Ray's Gigs

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Friday 24 September 2021.

Friday 24 September 2021. Yet another SEX PISTOLS item is in stores from today. Early Sex Pistols recordings set for a new box set release. Spanning 4CDs, "Sex Pistols: 76-77" will contain 80 alternate versions of tracks that were recorded before the release of "Never Mind The Bollocks". ------------------ Friday 24 September 2021. JETHRO TULL live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Tonight has been sold out a couple of months before the show. Prog rockers are celebrating their 50th anniversary of their classic 1971 album "Aqualung" with a UK tour. Jethro Tull brought their debut album out over 50 years ago, in 1968. Ian Anderson has been on vocals all that time...and will be age 74 when this gig happens... Jethro Tull have had over 20 different band members over the years. I have seen Jethro Tull a dozen times since 1978, with 10 of those shows at Hammersmith Odeon in the 1970s/1980s/1990s and a more recent show at The Royal Albert Hall. They were regulars at Madison Square Garden in their heyday, when they toured America. ------------------ As expected its an older crowd tonight, so the stalls is all seated. That means the normal 2000 sold out capacity, is now more like 1400 max sold out. JETHRO TULL were on stage for 1 hour 40 mins over two sets of 50 mins each. Ian Anderson still has that "eccentric British gentlemen " feel about him, and he still plays a mean electric flute and stands on one leg often, with the other leg bent. We have film projections on to the big curtain behind them , including 1970s band footage. My punk rock heroes kicked prog out to touch in the mid 1970s for a bit, but prog fans are very loyal and still come out in force when prog bands play Great to see Tull play "Thick as a Brick " and "Living in the Past". An enjoyable show. FULL SETLIST PLAYED TONIGHT... Set 1: Nothing Is Easy Love Story Thick as a Brick Living in the Past (this single went to number 3 in the UK charts back in 1969) Hunt by Numbers Bourrée in E minor (Johann Sebastian Bach cover) Black Sunday My God Set 2: Clasp Wicked Windows The Zealot Gene Pavane in F-Sharp Minor (Gabriel Fauré cover) Songs From the Wood Aqualung Encore: Locomotive Breath The Dambusters March (Eric Coates cover) Cheerio ------------------------ Saturday 25 September 2021. Shock news that well known live music booking agent STEVE STRANGE has passed away. Strange, booking agent for Queens Of The Stone Age, Coldplay, Eminem, Snow Patrol, Stiff Little Fingers, Jimmy Eat World, Ash and many more, has died. He was aged only 53. The news of Strange’s passing was shared in a social media post by X-Ray Touring, the live booking agency he-co-founded in 2005. We chatted many times, and he put me on the guest list for several shows. In 2015 he reformed his band No Hot Ashes (Steve played drums) that he played with in Northern Ireland before he became an agent....I saw them support FM at Shepherds Bush Empire in 2015. The agency currently has over 400 bands on its books, with many well known acts.