Mick Ralphs Blues Band - Sunday 7th December - Dingwalls, Camden

A four band bill, a Sunday night and early finish on the tube. H'mmm - Monday booked off work as contingency. Apparently, not many others took that option and chose to stay away as Dingwalls was sparsely populated in the extreme. It being a Sunday night aside, I do not know why as, for once, all the bands looked to provide something to the bill if this is the style of music you like.

We caught the end of the openers and they sounded more than competent. The Western Sizzlers were next - this is the first time we'd seen Rick Richards outside of the Georgia Satellites and they produced a solid set based around their new album "For Ol' Times Sake..." (purchased on the night) which includes a nice cover of Quo's "Break The Rules" and a very Quo-esq "One More Beer" (think "Wild Side of Life"). As I found out later via a brief chat, singer and songwriter Kevin is a massive Quo fan (I jokingly pointed out that his 100+ times of seeing them was "lightweight", but I think he won the argument by saying that the vast majority of those were "proper Quo" with the pre '85 line-up!).

Warner E. Hodges was up next. Keen readers may work out that I'd seen him twice recently already via his involvement in Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, but I'd never seen him on his own before. I didn't know most of the songs, but he was really good as expected. A very heavy impromptu encore of "Country Roads" bought about a bit of a sing-a-long - excellent stuff. He was as gracious as always afterwards posing for photos and a chat.

Top of the Bill was Mick Ralphs with his Blues Band. They have changed their vocalist since we saw them last. I've no idea why, but there was something about the previous singer I didn't quite take to. Only a perception - but he gave off the impression he thought we were lucky to be able to hear him sing (he was good, but...!). As I say, only a perception from distance, he may well be a top bloke.

The new guy seemed much more personable, but as a result the material played was a bit different. To be fair, I didn't know much of it. Predictably "Can't Get Enough" was thrown in (can't really argue with that to be honest) and Mick's guitar playing was really good and the rest of the band too. Mick also was happy to have photos taken afterwards - a true gent.

All in all, a long day (we'd had a long darts session in the afternoon), but a good one.

Setlists anyone please?

SAS Band - Saturday 6th December - Guildford G-Live

At last years SAS Band Christmas show, Spike had hinted at a 20th anniversary tour  featuring "as many guests that have worked with us over the years that we can get". Possibly due to the 2014 Queen tour, that had been scaled back to a warm-up in Southampton and this show back at Guildford.

So it was with that expectation that we'd probably see loads of names with a high percentage chance of the remaining Queen members turning up for some pre-holiday fun.

Things started off with band stalwart Chris Thompson being joined by original bassist Neil Murray and the regulars Johnny Marter. Jamie Moses and, of course, Spike Edney. Other regulars followed - Mick Wilson (10cc), Patti Russo, Madeline Bell and Paul Young. The Fabba Girls did their standard bit in the middle too and there was the always fun "29 Riffs".

The 2 highlights for me where the 2 artists I'd not seen with the SAS Band before - Tom Robinson and Mel C. Tom included (in his words) "A medley of my greatest hit" - the classic "2 4 6 8 Motorway" and an entertaining story and sing-a-long- "Glad To be Gay". Mel C showed that she is the Spice Girl who can sing and her version of "River Deep, Mountain High" especially was excellent.

Errr.. and that was it, guest-wise. Which, unfortunately left it feeling a bit of a downer. Don't get me wrong, the band always deliver a solid (and fun) performance - and you should go if you've never seen them, but this was an expensive ticket and billed as a special anniversary rather than a regular show. Maybe we've just been spoiled before.

Setlist
Davy's On The Road Again (with Chris Thompson)
Blinded by the Light (with Chris Thompson)
Happy (with Mick Wilson)
Bring Me a Bible and a Beer (with Patti Russo)
Radar Love (with Patti Russo)
Come Back and Stay (with Paul Young)
Cold Sweat (with Paul Young)
The Power of Love (with Madeline Bell)
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted (with Madeline Bell)
Listen to the Radio (with Tom Robinson)
I Predict a Riot (with Tom Robinson)
2-4-6-8 Motorway (with Tom Robinson)
(Sing If You're) Glad to Be Gay (with Tom Robinson)
Mamma Mia (Fabba Girls)
Dancing Queen (Fabba Girls)
29 Riffs (SAS Band)
Don't Stop Me Now (with Me C)
I Wish (with Mel C)
I Turn to You (with Mel C)
River Deep, Mountain High (with Mel C)
Everyday Hurts 
Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) (with Chris Thompson)
+
[unknown]
Oh Happy Day (ensemble)
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (ensemble)
Do They Know It's Christmas? (ensemble)
You're the Voice (ensemble)

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Wednesday 3rd December - St Pancras Old Church

So, this is the year of the acoustic shows. I've seen Bryan Adams and Status Quo recently "unplugged", but there's probably none more surprising to see in this format than Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, playing their first ever acoustic concert.

