Some rock and rollers make for charismatic front-men by dint of being unfeasibly cool, others through virtuoso musicianship and others through seemingly hypnotic personal appeal. With Anvil frontman, Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow, however, it is simply his sheer, childlike wonder at the privilege of being up on stage performing to people by playing the music he loves.
I first saw the Canadian heavy metallers, Anvil, at Preston Guildhall as a 17-year-old when they were supporting Motorhead on their Another Perfect Day tour back in 1983 (a birthday gift from my father). And even 40 years later, Kudlow’s enthusiasm is as infectious as ever. Of course, Anvil’s profile in the past decade has been helped enormously by the hugely successful ‘Story of Anvil’ film, a tale of perseverance that The Times once deemed “possibly the greatest film yet made about rock and roll”. How much of a material impact the film has ended up having in terms of day to day life on the road for Anvil it’s hard to tell. They are still playing small clubs, like the one here in Hastings tonight, but they are playing them to a deluge of love and affection and, looking around at the audience tonight, while there’s a few of us who may have remembered them from that early Motorhead tour there’s plenty who were clearly not even born when Anvil first came to the UK.
Still with original vocalist/guitarist, Steve Kudlow, and original drummer, Robb Reiner, these days the pair are joined by bass-player, Chris Robertson, whose now been playing with them for a decade. From the moment the trio hit the stage the energy levels remained stratospheric. Kicking off with ‘March of the Crabs’ and ‘666’ there was no shortage of classics from Anvil’s early ’80s heyday, and the band’s Metal On Metal and Forged In Fire albums were well represented in the set-list. But there was also more recent material, too, including the band’s tribute to the Canadian government’s legalisation of cannabis – the title track of their 2020 Legal At Last album, as well as ‘Bitch In The Box’ (about satnavs!) from the excellent Pounding The Pavement album – and a new song ‘Truth Is Dying’ (about online misinformation) from the band’s very latest album.
It’s powerhouse drumming, thunderous bass-lines and monster guitar riffs throughout. The only time they stop for a breather is when Kudlow regales us with anecdotes about touring with Motorhead and (for a Canadian) he doesn’t do a bad Lemmy impersonation either – wonderfully capturing that deadpan, Jack Daniels-soaked, Stoke-on-Trent gruffness.
As the band draw to a close, and following an immense drum solo from Reiner, Kudlow pays emotional tribute to former Anvil second guitarist, Dave Allison, who died recently and dedicates ‘Jackhammer’ to him. Then it’s almost all over as the trio blast us with their bona fide metal anthem, ‘Metal On Metal’. But it’s not quite over. Kudlow jumps down into the crowd, guitar on his shoulder, soloing and sharing selfies. Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ blasts from the PA while he continues doing selfies, shaking hands and thanking everyone for coming to the party. What a party it was.
It was almost exactly ten years ago when I last saw June Tabor and Oysterbandat 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.
For a band that’s been going almost five decades, it would be unthinkable for them not to include June Tabor as they begin playing their final gigs. From the moment they made their first album together it was a match made in heaven. When Freedom and Rain came out in 1990 Oysterband’s rebooting of the folk-rock genre for the ‘80s and ‘90s combined with Tabor’s darkly elegant vocals to create an unforgettable slice of pseudo-gothic cool. Two more hugely popular collaboration albums have followed.
With two hour-long sets and a short interval, I wasn’t completely clear how they were going to approach things and hadn’t read any other reviews. Would they play the first set as Oysterband and the second with June Tabor? Or would they mix and match? To warm applause Oysterband sans Tabor took to the stage for the first song, then Tabor joined them to launch into their unforgettable cover of Velvet Underground’s ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, a shared love of Velvet Underground as well as traditional songs being something that helped cement the foundations for the two joining forces, recalled Tabor.
The remainder of the evening proceeds in that same vein with a superb mix of songs that Tabor and Oysterband had collaborated on for their previous albums (including an utterly spellbinding ‘Bonny Bunch of Roses’ and their unique interpretation of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart which is just perfection) alongside regular Oysterband classics, like ‘A River Runs’ and ‘Dancing As Fast As I Can’. For a couple of songs the rest of the band vacate the stage and Tabor sings alone with acoustic accompaniment from Oysterband guitarist, Alan Prosser, including a cover of Les Barker’s humorous rewrite of Roseville Fair, as her warmly-felt tribute to the comic poet who died last year.
