News and Reviews: 30th April 2004

30 April 2004 Duran Duran ,Wembley Arena ,London. Back again for my 4th time to see Duran at Wembley on this tour.Still a really good night out. 27 April 2004 Britney Spears ,Wembley Arena , London.Some would say i only went back to see Britney for all her sexy outfits (Britney in tiny pink bra,knickers ,stockings and heels wow).A much better crowd but again the songs are just too weak even though its a visual treat. 26 April 2004 Britney Spears + JC Chasez ,Wembley Arena ,London.JC is Justin T old mate from NSYNC and he was just total rubbish .This was opening show of her first UK tour for 4 years . Britney has taken a more grown up sexy image . It looked promising with the full american stage production with chrome everywhere ,fire columns and dancers but the backing band were too loud and drowned out Britneys voice on most of the songs. Her 2 big early hits Hit Me Baby One More Time and Oops were done in a jazzy style that went right over the heads of her teenage girl fans here tonight. Too many stop starts for 8 costume changes . My whole feeling was it should have been much better. 25 April 2004 Norah Jones ,Hammersmith Apollo , London.Five years ago Norah was singing for tips in the bars of Dallas,Texas and now she has had 2 albums that have sold over 20 million between them.She has a great voice and plays the piano but i was just pretty bored for most of this show. Her band play great but just not my cup of tea. 24 April 2004 Duran Duran + Scissor Sisters , Wembley Arena ,London. This was the third Duran show i have seen at Wembley . Again a really good mainly greatest hits 2 hour set to a great crowd. Only saw 15 mins of Scissor Sisters but they looked like good fun. 23 April 2004 Cliff Richard ,Royal Albert Hall , London .Back to see Cliff for a second time. This was number 13 of 14 sell out RAH shows . His loyal fans give him pressies at the end of every song which leads to fun stage banter . Tonight he was given a 4 foot tall teddy bear. Same set lasting over 2 hours with a good mix of old hits ,covers and new material . 14 April 2004 Duran Duran + Goldfrapp ,Wembley Arena ,London.Back again for a second dose of DD. Alison from Goldfrapp wore the same naughty outfit. Good glam synth pop set. Some bands when they play are worth seeing 2 or 3 times on the same tour and the current Duran Duran show is one of them .The same set as yesterday but so many great catchy pop rock songs with a wild crowd make it a great night.There is a real buzz about this tour. 13 April 2004 Duran Duran + Goldfrapp ,Wembley Arena ,London.This was the first of 5 Wembley shows for DD on their first UK tour with original members since mid 1980s.The merchandise is selling loads and for the first time ever i saw them selling it in the guest area backstage.Goldfrapp did an ok short set but they never played recent hit Black Cherry which was a shame .Alison looked fab in shiny shirt ,hot pants and boots and got a bit naughty with her soundwave machine.A wall of noise greeted Duran Duran for the start of their fantastic 2 hour show .Opening song was a bit dodgy then it was hit after hit ,,Planet Earth ,View To A Kill , Hungrey Like The Wolf etc. Fantastic encore of White Lines ,Rio amd Girls On Film . A great stage production and an excellent gig. 10 April 2004 Libertines + MASS ,Coronet ,London. My first visit to this newish live music venue that was an ex cinema .South Londons answer to Astoria/Bush Empire.Libertines on at midnight . As always they looked super cool with their just got out of bed look. Some great songs and some average songs from these NME faves.We even got a drum solo at the end. Support band MASS had a good rockin female singer. 09 April 2004 David Bryne ,Royal Festival Hall, London .He still is very arty and keen to drop trendy film directors and composers names after nearly every song. A great band with mini string section and a cool percussionist who gave it a nice dance feel when needed.He dropped in a few Talking Heads classics inc Road To Nowhere ,Once In A Lifetime ,Lazy .Enjoyable show. 08 April 2004 Ronnie Lane Memorial Concert , Royal Albert Hall ,London.Big benefit gig for the family of this Small Faces bass player who died in 1997.Loads of guests doing 2 or 3 songs each Pete Townshend ,Paul Weller ,Ocean Colour Scene , Midge Ure ,Kenney Jones ,Steve Diggle but my highlights were Glen Matlock singing 2 songs Debris and Youre So Rude with Clash legend Mick Jones on guitar,they