Joanne Shaw Taylor - Friday 27th January - Shepherds Bush Empire

My first show of 2017 and it's on the first floor of the Shepherds Bush Empire for Joanne Shaw Taylor. For reasons I'm not quite certain of the Empire nearly always make the first floor unreserved which means you have to get there early for a seat or a standing view from the side above the floor. We opted for the latter, which meant getting a decent view of the support band - who's name I have instantly forgotten. Shame as they were actually pretty good.

JST and her minimalist backing band appeared - good to see the old tradition of Guitarist and Bass play standing on rugs being kept (!) and it was a really high quality show. Mainly showcasing the excellent "Wild" album, the vocals were clear and the playing of the highest order. Joanne goes from strength to strength and my guess is the next time she plays here the upper tiers will be open.

Setlist
Dyin' to Know
Nothing to Lose
No Reason to Stay
Jump That Train
Diamonds in the Dirt
Tried, Tested & True
Watch 'em Burn
Time Has Come
Wanna Be My Lover
Ready to Roll
Wild Is the Wind
Tied & Bound
+
Going Home

An enthusiastic (and more thorough) review of the show is here

Scouting For Girls - Monday 30th November - Sherpherds Bush Empire

The full tour show from Scouting For Girls and we have seated tickets in the 1st tier at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Decent view, but had to get here early to secure unreserved seat. A decent set from the boys, including a nice cover of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer". Roy's voice seemed a fraction more strained than normal, but not to any detriment.

A few new songs (some played at Kingston a month or so back) fitted in well with the old favourites and the crowd was in good voice throughout, but especially during 1+1.

I really like these guys as a band, but I do have one (albeit minor) criticism. It all feels a bit rushed - almost as if they daren't leave any time between songs and feel the need to fill any potential lull in the crowd volume. If they just slowed down a bit between songs when they changed instruments, spoke to the crowd (as they do really well) and introduced stuff in a slightly less manic way then it would make the show 5 minutes longer (no bad thing as their shows are quite short) and just make the whole thing look more polished.

Otherwise, hard to fault.

Setlist
Bad Superman
Heartbeat
Still Thinking About You
Famous
Life's Too Short
Millionaire
I Wish I Was James Bond
Love How It Hurts
The Airplane Song
Michaela Strachan (Short Version)
Posh Girls
1+1
Elvis Ain't Dead / (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You
Castles
This Ain't A Love Song
Livin' On A Prayer 
Home
+
Christmas In The Air (Tonight)
She's So Lovely

[Follow up: Shepherds Bush Empire now closed for the "rest of the year" for urgent repairs! - details here ]

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Friday 6th November - Bush Hall

My second of the-end-of-year Homemade Sin shows - back at the Bush Hall which it has to be said was considerably less busy than last years equivalent show. It was what you'd expect though - loud, sweaty and good.

Shame the bar isn't up to much - overpriced bottles only (of Meantime) - but we're not here for the drink, it's the music that was key. Different setlist from Winchester (again sadly not recorded by me) and my ears were ringing afterwards. I purchased the new CD and Vinyl on the way out which Dan was kind enough to sign for me. Must have a look through his solo stuff that I own - I probably now have more signed than not!

Same again next year?

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Friday 28th November - Bush Hall

Warner E Hodges, Dan Baird & Mauro Magellan

Dan and the boys return to the UK and play their first ever show at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush. This comes in under the heading of "intimate", but as the band point out, it's nice to play London without being in a basement!

The show is as you've come to expect from Homemade Sin - excellent. Sound was good (and loud) - in fact I was a bit deaf the next morning and it was nice to hear "Mon Cheri" back in the set. I had been hoping to hear a bit of Baba O'Riley in "Two For Tuesday", but we got "Proud Mary" instead which was fine. Lots of tracks from the last album "Circus Life" which is growing on me after a slow start.

I purchased the signed vinyl version at the show - JCPL have produced a really nice item. Apparently limited to 200 copies - grab 'em while you can!

Unfortunately, I can't find a setlist anywhere, so please post if you know what was played and when!
[updated - thanks very much to Humbug66 for the setlist]

Looking forward to "the Church" next week for the acoustic show!

