News and Reviews: 29th June 2005

27 June 2005 .U2 live at Croke Park , Dublin. What an amazing evening this was . The last of 3 sold out homecoming shows in a truly massive stadium that holds 80,000 punters per night. There are hundreds outside without tickets. Things start late in Dublin it appears with U2 not arriving on stage until 9.10pm . Bono says "as its the last night in Dublin the police garda have said we can play a bit longer " and thats what we got.U2 played for 20 mins longer than any other of their shows so far inc i am told the two other Dublin shows . They finish at 11.40pm .All the songs they have been adding and swapping are played tonight. There are local tributes with a couple of lines of Thin Lizzys " The Boys Are Back In Town" and Shane McGowans " Dirty Ole Town" . The big songs were all there " Vertigo " , " Elevation" "Pride In The Name Of Love " and "Where The Streets Have No Name" . Even at the end where they always finish with a reprise of " Vertigo" they did that and came back with "Yahweh" and "40" . As 80,000 headed for Dublin City Centre at midnight after the gig most knew it was one of those special 10 out of 10 shows........ 24/25 June 2005 .Wireless Festival ,Hyde Park , London. Promoters Clear Channel first attempt at a 4 day festival in Central London. While the line up could have been stronger the size and vibe of the festival is just right and hopefully with no Glastonbury Festival next year the 20,000 venue will have some sold out days this time in 2006. With a Gibson tent offering free guitar lessons and a couple of hot tubs it was a good way to meet some new friends. On the Friday it rained a bit but The Bravery did a good set of their catchy synth pop. Next up Moby did a short 45 mins set of well known tunes that were perfect as warm up to New Order. New Order despite some technical problems were fantastic.New songs "Crystal" and " Krafty " opened the show before loads of New Order and Joy Division classics were rolled out. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" ,"True Faith " "Temptation" and superb encores of "Shes Lost Control " and " Blue Monday" . Hookys bass playing was magic as usual........... The next day there was more punters it must be said which is a credit to live dance music. Stereo Mcs are back on the scene again and are good with neat versions of "Connected " and " Step It Up " but the singer seems annoyed the crowd are not fully into it.Roots Manuva i like a lot and his South London lyrics go down a treat ."Witness " is brilliant and last song "Dreamy Days " is the best song of the day. Basement Jaxx are headlining and the crowd love them ." Oh My Gosh" and "Wheres Your Head At " are pretty good but not really my cuppa overall ........... 22 June 2005 .The Psychedelic Furs live at The Shepherds Bush Empire , London. Even though they have played a few tours over the years in the States this was their first UK show since 1991. To a great reception they belted out their best tunes from their 1980s heyday. "Into You Like A Train" , "Mr Jones" ,"President Gas " , "Love My Way" , "The Ghost In You" .The band still feature three original members inc singer Richard Butler who still has his Bowie fixation. He struggled with the high notes to a couple of songs but is full of stage charisma and is great to watch. "Heartbreak Beat" ,"Heaven" and "Forever Now" were all superb and the crowd loved the encores of "Sister Europe" , "Pretty In Pink " and "India" .Great to see them playing live again. See aftershow page for this show ........... 22 June 2005 .Brian Wilson live at Hampton Court Palace ,just outside West London. What a superb location to watch a band this is . From 7pm to 9pm everyone brings drinks and picnics to have in the beautiful grounds and then 9pm Brian and his brilliant band play within the walls of this famous historic building.Venue holds 2500 and is sold out. A 1 hour 45 mins greatest hits set outdoors is just great fun.This was a warm up show for his Glasto gig on Sunday.So many great songs "Sloop John B" ,"Heroes And Villians", "Breakaway" ,a superb " California Girls" , "I Get Around" ,"Wouldnt It Be Nice" ,"God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations" . Everyone up and dancing for superb encores of " Help Me Rhonda" , "Barbara Ann" ,"Surfin USA" ,"Fun Fun Fun " and his usual closing tune " Love And Mercy" . A really enjoyable evening out . Our photographer mate www.dannyclifford.com was there to take some photos so check his