At one point Tabor tells us how much she loves what she calls ‘cinematic songs’, songs where the lyrics are so vivid in painting a picture and telling a story. There are few singers, however, who make an audience hang on to every word in the way that Tabor does. I’m so glad I got to see this most perfect of musical collaborations one final time. And an encore of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’ and an emotional crowd sing-along of Oysterband’s ‘Put Out The Lights’ made the evening even more special. An unforgettable evening – catch them while you can!
And so to Butlins again for another music weekend. Although I’ve been to many such weekends over the years, with the demise of theGiants 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.
The revamp of the White Rock’s downstairs area into a more intimate studio space below the main theatre means the venue is now well-equipped to host two gigs simultaneously on the same night. Upstairs in the main auditorium was the Bob Marley tribute show – Legend, while downstairs in the studio we had a bona fide living legend in the shape of Martin Turner.
Turner was, of course, one of the founding members of Wishbone Ash and its bass-player and lead vocalist from the band’s formation in 1969 until his departure in 1980. Although he had a couple of reconciliations with Andy Powell in the 80s and 90s (the sole remaining original member of Wishbone Ash) for the past two decades Turner has been on the road with his own interpretation of the band’s legacy. I first caught Turner and his band in 2010 performing the classic 1972 Argus album in full at the first High Voltage festival in London and again doing similar at one of the Butlins Giants of Rock Festival a few years later.
For this tour things are fast-forwarded a few years, with a set-list focused around celebrating the Wishbone Ash Live Dates Volume 2 album, released in 1980. It follows a previous tour last year, performing the original 1973 Live Dates album in its entirety.
I’ve never actually owned either of the Live Dates albums and I’m generally a lot more familiar with the band’s early ‘70s studio material than with later releases – so the full set-list won’t all be entirely familiar to me. Nevertheless, it’s a gig I’ve been looking forward to for many months and Turner and his band have never disappointed when I’ve seen them live.
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. Moreover, the twin lead guitar work, courtesy of Danny Wilson and Misha Nikolic who have both been with the band a good number of years, is just absolutely stunning and does the band’s legacy proud.
Wilson also took the lead vocal on a couple of songs that had originally been fronted by Laurie Wisefield and his predecessor Ted Turner back in the day. The line-up is completed by the new boy of the band is drummer, Sonny Flint – son of Blues Band legend, Hughie Flint – who has been with the band since 2022. He gets a special cheer when he’s introduced, not only for his excellent drum-work but also for being one of Hastings’ many resident musos.
Turner is an entertaining and affable frontman, with his between-song patter bringing a touch of old-time music hall to the world of progressive rock, as well as providing some fascinating insights into the inspiration behind a number of the band’s classic songs.
It’s the songs, of course, that made this such a special gig. And there was no shortage of memorable classics, including ‘Doctor’, ‘The Way of The World’, ‘Rock and Roll Widow’ (with lead vocal from Wilson), ‘Time Was’ and, of course, ‘Blowin’ Free’ a song inspired by a love-struck teenage Turner being on Dartmoor with a visiting Swedish girl. Turner told the audience that the rest of the band wanted to keep the track off the Argus album as it didn’t fit the more serious, proggy themes of the rest of the album. Turner responded by going “psychotic” and the song remained. Phew!
As well as their usual Saturday night fare of free hard rock, heavy metal and punk gigs, Hastings infamous seafront rock pub, The Carlisle, has also been putting on a slew of great ticketed gigs of late. This week it was the turn of acclaimed blues rock band, The Cold Stares – all the way from Indiana, USA. Kicking in Denmark the previous week, Hastings is the first date on the UK leg of a European tour.
Support is in the shape of the excellent AK & The Red Kites, the new power trio formed by songwriter/guitarist, Andrew Knightley, who are well worth keeping an eye out for and have recently released their debut EP, Proverbial Storm.
Andrew Knightley of AK & The Red Kites
They got the crowd nicely warmed-up for the main event and a short while later The Cold Stares launched straight into ‘Horse to Water’, the recent single from their brand-new album, The Southern, which is officially released on 6th September. Described as a homage to Southern rock, it combines the riff-laden muscularity of bands like Humble Pie with that special Southern sweetness of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Another great song from the new album, also is given an airing tonight, is ‘Third Degree’, a punchy rocker that morphed into an extended, hard-rocking instrumental work-out.
The Cold Stares have the songs, the sound and the attitude that is just tailor-made for the power trio format. But it’s only relatively late on in their career that they’ve embraced such a set-up, with guitarist/vocalist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins being joined by bassist Bryce Klueh in time for the release of their sixth album (and their first trio album)Voices in 2023.
Chris Tapp of The Cold Stares
With quite an extensive back catalogue to draw on, there is no shortage of older material though, including a nice, rootsy rendition of ‘In The Night Time’ dedicated to the sunset on Hastings beach earlier in the evening and the raw, guttural blues of ‘Prosecution Blues’, complete with spellbinding guitar.
Giving us a good hour-and-half set of gutsy, energy-packed, hard rock and blues, and some mellower moments where Tapp dons his steel guitar, the trio draw things to a close with some obvious crowd-pleasers. ‘Two Keys and a Good Book’ elicits plenty of cheers when it’s introduced as an encore and the full-on freak-out of ‘Head Bent’ rounds off the evening in brilliantly OTT fashion.
If you’ve a chance to catch The Cold Stares on the remainder of this tour, do take it up. You won’t be disappointed.
I’ve been responsible for herding a fluid and evolving group of friends, family members and friends of friends to attend Fairport’s Cropredy Convention for some fourteen years now. Looking for somewhere to rendezvous that very first time back in 2010 (in order that we could all drive in together and camp next to one another) we happened across a layby in Banbury. Now, every year without fail in the days leading up to Cropredy I start getting text messages from various people in various parts of the country asking me where the layby is. I can never remember so every year without fail I end up visiting a dogging website to get the name, postcode and exact location so people can programme it into their satnavs.
So it was that this year (after numerous texts and checking out the dogging website once again) three cars, a caravan and a campervan all assembled punctually in said layby ready to enjoy another Cropredy weekend of fun, friendship and fantastic music.
Our Cropredy camping group this year – Photo credit: a friendly Cropredy punter
Day one: Thursday
As is now traditional, Fairport Convention opened proceedings with a short acoustic set. It still seems slightly unreal not seeing Gerry Conway’s beaming face alongside the rest of the band. Even though he’s been succeeded by long-time Fairport legend, Dave Mattacks, my years of following the band live had all been in the Gerry era so his retirement in 2022 and tragic death in March this year came as a real shock. He will be greatly missed.
Feast of Fiddles followed, always a great festival folk band and always a delight. Much as I wanted to see Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening, however, a combination of rain, cider and lack of sleep sent me back to the campsite for a snooze so I could be match-fit ready for Rick Wakeman’s set. What turned out to be an extended snooze meant I missed all of Tony Christe’s set, too, but I’m told he went down really well.
Rick Wakeman, on the other hand, I certainly did not want to miss. Performing the whole of his 1974 concept album, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, based on Jules Verne’s 1864 science fiction novel, it’s a masterclass in showing that while prog can be bombastic, over the top and full of itself, with Rick Wakeman at the helm it need ever, ever, ever be boring. It was brilliantly entertaining and something of a family affair for retro rock, with Wakeman’s own son, Adam, on keyboards, the son of Fairport’s Dave Pegg, Matt Pegg, on bass, and the daughter of Humble Pie’s Steve Marriott, Mollie Marriott, as one of the two female lead vocalists. Wonderful stuff and one of the real highlights of the weekend for me.
Rick Wakeman and son Adam. Photo Credit: Simon Putman
Day two: Friday
As the sun shone down for the start of a very hot afternoon, things kicked off on the Friday with folk punk outfit Black Water County. Not a band I had seen before but I’m pretty familiar with the genre, having seen the likes of Ferocious Dog and legendary local band here in Hastings, Matilda’s Scoundrels, who they very much reminded me of. Highly entertaining, I’ll definitely be up for seeing them again if they ever play down my way.
Cropredy village – Photo Credit: Simon Putman
The rest of the afternoon’s line-up looked very tempting indeed for a fan of folk rock and classic rock like myself. But I’d already agreed to have a wander around the village with one of our party and then check out Cream of the Crop, the boutique festival in the field next door which these days runs parallel to the main Cropredy event every August. We arrived just in time to catch the last part of the set from my old friends, Parkbridge, including a storming cover of Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’.
Parkbridge at Cream of the Crop. Photo Credit: Simon Putman
It was then back to the main stage in time for Swedish banjo trio, Baskery and bluesy Americana singer-songwriter, Elles Bailey, both of whom went down well. Then it was back to the campsite for pot noodles, some chill time and putting on some warmer clothes ready for a late night with Richard Thompson. We arrived back at the main stage just in time to see Spooky Men’s Chorale, a sprawling choral ensemble I’d heard lots of people speak very favourably of but who I knew next to nothing about. I’m not sure I’d sit at home listening to one of their albums (they are now on to their sixth apparently) but they make for a superb festival act with a mix of deadpan humour, melancholy ballads and anthemic covers.
Elles Bailey up on the big screen. Photo Credit: Simon Putman
Richard Thompson, on the other hand, I knew exactly what to expect and he didn’t disappoint. Launching straight into a plethora of RT classics, just him and his acoustic guitar and some mind-blowingly stupendous finger-work, it was precisely what I’d been looking forward to all day. Around two-thirds of the way through his slot, sundry Fairporters joined him on stage for an electric set and he dazzled us all over again.
I did, however, start to see a lot of people leaving during Richard Thompson’s set. I don’t think this was any reflection on the performance whatsoever. Indeed, I suspect many of those leaving were actually long-term Richard Thompson fans. I believe it’s got far more to do with the timing. Given an aging demographic among long-term Fairport devotees, and given even second and third generation attendees may have young kids or grandkids to put to bed, it may be time for the organisers to think about putting the headliners in the penultimate slot, when they can be guaranteed maximum attendance, and having an inexpensive late-night party band in the final slot for the remaining revellers to party the night away. I’ve seen other festivals do this and it works a treat.
Richard Thompson. Photo Credit: Darren Johnson
Day three: Saturday
Following a fascinating talk by legendary 60s producer and the man who discovered Fairport, Joe Boyd, folk-singer-cum-funnyman and inciter of mass outbreaks of Morris dancing, Richard Digance once again formally opened proceedings on the Saturday. Sometimes I find his songs a little bit twee and sentimental and the nostalgia is certainly laid on with a trowel – but I wouldn’t miss the now-infamous communal hanky-waving routine for the world.
Richard Digance and a mass Morris Dance. Photo credit: Simon Putman
Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Zac Schulz Gang and Ranagri all put in sterling performances. Focus was one of the bands I’d been really looking forward to seeing on the Cropredy stage, however. I’d seen them before at classic rock festivals and will admit to approaching them slightly tongue-in-cheek, gleefully dancing around like an idiot to ‘Hocus Pocus’, channeling my inner Neil from the Young Ones persona and not taking them entirely seriously. Here, the atmosphere was markedly different and the audience really seemed to get Focus and really absorb the band’s extended prog masterpieces. As keyboardist, vocalist, flautist and founder member, Thijs van Leer, said at the end, the band felt “truly at home here in this beautiful field.” Perfect.
An appreciative Cropredy crowd for Focus. Photo Credit: Darren Johnson
I can’t do a full twelve-hour shift in the main field without some chill-time back at the tent before returning for the evening headliners. Normally, it’s fairly easy. I find someone I’m not too bothered about (or ideally someone I really can’t stand at all) who’s on the bill around teatime and time my break for then. This year it was an impossible choice. I wanted to see everyone. Unfortunately, Eddie Reader got the short straw. I love her music and have seen her live several times but I really didn’t want to miss Focus and I didn’t want to miss the special guest slot just in case I missed someone really… special.
