Gigs with Ivan

The Damned – live in Hammersmith

The Damned (original line-up) at Hammersmith Apollo 29.10.2022 with The Rezillos supporting

This is the second of two London gigs, part of a short tour, featuring the original 1976/77 line-up. This was the line-up featuring the ever-present Dave Vanian, the usually present Captain Sensible, returning drummer Rat Scabies and Brian James on guitar, the songwriter and original guitarist for the first two albums.

My Damned Memories: 42 years

My first Damned gig was in December 1980 at the then Hammersmith Odeon – I am wearing my 1980 tour badge tonight.

The memories have been helped by a cutting I kept from that gig but I remember it being pretty wild. Captain Sensible chucked a pint of lager over where I was. We were in about the fourth row – it was all seated then – a few of those seats were casualties – all a bit frustrating at the time the seats thing. I remember Lemmy (Mötorhead) coming on sweeping the stage with a massive broom and other guest Ruts coming on during the Damned set to play. (I thought Paul Cook and Steve Jones put in an appearance as well, as The Professionals – maybe someone can confirm that.) That was The Black Album tour, still one of my favourite Damned albums.

By my calculations this is my 11th Damned gig. The other early one was in the early 80s at Birmingham Locarno (became the Powerhouse) on 25.11.81 – I still have the ticket and The Anti-Nowhere League and GBH supported. Then in 1984 I remember an outdoor gig, marred by violence, in Brockwell Park as part of the series of save the GLC concerts. I still remember blokes running about with broken big beer bottles during New Model Army’s set.

Bit of a gap then to the noughties when I saw them play at the London Roundhouse and then a variety of other places headlining such as Weymouth Pavilion, The Brook Southampton, Bournemouth O2 and then supporting Green Day at Hyde Park and The Hollywood Vampires in Birmingham. The support slots are never quite up to the mark of when a band is headlining and everyone makes the trip to see them.

Hammersmith

When I was at school Hammersmith was a reasonably handy one as a bit of a gateway to London from the South West suburbs and it was very active for decent gigs with the Odeon and the wonderful and long gone Hammersmith Palais. We used to go in The Swan pub beforehand and that’s where we congregate tonight – a different ‘we’ but I am absorbing the sense of history.

Outside we used to dodge the calls of ‘got a spare 10p mate’ from chancers looking for beer money and tonight I don’t know what inflation has done but it’s now the hapless cries of ‘got any spare change’ from a bemusing mix of drug abusers and god knows who. Takings must be poor in the cashless new world.

Earlier in the day we pop down, to the right of tonight’s venue, to the relaxed riverside pubs – two nice ones with good beer choices near Hammersmith Bridge – and we opt for The Blue Anchor. Keep walking west along the towpath and you’ll find The Dove (a cracker but can be over popular).

Tonight’s Venue

The Apollo (The old Odeon) has stood firm since 1932, unconcerned by the flyover that so rudely appeared across its iconic facade, and with little discernible outside change aside from the maze of security barriers. The building closed for a major renovation in 2013 and remains one of the nation’s great venues. Everyone has played here: I’ve seen The Ramones, The Stranglers, David Byrne, The Cure, Killing Joke to name a few.

Inside the bar and entrance hall is an art deco beauty: it’s almost enough to distract from the beer prices. Glad we stopped in the Swan and didn’t linger too long here though. We have missed two early supports but the shared decision (when etickets are on one phone a consensus has to be reached) was to get in for The Rezillos set – I’m sporting my glow in the dark Flying Saucer Attack t-shirt after all.
It’s a 5000 capacity without the seats downstairs (3500 with them in) and the sloping floor aids the view, although easy to take a tumble as the spilled drinks flow gently down. Last night was sold out but there seems room this evening. We move down the right side and stop as the slope flattens two thirds of the way down.

The Rezillos – supporting

The Rezillos are on. It’s up the loud end and the sound is a bit crash bang – an additional pair of old style speaker stacks sat on either side of the stage, and so one in front of us may be part of the problem.

