End of Year Reflections

Rick Parfitt - Brighton 2015

Normally at this time, I compile a list of best shows, venues of the year etc, but I'm not going to this year. 2016 has been the start of what I fear will become a trend as the years go by of the musicians I grew up with steadily passing away. I appreciate that is life as we know it, and whilst it is sad, it does give us a chance to reflect on the enjoyment we have had from seeing these great musicians. In the past 12 months, these artists that I have seen perform live are no longer with us:-

David Bowie, Prince, Glenn Frey, Andy "Thunderclap" Newman, Leon Russell, Leonard Cohen, Dale "Buffin" Griffin, Steve Byrd, Scotty Moore, Rick Parfitt & George Michael

Probably the one that hit me most (although not entirely unexpected) was Rick Parfitt on Christmas Eve. You do grow a certain attachment for a guy you've seen perform well over 100 times, met and have autographed photos on your wall.

Rest In Peace all.

Sadly, there will be more in 2017, so enjoy them while you can folks. I've been to 37 shows this year - one less than the last two years, but the vast majority have been really enjoyable - both the big arena shows and the small clubs. My bank balance may have taken a pounding, but there's no substitute for quality live music.

Here's wishing all readers of this blog a safe and enjoyable 2017.

Status Quo - Tuesday 14th December - Brighton Centre

More Quo - and more driving to Brighton due to another train strike. My last show of 2016 and support once again comes from REO Speedwagon (as on Sunday). They were OK again - they played their 3 hits - but boy, does the lead singer fancy himself! Everyone was made more than aware that he wrote the big hits! Still, as a support act, I'm glad I've seen them (twice!), but probably wouldn't choose to invest to see them as headliners.

A standing show meant a decent spot in the crowd for Quo, but a reasonable number of annoying people around (either barging to the front or in the case of one nearby - singing the entire setlist into the face of his mate whilst acting out the words in a sort of "I know the song, you don't" type of way. Watch the ****ing show and let your mate enjoy it!).

Show very similar to the O2 and very enjoyable again.

Setlist (REO Speedwagon)
Don't Let Him Go
Take It on the Run
Keep Pushin'
Can't Fight This Feeling
Son of a Poor Man
Time for Me to Fly
Back on the Road Again
Ridin' the Storm Out
Keep On Loving You
Roll With the Changes

Setlist (Status Quo)
Caroline
The Wanderer
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Paper Plane
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)
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Status Quo - Sunday 11th December - O2 Arena

Latest Quo entry takes Mrs B and I to the O2 Arena in Greenwich for the "Last Night of The Electrics". This was my first viewing of Richie Malone (standing in for Rick Parfitt following his most recent heart attack) and he acquitted himself well. Sadly, not many other changes had been made. Which doesn't mean it wasn't excellent (it normally is), it's just the age old complaint about the static set list - still, too late to change their ways now.

Francis Rossi was on good form - Rhino was better than expected on the vocal parts normally sung by Rick and it was all very enjoyable. The older man next to me had not taken my stance on refusing to pay £6.50 for a pint of Stella and was absolutely hammered. His attempts to video portions of the show on a phone he couldn't work meant accidentally calling many of the people in his contact list. By the end of the show he had 10 "missed" incoming calls and 12 text messages. The one I saw was asking if he was OK as he kept calling them. I was amazed he made it through the show - he certainly won't remember much of it.

Setlist
Caroline
The Wanderer
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Paper Plane
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)
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Magnum - Tuesday 6th December - Brighton Concorde 2

Thanks to the incompetence of Southern Rail and their inability to engage with their staff, we couldn't risk the train to Brighton on the basis we may not get home on a strike day (nice of Thameslink - same parent company - to cancel so many of their trains with no explanation too). That meant a drive to the south coast and a battle with the "pay online only" parking challenges around the Concorde 2 venue.

