Tag Archives: Glam rock

Live review: Sweet at Birmingham Town Hall 4/12/25

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , ,

A rare occurrence for me but I missed Sweet on their tour last December. As it turned out, however, so did band-leader, lead guitarist and the last surviving member of the classic ‘70s foursome, Andy Scott. A fracture in his pelvis (on top of a debilitating long-term cancer diagnosis) left him completely unable to move so his place was ably taken by Jim Kirkpatrick. Never one to be kept down for long, however, Scott resumed touring in the Spring and as well as a hectic live schedule this year, there’s an impressive roster of European dates lined up for 2026, too.

On previous Christmas tours over the past few years I’ve tended to catch Sweet either in London or down here on the south coast at the De La Warr Pavilion. However, with nothing scheduled for the South East on this tour, I cunningly worked out I could spend a night in Birmingham en route to a pre-Christmas family get-together up in Preston. In fact, this is not the first time I’ve made the long trek to see Sweet in Birmingham. I was here back in 2017 to see Andy & Co. supporting Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow at the Genting Arena.

At the time, I expressed a slight degree of disappointment that the then line-up stuck to a tried-and-tested greatest hits setlist, rather than exploring some of the more hard rock-oriented deep cuts that were likely to have particularly appealed to an audience made up of hard-core Ritchie Blackmore devotees. It was only much later that Scott revealed to fans that he’d had to begin a gruelling course of chemotherapy that very week, obviously leaving no time to rehearse a revised setlist. I felt bad about making my disappointment known once we’d all learned the truth but there is absolutely no such complaint about the setlist tonight.

Ever since the current line-up was unveiled (fronted by ex-Cats in Space lead singer, Paul Manzi), there’s been a much greater emphasis on the album-oriented hard rock side of the band’s DNA, besides the more well-known glam-era big hits. Plus, there’s been an album of brand-new, hard-rocking material, too. Accordingly, we get an explosive set on this tour, featuring incendiary versions of tracks like ‘Lost Angels’, ‘Windy City’ and ‘Set Me Free’ and a couple of songs from the excellent new album, Full Circle, as well as all the well-known big hits.

After praising Scott’s incredible feats of endurance, Manzi summed up his current state of health as “85% back to full fitness” meaning he had to take a scheduled breather part-way through the set. Accordingly, the rest of the band remained on stage to deliver a sing-along medley of ‘ Co-Co’, ‘Funny Funny’ and ‘Poppa Joe’ while Scott caught his breath. Observant Sweet fans will already know that Scott never played on the studio versions of these early bubblegum hits anyway so it was the obvious place in the set for a well-earned break. Elsewhere, however, wherever Scott’s familiar signature guitar sound is heard on the original records, he’s up there on stage delivering those pounding Sweet riffs and searing Scott solos.

For anyone seeing them on this tour, it’s an incredible line-up of the Sweet performing these days. In my mind, even though 2002’s Sweetlife remains my absolute favourite post-Brian Connolly Sweet album, what we have on stage now is one the strongest live line-ups of Sweet since the demise of the classic foursome. Whatever life has thrown at him in recent years, Andy Scott shows no sign of giving up quite yet. Here’s wishing him a good few more tours!

My book ‘The Sweet in the 1970s’ is available from Amazon here

Setlist:

Action
Hell Raiser
Burn on the Flame
Circus
The Sixteens
Don’t Bring Me Water
Lost Angels
Windy City
Set Me Free
Co-Co / Funny Funny / Poppa Joe
Teenage Rampage
Wig-Wam Bam / Little Willy
Love Is Like Oxygen
Fox on the Run
Blockbuster
The Ballroom Blitz

Related posts:

Review: Sweet at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire 2025

Review: Sweet at Islington Assembly 2021

Book reviews roundup: ‘The Sweet in the 1970s’

Interview with Andy Scott

Review: Sweet at Bexhill 2019

News: All change at The Sweet

Review: Sweet 50th anniversary concert – Berlin

Review: Sweet live 2017, London and Bilston

Review: Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and Sweet at Birmingham Genting Arena 2017

The Sweet versus Bowie: the riff in Blockbuster and Jean Genie – origins and influences

Review: Sweet at Dartford 2015

Review: Sweet at Bilston 2014

Live review: Slade at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 28/11/25

Glam rock, Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

I was lucky enough to see the original line-up of Slade on one of their annual Christmas tours a couple of times back in the early 1980s. Then, after Dave Hill reformed the band with Don Powell in the early 1990s, seeing Slade every Christmas pretty much became an annual tradition. Health issues meant that Hill, now the only original remaining member, had to miss a couple of years in recent times. But now he’s back on the road for a ten-date UK tour. As he approaches his 80th birthday next April this has been advertised as the final ever Slade Christmas tour. They are not giving up playing live altogether, Hill reassures us all later on. There will still be the odd show, just not these big tours.

Yes, there’s no Noddy and Jim, the ones who actually wrote all of those Holder/Lea hits being blasted out tonight. Don departed some years ago amidst a certain amount of acrimony and so Dave with his ever-flamboyant stage-attire is the last man standing. But it’s a chance to see a bonafide ‘70s legend less than a mile from my front door and, most importantly, a chance to celebrate all those hits with as much communal stomping, swaying, singing and clapping as all of us can muster. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Looking forward to getting crazee with Slade!

