Face Of Cheam

What happens when you leave your mate to get tickets. You end up with level 3 tickets up in the gods. We did slightly better by getting to level two via the bar area but not great. Still it looked packed on the floor and we may have been better off. The Tribes album Baby is the best release of 2012 so far and this short set, padded out by a few b-sides which were the low lights, showcased this. Sing along chorus's and loud guitars, this was entertaining. Shame when they played Kingston a couple of months earlier we hadn't heard of them. Also very scary as per one of their songs they were children in the mid nineties! Set - Whenever / Girlfriend / Sappho/ Corner of An English Field / Himalaya / Nightdriving / Walking In The Street / Face To Face / Not So Pretty / Halfway Home / Bad Apple / Alone With Friends / When My Day Comes / We Were Children /// Coming Of Age

A sold out show and I arrive five minutes before they band come on. However, I get straight to the bar and served immediately. The majority of the crowd are in their late teens and either too young or too poor to drink in the venue, especially at £4.20 a pint. Another US band sounding like Paramore a cynic might say. However We Are The In Crowd are slighly different with the guitarist sharing vocals with the female lead singer on many of the songs. They opened with Rumour Mill from their latest album Best Intentions. This was the basis of their set with great singalong rock songs such as Kiss Me Again and This Isn't Goodbye It's BRB being highlights. A short set and no covers alas but as new bands go I can see them playing much bigger venues than this in the near future.

Last year Luke Haines released a concept album about 70s and 80s British wrestling. Here he was in London to perform this. No band, just him an acoustic guitar, a casio VL-tone and a roadie dressed up as Kendo Nagasaki giving out liver sausage sandwiches to the audience during 'Saturday Afternoon'. The wrestling songs are played very well with good interaction between Haines and the crowd, with the artist explaining why you should never unmask a masked man. After the wrestling songs had finished, Luke Haines then read pieces about his pop strike from his last book, Post Everything. Very funny he was too especially the piece when he was on the radio four today programme. After the reading he played a few songs from his last couple of albums including the great song about Peter Sutcliffe Leeds United and the autobiographal 21st Century Man. A surprising lack of songs he performed with his 90s group The Autuers, he did end with Showgirl the oldest song in the set. A great evening. Set :- Inside The Restless Mind Of Rollaball Rocco / Gorgeous George / Linda's Head / Saturday Afternoon / Big Daddy Got A Casio VL Tone / Haystacks In Heaven // Reading from Post Everything / Leeds United / Walton Hop / Death Of Sarah Lucas / English Southern Man / 21st Century Man //// Alan Vega Said / Child Brides / Baader Meinhoff / Showgirl

The Dirty Youth are in London to promote their new single Rise Up which opened the set. A Welsh rock band with a purple haired femaile singer they are a less melodic Paramore type band. Fight is a splendid song and surprisingly played relatively early in the short 50 minute set. The show ended with a cover of Rage Against The Machine In the Name Of seguing into Jazzy Jeffs Boom Boom Shake The Room, a mesh that was as strange as it sounds but led to a lot of headbanging!

With their show at ULU last year clashing with another gig I was pleased when this was announced. Their current album Only in Dreams had been a fixture in my CD player and is a great mix of sixties pop done inan all girl Iggy style. Bedroom Eyes was played too early in my opinion though their set was well balanced with Coming Down at the end going down a storm. Loved the outfits the girls were wearing too, though I don't normally like 'image projection'. Shouldn't really need this when you have a voice like DeeDee's Top gig and top american band.

This was initially advertised as a Four Bills & A Ben show when we booked but that changed into Johnny Warmans Free and Bad Company tribute band. A fairly sparse crowd for an Easter Sunday were treated to two forty five minute sets comprising of classics such as My Borther Jake, Wishing Well and Feel Like Making Love. Noticeably there was only one microphone for this! Jeff Rich (ex Status Quo) was on drums and is probably would hold that postion for a best short musician band. The guitarist was also good especially on show ender The Hunter. A good evening.

