Face Of Cheam

Last Friday saw my first ever visit to the Brighton Dome. Travelling down to Brighton early afternoon with my brother we met at East Croydon station and had time for a quick pint at the nearby Porter & Sorter pub, an establishment I hadn't known existed until that day. It is rather hidden away behind the station despite being less than two minutes walk from it! Arriving in Brighton at around two thirty we went to collect the tickets from the venue and start a crawl towards Kemptown. 10 pubs were done (halves done in all) with the highlights being the first pub, the King & Queen which is a huge establishment where you would expect Zorro fighting on the stairs! Pool was played and the gents being interestingly placed beneath the bar where you could enter to the right of the bar and emerge fourty feet to the left hand side. The fifth pub was the Raneleigh was good alllbeit a bit smoky. Some Blues memobillia was plastered on the walls including a Muddy Waters poster! The Oak was good for a memorable game of pool at 50p per frame where a watching punter could not help be impressed by the standerd, and the following Hand In Hand was a small place with an interesting selection of beers, including a german pilsner we had not seen before.
On to the actual gig. The Brighton Dome was a mini Brixton Academy / Albert Hall really. A small circle in from of the stage where we could stand with raised seats at the back and a blacony. Unfortuantely lager was only availiable by the £3.20 bottle giving about half a pint in volume when poured into the plastic glass. Better value was the 5% House Bitter at £2.80 a pint. However it was not that drinkanble.
We managed to get down the front and Toby Jepson came on for a forty five minute set which included eight Little Angels songs. Boneyard, All Roads Lead To You, Young Gods and Radical Your Lover all sounded as good as they were many years ago. The only downside were a couple of prats behind us trying to bounce into people at random (instead of the normal mosshing to the front) and that Toby's guitarest fancied himself too much. A bloke over forty with a pierced nipple! Toby ended the set with Too Much Too Young and promised a tour in the next few months which will be worth checking out.
Normally you know what you're getting with Thunder. However their set was slightly disappointing with no She's So Fine, Backstreet Symphony or River Of Pain that had been played on previous night of the tour according to an unofficial website. However we did get Englishman On Holiday and a Better Man in a medley and classics such as Higher Ground and Loved Walked In sounded as good as ever. Not sure whether Luke Morley's new flying V had anything to do with the sound but didn't think this performance was as good as some in recent times (like Shepherds Bush last year). However am off to Hammersmith on Saturday and hopefully a London venue will raise the performance. Alas we had to leave to get the last train at 11.02 meaning we only got half of what could be a 12 minute plus version of Dirty Love. Still a good afternoon and evening out!

Weekend was not good from Southamptons point of view. Burley has now made it four defeats out of six in a side that had only lost three previously all season. I still think he's the man for the job but our play-off hopes are all but ended. Theo looks to be heading off to Arsenal for £15 million. On a previous post I indicated he will be the next big thing, but for a 16 year old who could be the next Theirry Henry (good) or Chris Armstrong (bad) it's too much money to turn down.
Finally Arjen Robben made me smile on Sunday. Sent off for a 2nd yellow for jumping into the crowd when Chelsea scored. I would feel that it's harsh had it either been the last minute or a wonder goal, but this was a shot that would have easily been stopped had the Sunderland defender not headed it past his own keeper. You should not celebrate a goal like that let alone run into the crowd. A decent individual would say bad luck to the hapless defender and then run back to the half way line. He deserved to go! Rant over and let's hope Saints retunr to winning ways next weekend.

A triumphant music festival was held at Cheam Sports Club Saturday which included my band Sulphur on the bill. The event started at 7.30 with each of the four bands performing one song each. We decided to do 'Fade Out Of Sight' which is one of our more mellow numbers that didn't quite sit right in our main set. This fitted in nicely with the other who also did some mellow numbers. The set wasn't helped though by my band mate going AWOL and not turning up before 20 seconds before we were due on!
At 8 o'clock, Sulphur hit the stage for the main set. Plugging straight into the PA we felt we put in a confident performence and ultimately our most satisfactory to date. The full setlist is below but for me the highlights were a rousing premiere of 'It's Been Ages Becky' and the ever popular 'Share This World'. Not many mistakes, except me treading on my guitar lead a couple of times (thankfully not at crucial moments) and Matt dropping his plectum in the end number. Also our version of Clever was not as rehearsed as Matt decided he wanted more guitar solos than the usual arrangement!
Following us on the bill were Paul's (the promotor for the event) band 'The Winter'. With backing enforced they have decided to go for a more poppy direction than their previous goth trance efforts. Kaz was next bringing her own brand of folk rock and headlining was Gemz n James who wooed the audience with some Eva Cassidy songs before ending with 'Sweet Child Of Mine'. A finale saw my self join The Winter, James and Gemmas Dad for a jam on 'Johnny Be Goode' making it a fantastic night.
Thanks again to Paul for putting us on the bill and for the use of his PA. Also to the sixty or so people who turned up for their support.

Sulphur Set : - Try To Write / London Calling / We Think We're So Clever / Helena's House / Stupid Conversation / I Think We're Alone Now / It's Been Ages Becky / Share This World / Sproston Green

Tomorrow is the second Cheamstock at Cheam Sports Club which Sulphur are playing among others. Doors are at 7pm with at 7.30 all four bands on the bill playing one song. Sulphur will then hit the stage at 8.00pm for a crisp half hour set. Other bands then include the Winter, Caz and Gemz n Jamz. Will be looking forward to it. Matt & I have finalised our set with a few unpublicly heard material in the set as well as a cheesy cover in the middle, as well as a couple of Sulphur classics. The set we feel is really strong and alas there's not even room for Beautiful Thing, a track that could have been our first single. Am looking forward to it!