Thursday 22 August 2024.

Thursday 22 August 2024. THOMAS DOLBY live at Shepherds Bush Empire. A very rare UK tour from Thomas Dolby. This show sold out in advance , so extra show added on Saturday 24 August at Islington Academy. GRAMMY Award nominated Thomas Dolby's impressive career has spanned over 35 years. He has had a few Top 40 singles and albums. As an early MTV icon he blazed a trail for electronic music with his imaginative videos. His synth playing and production have graced the recordings of Foreigner, Def Leppard and Joni Mitchell. Thomas Dolby was in David Bowie's band at Live Aid. That is the only time I have seen him on stage. Support comes from MARTIN McALOON singing the songs of his 1980s band PREFAB SPROUT. Nine of their albums reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. The band's other popular songs include "When Love Breaks Down" and "Cars and Girls". The band has not played live since 2000.Looks like Martin's brother Paddy McAloon is suffering from ill-health. I saw Prefab Sprout four times , with the first time in 1983, supporting Elvis Costello. ----------- It is stalls seated tonight as a middle aged crowd. MARTIN McALOON was on at 8pm for 45 mins. He is solo , with just his electric guitar. Good to hear those Prefab Sprout hits again including ' When Love Breaks Down' , ' The King of Rock and Roll' and 'Cars and Girls'. Martin had a nice relaxed stage banter that helped him go down well tonight. He headlines Bush Hall in November 2024. THOMAS DOLBY was on at 9.15pm for 90 mins. He is on his own , with a bank of keyboards. There is a big screen showing pre-recorded images. A nice loud sound of electro beats An excellent keyboard based ' Heroes' , which included great footage of Thomas with David Bowie at Live Aid in 1985. His hits were near the end of the enjoyable show. Full THOMAS DOLBY setlist played tonight... Blue Monday ( New Order cover) Evil Twin Brother Europa and the Pirate Twins One of Our Submarines (With snippets of Gary Numan’s “Cars” and Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer') The Flat Earth I Love You Goodbye Spice Train My Brain Is Like a Sieve (Duet with Jason Mraz on pre-recorded vocals) Budapest by Blimp "Heroes" ( David Bowie cover) Hyperactive! She Blinded Me With Science Encore: Hot Sauce Encore 2: Airwaves ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Thursday 22 August 2024. Remember where you saw it first. THE SEX PISTOLS play a second show at The Forum. Sunday 29 September 2024. Ticket info will be announced in the media soon. --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Wednesday 21 August 2024. RISE AGAINST live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Punk rock band from Chicago have released several albums....a couple of them have gone Top 10 in the USA and Top 40 in the UK. A couple of their tracks have had over 100 million views on YouTube. Rise Against are on a UK & European tour. This show sold out in advance. ------- The support act TRASH BOAT are from St Alban's . They arrived on stage at 8pm for a decent enough uptempo 30 mins punky set. Never heard of them before, but they have had four albums out. RISE AGAINST arrived on stage at 9pm for 90 mins. They are the type of band you would see middle of the bill at Download Festival or Reading/Leeds. They are all dressed in black. RISE in huge white letters on their black curtain. Like the support band , they are new style punk rather than classic punk of old . Lots of moshing and crowd-surfing . Lots of lights and strobes. Highlights were near the end with ' Prayer of The Refugee', ' Audience Of One' and ' Saviour'. A good show that the crowd loved.

Posted 22nd August 2024