website when you have a few spare mins......... 20 June 2005. Audioslave live at Brixton Academy, London. First of three sell out shows at this venue to promote release of their second album. From the moment they came on the bass, drums and stunning guitar from Tom Morello was supertight and they really got into a great groove.For this tour they are playing a few oldies from their previos groups Soundgarden and RATM. "Spoonman " fits in nicely next to " Gasoline" . RATM "Bulls On Parade " and " Sleep Now In The Fire " were just awesome with some amazing guitar playing.Chris Cornell has a fine voice and for the first encore he sung "Black Hole Sun" alone with an acoustic guitar. The crowd went mental for RATM " Killing In The Name " and "Cochise" . A really good show from quality musicians. A mate spotted Jimmy Page at the Wed Audioslave show at Brixton............ 19 June 2005. Motley Crue live at Wembley Arena Pavillion , London. Here we are in a bleeding tent and the heat and humidity inside is nasty. Motley Cure come on early while lots are still in the bar cooling themselves down. The all seating system here tonight means the atmosphere is no way as good as Manchester earlier in the week. The show itself again is great fun and some great uptempo rockers with strippers and dwarfs on stage is again a visual treat even though the 10 mins interval still seems pointless. Mick Mars looks really ill but plays fantastic guitar.Tommy Lee gets out the " titty cam" and its clear the girlies love rock n roll bad boys. Nikki Sixx brings his son on for the encore. The messy encore of " Helter Skelter " and "Anarchy In The UK " is great fun but it was not as good overall as the Manchester show. See aftershow party area for this show......... 18 June 2005 .U2 live at Twickenham Stadium . First of two huge outdoor shows here for 55,000 punters a day .After our front stage pit tickets at Manchester tonight we have some great sears. Pretty much the same set as Manchester but 5 mins shorter so they musr have dropped one song. So many big tunes of pure quality in the ser. Two songs that realy soared tonight were "Pride In The Name Of Love" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" .The whole stadium was rocking .There are not many bands that can handle big shows like this but U2 pull it off with ease. Excellent stuff................... 17 June 2005. Rachid Taha + Carbon Silicon + Black Rebel Motorcycle Club live at The Royal Festival Hall , London. This was one of the shows at this years Meltdown Festival which is currated by New York Punk Icon Patti Smith. Up first are Carbon Silicon who are fronted by Clash legend and QPR season ticket holder Mick Jones.The band and songs are getting better and better and its great to see Mick really just enjoying playing live music again. Thanks to Micks Clash royalties there is no real rush to get involved with record companies at present. Patti Smith herself joins the band for a great encore of Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe" .Next up is Algerian Rai music supremo Rachid Taha .While his band are infectious and get a few dancing down the front the lack of spoken English and his stumbling stage manner made it just an ok show.A lot of it just sounded like what you would hear as background music to a belly dancing act. However their encore of "Rock The Casbah" with Mick Jones and Patti Smith joining them on stage sent the whole crowd bananas. After in the foyer BRMC played a low key show .I really like their dirty rock n roll sound but i feel they have blown their chance of hitting the big time. Some of the oldies were great like " Spread Your Love " and "Whatever Happened To Our Rock n Roll ". A good night in parts overall....... 16 June 2005. Mojo Music Awards , Porchester Hall, London. This was the second awards event for this great monthly music mag dedicated to quality musicians regardless of record sales etc. There are about 60 tables of 10 people on each and another 100 standing. We are guests of our chums at Cadiz Music who look after Roy Harper who won an award tonight and they sponsored the main award of the night when The Edge from U2 presented the Icon Award to Siouxsie Sioux . We had a lovely meal and plenty of free booze. A fantastic collection of rockers were here . Slash from Velvet Revolver , Jeff Beck ,Elbow, Jimmy Page ,Paul Weller , Ray Davies and Dave Davies , Steve Harley ,Phil Jupitus ,Dr John, Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays, Billy