News and Reviews: 9th October 2011
08 Oct 2011.I went to two events tonight.First was7pm to 8pm for The Pink Ribbon Ball at The Dorchester Hotel,Park Lane,London W1.Just an hour here in the press area with freebie champers flowing.A few faces here inc Jeffrey Archer,Linda Nolan,Les Dennis and ex Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri.Actually all of them give a lot of time to charity events like this so respect to them is due.Then
Stephen Dale Petit + David Sinclair Trio live at The 100 Club,London.A nice double bill of quality blues rock.Up first we have the David Sinclair Trio who play a great set.Each song has fantastic lyrics and the overall sound is superb.Their set included tracks from their three albums with the focus on the new release "Take Me There".Tracks like "Eight Rounds Later" and "Perfect In Every Way" got big cheers and surely it cannot be long before they headline their own show here.
www.myspace.com/davidsinclair
Then it gets very loud for the headliner Stephen Dale Petit who occupies a middle ground between the fire of Freddie King, the instinct of Jimmy Page and the soul of Eric Clapton.He is part of the New Blues Revolution along with the likes of Joe Bonamassa.
Stephen Dale Petit's amazing blues guitar odyssey started at a very young age indeed. His almost obsessive passion (and, arguably, God-given talent) has been with him through drug addiction, alcoholism and, ultimately, salvation and recovery. His journey has seen him homeless, busking for food on street corners and pennies on London Underground. It has taken him, in a matter of months, from much-admired tube platform performer to star of UK Festival stages.
Previous shows at the 100 Club have seen him being joined on stage by the likes of Ronnie Wood and Mick Taylor.
The 90 mins set has lots of great full tilt guitar playing from his lovely selection of guitars.
07 Oct 2011.Snoop Dogg + Chipmunk live at The 02 Arena,London.A big show for West Coast Hip Hopper Snoop Dogg.Upstairs in Level 4 is only half sold but this dance crowd are really up for it as they cheer the support act,dig the tunes the dj plays in the interval and the whole venue is up and dancing for the "Doggfather".Up first we have Chipmunk who does a decent 30 mins set.
Most of Snoop Doggs albums have sold over a million
copies in his 15 plus years of making music.He has had plenty of run ins with the law over the years.
He was even banned from the UK for a while.In typical hip hop time he comes on late at 10pm.Onstage for a quickfire 65 mins set.Short for an arena headline but hip hop acts never play long sets.Backed by two co-rappers and three sexy female dancers and a full band with big screens.Snoop is cool personified.Tracks played included "Wet","The Next Episode","Drop It Like Its Hot" and "Who Am I?(Whats My Name?).A good show.
06 Oct 2011.8pm to 11.30pm.I was at the launch party for mobile phone company HTC for their Sensation XL phone link up with Dr Dre "Beats Audio" headset at The Roundhouse,London.
A massive event here with 500 comp winners downstairs and i am upstairs with 500 guests and press.Lots of freebie beers,ciders,wines all night along with lots of different bowl food.
There are phones everywhere to play with.HTC are saying this is the best sound you will get via headphones attached to your phone.
They seem overpriced to me and i will stick with my trusty Skullcandy and Bose.
We had some djs inc Dirty South playing an hour set
each with full lights and big screen production.
Dr Dre and Cheryl Cole were both here.
At 10.30pm an odd thing happened.Left of stage was a vip area and a load of flashes went off.I walked over thinking who are this lot getting excited about?.To my surprise it was the biggest popstar on the planet.Yep Lady Gaga was in the house.She was fully made up and i think had come straight from recording the Jonathan Ross TV show.She posed for photos and shook some hands for half an hour before running off with all her security.
Headline dj was Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas
who played a good set of tunes.
www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-sensation-xl
05 Oct 2011.7pm to 11pm.Tonight was the relaunch of The Met Bar,Old Park Lane,London W1.
In the Cool Britannia Brit Pop days of the mid 1990s this venue was Londons number one hangout for the likes of Oasis,Blur,Spice Girls,Boy George,Kate Moss etc.Also at the time tennis legend Boris Becker had a liason with a female in the cloakroom here which ended up him fathering a child.
After a million pound refurbishment it has decided to drop its members only policy and become a normal trendy walk in bar for the general public.
Lots of freebie Louis Roederer champers,lovely cocktails and nice canapes were flowing all night.
We also had a 35 mins set by Jamie Cullum who has quietly sold over 5 million albums worldwide.
He battered the piano lid for extra percussion and dropped some vocal beatbox too.Set inc a neat cover of Elton Johns "Tiny Dancer" and for one song he was joined by the excellent UK soul singer Alice Russell.
Apart from a couple of BBC news presenters there was sadly no showing from from any major names from their past.A dj kept it lively after Jamie played.A nice party.
I saw Man-Raze play here a couple of years ago.They feature Sex Pistol Paul Cook and Def Leppards Phil Collen.