News and Reviews: 7th June 2005

06 June 2005 .Black Sabbath ,The Civic Centre , Aylesbury. Of the 200 shows i see each year only a few hit the 10 out 10 mark but this was one of them. Black Sabbath with all four original members playing a low key warm show for 800 fans in this venue up the road from Ozzys mansion. After this it is all outdoor festival shows inc this weekends Download Festival on Sat 11 June. Ozzys wife Sharon takes her seat in the balcony and Ross Halfin gets ready with his camera and the lights go down .The roadie brings on a set list that has the song titles in one inch type. Is Ozzys sight failing ?? has he succumbed to being an MTV Hollywood coach potato?? no chance. A couple of swigs of Red Bull and he is off and running .The Ozzy of old with squat jumps, chucking buckets of water over the crowd and the stage security clearly really enjoying himself. Tony Iommis guitar riffs are amazing and Geezer rattles the speakers with thundering bass . "War Pigs" , "Dirty Women" , "Fairies Wear Boots", "Iron Man", "Black Sabbath " , "The Wizard" , and a mental " Paranoid" finale. Encore was a mega " Children Of The Grave " . Around 15 classic Sabbath tunes in this 90 mins set that was just amazing in this small venue . You will not get many gigs this year as good as this one......... 05 June 2005 . Todd Rundgren + Joe Jackson live at Hammersmith Apollo, London. Very interesting double bill but sadly it has only sold 2000 out of 4000 tickets but there you go. Both acts did an hour each then 20 mins on stage together for the finale. Joe Jackson looked as odd as usual (has he had plastic surgery?) . Just him and the piano for a mix of newer songs and great oldies like "Steppin Out " , "Different For Girls" and a superb "Is She Really Going Out With Him" .Then Todd did an hour set. His hardcore fans seemed to love it but i am not a big fan athough his somewhat English style was great . The song with the ukelele was fab. Todd played guitar and piano but like with the recent Bruce Springsteen shows both would have been better with a full band behind them. For the finale they were on stage together for four songs with Ethel (a mini orchestra ). This was the highlight for me with some nice strings added to "Sad Song" , "I Stood Up Too" and a couple of others . So good in parts but nothing really special. See aftershow news dor this concert............ 04 June 2005 .System Of A Down live at Brixton Academy , London. SOAD really have gone massive recently to the stage where they can sell out three nights at Brixton and headline the Sunday night at this weekends Download Festival. "Mezmerize " the bands current album has had great reviews everywhere including indie bible the NME.They have become a bit more political with RATM type lyrics. They play stunning versions of "Chop Suey " and " Sugar" but it is still a bit too thrashy for me although the crowd here loved it all. So a good but not great show really.......... 02 June 2005 .Destinys Child live at Earls Court Arena , London. Another show that started great then dipped in the middle and finished strongly. Destinys Child are a teenage girls perfect band judging by the huge crowd tonight.All screaming and using their bleeding mobile camera phones. All three girls look fantastic esp Beyonce with loads of great outfits , big hair and wind machines. It starts great with "Say My Name" and "Independent Woman" and then the material goes a bit flat and each time they change costumes we have to endure their naff dancers. The girls sung together and on their own. Near the end " Crazy In Love " and "Survivor " were fantastic and encore "Lose My Breath " went down well . A good show visually but they need a few more bigger songs .............. 31 May 2005 .Neil Diamond live at Earls Court Arena , London. Pretty amazing how Neil Diamond can play huge arenas like this over here but the UK really does have a soft spot for him.The crowd are old but are keen to get up and dance to any uptempo song they can.Some good tunes like " Its A Beautiful Noise " ," I Am - I Said", "Love On The Rocks" ,"You Dont Bring Me Flowers". For about thirty mins of this two hour show things veered into MOR boredom but it came back to life with " Sweet Caroline" ,"Im A Believer" and "Red Red Wine "(with a nod to UB40) . Encore featured a great " Crackling Rose " . Overall a good night out ............ 31 May 2005 .1pm to 4pm .Live 8 Press Conference at The Grosvenor Hotel , London. About 500 media types and a hundred camera crews are here to announce this massive event . The seven man panel include Harvey Goldssmith , Elton John, Midge Ure and the main man himself Bob Geldof who really is the most passionate person vocally i have ever seen. The press conference lasts an hour .The main bits are July 2 in Hyde Park over 20 of the worlds top bands will play a show to 150,000 text/phone ballot winners to support www.makepovertyhistory.org Afterwards in a smaller room Bob Geldof and Midge Ure speak to twenty camera crews one after another .Bob Geldof in full flight is amazing. For another full hour he did not stop ranting. The concert will be a fantastic event for sure. .................. 