Category Archives: Live reviews

Live review: Iggy Pop, Blondie, Generation Sex, Stiff Little Fingers & Buzzcocks at Crystal Palace Park 1/7/23

Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , , , ,

One thing I like about the music scene these days is how much less tribal it all is compared to when I was a teenager. The intense rivalry between punks and metalheads has certainly dissipated since I was at school in the late 70s and early 80s. The passage of time, for many of us, has led to a much broader appreciation of rock and roll in all its many guises. As a teen, I was firmly in the hard rock/metal camp rather than the punk/new wave camp but looking around at those attending what has been billed Dog Day Afternoon today, there doesn’t look to be much difference in appearance between all the crop-haired, ageing punk fans clad in regulation khaki shorts and black T-shirts and all the crop-haired, ageing metal fans clad in regulation khaki shorts and black T-shirts.

Buzzcocks

Excepting Buzzcocks (and a couple of artists I’d seen perform in other permutations) this will be my first time seeing virtually all of the bands on stage today. But it will be the first time seeing Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley, since his passing in 2018. Steve Diggle has now switched to lead vocals, got in a new lead guitarist in place of Shelley and carried on pretty much where they left off. Pete Shelley was a unique talent with a unique vocal delivery and it’s not everyone who can perfect that blend of northern camp -meets- punk attitude so I was therefore wondering how Steve Diggle would shape up in trying to fill his shoes. But he pulls it off pretty magnificently. Fast, raucous, irreverent – Buzzcocks were sheer joy to watch. And in spite of being only the second band of the day (unfortunately, I missed the Lambrini Girls due to having to check into my hotel beforehand) there was a decent crowd to sing along as they blasted out timeless punk anthems like ‘What Do I Get?’, ‘Orgasm Addict’ and ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’.

Setlist:

What Do I Get?

Senses Out of Control

Fast Cars

People Are Strange Machines

I Don’t Mind

Sick City Sometimes

Why Can’t I Touch It?

Orgasm Addict

Promises

Manchester Rain

Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)

Harmony in My Head

Stiff Little Fingers

Comprising Jake Burns and Ali McMordie (who were both with the band when it started in 1977) and Ian McCallum and Steve Grantley (who have each been around since the mid-1990s) this is a stable line-up and a well-oiled machine who deliver another impressive set. Jakes Burns also gets a well-earned round of applause (by way of introduction to the song ‘My Dark Places’ from the 2014 album No Going Back) when he opens up about his own struggles with depression and urged men in the audience not just to bottle things up like he did, but to talk to someone. We hear you, Jake.

Setlist:

Tin Soldiers

Nobody’s Hero

Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae

Just Fade Away

Doesn’t Make It Alright

My Dark Places

Barbed Wire Love

At the Edge

Wasted Life

Gotta Gettaway

Suspect Device

Alternative Ulster

Generation Sex

Composed of 50% Sex Pistols (in the form of Steve Jones on guitar and Paul Cook on drums) and 50% Generation X (in the form of Billy Idol on vocals and Tony James on bass) Generation Sex is a modern-day celebration of both bands, with a setlist that is drawn entirely from the music of each. Some may regard bolting together incomplete bits of classic bands in this way as somewhat sacrilegious. Imagine if Paul and Ringo and Mick and Keith formed a hybrid of the Beatles and the Stones in this way. But the punk generation appears to have fewer qualms about it – not least because it’s absolutely brilliant. The band power through a crowd-pleasing mix of Pistols and Generation X songs with energy and vitality. Plus, it has to be said, Idol is a much better vocalist than John Lydon could ever be. There’s still enough of a sneer and a snarl in his delivery, however, that the essential essence of the Pistols is very much in evidence in all of the Sex Pistols numbers performed today. Given the way the material from both bands is rapturously received by the crowd, no-one would appear to be feeling at all short-changed by this hybrid melding of bona fide punk icons.

Setlist:

Pretty Vacant

Ready Steady Go

Wild Youth

Bodies

Black Leather

Kiss Me Deadly

Dancing With Myself

Silly Thing

King Rocker

God Save the Queen

Your Generation

My Way

Blondie

Blondie absolutely knocked me out. The whole day was a very strong line-up anyway but in terms of sheer class and charisma, in terms of wave after wave of iconic era-defining classics blasting from the PA and in terms of the immense power emanating from the band on stage, this very much felt like a headline performance in every possible way. A playful Debbie Harry, celebrating her 78th birthday today, is in fine voice as she belts out song after song, accompanied by the unmistakeable signature drumming from the ever-brilliant Clem Burke and with none other than another ex-Pistol, Glen Matlock, now putting his own signature stamp on the bass. Sadly, there is no Chris Stein on this current tour. He has taken leave due to ongoing health issues but his shoes are ably filled by Andee Blacksugar, with Matt Katz-Bohen (keyboards) and Tommy Kessler (guitar) completing the line-up. It’s an unforgettable performance.

Setlist:

One Way or Another

Hanging on the Telephone

Sunday Girl

Call Me

Will Anything Happen?

Atomic

Rapture

The Tide Is High

Long Time

Detroit 442

Maria

Heart of Glass

X Offender

Dreaming

Iggy Pop

Old schoolboy loyalties meant I was slower in coming to British punk than many of my fellow middle-aged festival attendees here today. But I was certainly not slow in coming to Iggy, the Godfather of Punk himself. I’d picked up second-hand copies of the Lust for Life album and The Idiot while I was still a young teenager in the early 80s and I bought the Blah Blah Blah album as soon as it came out back in 1986. But, curiously, until today I never actually got around to seeing him live. He has been on my bucket-list of artists to see for some time though and he certainly doesn’t disappoint. Shirtless, tanned and with that familiar torso now covered in wrinkles and bulging veins, Iggy Pop is a manic, mesmerising presence on stage.

His newly-refreshed backing band are exceptional, too. With echoes of saxophonist, Steve Mackay’s contributions in the Fun House era of The Stooges, the band now includes a full brass section. I’m not sure my brain quite adjusted to hearing layers of brass on songs like ‘The Passenger’ and ‘Lust for Life’ but the entire set felt like a real privilege to witness – and there was a nice mix between old Stooges material, his classic late 70s solo era and songs from his most recent album, Every Loser. I had finally got to see the great Iggy Pop in action. A brilliant ending to a pretty amazing day.

Setlist:

Rune

Five Foot One

T.V. Eye

Modern Day Rip Off

Raw Power

Gimme Danger

The Passenger

Lust for Life

The Endless Sea

Death Trip

I’m Sick of You

I Wanna Be Your Dog

Search and Destroy

Mass Production

Nightclubbing

Down on the Street

Loose

Frenzy

Related posts:

Lust for Life 2024: Clem Burke, Glen Matlock and Katie Puckrik reunite for second UK tour

Notes from the Lust For Life Tour – Feb/Mar 2023

Live review: Glen Matlock headlines Hastings Fat Tuesday 5/3/19

Live review: Ocean Alley at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 22/6/23

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , ,

Formed in 2011 in Northern Beaches on the outskirts of Sydney and now on to their fourth album, Aussie rockers, Ocean Alley, have built up a decent following in the UK in recent years and are currently mid-way through a European tour promoting their latest release, Low Altitude Living. While the backdrop may have been the English Channel rather than the Pacific, Ocean Alley seemed a perfect fit for a balmy summer evening at Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilion this week.

First up were the even more appropriately-named Seaside, another Australian band who kicked things off with a lively forty-minute set and a chance to hear their newly-released single ‘Housewife’.

Ocean Alley tend to be labelled alternative rock but their music embraces a variety of influences, from psychedelia to hard rock to reggae. And they eschew the more po-faced, uber-cool aesthetic beloved of some indie rockers, and bring with them enough rock and roll swagger to ensure a much broader appeal. Lead singer, Baden Donegal, has a nicely lived-in feel to his voice and there’s some fine bluesy licks coming from lead guitarist, Angus Goodwin. Even more importantly, there’s an irresistible anthemic quality to so many of their songs which means that even if you’re not too familiar with their entire back catalogue you can’t help but be swept away by the waves of enthusiasm emanating from both band and audience.

Unsurprisingly, a sizeable chunk of the set-list tonight comprises songs from Low Altitude Living, which came out last Autumn. But there’s also room for some older crowd-pleasers, including ‘Lemonworld’ which kicked things off, the rousing ‘Tombstone’ and the ever-popular ‘Confidence’ which drew big roars of approval from the Bexhill crowd.

If tonight’s show is anything to go by this latest tour will have certainly helped to  cement Ocean Alley’s reputation among UK audiences and won them over some new fans.

https://oceanalley.com.au/

Live review: The Sensational 60s Experience at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 11/6/23

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , , ,

Regular readers of Darren’s Music Blog will not be surprised that my interest in glam rock has taken me to quite a few ‘70s-themed package shows over the years. However, although I’ve seen many such tours advertised I’d never actually been to one of the ‘60s-themed ones before now. I’ve always had it in mind to catch one while there’s still, at least, a chance of seeing one or two of the original performers from the era still touring. Walking along Hastings seafront a few days ago, I noticed the poster for the Sensational 60s Experience appearing at Hastings White Rock Theatre later in the week. I checked on my phone to see they still had tickets and booked then and there.

First up tonight are The Fortunes. Lead vocalist and founding member, Rod Allen, had kept the group going from its inception in 1963 through until his death in 2008. Guitarist, Michael Smitham, the longest serving member of  the current line-up has been around since 1983, however, with the others joining in more recent decades. Clearly, we weren’t going to see any of the original Fortunes tonight but they rattle through a few hits, songs like ‘Here It Comes Again’ and ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’ from the 60s and (straying into the early 70s when The Fortunes enjoyed a bit of a revival in their own fortunes) ‘Freedom Come, Freedom Go’ and ‘Storm In A Teacup’.

Vanity Fare were formed in 1966, had three Top Twenty UK hits in the late 60s and even though their last original member, Trevor Brice, left them in 1979, they can still boast Guitarist/vocalist, Eddie Wheeler, who has been with them since 1970. Moreover, bass-player, Bernie Hagley, has been around since 1974 so they can claim a reasonable pedigree. I’m not too familiar with their material but they are good musicians – and as well as their own hits they throw in a couple of entertaining cover, too, including a lively version of ‘Spirit In The Sky’.

After performing several songs under their own steam, Mike d’Abo is then invited on stage to join them – a genuine, bonafide 60s hitmaker if ever there was one. Vanity Fare do an excellent job substituting for d’Abo’s former band as he powers through a selection of Manfred Mann hits: ‘Just Like a Woman’, ‘Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James’ and ‘Ha! Ha! Said the Clown’; as well as couple of d’Abo’s own songs that others enjoyed success with: ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ and the unforgettable ‘Handbags and Gladrags’. d’Abo is in strong voice tonight, exudes charisma on stage and is the stand-out act of the evening in my view. He leaves us with a spirited rendition of the pre-d’Abo, breakthrough hit for the Paul Jones-fronted version of the band. ‘Da Wah Diddy Diddy’ gets us all singing along before we hit the interval, and a chance to meet the man himself.

Mike d’Abo came out to sign CDs and meet fans during the interval

An appropriately double-denim-clad Swinging Blue Jeans then kick things off in the second half. Again, it’s another group on stage tonight without any members who played on their original hits. However, vocalist/lead guitarist, Alan Lovell, has been with the band since 1999 and did play alongside original members, Ray Ennis and Les Braid, for a number of years. The other musicians in the band can also boast some impressive rock and roll credentials between them, playing with the likes of Joe Brown, Cliff Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry among others. While the line-up might be the real thing, it’s probably the most authentically rock and roll performance of the evening, sticking to the basic template established by the first generation of US rockers back in the 1950s. As well as The Swinging Blue Jeans’ own biggest hit ‘The Hippy, Hippy Shake’ (which was originally written and recorded by US rock and roller, Chan Romero, in 1959), we get the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis’s ‘High School Confidential’ and Little Richard’s ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’.

Next up are Tremeloes tribute, The Trems. Unlike the others on the bill tonight they don’t claim to be the actual band (a version of which is still going, containing two sixties-era members). Rather, The Trems are billed as “former members of the Tremeloes”. Joe Gillingham (on keyboards) has been playing with the Tremeloes/Trems since the late 80s while Jeff Brown (on bass and vocals) has been with them since 2005. Brown, who also did a long stint with Andy Scott’s Sweet throughout the 90s and early 2000s needs no introduction to me as I’d seen him numerous times before, albeit in 70s glam persona rather than swinging 60s! It’s the closest thing tonight to a straightforward tribute act but Brown is an entertaining frontman and he and his bandmates get a deservedly enthusiastic response from the audience.

Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch wouldn’t have been my obvious choice as headliner for a 60s tour but proved to be the real surprise of the evening. Former frontman, Dave Dee, sadly passed away in 2009 and the original Dozy also passed away in 2015 and we have a replacement Mick (drummer, John Hatchman who’s been playing with them since the early 80s), a new Titch (lead guitarist Jolyon Dixon, who’s been around since 2014) and a new Dozy (Nigel Dixon on bass, who joined in 2015). But it’s still the original Beaky and rhythm guitarist, John Dymond, carries the air of surprised, bemused delight that he’s still doing this 58 years after releasing their first single. It’s all rather glorious as they amp up the sound and blast out the old hits like ‘Bend it’, ‘Zabadak’, ‘Legend of Xanadu’ and ‘Hold Tight’ with a raucous rock and roll swagger. Full of energy, spectacularly bonkers and hugely entertaining, it was a great end to the evening.

The original Beaky (centre) with Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch

Related posts:

Live review: The Manfreds at Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 26/10/21

Live review: Francis Rossi – ‘Tunes & Chat’ at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 3/6/23

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Music culture & history, Rock music, , , , ,

Always quite a Quo fan since being a young teenager, I’d originally booked to see Francis Rossi on his ‘I Talk Too Much Tour’ back in 2020. Covid came along and that got rescheduled and then cancelled altogether but Rossi finally makes it to Hastings’ White Rock Theatre on his follow-up tour, ‘Tunes and Chat’.

The previous tour adopted that well-established format for this type of evening: seasoned music journo chats to acclaimed rock star about their life and career, interspersed with some live songs. Sadly, (for the reasons given above) I didn’t get the chance to see Rossi do this with veteran rock writer, Mick Wall, when they went out on the road but Rossi clearly enjoyed himself because he’s back for more. However, this time he’s eschewed the standard format of on-stage bantering with an established music journo and it’s just Rossi and his guitar tech and accomplished co-musician, Andy Brook.

Brook famously doesn’t say a word during the show until right towards the end when he reads out some audience questions for Rossi to answer. So the “chat” part is very much Rossi in solo mode. It soon begins to remind me of one of those monologues that Ronnie Corbett used to do sitting on that massive big chair meandering away when he did his solo segment on The Two Ronnies. It’s very stream-of-consciousness with lots of ad-hoc, one-liners interspersed with recollections about growing up in an Italian family in south London, getting hooked on music and embarking on a potentially-lethal home experiment in trying to create his first ever electric guitar.

Along with the more generic chit-chat, there’s also some fascinating insights into how certain Quo songs came about. And, my, do we get the songs. Starting off with some of the early material like ‘In My Chair’ and ‘Down The Dustpipe’ before moving on to some of the songs recorded at the height of the band’s success in the 1970s and early 1980s, there is absolutely no shortage of Quo classics, including ‘What You’re Proposing’, ‘Paper Plane’ and ‘Rocking All Over The World’.

I’ve seen Status Quo perform acoustically in the past, of course, when they did their ‘Aquostic’ project some years back but this is a much more intimate affair and Rossi is in fine voice and clearly in his element. On stage, Rossi and Andy Brook spar extremely well together musically – even if not conversationally – and the evening ends with a wonderful, communal sing-along to ‘Caroline’.

Structured? Not really.

Insightful? Partly.

Entertaining? Absolutely!

https://www.francisrossi.com/

Related posts:

Status Quo – Aquostic at Hammersmith Apollo 26/4/15

Status Quo at Hammersmith Apollo 28/3/14

Notes from the Lust For Life Tour – Feb/Mar 2023

Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , ,

The recent Lust For Life tour brought together Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop), Clem Burke (Blondie, Iggy Pop), Katie Puckrik (Pet Shop Boys, Sparks), Kevin Armstrong (Iggy Pop, David Bowie), Luis Correia (Earl Slick) and Florence Sabeva (Heaven 17).

Having had the immense privilege of spending the past few months working on the PR campaign for the tour it was a joy to finally witness the band live, not just in a professional capacity but most importantly as a fan, of both that glorious Iggy Pop album and of the individual players in the band, too.

Why Lust For Life? In the run-up to the tour and following a last-minute change in personnel, Kevin Armstrong explained the thinking behind celebrating the album in this way:

“Well, it’s 45 years since the release of Lust For Life and it just seemed like a great way to celebrate these fantastic landmarks in music with some of the people who were there and some of us who have an Iggy connection. So that was the initial idea and Tony Sales, who played on Lust For Life, was up for it initially. But due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control he’s unable to complete the process. But luckily for us we’ve got Glen Matlock who’s similarly imbued with a connection to Iggy.”

By any criteria this was going to be an impressively strong line-up of musicians but the key test was always going to be how it would all gel together on stage. And what of Katie Puckrik? Many of us seeing this tour would know her from her impressive broadcasting career and would have some very fond memories of Katie bringing some all-American sass to the offbeat and very British irreverence of The Word back in the 1990s. But what would she bring as lead vocalist fronting such an esteemed collection of musical egos?

Both of those questions would be answered pretty conclusively by pretty much everyone witnessing the tour within the opening minutes of the first song (track one, side one of the original album, of course): an absolute triumph. Puckrik instantly proved herself as a compelling, energetic and gloriously charismatic frontwoman. Surely, a late career surge now beckons as an uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll goddess? As Clem Burke told his Twitter followers ahead of the final date on the tour:

“Katie is fantastic and it’s just occurred to me she has joined the ranks of the other brilliant women I’ve been fortunate to play with: Debbie, Annie, Nancy, Wanda, The Go Go’s, & Joan!”

For the first part of the performance the band powered through the Lust For Life album from start to finish. Clem Burke’s rhythmic powerhouse drumming and Glen Matlock’s mean and dirty bass, a joy to witness. Seeing legends like this up on small stages in tiny, intimate venues just a few meters away is a real ‘pinch-me’ experience for many of us. Kevin Armstrong and Luis Correia are both exceptional guitarists and classically-trained Florence Sabeva is an incredibly versatile player as she takes on Bowie’s keyboard parts on the original album. After we’ve all sung along with them to anthems like ‘Some Weird Sin’, The Passenger’ and ‘Success’ before we know it we’re on to the band’s rendition of album’s final track, ‘Fall In Love With Me’, and it’s time for some introductions.

Underlining the gold standard of the musical CVs of the musicians standing in front of us we have filmed segments, both old and new, introducing each member in turn, courtesy of Glen Gregory, Sparks, Steve Norman, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry.

Then it’s on to an extended ‘career highlights’ package with a brilliantly chosen set of songs from across the individual band members’ careers: Iggy Pop covers like ‘Nightclubbing’ and ‘Ambition’ (the latter with Matlock on vocals); Stooges covers like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and ‘No Fun’, Blondie’s ‘Rip Her To Shreds’ and a truly life-affirming version of the Pistol’s ‘Pretty Vacant’. Unforgettable performances from an unforgettable tour.

Lust For Life Band at the Lexington, London

Although a number of those performing had worked with one another in various guises prior to this, both the tour and the band was initially conceived a one-off project, but let’s just hope this is the start rather than the end of something bigger.  It truly deserves to be. A brilliant way to celebrate one of the truly iconic albums of the past fifty years with an incredible cast of musicians who more than do it justice and then some.  

Photo credits: all live images taken at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh courtesy of John Scott, Upstage Photography

Website: https://www.lustforlifetour.com/

So farewell to Butlin’s Rock & Blues weekends, Skegness 13-15 January 2023

Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , , , ,

For more than a decade an out-of-season trip to Butlins has been a fixture in my diary at least once each year: numerous trips to Minehead for the Giants Of Rock weekends, several trips to Skegness for the Great British Folk Festival and a handful of additional trips to the same resort for the Rock & Blues weekends. Over the years I’ve rented chalets with large groups, with smaller groups, with family, with friends and with friends I’ve made along the way. Thanks to Butlins I’ve enjoyed tons of live music, met various bona fide music legends in the flesh and connected with likeminded fans from across the country. But now it was finally all coming to an end. Butlins had pulled the plug on Giants Of Rock last year and now this year both the folk weekends and the rock & blues weekends were going the same way.

In response to customer complaints about the demise of the Great British Rock & Blues Festival, the Butlins team have been at pains to stress that the event had been in decline commercially for a number of years. Certainly, the various tribute band weekends that the company stage these days seem to be a far more lucrative option, attracting higher visitor numbers and the stag and hen weekenders who are there primarily for tongue-in-cheek fun and spending vast amounts at the bar rather than the quality of the music per se. And no fat fees for big-name acts to worry about either. If I were running Butlins I’d probably go down the same route myself, particularly as it was becoming increasingly clear that the crowds at the rock, folk and blues weekends weren’t getting any younger and simple demographics dictate that the existing punters weren’t going to be going along forever.

Of course, as an actual punter it did feel rather sad that it was all coming to end. I had vainly hoped that the Rock & Blues weekends in Skegness might continue once Giants of Rock had bitten the dust. But it was not to be. Although my tastes generally lie more at the rock end than the blues end of the spectrum, there was plenty of both to enjoy over this final weekend, however.

Highlights this year included the tremendous Ten Years After (a band I only properly rediscovered live at Minehead last year after seeing them once at Reading Festival back in the early 80s); the irrepressible Steve Gibbons (who announced at the end of his set that he’d had a clear out of all the old merch in his garage and that all the money raised from it was going to the relief effort in Ukraine – of course I bought some); sixties girl singer turned seasoned blues legend, Dana Gillespie (who delivered perhaps the filthiest set of the weekend, with some gloriously innuendo-laden blues lyrics); the Chicago Blues Legends (Billy Branch and John Primer with upcoming legend, Jamiah Rogers); and finally the Verity Bronham Band (I’d seen both John Verity and Del Bronham on numerous occasions at similar weekends over the years and it was lovely seeing them join forces for a stupendous sing-along set of rock classics.)

So farewell then Skegness Butlins. I really can’t see myself trekking across the country for a bunch of tribute bands in future. However, there’s still a decent bunch of off-season festival weekends out there offered by other holiday firms so it could well be time to explore some of those in future.

[Images Steve Gibbons on stage, Steve Gibbons and Darren at the merch desk, Dana Gillespie on stage]

The Great British Rock & Blues Festival 2018

Giants of Rock 2022

Giants of Rock 2020

Giants of Rock 2019

Giants of Rock 2018

Giants of Rock 2017

Graham Bonnet at Giants of Rock 2016

Ian Hunter at Giants of Rock 2016

Mick Ralphs Blues Band at Giants of Rock 2016

Procol Harum at Giants of Rock 2016

Bernie Marsden at Giants of Rock 2015

Slade at Giants of Rock 2015

Mick Ralphs Blues Band at Giants of Rock 2015

2022 in Darren’s music blog – the ten most popular posts of the year

Album reviews, Folk music, Glam rock, Live reviews, Music culture & history, Music news, Rock music, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I wish everyone a happy New Year. My thanks to everyone who has visited Darren’s music blog during 2022. As usual an eclectic mix of classic rock, folk and glam and a mixture of live reviews, album reviews, tour news and a plug for my own book appearing amongst the ten most viewed posts of the year.

1. Live review: the final ever Giants of Rock, Minehead 21-23 January 2022

Barring the gap due to Covid I’d been going to Butlins at Minehead each January since 2015 for the Giants Of Rock festival. But now the festival is no more, replaced by a tribute weekend, so I’ll be heading to Skegness in January for the Rock & Blues festival instead (although, sadly, that is coming to and end, too). Relive the last ever Giants of Rock weekend here with my review covering the likes of Ten Years After, Geordie, Atomic Rooster and Nazareth.

Read full review here

2. Live review: Suzi Quatro at the Royal Albert Hall 20/4/22

2022 was the year of all things Suzi Quatro for me. Not only did my book for Sonicbond’s Decades series, Suzi Quatro In The 1970s, come out in July but earlier in the year I could celebrate getting it finished, proofread and finally off to the publishers with a trip to London for Suzi’s incredible performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Photo credit (above): Gary Cosby

Read full review here

3. Live review: the Eagles at Hyde Park 26/6/22

I was back over to London a couple of times in the Summer, too, with two separate trips to Hyde Park for the British Summertime series of concerts. The first of these was for the Eagles. Long on my bucket-list of must-see bands I finally got to see them. Even without the late, great Glenn Frey, it was still an incredible experience and just magical being in Hyde Park late on a summer evening as the sun started set watching them perform ‘Hotel California’.

Read full review here

4. Live review: the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park 3/7/22

Just a week after the Eagles I was back in Hyde Park for the Rolling Stones. It’s been over thirty years since attending my first and only previous Rolling Stones gig, when I went with my dad to Manchester’s Maine Road back in 1990. My dad’s thinking back then was that if I wanted to see them live then 1990’s Urban Jungle tour might be my last chance. It wasn’t quite! Thirty years later I’m back for more and what a memorable evening it was.

Read full review here

5. Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2022

After a two-year gap due to Covid restrictions it was nice to be back in Oxfordshire in August for Fairport Convention’s annual Cropredy festival. Both tickets and line-up had been carried over from the event initially planned for 2020 but the passage of time had necessitated some tweaks to the line-up and in my case (due to a change in domestic circumstances), the reallocation of my second ticket to a Cropredy newcomer. Highlights included Clannad, Trevor Horn, Turin Brakes, Richard Thompson – and Fairport, of course!

Read full review here

6. New book: ‘Suzi Quatro In The 1970s’ by Darren Johnson coming in July 2022

Definitely, one of the highlights of 2022 for me was the publication of my book on Suzi Quatro for Sonicbond’s Decades series, which followed on from the book on The Sweet I had written the previous year for the same series. As Suzi herself says: “If you talk about the ‘70s, I was a hardworking artist. I did nothing but tour – recording, touring, TV, you know. I had constant jetlag. Constant black shadows under my eyes but, oh, what a ride! What a wonderful ride. And I’m still doing it now.”

Read original post here

7. Album review – Graham Bonnet Band ‘Day Out In Nowhere’

My most popular album review of the year, I wrote that Graham Bonnet is “clearly on something of a roll at this late stage in his career. Whether you are the more casual fan of his most celebrated albums from the late 70s and early 80s or a dedicated fan who’s loyally followed each and every stage of his long career, there’s lots to like in Day Out In Nowhere. It deserves to do well.”

Read full review here

8. Album reviews: four recent solo releases from the extended Uriah Heep family

Going online to treat myself to the newly-released CD from former Uriah Heep singer, Pete Goalby, I ended up having one of those “customers who viewed this also viewed these” impulse purchase experiences. Before I knew it I had, not one, but four recently-released CDs from the extended Uriah Heep family popping through my letterbox, three of these being released posthumously.

Read full review here

9. Bowie and Iggy Pop icon, Tony Fox Sales, celebrates 45 years of Lust For Life

One of the things I am really looking forward to in 2023 is the tour by Iggy Pop / Bowie bass legend, Tony Fox Sales.  With an all-star line-up, Tony is joined by legendary Blondie drummer, Clem Burke; vocalist, renowned broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik; Iggy Pop and David Bowie guitarist, Kevin Armstrong;  guitarist, Luis Correia, who’s toured internationally with Earl Slick; and classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva.

Read original post here

10. Gaelic singer Kim Carnie – debut album ‘And So We Gather’

Gaelic singer, Kim Carnie, launched her solo career in 2018 with the release of her EP, In Her Company. Since then she’s worked with the bands, Mànran and Staran, been much in demand as a session vocalist and in 2021 won the Gaelic Singer of The Year prize at the MG Alba Trad Awards. In June this year she released her debut album, And So We Gather.

Read original post here

2021 in Darren’s music blog

2020 in Darren’s music blog

2019 in Darren’s music blog

Live review: Diamond Head and Saxon, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 13/11/22

Live reviews, new wave of British heavy metal, Rock music, , , , , , , , ,

Back in the day Diamond Head seemed to be one of those bands I constantly read about but somehow passed me by, neither seeing the live nor owning one of their albums. I’ve made up for it in recent years and this is now the third time I’ve seen them. Hugely influential as early pioneers of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) era and later lauded by bands on the US thrash scene, like Metallica, they never really quite got the recognition they deserved to make it into the big league. But after being absent for the latter part of the 1980s and much of the 1990s the band reformed in the early 2000s and have been solidly active ever since.

Lead guitarist, Brian Tatler, has been the one constant presence in every line-up of the band from the start but the latter-day Diamond Head are a really strong unit and seem to have carved out a niche for themselves as a go-to support act. I saw them at this same venue three years ago supporting Uriah Heep and it’s great to see them, once again, now supporting Saxon. While there may be something of an ‘always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride’ about that, it is nevertheless fantastic to see them perform on a big stage in decent-sized venues like De la Warr. The band’s combination of hard riffing and bona fide heavy metal classics assure them a hugely appreciative audience tonight. Definitely,  a support band you don’t want to miss.

While some veteran rock acts might be content to ease off on the writing and recording of new material and focus primarily on a greatest hits set for their live shows, Saxon continue to deliver some excellent albums and this tour is very much about promoting the latest, Carpe Diem, released earlier this year. Indeed, the name of this tour (‘Seize The Day’) comes from a line in the album’s title track. There’s no shortage of material from the new album on this tour and the first part of the set is heavily dominated by tracks from Carpe Diem. Having bought the album when it first came out back in February, I’ve had a good few months to familiarise myself with it. So as the band blast out tracks like the aforementioned ‘Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)’, ‘Age Of Steam’ and ‘Dambusters’, they sound more like welcome old friends than strangely unfamiliar new material. It helps, of course, that Saxon have always had that knack of turning out memorable songs with great riffs.

There’s room, of course, for plenty of the old classics, too.  ‘And The Bands Played On’, ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’, ‘Denim And Leather’ and ‘Princess of the Night’ all get a welcome airing before the end of the evening. Unforgettable anthems of heavy metal all of them, they have ensured Saxon have remained up there as my personal favourite to come out of the NWOBHM scene.

Biff Byford is in fine voice and remains a compelling frontman, the band power through the songs with incredible energy as those trademark heavy riffs are unleashed and the songs, whether new or old, make for a hugely memorable gig. Thank you, Saxon!

https://www.saxon747.com/

Setlist:

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)

Sacrifice

Age of Steam

I’ve Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)

Dambusters

The Thin Red Line

Living on the Limit

Dallas 1 PM

Heavy Metal Thunder

Metalhead

The Eagle Has Landed

Black Is the Night

And the Bands Played On

Wheels of Steel

The Pilgrimage

Strong Arm of the Law / Solid Ball of Rock

747 (Strangers in the Night)

Denim and Leather

Princess of the Night

Related reviews:

Diamond Head and Uriah Heep at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 6/12/19

Saxon / Fastway / Girlschool at Shepherd’s Bush Empire 5/11/16

Saxon – album review: Battering Ram

‘Denim & Leather: The Rise And Fall Of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’ by Michael Hann

Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2022

Folk music, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , ,

With all the performers originally booked for 2020, then rescheduled for 2021, then rescheduled again for 2022, a lot has happened since this festival line-up was first announced at the back-end of 2019. Festival mainstay, Richard Digance, could no longer make it. He had a booking at the Edinburgh Fringe this year so his Saturday lunchtime set was given over to Seth Lakeman. Matthews Southern Comfort, who had originally been down for the early Saturday evening slot, had now morphed into The Matthews Baartmans Experience, the band having gone their separate ways during their Covid-enforced career interlude leaving just Iain Matthews and BJ Baartmans to fly the flag as a duo. And for myself (who had originally booked tickets for me and my now ex-partner) I would now be accompanied by Simon (below right) who has stacks and stacks of camping experience but had never been to a musical festival before.

Simon’s verdict: “I couldn’t believe how well-organised it was . It was just like a proper campsite. I was expecting it to be really rowdy and nowhere near as civilised as it was.”

Day One – Thursday:

I’ve been at Cropredy in all sorts of weather conditions, from thunder and lightning to torrential rain to baking hot sun, but it soon became clear that we wouldn’t be able to just sit in the field all day watching pretty much every band that came along. Me and heatwaves don’t mix. I could just about cope with the mid-day sun and the late evenings were exceptionally pleasant once the sun had dipped below the horizon but after downing several pints waiting for Fairport Convention’s twenty-minute opening acoustic set on the Thursday afternoon it soon became abundantly clear that a very different strategy was needed this year.

This was fine as pretty much all of the artists I really, really wanted to see had either early lunchtime slots or later evening slots. It meant I would miss out on the experience of trying out some new bands in the afternoon but even a jam session with the reincarnation Elvis and Jimi Hendrix would not have got me back on that festival field in the afternoon sun.

Following a snooze to recover and then listening to Edward II from the comfort (and shade) of our campsite gazebo, we headed back over for Clannad. A band I’d long wanted to see, their set was absolutely stunning and a fitting finale to their 52-year career. Back in 2020 they had decided to call it a day but the pandemic has meant a two-year delay to the completion of their farewell tour. When Cropredy 2020 was cancelled I treated myself to a copy of their double-disc career retrospective so I was pretty familiar with pretty much all of their set-list (not just the ubiquitous TV theme-song classics) by the time it came to Cropredy. Well worth the wait.

When they last played Cropredy in 2017 The Trevor Horn Band went down an absolute storm. However, not particularly being a fan of either Buggles or 80s-era Yes, back then I decided to take a break for a snooze. I soon realised I’d made a big mistake as we heard Horn and co. churn out hit after hit from the comfort of the campsite. No such snobbery from me this time around and we made sure we were there for a set that encompassed songs from the back catalogues of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 10CC, Tears For Fears, David Bowie, Dire Straits and many more – not to mention the obligatory Yes and Buggles hits. There were numerous guests, including Lol Crème from 10CC, Steve Hogarth from Marillion and the wonderful Toyah Wilcox and Robert Fripp who became those surprise YouTube sensations during lockdown. It was fun, brilliantly-performed and a wonderful party atmosphere, even for me who is generally quite snooty about 80s chart hits.

Day Two – Friday:

Our heatwave survival strategy came into play whereby we would catch a couple of lunchtime acts and then retreat from the afternoon sun until the evening. BBC Young Folk Award 2019 winner, Maddie Morris, finally got to perform and wowed the crowd with her sweet voice, socially-conscious lyrics and powerful advocacy of LGBT rights. Next up was Australian singer-songwriter, Emily Barker, who I’d enjoyed twice before, once doing an in-store performance promoting her wonderfully-soulful Sweet Kind of Blue album (recorded in Memphis) and once on tour with Marry Waterson (daughter of Lal) of the legendary Waterson family. The was no Marry on stage this time but we did get a wonderful rendering of the Watersons’ ‘Bright Phoebus’, alongside Emily Barker’s own unique blend of soulful Americana.

It was then time to escape the sun and also meet a late-comer to our ten-strong Cropredy camping group so I spent some time in one of the marquees at the Cream of The Crop campsite in Field 8 which runs its own parallel small festival alongside the official Fairport one. Anyone with a wristband for the main festival can get in and while I, unfortunately, missed the brilliant Dandelion Charm I did catch some other great music. After showing our new arrival to the camp it was then time to head off to the main stage for Turin Brakes.

Formed at the turn of the millennium their chilled-out and gorgeously-melodic brand of indie rock was just perfect for a summer evening and one of the weekend highlights for me. Playing a mixture of old favourites like their 2005 top five hit, ‘Painkiller (Summer Rain)’ alongside newer material, they certainly looked happy to finally be performing and it was an emotional moment for drummer, Rob Allum, when it was revealed his first visit to Cropredy was as a youngster way back in 1980.

If the previous night ended with the party sing-along atmosphere of the Trevor Horn Band’s set, this was not exactly what Steve Hackett was offering. I can dip in and out of early Genesis but this seemed very much a strictly-for-fans only set, I’m afraid, and after grabbing some pictures of the stunning full moon over the festival crowd we decided to call it a night.

Day Three – Saturday:

Seth Lakeman never disappoints at a festival and although his set is a world away from the entertaining mix of sentimentality and silliness served up by Richard Digance, he was an inspired choice to fill the latter’s regular Saturday lunchtime slot and a big enough name to guarantee that the field would be full by the time he came on stage to open proceedings.

After Seth Lakeman we slipped away, once again, before the afternoon sun really started doing it’s worst but were back at the main stage by early evening.

Early Fairport alumni, Iain Matthews, always seems as comfortable playing solo with just his guitar as he is playing with a full band, so the duo format suits him down to the ground. Playing a mixture of Matthews Southern Comfort and solo material, plus some well-chosen covers (including ‘Reno Nevada’, a regular live fixture from Fairport Convention’s early days) the Matthews Baartmans Experience are nicely timed to start off an evening of Fairport and friends. Richard Thompson (who would be back on shortly for both his own set and Fairport’s) comes on for one song. In a colourful shirt and baggy shorts sans his usual black stage uniform, he joins the duo to perform a crowd-pleasing cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’, Matthews Southern Comfort’s biggest and best-known hit.

Then it’s straight into a set from Richard Thompson. With a great mix of old favourites (‘Genesis Hall’, ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’, ‘Beeswing’, ‘Bright Lights’ et al) and newer material (‘Singapore Sadie’, ‘The Rattle Within’), he’s always a star turn any time he’s been at Cropredy and he had the crowd roaring for him from the word go. The voice, that guitar, those songs: this was always going to be a winning combination at Cropredy. And it was. Iain Matthews returned the favour by providing vocals on the wonderful ‘From Galway To Graceland’ and, all in all, it was the perfect prelude to the grand finale.

2020 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Fairport Convention’s first post-Sandy Denny album, the much-celebrated Full House) and two years later they finally get to perform it in full with all of the original line-up from that album, bar Dave Swarbrick (whose place was taken by current member, Chris Leslie, taking on the late Swarb’s fiddle and vocal parts). First, however, the current line-up deliver a handful of old favourites not from that album like ‘Ye Mariners All’ and ‘Fotheringay’, alongside a very hefty dose of songs from the most recent studio album, Shuffle And Go, which was released back in 2020. On their 2022 Winter Tour earlier this year Dave Pegg joked that given they had not had chance to flog them on tour for the last couple of years, there were still stacks of these albums sitting in his garage and so they were making no apologies for heavily pushing it. Clearly, the same rule applied but there are some pretty entertaining songs on the album and the musicianship is never less than excellent.

The moment virtually all of us were waiting for, however, was the start of the Full House segment and it was a really special seeing ex-Fairporters Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson taking their places alongside Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Chris Leslie. Together they captured the drama, intensity and outright weirdness of that classic 1970 album – and some more. All are seasoned players compared to their younger selves and while Dave Swarbrick’s presence was sorely missed, they played and sang with such confidence and swagger that it almost felt better than the original album.

The between-song banter in the early part of the set and the non-negotiability around playing the Full House album in full meant that they had started to run short of time towards the end of the set, where they were up against an equally non-negotiable curfew. ‘Matty Groves’ was unceremoniously dumped but we still got a beautiful rendition of ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’ with a lovely video introduction from Sandy Denny’s daughter, Georgia Lucas, as well as the traditional end-of festival emotional sing-along that is ‘Meet On The Ledge’.