It’s not exactly an unfamiliar set-list, either for long-time Slade fans or, indeed, almost anyone who had more than a passing acquaintance with the chart music of the 1970s and early ‘80s. Only three of the songs being played tonight came in below the Top Five in the UK singles charts! And the only things that may even slightly resemble anything like a ‘deep cut’ are ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’, a minor hit for the band the year after their post-Reading comeback; and ‘My Baby Left Me’, another minor hit recorded as a tribute to Elvis following the King’s death in 1977. Familiarity is what’s it’s all about tonight and kicking off with ‘Take Me Bak ‘Ome’ the big hits come thick and fast.

The classic Slade live format of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums has been tampered with in recent years and rather than someone taking on Noddy Holder’s old role on second guitar, you now have Russell Keefe on keyboards. This works surprisingly well, especially given the prominence of the keyboards in so many of Slade’s mellower numbers, like ‘Everyday’, ‘My Friend Stan’ and ‘My Oh My’. What works less well is when Keefe takes lead vocal on several songs. Holder’s voice was gravelly but it was never gruff. In Slade’s glory days, Holder could yell louder than any of them but Tom Waites he was not.

Without trying to mimic Holder, Hill’s long-time bass-player, John Berry, does a much more sympathetic job on the songs where he sings lead. The other new-boy, Alex Bines, pounds away on drums as the audience clap and stomp along, and the soon-to-be-octogenarian Hill nails all those familiar, classic, guitar solos.

An impassioned Dave Hill imploring the crowd to look to the future

It’s the first night of the tour and towards the end Hill seems genuinely moved by the rabble-rousing response from the audience tonight. After a suitably crazy ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ the band exit the stage but soon they are back for an encore with an epic singalong rendition of ‘My Oh My’, followed by a wonderfully raucous ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’.

But wait, it’s nearly December, it’s the start of the Slade Christmas tour and there’s obviously one song left to do. The roadies are on hand to distribute Santa hats, Dave Hill gives an impassioned plea about looking to the future, even though times might be right now, and soon we’re all yelling along to Merry Xmas Everybody’ at the top of our voices and leaving with a real spring in our step ready to face 2026.

Setlist:

Take Me Bak ‘Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Look Wot You Dun
Everyday
Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Friend Stan
Far Far Away
The Bangin’ Man
My Baby Left Me
Gudbuy T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
My Oh My
Cum On Feel the Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody

Related posts:

Book: ‘Slade In The 1970s’ by Darren Johnson

Let there be drums! interview with Slade legend Don Powell

Interview with former Slade legend Jim Lea

Jim Lea at the Robin 2, Bilston 2017

Before glam: the debut 60s singles of Bowie, Bolan, Slade, Mud and Sweet

Slade, strikes and the three-day week: the story of the greatest Christmas record ever made

Slade at Donnington 1981

Slade at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 2015

Giants of Rock, Minehead 26-29 January 2018

Slade at Brighton 2019

‘Not Good Enough’ – the ‘glamtastic’ new song featuring late Glitter Band founder, John Rossall

Glam rock, Music news, Rock music, , , , , ,

Five years on from the release of his critically-acclaimed glam comeback album, The Last Glam in Town, and four years on from his tragic passing, new music from Glitter Band founder, John Rossall, has recently been hitting the airwaves.

The stream of glowing reviews for Last Glam in Town were a surprise even to Rossall. When I interviewed him back in 2020, he told me: “It’s like I’ve written them myself almost! It’s a surprise. The reviews everywhere – it’s been beyond my wildest dreams really.”

What people may not know, however, is that before he died John Rossall recorded a follow-up album to Last Glam In Town. John’s close friend and former PR, Anne Street, has worked tirelessly to get that final album released and made available to fans. While that wish so far remains unfulfilled, a track from the album and an accompanying video has been officially launched via You-Tube and has also been picking up enthusiastic airplay on Heritage Chart Radio and many other stations, including Kim Smith’s show on Radio Northwich and Jan Bjerrum’s show on Sunshine Radio.

The single ‘Not Good Enough’ is a collaboration between John Rossall, David Philp and Mark Standley. The video celebrates John’s Blackpool heritage – with colour and black and white segments marking a nod to both his 1970s Glitter Band heyday and his 1960s early career in the Boston Show Band. The video was created by Dave Forward of Manchester band, The Cathodes, who posted the video to his own YouTube channel.

Anne Street explained the background to both the single and the unreleased final album in a recent announcement on Facebook:

“When John was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in March 2021 he set about spending all his remaining time writing and recording a final glam album. He hoped to see it released before he died, but his record label procrastinated over the final mixes and this delay has continued. A renowned Dutch DJ and  producer more recently offered to do the final mix free and for the benefit of John’s family, but record label would only agree if paid!

Meanwhile, John had collaborated with David Philp on one track, and Mark Standley was credited too. David as co-writer was eventually allowed to bring out his final mix which John had approved in 2021.

