Gigs with Ivan

The Wonder Stuff – live in Southampton

The Wondertuff at The 1865, Southampton 26.7.2023 with Ian Prowse supporting

Arrived late for this one due to a bad back – the creaking grey-haired gig goer eh – and preparation for camping trip (!) next day, but got in to catch the last few Ian Prowse songs. I’ve seen him before supporting Elvis Costello in Bath and glad I got to hear the excellent Does This Train Stop on Merseyside again. (Link is to my Elvis blog).

I’ve always enjoyed Wonder Stuff gigs – mine go back a long way to that first album tour (1988) but there was a big gap. (Previous Wonder Stuff gig blog has more details.) Not all my fault as they split up after the release of the fourth LP which they are showcasing tonight – it’s 30 years since release of Construction for the Modern Idiot. It’s the first one I didn’t buy (cassettes at that stage). To save my back I sit down upstairs wondering if I should be here.

The upstairs balcony at The 1865, up and round beyond the raised rear bar, has some upholstered benches around the walls but unless you get a standing spot at the rail you can’t see anything. You can hear it fine so as the penny dropped that they were playing whole of an album that I didn’t know, at all, I saved myself for the second set.

Miles Hunt – peeping through bodies from The 1865 balcony

It’s not that I mind hearing all new stuff: I’ve seen main man Miles Hunt solo and bought the 2017 album (We Came Here to Work) with violin playing Erica Nockalls, after listening to some of his sanity saving Lockdown livestreams. It is largely that my back was killing me that kept me seated (my wife Sally was no better.)

The violin was lifting the better songs in the first set tonight – what a great musician she is.

I had started watching where we’d got to on the LP and at the end I thought Miles was joking when he said they were going to do a couple of b-sides to round off this first section. He wasn’t.

At the break we made our way downstairs. It was rammed but recent sell outs have seen us find room down near the left hand wall. No good if you want to be making visits to the bar and bogs but fine otherwise once you get there.

Wonder Stuff – back bar zoomed shot – The 1865

The second set was what I needed. Heavy on The Eight Legged Groove Machine album. For me A Wish Away was the winner. Jumping up and down 80s music with guitars getting a full on go. Give, Give, Give, More, More, More has a similar appeal – that one ends the second set.

There are other nuggets in there – Golden Green – more prominent violin – No for the 13th Time and Caught in My Shadow. Size of a Cow is introduced as a ‘the most ridiculous song we ever wrote’ but it is catchy and probably isn’t.

This second set restores my faith although I pledge to go and listen to that fourth LP again, now I have that much maligned Spotify luxury.

They come back for two more: Unbearable and later ‘Eight Legged’ extra track Ten Trenches Deep. Well and truly a gig of two halves. I am sure I will be back again for more, more, more, as long as Miles Hunt (now a youthful looking 57) is up for it.

My Britpop Week – Blur & Pulp revived

Blur live at Wembley Stadium 7.7.2023 with Self Esteem, Sleaford Mods and Jockstrap supporting; Pulp live at Cardiff International Arena 11.7.2023 with Baxter Dury supporting.

A wonderful week. My 37th and 39th gigs of 2023 which I rank as the best two this year to date. Two Britpop essential bands returning after a time and taking different approaches.

Blur, the original line up and Pulp with Jarvis Cocker as the sole original. Blur in the massive 90,000 Wembley Stadium and Pulp in the 7,500 capacity, nearly all standing, Cardiff International Arena.

Saturday’s Blur support bands were to my ears just awful and inappropriate. I have seen the Sleaford Mods on tour and I was absorbed then. I get it. I walked away from their Victorious Festival set and Wembley? Bonkers. The other two acts: I just fail to see how they made the bill – Jockstrap (knob twiddling electronica with light vocals) and Self Esteem, who seem(s) to be have been eaten up and swallowed by an adoring London media. I just don’t get it or maybe I can see through these Emperor’s new clothes. On Sunday it was Paul Weller and Selecter and that date went on sale much later.

Pulp meanwhile had Dexter Dury supporting. Fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed him and his band. A selection of albums to choose from. Surprised I haven’t seen him before – son of Ian Dury.

As regards the main acts – both brilliant. Both loved by participative audiences. Pulp, notably Jarvis, feeding off the atmosphere and tension created and Blur overcoming the echoing vastness of Wembley Stadium with their celebration of the return and their achievement in getting there.

Both bands delivered the crowd pleasing sets that the audiences deserved and had turned up for. Blur had more work to do on such an enormous gathering but they did it.

I saw Blur first almost by chance, back on 3 May 1991 at Coventry Tic Toc Club, before the first album Leisure had been released.

It was the indoor Wembley in December 1999 before I saw them again – a singles set – and then on 12 December 2003 at Bournemouth International Centre for a quiet gig, heavy with the then recently released Think Tank album.

This Wembley performance topped those other times. Damon was so overtly happy to be there and to be back. Although the new Blur album was due out the set drew from the back catalogue. I’d been singing Tracy Jacks to myself for days beforehand and it duly appeared early on. Beetlebum soon after with its slow grinding start that draws everyone in.

