News and Reviews: 26th August 2005

25 August 2005. Kerrang Awards at The Brewery , London EC1. Mega bash for 600 mainly seated guests with gallons of free booze and a bit of grub. Lots of up and coming bands like Towers Of London are here and a few big names like Marilyn Manson , Bruce Dickenson, Killing Joke , Foo Fighters , My Chemical Romance , Feeder , Placebo, Roger Taylor (Queen) .At 10.30pm the guests and some of the bands moved to the aftershow at Industry where the DJ played a great set of metal and rock anthems until 2am. Excellent rock n roll evening.............. 20 and 21 August 2005 . V Festival at Chelmsford. Lots of bands played here over the weekend. I watched Oasis , Robert Plant ,Maroon 5 , Prodigy , Hives , Music , Tony Christie , Kaiser Chiefs , Idlewild and a couple of others. Lots of hospitality here. Sat afternoon we spent in the Virgin Mobile Louder Lounge and Sunday afternoon was spent in the Virgin Radio tent where we saw saw short acoustic sets by Franz Ferdinand , Embrace and Tony Christie .Great weekend......... 18 August 2005. Scissor Sisters live at the Kentish Town Forum , London. Warm up show for their headline sets at this weekends V Festivals .From the start its party party time as for 80 mins the band play all their mega selling album tracks inc the singles and a few from the second album out soon. Really enjoyable show that the crowd loved........... 11 August 2005. Jamiroquai live at Shepherds Bush Pavillion ,London. Not to be confused with the Shepherds Bush Empire 50 yards away this is the building that looks derelict from the outside but hosts once a month invite only parties. I have been to a Mick Jagger party here and a Q Awards party here but they also hold stuff like the Tory Party Summer Ball . Inside there are 800 guests all knocking back the free booze all night supplied by sponsors Sony Ericsson and their new Walkman W800 mobile phone. Jamiroquai do a funky enjoyable 90 mins set with tunes like "Space Cowboy " , "Alright" and mega versions of "Cosmic Girl " and "Deeper Underground " .Also in there was a cover of Jimi Hendrix "Crosstown Traffic" and a couple of newies off the just released " Dynamite " album. Jay Kay is still a cool cat and after being quiet for a year or two the band will be everywhere promoting this record and topping up that 20 million album sales they have sold already .Good show.............. Jamiroquai gig was my 4400th i have been to ... Coldplay come back to the UK for some arena shows inc Earls Court on 14 December . I expect Oasis to confirm some winter London shows once they have played their V Festival gigs...... This is one of those great music websites. Check out www.remembertheeighties.com which features all your fave 1980s acts with links and news of what they are up to in the future.... 06 Aug 2005 . Glen Matlock And The Philistines + Paul Collins Beat live at Plaza De Toros (The Bullring) ,Medina Del Campo , 80 miles North West Of Madrid ,Spain. Blimey i have been to some surreal venues but this one is right up there .Due to the heat the show does not start until midnight as 500 crazy spaniards party the night away.For Glen Matlock And The Philistines this was their first show together this year but they play a great 60 mins set inc "Piece Of The Action" and " White Knuckle Ride" as well as Sex Pistols classics "God Save The Queen" and "Pretty Vacant" . The band are totally rocking and more gigs please in the UK is my request. Paul Collins Beat feat an American who is a bit of a cult figure in Spain with a neat mix of Fender guitar power pop with catchy lyrics.It was a really enjoyable set. The evening finished at 4am. Thanks to promoter Pancho and his assistant Dani for the hotel accomodation and hospitality over the weekend.......... After their headline show at The Reading Festival Iron Maiden play a benefit show at Hammersmith Apollo on 2 Sept 2005. Tickets are £40 and go on sale to the general public 01 August . Full info on the gig is on www.ironmaiden.com where Rod Smallwood gives a great mention of how important the Apollo (Odeon) was in Maidens history. He lists the 21 times they have played there in their career of which i have seen a staggering 18 of them............. 30 July 2005 . Glen Matlock Solo show live at Filthy McNastys Pub, Twickenham . Sex Pistols legend up close for another acoustic gig. Really good 65 mins set featuring the best of his three solo albums as well as Rich Kids/Pistols classics like "Burning Sounds" , "God Save The Queen" ,"Stepping Stone" ,"Ghosts Of Princes And Towers" and a superb " Pretty Vacant " . Great encore of Small Faces " All Or Nothing " where he was joined by a girl from the crowd on backing vocals who did a proper job. Loads of great on stage banter from Mr Matlock. Really good gig in a neat new venue........... 