SAS Band - Saturday 7th December - Guildford G-Live

A sold out show at G-Live. The announcement of 2 support acts had me fearing again for the accuracy of the stage times and the viability of our last train home from the nearby London Road station. The first act - 'The Opera Duo' did a decent version of Barcelona and 'Nessun Dorma' in their brief 3 song set. They were followed by 'Woman' - whose unique brand of vocals and strings provided an unusual take on a range of covers from Sweet Child O'Mine through Black Betty to Fat Bottomed Girls. They were well received. 

Spike Edney and his SAS band appeared and rattled through a few favourites from their covers repertoire with Jamie Moses and regular guests Patti Russo and Madeline Bell joining in. A highlight was the appearance of Midge Ure for Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Vienna and a rousing Delilah! 

The 29 Riffs song then got an outing and sounded as good as ever. Next up was the return of Roger Taylor's 'Cross' for the first time in 20 years. Many of the crowd had travelled long distances to witness this historic occasion. Now I'm a big fan of Mr Taylor and own pretty much all of his solo output as well as the full Queen catalogue. Some of his material outside of Queen is fantastic - unfortunately, IMHO, very little of that was recorded with The Cross! I was left underwhelmed - especially as he left the stage for a few of the weaker numbers and dragged out others. 

The folly of a double support act meant we had to forego the Christmas sing-a-long at the end. Although a good evening, I couldn't help but think this was the weakest of all the SAS shows I have been to over the years with a noticeable lack of the usual roller coaster of surprise appearances. Maybe we've just been too spoiled in the past.

Setlist

THE CROSS

In Charge of My Heart

Top of the World, Ma

New Dark Ages

Man On Fire

Ain't Put Nothin Down

Liar

Dirty Mind

Cowboys And Indians

Power to Love

Heaven For Everyone

Sister Blue

Final Destination

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Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Sunday 1st December - 100 Club

Disaster! We found the venue this time, but the CD was sold out (bloke in front of me got the last one - grrrr!) I consoled myself with a DVD which Dan kindly signed later. Much emptier than last night and a support band too, meaning a shorter set from the headliners, which was a shame.  They mixed the set up a bit and a few songs were quite a bit shorter - indeed neither of us could recall the last time we heard 'Sheila' played without snippets from other songs in the middle. Still, another good show - hopefully more of the same for 2014?

Setlist anyone?

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Saturday 30th November - 100 Club

Now, how difficult can it be to find a venue on Oxford Street? Particularly one you've been to before and know where it is? And know it's number 100. "Very" would appear to be the answer as we walked past the narrow, unlit entrance 3 times!!!

Once in however, a full house was craning for a decent view of the side-on stage. Not easy with 2 massive pillars in front, but we found a central point with a half decent view. The show was good (it always is with this band) and the songs from the new CD ("Circus Life") went down well. Will look to purchase the standard version of the CD tomorrow and get it signed. 

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.

Mott The Hoople - Monday 18th November - O2 Arena

Danny Bowes (Thunder)

Monday night? Really? Oh, OK then. Decent tickets acquired during pre-sale, it looked optimistic for MTH to do the O2. Still, at least the venue can be divided to the lower tiers only without looking too empty.
Huge plus point was the addition of Thunder as special guests.

Fish was up first to a sparsely populated arena. He is a bit larger then when I last saw him! A solid performance - but when it's not your crowd it must be tough.

Thunder enjoyed a bit more success - although not in the technical department. Guitarist Ben Matthew's must have missed half the set with difficulties - much fiddling from the roadies with leads and amp connections - not good. On the other side, Luke Morley's acoustic guitar (in it's usual position attached to a pole) had to be supported by another roadie to stop it collapsing. Still a solid set even got the crowd interacting and hopefully the boys won a few new fans. Danny's cry at the end of "we'll see you soon" was a bit optimistic if you are not flying to Japan or going to Wolverhampton for their Christmas shows!

In the intermission I grabbed a quick chat with the Sweet's Andy Scott - we're seeing him next month, so I was able to tell him we're looking forward to it.