Magnum were on a second mini-leg to their recent tour (5 nights) and I enjoyed this more than the London show. Decent view and sound - with a small number of set changes to accommodate "Lonely Night" from the forthcoming ballads compilation. Despite slightly too much new material still, the band were on good form - Bob's vocals standing up well and Tony's guitar impressive as always. Harry, Mark and Al were provided the expected level of expertise behind them.

News in the car on the way home that our train had indeed been cancelled vindicated our decision to drive!

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
Vigilante
Kingdom of Madness
+
Lonely Night
When the World Comes Down

[PS - 2 days later brings the shock news that keyboard maestro Mark Stanway has quit the band. Reasons not clear, although it appears that there must have been a massive falling out to leave after 36 years with 3 dates only to go. In which case that is a real shame]

SAS Band - Saturday 3rd December - Guildford G Live

Spike Edney's SAS Band return for their annual Christmas knees up. With guests Tom Robinson, Midge Ure, Toyah Wilcox, Madeline Bell and Patti Russo, this fitted into the standard show - classic rock covers played by exceptional musicians. Only slight disappointment was - like  last time around - the "other special guests" didn't materialise. Still, those we had were good - the version of "2,4,6,8" was possibly the best I've heard. For me, Midge Ure stole the show with the trio of "Vienna", "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" and "The Boys Are Back In Town". Toyah and Jamie Moses did a decent version of Fairytale of New York and there were nice musical tributes to David Bowie and Leonard Cohen.

It was good, and I enjoyed it, but the amount of spare room in the standing area was possibly a reflection of the high ticket cost and the familiarity of the guests.

Setlist anyone?

David Essex - Sunday 20th November - Drury Lane Theatre

View from the Gods

David Essex announced that this would be his "farewell tour", so it seemed like a good opportunity to see the 70's superstar again before he bows out. This is the 3rd time I've seen David and I seem to be getting higher and higher in each venue I see him! This despite paying (well) over £10 for the first time for his ticket! 😆 The show was effectively a greatest hits sing-a-long, with Richard and I very much towards the lower age range for the audience. The view was OK(ish), but the sound was clear, vocals good and the material as expected.

I would put myself very much in the "casual fan" bracket regarding Mr Essex, but the passion of his true fans really showed - hundreds even standing out in the rain by the stage door afterwards to get a glimpse or photo.

Setlist
Beautiful Day
If I Could
Lamplight
All the Fun of the Fair
Hold Me Close
Me and My Girl (Nightclubbing)
Oh What a Circus
A Winter's Tale
Dangerous
Stardust
Picture This Sky
On and On
Rock On
Imperial Wizard
Ships That Pass In The Night
Gonna Make You a Star
Silver Dream Machine
+
Here We Are All Together
It's Gonna Be Alright
I'll Be Missing You

Ian Hunter - Friday 11th November - Shepherds Bush Empire

Ian Hunter and the Rant Band

I had been looking forward to seeing Ian again and was even more pleased when I remembered that we had decent floor seats for this one. Support came from Graham Parker and Brinsley Schwarz who were pleasant enough - but somehow I expected that I'd recognise at least a couple of their songs. I didn't! Still, it was fine and Graham came across well with some self depreciating humour to the fore.

Mr Hunter has been touring for a good few years now with his Rant Band and the set tonight was a good mixture of old classics and newer favourites. Ian was in fine voice and effortlessly switched between guitar and keyboard. The crowd lapped it up (after almost being dragged to their feet initially by 2 somewhat overexcited fans - who presumably wanted to get "down the front"). If I do have one reoccurring issue with Ian's shows, it is the front of house sound. Now, it could be mitigating that we were in the 4th row, but it took several songs before the vocals and in-between speech became clear (and lifted above the instruments). Also when special guest Paul Cuddeford joined in for "All The Way From Memphis", it took an age for the desk to realise that he was playing a solo and to turn him up so the audience could hear it. I'm sure being the sound man is a far from easy job, but there are few recurring shows I go to these days where the vocals start so muffled.

