News and Reviews: 3rd April 2012
02 April 2012.Buddy Rich 25th Anniversary Memorial Concert at The Palladium,London.Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.
He was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s and influenced many current drumming legends.
The venue is only half full as not enough general advertising was done for the gig.
Tonight we had around a dozen drummers play between 1 and 5 tracks.Some are well known.
Most using their own drumkits backed by The Buddy Rich Big Band.
We get some nice video footage of Buddy Rich on the big screen form the old days.
It is a long show of 3 hours 25 mins over two sets.Three Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to Ian Paice,Ginger Baker and Clem Cattini(session drummer from 1960s and 1970s who played on 45 UK number one singles).All three are here to collect and make a speech.
The event was hosted by actor/comedian John Thompson and Cathy(Buddys daughter).
Singer Tony Christie sung a couple of tracks.
Gavin Harrison the drummer from Porcupine Tree played a couple of tracks.
Ian Paice played a couple of Buddy Rich songs then was joined by Bruce Dickinson to sing "Smoke On The Water" which sounded fantastic with the big band.
Ginger Baker played "Sunshine Of Your Love".
Then John Blackwell who plays with Prince did a very showy few tracks that the crowd loved.
American drummer Dave Wecki played a few tracks.
All the drummers tonight were just amazing.
Finale was three drumkits at front of stage with six drummers banging away including Ian Paice. An enjoyable evening.
See aftershow page for this event.
01 April 2012.Public image Limited live at Heaven,London.
This was PIL first of two sold out shows at this legendary club venue that holds around 1000.
It is their first full length show of the year.
I saw some gigs back in the day at Heaven.
Spandau Ballet(1980),Billy Idol(1982) and Armoury Show(1983).
It is being used again for gigs as the manager from The Astoria moved here when it closed and he has got promoters to put bands on again.
PIL are on for a nice long set of 2 hours 15 mins.They preview five new songs from the upcoming album that comes out at the end of May.Two which had their debut a fortnight ago and the other three were played for the very first time tonight.
The band sound great and guitar player Lu gets some amazing sounds and even uses a banjo.
Sex Pistols legend John Lydon is clearly enjoying himself.
Tracks played included "Deeper Water","This Is Not A Love Song","Albatross","Lollipop Opera",
superb versions of "Disappointed" and "Warrior".Also "Death Disco","Reginald","Flowers Of Romance" and a stunning "Religion".Also "Bags" and new single "One Drop".Encores included "Rise" and "Open Up".
An excellent show.
Sadly their classic first single "Public Image" was not played tonight.
31 March 2012.Glen Matlock And The Philistines live at Jamm,Brixton,London.
This was the bands first UK show after the month long co headline tour of North America with Hugh Cornwell.The venue was a big buzzing live music pub just five minutes walk from Brixton Academy.
The 200 strong crowd were a healthy mix of young and old.
The played band a 60 mins set that buzzed along with gems from Glens solo career along with Sex Pistols and Rich Kids classics and even a surprise or two including a rare outing of "My Little Philistine".
Glen and the band rocked straight from the start.
James Stevensons guitar riffs were great.
The full setlist was "Born Running","Different World","Somewhere Somehow","Burning Sounds",
"God Save The Queen","Idiot","White Knuckle Ride","Hey Mister","Yeah Right","Ghosts Of Princes And Towers","Steppin Stone","My Little Philistine","On Something","Rattle Your Cage" and a mass singalong for "Pretty Vacant".
It was one great tune after another really.
A really good gig.
29 March 2012.Paul McCartney live at The Royal Albert Hall,London.
This was show number two of the seven Teenage Cancer Trust shows here.
Paul McCartney plays London yet again as part of his private mission to play every venue in the capital.
This show was a totally rammed sellout.
Paul played here with The Beatles but i am pretty sure he has never played here with Wings or solo in the last 35 years.
Macca came on at 8.40pm for a 2 hours 5 mins set that was fantastic.The band and the sound is great and the crowd are loving it.
Gems played included "Magical Mystery Tour",
"Juniors Farm","All My Loving","Drive My Car",
"Let Me Roll It","Paperback Writer","The Long And Winding Road","Maybe I'm Amazed","Blackbird","Here Today","Dance Tonight","Eleanor Rigby","Something","Band On The Run","Back In The USSR","Let It Be","Hey Jude" and encores of "Daytripper",then for "Get Back" he was joined by Ronnie Wood and Paul Weller.Then "Yesterday" and "Carry That Weight".
So many Beatles classics in this superb show.
Macca really is one of the best live acts.
Only downside was the big screen used tonight was only half the size of his 02 Arena one and the set was 30 or 40 mins shorter than his usual show so crackers like "Jet" and "Live And Let Die" were not played.No doubt the venue would not allow the barrage of pyros for the latter.
