Saturday 07 October 2023.

Saturday 07 October 2023. THEN JERICO live at Islington Academy. They had two Top 20 hits in 1987 with ' The Motive' and ' The Big Area'. I have seen them live around a dozen times since 1987 when they supported Iggy Pop twice at Hammersmith Odeon. Singer Mark Shaw is still fronting the band. Hard to believe i saw KISS play at this 800 capacity venue in 2010, with their full stage production. -------- The venue is only half full tonight, so maybe 400 tickets sold. Maybe the £40 ticket price or £47.50 on the door was too high for a gig at this venue. Tonight is early start early finish as there is a club night after the gig. LOVE PARADE arrived on stage at 7pm for their 45 mins set. Love Parade are a Devon band who were around in the 1980s without much success. They split in 1988 , and reformed in 2019 , when they all met up at the bass players wedding. They some good tunes, and a singer had a nice easy going stage persona. Their original drummer played drums on the last song. THEN JERICO arrived on stage at 8.20pm for their 95 mins set. Singer Mark Shaw still has those rock star good looks , that the females here are swooning over. It may be a small club venue, but Mark always performs as if it's a much bigger venue. It was great seeing the songs delivered with such an energetic fervour and passion by such a consummate performer. Mark worked the entire audience for the whole show, there was no way he would be satisfied standing centre stage at a mic stand singing the songs. He’s all about getting involved, moving from stage left to stage right, focussing his attention on people throughout the venue, smiling and making eye contact, reaching out into the crowd for handshakes. The highlights included 'Sugar Box', 'The Motive' and 'The Big Area'. I was expecting a a good show, but i got a great show. Full THEN JERICO setlist played tonight... Fault Let Her Fall You Ought To Know What Does It Take? Song for the Brokenhearted Blessed Days The Hitcher Under Fire Muscle Deep Helpless Sugar Box Quiet Place The Motive Big Area Reeling Encore: Darkest Hour Prairie Rose (Roxy Music cover) ------------------------------- ------------------------------- Friday 06 October 2023. PIGS x 7 live at The Forum. Of all of the band names they could have chosen , they decided on this strange one. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, usually shortened to Pigs x7, are a British stoner metal band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2012. Their debut album, 'Feed the Rats', was released on UK label Rocket Recordings in 2017.The Guardian listed the band as one of their "top 40 newcomers" for 2018,and in 2018 their second album 'King of Cowards ' was released, described by The Quietus as an "epic and sprawling record".They are touring to promote their fourth studio album 'Land Of Sleeper'. ----------- The balcony is half empty tonight, but stalls is full, so maybe 1500 folks here. BONNACONS OF DOOM on stage at 7.30pm for their 30 mins set. The female singer acts like a demented Mama Cass on stage. Her band are all wearing helmets with mirrors on the front, and play some doom metal sounds. LAMBRINI GIRLS on stage at 8.20pm for their 40 mins set. This is my third time this year seeing Brighton female trio Lambrini Girls as a support act. And again, they put on a full throttle lively set of mouthy uptempo garage punk rock. And again, the singer spends half the set in the stalls standing area with the fans. For second song 'Help Me, I'm Gay' , she sings it on top of a fans shoulders. At the end of the show is moshing with the fans during 'Boys in the Band'. They are a very entertaining live act. They certainly won over some more fans tonight. PIGS X 7 arrive on stage at 9.20pm for their 75 mins set. The singer is barefoot in shorts and vest , and with his moustache, looks a bit like Freddie Mercury. Their brand of stoner, psych doom metal saw them play many rock festivals over the summer. The singer says "we first played London 12 years ago to a small crowd at The Windmill Pub, Brixton, and now the music business is finally starting to take us seriously". Lots of moshing and crowd surfing. The heavy doom riffs are good , but the vocals could have been clearer. The band's name works great for chanting as we get "Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs etc" often. For the last song, the singer crowd surfs over the front stalls crowd. A good show.

Posted 7th October 2023