The setting is the St Pancras Old Church - a real operating church with a seated capacity of 110!

We got there early before the doors opened and were able to grab a front row seat on surprisingly low church chairs. The evening was to be split into 2 sets (to allow an interval to use the outside portaloos!) and gather drinks from the "refreshment table".

The sound was good, although maybe the drums had a bit of an echo - it must be a nightmare being the sound guy somewhere like this. The material was obviously carefully chosen to match the instrumentation (guitars borrowed from Ian Hunter apparently), although there were a number where Warner E. Hodges swapped to an electric telecaster. His playing was exemplary as normal, as was the rest of the band, although they all fell about on the odd occasion there was a mistake. You got a true sense of the band enjoying playing together.

The second half got off to an emotional start as Dan had just received word that Faces musician and friend Ian McLagan had died in the US, one day after another friend, Bobby Keys. A solo version of "Another Chance" was a fitting tribute.

The rest of the set was really enjoyable. If you were ultra-picky, you could say that a couple of songs were a bit too long and others could have been added if they'd been shorter, but I didn't see any faces who didn't seem to have really enjoyed the evening. Dan and Warner were kind enough to sign CDs and setlists at the end too. Top guys one and all.

Setlist
Myth of Love
Little Darlin
Crooked Smile
Trivial As The Truth
Love And Rockets (Mauro on vocals, Dan on Drums!)
Knocked Up
Runnin' Outta Time
Younger Face
Thousand Little Pieces
Six Years Gone
+
Another Chance (Dan solo)
Golden Light
Two For Tuesday
Sweet Blue Midnight
Hell To Pay
Long Way Down
Hard Luck Boy
Lazy Monday
Julie & Lucky
Damn Thing To Be Done / Goin' Down The Road

Graham Bonnet - Monday 1st December - O2 Academy 2, Islington

A return trip for me to Graham Bonnet and a new venue! The O2 Academy TWO! I'd only been in "one" previously.

So, I'm going to start with a moan. It's a Monday night. Why have 2 support acts on? Why have the headliner not come on until 10pm? Why only play for an hour? If you are playing for an hour, why include a cover and a ****ing drum solo? Why have to cut songs out of your set to accommodate the above?

Rant over. I'm probably just upset I didn't get to hear "Night Games". What we heard was good. We even got a 2nd Rainbow singer as Doogie White guested on "Since You Been Gone". It just could and should have been so much better (and longer).

Setlist
All Night Long 
Love's No Friend 
Makin' Love 
Bad Girl 
Always Be There 
Eight Days a Week 
The Witchwood 
Mirror Lies 
Seven Deadly Sins (Drum and guitar solos)
Since You Been Gone (With Doogie White)
+
Lost in Hollywood

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Friday 28th November - Bush Hall

Warner E Hodges, Dan Baird & Mauro Magellan

Dan and the boys return to the UK and play their first ever show at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush. This comes in under the heading of "intimate", but as the band point out, it's nice to play London without being in a basement!

The show is as you've come to expect from Homemade Sin - excellent. Sound was good (and loud) - in fact I was a bit deaf the next morning and it was nice to hear "Mon Cheri" back in the set. I had been hoping to hear a bit of Baba O'Riley in "Two For Tuesday", but we got "Proud Mary" instead which was fine. Lots of tracks from the last album "Circus Life" which is growing on me after a slow start.

I purchased the signed vinyl version at the show - JCPL have produced a really nice item. Apparently limited to 200 copies - grab 'em while you can!

Unfortunately, I can't find a setlist anywhere, so please post if you know what was played and when!
[updated - thanks very much to Humbug66 for the setlist]

Looking forward to "the Church" next week for the acoustic show!

