Face Of Cheam

Suede reformed especially for this charity show eight tears after I last saw them. Their set heavily based on the first three albums, She, Trash, Film Star opened up the show all from the Britpop LP Coming Up quickly followed by their first breakthrough single Animal Nitrate. You could tell by this opening it was going to be a good night. Other hits followed such as So Young, The Wild Ones and Metal Mickey. Their set ended prior to the encore with the bouncy Beautiful Ones, with the gorgeous Saturday Night being the final song of the evening. Brett Anderson said with the love in the room they may do it again in seven years time!

Last time I saw Joss Stone she was trolleyed falling over on stage at the Koko. Fortunatly here she was much more with it and did a realy good show. An added bonus was Jeff Beck joining her for two songs, including a really great version of I Put A Spell On You. Glad I gave her another chance.
Pre-gig we walked through Westfield, the large shopping centre, and stopped in it's pub called The Bull for a nice pint of Bitburger. Upsatairs they had a rothmans yearbook from 1974 where it stated Loftus Road's capacity was over 300000! How times change.

Set - Choking Kind / Free Me / Tell Me What We're / Could Have Been You / Put Your Hands On Me / Stalemate (with Jaime) / Less Is More / Music / Medley 2 (inc You Got The Love) / Fell In Love / Super Duper / Parallel Lines (with Beck) / Put A Spell On You (with Beck) / Tell Me About It / Big Ole Game

The day after a mate gave me a Mika ticket for a couple of beers. (His wife is now expecting and didn't want to stand - any excuse I reckon). Considering I've seen the Pet Shop Boys, this was the gayest gig I've been to. It wasn't too bad a show and Grace Kelly played at the end is a really good song. Some of the effects were over elaborate like a giant inflatable foot on stage for under ten seconds for his song 'Big Girls' (i think that is what it's called). However, We Are Broken, with its teenage dreams chorus certainly got the audience in raptures. Don't think I would pay to go again but certainly an interesting experiance.

The day beagn on a bit of a downer. Southern trains decided not to run any trains from Sutton station meaning there was a possibility of me missing kick off at St Marys. However, after a replacement bus to Mitcham Junction, tram to Wimbledon and overhead up to Clapham I was only running half hour late. Still missed the quick train I was planning which would have got me in at 1.25, and instead got a slower train arriving an hour later. This did give me an opportunity to have a quick pint in a different pre-match pub, Angel of The South, which is on a direct route from the station to the ground. Here they were playing classic rock and heard some BTO, Free, Steppenwolf and the Quo which was a nice change prior to the game.
Saints destroyed Walsall 5-1 after conceding in the first couple of minutes. This meant a happy journey to Winchester where I was stopping off to see yet another Rose Elinor gig. The ticket said a start time of seven thirty. After watching Stoke lose to Arsenal in the local O'Neills, I was wondering whether it was worth going to the venue to find out what was really happening. Walking towards the venue I suddenly saw Rose and her bass player Georgia walking ahead! Not on yet so time for a quick pint in a place called the White Swan which had a group of very drunken Saints fans singing their heads off! I got back to the venue at about 8.15. The venue is like Suttons Civic Centre with a library attached. I should the lady at the check in desk my ticket and she kindly offered to show me where the performance hall was, not before showing me where the bar was. A bottle of Peroni cost £3. Walking to the hall, the lady explained that they normally get amauteur dramatics on and the average age of the audience is considerably older than myself. The Hall was basically a floor with unreserved seating going back on an incline of about twelve rows. Counting the audience there were about fifty people there and a noticeably elder crowd. Rose commented that it may get loud for some people and was visibly shocked when an elderly couple walked out halfway through between songs, straight across the front of the stage. "Err thanks for ocming" Rose ironically muttered.
The set was the same set of songs played at the Flowerpot and other tunes I've not previously mentioned like Carry On are also growing on me. i may have been a little unfair last time about the sound becoming more polished as I did not notice any chines and the guitrist Raleigh and Tom managed to use some feedback really well. Can't wait for her album and looks like I will have to wait for the day after my birthday before seeing her again at the Borderline.

A local venue in Wimbledon for this up n coming band who have supported Oasis and Paul Weller. Very much the indie mod type music they played a fifteen song set incorporating the whole of their album and a few new songs. Shes A Weapon was the opener followed by Lucy The Castle. The last two in the encore were Oh What Have You Done and We Are Us and those are by their best songs. The rest of their album is patchy but four tunes that are great after just one album can't be too bad. If they match that on the second, and on first listen to the new songs there may be one or two at least they could progress into a group not to be missed. Anyway tonight, one bus ride away and less than a tenner you could not really argue with.