Snakecharmer - Friday 11th July - Islington Assembly Hall

Islington for the umpteenth time this year and this time it is a break in the World Cup fixtures and Snakecharmer at the Assembly Hall. The band have moved on from playing a 90% Whitesnake set to more a half and half set combined with promoting their excellent debut CD. A sparce crowd of only a couple of hundred were here to see it. From what I remember seeing online and in the press, the promotion for the show was a bit lacking.

Those who stayed away missed a good night. Fantastic playing and excellent rock vocals. I particularly like "Accident Prone" (no, not the Quo single). There was even the predicted sing-a-long for "Here I Go Again" and "Fool For Your Loving".

I'd have loved to have bought the signed vinyl album, but £28 priced me just out of the market - especially as I have the CD. I suspect I wasn't alone as they weren't exactly selling like hot cakes.

Setlist
Guilty as Charged
A Little Rock & Roll
Ready an' Willing
Cover Me in You
Accident Prone
Falling Leaves
Walking in the Shadow of the Blues
My Angel
Moody's Blues
Slow an' Easy
Nothing to Lose
Here I Go Again
Take Me with You
+
Fool for Your Loving

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

Doro - Monday 19th May - Islington Academy

The Islington Academy is the venue for the return to London of “The Queen of Metal” Dorothee Pesch – aka Doro. Having enjoyed her previous outings over the last couple of years, Rich and I thought we’d pop along for a bit of German Metal. I still don’t know too many of the songs, but they are becoming more familiar. Ms Pesch’s “signature move” would appear to be bending forward, two arms outstretched , with a bit of headbanging to the crowd, some of whom respond in kind. It can look a little strange from the outside, but the breathless talks between songs shows Doro has a real affinity with her English audience. Tributes to Ronnie James Dio and a run through of Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law” mix in nicely, before the sing-along “All We Are”.

Glad to report that the merchandise was good value, including a nice “30 Year celebration” programme – all in German. Metaltastic!

Setlist
I Rule the Ruins
Earthshaker Rock
Burning the Witches
Fight for Rock
The Night of the Warlock
Raise Your Fist in the Air
Metal Racer
Without You
Metal Tango
Burn It Up
Egypt (The Chains Are On)
East Meets West
Für Immer
Out of Control
Drum Solo
Wacken Hymne (We are the Metalheads)
Revenge
Breaking the Law
All We Are
Love Me in Black
Unholy Love
Evil

Belinda Carlisle - Saturday 17th May - IndigO2, London

Belinda Carlisle arrived in London as part of a small run of shows across the UK. Remarkably poor booking from me (not realising the downstairs stalls would be seated (most unusual for the IndigO2) meant we were up in the balcony. The view would have actually been fine in such an intimate venue, were it not for the handrails and glass walls which did impact the sightlines quite significantly. Still, comfortable seats with decent legroom and a near-private bar / lounge did ease our pain.

Ms Carlisle was on fine form. Her vocals were considerably better that the live set on her recent “Anthology” boxed set (which is otherwise excellent by the way). The band were also impressive. I don't know if they are Belinda’s regular touring band (does she play enough shows to have one?) or hired hands, but they certainly got to grips with the set, which from online reports had evolved over the week.

We even got a couple of fairly new songs – time will tell if they grow to stand alongside the more established singles from the 80’s and 90’s. An enthusiastic crowd lapped up every moment and it was nice to see so many younger faces in the crowd clearly enjoying the performance. Let’s hope she comes back soon as promised.

Setlist
Runaway Horses
(We Want) The Same Thing
Sun
I Get Weak
In Too Deep
California
Circle in the Sand
Valentine
Vision of You
La Luna
Summer Rain
Mad About You
(It's too Real) Big Scary Animal
Live Your Life Be Free
Leave a Light On
+
A Woman and a Man
Our Lips Are Sealed
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
+
Goodbye Just Go

Johnny Warman's Magic Bus - Friday 16th May - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

Johnny Warman, back at the Boom Boom with his "Mods" replacement band - "Johnny Warman's Magic Bus". 2 hours of classic Mods v Rockers including a song from the 80's ! The Rolling Stones "Start Me Up". Good stuff, but not as much Who material as we'd expected.

Magnum - Sunday 4th May - Islington Assembly Hall

A new venue for Magnum - The Assembly Hall in Islington. As you know, I'm quite a fan of much of the band's recent output, but the new album - "Escape From the Shadow Garden" is a bit of a slow burner for me.

The fact the show featured quite a bit of new material made me a bit worried, but I shouldn't have. Bob's vocals were good, the band as excellent as ever and the crowd enthused. A minor criticism is that some songs were a bit over-extended, but you really can't go wrong with ta band of this quality.

