Ray's Gigs

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Tuesday 20 July 2021.

Tuesday 20 July 2021. WILL & THE PEOPLE live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Re-opening party for this venues first "back to normal" gig since March 2020. As it is lesser known bands, the tickets are only £6 each. Will & The People are from London, consisting of frontman Will Rendle, his brother Jamie Rendle on bass, keyboard player Jim Ralphs and drummer Charlie Harman. Formed in 2007, the band met at Glastonbury Festival and released their self-titled debut album in 2011. They followed up with ‘Friends’ in 2012 and ‘Whistleblower’ in 2015. The band also put out the 'B-Sides Collection' in 2020. With their winning blend of folk with tinges of reggae, the band headlined at the 2013 Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in Groningen, and continue to tour extensively across the UK and Europe. Support: Pylons , Louis and the Shakes, Leon Tilbrook. Leon Tilbrook is the son of Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze). Levels 2 and 3 will be closed as they do not want a full house on the first night back. It is pretty much a warm-up to the Tom Jones sold out full capacity show next Tuesday. ------------------ Around 600 folks here - 500 standing in the stalls and 100 seated in Level 1. Lots of student types here, so maybe the headliners are popular in colleges and universities. The three support bands played for around 25 mins each, all were decent enough. WILL & THE PEOPLE arrive on stage at 9.25pm and play for 70 mins. They are much livelier than the other bands, and get their loyal fans down the front dancing. The singerr gets down to his underpants for their final two tracks. They played a nice cover for their encore - The Pixies " Where Is My Mind?". A good show. ------------------- Wednesday 21 July 2021. Happy Birthday to CAT STEVENS who is 73 today. Cat left the music for many years , due to his conversion to Islam. I did see him play a full show at Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. --------- Wednesday 21 July 2021...6.15pm to 9.15pm POLICY EXCHANGE "summer garden party" at Westminster Abbey, London SW1. Around 500 guests here in these beautiful historic grounds, that date back hundreds of years. Policy Exchange is a think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in The Daily Telegraph as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". The Washington Post said Policy Exchange's reports "often inform government policy in Britain." At 7.15pm we had a few speeches , including well known politician MICHAEL GOVE. Also here is the long time party goer V&A chairman Nicholas Coleridge. He is the former president of Condé Nast...attended hundreds of parties while he was with them... Complimentary white wines, rose wines, cobra beers and lots of different canapés including cheese burgers, prawn tempura , salmon etc. ----------------- Thursday 22 July 2021. Happy Birthday to GEORGE CLINTON who is 80 today. Happy Birthday to DON HENLEY who is 74 today.