Despite those reservations, I really enjoyed the show and it was nice to be able to hear "All The Young Dudes" in London without a stage invasion by Joe Elliott!

Setlist
That's When The Trouble Starts
Once Bitten Twice Shy
When I'm President
Saint
The Truth, the Whole Truth, Nuthin' but the Truth 
Cleveland Rocks 
All American Alien Boy 
Fingers Crossed
Honaloochie Boogie 
Dandy
Just Another Night 
Bow Street Runners 
Shrunken Heads 
American Spy 
Michael Picasso 
Ghosts
23A, Swan Hill 
Sweet Jane 
+
Irene Wilde (Snippet)
All the Way From Memphis (with Paul Cuddeford)
Life
All the Young Dudes 
Goodnight, Irene (Snippet with Graham Parker)

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Saturday 5th November, Bush Hall

Who's Got The Hat?

The now (at least) annual London show from Dan and the boys. Back to Bush Hall, where a slightly stressful 5-modes of transport journey got us there slightly after nine. Thankfully proceedings seemed to be running a bit late and we caught half of the main support act with Warner E Hodges on guitar. They had a couple of catchy numbers, but the main vocals were a slightly acquired taste.

The late start and strict curfew meant a reduced headline set. Dan prides himself on choosing the set each night (and mixing it up on the fly). In general, this works really well, but tonight it didn't quite have the desired effect for me - probably the weakest show I've seen from the guys for a while. Quite a lot of similar songs and too many elongated. Surely a 12 minute version of Railroad Steel to finish was not the best use of limited time especially when it followed a lengthy "Dan Takes Five" (which is basically the same song!)

Still, "Mon Cheri", "Sheila" & "I Love You Period" were great. "Two for Tuesday" was a sad omission, but to be fair, even a slightly under-par show from this band is still good.

Dan was kind enough to sign a copy of the new Live DVD/CD - "Live At The Sweden Rock Festival" for me which was much appreciated.

I didn't note the exact set, so if anyone did - could they please post?

Jasmine Rodgers - Friday 28th October - Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell

A very quiet October means this is my only show - and another new venue for me, downstairs in the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell. Rich and I have seen Jasmine Rodgers before, but only backing her famous dad (along with various other family members!)

Here, she was showcasing her solo material in front of friends and a dedicated group of fans. Probably a bit different from the next evening when she was supporting Bad Company at the O2! It won't be any surprise to anyone familiar with her dad's work to know that she has a fantastic voice. Some of the songs were pretty catchy - although a number very short! A more than competent backing band supported and thankfully pretty much drowned out the alarm that was ringing on the door for the latter part of the show. Sadly Paul didn't make a special guest appearance, but this was a fiver well spent.

Simon Townshend - Friday 30th September - The Islington, Islington

Show 2 on this Friday night. Getting towards the front of the queue for autographs / photos earlier at the JST show meant we didn't have to rush too much to get across town to Islington and allowed time for a pint in the Camden Head. Quite bizarrely, there are now 2 pubs called "The Islington" within about 150 yards of each other and it turned out that the gig was in the second of those.

A nice, but small music room with easy access to the bar provided an excellent view, although was possibly undersized for the amplification from the band! Simon and the guys provided an excellent set with a fair bit of between song chatter. Phil Spalding was great on bass (I last saw him on guitar with Johnny Warman when I was deafened in Barnes!) and with Simon's son - Ben - on bass and Mike Wilton on lead guitar, this was a good quality outfit.

Probably because I've seen Simon a few times over the last year or 2, I recognised most of the songs (but didn't note the setlist). Perhaps the only disappointment was the lack of the classic "The Way It Is" and a sparser than deserved crowd, but otherwise an excellent second gig of the evening.

Back towards home in Ganley's (Morden), we finished the evening with a pint listening to a third act who may or may not have been called the DB5's playing some solid Mod & Rock hits of the 1960's.