News and Reviews: 26th January 2012
25 Jan 2012.National Television Awards at The 02 Arena,London.This was the UKs main TV awards of the year.
A nice stage big production and live on ITV.
The host was Dermot O'Leary.We had a song each from Sir Bruce Forsyth and then Ant And Dec before the awards and later on Little Mix and Military Wives did one song each.
The awards are voted by the public.
Winners and nominees here included Jonathan Ross,Michael McIntyre,Alan Carr,members of most of the big tv soaps,Dr Who,Downton Abbey,Miranda Hart,Martin Clunes,Gary Barlow,Loose Women,This Morning,Benidorm,Keith Lemon,Graham Norton,Russell Kane,Outnumbered and too many others to mention here.
Guest presenters included David Walliams,Tulisa,
Thierry Henry,Chris Moyles,Elle Macpherson,Richard Wilson,Paul O'Grady and Will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas.
A nice atmosphere and some quick set changes during when they showed adverts on tv at home.
A very mainstream event but decent enough.
24 Jan 2012.Adam Ant And The Good,The Mad And The Lovely Posse live at Sub 89,Reading, Berkshire.
Last date of Adams latest UK tour.A sold out capacity crowd of at least 600 at this club venue.
Another act i have followed from the early days.
I must mention Adams punk credentials as in 1975 The Sex Pistols played their first ever show supporting Adam Ants band "Bazooka Joe" and i saw Adam in 1977 in the first proper punk film "Jubilee" and a couple years after i saw his live gigs as he went from the cult status of the "Dirk Wears White Sox" debut album to huge mainstream success in the early 1980s.
I saw him play a couple of club shows a year ago including the 100 Club which were based around early material but now its more of a hits show.
A nice long set of five mins short of two hours.
Adam is still a natty dresser and looks amazing and years younger for a 57 year old.
A solid band who are more rockier than the Ants ever were.He is one of those frontmen that you cannot take your eyes off.
The setlist was a dream really as it covered everything.Tracks played included "Plastic Surgery","Dog Eat Dog","Cartrouble","Deutcher Girls",a brilliant "Stand And Deliver","Puss n Boots","Catholic Day","Kings Of The Wild Frontier" had excellent tribal drums that got the crowd really dancing,a couple of new tracks were played that will be on a new album,then another oldie "Xerox".
"Antmusic" was another gem that really went down well,"Goody Two Shoes",then "Vive Le Rock" which is the track i saw him play at Live Aid in 1985,then "Christian D'Or","Lady" and "Fall In "
which were all great.Encores included another of his number one hits "Prince Charming" and a couple of covers from one of his heroes Marc Bolan so we got "Get It On" and "20th Century Boy" and finally "Physical(You're So") which sent his loyal fans home very happy.
Who would have thought a couple of years ago that Adam Ant would be back playing so many gigs but he really has regained the old magic.
More shows are planned for the spring/summer so make sure you get along to see him.
23 Jan 2012.The Classic Rock Show live at The Cadogan Hall,Chelsea,London.
This band feature members of The Brit Floyd Show tribute band so you know in advance this will be quality musicians and excellent sound.
As expected an older crowd with some 650 tickets sold out of a possible 850 which is great for just a covers band.
They were on stage for 2 hours 20 mins over two sets.A big band with multi vocalists and multi guitarists so all the songs sounded great.It was one or two tracks from classic rock acts of 1970s and 1980s including Fleetwood Mac,Elton John,
Eagles(Hotel California),Bruce Springsteen(a brilliant Born To Run complete with full sax solo), Dire Straits(Money For Nothing),Led Zep(Stairway To Heaven),AC/DC(You Shook Me All Night Long),Meat Loaf(Bat
Out Of Hell),Pink Floyd(Comfortably Numb),
Supertramp,Steely Dan,Boston(More Than A Feeling) then a mega version of "Freebird"
with full on guitar duel.Encores were "With A Little Help From My Friends" and The Whos "Wont Get Fooled Again".
It may not be the real thing but a good night out and this crowd loved it.
See www.theclassicrockshow.com as this is part of a full UK tour.
20 Jan 2012.Henry Rollins live at The Royal Festival Hall,London.A spoken word gig.
With his trademark mix of humour and indignation, pop culture, political commentary and personal anecdote, healthy scepticism and his own belligerent form of optimism, Henry Rollins returns to Royal Festival Hall for a night of spoken word following his sold-out 2010 date.There are few who can match the breadth of Henry Rollins' CV. As frontman for both Rollins Band and Black Flag, he became a punk icon; as an actor he's appeared in over 20 films including David Lynch's Lost Highway; and as a writer he's published travel books, music journalism, political commentary and more.
On stage for 2 hours 30 mins with just him and the microphone.His tales of on the road adventures with Black Flag and his astute take on current affairs alongside stories from his visits to South East Asia made it a very entertaining evening.This was part of a 150 plus date world tour.
For all you classic rock fans.Some band websites have great band history with gig lists etc.
Here is another one.A UK fan of Blue Oyster Cult has compiled a gig history of the band and the band have put it up on their own website.Check out the support act section which has some amazing names from classic rock and glam rock.
The 70s era gigs listing is the best bit.
Its on www.blueoystercult.com under the "On the road--tour dates of yore" section.
Paul Weller became a father again with twin boys a few days ago.Named Bowie and John Paul that now makes Paul a father of SEVEN to four different women.
He has a new album out called "Sonik Kicks" in March and will play five shows at The Roundhouse on March 18,19,20,21,22.
RELEASED: VIA ALEXBUTLERMUSIC.COM – 10th JANUARY, 2012
RELEASE: TURN EP/XX RECORDINGS - 26th FEBRUARY 2012
On 10 January 2012, Alex Butler will release ‘F**k it She Will Do’ exclusively to fans able to download the exclusive ‘dirty version’ through his website in exchange for signing up to his mailing list. “F**k It She Will do” will be followed by the release of his first EP, with the commercial lead track "Turn" heading the charge.