Setlist
Hard Luck Boy 
Fall Apart On Me
Crooked Smile
Mon Cheri 
Little Darlin'
Hell To Pay
Two For Tuesday (including Proud Mary)
Worse For The Wear And Tear 
I Dunno
Sweet Blue Midnight 
Damn Thing To Be Done
Julie & Lucky
I Love You Period 
Outlivin' 
Railroad Steel (including Route 66)
Lazy Monday
The Myth Of Love
Mess With My Cranium Girl [Warner vocals]
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
Sheila (including Do You Wanna Dance)
+
Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) 
Don't Pass Me By [Warner vocals]

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Wednesday 19th November - Shepherd's Bush Empire

I'd never actually heard of Joanne up until a few months ago and had booked to see this show on the strength of seeing Bernie Marsden. Throw in the fact that it was a good value ticket and we nabbed front row seats and it was looking like an enjoyable evening. I was also feeling relatively young in an audience of primarily middle aged gentlemen.

Bernie came on first and slightly surprisingly most of his set was acoustic. None the worse for it, both vocals and guitar were excellent. The finale "Here I Go Again" featured lines from both the 1987 remake and the original, which was nice.

Joanne was on shortly afterwards. And wow! What a great evening of blues rock. I was expecting at least one more guitarist in the band, but clearly this wasn't needed. Some of her solos (split between a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster) were fantastic and the songs very listenable to. Vocally, Joanne seems to sound a bit like Tina Turner in the "Steamy Windows" vein, and sometime the words weren't 100% clear, but that was a minor niggle. She's only in her mid twenties, so a long career seems likely. A highlight was when Bernie reappeared for "Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues".

The evening concluded with the title track from her new album "The Dirty Truth". I shall certainly be purchasing some CDs and looking out for tickets the next time Joanne tours.

Setlists

Bernie Marsden
Lie On The Track
Wedding Day
Till the Day I Die
Who Do We Think We Are?
Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City
Ain't Gonna Cry No More
Dragonfly
Here I Go Again

Joanne Shaw Taylor
Mud Honey
Just Another Word
Watch 'em Burn
Jealousy
Jump That Train
Diamonds In The Dirt
Wrecking Ball
Tried, Tested & True
Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues [with Bernie Marsden]
Let It Burn [with Bernie Marsden]
Tied & Bound
Going Home
+
The Dirty Truth

An Evening of Who Music - Tuesday 11th November - Shepherd's Bush Empire

This show, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, featured the Who's current touring band (including Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino, Simon Townshend & Billy Nicholls) and a host of guest vocalists. Hosted by Chris Evans, the event has been described as the a stars karaoke evening, but it turned out to be more than that with some excellent vocal performances, a moving charity film and some hilarious moments from Johnny Vegas and Rich Hall adding to some fine musicianship from one of the World's top bands. Oh, and Roger Daltrey sang at the end too!

Sadly there was no Pete Townshend. "I think Pete would rather do anything rather than have his songs played back to him by others" quipped Roger at the start of the evening. there then proceed to be a number of acts who I'd heard of, but not seen. Most surprisingly good were Rizzle Kicks, who's rap inspired version of "Who Are You" worked fantastically. I bet it was the most atypical audience they'd ever played to! Rich "I'm so far out of my depth here" Hall rasped his away through You Better You Bet, claiming it has the song "that had got be barred from karaoke bards across North America". Johnny Vegas sang some of Dr Jimmy and The Real Me acapella with the crowd, saying that the Quadrophenia album "saved his life".

Ricky Wilson was good, albeit with song sheets. Sheila Ferguson forgot the words to Acid Queen, which didn't really matter. Liam Gallagher snarled his way through a fine My Generation in a particularly dodgy looking mac and Eddie Vedder sounded better than I'd ever heard him before.

Roger Daltrey ended a fine evening with Substitute and an appropriate Young Man Blues. A very expensive evening, but a worthwhile one in every sense.

Setlist
I Can't Explain (with Andy Burrows)
The Kids Are Alright (with The Strypes)
Getting in Tune (with Tom Odell)
Behind Blue Eyes (with Amy Macdonald)
Who Are You (with Rizzle Kicks)
You Better You Bet (with Rich Hall)
5:15 (with Ricky Wilson)
Bell Boy (with Ricky Wilson)
Love, Reign O'er Me (with Joe Elliott)
The Acid Queen (with Sheila Ferguson)
The Seeker (with Geddy Lee)
Baba O'Riley (with Leslie Mendelson)
My Generation (with Liam Gallagher)
Naked Eye (with Eddie Vedder)
Won't Get Fooled Again (with Eddie Vedder)
See Me, Feel Me (with Eddie Vedder + ensemble)
+
Substitute (with Roger Daltrey)
Young Man Blues (with Roger Daltrey)

https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/

Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey - Tuesday 25th February - Shepherd's Bush Empire

Now I must admit the career of Wilko Johnson has largely passed me by, having not really been too aware of Dr Feelgood's material over the years. Obviously his very sad terminal illness has made the news and the collaboration with Roger Daltrey made this appear to be a fitting event to celebrate his achievements. So, feeling a bit like a gate crasher, it was a bit strange to be amongst the few who didn't know all the words at this show. The venue was also absolutely packed - the busiest I have seen it on the floor for some time, making us wonder if there were some interlopers with seated tickets!