also came back to help out on finale of All Or Nothing .Ronnie Wood was really good with a superb Stay With Me .Good gig. 07 April 2004 Cliff Richard ,Royal Albert Hall , London.This was show number 4 of 14 sell out nights at this venue.Show lasted over 2 hours but it was badly paced. First 40 mins was doo wop and other ok stuff then it was a really good trio of No 1 hits Young Ones ,Living Doll and Bachelor Boy and then after the interval its 40 mins greatest hits with Miss You Nights,Devil Woman ,We Dont Talk Anymore etc then the last 30 mins was songs from the new album out in Autumn. He should have played the new songs earlier. OK show but not as good as the last 'in the round" production.Still has those loyal fans bearing gifts at the end of most songs and the banter between Cliff and the fans is great fun. 05 April 2004 Amen live at Virgin Megastore , London W1.This was an in store free gig for todays release of their new album Death Before Musick .A pretty wild 6 song 25 mins set .Great last song as Amen are joined on stage by punk rocker TV Smith(Adverts) and they did a storming One Chord Wonders.A short but rockin set. 02 April 2004 Tom Jones + Magnets ,Royal Albert Hall ,London. The last of the 5 shows at RAH this week for TCT which have superb yet again so thanks to Harvey Goldsmith for putting them on. Magnets did a good set of acapella and vocal beat box trickery that the crowd really liked. Tom Jones did a great 2 hour set of mainly hits from his long career . Jools Holland joined him for 3 songs . The newer stuff recorded with Wyclef was again a bit average .For a 63 year old there are still loads of adoring ladies here of all ages and his voice is still just amazing. 01 April 2004 Jools Holland Orchestra with guests, Royal Albert Hall ,London.About a dozen big names sang between 1 and 3 songs in this lengthy 3 hour show over 2 sets .First half was average with second half a lot better .Highlights were Tom Jones,Marc Almond ,Ronnie Wood ,Soloman Burke, Jeff Beck and lowlights were Shane McGowans mumbling 3 mins that sounded like it should have been part of last nights comedy event. 31 March 2004 The Rutles + Alan Partridge + Little Britain + Ricky Gervais + Jimmy Carr + Rich Hall + Rob Drydon + Noel Fielding ,Royal Albert Hall , London .Loads of big comedy names here tonight who all did good 15/20 sets apart from Rob Drydon who bombed with his tired Tom Jones routine . Last on for a very rare showing were Beatles spoof band The Rutles but by the end of their 20 mins set half this (we want some jokes) crowd had left which was very embarrassing as it was only 10.30pm and no need to rush for last tube home. 30 March 2004 .Stereophonics + Paul Weller TRUST Allstars ,Royal Albert Hall ,London.Neat little supergroup in support Paul Weller (4 songs)Roger Daltrey (2 songs Kids Are Alright and Magic Bus) Kelly Jones and James Dean Bradfield (1 song each) Stereophonics did a really good mainly greatest hits set.Much better than the Earls Court show where they looked tired in a crap big venue. Ronnie Wood joined them on guitar for 3 songs. 29 March 2004 .The Who + The Coral ,Royal Albert Hall ,London.The Coral do an ok set that has 3 or 4 Top 40 singles in it.Promoter Harvey Goldsmith made a slight error when he billed this show as The Tommy Show when it was the same 2 hour set as The Forum shows last week .As always seeing The Who at this amazing venue really is special . Another fantastic show even though Roger Daltrey had a bit of a cold .So many classic old songs. Highlights for April will include the 5 Teenage Cancer Trust shows at Royal Albert Hall with Who, Stereophonics,Alan Partridge/The Rutles ,Jools Holland ,Tom Jones.Also in April will be Cliff Richard,Ronnie Lane RAH Tribute Show,Ray Davies , Duran Duran ,Jonathan Richman,Amen ,Britney Spears .MELTDOWN in June at Royal Festival Hall is likely to include shows by New York Dolls, Sparks performing classic album Kimono My House track by track and a couple of shows by Morrissey. Look out for a big summer show by The Sex Pistols. Look out for a big summer show by Simon And Garfunkel in Hyde Park .This years Download Festival on June 5 on 6 will include sets by Metallica,Linkin Park ,Slipknot and the eagerly awaited by me Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Isle Of Wight Festival in June will feature June 11 Stereophonics and Groove Armarda ,June 12 The Who and Manic Street Preachers ,June 13 David Bowie and The Charlatans.

Posted 30th April 2004