Human League - Monday 9th December - Brighton Centre

Brief review:  "The Human League?" I hear you cry! Yes, if you see the other artists on the blog, you will realise they are unlikely to be my "cup of tea". But, ably supported by a brief set from T'Pau, the excellent Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the show was really good. In fact, I'd say the sound and vocals were superior to many of the studio tracks I'd forced myself to listen to (many I didn't enjoy) in the run up to the show. So the lessen of the day is that generally, these famous bands are famous for a reason - they are normally good!

As a bonus, I was able to pick up a live T'Pau CD from the merchandise stand that I had never seen before!

Venue and View:  Seated at the side

Setlist
[T'Pau]
Sex Talk
Secret Garden
Valentine
Whenever You Need Me
Heart and Soul
Bridge of Spies
China in Your Hand

[Sophie Ellis-Bextor]
Crying at the Discoteque 
Take Me Home 
Hypnotized
Ready for Your Love 
Get Over You
Lady (Hear Me Tonight) / Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) / Can't Fight This Feeling / Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
Freedom of the Night
Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer) 
Murder on the Dancefloor

[Human League]
Hard Times
Love Action (I Believe in Love)
Mirror Man
Heart Like a Wheel
Behind the Mask 
Life on Your Own
The Lebanon
One Man in My Heart
The Path of Least Resistance
Empire State Human
Louise
Soundtrack to a Generation
All I Ever Wanted
Open Your Heart
The Sound of the Crowd
Tell Me When
(Keep Feeling) Fascination
Don't You Want Me
+
Good-Bye Bad Times 
Together in Electric Dreams

T'Pau - Saturday 16th October - REC Rooms, Horsham

Brief review:  A "double header" for me with football in Crawley in the afternoon and T'Pau down the road in Horsham later. A new venue for me and it was nicely laid out with a decent view and sound quality. A decent and varied set from Carol, Ron and the band - but predictably it was only around the 70 minute mark. But transport wise, that suited us pretty well for the journey home via the delights of East Croydon. 

Venue and View:  A couple of rows back on the left for most of the show. At the back for the encore to make a quick escape for the train! Reasonably busy once everyone moved from the bars to the event space.

I didn't note the setlist for this one - if you have the full list then please share.

T'Pau - Thursday 19th September - Royal Vauxhall Tavern

One Liner: An all too short acoustic set at the legendary South London venue.

Setlist
Heart And Soul
Island
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Secret Garden
Wing and a Prayer
Read My Mind
Nowhere
Bridge of Spies
China in Your Hand
+
Made of Money (with "Gimme Shelter" snippet)

T'Pau - Friday 24th November - Concorde 2, Brighton

One Line Review: Excellent trip to the south coast and a rip roaring sing-a-long with a small but enthusiastic crowd.

Setlist
Thank You for Goodbye
Sex Talk
Island
Monkey House
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Secret Garden
Road to Our Dream
Walk on Air
Say You Will
Whenever You Need Me
Read My Mind
One Lesson In Love
The Promise
Bridge of Spies
Heart and Soul
China in Your Hand

T'Pau - Tuesday 26th April - Water Rats, Kings Cross

More T'Pau - this time an electric show for Vintage TV. Although I've been to the Water Rats before, I think this is the first show I've seen there and it is tiny. The band were on good form. - the audience were on a "no photo" rule, so I did wait until the last song to sneak my one and only piccie (note TV camera bottom left!).

Pretty much a "greatest hits set", the TV broadcast cut out most of the between song chat, but this was an engaging performance and well worth the admittance fee.

Setlist
Sex Talk
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Monkey House
Bridge of Spies
Secret Garden
Island
Say You Will
Wing and a Prayer
Read My Mind
Nowhere
Heart and Soul
China in Your Hand
+
Made of Money

T'Pau - Thursday 14th April - Royal Vauxhall Tavern

My second ever visit to the RVT and my second seeing of a T'Pau acoustic show there! We dragged along some friends who I think were more intrigued by the venue and it's reputation than the band, but they left having enjoyed the show. Carol and the boys were on good form and the acoustic format suits some of the songs pretty well. The encore song was a strange choice, but all in all a very pleasant hour and a bit.