There had been quite a bit of speculation within our camping group about the identity of the ‘Special Surprise Guest’. It would have to be someone who was mates with the band and was willing to perform for free, it would have to be someone who was reasonably well-known and it would have to be someone who was still alive. That narrowed it down quite a bit and we were left with a potential shortlist of Robert Plant, Jasper Carrott or Ralph McTell.
After our little break back at the campsite we headed back to the main arena. I was hoping for Robert Plant but expecting Jasper Carrot. I wasn’t wrong. I have huge admiration for him performing gratis as a way of helping ensure Cropredy’s financial viability at an increasingly fraught time for the festival sector. But his humour seemed very dated and his routine was not exactly up to the minute: jokes about Covid and the US presidential election which would have hit the spot when Biden was still in the race but made little sense now Kamala Harris is running. I should have trusted my instincts and stayed for Eddie Reader and given Carrott a miss.
Fairport’s Chris Leslie. Photo Credit: Simon Putman
It was wonderful to see Fairport Convention take the stage to round off another successful Cropredy though. My one niggle is that there did seem rather a lot of Chris Leslie-penned songs in the set-list and not nearly enough by Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick or Sandy Denny songs. We did get some wonderful Ralph McTell material though, including stunning renditions of ‘The Hiring Fair’ and ‘Red and Gold’, the latter performed by the man himself with some wonderful accompaniment from Anna Ryder, Hannah Sanders, Michelle Plum and Ed Whitcombe. 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…
Fairport Convention at Cropredy. Photo Credit: Simon Putman
I first came across Troy Redfern a good few years ago now, performing at a Mott The Hoople fan convention of all places. I think it was the shared Herefordshire connection that brought him there but, anyway, I’ve followed his career with great interest ever since. Now on to his seventh album, with the latest out last month, Tunbridge Wells was the final night of an eleven-date UK tour.
I hadn’t actually read the venue details properly when I got to Tunbridge Wells and assumed the gig was at the long-established main Forum venue. But no, turning up at a completely empty Forum, I double-checked and the gig was actually taking place in the Forum Basement, a much more intimate venue in the cellar of the Sussex Arms pub in the town centre.
I arrived just in time to see the support act take the stage. With a mixture of originals and covers, local power trio Kinky Machine dished up an exhilarating blast of blues rock. With some great guitar work and nifty rhythms they definitely got everyone in the mood for the main event. It was becoming increasingly clear, however, that in this rapidly-filling 50-capacity venue we were going to be in for one long, hot and sweaty night. And I mean that in a good way!
Redfern’s new album,Invocation,features heavily in the set, with nine of its eleven songs being played tonight. Unsurprising really, given the slew of storming reviews and near-universal praise it’s received, with the album broadening out the trademark blues rock palette and bringing forth comparisons with everyone from T. Rex to ZZ Top to Slade.
From the moment he launched his career, Troy Redfern’s guitar wizardry, his natural affinity for the blues and his rock and roll attitude were never in any doubt, but with the last trio of albums, songs from which formed the entire basis for the set on this tour, he’s taken things to another level as a songwriter. The results of that were clearly on display tonight in an incendiary gig that oozed swagger with the energy levels (and the temperature!) off the scale.
Accompanied by Nicky Watts on drums and Keira Kenworthy on bass, the three certainly make for a formidable power trio, kicking things off with the catchy and adrenalin-fuelled rocker ‘All Night Long’ from the new album. Other highlights included the stomping, glam-esque ‘Getaway’, the moody, psychedelia-tinged ‘The Calling’ and the epic heavy rocker ‘Voodoo Priestess’. There’s a smattering of songs from the two previous albums in the latter half, too, including a mammoth extended work-out in the form of ‘Sanctify’ from The Fire Cosmic album, which ends tonight’s proceedings in spectacular fashion.
