Ray's Gigs

Daily news and reviews of gigs bars clubs restaurants product launches films theatre fashion shows books art galleries hotels competitions interesting places to visit ...and much more!

Thursday 25 November 2021.

Thursday 25 November 2021. FOLAMOUR live at St John Church, Hackney, East London. FOLAMOUR plays the first of two sold out shows at this refurbished church. FOLAMOUR is a popular French musical artist as well as a music composer. He is actually best known as a DJ. ----------------- We arrive at 8pm and there are dance tunes being played over the pa. FOLAMOUR arrived on stage at 9pm for his two hour set. By the time Folamour appeared, this 1800 capacity venue was packed.It felt like a proper indoor rave crowd as the French house and disco producer did his stuff. His effortless mix of self-produced edits, remixes and original tracks had everyone dancing. A big screen showing pre-recorded technicolour images and lots of lights. A much bigger drinking crowd than i had expected. Many of the dance tunes had nice brass all over them. A couple of cheesy remixed well known tracks went down well near the end , "Relight My Fire" and "Staying Alive". An enjoyable evening. ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Wednesday 24 November 2021. DEACON BLUE live at Hammersmith Apollo. Deacon Blue are playing a massive UK tour. Thurs 02 Dec - Royal Albert Hall - second London show next week. Scottish pop-rockers were very popular in the late 1980s/early 1990s. As of 2020, Deacon Blue's total album sales stood at seven million, with twelve UK top 40 singles, along with two number one albums in both the UK and Scotland. Deacon Blue will be playing a mix of tracks from new album "CITY OF LOVE " and their big hits. I have seen them five times before, with three times at Hammersmith Odeon when I worked there in the late 1980s, and twice more when they reformed. ------------------ Another show here, where the circle is 75 per cent unsold. Not sure why they are playing two London shows, maybe the RAH is more liked by fans. DEACON BLUE arrived on stage at 8.35pm and played a nice long set lasting 2 hours 15 mins. A nicely paced set, with the big hits in the last 30 mins of the show. A big screen showing pre-recorded images along with video clips from their heyday period. Lots of lights used as well. The band have many catchy radio friendly hits for folks to sing along loudly to. Some nice female vocals on shared vocals for several tracks. Hits like "Chocolate Girl" and "Raintown " warmed the crowd up. Big hits later included "Real Gone Kid", "Dignity" and "Fergus Sings The Blues". They seem to change the setlist around a bit by playing two different covers every night, so tonight we have "Have You Seen Her?" (The Chi-Lites) and " What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding" (Nick Lowe). New album tracks were pretty average but overall a good show.