We are a long way back but pleased to be enjoying front of block unobstructed seats. Camera on full zoom to see what was going on.

Stereotypes and Country House, from the number one Great Escape LP, were the chart topping hits – I had thought they might avoid such celebrated pop but not tonight – Damon even put his deer stalker on for Country House.

Under the Westway was a quieter special moment – as London a song as they could muster. The quality of the playing just about conquers the overchallenging stadium sound but oh to hear that one in the Cardiff venue where Pulp played a few days later.

A quieter acoustic moment – Damon Albarn

Parklife was the centrepiece of this Blur party. Phil Daniels emerged from one of those work man’s tents to deliver. Magnificent. Yes nostalgic.

Song 2 another top song before the break for encores. After the break another goody, Girls and Boys.

As Tender was playing I made the misjudgement of thinking it was the last song. On came the gospel choir and as we contemplated the crowds and tube station mayhem, we thought let’s beat the inevitable. We did…and escaped back out to Ruislip and the car but missed the last few songs unfortunately. An awful place to see a band but what a wonderful performance.

And four days later it was Britpop nostalgia round two and on to Cardiff International Arena (what was the Motorpoint Arena).

A giant moon appeared on the backdrop and slowly a rising silhouette of Jarvis appeared to crowd roars. The tour is tagged ‘This is what we do for an encore…’ and the gig started like it was an encore, with an announcement to welcome Pulp back on, after years away in the wings. What an atmosphere.

Much more intimate this experience – 7500 but yes intimate. Jarvis talks nicely to the audience. No shouting.

I’m was with gig buddy Dave (DPi) and we found a spot adjacent to the mixing desk barriers – something to lean on eh. You can get a decent view from anywhere in here – not many seats in the balcony at all here.

The set drew heavily on the wonderful 1995 album Different Class, with eight songs performed from that. It started with I-Spy and then, playing along with the encore idea, Disco 2000. Yup second song. Tickertape blasted into the air like a finale to start. Woodchip wallpaper on the backdrop.

I remember woodchip on my Coventry walls back then. I first saw Pulp on 22 February 1996 at the NEC Forum Birmingham. By then I had got married and already split up so I was a bit ahead of those anthemic lyrics. Quite a night that gig was – it followed the Jarvis invading the stage and mooning moment while Michael Jackson was performing at an awards do. I haven’t seen them on tour since.

Very much the Jarvis show. All eyes on him. The band on the right of the stage and something of an orchestral input from the left: Jarvis, all the while, centre stage.

Pink Glove saw a few devout fans wearing one: Jarvis asked to see them in the air after. Do You Remember the First Time sounded as bouncy and fresh as ever.

The expected highlight came: Common People, building beautifully until the floor erupts. Jarvis succeeded in making a big hall feel like a cosy little venue. Perhaps Pulp will have a crack at Wembley Stadium – NOOO! Don’t do it!

Two hugely enjoyable gigs. The experiences all the better for the fact these bands hadn’t played for so long. Not just any old favourite band but bands that defined the 90s.

All photos from my trusty TZ90 Panasonic pocket zoom.

Iron Maiden – live in Birmingham

Iron Maiden at the Utilita Arena Birmingham on 4.7.2023 with Lord of the Lost supporting

Iron Maiden eh? Another deviation into the world of heavy metal, in particular that NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) as it was back when I was at school, and buying Sounds every week.

I bought the Running Free single when it came out in 1980 – I just may have been influenced by their allegiance to West Ham United. That was and is the sum total of my investment in their records but I have listened a lot (my school mate Rich T has a lot to answer for). In recent years I have seen Weymouth based tribute band Ironed Maiden three times. In Covid Lockdown two sparsely attended seated gigs saved my sanity during the gig desert. Tonight it’s the real thing.

The line-up is from the early 80s, although back in 1981 Bruce Dickenson was the new boy, having taken over front original frontman Paul Di’Anno.

Bruce Dickenson on stage tonight in Birmingham

On arrival into Brum I see Iron Maiden t-shirt clad fans everywhere, the clan gathering in numbers the closer I get to Broad Street and the Utilita Arena. (I now have such a t-shirt as an accessory for any future metal excursions.)

Chis Harms – Lord of the Lost – supporting

Lord of the Lost open the evening. They were Germany’s entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Most un-Eurovision. A decent heavy rock noise for starters.

The lights dim and UFO’s Doctor Doctor starts playing. This is their chosen build up music and it goes down a storm – even I have this EP – then a bit of Blade Runner soundtrack and they’re on, with a small backdrop to give a smaller gig feel than the 15,800 venue that it is. It opens out shortly after with a huge backscreen, but the basic shape doesn’t change, with the drummer tucked in his own cubby hole.

The setlist draws heavily on two albums: the latest release, Senjutsu (I’ve been listening and it stands up there) and the 1986 album Somewhere in Time, with five tracks from each of those. The first one I know well is The Prisoner, complete with Portmeirion backdrop (I visited several times in the 90s with my Coventry mates), from the classic album Number of the Beast (saw that title track video so many times in the 80s).