After watching the second half of Blackpool Southampton in a pub where it was £5 a pint of Moretti, and with the Saints heading towards their heaviest defat of the season some cheering up was necessary. So we headed to the White Lion via a couple of other hostelries. This was a charity giog for a cat charity, ticket price of a fiver with cans of cat food also compulsory when going in. First up was Brijette West who I did not know much about. However, her thirty minute acoustic set was so good, I had to get both her CDs, one with her band NY Loose and one under her own name with the Desparate Hopefuls. Songs that made the instant impression were Pretty Suicide and Hey Papito. She ended her set with a cover of Beth originally by Kiss. The Peckham Cowboys were next who were the main reason for going. Guy Bailey a founder of the Quireboys is the guitarist and their south London blues based rock went down a treat though lasted just short of half an hour, just when you thought it was getting going. A shame but impressive enough to keep an eye for some more shows. There then was an auction where I think someone got a bargain for £20, a signed copy of the late Ronnie James Dio's last album. Tyla J Pallas was the headiner who played a great acoustic set for just under an hour and a half. Drinking wine and guiness between songs, it was rather like an irish poet school. Did not know any of the set as he omitted the Dogs D'Amour big hit of Satellite Kid, though when you have 18 solo albums and a batch with your band, it must be difficult to choose what you are going to play. A definite improvement on the football and managed to get a train back to Sutton gone midnight.

A packed house for this one, with memebers of the band (including the singer) drinking in the Nags Head on Upper Street before the gig and asking my friend where the venue was. He directed them 100 yards up the street when in fact it was more like ten! A set which included some new songs though not powerful enough on first listen to persuade me to get either of the two new eps they had on sale. Classics from their first two albums was why I came, and they did not dissapoint with Either Way and Barney Rubble being the highlights alongside Ice Cream Sundae. A ten o'clock curfew meant we were able to get top Cheam and a a few more pints in the Railway in Cheam with plenty of time to spare! (An added bonus was Lily was back from college being Easter and was serving!)

A regular visit to the Albert Hall for the opening Teenage Cancer Trust Show. Daltrey opened proceedings with a couple of acoustic country songs. His replacement guitraist (as Simon Townshend could not make it) then did a solo song, before Kelly Jones of Stereophonics fame came on. He did Maybe Tomorrow and Dakota before Ron Wood and Paul Weller jopined him for the Faces Ooh La La. Paul Weller was next with an acoustic set which thankfully was not all new material. Out Of The Sinking and You Do Something To Me were the highlights. After a break, Roger Daltrey and band came on with Who Are You, Kids Are Alright and Behind Blue Eyes, before he introduced Amy MacDonald. She did two songs from her first album, Mr Rocknroll and This Is The Life before covering Springsteens Born To Run. Steve Winwood was then dragged out for a fine audience pleasing Higher Love and Gimme Some Loving. Daltrey returned for sosme more Who songs, including Baba O'Reilly upon which Ron Wood and Kelly Jones returned although you would not notice if their guitars were plugged in or not. Blue Red & Grey which Daltrey played solo on ukelele and Without Your Love ended a great night.

After seeing her as support a couple of weeks earlier I checked out Rebekah Delgados headline show launching her Ep showcasing the supurb Sing You Through The Storm. A similar set to last time, though may have had one or two extra songs, one of which had to be restarted half way through. The sound was perfect and made the CD version of the EP an essential purchase on the way out. Definately one to look out for.

Two of my favourite current classic rock bands. The Union were awesome with a set of just over an hour. Pete Shoulder's singing was fantastic. The Answer were not quite in the same league but still entertaining with zeppelinesque rock. Their best songs however remain on their debut album with Under The Sky as the highlight. Their third and current album is good but probably need a slight change in style to progress to larger venues, without a tasty support act in tow.

First heard Alic Gold when she covered Wonderous Place by Billy Fury for a Carling advert. She didn't play that but her set consisted of her great debut album Seven Rainbows and a few new songs. ending with Runaway Love it was a good set and I'll definately return to her gigs again. Rebekah Delgado was support and I was immediately drawn to her unique sound, no doubt contributed by her saw player. She had three backing singers dressed as Opera people and a few good sing along songs. I would check her again as she advertised her EP launch gig prior to her last song. A great evening out.

Missed the first couple of songs for this due to a failed chatup of a nice girl in the Sussex pub. The Maccabees are highly rated, now on their third album and due to play Alexandra Palace later in the year. My onlu previous experiance of them was in a tent on Clapham Common a few years back and I was impressed then, and impressed here too. Precious Time was my personal highlight was sandwiched in the three song encore. An hour and a half set allowed time for a quick beer in the Basketmakers Arms prior to the last train home which was a bonus.