In many ways, Redfern reminds me of the late, great Bernie Torme, not so much for guitar technique – although there are parallels, but more as someone who can take the power trio format, inject their dynamic personality, some ferocious guitar-playing and many, many great songs – and make it utterly their own.
One of the advantages of living in Hastings, now the adopted home-town of Praying Mantis founder Tino Troy, is getting the chance to see the band performing tracks from their new album, Defiance, down the road in your local rock pub within days of its worldwide release. Indeed, introducing the title track of the new albumtonight, Tino Troy acknowledged it would be the first time it has ever been performed in public.
First, however, we hear from Gypsy’s Kiss who have the claim to fame of being the first band Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris played in. Like Praying Mantis, they formed over fifty years ago, with their first gig being played back in April 1974. Founder Member and guitarist, David Smith, reformed the band in 2018 with a new line-up and they’ve gigged solidly since then, as well as releasing an album and a couple of EPs. Indeed, this is their third time playing the Carlisle and they’ve built up quite a local fan-base now. They play a mixture of songs from their original tenure and off their new album and if you like that brand of good, honest, 1970s, guitar-driven hard-rock, in the vein of say Stray or a heavied-up Wishbone Ash, it’s a very enjoyable set. Not to mention the historical curiosity element that comes from hearing the songs that were performed by Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris at his first ever public gigs.
And then it was on to the main event. The set from Praying Mantis included material from the early days like ‘Captured City’ and ‘Praying Mantis’ alongside more recent material, like ‘Keep It Alive’ and ‘Cry For The Nations’, together with two tracks from the brand-new album, the aforementioned ‘Defiance’ along with ‘Standing Tall’, with its unexpected dance-beat. A packed-out Carlisle gave the band a rousing reception, with bass-player Chris Troy, in particular, visibly moved by the response. The band rewarded the crowd with an encore that included a rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ and their own ever-green ‘Children Of The Earth’.
But what of the rest of the album? Eleven tracks that are “a perfect blend of classic Praying Mantis with a contemporary twist,” as bass-player, co-founding member and principal song-writer, Chris Troy puts it.
As well as nine original songs and an instrumental track, there’s all a cover of the Russ Ballad-penned classic, ‘I Surrender’, a huge hit for Rainbow in 1981 and a track I absolutely loved as a young teenage rock fan and still love today – a song that marked the high-point of Rainbow’s post-Dio embrace of more accessible, melodic hard rock. Rainbow are now long-gone, of course, but who better to continue flying the flag for accessible-but-intelligent, polished, melodic, hard rock than Praying Mantis? Interestingly, Praying Mantis, themselves, were actually in the running to release this song back in the early ‘80s but were overtaken by events when Blackmore and co. were given the nod to release it themselves. They certainly do it justice here. Other album highlights include the instantly-catchy rocker, ‘Feeling Lucky’ and the nicely mellow ‘One Heart’, with its lovely keyboard flourishes and Spanish-style guitar.
Both a highly-enjoyable album and a equally enjoyable album launch, Praying Mantis have definitely earned themselves the right to be a tad defiant these days.
Like many regional theatres in the UK, the events programme for the White Rock In Hastings has been the typical mix of touring tribute shows, musicals and panto with the odd stand-out musical gem thrown. Recently, the theatre saw a change in operator with Trafalgar Theatres (who run many similar venues across the UK), giving way to the Guildhall Trust. The latter are a charity that operate the Portsmouth Guildhall and they came in promising “exciting times ahead” and a “broader programme of entertainment” for the White Rock. Certainly, having Robert Plant on stage sets high bar and is hopefully a foretaste of what’s to come once the new team get their feet well and truly under the table.
In the decades since Led Zeppelin’s demise, Plant has had a consistently fascinating career and some fascinating and highly inventive musical collaborations. I remember braving the mud to witness him with Strange Sensation at Green Man festival in 2007 and, more recently, his superb set with Alison Krauss at Hyde Park when they supported the Eagles two years ago.
His latest band is Saving Grace, composed of Plant, alongside Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar), and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic, baritone guitars, cuatro) have been around for five years now with several UK tours behind them. Somewhat rockier than previous projects they are a perfect amalgam of Plant’s long-standing interests in the realms of hard-rock, traditional folk, bluegrass and blues, offering up a compelling mix of rocked-up interpretations of traditional songs and folkified versions of Led Zep classics.