Dickenson still has a great rock voice. He wanders the limits of the stage, up behind the band as they work sway intensely at their art. Three guitars and a bass make for a wonderful wall of guitar sound. I’m enjoying my heavy metal outing. The guitar swinging stage right is jaw dropping.

The next song I must have been exposed to a lot is Can I Play With Madness, Dickenson’s rock voice at its high-pitched best.

I am still focused on Hammers supporting bassist Steve Harris – he writes a lot of the material apparently…but there is the distraction of a bit of metal stage show stuff. Almost a token gesture I think but that suits me – it’s about the music.

The show escalates with some belters. The end of the main set is Fear of the Dark, maybe my pick of the night and then that very early track Iron Maiden which I will always count as a privilege to hear live.

The encores included The Trooper (I like that ale – Iron Maiden linked) which was a biggy, good ‘un that – and Wasted Years. This experience was high on heavy metal quality and limited on pomp and posing. Iron Maiden are category winner in my life Oscars awards. They were the NWOBHM.

Dog Day Afternoon Festival at Crystal Palace

Iggy Pop, Blondie, Generation Sex, Stiff Little Fingers, Buzzcocks and The Lambrini Girls 1.7.2023 at Crystal Palace Park

As the day approached, I realised what a huge treat was coming. What an assembly – a special nostalgic day in London, albeit a more difficult to find bit of London. The long, quite narrow strip cordoned off for this was a new one on me, holding around 25,000 people.

It wasn’t the Bowl and wasn’t the Athletics Stadium I saw The Beautiful South and Texas at in 1997. We shared a cab up to the south side of this enormous park with a couple from our Bromley Hotel – cabs were in demand – I was there with gig buddy Dave for this and meeting a few others inside. Then the long haul uphill through the park, before a nervous and prolonged queue for a wristband to get us in to the upgraded area (a laughable option here), while we sweated over Internet connectivity issues – phone only tickets on this one.

Lucky the bands were so good, the sound was tip top and it didn’t rain, because the queues for everything, the cramped set up and just getting in seemed intent on screwing up a great day.

I heard the Lambrini Girls in the distance as we queued, staring at the staffed but closed windows, alongside the busy ones.

A few beers (Hobgoblin👍) before making our way down along the front right side for Buzzcocks, while there was a bit of room down there. This became our pitch for the day – a day which got busier and busier but once in a spot it’s easy to stick to it and put down a few markers (Keith’s rug and crisps and a few bags) and resist space invaders. (Later on, Pete Bennett, the guy who won Big Brother with Tourette’s turned up next to us with friends. He didn’t encroach on the rug.)

Having seen Buzzcocks many times, going back to 1980 (when NME suggested they were past it) the Buzzcocks without the departed Pete Shelley are a tricky one to sell. I listened to Steve Diggle talking on the literary stage at Rebellion Festival last year though – he just can’t stop and felt he needed to go on doing all he knows. Fair enough. It’s still enjoyable but different.

Manchester Rain from the post Shelley 2022 album is a good example of why Buzzcocks are still a worthy listen. Hearing the old classics on a sunny day in a field (it’s no better than a field) is irresistible. I was intrigued by the signing woman in front of the stand to the right. I pondered the experience of being deaf at a gig it got me thinking ..and are there many needing that intensely active signing service. The prospect of Buzzcocks playing Orgasm Addict dawned. They did and I have to admit I peered over curiously but nothing obviously notable to report.

With Harmony in My Head being the big single with Diggle vocals, it was inevitable perhaps that this was the finale…. a 10-minute epic to stamp the Diggle mark on this new Buzzcocks line-up.

Next up Stiff Little Fingers. I always enjoy SLF and this afternoon is no exception. Standing amongst a crowd pretty much all around my age I found this respectful gathering almost emotional. Early on the bill but Jake Burns has the crowd.

With shorter than the normal tour stage time, Jake and the guys have little option but to go for it (pun intended), firing out the classic air punching choruses, starting with Tin Soldiers and reaching a finale of Suspect Device and Alternative Ulster. Doesn’t matter how many times you hear that one, the excitement, passion and anger is still there.

The set is largely from the first two albums but there is the chance for Jake to call out for men hiding their mental struggles, as he did before sorting his: newer song My Dark Places marks that. Cover, It Doesn’t Make it Alright, by the late Terry Hall is another worthy inclusion to slow it down a bit. The anger of Wasted Life still hits the spot: ‘Stuff their f*cking armies, killing isn’t my idea of fun’. Great set.

And so I get to see this Generation Sex combination: this new Sex Pistols/ Generation X family. Enhanced by the 1977 gig footage as a backdrop – worked a treat as not many of us can jump up and down any more without a trip to a physio after.

Idol, Cook, Jones, James – Generation Sex

I did see The Pistols, but only on the second coming in the 90s. We are all getting on a bit now and it’s easy to scoff at this initiative but when you see Billy Idol come on and open up with Pretty Vacant, backed by Cook and Jones…. well just enjoy it. I did. Never Mind the Bollocks is still a fantastic album and the Gen X material weaved in for extra less angry, more sneery, interest.

