Francis Rossi - Sunday 16th May - Her Majesty's Theatre, London

OK, hands up all those who thought this was going to be an evening of pleasant, but dullish country-tinged pop tunes from "that bloke from Status Quo". Wrong!

It's fair to say that those in our group (all Quo fans) were treating this with a bit of trepidation. We needn't have worried. From the opening bars of a bluesy "Caroline", the audience were on their feet and the excellent band reeled through a selection of material from Rossi's new solo offering "One Step At A Time" and Quo obscurities. The real joy was hearing those delights which Quo never or rarely play. I've moaned often enough about their static setlist and yet here is the man who many believe to be the main architect of that policy, deliver a great selection. It just shows what can be done when some thought is given to it. Of course, it helps when the band are as solid as they were here.... Rossi jnr on one guitar and the annoyingly good Freddie Edwards on another perfectly complementing FR himself (well, I'm guessing he helped teach them both to play!).

All in all well above expectations and probably more enjoyable as a result than some of the times I've seen Quo. Let's hope there is more to come!

Setlist
Caroline
Claudie
All We Really Want To Do (Polly)
You'll Come Round
Crazy For You
Old Time Rock 'N' Roll
Strike Like Lightning
Tallulah's Waiting
Here I Go
Tongue Tied
Blessed Are The Meek
My Little Heartbreaker
Electric Arena
One Step At A Time
Marguerita Time
Rolling Down The Road
Diggin' Burt Bacharach
Sleeping On The Job
Twenty Wild Horses
Can't Give You More
+
Don't Waste My Time

Band of Skulls - Friday 14th May - Electric Ballroom, Camden

Well, well well - another new London venue for me (yes, yes, I know the Electric Ballroom has been around for years - I've just never been here). Richard signed me up for this one based on the debut CD which he then lent to me. First play - not impressed. Second play, ditto. Forced myself into a third play and it wasn't improving - hopefully it would be better live I thought.

Anyway, I liked the venue and got a good spot fairly near the front. As showtime arrived, the place was heaving with a relatively young audience. The band came on and did their stuff and the crowd was enthusiastic. Set was only an hour and a bit. As we shuffled out at the end, Richard asked me what I thought. "A fair reflection of the CD" was my reply!

Belinda Carlisle - Tuesday 4th May - Jazz Cafe, Camden

Went with Mrs B for this one and sat up in the restaurant overlooking the stage. Very civilised and an excellent view away from the crush below. Food wasn't bad either!

 

This was another acoustic evening and Ms Carlisle performed a good selection including most of her solo and Go Go's hits. It was really rather good. The band had to walk past our table to get to and from the stage - Di couldn't believe how attractive Belinda remains at 51.

Ian Hunter - Sunday 2nd May - Barbican Centre

'allo, 'allo, 'allo, 'allo!

New venue for me - very posh! Mr Hunter played material almost exclusively from his last 3 albums for the first hour, which by his own admission sold a handful of copies. Still, there were some good tunes none the less.

Things livened up a bit for the encore with the predictable Mott The Hoople material ("All The Way From Memphis" remains a personal favourite) and the even more predictable guests - daughter Tracey and Mick Ralphs. A decent evening.

The Quireboys - Friday 23rd March - Jazz Cafe, Camden

Having arrived at an absolutely packed Jazz Café (late as it turned out and missed the first 4 songs), we squeezed to the back for an evening of Acoustic Quireboys. Yep, that's right - acoustic! Many have expressed doubts on how that would work based on the loudness and excitement of their normal shows, but augmented by numerous musicians, it did. What was weird was how Spike would slur and ramble his way through song intros and then sing them perfectly in tune. How does that work?

We stood near Luke Morley and Peter Shoulder (from the Union who we saw earlier in the week). Afterwards had a decent chat with Luke in the bar who, as always, game across as a very genuine and likeable guy.

The Union - Wednesday 21st March - O2 Academy, Islington

A 2nd London outing for the Union and not surprisingly (as their first album isn't out yet), the set was broadly similar to the show at the end of last year. I'm still not quite convinced that the material is as strong as recent Thunder stuff, although it's probably not fair to make direct comparisons. I shall reserve judgement for now.

