Status Quo - Wednesday 13th July - Rochester Castle

A trip to deepest Kent to see Quo in summer festival mode. Sadly Parfitt-less following his recent heart attack (get well soon Rick!), Freddie Edwards (son of Rhino) proved an able substitute and the band were on good form. Francis seemed to enjoy the event so much that he bizarrely threw his trainers out into the crowd afterwards.

Earlier, Steve Harley had warmed up the crowd with a good selection of material - including the inevitable sing-a-long for his last number.

And before that, I had won the "Kent Open" in the only bar we could find with a pool table. Sadly, by the time we found a dartboard it was nearly showtime.

Setlist - Steve Harley (approximate!)
Here Comes the Sun 
Judy Teen
Mr. Soft
All in a Life's Work
The Lighthouse
Journey's End
Ordinary People
A Friend for Life
The Best Years of Our Lives
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Sebastian
+
Come Up & See Me (Make Me Smile)

Setlist - Status Quo
Caroline
The Wanderer
Paper Plane
Hold You Back
Beginning of the End
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad (Medley)
Don't Waste My Time
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Gerdundula
In the Army Now 
Drum Solo (The Caveman)
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Bye Bye Johnny 

Metal Hammer Golden God Awards - Monday 13th June - Hammersmith Apollo

We booked up for this on the basis that:-

• It cost £6.66 !
• It was at Hammersmith
• Saxon were playing a tribute to Motorhead
• There must be someone else decent on

In the run up to the show - and having seen the other announcements - I was fearing the old adage that "you get what you pay for"! Wrong! What a fun evening!

First up were Amon Amarth. I had not seen "Norse Metal" before. And my, did it make you smile. Extras dressed as warriors beating their shields. Fire (dry ice) breathing giant dragons. And an 8 ft hammer. Wow!

Gojira were up next. Not my scene at all here, although they seemed popular amongst the younger audience members. Just a lot of noise and shouting for me - I must be getting old!

Next were Halestorm. Fronted by the talented Lzzy Hale, musically this was the best performance of the night for me. Great guitar and some catchy songs.

Final act of the night was "A Salute To Lemmy with Saxon, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee". Whilst I'm not a huge Motorhead fan - I had been due to see them before Lemmy's sad passing. This proved a nice, albeit brief, tribute.

Interspersing all of the above was the awards show. And so what if most of the awards went to modern metal bands I've never heard off and so what if our hair wasn't anywhere as long as 90% of the crowd. There was a moving tribute to the recent victims of a shooting in a gay US nightclub with the message that "metal is non-discriminatory". Here here.

So, against all the odds, a really fun evening.

Setlists

Amon Amarth
The Pursuit of Vikings
First Kill
Twilight of the Thunder God

Gojira 
Silvera
Stranded
The Heaviest Matter of the Universe

Halestorm
Love Bites (So Do I)
Amen
I Miss the Misery

Saxon
Heavy Metal Thunder
Motorcycle Man
Princess of the Night
Ace of Spades [with Mikkey Dee]
Born to Raise Hell [with Mikkey Dee]
Overkill [with Mikkey Dee]

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Saturday 11th June - Hampton Court Palace

So AC/DC one week, The RPO the next, thanks to the generosity of some good friends. A very civilised couple of hours in a Hampton Court pub, followed by a picnic in a Gazebo watching others getting wet and then the concert.

Got to be honest and say it's not totally my thing and thought that the musical selections could have been aimed more at the casual classic music follower for an event like this. Still, excellently played and I did recognise one or two compositions.


Setlist

AC/DC - Saturday 4th June - Olympic Stadium, London

"It's A Long Way From the Top" to see AC/DC

AC/DC are on their 2 date UK tour of taxpayer funded stadiums (London and Manchester) with guest vocalist Axl Rose standing in for Brian Johnson. And standing he was, forgoing the wheelchair from the opening nights of his guest spot.

Our seats, like most in the vast Olympic Stadium were miles from the action (I hope West Ham fans are long sighted!). However, they were comfortable and the volume was more than adequate to reach us and the essential big screens provided a view of what was happening - even with the inevitable time lag. For the first ever concert at the venue (after the Olympic closing ceremony), the sound was pretty good.

Mr Rose performed well - certainly the whole show was better than early YouTube footage I'd seen with him and the standing section of the crowd looked boisterous. I'm not sure if those who returned their tickets made a good call as this was a solid event and Angus Young seemed to revel in his "rock icon" status. The bottom line with AC/DC is you know what you are going to get and they did not disappoint.

Setlist
Rock or Bust
Shoot to Thrill
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Rock 'n' Roll Damnation
Thunderstruck
High Voltage
Rock 'n' Roll Train
Hells Bells
Given the Dog a Bone
If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
Sin City
You Shook Me All Night Long
Shot Down in Flames
Have a Drink on Me
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock (with Angus Young guitar solo)

Highway to Hell
Riff Raff
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Magnum - Friday 13th May - Islington Assembly Hall

A quick search back through this blog will show that I have been to see Magnum a lot of times. However, I was aware that it had been ages since I was really close to the front, so determined to put that right and see Tony Clarkin's fine playing up close, we timed our arrival well and got to around the 2nd/3rd row spot on the right hand side.

Credit should be given to the band for always showcasing their new material - the issue that creates of course is a lack of time for some of the older classics. Some seem more undroppable than others and it surprises me that "Soldier Of The Line" and "All England's Eyes" stay in at the expense of say "Sacred Hour" or "Just Like An Arrow". Interestingly on this tour there is no space for any material from their best selling album "Wings of Heaven".