In the last five years I have seen The Rezillos quite a lot, twice already this year, and once again I am reminded that if you like a band then when they’re not headlining be prepared to be a little disappointed. Still, always good to enjoy Destination Venus and Top of the Pops again.

The Damned (1976/77) Live

This is one hell of a moment. The original Damned take the stage. A huge sense of nostalgia and of just being here. The stage set is no frills and old school. No flash lighting – it looked like my early gig recollections. Just the gear and these old men, in their 60s, about to make a beautiful racket. It is bloody loud….I Feel Alright to start (first album and Stooges cover). Next a few off the Music For Pleasure album… well if you include the extended version with The Beatles’ Help! Fast and messy I would describe it as..that’s how the first two albums are and there is that authenticity in the performance.

Brian James – original songwriter and guitarist 1976/77

The set is all of that classic first album Damned Damned Damned – scrambled with half of Music for Pleasure, not an album I warmed to much beyond the Stretcher Case Baby and Problem Child singles.

I maybe hadn’t mentally prepared enough for seeing the old less sophisticated Damned. The sound, besides being loud as ever, was distorting. Maybe it was where we were stood but it is a very early days crash of sound…exciting though it is.

The Captain is far more restrained than usual… well that is until the end when he smashes up his bass – yes he’s back on bass tonight. Far more uplifting than it should be – smash it up, smash it up (who can forget that Old Grey Whistle Test performance).

Dave Vanian looks at fit as ever, darting all over the place; into the darkness of the stage edges. Brian James looks to be physically struggling with it all – he was escorted on stage and doesn’t venture far from his amp – but plays on unconcerned. The Rat on drums is wild and it’s hard to take your eyes off the white light illumination of the drums.

Neat Neat Neat is one of the best. Some songs you can’t stop punching the air to… Stab Your Back follows. It’s raw and short..abrupt….that’s how it was.

The end of the main set and it’s So Messed Up… music to fall around drunk to. To quote that Sounds cutting from 1980… a ‘choreographed chaos’ of a song. It’s done. I feel I’m standing wide-eyed wondering what I’ve witnessed.

The crowd are adoring. Adoring the moment and the history. The band return… and into New Rose. This must be one of the best live songs you can hear – it sounds so live even on the record. I may be over stating it but I think I’d pay the ticket price alone to see them play this…here. It’s a moment. A stage invader leaps over the barrier, is downed by security and saved by Dave Vanian to enjoy the moment… like the rest of us. (New Rose captured on YouTube)

After that, what can there be: a few covers Pills (Bo Diddley) and a poignant This Could Be the Last Time (Stones) in which The Captain smashes things up (caught by someone on YouTube here).

This was a gig for nostalgics. I guess that was the intention. Objective achieved. Thank you. Brian James we salute you. I will be back for the new Damned sometime soon…. will Rat Scabies want to come out to play again? Go on.

The Blow Monkeys – live in Islington

The Blow Monkeys live at The Assembly Hall, Islington, London 28.10.2022

A good spot for a night out: Islington, between Angel tube to the south and Highbury and Islington tube to the north. A top range of pubs. I’m up here with gig buddy Dave (DPi) having last been to the Assembly Hall for a My Vitriol gig in 2019 and more details on the venue and some of the pubs around are in my My Vitriol blog.

One additional pub visit of note, on the way down from Highbury and Islington tube station, was to The Hope and Anchor. The legendary live album recorded here, including The Stranglers, is in a frame along with some other memorabilia.

Live at the Hope and Anchor album on the wall

We rock up to the Assembly Hall not long before it’s time for the main band, missing the support. Upstairs, the seated balcony, is all closed off tonight and we find some space down front left.

Back in the day I just heard those 80s Blow Monkeys’ singles but didn’t listen to the albums. It was only when seeing them in 2017 at The 100 Club that I realised how much they had to offer. That was just after The Wild River was released – a great album which I play regularly. I have caught them since when they supported OMD in Bournemouth. I wouldn’t have made a special trip for this but we are in town for The Damned tomorrow.

