Monday 06 March 2023.

Monday 06 March 2023...7.15pm to 10.15pm... THE AUCTION at Christies, King Street, St James's, London SW1. Celebrate 40 years of Terrence Higgins Trust (AIDS Charity) as they showcase world-class auction lots by artists including Tracey Emin, Sir Antony Gormley, Kate Malone and many more. You'll also have the opportunity to bid on some amazing holidays and celebrity experiences. Terrence Higgins was the first named person to die of AIDS in the UK in 1982. I have been to this very nice event several times over the past decade. Most of the 400 guests have paid £100 to be here. A few celebrity faces are here , including LEEE JOHN from 1980s band Imagination, RANJ SINGH (Doctor from ITV This Morning) , MARK-FRANCIS VANDELLI (Made In Chelsea TV), and PANDEMONIA who is a 6' 6" head to toe in latex performance artist & painter. We we were sat for the auction from 8.15pm to 9.15pm. Complimentary prosecco, Mezcal cocktails, Gin & Tonics, canapes and a Mexican Buffet. A very nice goodie for all guests as they were leaving. ACQUA DI PARMA gift box-set... 100ml cologne 75ml shower gel 50ml deodorant ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ Monday 06 March 2023. A massive Live Aid-style benefit gig is to be held to help victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Should have some big names performing as many of them will be playing in the UK at that time. Rumours that Guns N Roses, U2, The Rolling Stones, The Killers, and Pink have been asked to perform at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 24 June in support of President Volodymyr Zelensky. It will be the same weekend as The Glastonbury Festival and televised worldwide. ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Sunday 05 March 2023. GOK WAN plays a DJ set at The Roundhouse. What started as a series of live streams to lift the spirits during lockdown, has quickly grown into one of the most in demand party series today. From sold out shows across the country to over one million streams online for his hit single ‘Let Me Be Your Fantasy’, the renowned fashion-guru, much loved DJ and all-round national treasure gets set to scale things up with a very special return to London. Expect full scale, immersive production soundtracked by your favourite club classics and plenty of surprises as Gok Wan presents the critically acclaimed Isolation Nation. The event is a touted as a DAY RAVE as the event time is 2pm to 8pm. 2pm to 3pm - Adam White 3pm to 4pm - Angel Lee 4pm to 5pm - Leroy Fish 5pm to 6pm - Roscoe Bros 6pm to 8pm - GOK WAN -------- The venue is pretty full with a 75 % per cent female crowd. Lots of females here in their 40s , 50s and 60s dancing to rave music was good to see. The entire venue including the upstairs are dancing for the entire duration of the event. We catch two of the support djs and the headline set by GOK WAN. All the djs have have two male dancers, two female dancers and two drag queen dancers on stage. GOK WAN made an appearance with both the support acts. The tracks from all the djs were mainly house music re-mixes with a bit of disco and funk. There was even re-mixes of Nirvana 'Come As You Are' and Pink Floyd ' Another Brick in The Wall'. GOK WAN as the headliner had the biggest lightshow. Another highlight was when he played Faithless 'Insomnia'. All the djs joined GOK for the final 20 mins of this enjoyable event. GOK WAN said he planning to bring the event to other locations on a full UK tour. --------------------------------- --------------------------------- Saturday 04 March 2023. HUNDRED REASONS live at Hammersmith Apollo. Rock band Hundred Reasons are still ticking over ok. Hundred Reasons have had 6 top 40 hit singles, 2 top 20 hit albums,and have been nominated for several Awards, winning three Kerrang! awards for: "Best New Band" (2000), "Best Album" (2002) and "Best Unsigned Act" (2004)( when they dropped by SONY despite good previous album sales). They are on tour to promote their fifth studio album. I saw Hundred Reasons as a support act in 2002 (Reading Festival) and 2004 (Hammersmith Apollo). This show will be the final date on their UK tour. ------- A third of the circle is unsold so maybe that is why 200 guests are on the list to fill up the seats there. A good idea from the promoters as both the UK support bands also had success around 20 years ago. I wonder how many of the crowd are still reading Kerrang magazine. MY VITRIOL arrived on stage at 7.20pm for their 45 mins set. Their debut album made number 24 in the UK chart back in 2001. Three lots of rock band equipment on stage so My Vitriol have a tiny space at the front of stage, with the four of them in a line including the drummer for their decent set of rock tunes. HELL IS FOR HEROES arrived on stage at 8.25pm for their 45 mins set. Their debut album made number 15 in the UK chart back in 2003. They were a bit heavier than the first band, with some nice crunching tunes. The singer crowd surfed over the front stalls standing fans. HUNDRED REASONS arrived on stage at 9.30pm for their 80 mins set. Their entrance onstage sees the group greeted like heroes. An already palpable atmosphere is ramped up further as the lights dim and the circular motif of the bands new album is draped behind the band. ' Glorious Sunset ', the first track from the bands first new LP in 15 years, starts the show very nicely. Like the other bands tonight, there is a fair amount of strobe lighting used. The five band members on stage, soon get the front stalls standing moshing away. Some nice and catchy rock songs played , including 'Stories With Unhappy Endings', 'The Old School Way' and first song of the encore 'Replicate'. A really good evening of UK rock bands. I had a green wristband for the afterparty in the circle bar but did not bother going to it. Saw the big crowd of around 200, so obviously a pay bar and nobody interesting there. Aftershows are simply not as good as they used to be. ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Friday 03 March 2023. THE BLACK ANGELS life at Shepherds Bush Empire. The Black Angels are an American psychedelic rock band from Austin, Texas. Formed in May 2004, they took their name from the Velvet Underground's "The Black Angel's Death Song." They have released six studio albums and one compilation album. ------------------ Tonight was gig number 7400 for me since 1973. 63 days in the year gone so far...and i have done 28 gig reviews already. Level 3 is closed tonight , and Level 2 is half empty. TAMAR APHEX arrived on stage at 7.45pm for their 40 mins set. Tamar Aphek grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel as a classical musician before falling in love with rock bands like Fugazi and the Jesus Lizard. She played in rock bands in the underground Israeli rock scene before going solo in 2014.Tonight she is fronting her scuzzy sounding band, with some nice Lemmy type bass. THE BLACK ANGELS arrived on stage at 9pm for their 1 hour 50 mins set. A nice stage production with half a dozen vertical lighting poles and a big screen showing psychedelic images as the crowd nodded along and a several down the front danced away. As with most psychedelic bands the vocal mix could be have been a bit clearer , but the overall wall of sound was great, as sometimes there were three guitarists riffing away together. A really good show.

Posted 4th March 2023