An offical launch of Simon Townshends new album held at the Eel Pie Club which is a room above the Cabbage Patch pub in Twickenham. Now a full time member of the Who and Roger Daltreys solo band, he didn't dwell too much on this, though early on he did a 'fun' version of the High Numbers I'm The Face. He also did Goin Mobile which he had been doing with Roger Daltrey 'every night' and The Dirty Jobs in the encore. His best own song The Way It Is was done acoustically and was perfectally observed by the attention held crowd which did include a couple of fine females!

An NME award show with two bands I had limited knowledge of. In fact I turned down the Drums for a fiver a couple of years ago when I passed the forum and touts were trying to get rid of their last tickets.
Specter were enjoyable, though I'm not sure about bands wearing suits. The singer wants to be an american Jarvis, but they are backed up with good tunes such as Never Fade Away.
The Drums on the other hand were a bit too shoeglaze for my liking with the singer dancing flambouyantly to each song. Just when you thought it could not get any camper, on comes Boy George to do backing vocals on one of their songs before storming into Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The highlight of their set.

Thunders Christmas show in Nottingham, starting the day off in Hooters, served by the lovely Jenny.

As we walked to the hotel we saw guitarist Luke Morley go on a walk. More pubs followed prior to the show where it was the normal set of two halfs. The electric set concentrated more on their own stuff which as the band are technically no more was sensible. They ended with Slades Merry Christmas Everybody, the second time a show has ended with that in three days. We then had a quick game of countdown in the nearby pub before going to the Rescue Rooms to stay out till gone 1 drinking £1.50 pints of San Miguel.

Introduced by DJ Mike Read, this was a charity show for the Lord Taverners Group. A full 90 minute set including the 70s hits but also some more obscure stuff such as Lock Up Your Daughters and Here Me Calling. There was even a cover of The Loner for a Dave Hill solo. With only Dave Hill & drummer Don Powell left from the classic line-up you can only really treat this as a tribute act, allbeit an entertaining one. Obviously ending with It's Christmas!!!!!

Motely Crue provided the most profanity I have heard on stage. Between everysong we were called motherfu...rs and even Tommy Lee typical conversation was "I love fu..ing London, today I went for a fu..ing Walk and it was fu..ing nice weather you motherfu..ers". Still enjoyable especially Girls Girls Girls and set ender Kickstart My Heart, with an upside down drum solo earlier on. Tommy Lee goes round on a large ferris wheel and hangs upside down - youtube it if you're interested. Def took their US stadium show and transferred it perfectly to an Arena. The second half of the set they could not put a foot wrong, Armageddon It, Hysteria, Animal, Photograph and Pour Some Sugar, it is impossible not to enjoy.

Went to this solely because Quo hadn't played the O2 before. Surprisingly full except the upper tiers thoughts were similar to Brighton. Francis messed up the words to Paper Plane but still a rockin first half. Again should have left at the encore break.

Memo to self - don't go to Christmas Shows expecting a classic set.

We're the Kids In America wo-oh! Was the best song of the evening, the last in a short Kim Wilde set full of hits such as Cambodia & You Came. Elongated version too, something Bryan Adams could learn from (Summer obviously!). Roy Wood came on did a hits set of Blackbury Way, Flowers In The Rain, See My Baby Jive and obviously I wish It Could Be Christmas and was enjoyable. Quo did a good first half, enough to forgive them for playing the Wanderer, and songs like Paper Plane, Big Fat Mama and the more receny Beginning Of The End were heavy boogie tracks respectable of any rock band on the planet. The encore however was appalling. The irish jig nonsense of Burning Bridges is not my cup of tea but I appreciate some of the audience do enjoy it. However afterwards songsheets came out on a stand and with Kim & Roy in tow an awful medley of Winter Wonderland and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town was played, the latter making the Springsteen version sounding like a classic.

Celebrating 20 years since Waking Up The Neighbours this should have been a lot better than it actually was. I was fortuanate enough to see Bryan at his live peak between 87 & 94 where simply the shows were awesome. Unfortuanately here he got the setlist and versions of songs wrong. For some reason Summer of 69 is played far too early, versions of Hey Honey and Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya are played acoustically with a Micky Curry pots and pans solo. And again there are too many ballads. Possibly the most annoying thing however, was that he has lost his hardcore crowd. Not many people sand the first load of Nanananas in Cuts Like A Knife and only five people I could see were clapping in the solo of Run To You. Previously it would have been a whole stadium. He obviously won't return to his peak, but when he played Hearts On Fire and There Will Never Be Another Tonight the potential is there to do much better gigs in the future.