Dr Robert – The Blow Monkeys – Islington Assembly Hall

The band has all its original members, having split in 1990 and reformed in 2007. It is all very centred on Dr Robert as the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter – he has had a solo career – but some great musicians in the band, the most eye and ear catching being the saxophonist and keyboardist Neville Henry. The sax is such a defining part of any song it features in. The strong sax and high impact drumbeats, added to with bongo drums gives added depth to the Blow Monkeys’ pop-rock tunes.

Singles Digging Your Scene and It Doesn’t Have to be This Way, are the most recognisable and get big cheers when introduced mid-set.

It’s a really good sound in here – easy to focus on the different instruments but all the while Dr Robert filling the stage with his guitar and vocals.

Last song of the set is the title track of The Wild River. I’m pleased with that – it means the band see it as a special one – it’s not just me. (YouTube vid of that track at the 2017 100 Club gig I was at)

This is relaxed entertainment – good sounds – good auditorium – decent beer – great location – not too packed. I wasn’t expecting so much.

In the encores there is the gem of John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth. Love that. Now it’s out and down to find Slim Jim’s Liquor Saloon. Thank you… The Blow Monkeys.

Deep Purple – live in Birmingham

Deep Purple at Utilita Arena Birmingham 25.10.2022 with Blue Oyster Cult supporting

When I started my record collection around 1977 I never really looked back. I mean I hardly acknowledged any music released before that date. The ‘hairies’ at school would wander the corridors with albums in clear plastic sleeves for me to scoff at. I got exposed to a bit of new heavy metal as it came out and warmed to a bit of Motörhead and Iron Maiden, but I never got involved in older heavy rock. Those legends passed me by. Legends like Deep Purple.

Eventually one grows out of these things and I allowed myself the odd peek – the odd guilty pleasure. It took me a good 25 years though. By 2007 I had worked out that it might be a good idea to go and see Deep Purple before they packed it all in. I tried to get a ticket outside for a sold out gig at the Bournemouth International Centre: Deep Purple, Styx and Thin Lizzy (minus Phil Lynott). Nothing doing and I had to go home thinking that was that.

Move on another 15 years and here I am in the centre of Birmingham chatting to Deep Purple’s keyboard player Don Airey before their Arena show. I was hoping my ignorance of the band’s extensive discography would not be exposed – the only album I am properly familiar with is Machine Head, a wedding gift sent from my mate Al in France (Cheers Al).

Keyboardist Don Airey entertains pre-show (no I don’t remember what was so funny)

I got away with it. Lovely guy. Don and Ian Paice were the longer time band members that did a bit of signing stuff, along with new boy Simon McBride who I was later to realise was an extrovert guitarist of jaw dropping quality.

Simon McBride; Grey-Haired Gig Goer; Ian Paice; Don Airey

The support band tonight are another bucket list rock act: Blue Öyster Cult. Yes they finished with Don’t Fear the Reaper (now there’s a song that’s starting to resonate!) and just before that another of their hits Godzilla. Main ingredients Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom are still with the band, a band that started in 1967. Classic rock. Glad I wore my jeans. Wish I had a leather jacket.

When the legendary Deep Purple take the stage, right in front of me – we are just a few rows back – it is the familiar ground of Machine Head to start. Indeed five of the main setlist are from that album. I got lucky.

Gillan vocals, Airey keyboards – I’m seeing double

It is Ian Gillan on vocals – still belting it out aged 77 – and Roger Glover on bass, adding to the aforementioned Airey, Paice and McBride. Deep Purple have had many reincarnations but Gillan is a frontman with his own legendary status as well as his established part in Deep Purple. Gillan’s voice has held up – the power with control. When a Blind Man Cries (Studio version) was one in the set that hits the mark best for me.