Setlist
Live 'til You Die
Black Skies
Freedom Day
Dance of the Black Tattoo
Blood Red Laughter
Unwritten Sacrifice
How Far Jerusalem
Les Morts Dansants
Falling for the Big Plan
The Spirit
All My Bridges
All England's Eyes
Vigilante
Kingdom of Madness
+
Too Many Clowns
Sacred Hour

Quireboys - Wednesday 23rd April - Half Moon, Putney

Quireboys night 2. To be honest, I was hoping for a bit of a mix-up of the setlist. That said, it was good enough last night with few obvious omissions that maybe it was not surprising it followed the same pattern. Roses and Rings was excluded and I can't help thinking I missed something else from yesterday's list as this was 20 minutes shorter tonight. It was still good, but felt a bit rushed with little banter between songs. Perhaps the band wanted some time at the bar afterwards! Still if last night was a 9/10 event, this scored a solid 8.

If anyone can correct last night's set it would be appreciated!

Setlist
Black Mariah
Too Much of a Good Thing
Misled
There She Goes Again
Tramps and Thieves
Homewreckers and Heartbreakers
This Is Rock 'N' Roll
27 Years
I Don't Love You Anymore
Mona Lisa Smiled
Sweet Mary Ann
Beautiful Curse
Hey You
Mother Mary
Mayfair
7 O'Clock
+
I Love This Dirty Town
Sex Party

Quireboys - Tuesday 22nd April - Half Moon, Putney

So legend has it that 30 years ago this month, the Quireboys played their first official shows at the Half Moon in Putney. As Spike joked with the crowd, "I'd have been 12!". Not quite. The Quireboys though have been around a fair old while, dispensing top quality bar-room (and arena-filled) entertainment wince the mid 1980's (I first saw them in 1987 at the Reading Festival and was hooked thereafter). 

So, Putney was a great place to keep rock and roll alive with a couple of hundred fans over 2 nights. Back with a bassist and drummer (The Union's Dave McCluskey), this was the boys in full on electric mode. A full on set of nearly 2 hours compromised of the hits, the misses and the near things. In truth, there's barely a dud song amongst them, with the new material standing up well alongside the classics.

Spikes vocals were good and the twin guitars of Paul Guerin and Guy Griffin were superb. A great night had by all.

Setlist (Approx)
Black Mariah
Too Much of a Good Thing
Roses and Rings
Misled
There She Goes Again
Tramps and Thieves
Homewreckers and Heartbreakers
This Is Rock 'N' Roll
27 Years
I Don't Love You Anymore
Mona Lisa Smiled
Sweet Mary Ann
Beautiful Curse
Hey You
Mother Mary
Mayfair
7 O'Clock
Sex Party
+
I Love This Dirty Town

Foreigner - Sunday 13th April - Hammersmith Apollo

So, I just can't stay away from the Hammersmith Apollo at the moment (sorry Eventim, I'm not going to call it the Eventim Apollo - we all know it's really the Hammersmith Odeon [or Gaumont for the really pedantic out there!])

This time headlining are 2 bands I've not seen before - Foreigner and Europe.

First up are FM (who I have seen before). Having researched their setlist (and found nothing we knew!), we only turned up for the last few minutes of their brief set - but they sounded fine.

Taking our nice seats in row N (loads of legroom!), on came Europe. In a high tempo set, Joey Tempest made several references to the "Hammersmith Odeon", recounting seeing Thin Lizzy from the balcony when he was 16 years old.

The band were good and ended with a predictably rousing version of "The Final Countdown".

It wasn't long to wait for the headline act. Having treated myself to their "best of" CD a few weeks ago, I was prepared for a few more of the songs than I would have been. What my lack of knowledge of the band didn't give me was the fact there appeared to be no original members of Foreigner on stage for the first few songs!

We couldn't work out whether this was to allow Mick Jones an ovation when he appeared, or whether he's so sick of playing those first few numbers, he just wanted them out of the way before appearing!

Still, the show was good, whoever was playing. The band were a fair bit heavier and less MOR than I'd expected and the crowd reasonably enthusiastic. We could clearly have done without the keyboard and drum solos though.

The set appeared aimed at the casual fan with all the obvious hits, and for that it worked fine for me. There are probably hardcore Foreigner fans wanting them to "change the set".

So all in all a rarity - a multi act bill which worked well and provided decent value for money for what was on the face of it quite a high ticket price.

Oh, and the "Hammersmith O" is still London's best venue!

Setlists

FM
Tough Love
I Belong To The Night
Don't Stop
Closer To Heaven
That Girl
Crosstown Train
Burning My Heart Down

EUROPE
Riches To Rags
Firebox
Superstitious
Let The Good Times Rock
No Stone Unturned
Carrie
Scream of Anger
Sign of The Times
Cherokee
Rock The Night
+
The Final Countdown

FOREIGNER
Double Vision
Head Games
Cold As Ice
Waiting For A Girl Like You
Feels Like The First Time
That Was Yesterday
Dirty White Boy
Starrider
Urgent
Keyboard and Drum Solo
Juke Box Hero
+
Long, Long Way From Home
I Want To Know What Love Is
Hot Blooded