I didn’t mind missing ‘Matty Groves’. My only real niggle is that I felt there should have been a proper on-stage tribute to original vocalist, Judy Dyble, who sadly passed away in 2020. I was expecting something to be played from the first album and perhaps an accompanying video tribute. Yes, she was only around for one album but she participated in numerous reunions and was an enthusiastic attendee of the festival each year.

Nevertheless, it was great to be back, it was a spectacular evening courtesy of Fairport and friends and it was an emotional end to the festival. It all comes round again (eventually).

Photo credits: Simon Putman

Related reviews:

Book review: ‘On Track: Fairport Convention – every album, every song’ by Kevan Furbank

Fairport Convention at Bexhill 2020

Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2018

Fairport Convention at Cropredy 2017

Album review – Fairport Convention ‘Come All Ye: The First Ten Years’

Fairport Convention – 50th anniversary gig at Union Chapel 2017

Fairport Convention at Cropredy 2014

Fairport Convention at Union Chapel 2014

Iain Matthews in Etchingham 2016

Album review – Fairport Convention ‘What We Did On Our Saturday’

Album review – Ashley Hutchings ‘From Psychedelia to Sonnets’

Album review – Ashley Hutchings ‘Twangin’ ‘n’ a-Traddin’ Revisited’

Album review – Sandy Denny ‘I’ve Always Kept a Unicorn: The Acoustic Sandy Denny’

Fotheringay at Under the Bridge, London 2015

Fotheringay at Great British Folk Festival 2015

Richard Thompson at Royal Festival Hall 2015

Richard Thompson at Folk By The Oak 2014

Album review – Richard Thompson ‘Acoustic Classics’

Judy Dyble at WM Jazz at The o2

Albion Christmas Band at Kings Place 16/12/14

Live review: the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park 3/7/22

Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , ,

It’s been over thirty years since attending my first and only previous Rolling Stones gig, when I went with my dad to Manchester’s Maine Road back in 1990. My dad’s thinking back then was that if I wanted to see them live then 1990’s Urban Jungle tour might be my last chance.

Thirty-two years later and they are still at it, well Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood anyway. The set opened with a poignant tribute to Charlie Watts up on the huge screens and Jagger dedicating the concert to him.

Opening up with a wonderfully energetic version of ‘Get Off My Cloud’ to get us all instantly in the mood, the hits keep rolling. Timeless classics all, I was particularly moved by a poignant rendition of ‘Angie’ and a beautiful ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, a song we played at my dad’s funeral back in 2007 so it has special meaning for me.

There was quite a lot of banter with the crowd, a playful Jagger welcoming us to the “American Express British Summer Time Covid super-spreader event” at one point. This is the fifth time the Stones have played Hyde Park, the vocalist reminds us. “The first one was free,” he says, recalling that legendary Hyde Park concert back in July 1969 following the tragic death of Brian Jones. “The following ones were not free,”  he says with a wry grin, acknowledging the hefty wads of cash that most of us had forked out for the privilege of being here tonight.

Keith Richards is in his element, taking lead vocals for a couple of songs,  ‘You Got The Silver’ (from Let It Bleed) and ‘Happy’ (from Exile On Main Street). It also gave Jagger a short rest back stage. But for the rest of the concert he’s bopping and preening and dashing out into the crowd on the famed ‘ego-ramp’, the same as he’s always done in a way that’s just impossible to believe he’s now almost 79.

As Matt, my gig partner for the day points out, it’s not a massive entourage of a backing band. Jagger, Richards and Wood are joined by the ever-present Darryl Jones, who took over from Bill Wyman back in 1994, and Steve Jordan filling in for Charlie Watts since the latter’s shock demise last year. Alongside them are Chuck Leavell and Matt Clifford on keyboards, Bernard Fowler on backing vocals and percussion, Tim Ries and Karl Denson on saxophone, and Sasha Allen on backing vocals. Both the sound and on-stage vibe is perfection.

Jagger’s soon back on stage and the band launch into an extended, super-funked-up version of ‘Miss You’, an opportunity for a mass boogie by the Hyde Park crowd and communal “ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh” backing vocals before we move straight into a deliciously laid-back ‘Midnight Rambler’, with bags of harmonica from Jagger and Richards and Woods trading country-flavoured guitar licks.

And there’s still time to pack a whole more classics in: ‘Paint It Black’, ‘Start Me Up’, ‘Gimme Shelter’, ‘Jumping Jack Flash’. Another poignant moment comes as the big screens depict an eery tableau of bombed-out buildings during ‘Gimme Shelter’ as the band’s tribute to Ukraine, with backing singer, Sasha Allen, duetting with Jagger on this one and demonstrating what a fantastically soulful voice she’s got as she joins him on the ramp out into the crowd.

Unlike the Eagles last week, who launched straight into their encore set without the hassle of going off stage and coming back on again, we did have to wait a couple minutes for the band to return and conclude with ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and riotous, life-affirming ‘Satisfaction’.

I probably won’t get to see them again, regardless of the band’s future plans as they reach their sixtieth anniversary milestone. But this was special and something I’ll remember forever.

Set-list:

Get Off My Cloud

19th Nervous Breakdown

Tumbling Dice

Out of Time

Angie

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Like a Rolling Stone

You Got Me Rocking

Honky Tonk Women

You Got the Silver

Happy

Miss You

Midnight Rambler

Paint It Black

Start Me Up

Gimme Shelter

Jumping Jack Flash

Sympathy for the Devil

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Related posts:

Review: The Rolling Stones ‘Exhibitionism’ at The Saatchi Gallery

Live review: the Eagles at Hyde Park 26/6/22