Rhino's Revenge - Friday 6th March - 100 Club, London

Reverting to the Rhino's Revenge moniker (from Woodedz) in support of their new CD, an entertaining evening at the 100 Club started with Quo tribute band "State of Quo" delivering a brief but fun set of Quo classics and obscurities.

Rhino with family and friends then took the stage to showcase their new CD which meant the set had a few less covers and Quo songs than normal. All were delivered well - as mentioned on these pages before, Rhino must know he's no vocalist, but that sort of misses the point of the band. People were here for a good time and in the main that's what they got. There are a few duds in the set - the perennially awful "Secretary" always grates with me personally, but some fun light hearted ditties such as "Stan The Man" provide balance with the rockier numbers. The band do a good version of Jam Side Down which is much heavier than the Quo version for example.

So, all in all a good night. The Quo collector in me was tempted to buy the CD - signed copies of what looked like a CDR were available, but they were £15 - about the same as the price of the show. In a rare moment of reasonableness, I weighed up spending the cash now on a CD which is likely to enter my CD player approximately once against waiting and picking up a bargain bin version at some time in the future. The cash stayed in my pocket.

That sounds harsher than it should, as I enjoy seeing the guys play and will happily spend money to see them again (and on a different night may have a different view on buying the CD - especially a factory produced version), but when it comes down to it will I pick "Piledriver" or "Rhino's Revenge 2" off the shelf when I next listen to some classic rock at home? I'll leave you to ponder.

Woodedz - Tuesday 8th July - Grey Horse, Kingston

So after a gig-free June, a late announcement means it's 2 live shows on the bounce seeing Quo bassist John "Rhino" Edwards and Woodedz. On the night of the scarcely believable Brazil 1, Germany 7 World Cup Semi-Final, the band completed their 3 night "World Tour" with a headline show in Kingston.

The set turned out to be a bit longer than at Putney and as normal, the standard of musicianship was exceptionally high. Rhino, as I'm sure would be the first to admit, is not amongst the World's top vocalist and this was compounded tonight by what I assume was a severely sore throat. A new career as a 1930's bluesman beckons! Still, to be honest, that didn't really matter a jot as the smallish crowd of friends, family and fans lapped it up. Sounds like it may be the last show from the guys for a while - good luck to Max who is off to Germany to study. A new album is on the way though... allegedly!

Setlist
2 Way Traffic
Shame
Secretary
Dust to Gold
Don't Come Around Here
Republican
Obstruction Day
Belavista Man
Get Out of Denver
Jam Side Down
Bad News
Paper Plane
+
Jungle Love

Woodedz - Tuesday 27th May - Half Moon, Putney

So, I’m spending quite a bit of time in Putney this year. Back to the Half Moon for a support slot from Quo’s bassman John “Rhino” Edwards and his family band – Woodedz. A small crowd witnessed a decent 40 minute set of Quo rarities and solo material. “The Republican” was dropped from the typed setlist – presumably due to time constraints. Not sure why they didn’t just come on earlier, especially as 90% of the crowd were here to see them. Indeed I felt slightly guilty walking out later on the main act “The Wild Things” (who weren’t bad, by any stretch) and leaving them with an audience numbering 7.

Highlights were surprisingly a heavy-ish version of “Jam Side Down” (yes, really!) – “for the hardcore” and a debut of “Dust To Gold”. Let’s hope we get a headline UK show from the Edwards clan soon.

Setlist
Two Way Traffic
Shame
Secretary
Dust To Gold
Bad News
Don’t Come Around Here
Jam Side Down
Belavista Man
Jungle Love

Woodedz - Sunday 7th September - Dugdale Centre, Enfield

New town, new venue. Well for those of us from south if the river anyway. It looks to an outsider that Enfield has a nice part - Enfield Chase, and a not so great part - the town. We found 3 nice pubs in the former - the riverside one being particularly pleasant.

The venue - the Dugdale Centre - is firmly in the town. It is a modern theatre complex and stands out from its slightly rougher surroundings. 

In case you don't know, Woodedz are John 'Rhino' Edwards from Status Quo, together with his 2 sons, Freddie and Max. The audience - primarily Quo fans were here in support of this charity show raising cash for the local Papworth Hospital. 

Not really knowing what material to expect, it was good to hear a large chunk of the Rhino's Revenge album, some obscure and not so obscure Quo tacks and a smattering of covers. The only downside was a dreadful song which appeared to be called 'Secretary' with truly cringe-worthy lyrics ("you want a double entendre, I'll give you one" etc). 

Otherwise, well worth the tenner entrance fee and trip across town. Now if only the venue could afford a stage...

Woodedz - Friday 25th September - Half Moon, Putney

Rhino from Status Quo (and most of his family) playing at the popular Half Moon venue in Putney. The location allowed for a bit of a crawl beforehand and we got to the venue around 9:00 to see Rhino still in the bar. This gave us time for a win on the Quiz machine and a game of Pool where - despite the amount of beer consumed - I was uncharacteristically brilliant. 

The show was good (although it was a shame the late start meant a shorter set) and was the normal mix of solo stuff, Quo Material (mainly lesser played album tracks and 'B' sides) and a smattering of Rock covers.

Pretty much every member of Rhino's family seemed to be in attendance and most performed! All in all, good fun. Didn't hang around to chat afterwards - instead went for a bit more classic rock from the DJ's in the B@1 bar.

4 Bills & A Ben – Saturday 28th February – Boom Boom Club, Sutton Utd

A late notice encounter with 4 Bills and a Ben, prompted by the appearance of ex-Quo drummer Jeff Rich and Quo bassist Rhino Edwards. The added bonus was that Rhino and his family band were also supporting. They seemed intent on playing a number of covers from Quo's covers albums, so in amongst original material, we got "Get Out of Denver", "Lucille", "Sweet Home Chicago" and a few others.

Good evening, big crowd (recognised a number of people normally seen at Quo shows) and the Mods on fine form with guitarist Steve Byrd re-joining after injury. Only downside was the lack of Who songs, which seem to be saved for the Mods incarnation of the band these days.

Woodedz - Kensington Orange - Saturday 7th April

A pleasant evening in Kensington (if you exclude Richard's karaoke version of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize" in the pub up the road). We were actually greeted at the door by Rhino which was nice. A good set by the Quo bassist and his sons and a bit busier than last time around. 

2 songs - Gravy Train and Bad News were featured, which should be on Quo's next album.

Woodedz- The Orange (West Kensington) - Thursday 21st September

We took the opportunity for a bit of a crawl before getting to West Kensington, starting in the White Horse in Parson's Green. Then onto further establishments on the way via Fulham Broadway, including a dodgy game of darts (one throw, "100", - the next, "4") and a partial Pub Quiz where we didn't have time to stay for the end, but would have been near the top based on the first 3 rounds if we were playing for real...

Woodedz are John "Rhino" Edwards from Status Quo and his sons Max and Freddie. This low-key gig was not really supporting anything and was showcasing the "Rhino's Revenge" CD from a few years back and this it did pretty well. Rhino's singing was better than I'd remembered and the boys guitars and drums were spot on. Wasn't sure about the "rap" halfway through, but there were good versions of Quo's "Obstruction Day" and "Paper Plane". The set finished with a tribute to the Brentford Striker, Lloyd Owusu... "the one and only" according the catchy song! 

All good fun - shame only about 80 people turned up. Bit of a pain to get home from on a Thursday for us, but at least home not too much after midnight. Next up, next month is Dan Baird... looking forward to that.