it's great to see Wendy still performing well, I have to say I find her solo material a bit "hit and miss". Some songs are good, but others drag a bit - for me at least. But then I am of the age where the reason I am here is for the Transvision Vamp songs, and those were performed well, even if it was difficult not to be mildly irritated by the posturing of the guitarist trying so hard to look cool. Maybe the Osmonds outfit didn't help!

Venue and View:  Pretty busy - and not a great venue compared to the larger downstairs room. We went for the right hand side, but towards the back and away from the hideously expensive bar!

Setlist

You’re So Great
Speedball
You're a Good Man, Sister
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? 
You're a Dirtbomb, Lester
If Looks Could Kill 
I Want Your Love 
Perilous Beauty
Little Melvin
The Impression of Normalcy
Tell That Girl to Shut Up 
Down on You 
Bad Valentine 
Baby I Don't Care 

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)