Setlist

Heart And Soul
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Monkey House
Bridge Of Spies
Secret Garden
Island
Walk On Air
Purity
Make Love To Me
Wing And A Prayer
Read my Mind
Nowhere
China In Your Hand
+
Made Of Money

T'Pau - Saturday 25th July - Jazz Cafe

Carol Decker

A few weeks on from the acoustic show, here's the full T'Pau show - a rearranged affair at London's Jazz Cafe.

The band were in "rock" mode tonight and a lively (but brief) set appeared to be enjoyed by all present. I do think for £26, the crowd can expect to see a bit more than just over an hour of headline act though. Still, quality beats quantity and this was possibly the best of the T'Pau shows I've seen over the last couple of years. Carol's vocals were spot on and the band seemed very up for it this evening.

Picking the best of the new "Pleasure and Pain" album alongside the classics from "Bridge of Spies" plus a view highlights from other albums presented a good mix and I'm very much looking forward to the 2016 tour.

Setlist
Thank You For Goodbye
Secret Garden
Island
Monkey House
I Will Be With You
Read My Mind
Nowhere
Misbelieving
Say You Will
Valentine
Running Away / Sex Talk
Bridge Of Spies
Heart & Soul
China In Your Hand

T'Pau - Thursday 2nd July - Royal Vauxhall Tavern

T'Pau's first ever acoustic-only show. The venue was the Royal Vauxhall Tavern - one of London's premier gay venues. Maybe not unsurprisingly this was a venue I'd not been to previously - it's not your typical rock club. As 2 straight blokes, we were probably not the standard clientele, but staff were welcoming, bar was good and an excellent view of the stage obtained. Plus what can you say about a hall with 6 glitter balls! An enthusiastic audience lapped up Carol Decker's in between song chit chat - much of which seemed adapted for the venue!

Anyway, she was in good voice, the band on good form and the hour long set was great fun. A surprise cover of the Eagle's "Hotel California" was a highlight and the other songs worked well in a stripped down format.

Looking forward to the full electric show next month.

Setlist
Secret Garden
Monkey House
Make Love To Me
I Will Be With You
Say You Will
Nowhere
Read My Mind
Demolition Man
Valentine
Hotel California
Heart & Soul
China In Your Hand

T'Pau - Saturday 23rd November - Islington Assembly Hall

The first central London T'Pau show for many years. We'd even managed to coax some friends along to this based on the Burgess Hill show earlier in the year. A quick check on stage times before going for a beer revealed 3 support bands. This started alarm bells ringing - they are bound to overrun and there is a strict 11pm curfew. No matter, T'Pau will be on at 9:15 we are told. 

Post beer, we return for 9:00pm. They are running late - what a surprise!  A band called Blue Zoo who seemed to think they were famous in the 80's (no, me neither!) dragged on for a while meaning Carol and the boys didn't appear until 9:50. This led to a rushed set - no doubt missing out a few songs - with no break for an encore or between song chat. The extra support acts are a false economy - no-one wants to see them, so there's no better value for money and it just delays and detracts from the main act.

Still, the brief(er) T'Pau set was excellent - vocals top notch (not really any need for the young backing vocalist who had been drafted in) and a few setlist changes from earlier in the tour. Shamefully, I'm not fully up to speed on all the tracks from Rage or The Promise, so there were a couple I only vaguely recognised. I was slight disappointed not to hear 'Time Will Tell', but other than that all was good. A live CD of the performance is promised - I will be making a purchase!

If anyone knows the definitive setlist then please let me know.

T'Pau - Friday 3rd May - Burgess Hill

Carol Decker 2013

A pleasant evening in the "Rock & Roll capital of Sussex" - Burgess Hill. Carol Decker and T'Pau mark the 25th Anniversary of their debut album "Bridge of Spies". The all-seated venue was more populated than I'd been expecting and it was good to see co-founder and songwriter Ron Rodgers in the band.

The set was based around the hits - no surprise there - and it was good to see Carol's vocal power in evidence and also her sense of humour when addressing the audience with a few funny anecdotes.

After the show, we were lucky enough to have a chat with both Carol and Ron and they kindly signed our ticket stubs for us. Good to hear that Ron is still writing and performing with a band close to home and hopefully the success of this nationwide tour will lead to others in the future.

If anyone has the setlist then please add a comment.