Warner E Hodges - Friday 24th May - Camden Club

Brief review:  What a thoroughly nice chap Warner is. He was generous enough to have a chat with us after the show and we talked about his upcoming trip to Spain to see a couple of AC/DC shows (he is a huge fan!).

The show tonight was really good with Warner's own brand of Southern Rock interspersed with a couple of choice covers. A brand new venue for me too which was fine apart from the high (even for London!) drinks prices.

Venue and View:  Standing - front and central.

Warner E Hodges - Thursday 13th October - Water Rats, Kings Cross

Brief review:
Warner has toured a few times since Homemade Sin (specifically Dan Baird) called it a day. He delivered another high energy show of classic country rock with some well chosen covers. He always makes time for fans and it was nice to have a brief chat afterwards whilst he signed a CD for me.

Venue and View: Centre standing, about 10 yards from stage - very busy!

Warner E Hodges - Wednesday 15th December - Dublin Castle, Camden

Brief review:  Warner was in good form as he and his UK based band romped through a repertoire ranging from country to hard rock. As well as solo material, there was a good choice of covers including Let There Be Rock (AC/DC), I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick), Country Roads (John Denver), Fortunate Son (Credence Clearwater Revival) and Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade). A loud and enjoyable evening.

Venue and View:  Left hand side, halfway back. Still only 5 yards from the stage. Comfortable access to the outside bar if you needed to walk through the crowd.

Warner E Hodges - Thursday 23rd May - Hope & Anchor, Islington

One Liner: New venue for me and it was tiny! And Warner was loud! Decent set including some AC/DC, Pink Floyd and sing-a-long John Denver!

Warner E Hodges - Tuesday 23rd October - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

Warner E Hodges (centre) and his band

Normally when we see Warner it's as part of the excellent Homemade Sin band with Dan Baird, so it was a treat to see him solo at the local Boom Boom Club.

Warner's passion for music (and especially AC/DC) shone through and he was engaging throughout. The music was great too, wth some solo stuff, tunes from his "other band" - Jason and the Scorchers and a smattering of covers including AC/DC, Beatles, John Denver & CCR.

A really nice evening - come back soon please Warner. "Take Me Home... Country Roads..."

Mick Ralphs Blues Band - Sunday 7th December - Dingwalls, Camden

A four band bill, a Sunday night and early finish on the tube. H'mmm - Monday booked off work as contingency. Apparently, not many others took that option and chose to stay away as Dingwalls was sparsely populated in the extreme. It being a Sunday night aside, I do not know why as, for once, all the bands looked to provide something to the bill if this is the style of music you like.

We caught the end of the openers and they sounded more than competent. The Western Sizzlers were next - this is the first time we'd seen Rick Richards outside of the Georgia Satellites and they produced a solid set based around their new album "For Ol' Times Sake..." (purchased on the night) which includes a nice cover of Quo's "Break The Rules" and a very Quo-esq "One More Beer" (think "Wild Side of Life"). As I found out later via a brief chat, singer and songwriter Kevin is a massive Quo fan (I jokingly pointed out that his 100+ times of seeing them was "lightweight", but I think he won the argument by saying that the vast majority of those were "proper Quo" with the pre '85 line-up!).

Warner E. Hodges was up next. Keen readers may work out that I'd seen him twice recently already via his involvement in Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, but I'd never seen him on his own before. I didn't know most of the songs, but he was really good as expected. A very heavy impromptu encore of "Country Roads" bought about a bit of a sing-a-long - excellent stuff. He was as gracious as always afterwards posing for photos and a chat.

Top of the Bill was Mick Ralphs with his Blues Band. They have changed their vocalist since we saw them last. I've no idea why, but there was something about the previous singer I didn't quite take to. Only a perception - but he gave off the impression he thought we were lucky to be able to hear him sing (he was good, but...!). As I say, only a perception from distance, he may well be a top bloke.

The new guy seemed much more personable, but as a result the material played was a bit different. To be fair, I didn't know much of it. Predictably "Can't Get Enough" was thrown in (can't really argue with that to be honest) and Mick's guitar playing was really good and the rest of the band too. Mick also was happy to have photos taken afterwards - a true gent.

All in all, a long day (we'd had a long darts session in the afternoon), but a good one.

Setlists anyone please?