Ian Hunter with a new Maltese Cross guitar

Mott The Hoople came on to huge applause. For a band where some members are in their 70's, they were fairly sprightly - Ian Hunter especially who was on his feet for the first hour or so. They had a few technical issues too with mics. The early part of the set was aimed at hardcore Mott fans, meaning there were a fair few songs I didn't know. The latter half was the hits and the crowd lifted during those. The bookies would have given you very poor odds on Joe Elliott turning up (he did) - and he took over on All The Young Dudes. Not sure of the last time I heard that without him !! A substantial number of band-related family members helped out on backing vocals for the encore.

Saturday Gigs bought the evening to a close and it's hard to believe that this won't be the last time we see the band, so all in all a decent send off. I think it was being filmed for DVD - hopefully the lighting will look better on that than it appeared for real!

SETLISTS

Fish
Feast of Consequences
Assassing 
Credo
Tongues
Assassing (Reprise)
Fugazi (Snippet)
White Feather 
View from the Hill
Blind to the Beautiful

Thunder
Dirty Love
River of Pain
Higher Ground
Low Life in High Places
Backstreet Symphony
The Devil Made Me Do It
Love Walked In
I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll

Mott The Hoople
Rock and Roll Queen
One of the Boys
The Moon Upstairs
Hymn for the Dudes
Sucker
Soft Ground
Waterlow
Born Late '58 
Death May Be Your Santa Claus  / You Really Got Me
Ballad of Mott the Hoople
Walkin' with a Mountain 
Violence
When My Mind's Gone / No Wheels to Ride / The Journey
Honaloochie Boogie
The Golden Age of Rock 'N' Roll
All the Way from Memphis
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All the Young Dudes (with Joe Elliott)
Roll Away the Stone
Saturday Gigs

The Union - Wednesday 13th November - Islington Academy

More Union - that's quite a bit in the last 12 months I guess! It may also account for the relative emptiness of the venue - probably only 2/3 full. Still, you know what you are going to get and we got it. Good show, great vocals and guitar. Maybe the setlist needs a bit of a shake up next time around though (and I wouldn't finish with "Lillies" in the encore if it were down to me).

Pleased to pick up the signed "Official Bootleg" CD on the way out. And I also added to my drumstick collection with another signed item. Nice!

Setlist
Step Up to the Plate
You're My Jesus
Tonight I'm Alive
Cut The Line
Easy Street
The World Is Yours
Obsession
Saviour
Wreck My Scene
Holy Roller
Black Gold
Black Monday
Siren's Song
+
Lilies
Watch the River Flow

Johnny Warman's Magic Bus - Friday 8th November - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

A low key gig at the Boom Boom. Variously billed as "the Total Who Show" and "Magic Bus" it did what it said on the tin. 100 minutes of brilliant Who material.
I can only say that Mr Warman's address book must contain an endless array of fantastic musicians. I really enjoyed the guitarist here, but for me the keyboard player was brilliant. Johnny gave his normal 100% and the smiles on the audiences' faces said it all.

We'll shout for "Bell Boy" next time!

Billy Joel - Tuesday 5th November - Hammersmith Apollo

Superstar Billy Joel returns to London, playing his smallest UK venue I'd guess since the 1970's. And not just any venue - London's best.

After a scrum for tickets whilst we'd been on holiday (thanks Dave!), we had decent seats in the stalls. Glad we remembered photo ID as it was needed for entry. Fyfe Dangerfield provided support (and another addition to my "chart acts" seen). He was fine and his version of Mr Joel's "She's Always A Woman To Me" from the John Lewis ad proved popular as expected.

Billy himself has clearly aged a bit since we last saw him. Now 64 (as he reminded us with a snippet of the Beatles classic), there was less jumping and running around, but still excellent showmanship and piano playing. Vocals were solid and of course the songs brilliant.