Wilko started off on is own and looked good (remarkable in fact for a man with his condition). His "trademark" is obviously the speedy glide around the stage - very effective.

After a while, Roger Daltrey appeared and they rattled through the songs from the new album (Going Back Home). Playing and vocals were excellent and the crowd appreciative. In fact, I'm doing Daltrey a disservice - vocals were fantastic. Let's hope he keeps using that voice to good effect for a few more years yet.

Setlist
All Right
Barbed Wire Blues
The More I Give
Dr. Dupree
When I'm Gone
Roxette
[with Roger Daltrey from here onwards]
Going Back Home
I Keep It to Myself
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
Keep on Loving You
Some Kind of Hero
Ice on the Motorway
Sneakin' Suspicion
Everybody's Carrying a Gun
Keep It Out of Sight
All Through the City
I Can't Explain
+
I Keep It to Myself (2nd play)

Thin Lizzy / Quireboys - Monday 17th December - Shepherd's Bush Empire

Third gig in 4 days for me and off to the Shepherd's Bush Empire. We are here primarily for the Quireboys who are support, but also taking a first ever look at Thin Lizzy who are supposedly on the last night of their "farewell tour". Yeah, we've all heard that before.

The Quireboys were good - a fairly safe set - and Spike worked hard to engage with the pretty sparse crowd. Looking forward to a new album and shows in 2013.

Thin Lizzy's crowd had swelled slightly (maybe 2/3 capacity on the floor and a reasonable filled level 1 seating). Setlist was predictably greatest hits based and whilst Phil Lynott is generally regarded as "irreplaceable", Ricky Warwick and the rest of the plectrum flinging band were good fun. I may be tempted if and when they tour again.

Setlists (subject to confirmation!)

QUIREBOYS
Tramps And Thieves
There She Goes Again
Misled
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Roses & Rings
Whippin' Boy
Mona Lisa Smiled
Hey You
Mother Mary
This Is Rock And Roll
7 O'Clock

THIN LIZZY
Are You Ready
Jailbreak
Don't Believe A Word
Killer On The Loose
Chinatown
Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me in It's Spotlight)
Massacre
Waiting For An Alibi
Angel Of Death
Still In Love With You
Whiskey In The Jar
Emerald
Suicide
Cowboy Song
The Boys Are Back In Town
+
Rosalie
Black Rose

Ian Hunter - Friday 19th of October - Shepherd's Bush Empire

Mr Ian Hunter

Back to the Shepherd's Bush Empire for the second night running - this time standing on the floor. Whilst not full, a healthy crowd turned up to see Mr Hunter play a selection of material from his solo albums and some Mott The Hopple material as well. For man well into his 70s, his vocals are excellent and the band that he has assembled are very competent. Ian switched seamlessly between guitar and piano and the sonngs from his new album "When I'm President" mixed in well with the old classics.

To round off the evening it was no surprise at all to see his daughter Tracy and Mick Ralphs join the band for a rousing "All the Young Dudes". If it wasn't for the fact that we go away for the weekend tomorrow, I'd be back for the 3rd night running with Steve Miller.

Setlist
Comfortable (Flyin' Scotsman)
Once Bitten Twice Shy
Fatally Flawed
Wash Us Away
Just The Way You Look Tonight
23A, Swan Hill
Irene Wilde (first part) / All The Way From Memphis
All American Alien Boy
Black Tears
Just Another Night
Isolation
When I'm President
Flowers
Roll Away The Stone
Michael Picasso
Sweet Jane
+
Girl From the Office (snippet)
Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)
The Moon Upstairs
Saturday Gigs / Life
All the Young Dudes

Scouting For Girls - Thursday 18th of October - Shepherd's Bush Empire

A seated engagement at the Shepherd's Bush Empire and I'd forgotten what a good view you get from the 1st tier. After a pleasant enough warmup act, Scouting For Girls hit the stage to great excitement from the crowd. Playing a mix of material from their first two albums as well as from the new one this was a pleasant if not extraordinary show. Obviously the crowd reacted best to the old material and I'm glad to say a few favourites remain in the set - especially "I Wish I Was James Bond". It'll be interesting to see if the band can take their popularity to the next level.