Setlist
Hard Luck Boy 
Fall Apart On Me
Crooked Smile
Mon Cheri 
Little Darlin'
Hell To Pay
Two For Tuesday (including Proud Mary)
Worse For The Wear And Tear 
I Dunno
Sweet Blue Midnight 
Damn Thing To Be Done
Julie & Lucky
I Love You Period 
Outlivin' 
Railroad Steel (including Route 66)
Lazy Monday
The Myth Of Love
Mess With My Cranium Girl [Warner vocals]
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
Sheila (including Do You Wanna Dance)
+
Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) 
Don't Pass Me By [Warner vocals]

Bryan Adams - Wednesday 26th November - Wembley Arena

So it turns out Wembley is now called the SSE arena. I'm not old enough to call it the "Wembley Empire Pool", so I'm sticking to "Wembley Arena" where Mr Adams was making his 27th appearance (or so he told the crowd). I'll need to work out how many of those I've been at - must be 20 odd I'd guess. We had pretty average seats (Block B, row 9) - and I was feeling decidedly less than 100%, but that didn't really matter as Bryan delivered another strong show. Very similar to Saturday, but a different "bonus", a first hearing (for me) of "The Boys Night Out" which did leave a large portion of the crowd slightly bewildered. The rest of the show followed the pattern of the other recent shows on the tour.

A charity donor had paid £10,000 to perform and did a great job on "When You're Gone".

Bryan encouraged those of us further back to move forward for the encore which we did (Wembley security weren't really keen on this idea in the middle of the arena though!)

All great stuff - roll on show 28 as soon as possible!

Setlist
Reckless
One Night Love Affair
She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'
Run to You
Heaven
The Boys Night Out
Kids Wanna Rock
It's Only Love
Long Gone
Somebody
Ain't Gonna Cry
Summer of '69
Let Me Down Easy 
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good
Cuts Like a Knife
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Please Forgive Me
When You're Gone [Acoustic with Lesley Kirkland]
18 til I Die
Cloud #9
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
+
You've Been a Friend to Me
C'mon Everybody 
She Knows Me [Acoustic]
Straight from the Heart [Acoustic]
All for Love [Acoustic]

Bryan Adams - Saturday 22nd November - O2 Arena

More Bryan Adams. This time a full band show at the sold out O2, celebrating 30 years since the release of "Reckless" - the classic 1984 album, and probably my favourite record of all time.

So you won't be surprised to hear that this did not disappoint. We got 2 hours plus of classic rock, the first time I'd ever heard the songs  "Reckless" (not on the original album!), Ain't Gonna Cry and "Let Me Down Easy" played, plus a first (and so far, only) play of "Too Hot To Handle".

Bryan was amusing with his comments between songs and seemed to be having a ball. Looking forward to Wednesday for a repeat at Wembley.


Setlist
Reckless
One Night Love Affair
She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'
Run To You
Heaven [with Jim Vallance]
Kids Wanna Rock
It's Only Love
Long Gone
Somebody
Ain't Gonna Cry
Summer Of '69
Let Me Down Easy [Acoustic]
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good
Cuts Like A Knife
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Please Forgive Me
When You're Gone [Acoustic]
18 Til I Die
Cloud #9
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
+
Too Hot To Handle
You've Been a Friend to Me
C'mon Everybody 
She Knows Me [Acoustic]
Straight From The Heart [Acoustic]
All For Love [Acoustic]

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Wednesday 19th November - Shepherd's Bush Empire

I'd never actually heard of Joanne up until a few months ago and had booked to see this show on the strength of seeing Bernie Marsden. Throw in the fact that it was a good value ticket and we nabbed front row seats and it was looking like an enjoyable evening. I was also feeling relatively young in an audience of primarily middle aged gentlemen.

Bernie came on first and slightly surprisingly most of his set was acoustic. None the worse for it, both vocals and guitar were excellent. The finale "Here I Go Again" featured lines from both the 1987 remake and the original, which was nice.

Joanne was on shortly afterwards. And wow! What a great evening of blues rock. I was expecting at least one more guitarist in the band, but clearly this wasn't needed. Some of her solos (split between a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster) were fantastic and the songs very listenable to. Vocally, Joanne seems to sound a bit like Tina Turner in the "Steamy Windows" vein, and sometime the words weren't 100% clear, but that was a minor niggle. She's only in her mid twenties, so a long career seems likely. A highlight was when Bernie reappeared for "Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues".

The evening concluded with the title track from her new album "The Dirty Truth". I shall certainly be purchasing some CDs and looking out for tickets the next time Joanne tours.