The stand out song of this much anticipated set for me was Bodies. Vile and angry. The song has lost none of it. Brilliant and stirring stuff. God Save the Queen, nearing the end, felt like an anthem for the day. I would like to see them in a small place with a longer set – it works. It isn’t going to be a long running collaboration I’m sure – just enough for one more for me to get to eh.

The original sound obviously comes out more on the Generation X songs that Billy Idol sang on in the late 70s, Ready Steady Go and Dancing With Myself the best of those, but Idol is good front for the Pistols material.

It was My Way to finish – from the Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle – the Sid Vicious take on it. While I can still hear it as a Sinatra belter, it has a misery about it when associated with the victim that Sid Vicious became.

And so a trip off to find a bog. Jesus. Mayhem. All these aging bladders and gridlock – urinals hidden behind a maze of other queues. Still, we put up with it don’t we. Pay the money and suffer in silence. The upgrade area was no better – I gave up in there first. Back to festival school whoever managed this one.

And after this breather – Blondie Ahhh. I suspect a lot of this crowd wouldn’t buy tickets to see Blondie these days, for one of their own shows. While they were right in that New York punk scene back in the day, and have all the credentials, they were a huge, mainstream pop rock band after the first few albums. But everyone’s glued. All eyes front.

Debbie Harry – 78th birthday today at Crystal Palace Park

Debbie Harry’s 78th birthday. A remarkable lady. A true legend. All seemed effortless up front on the vocals, while Clem Burke powered away on the drums. Sex Pistol Glen Matlock on bass, where he’s been since his surprise appearance for the April ’22 delayed UK tour I saw them on in Glasgow.

Parallel Lines, surely the best album, dominates: starting with One Way or Another and continuing with Hanging on the Telephone (you know that’s a cover?); Sunday Girl; Will Anything Happen and eventually the beautiful and dreamy Heart of Glass – arms waving in the air – my mate Chris enjoying his own little disco in front our protected rug space.

There were a few of the earlier punkier tracks – their first single X Offender and from the Plastic Letters LP, the cover of which I have on my wall at home, there was Detroit 442, sung with more grit.

I thought this set was a beauty. Maybe made better by the band enjoying the event as the support act, without the big tour attention. This was better than my two previous Blondie gigs – this is the one I want to remember.

And on to the master. The man I once heard referred to a ‘the King of Rock’ as I passed through US Customs in Miami airport…. well, the customs official bellowed it at the top of her voice, preceded by ‘oh my gaaaad it’s!….’

Iggy and his full band, including brass, take the stage. It felt like an epic gig happening. We’d had a great day but this was the main event and even though I could hardly count myself as an Iggy Pop fan – I did see him headline a Reading Festival Friday in 1988 – it was an impressive career spanning performance that the crowd were overtly happy with.

Within a few songs, Iggy had disposed of his waistcoat revealing, unashamedly, his seasoned old frame. This was rock’n’roll. What a guy. His voice was strong and growled.

Mid-set, Lust for Life and The Passenger come together – that’s all I needed to hear to fulfil my ambitions for the day but the set was rich in variety. Towards the end of the main set, I Wanna Be Your Dog sees Iggy gripping the mic stand and hanging on, contorted – his twisted hips more obvious. This body has survived so much life.

I had a look at the setlist and although Iggy Pop had a new album out in January, he only found room for two tracks from it, one being Frenzy to finish. I feel his work deserves more of my attention.

This Dog Day Afternoon was a cracker. A wonderfully balanced selection of sets from some big names in the punk hall of fame. The escape from the park was on. The battle for cabs and skirmishes for an Uber. We got lucky (thanks Gary) and were away. Great day.

As ever, all pics are my own – trusty Panasonic TZ90 pocket zoom.

A busy gig year has continued for me despite a rest in the blogs. 35 gigs and 74 different bands. I will catch up with some, not all, as I start doubling up on bands I‘ve already covered.

The Dead Kennedys – live in Southampton

The Dead Kennedys at The 1865, Southampton on 5.5.2023 with Pissbath supporting

The 1865 seems to be my venue of the moment – my updated blog on the venue is here. It’s attracting bands I want to see and I really like the place.

Tonight, it’s to see San Francisco’s punk legends, The Dead Kennedys….well as they are today. While at school, the novel vibrating voice of original frontman, Jello Biafra, combined with regular John Peel show airings of the band’s singles and other tracks, imprinted them firmly in my consciousness.

There weren’t that many punk bands from the US, that had reputations that travelled across the Atlantic. They were a little late to the party with the first album not appearing until 1980, but that suited my timescales. They broke up by 1986 and I never did get to see them live. The break up was a big one, which led to Jello Biafra being sued by the other three original band members over the payment of royalties and they won. So the distinctive voice was lost. The current touring Dead Kennedys four piece includes two originals: East Bay Ray on guitars and Klaus Flouride on bass and backing vocals. Frontman is Ron ‘Skip’ Greer who has been with them since 2008… and he’s good.