Setlist

Summertime in the City

Heartbeat

Downtempo

Love How It Hurts

The Airplane Song

I Wish I Was James Bond

Famous

Snakes and Ladders

Rains in L.A.

It's Not About You

Elvis Ain't Dead

Can't Help Falling in Love

1+1

Make This One Last

The Light Between Us

This Ain't a Love Song

Without You

Keep On Walking

She's So Lovely

Cold Chisel - Wednesday 11th July - Shepherd's Bush Empire

After a brave decision to meet in one of the errr.. most traditional pubs in London - The Stewart Arms (a mere stones throw from the Westfield Shopping centre) - average age of clientele 60+, we moved for a nice couple of Bitburgers in the The Bull - once of the nicest shopping centre pubs I know.

Having ascertained stage times and decided to give the support a miss, we turned up at about 8:50pm for the 9:00pm start. This is where the problems started. 2 of us had remembered our tickets and 2 hadn't! (guess who the gig regulars are!). Anyway, this meant I had to go into "dad" mode, explaining to the nice girl in the ticket office what fools my friends were (...insert your own Australian abuse here...) and she very kindly did some checks and issued 2 passes. Beyond the call of duty, so thank you Shepherd's Bush Empire (and apologies to those in the queue behind picking up tickets).

So, we missed the first 2 songs, but the venue wasn't sold out, so got a reasonable view in our normal spot by the left hand bar. Double beers were promptly supplied by he who forgot the tickets and we enjoyed the rest of the show. I found it a bit weird as I know much more Jimmy Barnes solo material than Cold Chisel, but it all seemed well received by the predominantly Aussie crowd. Ian Moss sang vocals on some tracks - he's certainly a bit less "shouty" than Mr Barnes, but Jimmy seems to get the better songs. Khe Sanh was a predictable highlight.

Anyway, after the show we decamped to the Walkabout (groan...) for a pint of Snakebite (double groan...). They at least had the decency to close at 11 (why?), so if was on to O'Neills for a nightcap of a lager variety. The normal bus combination home worked well, so a 1:30am bedtime could have been much worse.

Setlist:

Standing on the Outside

Cheap Wine
No Plans
HQ 454 Monroe
Saturday Night
Everybody
Forever Now
Yakuza Girls
My Baby
Rising Sun
Summer Moon
All For You
You Got Nothing I Want
Merry Go Round
Flame trees
Khe Sanh
Bow River
+
When The War Is Over
Four Walls
Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)

An Evening with Danny And Ben From Thunder - Friday 20th January - Bush Hall, Shepherd's Bush

So, my last show of 2011 was Thunder, the first of 2012 is two members of the same band - singer Danny Bowes and guitarist (and occasional keyboardist) Ben Matthews. At an intimate Bush Hall, the emphasis was as much on storytelling as music. Indeed only 10 songs in 2 and a half hours showed that it wasn't even a 50-50 split.

The stories were entertaining - covering Thunder's life on the road and trips to Japan, Germany and a number of festivals. The music was pretty much acoustic and featured only 3 Thunder songs including a pleasant piano-based "A Better Man". The other covers were a little hit and miss ("hit" for the Who's Squeeze Box, "miss" for Chuck Berry's Nadine). For the final song of the evening - Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love", the boys were joined by Danny's daughter Lucy on vocals and despite looking nervous, she performed very well.

So all in all a good fun evening, but not a show which you would choose to go to more than once on a tour.

Setlist
Seagull
Nadine
A Better Man
See My Baby Walking
+
Squeeze Box
She's Not You
Interlude / I'm One (Acoustic Guitar only)
Blackbird
Like a Satellite
+
Make You feel My Love

Jimmy Barnes - Saturday 6th July - Shepherd's Bush Empire

After 6 weeks without a gig, I was looking forward to this one. Aussie legend Mr Barnes belting out his hits in front of lively - mainly Australian - crowd. Added bonus for us was the support being provided by "The Union" - hopefully warming up for some headline shows of their own later in the year. Luke, Peter and the boys played a solid 40 minutes or so and I'm hoping that those in the crowd who hadn't see them before were impressed. They wisely stuck to the heavier end of their material and it seemed popular.

After a short break, Jimmy and his band appeared. The normal selection of family members included (daughters on backing vocals, son on drums etc) and the band were on good form. Pleased to say he played pretty much everything I was hoping to hear and a good time was had by all. I'm guessing the SBE's bar takings do well when the aussies are in!

