Face Of Cheam

Part of Bon Jovi's expensive residency I was lucky enough to take advantage of a friend's spare ticket for this and an excellent seat, allbeit high up, at the side of the stage. I certanly wasn't prepared to pay the three figure sums that some of the floor seats had for this although the Jovi do normally do a good show. Here, the set list was a bit too modern for me and also one for the Jovi purists with rare tracks such as Miss Fourth Of July and Love For Sale getting an airing. I normally like bands to mix up their set list, which does make it worthwhile going more than once, though I am not too sure how rich they think their fans. Other nights they have done Blood On Blood and Dry County, both of which I would love to hear again. The other noticeable thing here was that Jon Bon Jovi now struggles a bit with the higher notes and when you listened to his vocal of Living On A Prayer you could tell he was in trouble. Still not many people noticed bearing in mind how they were singing along as you would expect. I would still give this a seven out of ten. They still rock and Sambora can still play a mean solo. Just next time let me choose the set!

Set - Last Man Standing / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Thorn in My Side / Born to Be My Baby / Superman Tonight / In These Arms / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Love's the Only Rule / Homebound Train / Open All Night / Diamond Ring / Miss Fourth Of July /
Love For Sale / When We Were Beautiful / It's My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Livin' on a Prayer ///// Blood Money / Wanted Dead or Alive / Keep the Faith

No longer with Overdrive, this was Bachman Turners first show on British soil since 1976. Only knowing a handful of songs, as well as American Woman, writtne by Randy Bachman when he was in The Guess Who, this was very, very good. A shame that the garage was only a third full. Even more surprising as when mentioning to a few coleagues older than me, they agreed it would be a good show and slighly jealous of my presence there. Perhaps there should have been more advertising. Still it meanto a good view and room to boogie to the show closer, rather predictably, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

Set - Let It Ride, Rock Is My Life, Hold Back The Water, Hey You, Moonlight Rider, Looking Out For #1, Not Fragile, Stayed Awake All Night/American Woman, Four Wheel Drive, Slave To The Rhythm, Blue Collar, Sledgehammer, Rollin’ Along, Taking Care Of Business //// Roll On Down The Highway, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Billed as The Charlatans performing Some Friendly, they missed a trick here really. I was expecting the album in full and in sync followed by a greatest hits set. Instead we got ervy song they recorded associated with the album including all b-sides and unreleased tracks which are included in the reissue and nothing else. It was also not in order meaning a long wait for set ender Sporston Green. Still we got a few classics such as You're Not Very Well and Opportunity which I don't think I've previously heard at a Charlatans gig.
Prior to the gig, in the Richard Steele nea Belsize Park, MTV presenter Alex Zane was spotted drinking, not as impressive as Peter Hook within the venue!

Jimbob of Carter USM touring to promote his new book, a fictional black comedy. So we got book readings in front of a big screen, together with acoustic versions of his solo songs alongside Carter classics such as Let's Get Tatoos, The Only Living Boy In New Cross and Glam Rock Cops. Better than it sounds here though I haven't bought the book yet.

England are cricket world champions, at least at the 20-20 format of it. Watched in canadian pub, The Maple Leaf, it was a good way to start the evening which showcased Status Quo's Francis Rossi doing his first London solo show out of a handful of dates on his solo tour. TO be honest I was dreading an evening of acoustic country & western when first announced, but then I heard that Freddie Edwards (The son of Rhino, Quo's current bass player) would be on guitar. When I've seen him at rhinos solo shows he has impressed immeasureably and here he was no different playing effortlessly. Francis introduced him as the one who plays parts he can't anymore and the female backing singers (including his own daughter) as singing the parts he can't sing anymore. Rossi was however promoting a solo album that I had not got that still made me wary. Yet, only a handful of tracks were aired, instead we got a selection of Quo songs, some never played live before. Caroline was played in a honky tonk fashion before ending with the solo we know and love, and othe songs such as Claudie, Diggin Burt Bacharach and Can't Give You More are stuff I never thought I heard live before. Francis introduced one song as 'I like this one, but then I like them all as I chose the set!'. Given that Quo's own set has stayed static over the years and even now becoming stale, it was refreshing that Francis (who most hardcore fans blame for not changing Quo's set) is capable of playing other stuff that sounded so fresh. The only complaint was the encore only lasting one song, allbeit a classic in the form of Quo's 73 standerd 'Don't Waste My Time.

Set -Caroline, Claudie, All We Really Want To Do (Polly), You’ll Come Round, Crazy For You, Old Time Rock ‘N’ Roll, Strike Like Lightning, Tallulah’s Waiting, Here I Go, Tongue Tied, Blessed Are The Meek, My Little Heartbreaker, Electric Arena, One Step At A Time, Margharita Time, Rolling Down The Road, Diggin’ Burt Bacharach, Sleeping On The Job, Twenty Wild Horses, Can’t Give You More //// Don't Waste My Time

A start time of 8.15pm meant our crawl of Hampstead was cut short. A strange Austrian lager was on draught in the Horseshoe& was very nice, but more than £4 a pint didn't really justify buying it.
The gig at the Electric Ballroom was very similar to when I saw them at the garage a few months earlier. Lots of attractive people in the crowd and loud guitars along the White Stripes type sound. Good for a band out of Southampton.
We went to the Hawley Arms after with lots of wannabes and a fight breaking out in the upstairs bit. Not classy, over prententious and tons of better places in Camden to drink (unless you are Amy Winehouse when you're welcome to it!).