Klaus Flouride – bass/ backing vocals – at The 1865

It’s another packed house tonight. Yes, the audience has aged with the band but tonight the angry youth inside is allowed out. Near impossible to get forward with a pint and if you do you’re going to lose it and be covered in some more. Support band Pissbath, also from the US, got some appreciation but I was up on the balcony and at the bar, catching up with mates. Considerable excitement as they take to the stage. It’s not every week the Dead Kennedys are in the country.

Frontman Ron ‘Skip’ Greer flanked by Klaus Flouride and East Bay Ray – Southampton 1865

We managed to push down the side left a bit (here with Plymouth Dave tonight) and I end up wandering a bit to get a better view and grab a video up at the raised back bar – so as not to obstruct or get hit by a flying pint.

They open with Forward to Death, from THE album for me: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Released in 1980, it’s the only one I bought (later on CD) and I am less familiar when leaving this one. Half the set is from this album so that’s a relief.

The front section moves and leans in the direction of frontman Skip. He disappears down into the pit from time to time, emerging to towel down his sweat soaked head.

Really good sound, at volume, this. After several later album tracks, so as not to peak too early, first album single Kill The Poor makes an entrance. Fists are pumping and the mosh pit sways. Too Drunk to F*ck is probably well known for all the wrong reasons but well received, with smiles.

East Bay Ray and Klaus Flouride keep to their opening positions – concentrating on keeping it together. Only front man Skip is mobile. Strong drums beat from the back.

The one minute EP track Nazi Punks F*ck Off is cheered, perhaps for longer than the song itself. A curious addition to any John Peel show at the start of the 80s. Well meaning yet almost comical. After that, one we have all been hoping for: California über Alles. What an anthem. They leave the stage and a main set timed to ensure more is an urgent necessity.

The Dead Kennedys – back for more at at The 1865

I’m up at the back next to the bar at this point and captured the first of the encores, Bleed For Me, on my camera video. (Here on my YouTube Channel.) This is followed by cover Viva Las Vegas, which appeared on that first album, before another of the Dead Kennedys’ prize nuggets, Holiday in Cambodia (link to another Grey-Haired Gig Goer video). Times have changed eh? Every song a mini history lesson – I have been on holiday there since its release and couldn’t stop singing it.

To finish, another first album classic, Chemical Warfare. More steam, the last steam, is let off. So glad I made it to see The Dead Kennedys, at last. Well I guess I had not tried that hard in the post Jello Biafra years, when I could have done, and realise now I should have done.

Peter Hook and the Light – live in Southampton

Peter Hook and the Light at The 1865 on 27.4.2023

Just a brief note for this one – I wanted to mark it – I gave up work earlier in the day. What more can be said about the sounds of Joy Division, this gig being one on the Hooky tour showcasing both the studio albums: Unknown Pleasures and Closer.

It’s both albums in full, Unknown Pleasures first. Before that, no support band but instead a shorter introductory set of New Order songs. Well worth getting there on time for and wrestling for a car park space with the late arrivals for tonight’s Premier League relegation battle at St Mary’s, very close by, between Southampton and Bournemouth (Bournemouth won it.)

An odd day for me this one: this afternoon I left my job and full-time employment, probably forever, to look forward to more years of enjoying life as a grey-haired gig goer. I came back from the office, got changed and with our little car full, drove to tonight’s gig (with SHa, GAl, AFr). No end of term beers tonight – this was another long-standing musical appointment – hadn’t intended to end my career today when I bought the tickets.

The only surprises in the setlist are the New Order component to start – which I take as a big bonus – and perhaps less surprising, the encores. Confusion was my New Order highlight and this section ended with the 1997 Monaco single What Do You Want From Me?, Hooky’s post New Order band, which had two albums – must check those out.

I saw Monaco live once, although I don’t remember it (Reading Festival), never Joy Division, and after a few New Order gigs with and without Peter Hook, I find that in the last three and a bit years, I keep bumping into excellent Peter Hook sets at festivals – Great British Alternative Festival at Butlins 2020; Victorious Festival 2021, Let’s Rock Exeter 2021; Rebellion 2022 and maybe the best of these Shiine Weekend at Butlins 2021. This is the first proper Peter Hook and the Light tour gig I’ve been to though. They have all been great sets, with some more limited on time than others. This is indulgent though – the Joy Divison studio albums. A packed room full of largely male ex-John Peel listeners, of an age, in dark clothes and Doc Martens. There are some young people in here though – all is not lost.

Despite the cool and grumpy look to Hooky over the years he always performs with so much passion and effort. This is a long trio of a set and he is up front an full-on throughout. After all these years he still giving it like he’s touring a debut album, and with a polished band with him (including his son) to give a better live sound than surely any Joy Division performance (just listen to live album Still).

After gorging on this dark feast what then for the encores? Firstly, New Order’s Ceremony, then Transmission (YouTube from Mr Bitz II) and inevitably Love Will Tear Us Apart, the big singles that were not from the studio albums.

I can’t imagine anyone even half liking New Order or Joy Division would be disappointed by a Peter Hook and the Light gig. This was another winner.

Inspiral Carpets – live in Frome

Inspiral Carpets at The Cheese and Grain, Frome, Somerset 22.4.2023 with Lumley supporting

The Cheese and Grain seems to be growing in stature and becoming appealing to more tours for something a bit different. My last visit, with a bit more info on the town was for Sweet. (Blog link)

Frome

A weekend gig meant a bit of extra time to wander around Frome, stopping over at a B&B (Rook Lane House), as it turned out with all four rooms taken with Inspiral Carpets fans – opposite a carpet shop – lovely old house and a friendly stopover.

New and secondhand record shop, Raves from the Grave was well worth a visit, it also being Record Store Day. I picked up a signed copy of the latest Inspiral Carpets’ remastered singles album, Generation X first album re-release and used LPs by TV21 and Wasted Youth. Bit of a haul.

Pre-gig involved a pint in The George, at the heart of everything on the main street done through the town, then up the hill to Italian restaurant Castellos – I recommend those. Best of all, a few doors down is Palmer Street Bottle, a craft ale bar that does a great cheese board and stunning ale selection.

Back down to The Cheese and Grain to catch Lumley. Cover songs with a 90s theme to get the sell-out crowd singing along. Enjoyable as a while-you-wait rabble rouser.

A sell-out crowd – towards the back of the venue

Inspiral Carpets

My preferred Madchester option from the 90s – it’s that organ – what a fabulous sound. I bought the first album Life (1990) and later that year was at Reading Festival for their headline set on the Saturday night – I just went to the one night, a regular thing I’ve done with Reading over the years, except when I lived there for a five year period.

How could anyone forget the full marching band of drum majorettes that trooped out for She Comes in the Fall – what a stunt. I found a video on YouTube. The Inspiral Carpets were chart toppers then. What a gig for those majorettes and the look on the lead baton twirler’s face is pride, fear and emotion: She Comes in the Fall – Reading 1990 vid.

Despite a fistful of very good albums, I didn’t see them again until this Frome gig. They split in 1995, reforming in 2003. The band membership has been in constant evolution. When drummer Craig Gill died in 2016 the band stopped again – tribute is paid to him tonight, the last night of Inspiral Carpets’ first tour for eight years.

The current line has three original members, although one of those, frontman Stephen Holt, is so much an original band member that he left before that first album and 1990 boom.

Clint Boon has been at the heart of that keyboard/organ-led sound since 1987 and he’s very much stage front for this gig.

The other original is guitarist Graham Lambert. He is joined by two newer members including a youthful Oscar Boon (18) on bass.

The sell-out, standing, Saturday night, crowd of 850 is over-ripe by the time the Carpets unroll. Wonderful atmosphere. I looked down at the floor to admire the array of trainers – a range that could grace any 90s gig – like an Adidas shop.

The whirling organ sound, so distictive, dominates. The backdrop throws shapes and tells stories of the past. The cow artwork appears (Cow Records was the first album label) – the crowd ‘moo’ intermittently, a rural touch adding to this market town venue. Reference is made to the early days when Noel Gallagher was the band’s roadie – maybe some photos appeared on the screen but for a lot of the gig I was off to the front right, before moving in front of the speaker wearing some ear protection and leaning on the rail.

Inspiral Carpets – rear centre view – Cheese and Grain

The set leans well on that first album Life with more than half the set from it. These include She Comes in the Fall, Joe, which they open with, and that anthem of self-pity: This is How it Feels…. to be lonely. I thought that was their best track for years but in my mind it was eclipsed, as it was tonight by Dragging Me Down and better still, Two Worlds Collide:

“What have I done with my life?
Is this the end when two worlds collide?”

Both of these tracks feature on the Revenge of the Goldfish album (1992) – a really goody.

Frontman Stephen Holt comes down off the stage later on, to step on the front barriers, leaning over the herd, keeping his voice controlled and steady while the organ does its wild things, driven by Clint.

Well I hope I don’t have to wait another 33 years to hear this wonderful noise again (I won’t – they’re playing Victorious Festival 😁). It’s not just the stand out tracks, it’s the whole set. Yes of course I’d like to hear the 1990s vocalist, Tom Hingley, but you can’t always get what you want eh.

They finish with Saturn 5, a single from their 1994 Devil Hopping album. Top night – friendly, enthusiastic crowd – great venue to visit and stay in town for. Mooooo!

The Damned – live in Southampton

The Damned at O2 Guildhall, Southampton 18.4.2023 with The Nightingales supporting

After the original line up Damned gigs last year (Damned – live in Hammersmith blog) this Spring tour is back to normality and promoting the new Damned album Darkadelic, which is released on 28 April. Unfortunate that the release date is after the gig, especially as it turns out to be a set heavy with the new material.

I’m with an old school friend tonight, who I used to go to gigs with regularly back around 1980 in London. We lost touch after I left home and he’s recently moved down Dorset way and this is our first gig together for about 42 years. We start with a beer in a bar I haven’t tried before: Preez, opposite the Guildhall on the edge of the square.

I rock up to the bar and admire a framed photo of Captain Sensible taken in the early 80s in Glasgow. “He’s just over there,” says the barman. It’s 7.30pm and The Captain is sat chatting to the photographer and her friends. She has some Damned photos displayed and postcard sets for sale. Just eight of us in here which is odd given the time but I’ll come again. I can linger for a chat with my mate safe in the knowledge The Damned aren’t on stage yet.

We pop over – I say pop over but my knee is heavily strapped – to the Guildhall. I lead us to the barrier at the side of the mixing desk – essential leaning place required for my knackered leg. (Notes on the venue in my Guildhall blog.) Also there is the hope that the sound near the mix desk might hold up – this high box of a room continues to be a challenge for sound engineers and unfortunately tonight they’re going to be losers again.

The Nightingales are on when we get in. I saw them in a pub in Birmingham about 40 years ago – they lived near me in Balsall Heath back then when we all wore dead men’s big coats and old jackets. The documentary film King Rocker, featuring singer/songwriter Robert Lloyd sparked some interest in seeing them again but the wayward sound and lack of familiarity with their work isn’t rekindling anything.

There seems plenty of room still when The Damned come on, Dave Vanian hanging back until the first song starts up. Two new album tracks to start. The sound is pretty awful and I remember why I dodged this venue for several years. Just so much echo off the high walls and ceiling.

Two from The Black Album lift my mood: Wait for the Blackout and Lively Arts. My favourite Damned album with the extended classic, Curtain Call. Red and yellow swirls on the stage backdrop create interesting silloueettes. Then it’s back into the new album which no one has had a chance to hear yet. Why not tour after the release – give yourselves a better chance.

Vanian is ghoulishly lit in his black hat. Always stylish. He wanders all over the stage and off it, behind the drummer and whipping his mic cable out of his way as he goes.

The Captain is in his naughty Dennis the Menace jumper. “Thank you for coming out Southampton and the neighbouring towns, including those beginning with P,” as he acknowledges the Saints/Pompey rivalry. He adds a red nose on for the new single Beware of the Clown which has some familiarity.

All these new songs are testing patience – near enough a whole album’s worth. The crowd are hanging on in there but without much enthusiasm. “That’s the last of the new songs” announces Captain Sensible. Relief, then 100mph versions of Love Song and Machine Gun Etiquette – sound creaking.

To my surprise, one of the better songs is Standing on the Edge of Tommorrow, from the last album Evil Spirits. Neat Neat Neat at top speed again to round off the set.

The first encore is the classic cover Eloise. To finish, the bankers, the fans favourites Smash it Up (Part 2 caught on my zoom camera and here on my YouTube channel) and yes, of course, New Rose. It must be hard for them not to play New Rose. It’s a brilliant song – the best punk song? When that drumming starts, it sounds so fresh and live every time, even on record. Those last two songs save the day but I would love a sound engineer to talk me through the battle with this room tonight.

Just a few weeks ago The Lords of the New Church finished their set at the Vive Le Rock Awards with New Rose. Damned original Rat Scabies joined them on drums for that and we bumped into him in the bar afterwards – me coincidentally sporting his 1977 face on my t-shirt.

A grey-haired gig goer with Rat Scabies at The Vive Le Rock Awards

W.A.S.P. – live in Bristol

W.A.S.P. at O2 Bristol Academy 23.3.2023 with South of Salem supporting

Just a brief note of my trip to educate myself with a bit of historic heavy rock.

The frontman Blackie Lawless (guitar and vocals) is the only remaining original from over 40 years ago when the band formed, in LA in 1982.

I knew very little about W.A.S.P. when this trip was first mentioned as a possible. A name from reading Sounds music paper back in the 80s or maybe a peep at a copy of Kerrang magazine. I had a little refresher and thought it would be a shame to miss seeing this ‘shock-rock’ heavy metal band of ill repute on what could be the final tour.

A sell-out at the O2 Academy Bristol tonight (link for my blog on venue details), a filthy wet night, and the four of us here opt for the right-hand lower platform once inside after doors open. (With gig buddy Dave and seasoned heavy metal fans Neil/Max and Clair tonight.)

Support band South of Salem are from Bournemouth and they are pretty good. Traditional hard and heavy, rocky. I’m impressed given I’m hearing them cold.

Joey Draper – South of Salem – O2 Bristol Academy

I see they are playing at the Teddy Rocks Festival, near Blandford in April so I will look them out again when up there.

Before W.A.S.P. appear, the stage is prepared. Banners revealed with a theme of an old horror circus, two screens to show old footage and a large and very ornate mic stand. This centrepiece is almost ridden at times by frontman Lawless.

I was never going to know most their material but after some Spotify research I was ready for Wild Child which I caught with my camera video. (My YouTube channel link.)

It’s heavy, heavy metal with all the trimmings. Most of the crowd seem to know most of the songs and it is an accessible sound though this. Mainman Lawless plays guitar with his back to the crowd for short periods and from time to time ‘mounts’ the mic stand skeletal construction and swings back on it, hanging on to the handle bars. Who came up with this one?

It’s a gloomy light and the band are largely backlit – hence a bit of a challenge to get any decent pics.

Post break and into a three-song encore Animal: F*ck Like a Beast gets a big roar – how classically heavy rock eh – and the 1980s parental control lobby was illustrated through news film footage of the time. In relative terms it all seems like good clean fun these days.