Bragg, Siouxsie and Budgie (had a nice chat with Budgie - they have a DVD coming out July 25 from their Royal Festival Hall and 100 Club shows) , Geoff Travis, Joe Brown, Shane McGowan ,Dave Gilmour , Dizzie Rascal, Roy Harper, Travis , Gang Of Four,The Edge(U2) ,John Cale, Robert Cray,Sinead O'Connor, Bill Wyman ,The Magic Numbers, Chris Hillman (Byrds) ,Harvey Goldsmith, Steve Earle , Mark E Smith (The Fall), Robert Wyatt, Sly And Robbie, and Madness . After the awards at 11pm it was down to the nearby Cobden Club for the aftershow party and more free booze.Those who turned up here included Shane McGowan , Madness , Travis, Roy Harper, Elbow , The Magic Numbers and Mojo editor Phil Alexander . This was an totally excellent evening.................... 15 June 2005.Motley Crue + Killing Joke live at MEN Arena ,Manchester . Despite the hype from their American shows this 15,000 seater venue has sold only 9000 tickets. I was told there were more here last night for SOAD.Support Killing Joke do their intense rock but leave this crowd a bit bemused tonight. The Motley Crue show is over two hours of pure spectacle. The stage is dressed like a huge circus tent. There are three sexy female dancers , a dwarf , explosions , flames , fireworks ,clowns and more .They play loads of great catchy rock n roll tunes even though a few sound pretty much the same. "Shout At The Devil" , "Shes Got The Looks To Kill", Live Wire " , Strange that after an hour they decide to take a 10 mins break .Mick Mars maybe cannot stand up for too long these days. "Dr Feelgood " and " Girls Girls Girls " are superb as is " Home Sweet Home" .Drummer Tommy Lee is fantastic even though tonight there is no 10 mins drum solo with exploding drumkit as promised but he does get out the " titty cam" where around 20 females in the crowd get their breasts out for a bit of fun.The encore was a couple of covers Helter Skelter and a blinding "Anarchy In The UK". What Rotten , Matlock ,Cook and Jones would think of Motley doing this song with three half naked women and a dwarf on a unicycle behind them is anyones guess but it was a great night. Motley Crue play Wembley Arena on June 19 .See you there.............. 14 June 2005.U2 live at the City Of Manchester Stadium. Well here they are at last . U2 on the opening date of their UK tour which is part of their huge two month European tour that has some 30 stadium shows at 50,000 punters at each. Easily the biggest live tour of the year. Luckily we are in the front pit area where the two walkways are with a great view .The first six songs tonight just blow you away with quality "Vertigo" ,"I Will Follow" ,"Electric Co" , "Elevation" , "New Years Day " and "Its A Beutiful Day " .Bono says of Machester " the city that taught white people to dance" .They play a few tracks from the good new album .Bono of course is a perfect front man. The Edge played some incredible guitar tonight. "Sunday Bloody Sunday " , "Bullet The Blue Sky " "Pride In The Name Of Love" ,"Where The Streets Have No Name " were all stunning .After 90 mins of their 2 hours 10 mins set the huge stage production and light show really kicked in. They finished off by playing "Vertigo " again but this time in a blaze of red lighting. Yep U2 still are one of the greatest live bands in the world ..................... 13 June 2005. Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards , Astoria , London. The mag that supports the heaviest music and their 3rd annual awards show. About 800 competition winners downstairs and about 800 media ,vips and guests upstairs .Hot and humid and the free bar only lasted an hour . A few bands played a couple of songs each Shadows Fall , Nightwish, Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium and Anthrax finished the show with four live songs. Others there to present or collect awards included Lost Prophets and HIMs Ville Valo who both got booed off (not metal enough?). Slipknot ,Chad Smith (RHCP) ,Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) , Lemmy (Motorhesd) , Zakk Wylde . A good night overall but not in the league of something like the BRIT Awards or the NME Awards ................. After a slight delay the fantastic Sex Pistols film " The Great Rock And Roll Swindle " is in the shops on DVD from 13 June .A must buy item for sure....... 12 June 2005. Stranglers and Stiff Little Fingers live at Brockwell Park, London SE24. A nice relaxed outdoor festival for about 2000 people. Stiff Little fingers are lively and brilliant. Loads of great tunes like "Nobodys Heroes" , "At The Edge" ,"Strummerville" ," Fly The Flag" , "Wasted Life " , "Tin Soldier " . Great encores of "Barbed Wire Love" and "Alternative Ulster". Next are headliners The Stranglers who also play in daylight as the venue has a 9pm curfew. Again lots of good tunes like "Always The Sun", "Golden Brown" , "Walk On By" , a superb "Grip" , "Something Better Change " and neat encores of "Five Minutes " and "No More Heroes" . A really good double bill for those of a certain age.See aftershow news for this event........ 