Face Of Cheam

Reformed for the first time in nearly twenty years I missed the Primitives first time around despite hearing and loving the song You Are The Way when I was ill with whooping cough all those years ago and falling in love with Tracy Tracy. Also Crash is a timeless clasic it's odd I din't get a chance to see them. Still here it was and their bubblegum twee pop is still delicious as it was back then. Tracy Tracy still looks good and PJ Court retains his sense of humour introducing Crash as a brand new song. Good moshing around was had to Sick Of It, a video of which is here with surprisingly good audio for an audience recording. They left You Are The Way for the last sone where I got down the front to take the photo posted here. All I need now is for The Darling Buds to reform (though Transvision Vamp would be just as good!)

Did not get a ticket in advance for this one as I did not know the travel arrangements between Southampton and London knowing it was likely to be an early start. Made it to Islington for just before 8 and paid sixteen pounds on the door, strangely cheaper than had I booked on line on the day! The support, Willie Nile, was finishing his acoustic support set with a cover of the Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated.
Mike Peters ahd two albums out to support his set. One a brand new one called Direct Action, the other a compilation of the classic Alarm line-up BBCs sessions. The set was drawn mainly from the latter and other new Alarm material rathe rthan the new album, a wise move considering the album was only on sale at the gigs and therefore hardly anyone had heard it yet. A few rare facts were mentioned before a couple of songs such as The Alarms appearance on TOTP in 1984 also had Madonna and U2 on it! Both parts of 68 Guns were played and Rocking In The Free World was sandwiched in the middle of 45RPM. Willie Nile came out for the encore for the song One Guitar which he wrote and Mike Peters covered on the new album. Instantly catchable it is too. After show ender Love Hope & Strenght the band returned to join the fans in a brief coda of the Alarm anthem, Blaze Of Glory. Excellent stuff.

Direct Action, Absolute Reality, Alarm Calling, Marching On, Loaded, Rain In The Summertime, Change 111, Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke, Drunk & Disorderly, Blaze of Glory, Release The Pressure, Strength, Spirit of 76 – Anarchy In The UK – Spirit of 76, Rescue Me, 45 RPM – Rocking In The Free World – 45 RPM, 68 Guns ///// One Guitar, Love Hope & Strength, Blaze Of Glory (reprise)

This was an acoustic show in the small jazz cafe in Camden. The band augmented to a nine piece remained seated throughout the gig and played a selection of tracks from their Halfpenny Dancer album as well as a couple from Spikes solo LP (Frankie Millers Bottle Of Whiskey) as well as some old classics (Seven O Clock, Sweet Mary Ann). However it was the first time I've not seen them do Sex Party! Spike was in his usual jovial mood, cracking jokes with the audience and slurring a bit, yet vocally he was spot on. In the sudience were Luke Morley and Pete Shoulder from the Union who we saw a couple of nights previously. Despite with two attractive ladies Luke seemed delighted that we spoke to him at the end of the show, explaining how he wrote This Time Next Year as a seaasonal new years song. Surprisingly he hadn't heard of Slade do a simialr themed song, only associating them with their Christmas classic. Thouroughly nice bloke in all.

The Pipettes are back, this time as a duo. Gwenno the only female pipette left from the debut album has got her sister Ani along for a more eighties keyboard sound. Still fine pop tunes with the prime example being Stop The Music, the headline track from their EP released in support of this tour. Both of them were having drinks in the Druids Head prior to this club show where I watched the Fulham european match beforehand. Gwenno was in tight leather trousers then so must have changed at the club. The Hippodrome was a bit of a nostalgia place for me. Previously The Works and then Volts, it was where I spent much of my teenage clubbing days> I hadn't been there for at least ten years however and somehow it seemed smaller. One plus was for this indie student night draft Becks remained £1.70 a pint all night. The Pipettes played five 'old' songs in their hour long set which were Judy, Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me, Dirty Mind, Because Its Not Love and the set ender Pull Shapes. As well as the tracks from the EP there were several other songs from a forthcoming album including a great tune calling for you to shake twist and stomp, surely a single. click here to see a video of stop the music from the show. I come into view in the bottom right hand corner around two minutes 15 in! There are also a couple of links for Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me and Spaceman from the same night (called new slang)

