News and Reviews: 14th May 2005

19 May 2005. Glen Matlock live at Filthy McNastys Pub , Islington, London. About 60 people squeezed into this small pub for a 60 mins set by this Sex Pistols legend and its free to get in for all. Solo and acoustic versions of solo material , Rich Kids and a couple of Sex Pistols classics " God Save The Queen" and " Pretty Vacant " made it a really good up close in yer face excellent little gig........... 16 May 2005 . Alison Moyet live at The Royal Festival Hall , London. This Essex girl is still much loved with a sell out show here at the end of her UK tour.Her set focused mainly on her last two albums " Home Time " `and her covers album " Voice " .Problem for me was there were too many slow torch songs in her set . The voice is still there and she there was fun banter between songs but i did not really get into it. She left out most of her 1980s hit singles . "That Ole Devil Called Love" and "Love Letters" were good enough but there were too many in that style.Encores of " Only You " and " Alfie " were great but the crowd clearly enjoyed it more than i did............ 13 May 2005 .Bryan Adams live at Earls Court Arena , London. Despite the fact his last album "Room Service " did not sell that many this Canadian rocker who has lived over here in Chelsea for 16 years can still play large venues like this .Its easy to see why with a set that lasted over 2 hours full of catchy simple pop rockers mainly from his 1980s magastar days. He stll has a load of female fans too here. Lulu is here sitting in the row in front of me. All the band as usual are dressed simply in black t shirt and jeans including Bryan himself. Songs like " 18 Til I Die " , "Cant Stop This Thing We Started " , "Kids Wanna Rock " , "Somebody " , "Summer Of 69 " , "Everything I Do", " This Time " , " Cuts Like A Knife " , "Baby When You're Gone " feat Fay from Teddington who was picked from the crowd for a fun duet. " Heaven " , " Its Only Love " and encores inc " There Will Never Be Another Tonight " ,and " Run To You " . He may have zero credibility these days but the most important aspect really at a live concert is to enjoy yourself and at Bryan Adams shows everybody does........ Roxy Music are planning a London warm up show before their big show at Isle Of Wight Festival on June 11 ........... 11 May 2005 . Queen With Paul Rodgers live at Wembley Arena Pavillion, London. While Wembley Arena is out of action this year as they rebuild it they have built a supertent in the car park which even Brian May described as a "shithole" . He was being polite . Thankfully we were down the front in block A but at the back with no video screens the view must have been real crap.However this show was much better than the Brixton gig six weeks ago . It was the same two hour set but the band were more together and the overall sound was much better and they used a walkway out from the centre of the stage that was not used at Brixton which worked very well . Loads of great songs again like "Tie You Mother Down" , "Wishing Well " , "Another One Bites The Dust " , "Under Pressure " , "Love Of My Life " ,"Hammer To Fall", "Feel Like Making Love" ,"Radio Ga Ga " " Cant Get Enough Of Your Love " , "Its A Kind Of Magic" and " Bohemian Rhapsody " .Great encores of "The Show Must Go On " , " All Right Now " , "We Will Rock You " and "We Are The Champions" . Again Paul Rodgers was not on stage half the time but he seemed more into it than at Brixton . A really good show . See aftershow page.......... They have not played the UK for a few years but The Psychedelic Furs return on June 23 to play Londons Shepherds Bush Empire......... 10 May 2005. Sex Pistols DVD launch party for 25th anniversary release of "The Great Roch n Roll Swindle " see aftershow news page........ After playing Download Festival last summer and this years Reading Festival Iggy Pop And The Stooges play their first proper London show for many years at Hammersmith Apollo on 30 August with tickets costing £25 each......... 09 May 2005 . Soul Sirkus live at Shepherds Bush Empire , London. This is the side project of Neal Schon of Journey fame with three known rockers inc bassist Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy ) . Hardly known over here has meant the venue is less than half full .They play a 1 hour 40 mins set that is a bit funkier and harder than Journey . A good set but nothing really that great . They play most of their debut album as well as a couple of Journey hits and a couple of odd cover versions Seals "Crazy" and Prince " Purple Rain " . Neal Schon still is a great guitarist but Marcos bass solo was naff. So nice to see Neal Schon play live in London again anyway.......... After months of rumours it looks certain Live Aid 2 will be confirmed soon. It will be at Londons Hyde Park on Sat 02 July 2005 to 80,000 fans. Headliners wil be The Rolling Stones with Paul McCartney as special guest ......... 