11 June 2005. Sex Pistols Experience Boat Trip Party , River Thames , London. Even though i had a weekend ticket to stay at Download to see Black Sabbath and Velvet Revolver i simply could not miss this great event . The Sex Pistols number one tribute band hiring out the same boat The Sex Pistols used in 1977 . On board it is a 150 people sell out and a unique atmosphere . First up Ten Pole Tudor does a few songs and goes down really well then the SPE take the stage for a brilliant 90 mins set of Sex Pistols anthems. The whole boat is rocking in every sense. Ten Pole Tudor joins them for the encore of "Swords Of A Thousand Men" . There are great gigs and great events .This was both .See you there on the boat this time next year............ 10 June 2005. Billy Idol + Garbage + Dinosaur Jr + Megadeth live at Download Festival, Donington. Here we are at Donington for this years Download Festival which is bigger and better than ever. Over 100 bands over 3 days and 3 stages. Every night had a very impressive line up. First up were Megadeth. This was to be their final UK show before splitting up and they draw a massive crowd. They stil are a bit too speed metal thrash for my liking though. Next up were Dinosaur Jr who are on a reunion tour but the crowd run off elsewhere and they play to a half empty field. They are pretty average to be honest.Next up are Garbage and they are great. Shirley bounces around the big stage and is really out to enjoy herself. Great tunes like "Stupid Girl" , "Why Do You Love Me " ,"I Think Im Paranoid", "Push It" ,"Sex Is Not The Enemy", "Only Happy When It Rains" ,"When I Grow Up". A really good set. Next up the main event . Ladies and gentleman we present Billy Idol in his first UK show for 12 years and he still rocks.Aided by Steve Stevens on guitar he plays an 80 mins set of old and new with a couple of cover versions as well. Billy looks in great shape.Loads of mega tunes "Dancing With Myself", "Flesh For Fantasy " , "White Wedding" ,"Eyes Without A Face " ,Van Halens "Jump" ,"Ready Steady Go " ,"Rebel Yell" ,and encores of Whos "Who Are You " and "Mony Mony " . The set also featured some good tracks from his new album "Devils Playground" .A really fantastic show and he promised he would be back in a few months for a theatre tour of the UK.......... 08 June 2005. Roxy Music live at Koko ,Camden, London . This is the famous Camden Palace which has been renovated and is slowly getting some decent bands to play there.So tonight Roxy Music are playing a low key warm up show for this weekends Isle Of Wight Festival .Inside there are 1000 punters and 200 guests upstairs. Its very hot and a bit too packed inside. Roxy Music are crammed on to the stage as there is about a dozen in the band now. The first few songs are a bit sluggish but it gets better and better. Bryan Ferry still looks amazing. Loads of great songs like "Oh Yeah Theres A Band Playing On The Radio" , "Both Ends Burning" , "In A Every Dream Home A Heartache" ,"Jealous Guy " and a stunning " Virginia Plain " . Chris Speddings guitar solos are superb. Great encore of " Love Is The Drug " and "Do The Strand" complete with a couple of dancing girls.It was a very good show but not as good as the Hammersmith Apollo shows a couple of years ago.See aftershow page for this gig.......... Well as usual June is a totally amazing month for live music in London and the UK. The long awaited tours by U2 and Motley Crue finally arrive here and the Festival season starts with the very impressive line up at this years Download Festival . Over 50 bands over 3 days .Friday will feature Feeder , Garbage and Billy Idols only UK show of the summer Saturday features Black Sabbath ,Velvet Revolver and HIM and Sunday features System Of A Down, Slipknot and Slayer . Day and weekend tickets are still available from the usual agents and the 24 hour hotline number 0870-4000822 The dates are June 10,11,12.

Posted 29th June 2005