SAS Band – Saturday 24th January - Indigo2

The SAS Band – or “Spikes All Stars” if your prefer and their “New Year” bash at the Indigo2. The normal smattering of Guest Stars, which included Roger Taylor (Queen), Toyah, Jeff Scott Soto, Madeline Bell, Fabba Girls, Roy Wood, Graham Gouldman (10cc) and others.

For a change we actually watch the support band - “Crash” on the basis they featured Motorbike champion James Toseland and had a set based on covers of Classic Rock songs. They weren’t bad.

The main act were as impressive as always – the highlights being Toyah’s “School’s Out”, 10cc’s “Dreadlock Holiday” / “Rubber Bullets” and Queen’s “Cosmos Rocks” sung by Mr Taylor. And of course, the not-so-seasonal “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” by Mr Wood.

Excellent stuff…

The Mods – Friday 16th January – Boom Boom Club

My first show of 2009 and a short trip to Sutton United’s Boom Boom club. As normal, an excellent performance of the hits of The Who, Small Faces, Kinks, Stones etc. Normal guitarist Steve Byrd was out injured for this one, but his replacement was top notch. A quality bunch of musicians playing quality songs.

Happy New Year

So, that was 2008... here's hoping for a nice 2009. Not too much planned so far on the Gig front, but due to see the Mods soon, so I'll update you on that when I can.

2008 - The Best and Worst

My annual look back over the year from a "best of" and "worst of" perspective. 

Best Gig 2008 

1: Bryan Adams - O2 Classic long set and barely a "filler" amongst them 

2: Who - Indigo2 They maybe of pensionable age (nearly), but no-one rocks like the 'oo! 

3: Journey - Hammersmith Apollo Unexpectedly good evening of Classic Rock 

Most Disappointing Gig 2008 

1: The Scorpions - Hammersmith Apollo Last years "Best Gig" winners was the most disappointing this year - but still not bad! 

2: Status Quo - Brighton A rare below-par performance from the Quo - but still an enjoyable show. 

I can't really describe any of the others as disappointing - In a year of reduced shows for me, the quality has been really good. That's probably down to me being very selective! 

Best Venue 2008 

1: Hammersmith Apollo 

2: Indigo2 

Worst Venue 2008 

1: London Astoria 

2: Wembley Arena 

Good in 2008 

1: Less Drunks at gigs than last year. 

2: Venues don't seem to be quite such a squeeze when "full". Maybe Health & Safety has reduced some capacities. 

3: More friendly security - Seems more customer focused at most venues. 

Bad In 2008 

1: Even more people buying tickets for "big artists" purely to flog them on eBay for profit. Lowlifes! And don't even get me started about Seatwave / GetMeIn / Viagogo etc! How does AC/DC sell out 2 nights at the O2 in less than 10 minutes? Why are prime seats available via GetMeIn (A Ticketmaster Company) etc a nanosecond later at a 400% markup? 

2: Fuelled by above, Rip-off ticket prices still. Maybe the credit crunch will bring these back down. Even if it does you can bet the agencies will still charge a fortune in "booking fees" and postage. 

3: Merchandise costs are still far too high. I still don't want to pay £15 for a programme. As said before, I would buy a T shirt if they were a) good and b) around a tenner instead of poor quality and £16/£20 each ! The "fake" ones outside are less than a fiver and often not any worse quality. 

Well, that's it for 2008. Hope you had a good one and an even better 2009!

The Who - Monday 15th December - Indigo2

What can I say - It's the WHO! Therefore as you would expect it was very, very good! Included the first public performance for 25 years of "Slip Kid". Lots on banter and swearing from Townshend and Daltrey in fine voice. Also the novelty of the 1st song performed twice has PT had a problem with his ears and had to leave the stage for 5 minutes. I blame the hat and glasses! 

Setlist: Can't Explain [break for Townshend to sort his ears out!] Can't Explain (again!) The Seeker Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere Fragments Who Are You Behind Blue Eyes Tattoo Sister Disco Baba O'Riley Eminence Front 5:15 Love Reign O'er Me Won't Get Fooled Again My Generation Naked Eye + Slip Kid Magic Bus Pinball Wizard Amazing Journey/Sparks See Me, Feel Me Listening to You Tea & Theatre

Quireboys - Sunday 14th December - The Forum, Kentish Town

Rock and Roll at its best! Greatest Hits and a selection from the excellent new "Homewreckers and Heartbreakers" album.

Kentish Town has smartened up a bit too.. it even has a nice Piano Bar called "Annies"!

Status Quo - Friday 12th December - Brighton Centre

The 2nd of 2 Quo shows at the end of the year and Brighton presented an opportunity to take a day off work and have a leisurely wander around some bars and record shops.

