News and Reviews: 2nd February 2005

01 Feb 2005 . Feeder , Islington Academy , London. Invite only show for XFM Radio for their guests and XFM competition winners. This was one of the first shows of a huge 6 month tour that Feeder are embarking on in support of new album : Pushing The Senses : out this week. Nice to see them in this small venue . The songs from new album are very in the Coldplay / Snow Patrol style as opposed to their Foo Fighters type rockers that i like them for . Plenty of oldies as well like " Comfort In Sound " " Just The Way Im Feeling " and a mental " Buck Rogers " . Encore was a great version of " Just A Day " .Set only lasted for 55 mins as it was a recording for radio but they are always good to watch...... 31 Jan 2005 . Kyle Eastwood , China White , London . China White is probably Londons coolest and trendiest after hours hang out so seeing a band here up close with their equipment on the dance floor felt like someone was actually playing a gig in your own front room. Very cosy. This was an invite only show for 200 guests to promote Kyles new album on Columbia Records " Paris Blue " . Like his famous actor father Kyle has a real passion for all things jazz .His band play a really enjoyalbe 80 mins set of jazz and jazz funk material that grooved along nicely . Kyle himself plays a mean jazz bass guitar as well . Jamie Cullum was in the crowd clearly enjoying what he saw and heard ....... 28 Jan 2005 .Gang Of Four , Shepherds Bush Empire, London. GOF back together again for a few shows with all four original members after splitting up over 20 years ago . A lot of current bands like Franz Ferdinand have name dropped this group from Leeds recently and guitarist Andy Gill has done some quality production duties including the superb last Killing Joke album and new boys The Futureheads. Tonight the amazing angry guitar sound of Andy Gills Fender steals the show for me as in every song it seems to dominate .Best tunes were "At Home He Thinks Hes A Tourist " and "Anthrax" along with a superb " Damaged Goods" as part of the encore . Set was a bit short at 70 mins but great to see them play live again ..... Eric Clapton And Cream shows at The Royal Albert Hall have been confirmed as May 2 ,3,5 ,6 All four Cream shows sold out in one day ....... Too frazzled after the three Velvet Revolver shows over the weekend to catch Green Day at Brixton so i will see them when they play Ham Apollo on Feb 6 and 7 .....Looks like Black Sabbath will headline The Donington Download Festival on June 11 and 12 with special guests Velvet Revolver and System Of A Down ..... News just in that Billy Idol has just signed a new record deal with Sanctuary Records so expect some UK live shows in the summer ..... 21/22/23 Jan 2005 .Velvet Revolver last 3 shows of UK tour ,Brixton Academy and two Ham Apollo . Velvet Revolver back in London after their two shows here in London a couple of weeks ago .In the end i ended going to all five London shows. Each night though the band turned up late at the venue which meant there were a few boos in the far too long gap of 60 mins between the end of The Datsuns set and start of the VR set. The shows this weekend were much better than the warm up shows a fortnight ago . The band were tighter and the crowd were the hard core fans who were the first to buy tickets when they went on sale.Pretty much the same set as a couple of weeks ago .Plenty of great songs like " Fall To Pieces " and " Big Machine " " Slither " and some Stone Temple Pilots and Guns And Roses tunes ( see previous review ). The Brixton show was the best of the bunch and tonight was the only night on the tour they played Sex Pistols " Bodies " and dedicated it to Pistols bassist Glen Matlock who was in the crowd tonight .The following two nights at Hammersmith Apollo were excellent as well . The Sunday show was finished off with The Doors track " 5 To 1" .The band themselves were totally blown away by how popular they are here. They are a great live rock n roll band Check aftershow news for Velvet Revolver ....... Be ready as after a couple of false starts the U2 tickets will go on sale soon . Looks like London shows will be two nights at Twickenham also Manchester , Cardiff , Dublin and Glasgow ....... 13 Jan 2005 . Duran Duran , Hammersmith Palais ,London. This was an invite only show that will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 29 Jan. Downstairs there are 1000 comp winners from Radio 2 and Duran Duran websites . Upstairs are 300 guests from the BBC ,the band and media . Pretty amazing to see this great band up close in what for them is a smallish venue . They did a great 18 song set lasting 95 mins that leaned towards the promotion of their last album " Astronaut " .Even back in the 1980s DD were always a superb live band . Plenty of women here as usual . A technical hiccup after the second song held things up for a couple of minutes but otherwise the sound was perfect . Simon Le Bon dedicated "Ordinary World " to those caught up in the Asian Tsunami . The golden oldies went down the best of course and the crowd went mental for encore of " Girls On Film " and " Rio" .An excellent show . Set list was Finest Hour - Hungry Like The Wolf - Hold Back The Rain - Want You More - Union Of The Snake- What Happens Tomorrow - Chains - Astronaut - Ordinary World - Save A Prayer - Bedroom Toys - Notorious - Reflex - Nice - Sunrise - Wild Boys - Encores - Girls On Flim and Rio .......... 12 Jan 2005 .The Queen Musical-We Will Rock You , Dominion Theatre , London. Of course i would not usually put a musical up as a real gig but this was a special event to celebrate the 1000th performance of this excellent West End musical. I had seen it a couple of times already but tonight Queen members Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums joined the cast and house band (which still includes Neil Murray ex of 1980s rockers Whitesnake classic line up ) for three fantastic songs for the grand finale . "Bohemian Rhapsody" " Tie Your Mother Down" and "The Show Must Go On " .A superb taster for the long awaited Queen shows with Paul Rodgers that will start in London on March 28 and Paris March 30........... 09 and 10 Jan 2005 , Velvet Revolver + The Datsuns ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London . The Datsuns did a good 30 mins of uptempo rock but i feel they have blown their chance of hitting the big time. Velvet Revolver have 5 London shows on this UK tour . They are a proper rock n roll band thats for sure . Feat members of Guns And Roses and Stone Temple Pilots with more visits to drug rehabs and tattoos between them than most bands. Their debut album " Contraband " has been voted album of 2004 in Classic Rock mag .They play most of the album inc great versions of " Slither " , "Big Machine " and " Set Me Free " along with the superb "Fall To Pieces" . There is a great atmosphere in the house both nights. Singer Scott Weiland looks more like Suedes Brett Anderson than your typical long haired rock singer . They perform 2 Stone Temple Pilots tracks "Crackerman" and "Sex Type Thing: " but Scotts vocals are muffled to say the least or maybe just drowned out by all the loud distorted guitars on stage . They throw in 3 Guns and Roses tunes that the crowd go mental for " Its So Easy " ," Mr Brownstone " and " I Used To Love Her ". The Sunday show was slightly better as it lasted for 1 hour 40 mins and had one extra song to the following nights set which was a cover of Aerosmiths "Same Old Song And Dance " . So a good show but i would still say i prefer Whitesnake , Motorhead etc ... Some bands i tip for big success in 2005 are The Kaiser Chiefs , The Bravery , The Editors and Towers Of London ( another great little band mixing the rock of early Motley Crue with the attitude of The Sex Pistols) .Their great debut single " On A Noose" comes out on Feb 14 .

Posted 2nd February 2005