Face Of Cheam

Set - Welcome To The Real World, Don’t Say It’s Over, Seems Like I’m Losing You, Popkiller, Money (Everybody Loves Her), Taking On The World, Let Your Hair Down, Better Days, Crazy You, Seraphina, Something Worthwhile, Inside Out - So Lonely, Steal Your Fire, Shame On You //// Word Up

This was the fifth and best time I've seen this Scandinavian elctro rock five piece. An hour and a half set, more balanced than last time and an up for it crowd. Maya the singer descibed her last London performance at the Borderline as a 'small basement bar that was pretty awful'. A bit harsh but then they relied on a lot of their new album 'Crossing The Rubicon' without mixing it. Here the most new songs played on the trot were three and obviously with the album being out for a while now, they are gaining familarity.
In the encore, they grabbed a Venuzaluen bloke on to play the kettle drum. They asked for a audience person who could keep a beat, however this bloke got a bit overexcited and had to be ushered off the stage half way through the song as the timing was going a bit too pot! Finishing just before 11, I made it to Balham for the last train in approxamitely half an hour being lucky with my connections at Euston and Stockwell between the Victoria and Northern lines. Perhaps boris isn't messing it up..... Nahhhh!

Set - Crossing The Rubicon / Queen Of Apology / Seven Days A Week / Noone Sleeps When I'm Awake / Hurt You / Midnight Sun / Night After Night / 4 Songs & A Fight / My Lover / Beatbox / Painted By Numbers / Dorchester Hotel / RocknRoll / Living In America / Ego ///// Tony The Beat / Song With A Mission / Hope You're Happy Now

God I feel old. Both the artist and 95% of her young, predominantly female audience weren't even born the first time I was at Wembley Arena. Still the bars are empty and we had good 'production' seats at the side of the stage. Taylor Swift's music is really good, country rock, and is the sort of thing kids should be into, as well as adults like myself, The special edition of her album Fearless is really good and songs like 'Love Story' and 'Should Have Said No' would be classic no matter who they are by. This was however more of a show instead of a gig. Interestingly she played Shepherds Bush in April and I'd imagine that would be more of the latter. However, I digress. The show involved dancers, costume changes galore and singing at various places foms the back to the midfle and stage of the aircarft hanger like Wembley. It had the potential to be hated, as when Avril Lavigne tried a similar thing at the O2 a couple of years ago it backfired, however here despite the show, the music shone through as the major reason why 19 year old Swift is selling stadiums in her home country. She belies her age with confidence and was happy to pose with fans walking back to the stage from the back of the venue where she did an acoustic solo version of 'Fifteen' where most other americans would have a huge crowd of bouncers round them. The show ended with 'Love Story' with Taylor having a Bucks Fizz Moment as her Shakespearian dress was whipped off revealing a slinky white wedding dress and 'Should Have Said Know' where water was poured down like a fountain absolutely soaking her. Great visuals!

Quo return for their annual winter tour and like muppets we all return. 95% of the time it's an excellent show though they are getting frustrating. Their last big shake up of the setlist was about three years ago. Hopes were high when I saw the set of their Paris show, the first night of the tour. A couple of songs played in full for the first time in years, Little Lady, being the prime example, however the next night and subsequently they revert to last years set with no change in the order at all, and two sings drafted in for two they dropped. The two drafted in, Something Bout You Baby I Like and Hold You Back, have both been played on recent tours. So good but you know what you're getting but in in the best way.

New venue for me, The Gaff, on Holloway Road. Got there about quarter to nine when support act Spit Like This were on. Besides the attractive female bassist, Vicki Spit (I doubt the surname is real), there wasn't a lot going on for them. Trying to be glamsters but without the tunes to back it up. They ended with a cover of Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Horror Show which shows the direction they are heading. Did get a flyer after their show from the bass player as it would be rude to decline!
The Glitterati were playing as a warm-up for their tour with WASP. They announced that their second album would be released in the new year and played a similar set to when I saw them at the Purple Turtle two years ago. The only released songs they played was 'Back In Power' and 'Better Man' but the new stuff was recongnisable from when I last saw them and if the album does get released it should be good.