News and Reviews: 1st October 2007

30 Sept 2007. Marc Bolans 60th birthday party at The Cafe De Paris,London.About 400 fans are here to celebrate what would have been Marcs 60th. It has not got the same buzz about it as the Shepherds Bush event from two weeks ago. Indeed the first 90 mins was pretty boring with poetry and book readings,some late 60s dj sounds and a couple of lame acts.The second half was much better with a Marc Bolan lookalike comp then Boy George with band and backing singers did four songs "New York City","Life Is Strange","Beltane Walk" and a great "Lifes A Gas" then a female blues singer called Katherine Ellis did really good versions of "Solid Gold Easy Action","Light Of Love","Teenage Dream" and "Jeepster".Then the Circus Of Horrors team performed their stunts,a midget swallowing lightbulbs and opening beer bottles with his eyes,walking on swords,the man with the stretchiest skin who could pull his neck skin over his mouth up to his nose and the usual fireating stunts and then a Bolan disco until midnight.Sadly Gloria Jones and Rolan Bolan did not turn up and Marcs brother Harry was well pissed off with them.So a good night but it could have been better................................. 29 Sept 2007.PJ Harvey live at The Royal Festival Hall,London.This show sold out pronto with the minimum of publicity.PJ is playing solo and plays electic guitar,acoustic guitar,piano,keyboards, mouth organ and even some harp.I have seen her at festivals but dont own any of her albums.She is promoting new single "When Under Ether" and new album "White Chalk".In a full length dress she starts off with "To Bring You My Love" and this cool crowd stay very quiet during the songs and then erupt at the end with wild applause.Some other highlights of the shortish 85 mins set were "Man-Size" and the first encore "Rid Of Me".She is a rare artist who just does her own thing and people love it even though shes rarely on tv etc. A good show overall.............................. 28 Sept 2007.Gwen Stefani + CSS live at Wembley Arena,London.CSS are a perfect support to GS with their nutty female singer.They finish their 30 mins set with their great single "Lets Make Love And Listen To Death From Above".A nice big stage production for GW with lots of dancers, video screens and costume changes.She has sold over 30 million albums with No Doubt and solo and this is her first UK solo tour.The set lasted 1 hour 40 mins and visually it was good fun but there were a lot of pretty average songs from her two solo albums.Goodies inc "Rich Girl", "Yummy","Early Winter","Wind It Up","Hollaback Girl","Wonderful Life" and "Cool" where she ran into the crowd and sang at the back of the arena.Encores were "The Real Thing" and "What You Waiting For".An ok show overall............. 27 Sept 2007.Tony Hadley live at The End Of Summer Berkeley Square Ball,London.Upmarket crowd here for this party in a marquee.Around 500 are drinking the freebie cocktails.The live act is always a secret.Last year it was James Brown this year its errr Tony Hadley which is not at the same level but the crowd enjoy it.His 60 mins set had far too many cover versions for my liking but he played a few Spandau classics like "True" and "Gold".He finished with a cover of "I Predict A Riot"(he did honest).For more info on him check www.tony-hadley.com................. 25 Sept 2007.Stiff Little Fingers live at Virgin Megastore,London.A free instore gig to promote their new DVD "Still Burning".Its a short but sweet 5 song 20 mins set with "Tin Soldiers", "Wasted Life","Strummerville","Suspect Device" and "Alternative Ulster".Great guitars and great drums and just great tunes.SLF tour the UK next month and play Astoria2 Mean Fiddler on Oct 18... then a mad dash over to The IMAX Theatre in Waterloo for the launch of the new XBOX 360 game which my teenage sons are frothing over.Its called HALO 3 and its in the shops from Sept 26. Great venue here where the graphics and sound really come to life.Hosted by Iain Lee and singer Pharrell Williams is here promoting it.They also gave the entire crowd of 500 a copy of the game after we had seen a few demos of it in action.... 24 Sept 2007.Leona Lewis live at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Knightsbridge,London.Invite only bash for the media and SONYBMG to launch the single and album from this X Factor TV comp winner.Its very lavish as around 300 guzzle the Moet champers,cocktails and posh canopes at this 5 star hotel.Leona has been in America the last few months and big things are expected of her.The poor girl must be shitting herself as first the lady from Harpers Bazaar mag tells us they have a multi page article on her in the current issue then Simon Cowell and Clive Davis via video link ups tell us what a great talent Leona is.We get four songs tonight.She looks great and sounds good but there is no live band just some backing singers and a guitarist and a backing track.She sung "Homeless" a cover of "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" and the new single "Bleeding Love".It will be interesting how her career goes in the future.Will she stick around like Will Young or die a death like Gareth Gates?Only time will tell.Nice goodie bag on the way out inc a SONY WALKMAN IPOD and CK perfume.......................................... 