Francis Rossi - Monday 16th August - Dorking Halls

Brief review:  "An evening with" show - along similar lines to last year. Slight variation in stories and questions, but not much. Still good fun, but there could be much more varied material covered from Francis's career. Does anyone really care about the band being on "Coronation Street"?

Venue and View:  Front-right seats - good view.

Björn Again - Saturday 14th August - Hampton Court

Brief review:  The Hampton Court Festival always brings some eclectic performers and this show looked the best of the bunch this year (I was slightly surprised it went ahead!). As always, all the ABBA favourites performed well and with humour. The cover of Van Halen's "Jump" added a bit of variety to the proceedings.

Venue and View:  Pre-show drinks in (expensive!) gazebo, thanks to friends. Seats well back on the right hand side (just under cover), but unobstructed view and sound. Fussy stewarding about stepping forward from our seats when standing!

Jamie and the Jets - Friday 13th August - Boom Boom, Sutton

Brief review:  Local show with recommended Elton John tribute act. The recommendation was a good one and a fun evening was had by all. Excellent vocals and musicianship and even a few "hardcore" album tracks thrown in for good measure.

Venue and View:  Seated about half way back, so view partially obstructed by standing punters (photo is from the other side when standing). Reasonably busy in the seats, but plenty of standing room.

Alter Eagles - Friday 6th August - Boom Boom , Sutton

 
Brief review:  Excellent local tribute show with a full range of hits by the Eagles, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh

Venue and View:  Standing in the middle. Plenty of space.

Spike - Thursday 15th July - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Spike enjoyed his May dates here so much that he's back for more. Pretty similar set, but good fun as always. Shared a table area with Dave "Bucket" Colwell, his Bad Company manager and their wives/girlfriends. I was asked to take a photo of them, so I am now claiming I am the official Bad Company photographer :) - move over Ross Halfin! Dave got picked on from the stage for a couple of the stories, but unfortunately didn't guest on any music.

One Geordie guy had been enjoying the hospitality a little too much and was getting very annoyed with the sound of a game of pool in the back room. He was gently removed during the interval.

Venue and View:  Side view, seated with rock royalty. Socially distanced venue limited to 50 people.

Setlist
Similar, but not identical to previous show. Also included "The House of The Rising Sun"

Spike - Sunday 30th May (Afternoon Show) - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Back to the Cavern which is one of the few venues showcasing live music current. Spike from the Quireboys performing an acoustic set of favourites, across many genres. I must admit that I didn't even know Spike played guitar. A fair few amusing stories were thrown in for good measure, and I understand that this afternoon show was a fair bit longer that the evening one that followed.

Venue and View:  Decent view near the front, seated. Socially distanced show limited to 50 people and made to feel welcome as always by Noel and the team.

Setlist

The Cadbury's Flake Advert Jingle [Soundcheck]
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Run For Home
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Darlin' 
Pearl's a Singer
Fortune 
Raining Whiskey 
Seven Spanish Angels 
Little Ole Wine Drinker Me 
The First Cut Is the Deepest 
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Ode to You (Baby Just Walk) 
How Come It Never Rains 
I Don't Love You Anymore 
There She Goes Again 
Roses & Rings 
Let Me Down Easy 
First Song 
Streets of London 
Wild Horses 

Jim Kirkpatrick - Thursday 20th May - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  I've normally seen Jim as part of Rhino's Revenge and his "day job" is playing guitar for rockers "FM". But he is at the Cavern tonight in a postponed show to promote his new solo album and play some of the songs acoustically. He is a fine player and decent singe, so despite not knowing the material, this was a good evening. I especially enjoyed the cover of Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well.

Venue and View:  Decent seat near the front. Socially distanced show

Setlist

Ballad of a Prodigal Son
Heavy Weather
61 & 49
Malted Milk 
Ain't Goin' Down Alone
Always on the Road
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No Such Thing as a Sure Thing
Guitar Noodle
Oh Well
Oh Well [Part 2]
Won't Daydream No More
Heart of Blues
Got to Know
Out on the Western Plains
What Did I Drink Last Night
Guitar Noodling
She's Not There 
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Walkin' Blues 
Hey Hey

Slady - Saturday 31st October (Evening Show) - The Water Rats, Kings Cross

Brief review: After a nice meal at Drake and Morgan, it's back to the Water Rats for the evening show. The girls have changed into a "Halloween" theme and certainly rocked the house. If you like classic 70's  Slade, then you'll definitely enjoy their shows. Well worth the trip and hopefully not such a long gap to the next one.

Setlist (Evening show)

How Does It Feel? [snippet - keyboards and intro only]

Take Me Bak 'Ome 

Cum On Feel the Noize 

Look Wot You Dun 

Skweeze Me Pleeze Me 

Coz I Luv You 

Mama Weer All Crazee Now 

Darlin' Be Home Soon 

Gudbuy T'Jane 

Just a Little Bit 

Don't Blame Me 

Look at Last Nite

Far Far Away 

Nobody's Fool 

Everyday 

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[Break for Raffle]

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The Bangin' Man 

Good Time Gals 

Get Down And Get With It

Slady - Saturday 31st October (Afternoon Show) - The Water Rats, Kings Cross

Brief review: After a 7 month Covid-19 enforced gap, it's 2 socially distanced shows on the same day. The excellent Slade tribute band started with an acoustic opening to the all-seated afternoon show before increasing the volume later.

Setlist (Afternoon show)

How Does It Feel? [Acoustic]

She Did It to Me [Acoustic]

Far Far Away [Acoustic]

Everyday [Acoustic]

Coz I Luv You 

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[Break for Q&A / Raffle]
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Cum On Feel the Noize 

Skweeze Me Pleeze Me 

Look Wot You Dun 

Mama Weer All Crazee Now 

Darlin' Be Home Soon

Gudbuy T'Jane 

The Bangin' Man 

Nobody's Fool 

When the Lights Are Out 

The Funky Gibbon [ad lib snippet]

Get Down And Get With It

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Friday 13th March - Nell's, Kensington

Brief review: A night of Blues and Rock with Joanne Shaw Taylor (or JST as the backdrop says) at Nells. Pre gig pubs very quiet, although we enjoyed some excellent piano based songs from @emilyjwmusic at The Beaconsfield where our Billy Joel and Rod Stewart requests were kindly played.

The venue was pretty busy, but we managed to get a decent spot on the floor. Whisper it quietly, but this was a slight disappointment.  It wasn't bad, as Joanne is an excellent guitarist and the new album (Reckless Heart) is decent too. It's just that having promised a detailed song by song run through with stories, there was actually very little chat or audience engagement. That, combined with a very brief encore, suggested that the band did not want to hang around. It was also a different set of musicians to previous shows.

[To be fair, this show was literally just as the UK Covid-19 lockdowns were starting. The band postponed the rest of the tour straight afterwards so that they could get home.]

Setlist

In the Mood

All My Love

The Best Thing

Bad Love

Creepin'

I've Been Loving You Too Long

Reckless Heart

Break My Heart Anyway

New 89

Jake's Boogie

I'm Only Lonely

Dyin' to Know

No Reason to Stay

Jump That Train

Diamonds in the Dirt

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