Belinda Carlisle - Wednesday 8th January - Oxford New Theatre

Brief review:  Much postponed trip to see Belinda in Oxford. Booked in May 2020 and subject to Covid delays and rearrangement, the show was originally on a Sunday (24/11/21). Busy midweek traffic meant we only caught the last 2 songs of the support (The Christians), but I'm not especially a fan of theirs, so not much missed for me. 

Belinda bounded on stage at precisely 9pm and her silver shoes didn't even last the first song before being discarded. The next 90 minutes were excellent - basically a "Greatest Hits" show. A great evening and I even made a merchandise purchase which is unusual these days!

I'm annoyed that I can't go to the Guildford show later in the tour - especially as I had front row tickets.

Venue and View:  Front row, centre of circle. Nice theatre and perfect view.

Setlist

(We Want) The Same Thing

Do You Feel Like I Feel?

In Too Deep

Deep Deep Ocean

I Get Weak

Circle in the Sand

Vision of You

La Luna

Summer Rain

Fool For Love

Our Lips Are Sealed

Mad About You

Leave a Light On

Heaven Is a Place on Earth

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Runaway Horses

Big Scary Animal

Live Your Life Be Free

Little Angels - Monday 4th June - Oxford O2 Academy

So, approximately 19 years after I last saw them, the Little Angels are back! Primarily reforming for the Download Festival, this warm-up show wasn't ideally situated, but Rich and I gambled on being able to get home via a route involving the Oxford Tube and the District Line via Notting Hill, thus narrowly avoiding the need for several nightbuses.

The Cowley Road area of Oxford isn't the best, so we headed to the City Centre for a couple of beers first - including a stop in my favourite Oxford pub, The Turf Tavern. A walk to the venue involved a successful (for me!) game of Bar Billiards and a snack from the local Tesco.

The venue was pretty busy. Knowing it would be loud, I was trialling my new "acoustic earphones" which turned out to be a little too efficient. The show itself was good and most of the old favourites got an airing including my favourite - "I Was Not Wrong". Sadly a shortish set couldn't find any room for covers - I'd been hoping for an "England Rocks" or "Won't Get Fooled Again". I've got to be honest though and suggest that good as the show was, it didn't quite match the anticipation for me that preceded it. Hopefully the band will continue though and I'll get another chance to evaluate soon.

Status Quo - Oxford New Theatre - Friday 18th November

As the last train home was going to mean missing half the show, we decided the Oxford Tube was the best bet from Central London. Very efficient service it was too. Also, bearing in mind Oxford's reputation, it seemed rude to pass up the opportunity to visit some of the City's public houses, so a mid-morning start was in order. Starting in the Cowley Road area - there were a very decidedly dodgy characters hanging around on street corners, eyeing up everyone and garbling into mobile phones. Probably being naïve here, but I'm assuming "do you know where the station is" is code for "do you want to buy any drugs?". The pubs weren't up to much - indeed many didn't seem to bother opening on a Friday Lunchtime. There were a couple of second hand records shops though, so that was a bit more interesting. 

The city centre itself was much better for pubs, with the best being The Turf Tavern, The Bear and the slightly out of town, Jude The Obscure. Anyway, enough of that - how was the show? Well, excellent now you come to ask. We had decent-ish seats - central in the 7th Row. The band seemed on top form (despite being a bit tired from the "warm up" mimed appearance on "Children In Need" earlier in the evening).

The only disappointment was the removal from the set of the new album title track - "The Party Ain't Over Yet", which was a shame as I hadn't heard it live. One thing we did notice was that Francis seemed to be enjoying himself much more when he was using his famous green Telecaster as opposed to any other guitar and as a result the show seemed quite "guitar heavy" - and that's good in my book! Got out in time to get the late "Oxford Tube" back to London and made the connection at Victoria with seconds to spare. A tiring, but fulfilling day all round.

Setlist

Caroline

Something 'bout You Baby I Like

Don't Waste My Time

Forty-Five Hundred Times

Rain

All Stand Up (Never Say Never)

The Oriental

Creepin' Up on You

Belavista Man

Mystery Song / Railroad / Most of the Time / Wild Side of Life / Rollin' Home / Again and Again / Slow Train

Gerdundula

Drum Solo / The Killer

Roll Over Lay Down

Down Down

Whatever You Want

Rockin' All Over the World

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What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Little Lady / Red Sky / Dear John

Big Fat Mama

Junior's Wailing

Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny