Face Of Cheam

Filming for his solo DVD, I was one of only 200 people in this church in Old Street to see this gig. After a few beers in the excellent Old Fountain pub, we jaunted to the venue and were entertained as we were a couple of months ago with a very similar set. Freddie Edwards in his band is so annoyingly good you just want to hit him which was more noticeable as we stood on his side of the stage. All in all a good evening out!

A big thank you for the handful of people (old & young) who turned up for the cheam park party. Fifteen years ago I said I would play a hometown gig in Cheam Park and whereas it wasn't the festival I had hoped for then the unplugged set in front of a few select friends went well despite a slight delay due to a heavy shower. Those who could not be there missed me singing the following songs, some featuring percussion from the audience who brought their own bongos and shakers!!!!
(covers have the orginal artist in brackets after)

Getting Better (Shed Seven) / Helenas House / Sit Down (James) / We're So Clever / Dirty Old Love Song (Shampoo) / Fade Out Of Sight / Inside (Stiltskin) / Same Old Song / Jennifer She Said (Lloyd Cole) / Its Been Ages Becky / The Look (Roxette) /// Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins) / Born On The 5th Novemeber (Carter USM) / Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order) / Share This World / Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams)

with the added bonus of frisbees and a football kick about, as well as a few cans of stella, this may have to be done more frequently than every 15 years!

Saw the Runaways film last night in Wimbledon. Great bio-pic of the late seventies girl band which included Joan Jett and Lita Ford. The story concentrates on the former and singer Cherie Currie and their manager/producer Kim Fowley. So many good scenes like the band practising to avoid missiles in their rehearsal trailer and Joan filling a water pistol full of Vodka. The music obviously stood out in the film but a worthwhile story is told of the fine line of success, failre and self indulgence of that world. Kristen Stewart (of the awful Twilight films) quite frankly rocks as Joan Jett in a great performance. The film ends with Jett becoming sucessful and Currie going the other way, and there is a nice touch with a brief resume of where the main characters are now with what they did inbetween.
Afterwards we headed to a revamped pub called the Slug where the Slug & Lettuce was. A loud party place with a southern hemisphere theme, everyone was slaughtered! We quickly moved onto Berties for a more relaxed beer.

My most viewed artist over the last two years has climaxed with this show to coincide with the release of her album Without Why. As with half the shows I stand next to her without realising at downstairs bar prior to the show taking place upstairs. However I fear with the packedness of the upstairs crowd and the surging populist reviews in NME and others, this could be the last such occaision. Rose has certainly come a long way from the Sunday Social at The Old Queens Head. Quite right too as songs like Carry On, Stop/Start/Synchro and Come Away With Me (a song I fell in love with at first listen in the Old Queens Head) are heads above the current crop of indie, pop or other genre tunes. She has also managed to get the support slot with Mark Ronson as well as being in his band (along with appearences on mainstream TV). The show showcases the album with two new songs, one of which sounded distinctly prog, maybe early Genesis or YES. Possibly the darkest show I've been too with hardly any front lighting, it was a struggle to see her at times despite being only two people at the front. This allowed her music to take the forefront and hopefuly won a few more people over as at times you felt surrounded in a good way by the vibrations of the sound. Hopefully album two will be on the way without the lengthy wait and also hopefully Rose won't forget the odd pub gig here and there and she saunters up to the types of venue she deserves. (Except this may make me more annoyed when I can't get into them cause of the gloryhunters!). I'm starting to feel like Morrisey!

As a warm up for the V festival on of my favourite bands Shed Seven are back in town. We decided to see the support as it was Chris Helme formerly of the Seahorses who treated us to an acoustic set which included the clssics You Can Talk To Me and Blinded By The Sun alongside some of his more recent solo tunes. Pretty good.
The Sheds are always good value and Rick Witter was on particularly good form bantering with the crowd and singing excellently. At one stage between songs he gave the mic to a crowd member who sang Devil in Your Shoes brillantly! As always Chasing Rainbows closed the set which has even lengthened beyond the last version they did of it developing it into the true monster classic it should be.