Bad Company - Saturday 10th April - Brighton Centre

A Saturday by the sea for the reformed Bad Company and an epic journey due to "trains being replaced by buses between Three Bridges and Brighton". Joy!

Support came from Aerosmith's Joe Perry and his band and for once it was a support act well worth seeing as he ripped through material from his new album and some bluesey classics plus a version of "Walk This Way".

As for the main act, Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs (in danger of becoming my most seen musician of the year!) and Simon Kirke were augmented by a band including Heart's Howard Leese. The set was basically the greatest hits, although perhaps surprisingly, no Free material was played. Sound and lights were good and Mr Perry even returned to help out on "Rock And Roll Fantasy". All was done and dusted for us to enjoy a "Polish" pint on the way back to the station for the "replacement bus service" back to Three Bridges. Home by about 1:45am - lovely!

The Who - Tuesday 30th March - Royal Albert Hall

Another year and and another week of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in Aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust (of which Roger Daltrey is a Patron). We went for the "cheap" seats up in the "Gods", but had a decent 2nd row seat to the side. This gave a reasonable view for the Who's performance of Quadrophenia (played in full for the first time in ages). The sound was good and we got a couple of special guests in the form of the singer from Kasabian (Tom Meighan) as the Ace Face and Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam).

A good performance all in all, only slightly marred by the complete lack of encore. I know the Who often dispense with one, but for the money paid, I think the crowd would have been justified in expecting one. Subsequent comments from Roger may have suggested that his voice wasn't really up to extra songs on the night.

Scouting For Girls - Thursday 11th February - Scala, London

No gigs in January, so this was my first one of 2010. And a new venue for me too. Not quite sure how I'm managed to avoid the Scala for so long, but I was quite impressed. I was also impressed by Scouting For Girls, whose brand of catchy pop songs seems set to continue into their second album, some of which was showcased here. A lively and packed audience seemed to lap it up. I particularly enjoyed the traditional "Bond" cover - Live and Let Die which followed "I wish I was James Bond"!

Anyone got the setlist?

Best and Worst 2009

My annual look back over the year from a "best of" and "worst of" perspective of the 31 gigs seen during 2009 

Best Gig 2009 

1: AC/DC- O2 Classic set and a great view on the first night 

2: Quireboys - Sheffield O2 Academy Great band playing a great album in its entirety. 

3: Per Gessle - Islington O2 Academy No, O2 aren't sponsoring this! Classic set with all the hits you could ask for.

Honourable mentions to Thunder and Mott The Hoople at Hammersmith and Quo at Brighton.

Most Disappointing Gig 2009 
1: The Answer - Dingwalls By no means awful, just not as entertaining as most of the other shows this year, hence the reason I decided to skip their December date 

I can't really describe any of the others as disappointing - Again , the quality has been really good. That's probably down to me being very selective and refusing to pay ridiculous money for the likes of Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, The Eagles etc 

Best Venue 2009 
1: Hammersmith Apollo
2: Indigo2 Same as last year then! 

Worst Venue 2009
1: O2 Arena
2: Wembley Arena 

Good in 2009
1: Another decline in drunks at gigs. Maybe the recession is kicking in on people's drinking habits.
2: Small gigs - this year has re-affirmed that there is fun to be had seeing less well known artists in smaller (and cheaper!) intimate venues.
3: Quality. Pretty much all the gigs have been enjoyable this year. 

Bad In 2009
1: Prices for some major artists still over £100 for a decent seat. No thanks!
2: Tfl / Tubelines incompetence on the Jubilee Line meaning regular no trains to the O2.
3: Drink prices at venues. Outrageous in many cases (Yes, Hammersmith & O2 - that's you)
4: Merchandise. Besides a programme for Bryan Adams and "show-only" Thunder, Mott The Hoople and Quireboys CDs, I can't remember buying any again this year. Prices are too high and the quality just isn't tempting enough.
5: Support bands. Once upon a time, I would always make the point of seeing the support band. Now I rarely bother unless it's a name I know and like. That's probably my loss, but there's a lot of very average acts out there. 

Enjoy 2010 and get out there and listen to some live music!