Again, we see him returning to the male/female duet set-up, that worked so spectacularly when Sandy Denny was recruited to provide co-lead vocals for ‘Battle Of Evermore’ on Led Zeppelin IV back in the day and more recently through the work with Alison Krauss. It’s a format that Plant is clearly comfortable with and this latest pairing is equally well-chosen. Whether she’s harmonising or taking the lead, Suzi Dian’s rich but delicate voice is just the perfect fit alongside Plant’s still instantly-recognisable vocal (albeit with a more restrained delivery these days…) The band behind them deliver powerful and at times almost almost hypnotic rhythms, with Tony Kelsey and Matt Worley working their way through a plethora of stringed instruments, both electric and acoustic, alongside Oli Jefferson’s pounding percussion. The effect is simply mesmerising with every song drawing you in completely.
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.
Having worked on the PR for the first Lust For LifeTour last year (featuring Clem Burke on drums, Glen Matlock on bass; Katie Puckrik on vocals, Kevin Armstrong on guitar, Luis Correia on second guitar, and Florence Sabeva on keyboards), it was a real privilege, not to mention a huge load of fun, to be asked to do the same again for this year’s tour.
“Tom Wilcox has these amazing concepts of bands that he’d like to see put together. And some of them work and some of them go on to have a bit of a life and other ones just crash into the dust – however good they are. I recall the one we did with Richard Strange, and Lou Reed material, which I thought was very, very good but only a very few people came to sees it. But this one caught fire. Which is good really because it was originally billed, as you know, around Tony Sales – the Tin Machine bass-player and early Iggy bass-player.”
Kevin Armstrong – Photo credit: Carl Allen
Tony Sales wasn’t able to tour in the UK in the event. He was duly replaced by Glen Matlock at the eleventh hour and from then on the whole thing really developed a life of its own. The response was so overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with every venue on the 2023 tour completely sold-out, it was almost inevitable that there’d be a repeat.
The 2024 tour has seen the band playing some larger venues and, as well as some new additions to the set-list there were some other notable changes, too.
Stuart Fiddes, who performs under the name of Fifteen Lions and did support slots for a couple of dates on the previous tour, was now brought in as support for the whole tour. Influenced by the likes of Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears and Orlando Weeks, singer-songwriter Fiddes opened proceedings with songs from his moodily cinematic debut album The Picture House, which was released last year.
Start Fiddes, Fifteen Lions – Photo credit: Carl Allen
But as Stuart’s set was drawing to a close each night, things would take a leftfield turn as he welcomed Waveney Wilcox to perform the last song with him. Combining the earthy swagger of Ian Dury, the punk-era attitude of John Lydon and the debonaire cool of the late Charlie Watts, Waveney entertained the crowds with his debut solo single ‘Sociology’ which he’s just released at the age of 71.
Waveney Wilcox – Photo credit: Carl Allen
Next up each evening was the wonderful Suzi Ronson, wife of the late guitar legend and ex-Spider, Mick Ronson, talking about her evolution from Beckenham hairdresser to Bowie stylist and inventor of the iconic Ziggy hair-do. I knew she’d be hugely entertaining but spoken-word sets are notoriously difficult to pull off at a rock gig. “I’m a bit nervous,” Suzi confided when we did a Zoom ahead of the tour. Would the crowd listen? No fear! From the first night in Colchester you could hear a pin drop and she was brilliantly, brilliantly entertaining. A really inspired choice.
Suzi Ronson – Photo credit: Carl Allen
Then it would be time for the main event: the Lust For Life Band performing Iggy’s Lust For Life album in full, as well as revisiting songs from across the individual band members’ careers with legendary artists including Blondie, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols.
