News and Reviews: 2nd December 2004

02 December 2004 .Casbah Club ,Mean Fiddler LA2 ,London. This band featues Bruce Watson from Big Country on guitar , Bruce Foxton from The Jam on bass and the singer from 1980s Scottish rockers The Silencers .Shame then that The Silencers have not got any well known songs . Thankfully they play some great Jam tunes like "Town Called Malice " "Down At The Tube Station" a stunning "Butterfly Collector " and " Going UNderground " .There were a few good Big Country songs like : In A Big Country " and "Chance" etc . Great encore of " Thats Entertainment " . A decent show then with a mix of some good tunes and a few average ones but the evening felt like a second rate Dead Men Walking gig. 30 November 2004 . Beta Band , Shepherds Bush Empire , London. I have always admired the way The Beta Band have just ticked along nicely doing their own thing so i was very surprised that this was to be a farewell tour because they are a massive million pounds in debt to their record company and the only way to get out of it is to split up for good. The band and crowd are pretty subdued for the first half of the show considering tonight is their last ever London gig. A couple of songs near the end were very good but most of their brand of psychedelia was just not that exciting. 29 November 2004 . Will Young , Wembley Arena , London. While his Pop Idol rival Gareth Gates resides in the where are they now? file Will Young goes from strength to strength . With a sold out arena tour including 3 nights at Wembley and his album "Fridays Child " the second best selling album of the year in the UK after Dido its not surprising he is in a confident mood. A massive production with multi video screens , a staircase and 21 people on stage including the 8 dancers so there is plenty to look at. Sadly a lot of the material is pretty average but " Evergreen " and "Stronger " are the highlights of the ballads section in the middle. For some reason he wears trilby hats for the entire show . A couple of covers like "Love The One Your With " and "Light My Fire " were nice enough . His fans clearly love him but not much here tonight for me. 28 November 2004 .KD Lang ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London. Her first London for a few years so not surprising well sold out . With her is the 30 piece Philharmonic Orchestra . KD arrives on stage barefoot and gives a dazzling vocal display of covers and original material . She was in a very playful mood as she danced across the stage and made some amusing remarks.Highlights inc " Crying" " Constant Craving " and the encore of "3 Cigarettes" .The set was a bit short at only 80 mins in length but it was total quality. 27 November 2004 .Motorhead + Sepultura , Hammersmith Apollo ,London .Fantastic sold out rock n roll evening. Brazilians Sepultura rock hard but their singer has that nasty grunting vocal style that i hate. Motorhead are on fire tonight. 90 mins set from the band that forever (like i do) call this venue The Hammersmith Odeon.Loads of great rockers like "Metropolis" "No Class" "RAMONES" and a stunning " Killed By Death" . Great encore of "Ace Of Spades " and :Overkill " with ex guitarist Wurzel joining them on stage . Excellent stuff. 25 November 2004 .Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel , Bloomsbury Theatre , London. Here is another 1970s legend still playing regular UK tours . There are 8 on stage inc Steve and they play a long 2 hours 30 mins over 2 sets full of old and new songs with a few great Steve Harley stories as well. The older stuff of course goes down the best " Judy Teen" "Here Comes The Sun" "Best Years Of Our Lives " "Mr Soft" "Sebastian" and brilliant encore of " Come Up And See Me " (Steve introduced it as his pension song) .Enjoyalble show. 23 November 2004 .The Darkness , Brixton Academy , London. Things just seem to get better and better for The Darkness .A couple of days ago they were featured on a ITV Southbank TV Special with Melvyn Bragg and here they are at Brixton treating it as a "warm up" show for the arena tour that starts the following day . The sound is superb with Gibson Les Pauls and Marshall amps on to the max. They set lasts 85 mins by playing all of "Permission To Land" album and some new tracks .Plenty of explosions too. Great encore of " I Believe In A Thing Called Love " an extended version of " Love On The Rocks " with a front of stage walkabout with Justin on a roadies shoulders (as well as stealing bits of AC/DC sound they are also copying their stage show). They finish off with their own Christmas single from last year as the confetti comes down. Excellent show . They play Wembley Arena Dec 10,11,12. 22 November 2004 . Embrace ,Hammersmith Palais , London. Well if Morrissey gets the gold medal for 2004 comeback of the year then surely Embrace get the silver medal . Amazing what one song can do. "Gravity " has put the band back on the map along with a platinum selling number one album and sold out everywhere live dates. I must admit i am not the biggest fan of the Embrace/ Keane/Snow Patrol etc music style but Embrace have got loads of good songs and their fans love them. Opening songs "Ashes" and "All You Good Good People " were fab. "Gravity " of course was stunning. Also good were "Come Back To What You Know" and "Save Me" . Encores inc "One Big Family " and " Wonder " . The set lasted nearly 2 hours which felt a bit too long but then again they have had four albums out .Good but not great. Velvet Revolver have added a 5th London show to their UK tour at Hammersmith Apollo on Jan 10. Monday sees the long awaited release of the new U2 album with a couple of the big shops in the West End opening at midnight(Sunday) to sell it. Also out Monday is the DVD from those amazing reunion shows by The New York Dolls in June at The Royal Festival Hall. Tuesday sees one of the hottest tickets of the year by Tom Waits .His first London show for 17 years that sold out in an hour .His refusal to add extra shows has meant tickets selling for over £200 on the black market. 18 November 2004 . Sensational Alex Harvey Band , Camden Underworld , London. 19 November 2004 .Sensational Alex Harvey Band , The Green Room At The Doctors Tonic Pub, Welwyn Garden City ,Herts . Great atmosphere as it was a sell out gig and cameras are here for a live DVD recording. First London show for a few years by these legendary Scottish rockers.We all knew it would be a good show but this was just bleeding brilliant . For nearly 2 hours they played classic tunes from their 1970s heyday . On vocals playing his first gig with the band was Max Maxwell and he did a great job of recreating the style and vocal delivery of the sadly missed Alex Harvey . All four other members are originals inc the guitar legend that is Zal Cleminson. How did they open the show ? with a totally stunning version of " The Faith Healer " followed by other gems like " Next " " Framed" " Give My Compliments To The Chef" "Amos Moses " "Swampsnake " and many others. For " Gang Bang " they were joined by a lovely looking blonde girl fan who jumped on stage for some sexy dancing with the band in her bra. A fantastic encore of "Vambo " "Boston Tea Party " and "Delilah " complete with the funny dance that Chris Glen and Zal Cleminson did in the old days . Too good a show to see just the once so tonight Friday we will be at sunny Welwyn Garden City to see them again. Check out the bands website www.sahb.co.uk to see where they are playing near you. Blimey the venue in Welwyn Garden City is less than half the size of the Underworld . Cannot remember ever seeing a band in this town which is just outside the North London area. The stage is only about 6 inches raised off the floor so half the crowd can only see heads and shoulders . The same set list as last nights show. Another really great night . Speaking to guitarist Zal Cleminson after the show who said he enjoyed tonights show more than the London show because the band played tighter and there was no stoppage to change the dodgy snare drum like there was in London. Well worth the drive.

Posted 2nd December 2004