Setlists

Bernie Marsden
Lie On The Track
Wedding Day
Till the Day I Die
Who Do We Think We Are?
Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City
Ain't Gonna Cry No More
Dragonfly
Here I Go Again

Joanne Shaw Taylor
Mud Honey
Just Another Word
Watch 'em Burn
Jealousy
Jump That Train
Diamonds In The Dirt
Wrecking Ball
Tried, Tested & True
Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues [with Bernie Marsden]
Let It Burn [with Bernie Marsden]
Tied & Bound
Going Home
+
The Dirty Truth

An Evening of Who Music - Tuesday 11th November - Shepherd's Bush Empire

This show, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, featured the Who's current touring band (including Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino, Simon Townshend & Billy Nicholls) and a host of guest vocalists. Hosted by Chris Evans, the event has been described as the a stars karaoke evening, but it turned out to be more than that with some excellent vocal performances, a moving charity film and some hilarious moments from Johnny Vegas and Rich Hall adding to some fine musicianship from one of the World's top bands. Oh, and Roger Daltrey sang at the end too!

Sadly there was no Pete Townshend. "I think Pete would rather do anything rather than have his songs played back to him by others" quipped Roger at the start of the evening. there then proceed to be a number of acts who I'd heard of, but not seen. Most surprisingly good were Rizzle Kicks, who's rap inspired version of "Who Are You" worked fantastically. I bet it was the most atypical audience they'd ever played to! Rich "I'm so far out of my depth here" Hall rasped his away through You Better You Bet, claiming it has the song "that had got be barred from karaoke bards across North America". Johnny Vegas sang some of Dr Jimmy and The Real Me acapella with the crowd, saying that the Quadrophenia album "saved his life".

Ricky Wilson was good, albeit with song sheets. Sheila Ferguson forgot the words to Acid Queen, which didn't really matter. Liam Gallagher snarled his way through a fine My Generation in a particularly dodgy looking mac and Eddie Vedder sounded better than I'd ever heard him before.

Roger Daltrey ended a fine evening with Substitute and an appropriate Young Man Blues. A very expensive evening, but a worthwhile one in every sense.

Setlist
I Can't Explain (with Andy Burrows)
The Kids Are Alright (with The Strypes)
Getting in Tune (with Tom Odell)
Behind Blue Eyes (with Amy Macdonald)
Who Are You (with Rizzle Kicks)
You Better You Bet (with Rich Hall)
5:15 (with Ricky Wilson)
Bell Boy (with Ricky Wilson)
Love, Reign O'er Me (with Joe Elliott)
The Acid Queen (with Sheila Ferguson)
The Seeker (with Geddy Lee)
Baba O'Riley (with Leslie Mendelson)
My Generation (with Liam Gallagher)
Naked Eye (with Eddie Vedder)
Won't Get Fooled Again (with Eddie Vedder)
See Me, Feel Me (with Eddie Vedder + ensemble)
+
Substitute (with Roger Daltrey)
Young Man Blues (with Roger Daltrey)

https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/

Paul Rodgers - Monday 3rd November - Royal Albert Hall

The sole UK appearance for Paul Rodgers this year is not in an industrial estate in Chichester, but the more impressive arena of the Royal Albert Hall. In aid of the same charity as last year, Paul has assembled the Memphis based backing band who played on this years "Royal Sessions" album - a collection of soul and blues songs from Paul's formative years.

Now, I would normally be very much in the "rock" camp when it comes to Paul's material, but to be fair, the guy can sing anything. Great vocals, excellent backing from the band and even "Can't Get Enough" & "The Hunter" thrown in for good measure.

A rule of thumb says never to leave a show until the house lights come up and the backing tapes start. Even if you followed that rule this time, you could well have missed the final song (a 2nd encore where at least 1/3 of the crowd had left!). this enabled us to get right down to the front amongst the others who had swapped the T shirt attire for a thick coat! If a DVD comes out, look for the crowd changes at the end!

I was touch and go whether to buy a ticket for this show due to the high cost and expected material, but I'm glad I did.

Setlist
Down Don't Bother Me 
Shake 
That's How Strong My Love Is 
Any Ole Way 
I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) 
I Can't Stand the Rain
It's Growing 
Champagne and Wine 
Walk In My Shadow 
I Thank You 
Born Under a Bad Sign 
The Hunter 
Can't Get Enough 
+
Walk On By 
Wonderful World 
I've Got Dreams to Remember 
+
Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)