One of the real delights of this entire project has been what an off-the-Richter-scale revelation Katie Puckrik has been to all of those who have witnessed her on stage for the first time. As Mick Burgess, reviewing the band’s North Shields gig, puts it:
“Former presenter of TV’s The Word, Katie Puckrik had the unenviable task of covering Pop’s vocals and on paper, seemed the weakest link. Any such doubts were instantly expelled with an absolute whirlwind of flamboyant energy and a seriously impressive vocal performance which suited the songs perfectly. Puckrik simply, stole the show.”
Katie Puckrik – Photo credit: Carl Allen
It’s as if Katie was pre-destined to do this. What a brilliantly unexpected move at this stage in her career and what a stroke of absolute genius by creative director Tom Wilcox who headhunted her to front the Lust For Life band.
Of course, any project that has musicians of the calibre of Glen Matlock, Clem Burke, Kevin Armstrong, Luis Correia and Florence Sabeva in it (not to mention the incredible back catalogue of iconic songs that they bring with them) is bound to result in a hugely-entertaining series of gigs. It was last year, of course, but things ramped up even more this year.
Luis Correia, Glen Matlock and Katie Puckrik – Photo credit: Carl Allen
This year saw the metamorphosis of Lust For Life from a project into a living, breathing bona-fide band, with a unity of purpose and an unstoppable momentum who went on to deliver an outstandingly memorable tour. A brilliant band and an unforgettable run of gigs. And this is borne out in review after review.
Lust For Life Tour – What They Say:
“Whoever had the inspired idea to ask broadcaster Katie Puckrik to take the place of James Newell Osterberg on this tour performing the Detroit fire spirit’s classic second solo album should take a bow.”Gus Ironside, Louder Than War
“Six world-class musicians who have all worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, rocked Colchester for an unforgettable night of live music.” – Cameron Poole, Colchester Gazette
“The full Lust For Live album is expertly showcased but for many in the venue the highlights were the various covers of songs by Bowie, The Sex Pistols and Blondie.”John Brown, Scottish Music Network
“An absolutely stunning evening of Punk fuelled Rock ‘n’ Roll performed by some genuine legends and exceptional musicians made this a strong contender for gig of the year already.” – Mick Burgess, Metal Express Radio
“Glen, Clem, and the rest of the band looked so at ease playing together. It was a masterclass to watch. Kate was up front and, wow, you can absolutely see why!” – Phil Wright, Wall Of Sound
“Puckrik declaimed in her deep alto range on Tonight and channelled some of Debbie Harry’s irreverent cool on the roistering Success.”Fiona Shepherd, The Scotsman
“Through their musicianship and dedication, the band not only paid homage to a punk legend but also reminded us of the enduring power of live music to unite and inspire. While the night may have ended, the memories and the music will undoubtedly linger on in the hearts of those who were there to witness it.” – Waqas Arain, BNN Breaking
“As ‘tribute’ bands go tonight was by far the greatest I’ve seen and why wouldn’t it be, the pinnacle of punk is still rocking away as good as ever.” – Neil Winward, RGM Press
“Puckrik owned the stage from the first note of ‘Lust for Life,’ her enthusiasm absolutely contagious. The band ripped through the entire album, from the ferocious adrenaline rush of the title track to the garage rock of ‘Fall In Love With Me” – Andy Von Pip, Von Pip Musical Express
“It may seem somewhat excessive to attend both 2024 nights at the Arts Centre, but when the music and musicians on stage are this good you would be foolish to miss even a second of the greatest show on earth.” – Carl Allen, Music Venue Man
“Lust for Life are true to the album that they pay tribute to: a simultaneous blast of fuck-it energy and the cognisant reflection that saying fuck-it can actually be of primal importance.” –Raph Pour-Hashemi, Far Out Magazine
“Albums as iconic as Lust for Life don’t come along too often and it takes some iconic performers to do them justice in this kind of tribute format and the Lust for Life band do exactly that.”Frank Ralph, V13
“As soon as they hit the stage it was clear that we were going to get a couple of hours of some of the most fun and exciting live music around.” – Chris Hillman, Reading Today
“Lust For Life, well, the word Down On The Street, Tonight is we had a Funtime and no one said I’m Bored, an unqualified Success. Seriously, if you get the chance to see them, go do it. ” – John Welsh – Into Creative
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