30 May 2005 .Mark Knopfler live at The Royal Albert Hall , London. This was Marks first of five shows at this venue .We have amazing second row seats in the arena. Mark looks a bit like your old Maths teacher these days with grey hair and glasses but its his way of just letting the music do the talking.He still is a sublime guitarist with nearly every song having a neat little guitar solo in it. Lots of Dire Straits oldies like "Romeo And Juliet" and "Sultans Of Swing" . The middle section was a bit average but a lengthy "Telegraph Road" was great. Superb encores of "Brothers In Arms" ,"Money For Nothing " and the "Local Hero" theme ended off a really good 2 hours plus show....... 29 May 2005 .Charlatans + Countermine live at The Hammersmith Palais , London. Support Countermine are managed by a name from the 1980s Rusty Egan who was in The Rich Kids and Visage .The band themselves are a very boring 3rd rate Embrace . The Hammersmith Palais is a perfect size for The Charlatans and they play a relaxed 90 mins set that combined neat guitar and keyboards in the bouncy tunes . "North Country Boy" and "Love Is The Key " stood out and overall it was a very enjoyable show................. 28 May 2005 .Bruce Springsteen live at The Royal Albert Hall , London.Back again to see Bruce again but tonight it is much better basically because i am nearer the stage . Last night i was up in the balcony and tonight its a superb stalls seat in Block O just 20 yards from the boss. Pretty amazing to see this legend up so close. The set appeared to be the same as last night. Again for the encore the fans rushed the stage and Bruce mingled with the lucky ones at the front as he played his guitar.Very good. Celebs at the Saturday show spotted by me were Sting and his wife , Ricky Gervais and Badly Drawn Boy (he looked just like Bruce did in 1975 = an unwashed bearded tramp)......... 27 May 2005 . Bruce Springsteen live at The Royal Albert Hall , London. Only two UK Bruce shows here have made tickets like gold dust fetching 200 quid plus from touts . This was Bruce on his own playing guitar , piano and mouth organ to promote his Devils And Dust album. This 2 hours 20 mins show was more for his legions of hard core fans as for me it was just not as good as shows with The E Street Band. Because it was acoustic based nearly all his big songs were not played but we did get rare jems . He looks fantastic .I was at those legendary Hammersmith Odeon shows 30 years ago in 1975 and he looks better now than he did then. Best tunes were "Empty Sky" and "The River" and "Racing In The Street " and "The Rising" . Plenty of Bruce fun humour during the songs. Rumour has it he will play with The E Street band next summer so while this was good that will be much better................ 26 May 2005 .Oasis live at Hammersmith Apollo , London. This gig was the last of four London warm up shows to promote new album Dont Believe The Truth which comes out next week .Needless to say the atmosphere is fantastic. You cannot under estimate how big Oasis are as a live act. In the summer they will be playing half a dozen outdoor stadium shows to 50,000 punters a night. They play a few songs from new album but the crowd are really here for all the classic oldies from a few years ago .The overall sound seems a bit muffled and the band look wooden on stage to say the least but Liam still holds your eye with his great attitude and swagger . The oldies are superb Morning Glory, Cigarettes And Alchohol, Stop Crying Your Heart Out , Live Forever , and amazing versions of Champagne Supernova and Rock n Roll Star. Equally brill encores of Wonderwall , Dont Look Back In Anger and The Whos My Generation were great . I need to hear the new songs a bit more maybe but Oasis just have so many great songs to fall back its easy to make it a really good show .............. 26 May 2005 .Noon to 6pm .Ivor Norvello Awards at The Grosvenor Hotel ,Park Lane ,London. The main awards event for songwriters in this country had a very impressive turn out of big names at this posh 5 star venue. Downstairs there are 1000 people on 100 tables of ten enjoying a three course meal before the awards and i am upstairs with 100 others in the media balcony .The free booze is flowing everywhere . 