Guests spotted here included Sarah Ferguson,David Walliams,Kelly Jones,Jarvis Cocker,boxing promoter Frank Warren,theatre chappie Richard Curtis,Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood and Stella McCartney.No doubt a few more were dotted about.
SHOCK NEWS.The Sonisphere Festival July 2012 has been cancelled.While getting KISS to headline the first night was a great coup the lame choice of other headliners Queen with Adam Lambert and Faith No More along with average support bands has no doubt hit advance ticket sales.
28 March 2012.Roger Daltrey + Paul Weller + Kelly Jones + Steve Winwood + Amy Macdonald live at The Royal Albert Hall,London.
This was the first of the seven shows for The Teenage Cancer Trust at this venue.Now in its 12th year i have seen at least two or three shows every year it has taken place.
Up first we had Roger Daltrey for a couple of acoustic blues numbers "Freedom Ride" and "Gimme A Stone".
Next was Kelly Jones for a 30 mins set including "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Dakota" then he was joined by Ronnie Wood and Paul Weller for covers of "Dont Let Me Down" and the Faces classic "Ooh La La".
Next up was Paul Weller and like Kelly Jones he is on for 30 mins and it is semi acoustic as no drummer was used.Tracks played included "English Rose","Aim High","All I Wanna Do Is Be With You" and "You Do Something To Me".
Then headliner Roger Daltrey with three gems "Who Are You","The Kids Are Alright" and "Behind Blue Eyes".Then Roger goes off the stage.We get three songs from Scottish singer Amy Macdonald which were two of her hits and a great version of Bruce Springsteens "Born To Run".Then we had two brilliant tracks by Steve Winwood "Higher Love" and "Gimme Some Lovin" then Roger back again for more gems "Pinball Wizard","I Can See For Miles","Wont Get Fooled Again" and "Young Man Blues".As usual "Baba O'Riley was superb and tonight he was joined by Ronnie Wood and Kelly Jones for it.His last song was "Without Your Love" from McVicar.
Roger was on stage for around an hour and was fantastic.The whole event was excellent.
27 March 2012.Hard Fi live at The Hard Rock Cafe,London W1.
Invite only gig for 200 comp winners and media for Absolute Radio.Freebie cocktails,JD and cokes,beers,wines and Hard Rock Cafe food for all here tonight for the evenings duration.
Hard Fi had massive success with their debut album "Stars Of CCTV" back in 2005 that sold over 600,000 in the UK but they have gone off the radar a bit as second and third albums have not done as well.
They have a nice mix of indie/rock/soul/dance and hints of their heroes The Clash and The Specials also in there.Their 50 mins set is punchy and soon gets very sweaty as the crowd get into it.Good tracks played included "Tied Up Too Tight","Good For Nothing" and biggies "Cash Machine","Hard To Beat" and "Living For The Weekend".A good show.
The bands for the last night to be filled at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on Fri 13 July 2012 have been confirmed as Soundgarden + Iggy Pop And The Stooges + Cold Chisel.
Trivia fact.I saw Soundgarden play the opening launch night for Shepherds Bush Empire in March 1994 when it became a proper live music venue.
Exclusive news.Public Image Limited add another London show to their tour.They play The Forum Kentish Town on Saturday 11 Aug 2012.
26 March 2012.Harlem Globetrotters live at Wembley Arena,London.
The most famous basketball team in the world return to London as part of their annual world tour.Their origins date back to the 1920s and they have played over 20,000 exhibition games in over 100 different countries.It has been many years since i last saw them.
There were two sessions of 50 mins each so a kind of short evening that was all over by 9.30pm.There were loads of young kids in the crowd so that was the reason i suppose.
It was a mix of basketball tricks and slapstick entertainment within the game itself where the other team and the ref also were in on it and a couple of the HGs and the ref had mics on as there were lots of comedy chat during play.
The HGs won 97-90.I would imagine they always win.Lots of great shots,slam dunks and three pointers.Fast flowing and very entertaining.
The HGs had a player called Tiny in their team.
A staggering 7'8" tall.
After the game all the players signed stuff and posed for photos by the busy merchandise stand.
See www.harlemglobetrotters.com
25 March 2012.Waterboys live at Hammersmith Apollo,London.
Respected Irish Celtic rockers back in London after i saw them at The Barbican a couple of years ago.I saw them a few times in their heyday period of 1985-1995.In fact i saw singer Mike Scott's pre Waterboys band Another Pretty Face a couple of times way back in 1980.
On stage for 2 hours 10 mins over two sets of 50 mins and 80 mins.
The first set was older material with great tunes including "A Girl Called Johnny","The Girl In The Swing" and "Glastonbury Song".
The band got into a great groove when drums,keyboards,guitars and electric fiddle were all playing together at full tilt
The second set was tracks from last years album "An Appointment With Mr Yeats".Some good lyrics but not as lively as the songs from the first set.
Superb encores of their biggest tracks "Dont Bang The Drum","The Whole Of The Moon" and "Fishermans Blues".A really good show.