Friday 16 May 2025.

Friday 16 May 2025 ERIC CHURCH live at The Royal Albert Hall. Eric Church plays the first of two RAH shows as part of Highways festival, showcasing Country and Americana’s brightest stars. This year, ten-time GRAMMY nominee ERIC CHURCH will headline both nights of the Festival with his acclaimed residency show, To Beat The Devil. Previously only ever performed at his Nashville venue Chief’s, these performances will be a European exclusive. Eric is a massive star in USA , as all eight of his albums have made the Billboard Top 40 , and two have reached the top spot. Lots of big hit singles too. --------------- The arena and stalls seats are pretty full, even though tickets are £100 a pop. The circle was 90% unsold. MOLLY TUTTLE arrived on stage at 7.45pm for her 45 mins set. Molly was joined by two other musicians , and played tracks from her two Grammy Award winning Best Bluegrass albums. Also a nifty cover of The Rolling Stones' She's A Rainbow'. We are transported to proper Nashville Bluegrass territory as the trio sounded really good. ERIC CHURCH arrived on stage at 9.15pm for two hours 15 mins, so the 11pm curfew here , was blown out the window . Just Eric and a few of his acoustic guitars on stage. Two big screens are showing live footage . Eric Church always wears shades . I'm gonna take you back in time to the year 2000,” Church promised, “back to my hometown of Granite Falls, North Carolina…….. and I was the shit!' he chuckled before weaving a spellbinding tale of a small town boy with big town dreams that didn't work out at first as we find our hero down on his uppers. Plenty of storytelling , which was pretty much HALF the show . Year by year around his life and career. Moving to Nashville and eventually getting signed. About getting thrown off the Rascal Flatts arena tour in 2006. His fond memories of his first proper tour bus. His serious health problems. He was on the festival bill in 2017 in Las Vegas when a shooter killed 59 fans , and how sad he felt over that . Some songs between the chat too. This crowd don't like late finishes, so come 10.30pm, every song had a few leavers, but they missed the highlight of the evening , as for the last three songs Eric was joined by a 40 piece choir, which was really good. A very interesting kinda different show. ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ A funny sight during the second song was security having a word with SPIZZ , as he got a bit over excited near the front . ----------------------------------- Thursday 15 May 2025. HOLY HOLY featuring Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey live at Shepherds Bush Empire A David Bowie celebration show. They were his producer and Spiders From Mars band member. I was lucky to have seen David Bowie perform around 15 times, including at Shepherds Bush Empire in 1997 , which i reviewed for The Shepherds Bush Gazette. Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory will be on vocal duties. Also in the band is guitarist James Stevenson. -------------- All levels open tonight , and the venue looks very full. DAPHNE GUINNESS was in the Level 1 VIP seats. HOLY HOLY on stage at 8.40pm for 1 hour 55 mins. Eigh musicians on stage , including female backing vocals. The first three tracks were lesser known tracks . Then it was pretty much non stop the best of David Bowie . The band sounded great , even though Glenn Gregory said it was the first night of the tour , and they only had two days rehearsals. Woody on drums is now aged 75 , and still doing the business. It was a really great show. Highlights of the 20 song setlist were..... Ziggy Stardust Time Changes Ashes to Ashes Panic In Detroit Drive in Saturday Space Oddity The Man Who Sold the World Five Years Starman Heroes Rock n Roll Suicide Life on Mars? Moonage Daydream Encore: Where Are We Now? Rebel Rebel

Posted 16th May 2025