22 Sept 2007.Ricky Gervais - Fame live at The Hammersmith Apollo,London.While Prince is over at The 02 Arena playing his 21 shows Ricky has been playing over 20 shows at this famous live music venue to 4,000 people a night.His rise has been incredible from XFM Radio dj to major TV hits The Office and Extras and even last week he won an EMMY award in Los Angeles.The show is now finely tuned after lots of touring around the country.Loads of subjects covered from cancer to overweight folks and body parts but all funny. He has a knack of telling a joke as if he were your mate down your local pub instead of this huge venue.The more near the knuckle he got the more the crowd laughed and his timing and observations were spot on.The 80 mins set flew past and was great fun from start to finish. He now plays Hammersmith Apollo on Sept 24,25,26,27,28,29 and The Royal Albert Hall on October 1 and 2.Info and tix on 0870 606 3400 and www.ticketmaster.co.uk. The DVD of the tour will be in the shops from 12 Novemver 2007....... 21 Sept 2007.Prince live at 02 Arena,Docklands, London then the afterparty show at 02 Indigo, Docklands,London.What what an amazing night this was.The buzz had been building for this last show of his 21 nights here.This was the 6th time i had seen him here.All the crowd have been given purple glo sticks to wave to great effect.He was on stage for around 2 hours and again was superb with a mix of his own hits,some funky bits and some cover versions inc "I Feel For You","Cream" "U Got The Look","Le Freak","Diamonds And Pearls" "Purple Rain","Take Me With U","Guitar","Kiss", "Lets Go Crazy" and "1999".Then encores inc "When Doves Cry" and "Alphabet Street".Loads of other great songs and Prince just rocked the place.His season here will go down in legend. In the crowd tonight i spotted David Gilmour, Skin,Graham Norton,Melanie C and Chris Moyles.... ....then over to the last aftershow gig over the road.Prince was on from 1.30am to 4.15am.A staggering 2 hours 45 mins on stage.The curtains opened and girl of the moment Amy Winehouse was there to sing "Love Is A Losing Game".The set had more cover versions and funky jams than the main set but was great.Songs inc "Come Together" "Whole Lotta Love" and "Le Freak" and Beverley Knight came on to sing a song.He had his whole band with him and his backing singers shared the vocals.He also had the dancer twins on stage. Encores inc "Misty Blue" and "Alphabet Street". Tired at the end but it was sure worth it....... 20 Sept 2007.Status Quo + Gary Moore + members of Deep Purple live at The Porchester Hall, Queensway,London.This was a special charity show put together by www.thesunflowerjam.com for about 500 people.Up first we have the house band inc Roger Glover,Ian Paice,Jon Lord,Ray Cooper,Paul McCartneys keyboard player,Phil Manzernera and the singer from The Storys as they play a 45 mins set of covers inc "Nutbush City Limits", "Alright Now" and "Gimme Some Loving" and Gary Moore joins them for 3 songs for some stunning guitar playing inc Jimi Hendrix "Red House" and Chuck Berrys "30 Days".Then a short interval and Status Quo play a great 5 song set of hits mere feet in front of us "Caroline","Roll Over Lay Down","Down Down","Whatever You Want" and "Rockin All Over The World".Short but sweet.Paul McCartney was down for a possible couple of songs but got held up at daughter Stellas fashion show event up the road which was a shame.Also in thr crowd was Freida from Abba(shes friends with Jon Lord),Jeremy Irons and Damon Hill.A very unique and very enjoyable classic rock show. See aftershow party page............19 Sept 2007. VODAFONE Live Music Awards 2007 at The Brompton Hall,Earls Court,London.The great thing about tonights show was that all the awards were related to live music and not best album,single etc.A massive crowd full of celebs,media and competition winners all here to celebrate the best in live music.In the media hospitality area was great fun as i had chats with most of the live acts and the presenters.The 9 live acts were The Enemy,Calvin Harris,Manic Street Preachers,Athlete,Kate Nash,Enrique Iglesias, Pigeon Detectives,CSS and Stereophonics and they all played one or two tracks for this up for it crowd.Some nice surprises as Deborah Harry from Blondie and Chuck D from Public Enemy presented awards.Chatting to the acts it was pretty clear they all love to play live.Tom Clarke the singer from The Enemy is so small it looked like he was on a day off from school but when talking he has a real wise head on his shoulders and he can talk for England.Chuck D from Public Enemy was impressed when i told him i was at their legendary 1987 shows at Hammersmith Apollo.The question of the day i gave to all the acts was regarding the reunions of legends The Sex Pistols and Led Zeppelin.I asked which influenced them most and who would they prefer to see live.It was a 75% win for Led Zep on this subject.More TV highlights will be shown on Channel 4 T4 over the weekend and keep an eye out for future VODAFONE TBA gigs where the biggest and best live acts around play at some of the smallest and coolest venues in the UK.All in all a great night for live music. Winners were....Best Live Male Mika....Best Live Female Amy Winehouse....Best Live Act Arctic Monkeys....Best Impact 2007 Gossip....Best Show Production Kylie....Best Live Return The Police.. ..Live Music DVD Oasis : Morning Glory....Live Music Venue Wembley Stadium....XFM Live Breakthrough Act Klaxons....Channel 4 Festival Of The Year Glastonbury....Kerrang Live Unsigned Act The Flaming Monkeys....Best International Live Act The Killers.... SONY ERICSSON Tour Of The Year Muse.... Best Roadie Geoff Buckley (James)....The Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement In Live Music Iggy Pop....check www.vodafone.co.uk/music....

Posted 1st October 2007