Bryan Adams - Wednesday 10th September - Brighton Centre

No shows in August means it's been a while since the last updates. This was the first of 3 anticipated trips to see Mr Adams this year - this one an acoustic outing as part of his long-standing "Bare Bones" tour. I'd found out earlier in the week that some friends of ours were going too, so we met in a pub in the Laines. Unbelievably, it turned out that they had 2 row G tickets right next to our 2. Bizarre coincidence!

The show was good. the only downside was the number of ballads played - but I guess that's always likely with an acoustic show. The up-tempo numbers were better received - Run To You, Summer of '69, When You're Gone etc together with the new song "She Knows Me". There were some amusing anecdotes between tunes too. It was a good evening, but I predict the full band shows coming up will be better!

Setlist *

Run to You

It's Only Love

I Thought I'd Seen Everything

Here I Am

When You Love Someone

This Time

I Finally Found Someone

Can't Stop This Thing We Started

If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good

(Everything I Do) I Do It for You

Cuts Like a Knife

Flying

Summer of '69

She Knows Me

Heaven

All for Love

When You're Gone

18 til I Die

Cloud Number Nine

One Night Love Affair

The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You

You've Been a Friend to Me

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Somebody

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?

I Still Miss You... A Little Bit

Straight From the Heart

* I'm not 100% sure this is exactly the set, but it's pretty close. If anything is missing or wrong then please comment.

Beach Boys - Thursday 17th July - Epsom Downs

Another day, another racecourse! And a band of comparable age to last night. The Beach Boys are of course one of the legendary US bands of all time. They do leave themselves open to the age old question of "how many original members do you need to still be called [whatever the name of the act is]". Well in this case they have vocalist Mike Love who at the age of 73 is still touring the World.

To be fair, there are at least a few family connections with other band members as well as a returning guitarist from a previous line-up. The essence of the group though is displayed throughout with the classic harmonies and the surf-style guitar sound that they so helped popularise.

With the left hand side of the stage blocked by what looked like a completely unnecessary fence, the crowd sometimes had to shuffle round to get a good view. The good news at this type of show though is you generally get a bit more standing room than if you were going to a multi-band festival. they are also child-friendly.

Also, when a band has had as many hits as The Beach Boys, you want to hear them. They didn't let us down here, with the shortness of the original songs lending itself to a 28 song set, peppered with classics. Fun, Fun, Fun all the way.

Setlist
Do It Again
Goin' to The Beach
Little Honda
Catch A Wave
Surfin' Safari
Surfer Girl
Why Do Fools Fall In Love 
When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
Darlin'
Don't Worry Baby
Little Deuce Coupe
409
I Get Around
Sloop John B
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Then I Kissed Her
California Girls
Pisces Brother
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
Cotton Fields 
Kokomo
Help Me, Rhonda
Do You Wanna Dance?
Barbara Ann
Surfin' U.S.A.
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Wild Honey
Fun, Fun, Fun

Status Quo - Wednesday 16th July - Sandown Park Racecourse

Many UK racecourses now do live music events, featuring and evening of Horse racing and a well known band. This one was quite close to home, but the first time I've seen any acts at Sandown Park.

As can be seen from the picture, the stage itself was quite large. What can't be seen is the huge sideways slope where the audience stands. In front of the left hand side of the stage must be several feet lower that the right hand side which makes standing a touch uncomfortable!

Still, after some success on the gee-gees (get in, "Needlessly Shouting"!), we took up a spot about 2/3 of the way back to the mixing desk. We had some Quo "first timers" with us who reported their enjoyment of the show later. For the Quo regulars amongst us, this was a decent performance, without being stunning. It's always a bit more difficult away from your own audience. Quo did their standard "festival set" (the same as at Download a month or two ago). It went down well, but it would have been nice if it was a bit louder! That seems to be the main issue with the race course shows - I think they have strict sound limits in place that aren't quite loud enough for an open air show.

From where we were standing the keyboards were far to high in the mix. This actually highlighted how good Andy Bown's playing is, but there is no disrespect in saying that when you come to see Quo, you want to hear guitars!

Setlist
Caroline
Paper Plane
Hold You Back
Rain
Rock 'n' Roll 'n' You
Beginning of The End
What You're Proposing / Down The Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Big Fat Mama
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
In The Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World
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Junior's Wailing
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

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
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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
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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
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A Woman and a Man
Our Lips Are Sealed
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
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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
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Too Many Clowns
Sacred Hour