I met up with David at his home in Beverly Hills, L.A., June 2024, and we discussed the importance of getting this song out for John’s fans and as a tribute to John’s memory. It features both John Rossall and David Philp. However, David  had to overcome all sorts of publishing hurdles and it’s finally ready.”

While the song is yet to receive an official release so that fans are able to purchase it through the main digital platforms, Anne Street remains hopeful that this can happen in the near future.

“It’s a fab, glamtastic song and hoping you’ll enjoy it,” she added.

The track entered Mike Read’s Heritage Chart Radio in the Top 40 following release. Currently at No. 38, it is expected to rise higher. The You-Tube video is also featured on Mike’s Heritage Chart TV Show for Talking Pictures.

Voting link here: www.heritagechart.co.uk

The track is also No 9 in Pete Seaton’s Chart of Gold Hot 100 on www.appleradio.co.uk

Album review: Rossall – The Last Glam In Town

Glitter, glam and Blackpool rock: interview with glam rock legend John Rossall

Tribute to John Rossall: Glitter Band founder passes away peacefully following cancer battle

Live review: Sweet at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire 5/4/25

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , ,

Although, regrettably, I never got to witness the classic Sweet line-up on stage, after Andy Scott revived the band in the mid-1980s I’ve been lucky enough to see them many, many times. And in spite of his well-publicised battles with cancer, he has kept the Sweet flag flying and nothing seemed to stop him getting up on stage and blasting out a slew of classic Sweet riffs on that iconic red guitar. However, when he had to pull out of an Australian tour last year and then a subsequent UK tour, after a health condition left him in excruciating pain and unable to walk, there were times when I wondered whether I’d ever get to see Andy Scott on stage with the Sweet again. Such fears were finally banished as Sweet began their tour schedule for 2025 with Scott firmly back on stage where he belongs. Rarely then, have I looked forward to a gig quite so much as this one.

First there’s support from T.Rextasy. I’ve seen plenty of tribute acts over the years and had a fair few fun evenings watching them but only a handful have really qualified as world-class tributes. Australian Pink Floyd I’d put in that category and, rightly, T.Rextasy, too. As a celebration of Marc Bolan’s era-defining glam classics tonight’s performance is pure class, with Danielz and his bandmates doing the Bolan legacy proud.

The venue is already packed solid and in those final few minutes waiting for the Sweet to come on the atmosphere is palpable. We are definitely ready, as Brian Connolly once memorably enquired. Kicking off with a high-octane ‘Action’, this first part of the set is a hardcore Sweet fan’s dream. As well as ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘The Six Teens’ from the Chinn-Chapman-penned hits, there’s some revered album tracks in the shape of ‘Windy City’ and ‘Set Me Free’, as well as a couple of songs from the band’s recently-released and extremely well-received album, Full Circle. For me an absolute highlight of this early part of the set was a stunning version of ‘Lost Angels’ from the band’s 1977 album, Off The Record. Tracks such as these – from the more album-oriented, melodic-hard-rocking side of the band’s back catalogue really give the current Sweet line-up (Scott, with Paul Manzi, Lee Small, Tom Cory, Adam Booth and guest guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick) a chance to showcase their  musical prowess.

FM guitarist, Kirkpatrick, (who had admirably filled in for Scott on last December’s UK tour) has continued to perform with the band on this current tour, too. This is not because Scott has any difficulties playing – far from it – but, wisely, it clearly takes some of the pressure off the still-recovering Scott. It also allows him to take a short break while the band deliver an entertaining but not-exactly essential medley of the band’s early bubblegum, pre-glam hits. Given Scott didn’t play on the original recordings of these songs anyway, it all seems rather fitting. The next song, however, gives Kirkpatrick the chance to really work his magic – with a blistering version of ‘Burn On The Flame’.

Scott is not away for long though and to the familiar audience chants of “We want Sweet!” he’s back to give us all a sing-along-at-the-top-of-our-voices rendition of ‘Teenage Rampage’. I’m not sure if we were noisier than the usually raucous juveniles who made up the typical Crackerjack audience but in January 1974 the band performed a fully live version of that same song for the popular kids’ TV show in this very theatre. Scott gleefully recollects their time performing here for Crackerjack. I was a little too young for that still but I was at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire twenty-odd years later when Sweet performed here in January 1997.

In this latter part of the set, there’s plenty room for a few more Chinn-Chapman hits. And while I’m still not completely convinced about the need for ‘Co-Co’, ‘Funny Funny’ and ‘Poppa Joe’ in the set, I will absolutely defend the inclusion of ‘Wig-Wam Bam’, and ‘Little Willy’ – the latter marked a tentative move away from pure bubblegum pop towards a more guitar-based sound, while the former is a bona fide early ‘70s glam rock classic.

Coincidentally, the band’s days of scooping up silver and gold discs don’t seem to be quite over yet as, in a surprise moment for Scott, a US record company executive takes to the stage to present him with an award for sales of Platinum Rare Vol. 2.

After the glam sing-alongs of ‘Teenage Rampage’, Wig-Wam Bam’ and ‘Little Willy’, the mood changes completely with Tom Cory on keyboards bringing some prog-inspired grandiloquence to the proceedings as the band launch into a masterful ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’  followed by an equally magnificent ‘Fox On The Run’. An emotional Scott thanks the audience but we know there’s more to come and we’re not quite done yet. Soon enough those familiar sirens start to blast out and the band are back on stage to give this wildly-appreciative Shepherd’s Bush audience a much-demanded encore in the form of a storming ‘Blockbuster’  and a thunderous ‘Ballroom Blitz’.