The new album this time around  - 'Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies' is OK - maybe not quite up to the standard of the last 2 or 3, but functional none the less. This meant the show ranked for me as "very good" rather than exceptional. Still, good fun nonetheless.

Setlist
Soldier Of The Line
On A Storyteller's Night
Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies
Freedom Day
Dance Of The Black Tattoo
Crazy Old Mothers
Blood Red Laughter
Your Dreams Won't Die
How Far Jerusalem
Unwritten Sacrifice
Twelve Men Wise and Just
Les Morts Dansant
All England's Eyes
Princess In Rags (The Cult)
Vigilante
+
The Spirit
Kingdom Of Madness

Bryan Adams - Saturday 7th May - O2 Arena

More Bryan Adams with decent front block seats acquired for the O2. As always from Bryan, another decent show - with 2 extra songs from Bournemouth a week ago providing value for money. Quite surprised security didn't stop people moving towards the front, but a relatively friendly crowd meant no issues seemed to be caused.

Already looking forward to next time!

Setlist
Do What Ya Gotta Do
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Don't Even Try
Run to You
Go Down Rockin'
Heaven
Kids Wanna Rock
It's Only Love
This Time
You Belong to Me
Summer of '69
When You're Gone (Acoustic)
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
On A Day Like Today
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good
Here I Am
Somebody
I'll Always Be Right There
Please Forgive Me
Cuts Like a Knife
18 'til I Die
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
+
Brand New Day
C'mon Everybody / All Shook Up
She Knows Me (Acoustic)
Straight From the Heart (Acoustic)
Into The Fire (Acoustic)
All for Love (Acoustic)
Remember (Acoustic)

Bryan Adams - Friday 29th April - Bournemouth BIC

Bryan Adams offering standing tickets seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so an afternoon off work, a cheap(ish) B&B for the Friday night booked and it was off to the seaside. I've not been to the BIC (or indeed Bournemouth) for a number of years. the venue was fine, but at the risk of being snobbish I was underwhelmed by the town. For somewhere that prides itself as a destination for stag and hen dos's these days, where were the decent places to get a drink? Does a town centre really need 3 or 4 Wetherspoons!? When one of the best bars is the Slug and Lettuce, you know that some decent independent places are needed!

Honourable exception goes to the "Goat And The Tricycle" - a decent pub with a range of darts / pool / shove ha'penny and beer selection (although even there, the lager options were so-so).

Still, the main reason for being there was the gig, so we got in fairly early to secure a decent spot. Some people had clearly been "enjoying" the afternoon more than we had and their hours in the Wetherspoons were taking their toll even before the show started with some people in front of us too drunk to stand to even welcome Bryan onstage. Happily they realised their situation and vacated to the comfort of the toilet / side wall.

So the show? Well, pretty good actually. A few less ballads that often the case (good news) and my non-favourite "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" dropped for the much better "Please Forgive Me" thanks to a shout from the audience. And our tweets requesting "Remember" may or may not have had an influence to that being added at the end of the show (not a natural place for it to be honest). BA's vocals were good, band excellent as always - especially Keith Scott on guitar and the band appear to have fun which comes across to the crowd who respond in kind. Glad we went.

Back to the "Goat And The Tricycle" afterwards for some late night darts which included a fantastic 130 checkout from yours truly in the early hours. V happy!

Setlist
Do What Ya Gotta Do
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Don't Even Try
Run to You
Go Down Rockin'
Heaven
Kids Wanna Rock
It's Only Love
This Time
You Belong to Me
Summer of '69
When You're Gone (Acoustic)
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good
Here I Am
Somebody
I'll Always Be Right There
Please Forgive Me
Cuts Like a Knife
18 'til I Die
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
+
Brand New Day
C'mon Everybody / All Shook Up
She Knows Me (Acoustic)
Straight From the Heart (Acoustic)
All for Love (Acoustic)
Remember (Acoustic)

T'Pau - Tuesday 26th April - Water Rats, Kings Cross

More T'Pau - this time an electric show for Vintage TV. Although I've been to the Water Rats before, I think this is the first show I've seen there and it is tiny. The band were on good form. - the audience were on a "no photo" rule, so I did wait until the last song to sneak my one and only piccie (note TV camera bottom left!).

Pretty much a "greatest hits set", the TV broadcast cut out most of the between song chat, but this was an engaging performance and well worth the admittance fee.

Setlist
Sex Talk
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Monkey House
Bridge of Spies
Secret Garden
Island
Say You Will
Wing and a Prayer
Read My Mind
Nowhere
Heart and Soul
China in Your Hand
+
Made of Money

From The Jam - Thursday 21st April - Under the Bridge

Dragged a mate who is a big fan of the Jam to see this and glad to say he loved it. I really like this venue under Stamford Bridge and the rescheduled show was a good 'un. Pretty much all of the Jam hits were played plus a few select album tracks. The Who's "So Sad About Us" was predictably a favourite for me.

Anyone got a setlist please?

T'Pau - Thursday 14th April - Royal Vauxhall Tavern

My second ever visit to the RVT and my second seeing of a T'Pau acoustic show there! We dragged along some friends who I think were more intrigued by the venue and it's reputation than the band, but they left having enjoyed the show. Carol and the boys were on good form and the acoustic format suits some of the songs pretty well. The encore song was a strange choice, but all in all a very pleasant hour and a bit.

Setlist

Heart And Soul
Valentine
I Will Be With You
Monkey House
Bridge Of Spies
Secret Garden
Island
Walk On Air
Purity
Make Love To Me
Wing And A Prayer
Read my Mind
Nowhere
China In Your Hand
+
Made Of Money