Category Archives: Reviews

Pete Doherty live in Wimborne, with his family, and the dog

What a lovely way to see a performer – in a small theatre with some new performers, and his wife, toddler daughter and a rock’n’roll dog. I was like popping around a friend’s house, and it was his birthday.

Paul Heaton live at Kingston Pryzm

My first visit, at last, to this rather special venue which manages to host an amazing range of live music gems – today I am here for the early show by Paul Heaton, accompanied these days by the excellent Rianne Downey.

My Top Ten Gigs of 2024

It’s very very rare for me not to enjoy a gig. I enjoyed every single one of the 65 gigs I went this year. Some are better than expected, some aren’t. It can be influenced by the night out as a whole, setlist,familiarity,venue,who you’re with or mood. Whatever the contributing factors, some gigs are a cut above the rest and these are my top ten for the year 2024.

The Skids with Spear of Destiny – live in Southampton

Since The Skids returned in 2017 I have been to see them repeatedly and now through several reformations, Richard Jobson has a new four piece edition.

The Damned – live in Bristol

A tour that draws strongly on tracks from The Black Album, Machine Gun Etiquette and Strawberries, with Rat Scabies back on the drums, brings out one of my favourite Damned gigs of recent years. Tonight is my thirteenth time of seeing them, with a variety of line ups since Hammersmith Odeon in 1980.