Face Of Cheam

Be Your Own Pet will be influential in years to come. After just two albums they played their last show at Dingwalls in Camden on this Tuesday night in front of a sell out crowd of me and just under 500 people. They were excellent, with their final set having a good mix between the two albums and a surprise opening with the end piece of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain. It is a real shame when a young band such as this split, having progressed so much since their debut album. Having seen them at Bush Hall three years ago they have gone from just making noise to actually writing great songs such as the violent ‘Black Hole’, a storming ‘Kelly Affair’ and the motown chic of teenage knifing in ‘Becky’. Jemina’s Uncle Steve flew over from America to be there and was dragged on stage towards the end. Their last song ‘Supersoaked’ saw a crowd invasion of the stage leaving no instruments left for any encores. Fantastic show and a great band. Shame there won’t be more to come. However I will look out for any future projects involving them with interest.

Set – The Chain (coda) / Fill My Pill / Black Hole / We Will Vacation / Fuuuuuun / Bummer Time / Zombie Graveyard Party / Blow Yr Mind / Becky / Wildcat! / The Kelly Affair / Food Fight / Pepparoni Ice Cream / With Uncle Steve / Damn Damn Leash / Supersoaked

This one day festival is becoming a bit of a regular annual haunt for me, this being the third year running I’ve been in attendance. Having decided to get value this year we got there early rather than spend most the afternoon in the pub. Even then we were too late to see The Holloways who were just finishing upon our arrival at 2pm.
Having watched some punters play ‘Rock Star’ on the Xbox 360, we took a position near the front of the main stage for Noah & The Whale whose current song about Sun Sun Sun is becoming a summer anthem. I quite liked their quirkiness, sounding a bit like They Might Be Giants. They also asked for the smoke machine to be turned off, quite rightly, as it was a windy summer day having no effect to the atmosphere whatsoever.
The Hives were next. I knew to things about them. One they were Swedish and two their bass player looks like Barry from Eastenders in their ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ video. They impressed. Fairly rocky, although the singer fancied himself too much by climbing the speakers too often.
Into the tent now for The Maccabees. These were ok although the tent was a bit smoky. They seemed to go down well with the crowd but for me they failed to be memorable as indeed when writing this all I can think of is that they were quite good.
Back to the main stage for Supergrass. I was really looking forward to a festival greatest hits set, but instead it was a lethargic, disappointing performance with only a couple of hits, ‘Moving’ and ‘Richard III’. It was during the latter song I made my way back to the tent for Reverend & The Makers, arriving with beers in hand for their hit ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The World’. Having apparently only missed a couple of songs before I was really impressed. Much better than when I saw him at the Roundhouse a few months ago, even including a couple of lines of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ in the final song acknowledging the headliners. Afterwards the Reverend hung around at the back of the tent for signings and autographs, a nice touch from someone supposedly quitting music soon. Nice to see there are a few artists still prepared to make time for their fans.
Finally, topping the bill, was Iggy & The Stooges. In his sixties, Iggy was still eccentric energetic and had his top off from the first song Loose. Really enjoyable he got hundreds of people up on stage during ‘Real Cool Time’ and ‘No Fun’. The only problem was he played the classics really early on with ‘1969’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ in the first four songs, and half way through his set there was nothing left you wanted to hear. As it was a Stooges show, there were no solo Iggy songs such as Lust For Life or China Doll that could have extended the set. A shame. Still impressed to have seen a band that have influenced much of the music I’m into.

With no lure of a decent band this year we decided to go on the Friday this year. Slightly less packed than normal, yet they still haven’t sorted out the queuing system. However fun was had with the nine beers tried culminating with this years award winner. My brother was on fire with the pub games winning Shut The Box and also skittles, the latter being when we were on our eighth beer. Also, I managed to pick up some Camra dart flights for a bargain 50p. Here are the beers we drunk;

Alvinne Lexke Blond 6.3%
Mahrs Pilsner 4.9%
Summertime Kolsch 5.0%
Shongweni Pale Ale 5.7%
Hofbrowerjin Blonde Eke 8.0%
Mahrs Keller Bier 4.9%
Gutemans Gut Bier 5.2%
Pyarr Land Bier Hell 5.9%
Alton Pride 3.5%

Last time I was at this venue it was called Pop. Now Punk it is apparently Agyness Dyens favourite hangout. Not a chance she would be here though for Mike Peters Alarm’s album launch. On stage promptly at 8.30 they only did about one hour and fifteen, including only four songs from ‘Guerilla Tactics’ their new album, Fightback being the most catchy. The Alarm is obviously these days is not the Alarm of old, with only Mike Peters being part of their classic line-up. However the old Alarm songs were played well with a full version of 68 Guns early on, and Strength being highlights. The Drunk And Disorderly one by the new lineup on an album a couple of years ago, featured a Who-esque monotone in the middle with a few Keith Moon drum fills. An encore featuring two classics of old made the gig and although it was short, considering the band played in San Francisco the night before they can be excused.

Set – Three Seven Clash / My Town / Fightback / 68 Guns / Situation Under Control / The Stand / Drunk And Disorderly / Alarm Calling / Strength / Spirit of 76 / 45 Rpm / Rescue Me / Spirit of 76 (reprise) ////// Marching On / Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?

Billy Idol on a greatest hits tour. Should be fun. And it certainly was! As you can see from the set list below he did exactly what was billed. Greatest hits. White Wedding was played with an acoustic intro before going straight into a full electric version and other classics such as Rebel Yell and set closer Mony Mony were elongated with superb guitar riffing by poser Steve Stephens. Despite the years, Mr Broad is looking pretty good and has had the Fabregas treatment on his chest! The two new songs from his latest hits album Idolise were played with ‘John Wayne’ sounding especially good. Must look to invest into that album with the bonus DVD of the videos. Music made for the 80s MTV generation indeed!

Set – Cradle Of Love / Dancing With Myself / Flesh For Fantasy / White Wedding / John Wayne / New Future Weapon / To Be A Lover / Sweet Sixteen / World Coming Down / Eyes Without A Face / Ready Steady Go / Blue Highway / LA Woman / Rebel Yell ///// Hot In The City / Speed / Mony Mony

Went to the Motor Show at the hard to reach Docklands place called Excel. After a San Miguel in the near pub called The Fox @ Excel we trundled into the huge arena and looked at some very nice cars. After developing a bit if obsession in boot sizes we found the upstairs bar selling Tuborg. Result! Unfortunately they would not let you test drive a car after a few beers so it was more car looking, the Ferrari stand looking the best. It was a shame that there were not many scantily clad women sprawled over the cars on show, only some smartly dresses models asking if you were interested in making a purchase. We then went outside to the adjacent car park for the mighty Status Quo. This was fairly sparse crowd wise but the Quo put on a good show even changing the set slightly. In were The Wanderer (bad) Don’t Drive My Car (ok) and Living On An Island (Good). Their winter tour suggests more changes are in the offing but we shall wait and see. As long as they keep Paper Plane in I will be happy.