It’s a heavy rock band so everyone has their moment. McBride’s staggering guitar solos, Glover’s bass piece in the encores, Paice’s rumbling drums and Don Airey’s monster keyboard solo – that was up on the big stage screens to see as well as hear. It’s pretty damn loud but I refrain from any sound dampening plugs – it feels inappropriate for these heavy rock legends. Feel the noise.

Two from Machine Head end the main set – that’ll do me. Space Truckin’ and then yes, thank you for obliging, it’s Smoke on the Water. Got to be one of the top songs to hear live at least once. There are some very happy old boys in here (yes it’s a man-crowd); and they have waited quite a while for this while the plague cleared. Some people are going to sleep well tonight. (YouTube: Smoke on the Water live in Birmingham 2022.)

After a short rest, the claps, cheers and roars for an encore are answered. Gillan gives a warm thanks to the respectful thousands – must be 8,000 in – hard to tell as they can adjust the 14,800 capacity Arena size.

Hush first (a cover on their 1968 LP), the Glover bass solo and to end, the very familiar Black Knight. Rock on! Glad I made it. What an opportunity.

Billy Idol – live in Birmingham

Billy Idol at Resorts World Arena , Birmingham on 23.10.2022 with Killing Joke and Toyah supporting

Quite a line up this. Maybe a bit odd slotting Killing Joke between Toyah and Billy Idol but they are all out of my vinyl record box days. Originally the support was to be The Go-Go’s, then Television but Covid rearrangement and other illness put pay to those.

The venue is the arena at the NEC to save any confusion. I guess I’ve grown into the practicalities of such places after my early years in the area (My blog: Oh No They’re Playing the NEC) and for this trio we are off centre in the second row. A perfect view. Gig buddy Dave comes up trumps again – cheers.

Toyah, the punk queen of King’s Heath B14, is clearly delighted to be performing to this big Birmingham crowd. A half-hour set opening with Thunder in the Mountains before Echo Beach, her regular Martha and the Muffins cover.

Of course It’s a Mystery is here and I Wanna Be Free to end, which is Toyah’s anthem really. Her best song is, as it ever was, Neon Womb, from that early Sheep Farming in Barnet EP that I bought after her appearance on BBC TV’s Shoestring detective series. That was 1979. Not long after that I could be seen heading to the London Rainbow wearing my black Harrington jacket with Toyah Tippexed on the back – rock’n’roll eh. I took a bit of a ribbing for that off school mates, even back then.

That’s my fourth Toyah gig in the last three years and I’m always left with a smile on my face. Where’s that bottle of Tippex?

Killing Joke next, a band I have seen many times (my last Killing blog tells the story). A very good greatest hits selection emerges from their extensive catalogue – if hits is the right word, Killing Joke have rarely been mainstream (Love Like Blood aside).

Again a band I have a long-term affinity with, having bought their early double A-side single a few days after seeing them in a crowd estimated at 80,000 in Trafalgar Square after a CND rally. They play both A-sides: Requiem and the brilliant Change.

They are up against it with this Billy Idol arena crowd. Jaz Coleman doesn’t let that put him off. I’m out of my seat punching the air but an occasional glance over my shoulder doesn’t meet with the tribal acclamation you’d get at a KJ headline gig, despite the early offering of Wardance.

The Wait is an epic inclusion, as ever – Jaz’s grasping hand at its most evident – and the urgent early single Pssyche gives as much as you could want from a Killing Joke support slot.

A break before the ole King Rocker appears. Billy Idol is about as rock star as they come. He’s 66 now, 67 in November. It’s a long time since he left Generation X and the UK for New York to make a solo career back in 1981. He has managed to carry people with him though, through the decades and hence these arena tours.

Last time I saw him was in Las Vegas on my wedding night – so he is now entrenched in my history (My Billy Idol wedding blog) even more so than through my record boxes. His last two EPs are good – each with four tracks that could all be singles. There’s the 2021 Roadside EP, after which the tour is titled and The Cage released this year, with Running from the Ghost the winner there.