Luke Morley and Pete Shoulders new band The Union seen for the second time since their formation at the end of last year. Very bluesy, a bit different from Thunder, with a couple of decent hooks in Watch The River Flow and surely a Christmas single of This Time Next Year. I think the rest will need to be listened to a few times to grow on me which means waiting till the album comes out which is still a couple of months away. Still the opener Easy Street asks the question whatcha you're gonna do when the money runs out~? and given the size of the crowd for a band without any released material I'll doubt that be anytime soon for Mr Morley or Shoulder.

Easy Street, You Know My Name, Black Monday, Holy Roller, Watch The River Flow, Lilies, The Space Between Us, This Time Next Year, Saviour, Step Up To The Plate, ///// Come Rain Come Shine, Proud Mary

Got her Japanese only single compilation through this week. This is my favourite Rose song which isn't on it but always a highlight of her shows. This is an acoustic version of Come Away With Me recorded in Austin America. Love the cigarette! Can;t seem to get rid of the advert at the start alas.

Luke Haines made one of the best albums of last year, 21st Centruy Man with its views on London and southern surburbia, seni biographies of Klaus Kinski and Peter Hamill and his autobiography 21st Century Man which can be played in unison with his excellent Britpop autobiography Bad Vibes. This show balanced this album, his other best solo work (Leeds United, Bad Reputation) and The Autuers Britpop stuff brillantly. There is something delightful when a song called Light Aircraft On Fire is introduced as a Christmas single. The donwside to tonights gig is that Mr Haines did not tell us his Yorkshire Ripper joke.

English Southern Man / Love Letter To London / Never Work / Unsolved Child Murder / Surburban Morning / Showgirl / The Upper Classes / Peter Hammill / Bad Reputation / 20th Century Man inc Junk Shop Clothes / Leeds United / Klaus Kinski / Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop / Meet Me At The Airport / Light Aircraft On Fire ///// Baader Meinhoff / Lenny Valentino

A replacement bus service between Three Bridges and Brighton meant we had time to explore Three Bridges' station pub The Snooty Fox. Very nice too with a couple of young barmaids and a brand new dartboard where unfortunately I lost 4-3 using the pub darts, one of which had a wonky shaft.
This did mean we missed the Grand National but we made progress to get to Brighton early to see the support, Aerosmiths Joe Perry. A good hour set with a couple from his new solo album, a few covers (Walking The Dog, Vigilante Man and Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite) and finishing with Walk This Way. The only downer was a bass solo chucked in the middle.
Bad Company were excellent and Paul Rodgers demonstrated why he is one of Rocks greatest blues singers. All Bad Company stuff (No Free or Rodgers solo) they opened with Can't Get Enough, and played pretty much everything you'd want (except Good Lovin' Gone Bad). Shooting Star was performed with a backdrop of musicians who passed away too young and Feel Like Making Love had a good light effect. Plenty of dry ice was also on the stage when the show ended with Bad Company. Excellent stuff. Though strangely Mick Ralphs was not wearing a hawaiaan shirt!

Another Teenage Cancer Trust charity show at the Albert Hall and the Who performed their 1973 album Quadropphenia. The Metro paper in the morning said there would be guests and they were right. As per their shows in the late nineties we had a non band member play the Godfather and Ace Face. Here Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam played the former and Kasabian's Tom Meighan the latter. Roger Daltreys voice had been criticised by some recently but I couldn't really fault it here. Townshend's hearing may be a bit of aa problem as brother Simon played osme of the solos early on, although when Pete did let loose as on the finale Love Reign O'er Me it was pretty good. The only dsappointment was that Quadrophenia was all they performed when one would probably expected an encore maybe in the form of the Superbowl medley they did a month or so earlier. Still despite being old, the Who remain a classic act and rumours of an autumn tour would be fantastic if made reality.

Photo from the TCT facebook page.