I was shouted down by friends who were there who didn't think "Zanzibar" was a weak point though. That song aside, I really enjoyed it all - being picky for £90 it would have been nice to have another 3 or 4 songs, but ho hum. I even purchased a poster on the way out - must be 20 years since I last did that at a gig!

Setlist
My Life
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Everybody Loves You Now
Where's the Orchestra?
Allentown
When I'm Sixty-Four 
Pressure
New York State of Mind
She's Right on Time
Vienna
Zanzibar
She's Always a Woman
Don't Ask Me Why
Uptown Girl
Blonde Over Blue
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
The River of Dreams [with Rule Britannia]
Piano Man
+
We Didn't Start the Fire
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
You May Be Right
Only the Good Die Young

Quireboys - Thursday 17th October - Islington Academy

Spike from The Quireboys

"Know your Quireboys Drummers". That is becoming almost a speciality quiz question for me (the drummer and/or bassist appears to change nearly every time we see them). 2 points to me then for identifying the Union's Dave McClusky on sticks. No points to Richard for suggesting I was wrong despite have a chat with the guy in person a few months back!

A new set from the QBs - based around their excellent new album "Beautiful Curse". The band were on good form and you'll be able to watch it all on DVD soon. Spike appeared to be drinking less and singing more and his vocals and charisma showed through. The normal London spot of ex-member Guy Bailey at the bar, who to be fair hasn't weathered quite as well.

As a nod in his direction, the band substituted "Sex Party" in for "Mayfair" which was on the original setlist.
A quick note about the merchandise. Great effort! A good selection of items - many signed.  All at sensible prices too. Other bands take note please!

As Harry Redknapp may say  - top top band - top top show.

Setlist
Black Mariah
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Misled
There She Goes Again
Homewreckers and Heartbreakers
This Is Rock 'N' Roll
Mona Lisa Smiled
Diamonds and Dirty Stones
27 Years
I Don't Love You Anymore
Tramps and Thieves
Hey You
Beautiful Curse
Chain Smokin'
I Love This Dirty Town
7 O'Clock
+
For Crying Out Loud
Mother Mary
Sex Party

Wheatus - Saturday 12th October - Borderline

After a previous trip seeing Wheatus in Kingston a year or 2 back, I was looking forward to seeing them play in a really small venue. Shamefully, I didn't own their debut CD which was being celebrated here, so I had to borrow a copy from my brother. That sounded OK, but I anticipated a bit more from the live experience. I was to be proved correct.

I met my fellow gig-goers in a slightly dodgy part of town a few minutes walk from Stockwell tube  at least the pub had an interesting selection of beers. We then failed miserably to get into the Intreprid Fox near the venue - a ticket only event with various zombies and vampires was in full swing (as indeed it appeared to be across the whole of Soho).

As predicted, the venue was packed (an afternoon matinee had been added!) and we were inside in time to catch the end of the main support - a freestyle rapper. H'mmm. There's an undoubted skill to being able to rap along to whatever nonsense is passed to you (phones, shoes, bag, glasses, beer etc), but let's just say it isn't my cup of tea.

Anyway, thankfully the main band were on. They somehow were getting some very electric sounds out of the semi-acoustic lead guitar (which appeared to be channelled through a bank of iPads/Macs at the rear of the stage.

My guess is that they played pretty much every song they've recorded plus a very good cover of Green Day's "Basket Case". The One Direction cover played on most of the other dates was sadly missing on this occasion (and no AC/DC either - genuine shame!). Of course, all ended with a boisterous "Teenage Dirtbag" with support acts back on stage. The one we missed (first on the bill I guess) actually sang really good vocals on this!

Off to Bradleys for a nightcap and a good fun evening was had by all.

Setlist
The London Sun
Fair Weather Friend
A Little Respect 
Truffles
Fourteen
Lemonade
Hey, Mr. Brown
Sunshine
Whole Amoeba
The Story of The Eggs
Leroy
Anyway
BMX Bandits
Love Is A Mutt From Hell
Wannabe Gangster
Basket Case
Teenage Dirtbag
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Hump 'em n' Dump 'em