News and Reviews: 22nd December 2004

www.o-donnells.com has now gone live so we have a great selection of cds ,dvds and books in our 4 for £20 section. www.o-donnells.com get those credit cards out for the Christmas period....... Well thats more or less it for 2004 so all of you out there have a great Christmas and Rocktastic New Year..... 20 December 2004 . Wet Wet Wet ,Wembley Arena , London. First of all thanks to our chums at Clear Channel for giving us 50 free tickets to give to customers and friends of our website www.o-donnells.com for this show. .Cheers. Safe to say i would not be here unless i had a free ticket . Wet Wet Wet are a nice bunch of lads but hardly exciting rock n roll if you know what i mean .This was their first tour for 7 years which includes an impressive 15 UK arena shows . A few years ago i was well surprised when singer Marti Pellow came out with his "my drink and drugs hell ". Nice to hear "Sweet Little Mystery " and "Angel Eyes " but they are so MOR they make Will Young sound like Iggy Pop in places . The mainly women crowd still adore Marti Pellow for sure .The last song was their mega hit "Love Is All Around " with Marti in a skirt. There were no video screens of the band and they played as if in a theatre as opposed to this big venue which was crap if you were not in the first half of the venue.On stage for 2 hours . Also it was one of those gigs where you buy a live cd of the show straight after for £15 and quite a few were sold...... 18 December 2004 . Morrissey , Earls Court Arena , London. Comeback of the year easily goes to Mozzer what his album "You Are The Quarry " selling over 500,000 in the UK and now his biggest ever London show which is sold out with around 18,000 punters inside on a very rainy Saturday evening. It starts great as he opens with The Smiths classic " How Soon Is Now " and as early as the second tune he plays ' First Of The Gang To Die " . He has his priest dog collar on like on the pic cover of his current single .The band sound great in front of the huge MORRISSEY logo." There Is A Light That Never Goes Out " and "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" were both excellent. A mega" Irish Blood English Heart " got the crowd really moving. Very good show but with only a one song encore and only 80 mins onstage it did not feel quite as special as those RFH shows in June earlier this year......... 17 December 2004 . Elton John And His Band ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London. Third of four shows at this venue . Despite more wealth and fame than most can dream of Elton John continues to be one of our hardest working musicians. Back at Hammersmith to the scene of so many amazing shows i watched him play in the 1970s.The first 6 or 7 songs were all from the new album " Peachtree Road " and a couple had a lovely country bluegrass feel to them. Then it was hit after hit in a fantastic set lasting 2 hours 15 mins ." Daniel " was great but an extended version of " Rocket Man " was superb. "Tiny Dancer " "Are You Ready For Love " then "Philadelphia Freedom " got the crowd up dancing along with " Im Still Standing " ." Dont Let The Sun Go Down On Me " was brill. "Bitch Is Back " had Elton dancing on his piano. Stunning encore of " Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting " then he spent 5 mins signing stuff for all those down the front then a magical " Your Song " .Fantastic as always........... 16 December 2004 .1980s Show ,Wembley Arena ,London. Midge Ure + Kim Wilde + Belinda Carlisle + Nik Kershaw + Bucks Fizz + Living In A Box + Limahl These shows are a great idea . Get half a dozen acts and each play a 20 mins of greatest hits .Problem is Midge Ure or KIm Wilde are not real headline acts so the venue is only half full. Everyone is in good spirits for Christmas and Limahl is pretty good to be honest with " Too Shy " and " Neverending Story " getting a decent reception .Next up Living In A Box are faceless useless rubbish . Bucks Fizz have all four original members and are great fun but mainly for their dodgy dance routines. Shelley Preston still looks stunning .Their set inc " My Camera Never Lies " and of course " Making Your Mind Up" complete with the pulling off the skirts routine. Poor old Nik Kershaw is so tiny you can just see his head above the stage monitors .He plays " I Wont Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and "Wouldnt It Be Good " . Next up Belinda Carlisle plays a few inc " Circle In THe Sand " "Leave A Light On For Me " and "Heaven Is A Place On Earth " and is pleasant enough . Kim Wilde has changed from her gardening gear into a 2 piece leather suit and looks like she is really enjoying herself. Nice set inc " You Keep Me Hanging On " and " Kids In America ". Last up was Midge Ure who had a slightly longer set than the others . He played Visage " Fade To Grey "as he wrote it. Also "If I Was " " No Regrets " "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" and of course " Vienna " pretty good . Highlight of the evening was the mega encore where all the acts came back together to sing Band Aid " Do They Know Its Christmas " with other 1980s stars Paul Young and members Of Heaven 17 and Spandau Mallet joining in .A good night but they need a couple of bigger headline acts next time ...... 