News and Reviews: 22nd March 2012
21 March 2012.8pm.QPR 3 Liverpool 2.Before this game QPR had a nightmare past few months that has left them near the bottom.
Their last 10 games coming up include playing top teams Liverpool, Spurs,Man Utd,Arsenal,Chelsea and Man City.
A great sold out evening atmosphere here under the floodlights.
The first 75 mins was all Liverpool who took a two goal lead.
An incredible comeback by QPR who scored three times in the last 15 mins.
This easily could be one of those season changing games. Amazing.
21 March 2012.Guns And Roses have confirmed a second London show at The 02 Arena on June 1.The support for their UK arena tour will be Thin Lizzy.
20 March 2012.Sting live at Hammersmith Apollo,London.
Second of three sold out shows at this venue as part of his massive "Back To Bass" European Tour to celebrate his 25 years as a solo artist.Having said that he also played half a dozen old Police hits in the 2 hours 5 mins set.
It is a simple stage show with just white lighting and Sting and the band all in t shirts and jeans.The sound is superb and Stings right hand man Dominic Miller really is one of the coolest guitar players around.Tracks played included "All This Time","Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic","Seven Days","I'm So Happy I Cant Stop Crying","Fortress Around Your Heart" and "Fields Of Gold".The second half of the main set dipped a bit in quality but the brilliant encores of "Desert Rose","Every Breath You Take","Next To You" and "Message In A Bottle" got all the crowd up and dancing.
Overall a very good show.
19 March 2012.Lighthouse Gala Auction at Christies,King Street,London SW1.
I have been to this event a couple of times before and it is always very good.It is a charity auction to raise funds for The Terence Higgins Trust.
About 500 folks here including Tracey Emin,Nancy Dell'Olio and Janet Street Porter.Lots of freebie champers,cocktails and nice food going all evening.
There were 33 auction items including lunch and a black cab ride around London with Janet Street Porter that went for over £1000 and a fishing trip on the Brighton coast with Dermot O'Leary.A good event.
Got some goodie bags with posh chocs from
www.paulayoung.co.uk of Soho.
19 March 2012.Another nice three band package tour has been announced by promoters Live Nation featuring The Cult + Mission + Killing Joke.They play Wembley Arena on Saturday 16 Sept 2012 after shows at other UK arenas.
See www.livenation.co.uk
One of the greatest singles of all time The Sex Pistols "Anarchy In The UK" gets a special release for Record Store Day on 21 April 2012.
Just 3500 copies on picture disc.
18 March 2012.Paul Weller live at The Roundhouse,London.
This was the first of Paul's five nights here to launch his 11th studio album "Sonik Kicks".
Paul arrives on stage in a very smart three piece suit with a pristine white shirt and sky blue tie looking very business like.
On stage for two hours.The first 50 mins was the new album and the latter 70 mins was some older material.The band was joined by a string section.
The album only comes out the day after tonight's gig so most are only familiar with the great single "That Dangerous Age".Also good were "By The Waters","When Your Gardens Overgrown","Around The Lake" and "Paperchase".
A really good mix of different music styles.
Like Robert Plant with Led Zep you have to admire Paul's dislike of nostalgia and refusal to reform The Jam for just money.More interested in looking ahead and making bolder and braver music to satisfy his soul.
Paul changed into a black t shirt for the second half.Nice to hear The Jams "English Rose" then others like "From The Floorboards Up","Stanley Road","The Changingman","Wake Up The Nation" and "Fast Car/Slow Traffic".
Now aged 53 Paul Weller shows no sign of slowing down or not supplying the goods.
17 March 2012.Elvis Presley In Concert live at Wembley Arena,London.
I went to this tribute show two years ago at the same venue so i knew to expect a good night.
On stage for 1 hour 55 mins over over two sets.
This quality production reunites former Elvis band mates on stage with a state of the art video-projected Elvis.
In his lifetime Elvis only concerts outside the United States were five shows in three Canadian cities in 1957.He never played in Europe.
The show's concept is to present an authentic as possible Elvis Presley concert. The producers edited together a collection of Elvis finest concert performances that exist on film and video and removed virtually all sound from the footage except for Elvis vocal. The Elvis footage is projected on a large video screen. On stage a 16 piece orchestra and some of Elvis original bandmates from the concert era of his career and other cast members perform live with the Elvis video.They include James Burton on guitar and Norbert Putnam on bass.All music heard in the concert production is performed live except for Elvis voice. On either side of the Elvis performance big screen are smaller screens that carry live action from the stage.
Over 25 people on stage.The venue is a pretty impressive three quarters full up which just proves how loved Elvis Presley was.
All the hits and stage faves were played with my highlights "Hound Dog","Love Me Tender","The Wonder Of You","Suspicious Minds" and "Cant Help Falling In Love".
Amazing how much full on lips snogging Elvis did with female fans at the front of stage.
An enjoyable evening finished with those legendary words.....Elvis Has Left The Building.