05 and 06 May 2005 . Cream live at The Royal Albert Hall , London. Here we are again for Cream which meant i was at all four of their shows here at this great venue . The sets on both nights were the same. " White Room " was a stand out track on both nights. On the last night most were expecting a special guest on stage for the encore or an extra song but the only difference was the crowd surged the stage at the start of Ginger Bakers drum solo instead of at the end of it. The merchandise was expensive but the fans here were buying up everything that was on sale . As expected a wide range of celebs were here to watch it over the four nights . These are the ones i spotted Brian May , Gary Moore ,Bryan Adams, Paul Morley (NME journo from 1970s), Matthew Wright (Chan 5 TV presenter ) ,Noel Edmunds (ex Radio 1 DJ and Mr Blobby fame etc) , Ringo Starr , Dave Gilmour , Leonard Nimmoy, Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet ) , members of Iron Maiden , Sean Penn ( A List American Actor) , Paul McCartney , Kirk Hammett ( Metallica ) , Neil Schon( Journey and Soul Sirkus ) , Mick Taylor ( ex Rolling Stones ) but perhaps the best sight was the dozen or so over 50s females outside the venue with their sleeping bags and tents camping out for 12 hours to get best seats for Irish crooner Daniel Odonnell now thats what i call rock n roll............ 04 May 2005 .Kylie Minogue live at Earls Court Arena , London .Back again to this crap venue to see Kylie and her lavish Las Vegas style production. I enjoyed it more tonight because i had a great view near the front.Of course everything is the same for the two hours as the show i saw four days ago . Very entertaining with a mainly greatest hits set .Highlights again were fantastic versions of " I Should Be So Lucky " and " Cant Get You Out Of My Head " but she should stop asking the crowd to do a mexicon wave at the end which was totally naff and not needed............. 02 and 03 May 2005 . Cream live at The Royal Albert Hall , London.Well here we are at the hottest live concert ticket of the year . I feel a bit guilty being here as the 1960s era was before my time and i do not own any Cream albums. It was a tale of two shows for me. First night I was up in the balcony but the second night was down on the arena floor 14 rows from the stage in amongst an impressive amount of American Cream fans who have come over for the week . It was 37 years ago in 1968 that these three members had played together .(Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker ).The atmosphere is amazing and the band come on to a standing ovation. The stage is very minimal with just a film projection in Cream colours in the background . An excellent set lasting nearly two hours feat most of Creams best tunes. Eric Claptons fantastic guitar playing still dominates but Jack Bruce was full of great bass runs and Ginger Bakers 5 minute drum solo brought the house down. The best tunes "Sweet Wine ", "Badge ", "Stormy Monday ", "Politician" , "Crossroads " , " White Room " and a great encore of " Sunshine Of Your Love " . A real event it certainly was . A live DVD of the concert will be out for Christmas ......... 01 May 2005. Nancy Sinatra live at The Shepherds Bush Empire , London. She must be in her 60s but Nancy looks 20 years younger . Her band tonight includes Blondie drummer Clem Burke.They played a very enjoyable 90 mins set with plenty of her hits from the 1960s included like " Sugar Town" and " These Boots Were Made For Walking " which featured a neat meet and greet walk through the stalls crowd which was all seated tonight. " Did You Ever " was also really good. She dedicated a couple of songs to her dad Frank including " Something Stupid" .Support Richard Hawley joined her for a couple of songs . Encore of film score " You Only Live Twice ". Enjoyalble show and a good aftershow party...... 30 April 2005. Zutons midnight show at Brixton Academy , London. Mad dash after Kylie to catch this show which was part of the Carling Lager Live Music day which had half a dozen shows in London starting from 7am .Yes 7am .The Zutons played a 65 mins set from their hit album. These lads from Liverpool clearly love playing music although live they were second place to their lovely female sax player Abi Harding. Hits like " Dont Ever Think " and " You Will" made it a good show ......... 30 April 2005 . Kylie Minogue live at Earls Court Arena , London. This was the first of seven Kylie shows at this massive venue that holds 16,000 punters and on this UK tour she is playing to over 300,000 . Everyone loves Kylie it seems. Opener " Better The Devil You Know " was great with all the costumes and feathers and colour. A dozen male and female dancers kept it lively. Kylie looks fantastic as always and her fans clearly adore her.She played a wide range of her material . The middle section dragged a bit as was full of slower paced songs like " I Believe In You " .A jazzed up " The Locomotion " was good and Kylie suspended in the air for " Somewhere Over The Rainbow " went down great with her many gay fans." Shocked " was excellent as was " I Should Be So Lucky ".Of course " I Cant Get You Out Of My Head " was the fantastic anthem it is. A cheesy swaying of arms and a massive crowd singalong for " Especially For You " was naff . A very entertaining show but there were problems . Kylies voice and synthetic band were not built for big arenas like this and her stint of shows at Hammersmith Apollo a few years ago were much better than this show . Put it this way she was not a patch on Madonnas show at this very same venue last summer ............ Things are really hotting up in London with MAY being a totally superb month for quality live events . Just look at the big names playing London in MAY Kylie Minogue , Cream , Little Richard , Nancy Sinatra , Tears For Fears , Jack Johnson, Damned , Rod Stewart , Queen , Oasis ( 4 London theatre shows) , Bryan Adams , Danzig , Alison Moyet , Van Morrison, Moby, Avril Lavigne , Coldplay show for Radio 1 , Eels , Ian Hunter , Mark Knopfler , Neil Diamond and of course Bruce Springsteen ...... Sex Pistol Glen Matlock plays an acoustic show at Filthy McNasties Pub, Islington on Thursday 19 May at 8pm.

Posted 14th May 2005