Sari Schorr - Saturday 27th April - The Grace, Highbury

Brief review:  Following Sari's excellent support slot with the Sweet a while back I thought it worth checking out her solo show. I didn't now much of the first part of the set (including 4 Robin Trower songs), but it was a solid blues rock show with her trademark vocals to the fore.

The Grace is the new name for "Upstairs at the Garage" in Highbury. To be honest, it's not a great venue from an audience perspective, being quite long and narrow. But at least the sound was decent.

Venue and View:  Standing at the back.

Setlist
The Circle Is Complete
The Distance
Joyful Sky
Peace of Mind
Hometown Girl
Ain’t Got No Money
Demolition Man
Ordinary Life
Damn the Reason
Aunt Hazel
Beautiful
Highway 69
Valentina
Maybe I'm Fooling
+
Black Betty
I Just Want to Make Love to You
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 – Saturday 2nd October – Relentless Garage, Highbury & Islington

This had to be the wettest day of the year!! Torrential showers (and no Victoria Line) meant I was drenched by the time I met Richard in the Hen & Chickens for a pint of Paulaner. The heavy rain continued and that stopped us from roaming too far before going to the venue.

The venue was half to two-thirds full which enabled us to get a nice spot about 7-8yds from the stage. The moment we got in I spotted journalist Dave Ling (he seems to be at most gigs I go to !!) and Quireboys guitarist Paul Guerin who I assume was with his son. Also spotted Cheam resident and rock photographer extraordinaire, Ross Halfin a bit later.

Whilst the Unions’ set hasn’t changed much over the last year (not surprising as they only have one album!), they are definitely getting better and better and the songs sound good after more plays. I especially enjoyed Black Monday, This Time Next Year and Easy Street. My early reservations are easing, although if I had one (minor) complaint it is that singer Peter Shoulder’s style slightly over-emphasises on elongating the words at the end of each line. After the normal finish of Proud Mary, we headed outside. Unbelievably the rain was even heavier. We ran 10 yds to the bus stop, sheltered under a shop cover and got the bus to Angel. By the time I got home (a 3 minute walk from the bus stop at the other end!) I was literally soaked to the skin!

Bachman & Turner - Sunday 6th June - Relentless Garage, Islington

Randy Bachman and Frank Turner together in London for the first time in about 34 years. So, why was the Relentless Garage (stupid name!) so empty? Seriously, there can't have been more than 200 people - stunned!

Well, they missed a decent gig. I've never seen either of these before and I'm not particular familiar with much Bachman Turner Overdrive material beyond "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business", but I did enjoy the majority of what was played. I've heard Mr Bachman sometimes isn't the most sociable of musicians, but he was on good form here. Hope they come back soon!

Setlist:
Let It Ride
Rock Is My Life
Hold Back The Water
Hey You
Moonlight Rider
Looking Out For #1
Not Fragile
Stayed Awake All Night/American Woman (Medley)
Four Wheel Drive
Slave To The Rhythm
Blue Collar
Sledgehammer
Rollin’ Along
Takin' Care Of Business
+
Roll On Down The Highway
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

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