News and Reviews: 8th March 2005

07 March 2005 .Kaiser Chiefs , HMV In Store , London. Another one of these wristband only gigs after the shop has closed. Even when i saw Kaiser Chiefs at last years Reading Festival in a tiny tent playing to 100 people i knew they would be massive . Anyway here we are on the day their album "Employment " has come out to great reviews everywhere. They play a stunning 6 song 25 mins set which includes "Oh My God " and "I Predict A Riot" .Even though its only an in store the sound is fantastic indie pop rock. Over the next 12 months i can see this album selling a million copies and the band collecting BRIT and NME Awards in Feb 2006 for sure .... 05 March 2005 . Erasure + Client , Hammersmith Apollo , London. Client did 30 mins of 80s electro pop boredom. Erasure have been pretty quiet recently after dodgy reviews of their last couple of albums but tonight it is sold out . Erasure were massive in the early 90s and on their UK tour of 1992 they played 15 nights yes 15 shows at this venue. Singer Andy Bell last year admitted he had AIDS . Their loyal gay following seems to be 50% of the crowd here tonight. Andy of course is OTT when it comes to his 4 or 5 stage outfits which started with white angel wings with white lurex trousers to the smallest pair of sparkly hotpants that were straight out of a sketch from Little Britains : Only Gay In The Village. From start to finish it was camp disco pop . Some good tunes like " Ship Of Fools " , "Oh L'amour", "Blue Savannah " , "We'll Be Together Again " and great versions of "A Little Respect " and encore "Sometimes" A good show that the crowd loved but i just felt there was too many pretty average songs as well ...... This Rod " will he turn up or not " Stewart at The Ronnie Wood event has taken another twist as a good pal of mine has been speaking to keyboard player Ian McLagan who has said Rod is NOT doing anything for the show . Although he has not been confirmed as yet it seems certain to me that Rod Stewart will be turning up for a long overdue Faces reunion on Mar 13 at The Drury Lane Theatre . Rod is currently in London and he has no live shows booked until the week after The Ronnie Wood And Friends gig...... Looks like the smaller shows at Hyde Park will be coming back again this summer after a year away as Queen and Keane are soon to announce shows there........ Lenny Kravitz will be playing Hammersmith Apollo on 21 July .......Towers Of London great debut single " On A Noose" finally comes out on Monday 7 March ..... Dressed To Kill the Number One KISS Tribute Band play Walthamstow Standard on Friday 11 March ...... Megadeth have been added to the Download Festival for June 10 . They have confirmed this will be their last ever UK show as they will be splitting up after their USA summer tour..... 28 Feb 2005 .The Bravery , HMV In Store Show , Oxford Street ,London. This was a free show for a few hundred fans to promote their second (and soon to be hit) single "An Honest Mistake ". This New York band were one of my hot tips for 2005 and everything is looking great for them with the album sure to do well when it comes out soon. They open with brilliant first single "Unconditional" and of course play the new single in the short but sweet 6 song 25 mins set. The band all got into it by jumping into the front rows of fans .With tunes based on catchy bass and synth riffs they will be massive..... 26 Feb 2005 . Crosby And Nash , Royal Festival Hall, London.The last time they played this venue was 32 years ago they said on stage. For once most of the crowd are older than me . They were on stage for nearly 3 hours spread over 2 sets . David Crosby back in the day was a bit of a crazed hippy and tonight there were loads of on stage banter regards his blurred past of girls , drugs ,booze and guns.The set was a bit too laid back at times but the great vocal harmonies are all still intact.Golden oldies " Marrakesh Express " and " Guinnevere " go down a treat . They slip in a few tracks from their new album out on Sanctuary Records . For the first of three encores they play a superb old fave " Our House " as the crowd run down the front and they finish in style . Both band and crowd are delighted how the show went .... 