15 December 2004 .Buzzcocks + Neville Staple , Kentish Town Forum ,London . The support act used to be in the Specials and for some reason he changed his surname from Staples to Staple . His voice is not very convincing on the new material but he does get the crowd going by throwing in some gems from his Specials days like " A Message To You Rudy " "Monkey Man" and brilliant versions of "Gangsters " and "Ghostown" in his 40 mins set. The Buzzcocks are one of those original punk bands that are always great live .The older tunes like " I Dont Mind" and " Harmony In My Head" are great even though a few of the songs in the middle are a bit patchy . Guitarist Steve Diggle is in great form and even when he gets showered in beer it cannot wipe the smile off his face. The second half of the show was perfect punk poptastiic with tunes like " Breakdown " and " Ever Fallen In Love " followed by mega encores of "Fast Cars " "What Do I Get " "Boredom " " Orgasm Addict " . Great gig and good aftershow party too. 12 December 2004 . Punk Festival at The Astoria featuring The Damned , Sham 69 , Hazel OConnor + Avengers + TV Smith + Ten Pole Tudor + UK Subs+ 999 + Chelsea. Excellent line up of punk and new wave bands who were all around in the late 1970s .First up Chelsea were pretty average as usual but finished off with good versions of "Urban Kids" "I Fought The Law " and "Right To Work " . Tony Barber from The Buzzcocks was playing with them and he had to race to Wolverhampton that same night to play with his own band . 999 were brilliant with great tunes like "Emergency " "Nasty Nasty " and "Homicide". UK Subs pulled the biggest crowd of the day apart from the 2 headliners starting with " CID " and finishing with a rampant version of "Warhead " that had the floor shaking . Ten Pole Tudor did "Swords Of A Thousand Men " and a couple of crap ones. TV Smith was good as always with " Gary Gilmores Eyes " and "One Chord Wonders " . Avengers are best known for being the support band for The Sex Pistols at their famous last show in SF Winterland in 1978 . They play loud and rocky tunes inc a version of The Professionals "1,2,3 " but her vocals are not very good. Hazel O Connor is pleasant enough but it is the wrong event for her and a lot of people stay in the bar to avoid her . Next up and the highlight of the day for me a rare live show by Sham 69 . It is 45 mins of mayhem as they launch into "Angels With Dirty Faces " "Borstal Breakout " " If The Kids Are United " " Hersham Boys " and "Hurry Up Harry " .etc Jimmy Pursey is on fine form and the crowd love them . The Damned play for 90 mins but it feels like 3 hours . Perhaps they should have trimmed it to a neat 60 mins. They have got some great tunes but there are plenty of boring bits like Captain Sensible guitar solos and on stage antics that lose the moment. However "Love Song " " New Rose " " Neat Neat Neat are all brilliant as is the encore of " Jet Boy " and "Smash It Up " .I was at this event for 8 hours and it was long day but well worth it ......... 10 and 11 December 2004 . Darkness + Ash , Wembley Arena , London . Ash did a good warm up set with great tunes like "Kung Fu ""Girl From Mars " "Shining Light " and a rockin version of Thin Lizzys "The Boys Are Back In Town " . I first saw The Darkness nearly 2 years ago supporting Def Leppard then seeing headline shows at The Astoria and Hammersmith Apollo as well as their dodgy Reading Festival show in the summer . So here they are now with 3 shows at Wembley as part of their UK arena tour. They stil only have the one album and a few new songs but its a superb show. A big entertaining classic rock show all night long. There is enough fireworks ,explosions and flames to grace any Guy Fawkes party . Lots of great tunes like "Growing On Me " "Black Shuck " "Friday Night " " I Believe In A Thing Called Love " .There are a couple of annoying time wasting bits as Justin somehow drags the set out to 1 hour 40 mins . For the encore Justin flies over the crowd astride a huge fluffy white tiger then the Christmas trees are brought out for full versions of The Band Aid single " Do They Know Its Chritmas " and their own Christmas dittie from last year " Dont Let The Bells End" . Only difference in the 2 shows i saw was that on Friday Justin mentioned that a burglar had been caught at his home just as the band were due on stage ........ 