Face Of Cheam

Rick Witter of Shed Seven that is. Shed Seven were possibly one of the most entertaining bands of the Britpop era with many singalong classics. Getting to the venue fifteen minutes before he was scheduled to come on the bar was rammed. Still at least they had the good sense to have the Who as the backing music. 15 minutes later I got served with the applause of the band coming on. Before I could pick up my glass 'Getting Better' was launched into. Back to the old days of the Sheds!!! I found my way down to the front and managed to get on the front barrier to the right of the stage. From here I saw the setlist and was elighted to see five Shed Seven classics. Intermingled was Rick's new stuff, which sound very Shed Seven esque. Especially enjoyed The Year Of The Rat upon first listen. Still found myself singing to the old stuff though and reminisced on how hoarse I used to get with the Shed Seven gigs. Ending with Chasing Rainbows it was almost like they never went away!

Set - Getting Better / He Was The Boy / Pull Together / Devil Will Be Waiting / Where Have You Been Tonight? / Sky Falls Down / On Standby / Flying Blind / Dead On Arrival / Going For Gold / Year Of The Rat ///// Other Way Round / Chasing Rainbows

The Easter weekend composed of mainly football and my first visit to Stoke. Stoke is an awful place. Tiny, with many boarded up places and a big Sainsburys. Had to make do with a Wetherspoons with the welcoming sign 'No Away Fans, No Hats, No Children'. I did get the shuttle bus to the ground where I was able to get a beer in the very pleasant Harvester next to it. The game was a resounding win for the Saints with Rasiak having the best game so far for us. On Easter Monday we had another win with us relegating Millwall. Seems Burley is starting to cement a decent team together.
Before the Millwall game however I did visit Bar Ice and once again marvelled at the quality of barmaid in there! A fantastic small dark girl with belly piercing and tatoos on back and foot. Very nice indeed!

After a bit of a holiday I returned to London to see another 'next big thing' band. Three americans having fun with the new sound. Actually they were not that bad with some indie anthems and a good cover of the Ronettes 'Be My Baby' towards the end. This was the second time I've heard a band cover this song at this venue as The Lightning Seeds did about ten years ago!!!
The audience was a young mix with a few indie chicks around one of whom offered to but me a drink in the Vesbar saying the gig was blinding! Alas I already had a full pint in front of me. Matt & I did do a good crawl before hand where our mission was to get rid of Matt's out of date fiver, spotted by the old landlord in the Duke Of Edinborough pub, a right old fashioned boozer. After failing at three venues Matt was sucessful in O'Neills only after tearing a legal current fiver in half by mistake!

Set - This Scene Is Dead / Inaction / Worth The Wait / It's A Hit / Don't Act Surprised / Can't Lose / Callbacks / Lousy Reputation / Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt / What's The Word / Cash Cow / I Want More / Textbook / Be My Baby / The Great Escape

For the best write up on these gigs best to look at my brothers blog. Would say I was impressed with the classic rock styling of the Answer though. Very much a throw back to the seventies which is no bad thing.
The Pretenders were a little disappointing playing only five of their 15 hits! Still a good crawl done before hand in the Kings Cross and Somerstown area.

Dot continued her random acoustic shows with one here in the Essex Road, Islington.
Did manage to find a fantastic pub previously just up the road called 'New Rose'. Was roomy, darklit and had an intriging ambience. Can't remember the last time I was impressed that much by a pub on my first visit.
Dot was very similar to her gig at the Vibe Bar last year. Mainly new stuff it was unfortuante that she did suffer with some sound problems. Still will be looking forward to her new album when it is eventually released.

I attended the Who convention at Bush Hall on Saturday 1.4.06. The day started with an unplanned pint with Matt in The Moon On The Hill at 10.30am having bumped into him at the post office. A very good pint too!
Leaving mid afternoon my brother & I got to Bush Hall about three in time for Irish Jack telling some Who related stories. Who's Who then played Quadrophenia which for some reason seemed to drag a bit.
We then retreated to the Goldhawk pub for a bargain £3.40 pint of Kuppers Krolsch before heading back to the venue for Simon Townshends Casbah Club. This was the highlight with Roger Daltrey wading his way through the audience and then having an improptu performance of Behind Blue Eyes and Substitute. After them we did a few more 'Irish' pubs at the West side of Uxbridge Road before seeing the Wholigans tribute who did a 'best of' set before smashing their instruments during My Generation at the end. All good fun!

Friday 31st March saw the first Metal gig at the Royal Albert Hall with Judas Priest headlining. Having met in the Gloucester pub we had a quick one in the Queens opposite the classic car showroom complete with one seater yellow Lambourghini! A fantastic pub complete with a three legged dog....
Getting to the Albert hall we took our excellent seats shortly before Ian Gillan and Friends came on. Frankly I found him a bit boring with the set only livening up with the closer which was Purple's 'Black Night'. The scorpions were next and I thought they were fantastic. Introduced by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, there was lots of poseury and german leather, we got 'Wind Of Change' and 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' so most people were happy. Finally The Priest came on with the rather comic like Rob Halford screeching 'Breaking The What??????' before their metal classic. The set ended with everyone on stage for 'Take On The World'. A very enjoyable evening all in a good cause as the concert was raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust. We ended up in Kensington's The Goat pub for a final beer which unfortunately led to a long journey home as trains on the District Line were all messed up!