Texted an Australian friend to find out which is the "Unofficial Aussie National Anthem" - "Working Class Man" or "Khe Sanh"? I am told it is the latter - just!

Tried to go and watch the David Haye fight afterwards, but not prepared to pay ten or 20 quid to get to a packed pub to watch the last few rounds. Ended up watching the final round through the window of the Larrick in Putney whilst an alternative brawl took place around us involving one bloke who was so drunk, he couldn't stand up. Sounds like we didn't miss much anyway.

Magnum - Saturday 30th April - Shepherd’s Bush Empire

It's fair to say I wasn't sure about this in advance. In my opinion the latest Magnum album is their weakest for ages. Luckily for me, the set featured only the best couple of songs, plus some old favourites and some newer "goodies". Good to see the floor fairly full and the band enjoying themselves. I still believe the future is bright for Magnum.. They are too good for it not to be!

PS "Ling Alert" number 2, as expected!

Setlist
Back to Earth
When We Were Younger
Wild Angels
Brand New Morning
How Far Jerusalem
Spin Like A Wheel
Les Morts Dansant
The Moonking
Freedom Day
Black Skies
All My Bridges
All England's Eyes
Kingdom Of Madness
+
Vigilante
On A Storyteller's Night

Cheap Trick - Friday 12th November - Shepherds Bush Empire

After a short wander around Shepherds Bush, it was off to the Empire for my first show there for quite a while. Whilst not too busy when we arrived, come showtime the standing area was absolutely packed! Now I don't know much stuff by Cheap Trick - being here only by virtue of enjoying their support slot with Def Leppard a few years back, but this was a really good show. In fact, probably the best headline show I've seen by an act whose material I don't really know!

Setlist below is from setlist.fm and I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't notice at the time the presence of a Wizzard cover in the encore!

Setlist
Oh, Candy
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Stiff Competition
Best Friend
Lookout
Tonight It's You
I Want You To Want Me
I Know What I Want
These Days
Wrong All Along
Smile
Anytime
Magical Mystery Tour
Cold Turkey
Sick Man of Europe
Closer, The Ballad of Burt and Linda
Surrender
+
Ain't That A Shame
Rock 'n' Roll Tonight
Dream Police

The Wholigans - Wednesday 19th November - Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush

Thanks to Barry from The Wholigans for mentioning this show on this very blog, otherwise I would not have known about it. We Started the evening in The Stewart Arms - a real "Life On Mars" throwback of a pub. There was actually a guy in there who we didn't know if he was asleep, in a coma or dead - just slumped over 2/3 of a pint. After 20 or so minutes he moved and slumped onto the other side of the table, so encouraging signs of life! Everyone else just carried on around him, so assume this was a normal state of affairs. 

Next we went to a nice bar called "The Prince of Wales" which had a fine selection of beers. Very expensive, but a good effort. Meandering back towards Bush Hall we stopped in an Irish Pub. The Irish clientele were watching the England game and the back of the pub was full of Poles watching Poland beating Ireland! Classic! 

We decided to skip the support band - "The Small Fakers" to see a bit more of the football, having handed over our entrance money to the security guy on the door. Maybe not the smartest thing to have done - half expected him to deny all knowledge of us when we went back or to have done a runner, but it was all fine and in we went. With hindsight, I'm sure the Florida-based band wouldn't have chosen to play the night of an England football match, because the place was nearly empty! No more than 75 punters which was a real shame, because the band are excellent. Once again, vocals were spot on and the band sounded just as they should. It was loud too! Good setlist - even a few for the "hardcore" - "Fortune Teller" anyone? I'm sure everyone there had a good time - let's hope there are a few more next time around.

http://www.thewholigans.com/

Photo from Reverand Dan - http://www.flickr.com/photos/revdan/3046467706/

Ian Hunter - Shepherd's Bush Empire - Sunday 28th October

Seating on the floor of SBE? Never too sure about that, but as we were in the 3rd row I certainly can't complain about the view. Show started a little slowly but by the end I was really enjoying both the new songs and the classic hits.

For the encore Ian was joined by Mick Ralphs (Mott The Hoople/Bad Company), Verden Allen (Mott The Hoople) and guitarist Chris Spedding (Chart Act !!) as well as predictably, Tracy Hunter!

The classic "Saturday Gigs" was played in it's entirety.

All in all, MUCH better than the Pigalle Club show earlier this year!