Slade II - Canazaro House, Wimbledon - Thursday 26th July

Slade II - I refuse to call them "Slade" without Noddy and Jim. Support provided by "The Bay City Rollers" (well, Les McGowan and chums anyway). Small crowd (less that 200) for an outdoor "festival", but actually good fun none the less. Even found a pub on Wimbledon Common I'd never been to!

Concert For Diana - Wembley Stadium - Sunday 1st July

Sure you saw this on TV if you were interested. The only thing I will say is that the sound seemed much better in the venue than on television. Oh, and Kanye West.... What's all that about? A suitable toilet break anyway.

Aerosmith - Hyde Park - Sunday 24th June

Got there late as had been at the Oval for Surrey's Twenty20 match. Therefore missed the Answer and the worst of the heavy rain! In fact only caught Joe Satriani and Aerosmith.

All a bit damp, but I though Mr Tyler & Co were really good - even if there were a few too many ballads. Had to remind Richard the next day that another CHART ACT had been seen with the inclusion of at least one of Run DMC turning up for "Walk This Way".

I gather Brian May was backstage - shame he didn't make an appearance on stage!

The Answer - Borderline - Wednesday 20th June

Pre-Hyde Park warm up for the Irish Rockers. If you read my previous entries, you'll know that I think this is a really good band and tonight was no exception. They even did a version of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion".

Gary Moore - Shepherd's Bush Empire - Friday 8th June

I'm sometimes a bit wary of Mr Moore these days as you could get a lot of obscure blues in the set. I needn't have worried as we got a set combining the best of his blues material, with a bit of the "Monsters of Rock" stuff thrown in. Highlight for me was "Don't Believe A Word".

Ian Hunter - Pigalle Club - Tuesday 15th May

The Pigalle Club - officially the worst venue I can remember going too. Unless you'd paid the £60+ for dinner and a table, you couldn't see a thing from the bar (where you were kept) or upstairs where you could attempt to peer over the diners and balcony. What a rip-off (as was the £4 small bottles of beer). 

The conversation from everyone around us was how awful the whole place was. Oh.. the performance. Well it was semi-acoustic with a lot of new stuff. Sounded OK, but for what we could see we might as well have been in a pub listening to the CD. 

I'm loathe to keep going on about it, but I can't describe how poor the whole experience of visiting this venue was.

[Footnote: I generally don't like celebrating any venue closing down, but I am delighted to see the back of this one in 2012 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigalle_Club]

Bryan Adams - Wembley Arena - Thursday 10th May

First time seeing Mr Adams for a while. Had a decent seat overlooking the stage. A solid performance, but the set was a bit too "ballad heavy" for me. Tempted to go Friday night as well, but cash a bit tight, so will give it a miss.

Ataris - Mean Fiddler (Astoria 2) - Friday 4th May

Not just a bad photo - this was the actual
lighting and "view"

New band for me in a familiar venue. I've got a few of the Ataris CDs, including the excellent "So Long, Astoria" and recognised a fair few of the songs. The predictably young audience was fairly boisterous, so we didn't get too near the front. This meant barely seeing the band - not because of the distance, but because the lighting was the worst I've ever seen at a gig - the band were in almost darkness throughout! 

Note sure what the point of that was, but Richard tells me that is normal for bands of that ilk. Anyway, pretty good except for the visuals!

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.

The Who - Royal Albert Hall - Saturday 31st March

Early evening start for a trip back to the RAH for the Who. Got to Victoria Station and were greeted by several hundred riot police with baying Alsatians. Why? Well, apparently Sheffield Wednesday fans (happy from their with at Palace) were arriving to pass through to the tube. As to the level of threat they offered we were unable to tell. Anyway, attempts to find any pub showing the second half of Watford v Chelsea on PremPlus proved fruitless. Finally managed to find one south of Sloane Square with Sky Sports News to find that Chelsea sneaked a lucky 92nd minute winner - arghh! 

After a swift one in the Gloucester Arms, we met Mick in the Queen's Arms for a couple of decent beers (Staropramen, Kirin and Kuppers Kolsh) and then off to the hall. As normal, we were able to stroll in with little security checks and it was only when we realised we had gone the wrong way (towards the dressing rooms) that we encountered some guards who directed us down more stairs to get to the floor. We were given a plain white wristband and found our seats in the back row of the arena. Still, not too bad, the floor is pretty small compared to most venues. 

As expected, the Who were excellent (when are they not?). Daltrey's voice was strong and good, despite recent illness and Townshend's playing spot on, coupled with the normal rambling/ranting between songs. Didn't hear a "get on with it" from Gary, but I'm sure it was there! The only disappointment was no "Substitute" or "Kids Are Alright" but this was more than made up for by a storming "My Generation", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and an excellent "You Better, You Bet". In fact, the only duff track in my view, was "Eminence Front" - I've never liked that! 

For the encore we wandered down to the front and enjoyed the Tommy encore from near the stage (taking extra care not to impede the paying customers at the front!). Richard managed to snag a setlist and we decamped happy to the "Prince of Wales" off Kensington High Street for a nightcap. Un-remarkable pub, but stunningly attractive barmaid! 

Slow journey home, livened up by a petite girl throwing a non-paying rider off the bus when he'd refused to leave. Cue round of applause from other passengers! Last chance to see the Who for a while - I'm refusing to pay the 70 odd quid for the summer Wembley shows... ditto the £150 + fees for the Rolling Stones!!!

Setlist

I Can't Explain

The Seeker

Who Are You

Behind Blue Eyes

Baba O'Riley

Eminence Front

A Man in a Purple Dress

Black Widow's Eyes

You Better You Bet

My Generation

Cry If You Want

Won't Get Fooled Again

Pinball Wizard

Amazing Journey

Sparks

See Me, Feel Me

Tea & Theatre