In the months and years to come, who knows how many more Sweet gigs there’ll be. Andy Scott shows every sign of wanting to continue for as long as he is physically able to walk on stage, pick up his guitar and perform. I hope there’ll be plenty more nights like this for the band and I hope I get to see a few more of them myself but I savoured every precious moment of this concert as if it were my last.

Setlist:

Action
Hell Raiser
Circus
The Six Teens
Don’t Bring Me Water
Lost Angels
Windy City
Set Me Free
Coco / Funny Funny / Poppa Joe
Burn on the Flame
Teenage Rampage
Wig-Wam Bam / Little Willy
Love Is Like Oxygen
Fox on the Run
Blockbuster
The Ballroom Blitz

My book ‘The Sweet in the 1970s’ is available to buy here and here

Review: Sweet at Islington Assembly 2021

Book reviews roundup: ‘The Sweet in the 1970s’

Interview with Andy Scott

Review: Sweet at Bexhill 2019

News: All change at The Sweet

Review: Sweet 50th anniversary concert – Berlin

Review: Sweet live 2017, London and Bilston

The Sweet versus Bowie: the riff in Blockbuster and Jean Genie – origins and influences

Review: Sweet at Dartford 2015

Review: Sweet at Bilston 2014

2024 in Darren’s music blog – the ten most popular posts of the year

Folk music, Glam rock, Hastings music scene, Interviews, Live reviews, Music culture & history, Rock music, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Happy New Year and thanks to everyone who has visited Darren’s music blog during 2024. As usual, we have a nice eclectic mix of musical genres featuring in this year’s top ten most viewed posts: folk-rock, prog rock, glam rock and much more besides. Here’s to 2025! 

1. Live review: Saving Grace with Robert Plant & Suzi Dian, White Rock Theatre, Hastings 23/3/24

Of all the ‘70s rock gods, Robert Plant is perhaps the one who has most has steadfastly refused to be pigeon-holed in the superannuated, stadium heritage rock act persona. It’s meant he’s continued to surprise and delight with new musical ventures. And it’s meant I could stroll along up the road to see him and his band perform an intimate gig in my local theatre.

Read full review here

2. Interview with Fairport Convention’s Simon Nicol

Ahead of Fairport Convention’s 2024 Winter Tour, I caught up with Simon Nicol. We discuss Dave Mattacks’ return to the Fairport fold, the forthcoming tour, this Summer’s Cropredy and why he won’t be retiring any time soon.

Real full interview here

3. Farewell Frank Torpey – the last surviving original member of The Sweet

Frank Torpey’s role in the history of The Sweet was a small one but, nevertheless, an important one. Moreover, as well as continuing to play and record, he was always happy to engage with fans about The Sweet’s very early days. My tribute to Frank, who died in March this year.

Read full obituary here

4. Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2024

As things drew to a close with the familiar rendition of ‘Matty Groves’ prior to ‘Meet On The Ledge’ Simon Nicol confirmed that he’d been given permission by the ‘powers that be’ to throw in his usual ‘same time next year?’ invite, in spite of the festival’s future looking extremely precarious earlier this year. Phew! It will be going ahead in 2025 then. I’ll be there…

Read full review here

5. Bowie backing vocalist to reprise iconic ‘shopgirl’ role on ‘Absolute Beginners’

‘Oh, and I need to find a girl singer who sounds like a shopgirl,’ he said.

‘My sister Janet sings a bit, and she works in Dorothy Perkins,’ I ventured.

‘Great,’ he laughed. ‘Get her in.’

Read full article here

6. Live review: Oysterband & June Tabor, De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 5/10/24

It was almost exactly ten years ago when I last saw June Tabor and Oysterband at the De La Warr Pavilion, my first time visiting this stunning piece of 1930s architecture. I wasn’t even living down here yet but a friend had a spare ticket going and I came down for the weekend. So, when Oysterband announced their ‘Long Long Goodbye’ farewell tour with June Tabor, once again, as their very special guest I booked a ticket straight away.

Read full review here

7. Beckenham, Bowie, the Spiders and glam: interview with Suzi Ronson

Suzi was a small-time hairdresser in Beckenham before being swept up in a world which saw her become stylist for David Bowie and the originator of the iconic Ziggy Stardust hairdo as well as falling in love with the late Spiders From Mars guitar icon, Mick Ronson, who she would go on to marry.

Read full interview here

8. Live review: Tubular Bells – the 50th anniversary celebration at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 30/10/24

From the familiar opening bars of part one of Tubular Bells, through every second that followed the who thing was just a magical, mesmerising and utterly unforgettable experience. For something that was so clearly conceived as a studio project, to see it transformed into a live performance piece in this way will stay with me a long time. Hats off to Robin A. Smith for pulling together such a stunning interpretation of one of the all-time classic instrumental albums.