2.15pm to 4.15pm was the awards show itself. It was hosted by Radio 2 dj Paul Gambachini. Those here included Tom Jones , Roger Daltrey , Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Robin Gibb of Bee Gees , Charlene Spitteri of Texas , Tony Wilson, Cathy Dennis (1980s pop star who co wrote Britneys Toxic no less) ,Pete Doherty , Lou Reed ,Duran Duran , Sting, The Cure , Feargal Sharkey , Shaznay Lewis (ex All Saints) , The Darkness , Bob Geldof , Midge Ure , Estelle , Steve Harley ,Keane , Snow Patrol, Trevor Horn, Tom Robinson, Kevin Rowland of Dexys , Kenney Jones , Natasha Bedingfield, Steve Winwood and Marlon Richards ( son of Keith ) Lou Reed got the best standing ovation of the day .After until 6pm the PRS had a party for 300 in the ballroom where some of the stars hung around for a few drinks . Last celeb to leave the party ??? Kevin Rowland of Dexys . Excellent bash........ Great article in Londons Time Out Listings Mag which has a few pages dedicated to the best 100 London Gigs Of All Time as voted by its critics and readers . Number One was The Clash + The Jam + The Buzzcocks live at The Rainbow ,May 1977. Needless to say i was there . I voted it number 3 of all time after Live Aid and Sex Pistols at The Motre Dame in November 1976 ........... 23 May 2005 .Ian Hunter And The American Rant Band live at The Mill , Preston , Lancs. This Mott The Hoople legend over here for his annual UK tour and this time its to promote the 30th anniversary release of his debut solo album. This venue in Preston is a great little rock club holding maybe 300 or so. Ian and band do a really good 90 mins set feat mainly solo stuff and leaving out the obvious Mott hits like " Roll Away The Stone" and " All The Way From Memphis " . Best songs were "Lounge Lizard ", " Once Bitten Twice Shy " and " Cleveland Rocks " .He seemed a bit peeved that people at the bar chatted too loudly while he was playing acoustic songs. Stunning encores of " Saturday Gigs " and " All The Young Dudes " . Good one............... 20 + 21 + 22 May 2005 . Wasted Punk Festival live at Morecombe , Lancs. Pretty amazing to see 3000 punk rockers , skinheads , crusties and other oddballs mingling together with no hassles or fighting all just intent in having a good time in this sleepy seaside resort . Over 100 bands indoors over 3 days on 4 different stages . Friday for me started with a couple of American bands that were around in late 1970s. The Skulls finished with a rockin version of " Does Punk Rock Pay The Bills" . Channel 3 played " Ive Got A Gun " .Both were good but nothing special .Then over to the acoustic stage to see Slaughter And The Dogs Wayne Barratt and JP do a great little set of cover versions and Slaughter classics like " Youre A Bore" ,"Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone " and " Cranked Up Really High" .UK Subs still have a massive following but start very slowly but "Warhead" is splendid . Charlie Harper still doing it. Next up Sham 69 who were in the end the best band of the weekend . A great atmosphere with some great songs and in Jimmy Pursey the perfect front man. " What Have You Got " , "Hersham Boys " ,"Borstal Breakout" , " If The Kids Are United " " Hurry Up Harry" etc .Fantastic set ....... Saturday for me started with 999 who have played at all 9 of these festivals so far. They were good with great tunes like " Emergency " , "Nasty Nasty " and " Homicide". Next up was Gary Lammin ex Cockney Sparrer on the acoustic stage . His great lyrics and punk rock bottleneck guitar playing went down really well and he played a couple of Cockney Sparrer classics as well.Next was Toyah showning off her recent facial plastic surgery . For the age of 47 she looks incredible and very sexy in her little black tutu. I feared she would get bottled off but her friendly stage banter won the punters over. Of course she played " Its A Mystery " and " I Want To Be Free" and a neat cover of The Cults " She Sells Sanctuary" .Nice to see Angelic Upstarts again as their shows are very rare these days . Mensi is still singing with good tunes like " Teenage Warning" "Im An Upstart " and a cover of Sham 69s " If The Kids Are United" . The Undertones of course have not got Feargal Sharkey singing so they feel a bit like a tribute band. " Jimmy Jimmy " , " Teenage Kicks " , " My Perfect Cousin" and others are fun though. Its gone past midnight when the Stranglers hit the stage . They inflict tracks from the last album on the crowd when they should have stuck to the just the hits tonight. Best tunes were " Grip" , " Something Better Change " and " No More Heroes " but i have seen them do better shows and i am sure they would agree it could have been better....... Sunday for me started with TV Smith who for this show was playing with a band as opposed to the usual solo acoustic guitar set . They are brilliant and rock nicely with classics like " Gary Gilmores Eyes " , "Bored Teenagers " and " One Chord Wonders" . Chelsea arrive on stage and singer G

Posted 7th June 2005