28 July 2005 . Paul McCartney Solo show live at Abbey Road Studios , London.We knew it would be intimate but this was pretty amazing to see the Beatles legend in the famous home of their album recordings in the 1960s.We thought it would be for 300 or 400 in the main Studio 1 but its in the much smaller Studio 2 so there are only 50 at max here with most seated on sofas. Paul was on stage 7.55pm to 9.30pm (1 hr 35 mins) . He avoided most of his main Beatles or solo hits for a set that included eight tracks from his new album "Chaos And Creation In The Back Yard" which is due for release on Sept 5 . This show was recorded for Radio 2 and will be an hour special nearer the release date of the album. Paul was full of great stories and fun banter. He mixed playing guitar with the piano and bass. Nigel Godrich who is Radioheads producer and has produced Maccas new album helped him out here on a couple of the songs . Set was " Friends To Go " ,"In Spite Of All The Danger" ,"Twenty Flight Rock " , "Things We Said Today" , "Too Much Rain " ," How Kind Of You" , "Band On The Run" ,"Fine Line " (at this point he gave out some percussion instruments to the crowd to join in with him ),"Lady Madonna" , "English Tea" , "Heartbreak Hotel " (for this song he brought out the original double bass as used by Elvis Presley bassist Bill Black) , "Jenny Wren" , "Ive Got A Feeling", " Follow Me", "Blackbird" ,"Mellotron samples inc Strawberry Fields Forever" , "Anyway " ,"Jamming Track Finale". This was a very ,very special show. See aftershow news for this show............ After the success of his Donington Download Festival gig in June Billy Idol plays his first ever London show for over 10 years at Brixton Academy on 11 November 2005 ............. 21 July 2005 .Lenny Kravitz live At Hammersmith Apollo , London.Lenny is a true rocker where all the boys wanna be him and all the girls wanna be his girlfriend it seems. He played a superb two hours of funk rock . Cool tunes like " Let Love Rule " , "It Aint Over Till Its Over " and "Always On The Run " really got in the groove. "American Woman" and " Fly Away " were brilliant. Lenny is a total showman from start to finish. Last song was the uptempo rocker " Are You Gonna Go My Way " . Really good show ......... 16 and 17 July 2005 . Guilfest Music Festival in Guildford, Surrey with Saturday show feat Paul Weller + Echo And The Bunnymen + The Others + The Subways and Sunday show feat Status Quo + Daniel Bedingfield + Lulu + Marillion + Chas And Dave + Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain ...... I have not been to Glastonbury for a few years because it has simply got too big .100,000 plus punters means your car is a mile from your tent , your tent is a mile from the stages and there are too many drug induced crusties rolling around in the annual mud bath. Picture the opposite which is Guildford , a lovely short drive down the A3 , you can park your car 2 mins from the gates and come and go to it as you need. There is no need for giant video screens here. Its held in July and gets great weather. A lovely cosy size of about 20,000 punters a day with lots to see and do for all the family. Derek The Dalek , The three Slash lookalikes and Rolf Harris wandering around were my fave sights. On the Saturday first are hotly tipped 3 piece The Subways who were really good with a foxy female bass player . They played some cracking tunes off their debut album inc the brilliant "Rock n Roll Queen" .The Others were hotly tipped a year ago but where The Kaiser Chiefs have gone up , up and away the Others have stalled a bit even though they have some great tunes like " Stan Bowles "(nice to see that huge QPR flag in the crowd) and "This Is For The Poor".Echo And The Bunnymen like New Order are eighties legends with credibilty.Singer Ian still in his trademark shades with fag in hand. Loads of great songs " Sugar Kisses" , "Rescue Me " , "Seven Seas" ," The Back Of Love " , "The Killing Moon" ,"The Cutter" and great encore of " Nothing Ever Lasts Forever"and "Walk On The Wild Side" .Paul Weller and his excellent band do a really good 1 hour 45 mins set. Early on he played his cracking new single " From The Floorboards Up " .He dedicated a song to the London bombers " Savages" . A great mix of songs from his long career . A superb "Thats Entertainment" nearly caused a riot. Other superb tracks inc " You Do Something To Me " , "Changingman" and "Shout To The Top" . Superb encore of " Broken Stones" and another Jam classic " A Town Called Malice" ........... Sunday started off with a pleasing surprise , The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain played a mad range of covers like "Silver Machine" , "Life On Mars " and "Teen Spirit " which mixed with some great on stage fun banter made sure they went down really well with this crowd. 1960s legends The Zombies started slow but fininshed well. "Time Of The Season " and " Shes Not There " were great as was a couple of Argent classics like "Hold Your Head Up" and "God Gave Rock And Roll To You" .Next up were Cockney geezers Chas And Dave plugging their current greatest hits cd. "London Girls " . "Gercha" . "Rabbit" ."Snooker Loopy" and "Aint No Pleasing You " were all good fun. Next up were Marillion but their singer comes on dressed all in black like an overweight goth and they just fail to really make any impression with me. Lulu still looks great for her age. She plays a mainly covers set but " Man Who Sold The World" and "Shout " are mega .Mr Bedingfield has seen his second album flop badly but there are plenty of screaming girls here to see him. To be polite he is not my cup of tea. Headliners Status Quo are playing more shows than ever these days but the money must be rolling in as Rick Parfitt drove to the show in his brand new 250k McClaren Merc which looks amazing in the backstage area. Loads and loads of great catchy heads down Quo anthems inc a few off last album "Heavy Traffic" and others like " Rain" , "Roll Over Lay Down" ,"Down Down" , "Whatever You Want" , and "Rockin All Over The World" . An excellent finish to a great festival ............... Fancy a festival at another lovely location??? Royal Jersey Showground on Sat 03 Sept holds a day of quality acts and djs inc Kasabian , Bravery , Futureheads , Ordinary Boys etc. More info on www.jerseylive.org.uk

Posted 26th August 2005