XCom - Friday 9th May - The Peel, Kingston

So are they "XCom" or "Bad Company 2008"? Neither if Mr Rodgers gets his way, dubbing them a "tribute band falsely using the Bad Company name" and threatening legal action. Either way, Mr Ralphs and co were coming to South London and it seemed a good opportunity to see what they could do.

This was my first gig for ages and the first whilst recuperating from a recent op. Therefore I needed to take things easy and was grateful for the relatively short set. This consisted of a smattering of Bad Company songs, "Can't Get Enough", "Feel Like Making Love", "Movin' On" et all and, bizarrely, 2 Free songs - "Wishing Well" and "All Right Now". Both classic songs of course, but a little strange given that none of the band played on the originals. All in all, whilst they are clearly not Bad Company with Paul Rodgers, I enjoyed the bands performance with Robert Hart up front and a fun time was had by all.

Spike & Friends - Kingston Peel - Sunday 2nd December

Spike is Spike Gray, vocalist from the Quireboys. The "Friends" are basically the Quireboys and a different drummer !! For those that don't know the "Peel", it is a slightly rough 'n' ready pub on the outskirts of Kingston-upon-Thames. However, it was perfect for a raucous and occassionally drunken evening of good time rock 'n' roll. 

The evening had started well with Manchester United beating Middlesbro 2-1 at the Riverside (dive, what dive?) and we caught the X26 (ex-726 for those old enough) to Kingston. A quick phone call to the venue suggested that Spike wouldn't be on stage until 9.30, so we had a bit of time to kill, which was spent in the Fighting Cocks, Kingston Tup and the Honest Cabbage before finding the bar in the Peel. Keith Weir, the keyboard player could be seen on the pool table, enjoying a couple of pre-show beers and this was the theme of the evening (it was the last night of their tour) - Spike as usual encouraging the audience to buy him a "pint of JD and Coke" constantly during the show! 

As could have been predicted, the 9.30 turned into a 9.45 start! Anyway, the music - mainly based around Spikes "new" (well, recently released anyway) solo effort, was good enough for first part of the show, with a few ballads and a Frankie Miller cover. The end of the show (and several encores) was basically the best of the Quireboys and excellent. Shame the crowd was so small (about 80ish?), but a good fun evening - band on until past 11.20, and good connections for us on the buses home.