Friday 06 December 2024.

Friday 06 December 2024. FROM THE JAM + RUTS DC + LONDON CALLING live at Shepherds Bush Empire. From The Jam are playing a massive UK tour . Those classic songs by The Jam are still much loved. The Ruts have great songs from their punk days. London Calling are a top notch tribute to The Clash. I saw the real Clash 20 times from 1976 to 1984. Ex Jam bass player Bruce Foxton is usually in From The Jam, but is sitting this tour out, due to his health problems. I was lucky to have seen the real Jam a few times. The first time I saw them was in May 1977, when The Jam supported The Clash at their legendary show at The Rainbow. I have seen all three bands playing tonight before. --------- I was really looking forward to this triple bill to my liking. Level 3 is closed and Level 2 is half empty , but the stalls standing and Level 1 are rammed with middle aged blokes . The bars are doing a roaring trade tonight. Nice quick 15 mins changeovers was good to see. Classic punk , ska , new wave tunes played over the house PA . LONDON CALLING are on at 7.30pm for their 45 mins. They all appear in Clash type shirts. The Joe Strummer does act and look a bit like Joe. Really great to hear all these Clash classics again Tommy Gun London Calling Guns of Brixton Clash City Rockers Should I Stay or Should I Go (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais) Stay Free I Fought the Law Remote Control White Riot RUTS DC are on at 8.30pm for their 45 mins. They play a lovely set of punky reggae tunes. Faces In The Sky Something That I Said ( The Ruts cover) West One (Shine on Me) (The Ruts cover) Jah War ( The Ruts cover) Kill The Pain Staring at the Rude Boys (The Ruts cover) Psychic Attack In a Rut (The Ruts cover) Babylon's Burning ( The Ruts cover) FROM THE JAM on at 9.30pm for their 85 mins. Those Paul Weller lyrics still sound fantastic...pure quality. It gets very lively front stalls for the second half of the set. The band whizz through the classic songs without much chat. A great show. Full FROM THE JAM setlist played tonight... Little Boy Soldiers (The Jam cover) Thick as Thieves ( The Jam cover) Private Hell ( The Jam cover) Girl on the Phone (The Jam cover) Smithers-Jones (The Jam cover) Heat Wave ( Martha Reeves and the Vandellas cover) Wasteland (The Jam cover) Saturday's Kids ( The Jam cover) The Eton Rifles ( The Jam cover) Lula Window Shopping ( Bruce Foxton song) Start! ( The Jam cover) David Watts (The Kinks cover) Town Called Malice ( The Jam cover) Man in the Corner Shop (The Jam cover) Beat Surrender ( The Jam cover) In the City (The Jam cover) Encore: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (The Jam cover) That's Entertainment (The Jam cover) Going Underground (The Jam cover) ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Thursday 05 December 2024. Happy Birthday to JOHN CURD who is 78 today. John is a legendary live music promoter who booked many of the best punk gigs in the 1970s and 1980s, including the first shows in the UK by Patti Smith and The Ramones etc, at venues including The Roundhouse, The Lyceum, The Clarendon, Hammersmith Odeon , Hammersmith Palais etc. His autobiography is coming out next year. ------------- Thursday 05 December 2024. SKY ARTS at midnight repeated the superb 2 hour AC/DC show. Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington.Park. 17 August 1991 (attendance: 65,000) I was there....great support bands too.... It was the 32nd time i had seen them since 1976. AC/DC (their portion released as Live at Donington) Metallica ( first time The Black Album tracks played in the UK) Mötley Crüe Queensr˙che The Black Crowes ------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 04 December 2024. HIPPO CAMPUS live at Shepherds Bush Empire Hippo Campus is an American indie rock band from Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. They are touring to promote their fourth studio album 'Flood'. ------------- Level 3 is closed , but still must be an impressive 1400/1500 tickets sold , for a band I don't know at all. The crowd seems to be mainly college / university folks. SWIM DEEP arrived on stage at 8pm for their 30 mins. Swim Deep had some success with their first two albums, but have gone off the radar a bit. They are promoting their fourth album ' There's A Big Star Outside'. The five piece played a decent set of indie rock tunes. HIPPO CAMPUS arrived on stage at 9pm for their 1 hour 40 mins set. Six of them on stage , including keyboards and trumpet. They have a nice quirky indie-rock sound that sounds like they could be an English band. Some songs sounded samey, but overall enjoyable.

Posted 5th December 2024