The big song we all have to wait until the end for is I Wanna Be Somebody. Everyone knows that one. A Who song is thrown in to the mix as another encore: The Real Me.

They have some big gigs following this one and the set is a compact one and we are out into the night quite early. My musical education has been stretched a little more. I can still hear and we are off for a last pint. Rock on.

Morrissey – live in London

Morrissey at Hammersmith Apollo 19.3 2023

Morrissey seems to have derailed himself in some people’s eyes. His individuality means he doesn’t sing to everyone’s tune these days but I won’t desert this lyrical genius at this late stage. His shows still sell out in minutes and there is an encampment of fans waiting under Hammersmith flyover, opposite the Apollo by lunchtime. It’s still big news when Mozzer is in town.

No support band tonight – Morrissey and his band. Before they go on, some handpicked records with black and white photos on the screens to illustrate – icons of screen and stage. We are in the centre, half way up the balcony. The huge balcony in this 5000 capacity crowd. In all my visits here I have never seen a band from the balcony, always preferring the stalls, without the seats if possible. I don’t mind my seat. I’m knackered. This is day three of a three-night run of gigs in the capital.

We’ve had a trip down to the pubs upstream from Hammersmith Bridge: The Old Ship, the ever popular Dove and the friendly staff of The Rutland Arms. Always lovely. After the longest snake of queue I’ve ever seen here (half way down to the Riverside Studios) we’ve had a beer in the beautiful Apollo art deco bar and paid a hefty price for it. I’m now happy to sit.

Excitement, real excitement, as the 63-year-old starts with Our Frank from the Kill Uncle album, and not much of a wait before the first Smiths song: the urgent Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before.

While the band is lit by wandering spotlights, Morrissey appears to be performing in near shadows. This must be by design – a sheepish intro? A man tired of the knocking and gently reintroducing himself?

Irish Blood, English Heart and Mozzer is getting going. The mic lead is being whipped out. I Wish You Lonely: what a wonderfully mean lyric, sung with such glee. The man’s voice still has all its strength. I grab a video with my pocket zoom – steady, perched up here and not in anyone’s way – Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings (on my YouTube Channel).

“Sure enough, the telephone rings
Who wants my money now?
Otherwise the telephone never would ring
No oh oh oh”

Is that how Morrissey sees himself now? Only there to be exploited.

Quite a mix tonight. No one album has much focus – a few songs from many. Four Smiths songs in total. Girlfriend in a Coma brings a short blast of pop-misery. They don’t write them like that anymore (link is to a video stored on my YouTube channel). Half a Person – still the height of genius.

It’s two anthems from Viva Hate, that first solo album, that pump the atmosphere up most. Half way through, Everyday Is Like Sunday (is that the retirement singalong that awaits me I wonder) and nearing the end with Suedehead. I’ve played that song so loudly and so often over the years – often driving. By this time Morrissey is in full flow. Most of the huge, seated balcony crowd are on their feet. The front of the stalls crowd are grabbing, leaping and being restrained. Just a grasp, a touch and over the barriers and out they go.

He reminds us that this is ‘Mozzer’s Day’ while giving a nod to Mothers everywhere.

He returns to the roars of appreciation with one more Smiths number: Sweet and Tender Hooligan from the Louder than Bombs album. He rips his shirt to reveal his maturing torso – not too old yet for those rock and roll theatrics.

I’ll be back. Behave yourself Mozzer.

Back in the day – Morrissey and The Smiths

Back Autumn 1983 I moved into a shared house in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, with some student mates. On the back of the front door in a letter rack was a seven inch square cardboard envelope for a previous occupant – he used to review records for a magazine. We left it there for weeks and eventually opened it – we had no forwarding address. It was This Charming Man by The Smiths. Me and one of the guys (Nige) loved it and we agreed to buy a second copy and go halves so we could have one each.

After that came What Difference Does it Make, then albums and my first Smiths gig in 1984. It was a free outdoor one in Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank, put on by the GLC (Greater London Council). Morrissey with his fake hearing aid, NHS specs and flowers in his back pocket. That was the start of The Smiths for me and I’ve never left Morrissey and Marr alone since.

Later in ’84 I saw them at The Tower Ballroom, next to a reservoir, in the North of Edgbaston, Birmingham. Next gig was after The Queen is Dead album was released in Summer 1986.

The event was at the G-Mex Centre and celebrated the tenth anniversary of the start of punk. The Smiths came on at 6pm. It was still light but with a late-night drunken rowdiness. Morrissey waved that Queen is Dead placard around in a frantic celebration. That must have been their height I suppose.

My ticket from Festival of the Tenth Summer

I stuck with it after they split up and Morrissey went solo, going to Leicester to see him in 1991 but left it another 14 years before I bought a resale ticket and drove down to Plymouth, from East Dorset, to see him again. He still was a huge draw. By 2015 at Bournemouth BIC and 2018 at The London Palladium, Morrissey had become a more mature showman but going to these gigs was still a big event.

Here we are again. This time Hammersmith – this would have been the handiest venue in my school days and early pre-Smiths gig going. Back then it was always seats downstairs and the ability to strip them out these days is most welcome.