It was just as well we weren't thirsty while we were in the Brighton Centre as they were enforcing a bizarre rule whereby drinks could be taken into the auditorium before the lights went down, but not during the show (despite the fact the bars were open and serving!).

Anyway, we had a good view from Row E, but personally I felt the band weren't quite on top form tonight. Last years Brighton Show was one of the best I've seen, but this one appeared a little rusty. Still, good to hear the "new" old songs in the set and Richard and I have decided to go for the rescheduled Portsmouth show in February.

Setlist:
Caroline
The Wanderer
Rain
Don''t Drive My Car
Mean Girl
Softer Ride
Beginning Of The End
Is There A Better Way
Proposin' Medley
Pictures Of Matchstich Men
Ice In The Sun
The Oriental
Creeping Up On You
In My Chair
Living On An Island
In The Army Now
Drum Solo
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World
+
Juniors Wailing
Rock 'N' Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Thunder - Sunday 30th November - Astoria

One of the last shows at the Astoria which is to be demolished soon as part of the "Crossrail" project. Whilst it is a shame to lose an iconic venue, hopefully they will build a replacement with better facilities! 

Thunder were promoting their excellent new album, "Bang!". Setlist was a mix of old and new and the band were on top form in front of a packed audience. The only downside was that the tube shut 30 minutes earlier than advertised (no explanation) and we then had a 40 minute gap before the night buses started to get us home... very...very late ! 

Set list: 

Backstreet Symphony 

On The Radio 

Carol Ann 

Low Life In High Places 

The Devil Made Me Do It 

Empty City 

Dirty Dream 

Love Walked In 

Stormwater 

Can't Keep A Good Man Down 

Don't Wait For Me 

I Love You More Than Rock 'n' Roll 

+ 

Gimme Some Lovin' 

Higher Ground 

Dirty Love 

Photo - by Mark Grimwood from here:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/liabilitygrimwood/3075172969/

Simple Minds / Deacon Blue - Saturday 29th November - Wembley Arena

So, Simple Minds and Deacon Blue. Admittedly, not my normal sort of show (although I do quite like Deacon Blue) - but this was a "freebie" by way of Wembley's apology for the Oasis fiasco a month or 2 back. Mrs B is a Simple Minds fan and there weren't too many other enticing shows at Wembley (everyone seems to do the O2 instead now!), so this looked worth a go.

After the normal traffic chaos and nearly 2 hours to travel the 18 or so miles to Wembley, we settled into our "guest" seats about half way back on the shelf. Deacon Blue delivered a Greatest Hits set, including "My Town", "Chocolate Girl", "Wages Day", "Real Gone Kid", "Fergus Sings The Blues" and "Dignity", so you couldn't go far wrong apart from the poor sound quality for the first 2 songs.

Simple Minds also treated us to the "Hits" which suited me. The one thing that struck was that the vocals of Ricky Ross and Jim Kerr were pretty spot on, considering they are singling songs which were recorded 20-25 years ago. A pleasant evening and a much faster journey home.

The Wholigans - Wednesday 19th November - Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush

Thanks to Barry from The Wholigans for mentioning this show on this very blog, otherwise I would not have known about it. We Started the evening in The Stewart Arms - a real "Life On Mars" throwback of a pub. There was actually a guy in there who we didn't know if he was asleep, in a coma or dead - just slumped over 2/3 of a pint. After 20 or so minutes he moved and slumped onto the other side of the table, so encouraging signs of life! Everyone else just carried on around him, so assume this was a normal state of affairs. 

Next we went to a nice bar called "The Prince of Wales" which had a fine selection of beers. Very expensive, but a good effort. Meandering back towards Bush Hall we stopped in an Irish Pub. The Irish clientele were watching the England game and the back of the pub was full of Poles watching Poland beating Ireland! Classic! 

We decided to skip the support band - "The Small Fakers" to see a bit more of the football, having handed over our entrance money to the security guy on the door. Maybe not the smartest thing to have done - half expected him to deny all knowledge of us when we went back or to have done a runner, but it was all fine and in we went. With hindsight, I'm sure the Florida-based band wouldn't have chosen to play the night of an England football match, because the place was nearly empty! No more than 75 punters which was a real shame, because the band are excellent. Once again, vocals were spot on and the band sounded just as they should. It was loud too! Good setlist - even a few for the "hardcore" - "Fortune Teller" anyone? I'm sure everyone there had a good time - let's hope there are a few more next time around.

http://www.thewholigans.com/

Photo from Reverand Dan - http://www.flickr.com/photos/revdan/3046467706/