Read full review here

9. Live review: Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash – White Rock Theatre, Hastings 6/9/24

Performing two hour-long sets with a short half-hour interval in the middle, it’s a superb night packed full of Wishbone classics. I won’t say I haven’t enjoyed Andy Powell’s ‘official’ version of the band when I’ve seen them live but, for me, what gives Turner’s outfit the edge is being able to hear the original voice behind many of Wishbone Ash’s most famous songs live on stage. And his bass-playing is as majestic as ever.

Read full review here

10. Live review: Justin Hayward at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 16/10/24

With the death of Mike Pinder earlier this year, none of the original ‘Go Now’ line-up of the Moody Blues are still with us. And only Justin Hayward and John Lodge now remain from the classic ‘prog-era’ post-1967 line-up. But the music they leave remains with us and Justin Hayward does a hugely impressive job in celebrating the band’s legacy with affection, panache and good humour, along with some incredible musicianship on stage beside him.

Read full review here

2023 in Darren’s music blog

2022 in Darren’s music blog

2021 in Darren’s music blog

2020 in Darren’s music blog

2019 in Darren’s music blog

Live review: Mud at the Factory Live, Worthing 20/12/24

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , ,

Thanks to a run of unforgettable festive hits during the period 1973-74, glam rock has been an integral part of the traditional British Christmas ever since. And apart from one year during the Covid pandemic, a trip to see a ‘70s glam rock chart-topper (whether that be Sweet, Slade or, ahem, Gary Glitter) has been an annual Christmas ritual for me pretty much every single year since I was a teenager back in the early ’80s.

But with Andy Scott’s Sweet not touring the south-east year, Dave Hill’s Slade not touring at all and Gary Glitter safely locked away in prison, it almost looked like it being a glam-free Christmas for me this year. But then a friend messaged me with the news that Mud were playing Worthing this year. Featuring the two surviving original members, Rob Davis and Ray Stiles, I would get my glam Christmas gig after all!

Taking the stage at the small but packed-out Factory Live venue, Ray Stiles began by paying tribute to the memories of the two who are no longer with us, Les Gray and Dave Mount. I’d seen Les Gray’s version of Mud back in the 90s, and I’d seen his former backing band doing their own Mud tribute many times over the years, but this would be my first time seeing Stiles and Davis together on stage.

Stiles (who has enjoyed a solid, almost four-decade career as bass player with the Hollies) takes on the frontman role in the rebooted Mud. As well as Davis on guitar, the glam-era connection is further underlined with the Glitter Band’s Pete Phipps on drums; alongside Stiles’ long-time Hollies band-mate, Ian Parker, on keyboards and veteran guitarist, Keith Read, providing additional guitar and vocals.

Ray Stiles

Things get off to a storming start with a rendition of Stiles and Davis self-penned ‘L-L-Lucy’ before we get a blast of Mud’s first three Chinn and Chapman hits: ‘Crazy’, ‘Hipnosis’ and the always-brilliant ‘Dynamite’. There’s no shortage, either, of the glam-themed remakes of those vintage rock and roll standards that Mud became famed for, songs like ‘One Night’ and ‘Oh Boy’. For the latter we are treated to a guest spot from Liquid Gold’s Ellie Hope who reprised her role on the original 1975 single, where she duetted with Les Gray.

As well as delivering his signature pounding beat throughout the set, Pete Phipps also gets his moment in the spotlight when he is invited to deliver the lead vocal on a glamtastic cover of the Glitter Band’s own smash single, ‘Angel Face’.

Mud’s brief dalliance with disco also gets a look-in with a rendition of their 1976 hit, ‘Shake Down’. For the benefit of anyone at all who may have been unaware, this gives Stiles the chance to point to Davis’s post-Mud career as a mega-successful songwriter, writing dance anthems. We get a short blast of Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ over the PA just to prove the point.

Rob Davis

Though less familiar, and clearly nowhere as lucrative, Stiles is also keen to highlight aspects of his own post-Mud career. He introduces his wife Anne on stage to perform a couple of numbers from their corporate covers band days. In fine voice she delivers soulful-sounding covers of ‘Love Is a Battlefield’ and ‘Play That Funky Music’.

Then we’re back to more classic-era Mud with rocking renditions of ‘Cut Across Shorty’, ‘Rocket’ and ‘The Cat Crept In’. We’re coming to the end by now. There’s only time for two more songs. Everyone knows exactly what there going to be and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

First, Stiles puts on his best Les-Gray-Does-an-Impression-of-Elvis voice to deliver a glorious sing-along ‘Lonely This Christmas’. How wonderful to be hearing Mud perform this live on the fiftieth anniversary of the very week it was the Christmas number 1 – I felt quite emotional, even with all the daft ventriloquist dummy antics on stage reprising Les Gray’s iconic Top of The Pops appearance.

 Then we are all invited to give a hearty yell of ‘Yaaaaaaaaaaaay’ and it’s time for a barnstorming, rip-roaring rendition of ‘Tiger Feet’, one of the biggest hits of 1974 and one of the best songs of the entire glam era. What a wonderful evening and thank you Ray and Rob for taking us all back to the days of Mud Rock.

Meeting Rob
Meeting Ray
Signed gig poster

Related posts:

Before glam: the debut 60s singles of Bowie, Bolan, Slade, Mud and Sweet

Slade, strikes and the three-day week: the story of the greatest Christmas record ever made

Live review: We Love The 70s at Butlins, Bognor Regis 13-15 September 2024

Live review: Morgan Fisher at Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden 30/11/24

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , ,

My introduction to Mott the Hoople was via the band’s final two studio albums, Mott and The Hoople, discovered while hunting through the second-hand record racks of Preston’s Action Records as a teenager in the early ‘80s. I was rebelling against the synth-heavy, over-produced music of the era and was on my very own retro-fuelled journey of discovery. Mott I absolutely adored, particularly Ian Hunter’s old-school rock and roll piano, and a few weeks later I also bought The Hoople, with Ariel Bender now on guitar and the one and only Morgan Fisher on keyboards. To me those last two albums, with all of that irresistible keyboard-playing, was the sound of Mott The Hoople and at the time I was completely oblivious to the earlier material featuring Verden Allen’s distinctive Hammond – although I soon came to love that as well.

Late-period Mott The Hoople was, therefore, very much my entry-point into what would be a life-long love affair with the band. So when I saw Morgan Fisher announce he was doing a one-off solo gig while he was over from Japan I booked my ticket straight away. I’ve witnessed each of the Mott The Hoople reunions and I’ve seen Ian Hunter perform solo many times but this was going to be unique: Morgan Fisher performing The Hoople album in full in a small sweaty music pub in Camden.

Dapperly dressed, as always, in keyboard-lapelled jacket and glass of red wine in hand, Morgan introduced ‘The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (track one, side one of the original album) by saying that Ian Hunter had originally planned to play the keyboards himself, but after nailing the keyboards on the first take, Morgan’s Jerry Lee Lewis-inspired pounding is what you hear on the album. And on it goes from there. All of those unforgettable classic tracks, played and sung exclusively for a gloriously-enthusiastic 120-strong audience.

Morgan told us that the backing tape he was playing along to was actually the sound of Dale Griffin’s drums, isolated from the original album. He explained that while AI was a terrible way of creating music it was a great way of separating out certain sounds from music that had already been created. As well as the sound of Buffin’s drums (and a chance to really hear what a superb drummer he was) there were other embellishments along the way: the odd bass-line, certain guitar riffs and some of the album’s most memorable sound effects. For the ‘I’ve got my invite’ line in ‘Roll Away the Stone’, however, Kristy Benjamin (daughter of post-Hunter Mott singer, Nigel Benjamin) stepped up to the mic to do the honours, to huge applause when Morgan introduced her.

That last song, of course, ended both the original album and the first set of the afternoon in spectacular fashion. Then, after a short break, we were back with a mix of other Mott the Hoople classics (‘Foxy Foxy’, ‘Saturday Gigs’, ‘Dudes’) together with a Nigel Benjamin-era Mott song (‘Career’ dedicated, touchingly, to his daughter) as well as some highlights from Morgan’s solo career and other collaborations – plus a bit of Bach! As the second set moved to a close, Morgan reminded us that there was one song from The Hoople that he had not yet played, pointing out that the epic, classically-influenced ‘Through The Looking Glass’ had never been attempted on stage. Until now that is…

Morgan is, deservedly, clearly still proud of his time in Mott The Hoople and praised the quality of Ian Hunter’s sharp, observational song-writing. “He should have been recognised as Britain’s Bob Dylan,” he told us before launching into a poignant, spirited and triumphant rendition of Through The Looking Glass’.

Then it was time for an encore. I’d spotted John Fiddler in the audience at the start and hoped he’d be jumping up on the stage for a couple of numbers. Sure enough, as a special encore treat, he joined Morgan on stage to deliver rousing renditions of two songs the pair had performed together as part of the post-Mott outfit, British Lions, ‘Wild in the Streets’ and ‘One More Chance To Run’. What was equally touching was seeing the very obvious five decades of friendship playing out on stage between the two.

If you’d have told me in my mid-teens that one of the ways I’d be spending my late 50s would be a Saturday afternoon in a packed north London boozer listening to Morgan Fisher pounding out old Mott The Hoople classics, I’d have been very happy with that indeed. A perfect afternoon.

Set-list:

First Set

The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Marionette

Alice

Crash Street Kids

Born Late ’58

Trudi’s Song

Pearl ‘n’ Roy (England)

Roll Away the Stone

Second Set

Career (No Such Thing as Rock ‘n’ Roll)

Prelude in C Major

Rest in Peace

Foxy, Foxy

Moth Poet Hotel

(Do You Remember) The Saturday Gigs

All the Young Dudes

Through the Looking Glass

Wild in the Streets

One More Chance to Run

Related posts:

Live review: Mott The Hoople ’74 at Shepherds Bush Empire 2019

Ian Hunter at Shepherds Bush Empire 2016

Ian Hunter at Shepherds Bush Empire 2014

Ian Hunter at Giants of Rock 2016

Mott The Hoople Fan Convention 2016

Mick Bolton: 1948-2021

Live review: We Love The 70s at Butlins, Bognor Regis 13-15 September 2024

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , ,

And so to Butlins again for another music weekend. Although I’ve been to many such weekends over the years, with the demise of the Giants of Rock Weekend at Minehead and the Rock & Blues and the Great British Folk weekends at Skegness, my main reason for visiting Butlins these days is for the ever-popular We Love the 70s weekend. And, handily for me, this one is available at the Bognor site so it’s just a shortish trip along the Sussex coast from Hastings, rather than a mammoth cross-country trek.

Again, I doubled it up with some volunteering for the learning disability charity I volunteer for. Gig Buddies is a great project that matches up an adult who has a learning disability with a volunteer so they can go out, stay up late and have fun. And because it’s all done through volunteering, there are no budget constraints, rotas or timesheets to worry about in terms of paid support staff. Myself and my fellow 70s music fan and very good friend, Daniel, have been gig buddies for several years now but we only did our first Butlins weekend together last year. It was a brilliant success and a shed-load of fun so we were both really keen to do it again this year.

Darren (left) and Daniel (right) enjoying the funfair at Butlins

The line-up this year was the usual mixture of tribute acts, covers bands, original 70s bands (although usually with no more than one or two members from their glory years these days), and the odd genuine bona fide 70s legend.

Tribute acts

In the first category we had Elton John, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Abba tributes among others. We also had a couple of slightly-more-than-tribute-acts, in the shape of Mud II, which evolved out of original Mud singer’s Les Gray’s backing band and Quo Connection, the majority of whom had worked with original Status Quo drummer, John Coghlan, in John Coghlan’s Quo prior to his retirement. Very much at the rockier end of this weekend’s entertainment, Quo Connection were definitely one of the highlights for me, pulling off convincing renditions of classic-era 70s Quo songs like ‘Caroline’, ‘Down Down’ and ‘Whatever You Want’.

Quo Connection

Covers bands

In the second category, Glam Rock UK blasted out an entertaining selection of glam covers each evening – great if you weren’t particularly fussed about one of the bands on the main Centre Stage or were just looking for a late-night boogie after you’d caught the bands you really wanted to see.

Actual 70s bands

In the third category this year, bands included The Glitter Band (with original vocalist John Springate and original drummer Pete Phipps), The Bay City Rollers (with Stuart Wood now clocking up 50 years as a Roller) and Racey (still with original members Phil Fursdon on guitar and Clive Wilson on drums).

The Glitter Band were a late replacement for Slade who had to bow out as Dave Hill is currently unwell but they were definitely the glam highlight of the weekend for me. With John Springate back fronting the band, he joked at one point that he was the only original glam singer still around these days. And with Marc Bolan, Brian Connolly, Les Gray and Alvin Stardust no longer with us, Noddy Holder retired and Gary Glitter safely put away in prison – he’s certainly not wrong.

John Springate – The Glitter Band

The Glitter Band may have only one drummer these days but Pete Phipps has been pounding that glitter beat since the early days. And while there’s no brass section anymore either, Springate paid tribute to sadly now-departed members Harvey Ellison and John Rossall, along with late guitarist Gerry Shepherd. And with that signature Glitter Band sound, they pumped out many of the band’s best-known tracks, including hits like ‘Angel Face’, Just For You’ and ‘Let’s Get Together Again’. And they even thew in a few Gary Glitter numbers as well, including ‘Rock and Roll (Parts One and Two)’ and ‘Leader of The Gang’. If anything could be classed as guilty pleasure it’s these but they were undoubtedly glam classics back in the day – and probably would still have been even if Mike Leander (producer, songwriter and the genius architect of the glitter sound) had never set eyes on Paul Gadd in the first place and found himself a different frontman.

True legends

The final category I mentioned was bona fide living legends and Leo Sayer definitely fitted into this. With the cavernous new Studio 36 complex absolutely packed out for his early evening slot, he delivered a performance of sheer class. While the rest of the weekend was about enjoying some great, fun gigs at a holiday camp this was at another level altogether – a stunning show that just oozed professionalism, charisma and quality song-writing. The atmosphere in the auditorium as he reeled off hit after hit was simply incredible and I suspect everyone there shared that same feeling that they were in the presence of a true legend.

Leo Sayer

And Daniel’s verdict? He awarded ten out of ten for every artist we saw (plus ten out of ten for the food and the chalet and the swimming and the funfair!) Both of us are looking forward to coming back next year.

Glammed-up for a night out at Butlins

Related posts:

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

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

Farewell Frank Torpey – the last surviving original member of The Sweet

Glam rock, Music culture & history, Music news, Rock music, , , , , ,

Frank Torpey, the last surviving original member of The Sweet, has sadly passed away. His family have posted the following message on Facebook.

“Frank passed away in his home surrounded by family at 1AM on Saturday 23rd March 2024. He will be missed and remembered by all his friends and family, rest well xx”

Frank, along with Brian Connolly, Steve Priest and Mick Tucker, was one of the founder members of The Sweet.

Torpey, Connolly and Tucker had previously been part of the Middlesex-based band, Wainright’s Gentlemen. Torpey and Tucker were unceremoniously sacked and an infuriated Connolly decided to quit of his own accord. The three musicians then opted to find themselves a bass-player and form a band of their own. Steve Priest was recruited, the four of them meeting up in the Swan pub in Ruislip in January 1968 to discuss plans for a new band.

Frank Torpey (seated) with myself and other Sweet fans in the very pub where the band was first formed

Rehearsals began and as well as working up their own cover versions of well-known and not so well-known songs, the four also devoted considerable time to coming up with a suitable name, eventually alighting on The Sweetshop. Priest wrote in his autobiography: “There were many bands around at this time that had silly names like Marmalade, Strawberry Jam or Strawberry Alarm Clock, and so we managed to come up with a silly name too. We thought that Sweet Shop would do it.”

Although the band were still only semi-pro at this stage, Frank and the rest of the newly-christened Sweetshop would play their debut gig on 9th March 1968 at the Hemel Hempstead Pavilion. Things appeared to be moving fast as soon after, the band were recording their debut single, ‘Slow Motion’, after impressing producer Phil Wainman.

The release of the single necessitated a shortening of the band’s name to The Sweet after someone else nabbed the name for another release before they got their own single out. It was to be Frank’s only release with the band. Although the four continued gigging throughout 1968 and the first half of 1969, tiring of the quality of the venues and the lack of money coming in, Frank decided to call it a day with the band to be replaced, initially, by Mick Stewart and then, more permanently, by Andy Scott who joined in 1970. Indeed, very permanently, Andy is still at it now!

Frank Torpey’s role in the history of The Sweet was a small one but, nevertheless, an important one. Moreover, as well as continuing to play and record, he was always happy to engage with fans about The Sweet’s very early days.

It was in February 2022 after Steve Priest’s memorial service that Frank met up with Sweet fans in The Swan in Ruislip, the very pub where the band was formed back in 1968. When I presented him with a signed copy, he was delighted when I told him he got more than just a passing mention in my book The Sweet In The 1970s, even though it primarily focused on the band’s hit-making decade. “Just tell me which chapters I’m in,” he joked. “It’ll save me reading the whole thing!”

Related posts:

‘The Sweet in the 1970s’ published by Sonicbond Publishing is available from all major book retailers – visit here

Death of a glam icon – Steve Priest: 1948-2020

Review: Sweet 50th anniversary concert – Berlin

Review: Sweet live 2017, London and Bilston

The Sweet versus Bowie: the riff in Blockbuster and Jean Genie – origins and influences

Before glam: the debut 60s singles of Bowie, Bolan, Slade, Mud and Sweet

March 2014-March 2024: Celebrating ten years of Darren’s Music Blog

Folk music, Live reviews, Music culture & history, Music news, Rock music, , , , , ,

“You should start writing a blog,” my brother Sam mentioned to me while we were sitting at a festival one afternoon in the Summer of 2013 discussing the various bands we’d each seen recently.

Darren and Sam (right) at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention

I told him the thought had vaguely crossed my mind but it was something I could give more thought to the following Spring once my lengthy stint as a local councillor was coming to an end. My evenings would then be freed up, giving me time to start seeing more gigs and, crucially, sharing my thoughts online about what I’d just seen.

I’d always written a lot about politics and current affairs and I’d never exactly shied away from blatant self-publicity, ever since I got the local paper to run a front-page feature about me doing a stand-up gig in the local pub when I was 16. But I’d never really written about my lifelong love of music before.

That all changed in early March 2014 and Darren’s Music Blog went live.

Although I’d seen tons of bands during my teen years and early 20s, by the time I got into my mid-20s I seemed to have constant overdrafts and less money available to spend on concert tickets. In my 30s and 40s, with my chosen career by now pretty well-established, I found that although I had the money for gigs I no longer really had the time. Once I approached my late 40s, however, I was finally in the lucky position of having both the time and the money. It’s fair to say I went for it…

Darren meets members of Uriah Heep

Looking back at my first month of combining gig-going with blogging, it was quite a busy one. I reviewed concerts by Uriah Heep on 4th March, the Young ‘uns on 5th March, Fairport Convention on 9th March, Judy Dyble on 16th March, Graham Bonnett on 19th March, The Elizabethan Session on 22nd March, Status Quo on 28th March and Peter Knight’s Gigspanner on 29th March. Phew!

That first month pretty much summed up my approach. I didn’t want to get too hung up on genre. I didn’t want to do a classic rock blog or a folk blog or any other sort of genre-specific blog (although there are some great ones out there). Rather I wanted to write about all of the artists that happened to interest me, whether heavy metal, glam rock or folk. If others enjoyed reading that, then great, but the starting point was about any music that happen to please me.

Over time, I started added album reviews as well as gig reviews, along with interviews, book reviews, music history and discussion of iconic songs.

Fairport Convention’s Simon Nicol is interviewed for Darren’s Music Blog

Ten years later, 700+ posts, 400,000+ views, many, many incredible gigs and some wonderful chats with artists as diverse as Andy Scott from the Sweet, Mark Farner from Grand Funk Railroad and  Simon Nicol from Fairport Convention, my blog gets more and more people stopping by to read it with each year that passes.

Thank you!

Darren Johnson

[Header image: Uriah Heep at Koko – my first gig review. Photo credit: Elise Benjamin]

Darren’s music books:

The Sweet In The 1970s

Suzi Quatro In The 1970s

Slade In The 1970s