09 December 2004 .Manic Street Preachers + Razorlight , Wembley Arena , London. Support Razorlight are flying at present with the album " Up All Night " loved by the critics and the punters . Some great songs like " Golden Touch " " Rip It Up " and "Vice" . No doubt that 2005 will be even better for them. The Manics have always been a great live rock band with or without Richey Edwards so here they are out on the road again having to prove themselves after mixed reviews of their " Lifeblood " album which does include decent songs like " 1985 " and " Richard Nixon" .A great light show and superb use of video screens bring the songs to life . Plenty of mega oldies like "If You Tolerate This " " You Love Us " "Australia" "You Stole The Sun " " Tsunami" and the last 2 songs were stunning versions of " Motorcycle Emptiness " and "A Design For Life " .A long set with no need for a fake encore . The Manics still rock ......... 08 December 2004 .Concert For Darfur Refugees With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ,Royal Albert Hall , London. About a dozen guests from the world of pop,rock , opera , tv and film sing a couple of songs each for this very good cause .Most songs were covers of Cole Porter . Best were Mick Hucknall , Chrissie Hynde ,Alison Moyet and a rare performance by Cat Stevens ( now Yusef ???? ). Other acts inc Jocelyn Brown ,Ruthie Henshall , Antony Costa from Blue singing Van Morrisons " Raindance" . Neat finale of everyone on stage for versions of " Imagine " and "With A Little Help From My Friends " .Pleasant enough ....... 06 December 2004 . The Tubes Wild West Show , Shepherds Bush Empire ,London. All the band arrive on stage in cowboy outfits and play a couple of western theme tunes . Singer Fee Waybill comes on in his first of 8 or 9 costume changes that make this 2 hour show visually fantastic. Great oldies like "Dont Touch Me There" and "What Do You Want From Life " were superb and for their disco cover of "Do The Hussle " they changed lyric to " Do The Russle" which was just one of many fun elements to this show. The ballad " Dont Wanna Wait Anymore " was a corker. Fee Waybill stuck his head in a television set for " TV Is King" and a big highlight was the 7 foot tall Quay Lude rock star character in tottering stack heels for stunning versions of " Stand Up And Shout " and their anthem that is " White Punks On Dope " Encore of " Mondo Bongage " had Fee in full leather garb with 2 leather glad women getting stuck in so to speak (the blonde one was punk singer Beki Bondage of Vice Squad ) . "Talk To You Later " was the finish to an very entertaining show and the DVD of it will be out next year .Great night ....... 05 December 2004 . Blink 182 ,Wembley Arena ,London. Tonight there are so many teenagers here i really do feel a bit old .Blink from California are now an arena band in the Green Day ,Sum 41 school of pop punk. While they have a couple of decent songs like "Feeling This " and " I Miss You" and a neat drum solo on a podium in the middle of the venue i left the gig feeling pretty empty . What the hell am i doing here? Not my cup of tea at all. After the show hordes of mums and dads in cars waiting for their kids .Call this punk rock? ........ 04 December 2004 . Status Quo + The Alarm ,Wembley Arena ,London. At last a great support act . The Alarm did a superb 40 mins of top tunes like " Where Were You Hiding " " Absolute Reality " " 68 Guns " and their hit single from earlier in the year " 45 RPM " . The Quo are now more of a rock band for all the family than the out and out rock band they were in the 1970s but their 2 hour set was really all about enjoying yourself and having fun. Plenty of jumping on the spot and heads down boogie . Incredibly this was their 39th show at Wembley Arena . Every winter they now go on a huge 6 week UK tour . They have had over 50 Top 40 hit singles like " Rain" "Roll Over Lay Down" " Caroline " "Down Down" "Whatever You Want " and " Rockin All Over The World " which were all played tonight .More jumping around for encores of " Paperplane " and " Bye Bye Johnny B Goode" .The band were enjoying it as much as the crowd......... Altogether 2 great live bands and very enjoyable. A great classic rock double bill are doing a 2005 UK tour. Judas Priest and The Scorpions play Hammersmith Apollo on March 16 and 17 . They will be mega shows. Also despite trying to play down the rumours i can tell than you Motley Crue will reform and play a short UK tour inc a London date at Wembley Arena on 19 June after they have completed their American tour. Special guests on the UK tour will be Killing Joke.

Posted 22nd December 2004