John "Rhino" Edwards - Thursday 30th January - West Hampstead Arts Centre

Brief review:  An "in conversation" event with Quo's bassist for a Mick Wall podcast. Mick seemed to go out of his way to annoy the audience in the warm up chat, basically denigrating any band that didn't have it's full quota of classic line-up members and saying that people who went to see them are idiots. Not quite the exact words, but the small seated audience didn't generally share his views which were a bit rich considering his soon-to-arrive guest wasn't the original bassist of a classic rock band.

Anyway, Rhino was on good form with some amusing anecdotes and views from inside the Quo camp. As an interviewer, Mick does have a tendency to turn the conversations and experiences back to himself, but at least a brief Q&A session bought the focus back to his guest. An interesting, albeit non-essential experience.

Venue and View:  Seated centrally, towards the back

Slim Jim Phantom - Friday 4th October - West Hampstead Arts Centre

Brief review:  The Stray Cat returns to West Hampstead. As the view from the back has pretty restricted last time, we got in early to grab a better spot prior to the support and were able to sit at the side. The support act (solo bloke with electric guitar) was pretty good (and I really enjoyed the punky version of the Scooby Doo theme!). The evening almost got ruined by a slightly strange middle aged gentleman deciding to sweep our (full!) drinks onto the floor because he wanted to steal our seats whilst I popped to the gents. He couldn't see what the problem was, so I suspect he had issues of some sort. I maturely let the matter drop despite a few of the people around us suggesting a more physical approach would have been apt!

The show itself was decent, albeit fairly brief. By his own admission, Jim isn't the best vocalist, but a decent selection of songs (including covers) meant that this didn't really matter. And having Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik on guitar and other vocals was quite left field - he was good though.

Venue and View:  Front Right, standing (once our seats had been stolen!)

Slim Jim Phantom - Wednesday 21st June - West Hampstead Arts Centre

Brief review:  We’re gonna rock this town… with the town in question being errm… West Hampstead. Earlier, we heard there was a Rumble in Brighton tonight. And we will most definitely be doing a Stray Cat Strut back to the tube. 

Yes, it’s Britt Ekland’s ex hubby - Slim Jim Phantom in between his “Let’s Rock…” festival dates.

The set was basically as you'd expect - a mix of Stray Cats and rockabilly standards. And none the worse for it - unlike our view of the stage!

Venue and View:  Long, Narrow and Thin. We were at the back with a very limited view indeed.

Setlist
Matchbox
C'mon Everybody
It's All Over Now
Say Mama
Oh, Boy!
That's All Right
Honey Hush
Runaway Boys
Stray Cat Strut
Flyin' Saucers Rock & Roll
Summertime Blues
Stood Up
+
Rock This Town

Rumble in Brighton