News and Reviews: 27th August 2004

Off to The Reading Festival so check back here Monday or Tuesday for a full review . Bring proper clothing as much rain is forecast . 26 August 2004 Madonna ,Wembley Arena ,London. This was her last London show of 6 and the touts are making a fortune .For the other 5 shows you could buy tickets outside for less than face value from desperate touts trying to offload. There was a great hot and humid last UK gig atmosphere tonight .This was my 4th Madonna show on this tour and with slightly different seats you get the show from different angles ."Vogue " must go down as one of the best openings to a concert ever .Madonna gets a bit emotional during her usual speech after " Papa Dont Preach " and the tears are flowing.Another great show. 25 August 2004 Les Gray Memorial Show, Hammersmith Apollo ,London.A near sell out for the lead singer of Mud who died recently. A massive glam rock event feat 8 acts doing 3 songs each .First up were The Tremeloes and Racey who were both average then The Ruebettes came on with their white suits and berets to brighten things up with "Juke Box Jive" and "Sugar Baby Love ". Dave Dee ,Dozy ,Beaky , Mick and Tich brought out the whip for "Zanadu " and " Bend It " and were good fun. After the interval the quality level upped a gear as Slade came on with Dave Hill and Don Powell but Noddy sadly refuses to play live anymore .They play "Cum On Feel The Noize " "Coz I Luv You " and the best song of the night " Merry Xmas Everybody " (no one cared it was the middle of August). Sweet have had 2 members die in recent years so just Andy Scott on guitar is here tonight but they play great versions of "Blockbuster" "Fox On The Run " and "Ballroom Blitz " for this they joined by Shane Richie .Les and his Bay City Rollers were rubbish .Suzi Quatro looked great but her band were messy as they stumble through " Can The Can " "If You Cant Give Me Love" and "Devil Gate Drive " .Finale had the 3 remaining members of Mud with members of all the bands tonight for a fitting version of " Tiger Feet " .A nostalgic fun evening was had by all .I saw many of these bands in their 1970s heyday inc Slade at Hammersmith Odeon so all these glam rockers all mean a lot to me. 23 August 2004 Madonna ,Wembley Arena ,London. Queen Of Pop moves her mega bucks production to Wembley Arena for 4 shows after last weeks 2 shows at Earls Court Arena .This was her first ever batch of shows indoors at Wembley as she was a regular at Wembley Stadium in her heyday. Another stunning show full of great songs and visually superb that made The Strokes ,The Pixies and all the other bands at the weekends V Festival look very average indeed. 22 August 2004 V Festival ,Chelmsford feat Strokes + Pixies + Black Rebel Motorcycle Club + Starsailor + Badly Drawn Boy +Snow Patrol + Thrills + Zutons + Stands . Spent the afternoon in the Virgin Radio tent with free cocktails and BBQ and sand pit complete with deck chairs .Nice one.Saw a host of bands playing 3 of their best songs for the radio to this small invite only crowd of about 300.First it was Badly Drawn Boy The Thrills , The Zutons ,The Stands ,Snow Patrol ( They went down the best and "Run "was stunning ),Starsailor .Black Rebel Mootorcycle Club did a good rocking set on the second stage then easily the highlight of the festival the return of The Pixies whose Brixton shows were the hottest tickets so far this year.A really good 70 mins set feat "Where Is My Mind" "Here Comes Your Man ""Monkey Gone To Heaven " "Debaser" and "Gigantic" .The Strokes are not really worthy enough to headline big outdoor events like this but they did a good set of all their best stuff with a cover of The Clash "Clampdown" ,the singer still has pretty blurry vocals though. Overall a much better day than yesterday and no rain either day .Bring on Reading. 21 August 2004 V Festival ,Chelmsford feat Muse + Dido + Charlatans + Embrace . As per normal got parked up a couple of hours later than expected . Charlatans did a good hour of greatest hits but are stuck in the Ash area of always turning up at festivals halfway down the bill. Got into Virgin Radio tent for some free booze and watched Embrace do a good 3 song set .Dido is the girl next door who just happens to have sold millions of albums ."White Flag" and a couple of others were good but the rest just all sounded pretty forgettable. Muse had a proper light show for their 80 mins set and were nice and rocky but the singers Thom Yorke style vocals started to grate after a while. A good day but nothing really special.

Posted 27th August 2004