Blackberry Smoke - Saturday 1st April - Roundhouse

Brief review:  Blackberry Smoke at The Roundhouse. Who and where I hear you cry! Excellent US country-rock (Eagles-esq?) band at the the ex steam train shed - now arts venue, in Chalk Farm.We missed the first song and a half unfortunately (the opener is a favourite of mine), but everything else was very good indeed. Howdy folks

Venue and View:  Side right, towards the back to start and then leaning against pillar with side view

Setlist

Six Ways to Sunday
Good One Comin' On
Let It Burn
Live It Down
Pretty Little Lie
You Hear Georgia
Living in the Song
Hey Delilah
Sleeping Dogs / Don't Come Round Here No More (Snippet)
Ain't the Same
Ain't Gonna Wait
The Whippoorwill
Waiting for the Thunder
What Comes Naturally
Rock and Roll Again
Restless
Ain't Got the Blues
Run Away From It All
One Horse Town
Old Scarecrow
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Shakin' Hands With the Holy Ghost
Ain't Much Left of Me / Mississippi Kid (Snippet)

Status Quo - Wednesday 22nd October - Roundhouse

So this is a bit different - Status Quo acoustic (or "Aquostic" if you go by their new album). A trip to the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm and he were not quite sure what to expect having not yet heard the album. Predictably, the "hardcore" on the Quo message boards had been ripping the concept to shreds without even hearing anything, but a full house turned up to watch a performance being beamed around the country on Radio 2 and the via BBC red button service.

The venue was pretty packed, so we settled for a spot under the moving camera arm - controversially on the right (but with no electric bass, this wasn't really going to be an issue!). And guess what? It was a really enjoyable evening. I think 99% of the people there seemed to enjoy it. Some songs worked really well - I particularly enjoyed "Na Na Na", "Reason for Living" & "Rolling Home" and to be fair some didn't - "Mystery Song/Little Lady" springs to mind!

As a one-off project I think it works. I can't see it being a sustainable change of direction - I can't see fans turning up show after show if Quo shy away from their high tempo electric shows (although an acoustic section in the main electric set could work). I would imagine sales of the album cover T-Shirts (with Francis and Rick semi-naked) would count as the lowest ever!

An 8 out of 10 for me as a unique event.

Setlist

And It's Better Now

Break the Rules
Again and Again
Paper Plane
Mystery Song / Little Lady
Rock 'n' Roll
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Softer Ride
Down Down
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Down The Dustpipe
All The Reasons
Reason For Living
Rollin' Home
Don't Drive My Car
Claudie
Rain
Marguerita Time
Na Na Na
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
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Rock 'til You Drop
Burning Bridges

Elton John – Thursday 28th October - Roundhouse, Chalk Farm

There are pros and cons to the BBC Electric Proms shows. The obvious pros are to see superstar artists in a relative intimate venue and an affordable price. The cons are getting the tickets (although I've been quite lucky there) and the faff of having to go and collect a wristband earlier in the day and then turn up for the show later (at least that does hinder the touting trade a bit). There's also the fact that the artists are encouraged to branch out and do something different from their normal show - that's sometimes good and sometimes bad.

In this case Elton started with a selection of lesser played hits in which "Burn Down The Mission" and "Tiny Dancer" were highlights. Special guest was Leon Russell (who was on much better form - make that sound quality - than a few months ago) and he played a few solo numbers before Elton mentioned the dreaded words "He's the hard part for the audience - the new album in it's entirety". Now to be fair, the album isn't bad - but 3-4 highlights was surely the way to go!

Alongside, we got 2 other guests:- "Plan B" to duet on "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" - and absolutely murdered it. I can't recall seeing live a worse vocal performance for years - and I'm including Johnny Burrell in that! Much more pleasant was "Rumer" duetting with Leon.

Best bit of the night for me was a stunning "Your Song" from Elton. A song we've all heard hundreds of times, but it was transfixing. So a mixed bag all in all - have to say, I very much agree with the sentiments echoed at this link:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8096296/Elton-John-BBC-Electric-Proms-review.html

and this has some fair comments too:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/29/elton-john-review


Setlist
1.Burn Down The Mission
2.Levon
3.Tiny Dancer
4.Ballad Of A Well Known Gun
5.I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (with Plan B)
6.Delta Lady
7.A Song For You
8.This Masquerade (with Rumer)
9.If It Wasn't For Bad
10.Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes
11.Hey Ahab
12.Gone to Shiloh
13.Jimmy Rogers Dream
14.There's No Tomorrow
15.Monkey Suit
16.The Best Part of the Day
17.A Dream Come True
18.I Should Have Sent Roses
19.When Love is Dying
20.Hearts Have Turned to Stone
21.Never Too Old (To Hold Somebody)
22.The Hands of Angels
23.Tightrope
24.Prince of Peace/Out In The Woods
25.Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
26.Stranger In A Strange Land
27.Your Song
28.Take Me To The Pilot
29.Sad Songs Say So Much
30.The Bitch Is Back
+
31.?

The Who - Roundhouse, Camden - Sunday 29th October

My first ever visit to the Roundhouse and (in the words of Mott The Hoople's "Saturday Gigs"), we did indeed float up there on a Sunday afternoon. With good reason too - a chance to see The Who, "up close and personal". Well that was the plan. As it turned out, the place was heaving and we had to put up with a spot about 2/3 of the way back. However, the venue is quite small, so still a good view. 

A relatively short set and no encore (no complaints though - tickets were cheap and this was part of the BBC Electric Proms series). The middle part of the show was based around the Endless Wire album. Slightly deaf afterwards!

Setlist

I Can't Explain

The Seeker

Who Are You

+

Fragments

Sound Round

Pick Up the Peace

Endless Wire

We Got a Hit

They Made My Dream Come True

Mirror Door

+

Baba O'Riley

My Generation

A Man in a Purple Dress

Mike Post Theme

Pinball Wizard

Amazing Journey

Sparks

See Me, Feel Me

Tea & Theatre