Quireboys - Sunday 24th November - Islington Academy

Brief review:  A new phase of touring for Spike and the Quireboys. Featuring Thunder's Luke Morley on guitar (as "musical director"), the band whipped through a range of songs old and new. And what good fun it was as you'd expect. Spike seems happy to be free of the noise going on around the split of the band(s) a couple of years ago and hopefully, all parties have moved on and we can enjoy the music we love hearing.

Venue and View:  Front left, standing.

Setlist
Jeeze Louise
Can't Park Here
Misled
Sweet Mary Ann
Raining Whiskey
Whippin' Boy
Tramps and Thieves
Hey You
You and I
I Think I Got It Wrong Again
King of New York
Happy
There She Goes Again
Roses & Rings
+
Like It or Not
I Don't Love You Anymore

Rhino's Revenge - Sunday 27th October - Half Moon, Putney

Brief review:  Another matinee performance from John 'Rhino' Edward's 3 piece band with Craig Joiner on guitar and Status Quo's Leon Cave on the sticks. Daughter Mae joined for a guest drum spot, but it was largely as you'd expect with a fun show of largely solo material, with some choice Quo covers thrown in for good measure.

Venue and View:  Standing at the back.

Setlist

Tom Robinson - Saturday 26th October - Hazlewood Theatre, Oxted

Brief review:  A trip to deepest Surrey and the theatre attached to an arts school in Oxted. Torches were required for the walk from the town / station which added to the unique experience. Tom and the band were on excellent form (this was actually billed as a TRB show) and there were a couple of different amusing anecdotes. We had to sneak out during the final song to ensure that the last train home was caught. And, a rarity these days, I actually purchased a tour T-shirt!

Venue and View:  Second Row seats on left.

Setlist

All Right All Night
Bully for You
Too Good to Be True
Martin
Let My People Be
Days of Rage
Ain't Gonna Take It
Grey Cortina
Long Hot Summer
+
Hold Out
The Winter of '79
Blue Murder
Don't Take No for an Answer
Glad to Be Gay
Up Against the Wall
2-4-6-8 Motorway
+
Power in the Darkness
Never Gonna Fall in Love (Again)
War Baby

Mud - Thursday 17th October - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Another Raynes Park date for Mud and it was remarkably similar to last time. And that means it was very good! There were also a couple of covers in the middle of the set sung by Anne Stiles.

Venue and View:  Front left, Standing

Setlist
L'L'Lucy
Crazy
Hypnosis
Dyna-Mite
One Night 
Secrets That You Keep
Shake It Down
Angel Face 
Oh Boy 
Moonshine Sally
Good Rocking Tonight
Johnny B. Goode 
Love Is a Battlefield (with Anne Stiles)
Play That Funky Music (with Anne Stiles)
Cut Across Shorty
Rocket
The Cat Crept In
Lonely This Christmas
Tiger Feet

Scouting For Girls - Monday 7th October - G-Live, Guildford

Brief review:  More Scouting For Girls at Ray's "hometown" gig. They are always well received here and the crowd were in excellent voice. The band were their normal energetic selves and seems to be enjoying themselves as they tread a fine balance on inserting new songs into the set whilst retaining most of the old favourites.

Venue and View:  Front Left, Standing

Setlist
The Missing Part
This Ain't a Love Song
Dancing in the Daylight
Song I Can't Forget
It's Not About You
The Airplane Song
Michaela Strachan
I Wish I Was James Bond
Millionaire (with Kumbaya / The Lion Sleeps Tonight snippets) (Acoustic)
Butterflies (Acoustic)
Posh Girls
Year 3000
Raise a Glass
Heartbeat
Glow
Elvis Ain't Dead / Can't Help Falling in Love
+
Secret Tattoo
She's So Lovely

* This is the likely setlist based on other shows on the tour, but is not 100% certain.

Slim Jim Phantom - Friday 4th October - West Hampstead Arts Centre

Brief review:  The Stray Cat returns to West Hampstead. As the view from the back has pretty restricted last time, we got in early to grab a better spot prior to the support and were able to sit at the side. The support act (solo bloke with electric guitar) was pretty good (and I really enjoyed the punky version of the Scooby Doo theme!). The evening almost got ruined by a slightly strange middle aged gentleman deciding to sweep our (full!) drinks onto the floor because he wanted to steal our seats whilst I popped to the gents. He couldn't see what the problem was, so I suspect he had issues of some sort. I maturely let the matter drop despite a few of the people around us suggesting a more physical approach would have been apt!

The show itself was decent, albeit fairly brief. By his own admission, Jim isn't the best vocalist, but a decent selection of songs (including covers) meant that this didn't really matter. And having Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik on guitar and other vocals was quite left field - he was good though.

Venue and View:  Front Right, standing (once our seats had been stolen!)

Bad Company - Wednesday 11th September - Half Moon, Putney

Brief review:  More "Hart, 'Bucket', Davey and James" at the Half Moon. Very similar show to last time and none the worse for it.

A highlight for me was meeting Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash for the second time. He was kind enough to chat briefly about music and pose for photos with us. He looks annoyingly good for his age!

Venue and View:  Front left, standing

Vengaboys, RPJ Band (Feastyfest) - Sunday 8th September - Feastyfest, Cheam Park

Brief review:  The annual Feastyfest show in Cheam brings an electric mix of artists, The enthusiastic Rick Parfitt Junior bought a wealth of classic rock and pop covers which certainly had a "party starting" feel to it. He even covered "Rockin' All Over The World" which I gather doesn't happen as often as you would think.

I really didn't know what to expect from the Vengaboys - my preconceptions were probably fairly negative. But they were actually really good fun. The crowd got involved and the music and singing were exactly what was needed for this type of event.

Venue and View:  Front left - standing in a park

Pat McManus - Sunday 1st September - Half Moon, Putney

Brief review:  These shows with Pat are becoming reasonably frequent. His excellent guitar and fiddle work is demonstrated on a variety of solo material, older Mama's Boys favourites and some excellently curated covers paying homage to some of the great blues guitarists.

Venue and View:  Front left, standing

Status Quo - Thursday 15th August - Dreamland, Margate

Brief review:  Rumours are that the end is approaching for Quo as a live act. Not 100% confirmed by the band, but this could be the actual "End of the Road", 40 years after the tour of that name. And if it is true, then the standard of show suggests they are going out on a high - the band sound the best they have done for years. Even if the touring days are done, someone should persuade them to say a proper goodbye - after all this was the closest show to London (90 miles away) on an eclectic festival-like jaunt to random venues across the country.

Venue and View:  Standing. 50 yds back on right

Setlist
Caroline
Rain 
Little Lady 
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Something 'bout You Baby I Like / Wild Side Of Life / Rollin' Home / Railroad / Again and Again / Mystery Song
The Oriental
In My Chair
In the Army Now 
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Don't Waste My Time
Paper Plane
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)