16 March 2012.Public Image Ltd + Gruff Rhys + Graham Coxon + Anna Calvi live at The Queen Elizabeth Hall,London.
Really looking forward to this event as its punk legend John Lydons PIL first gig of the year and PIL have promised to debut their new track "One Drop" for the first time.It is PIL first new material in 20 years.
This event was to celebrate BBC 6 Music digital radio station 10th birthday.The BBC wanted to close it due to cutbacks a couple of years ago but the 100,000 plus public petition and support from well known musicians made them change their mind.A radio station that supports "real music".
There is a real buzz here as there are gigs on at QEH and Purcell Room and djs from the station like Huey Morgan,Don Letts and Craig Charles are spinning discs in the foyer.
Up first is Anna Calvi whose self titled debut album got great reviews last year.Her 25 mins was full of mean Fender guitar playing.
Then it is Blur guitarist Graham Coxon who plays a 40 mins set of uptempo indie guitar tunes including an excellent "Freakin' Out".
Then it was Gruff Rhys the ex singer of Super Furry Animals for a 45 mins set of more mellow indie tunes.For one song he was joined by ex Catatonia singer and BBC 6 Music presenter Cerys Matthews.
Then it is headliners PIL and the crowd get fully animated for their 55 mins set of eight songs.Opening up with a brand new track "Deeper Water" then a bunch of classics with "This Is Not A Love Song","Disappointed","Warrior",
"Albatross","Flowers Of Romance" and another brand new track "One Drop" that was put online recently and comes out on vinyl on Record Store Store Day which this year falls on 21 April 2012.Final song was a brilliant version of "Rise" with the crowd all dancing.
John Lydon on top form and band sounded great.
So we got six older gems and two really good brand new tracks tonight.An excellent evening.
PIL will be out and about a lot the coming month or so with another gig in London this week along with a John Lydon Q n A session with an audience for the BBC and no doubt loads more to be added.
You can see highlights of the QEH gig on BBC tv Red Button on Monday.Also check out www.bbc.co.uk/6music
15 March 2012.3 Doors Down + Seether live at Hammersmith Apollo,London.
Dont know much about these two bands apart from that the Kerrang rock crowd like them and headliners 3 Doors Down are massive in their American homeland and have sold a staggering 20 million of their five studio albums.
Up first are post grunge rockers Seether who have had some decent success over the last decade.They do sound very Nirvana in parts.
The crowd knew a lot of their songs and their 45 mins set went down well.
Last night of 3 Doors Down UK tour as part of the world tour to promote their recent album.
The crowd are well up for their 90 mins set.A nice stage production with loads of lights and a giant screen showing live stage action and images.Tracks played included "Time Of My Life","Loser" and "Its Not My Time".In the middle of the set we had a marriage proposal on stage as two fans did the deed.Thankfully she said "Yes".The drummer was great and loads of times he would stand up and whack the cymbals in time with the guitar riffs.
Encores were a cover of Phil Collins "Another Day In Paradise","Kryptonite" and "Believer".
The crowd loved it.A good show.
14 March 2012.ELO Experience live at The Beck Theatre,Hayes,Middlesex.
First time i have seen this tribute act who are based on Electric Light Orchestra who were totally massive in the late 1970s.
ELO had over 20 Top 40 hits back in the day.
I saw the originals at Wembley Arena in 1978 when they had a massive spaceship production.
Part of an eight night run there at Wembley Arena and the dvd of it is available.
A two show tonight over two sets of 60 mins.
As expected its an older crowd here tonight.
The singer looks like Jeff Lynne and the bands clothes are dodgy late 70s style.Seven on stage including a keyboard and two cello.
Hits played included "Evil Woman","Telephone Line","The Diary Of Horace Wimp","Strange Magic",
"Xanadu","Wild West Hero","Confusion","Living Thing","Sweet Talking Woman","Turn To Stone","Hold On Tight","Dont Bring Me Down" and the encore was of course "Mr Blue Sky".
An enjoyable show.The band are on a massive UK tour so check out www.elotribute.com
Slash plays Hammersmith Apollo 06 June 2012.
Ronnie Wood And Friends play Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday 30 June 2012.
13 March 2012.7.45pm to 10pm i was at the launch of Meursault,36 Gloucester Road,London SW7.
This venue already has a restaurant and small bar upstairs but this was to launch their new basement bar.Freebie champers, cocktails and canapes for all.Dj playing tunes.
The venue is five mins from Gloucester Road tube station and five mins the other way to The Royal Albert Hall.
It pretty much looked like any basement bar with no real outstanding features.
It is open to 2am and i reckon it will suit the locals for a late night drink and dance but i doubt anyone would make a special effort to go there.
12 March 2012.Headline acts for Reading Festival 2012 have been confirmed.
Friday 24 August.The Cure,Paramore and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Saturday 25 August.Kasabian,Florence And The Machine and Vaccines.
Sunday 26 August.Foo Fighters,Black Keys and Kaiser Chiefs.
For full list see www.readingfestival.com