25 Feb 2005 . MC5-DKT + Sun Ra Arkestra , Royal Festival Hall , London. One of Sun Ras albums was recently voted the second " maddest " of all time by MOJO mag. Sun Ra are a Funkadelic type dozen black fellas in shiny capes and headwear who play an hour of cosmic jazz with just six tunes lasting ten mins each . Pretty mad it was too. Gilby Clarke from Guns And Roses is on stage the whole time for the MC5 set. MC5 have lost their lead singer Rob Tyner(dead) so now they get a few guest vocalists each time they tour .First up is Handsome Dick from The Dictators (another similar band from the 1970s ) who sings the vocals for the first 45 mins inc " Sister Anne " and " Kick Out The Jams" .Then the next 30 mins its the female singer from Bassment Jaxx who lends her big voice to this Detriot garage rock . For the finale they are joined by David Thomas (Pere Ubu) and Sun Ra for a mad ten minutes where there are 20 people on stage .A good gig . After, all MC5 and guests sign autographs in the foyer bar which was a nice touch ..... 24 Feb 2005 . Killing Joke , Shepherds Bush Empire , London . Pretty amazing this lot are still going . I saw them playing with Joy Division around 25 years ago . Singer Jaz Coleman still looks as crazy as ever as he walks on stage in devil red face paint carrying a giant cross .Their sound is still heavy and intense but a bit thrashy for me . Some great tunes like " War Dance" , " The Pandys Are Coming" "Empire Song " and "Asteriod " that all feat lots of wild hard drumming . A good show but not one that really excited me to be honest. 23 Feb 2005 .U-Turn Launch Party , Shoreditch Town Hall , London. A charity event for homeless and prostitutes in the East End .The acts who did 3 or 4 songs each inc Martha Wainwright ,Black Madonnas, Ed Harcourt , Black Rider and Sarah Jane Morris but they all were all just background music as most here were more interested in knocking back the free booze and food and chatting to bother with what was going down on the stage .Will Young was here and our chums from BBC TV comedy The Mighty Booosh Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett are here.A good bash though but not really if you were an act ..... 22 Feb 2005 .Comic Aid ,Hammersmith Apollo , London. A massive event feat over 20 of the top comedy acts in the country all doing 7 or 8 mins each .Shown on BBC TV on Sat 26 Feb .Some top acts like Eddie Izzard , Jack Dee , Julian Clary, Dawn French ,Derren Brown , Alistair MaGowan , Jo Brand , Lily Savage etc but the night belonged to Johnny Vegas and his pissed up aggressive comedy act and Lee Evans who came to the venue straight from his hit show The Producers..... 21 Feb 2005 .Wild ,Cirque-Hippodrome ,London. Wild are a new act in the classical pop area . This was their first ever show for the public. Five lovely looking girls from London and Belgrade in short skirts so think Girls Aloud with violins and pianos . They have a band with them to give it a nice dance feel . A decent 70 mins set but not my cup of tea really but all our mainland Euro friends love this stuff . Mel Bush is promoting them and he has done ok with Bond and Vanessa Mae so you will hear more about them in a couple of months when their debut album comes out . We are upstairs in a big press area for 200 where they were dishing out the free booze and food all night ..... 19 Feb 2005 .REM ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London. REM are on a huge year long world tour and this was a small London show to help publicise the open air UK summer shows which include a massive London show at Hyde Park on July 9. The first 30 mins of the two hour show was lesser known material then it was a mainly greatest hits set inc " Everybody Hurts ", "Orange Crush ", " The One I Love " , " Whats The Frequency Kenneth " and a superb " Man On The Moon " .Micheal Stipe is always a great front man and Peter Bucks guitar always rocks ...... 18 Feb 2005 .Nazareth , Ashcroft Theatre , Croydon. A crap Friday afternoon drive through South London but these 1970s Scottish rock legends are worth it . The venue is half empty but Dan still has that great voice and play old classics like " My White Bicycle " , "This Flight Tonight " ," Hair Of The Dog " , "Love Hurts " and " Broken Down Angel " .Great stuff..... 17 Feb 2005 . NME Awards , Hammersmith Palais , London. After the mainstream BRIT Awards last week its the turn of NME Awards which always has the best of all the new bands . There are 50 tables of 10 here with 100 more standing . Food and drink for all as well . All of the cool new bands are here like Bravery , Kaiser Cheifs , Bloc Party , Ordinary Boys and many more along with some older acts like Oasis and New Order and even Paul McCartney is here . New Order win Godlike Genuis Award and play four songs at the end inc " Love Will Tear Us Apart " and " Blue Monday " .An excellent event as usual .....

Posted 8th March 2005