Billy Idol – Resorts World Arena Birmingham

The visuals for this gig are perfect. No gimmicks, just great sound, lighting, set, outfits and ‘Billy f*cking Idol’ as he roars late on. We are so close that the pics turn out a treat. The new pocket zoom does the job (Panasonic TZ90).

Dancing with Myself to open and not long after we get to Eyes Without a Face – a great single – I still have the gatefold sleeve version.

There is a Generation X song – he hasn’t forgotten his roots: 100 Punks. Love it. He also refers to his West Midlands roots – grandparents from Coventry eh.

Steve Stevens, Billy’s long time collaborator, gets his chance to showcase his guitar playing with some intricate solos and his bit: Blue Highway and into the Top Gun theme that he wrote.

Rebel Yell ends the main set. Toyah covers this one regularly and Billy must have won the rights to play it tonight. The crowd is lively and appreciative and their reward of White Wedding comes at the end of the encore. I suppose he has to play it every gig – no would let him out otherwise.

Billy’s happy. He says he has to go – got to save something for tomorrow night. “Birmingham. Thank you for making my life so f*ing great!”

The pleasure’s all ours Bill. Goodnight.

(More photos from tonight here in my 2022 Live Bands Flickr album. Page 3. Recent pics are at the end.)

Inhaler – live in Southampton

Inhaler at The Engine Rooms, Southampton 17.10.2022 with Stone supporting

A Monday night gig in Southampton – another long awaited rearrangement post-Covid, if indeed we are post-Covid. This was a ticket obtained by pre-ordering the first album – It Won’t Always Be Like This – released in July 2021. It’s been a long wait.

In the meantime I have already seen Inhaler twice in 2022: at Glastonbury in the John Peel tent and at Victorious Festival in Southsea. (Links are to songs from each event on my YouTube channel.) Both very good experiences but it isn’t the same as an indoor gig is it? Not for new bands anyway.

Due to an emergency road closure I did a tour of Southampton before arriving at The Engine Rooms later than even the planned lateness and just in time to see support band Stone, from Liverpool, do one song and say thank you and goodnight.

The place is packed, right back to the bar – the commonly seen divider curtain near the mixing desk is not deployed tonight. (Details of The Engine Rooms can be seen on my Engine Rooms venue blog.) We forget any idea of drinking anything and head for the wall to the right and forward of the mixing desk – a good leaning spot, tucked in front of a large bin and so protected from the everlasting flow of barging passers-by. The new replacement pocket zoom can be held aloft here without being in anyone’s way or being hit by flying beer.

When the band comes on there are proper screams, the likes of which I’ve not heard since a reluctant witnessing of a McFly gig about 15 years ago (they were sound..really) – lots of students in by the looks of it and a more mixed audience than some of the ‘lads outings’ I go to.

It’s exciting stuff – a new and well supported band, over from Dublin, after a successful first album and a second – Cuts’n’Bruises – set for release in February 2023.

Tonight the lighting is pretty damn dark, to the point it is pretty hard to make out anyone most of the time, except front man, singer and guitarist Elijah Hewson. (Photos of all the band here in my Victorious Festival blog.)

Yes, I’m sure the fact that Elijah Hewson is Bono’s son was suitably influencing to help me listen to the early releases but they are a great new band with a fine debut album, with six singles taken from it.

Tonight, nine of the 13 song set are from that first album. But first two new ones – still greeted with movement and cheers – before When It Breaks, which I capture on phone video. It really is bouncing and yes it does remind me of the early bouncing days of U2 before it all went a bit stadium and preachy. Indie rock or alternative rock, whatever, it’s good traditional rock’n’roll without gimmicks just good musicians, one great voice, good songs and guitars. There is a touring keyboard player to add to the four main band members.

Elijah is appreciative of this lively audience without saying a great deal. Certainly well worth the trip over to Southampton on this Monday night. After the initial cancellation of this Vanilo Records organised event and repeated queries regarding rearrangement getting nowhere for ages, it is something of a relief and surprise to get here, before Inhaler are catapulted to stardom and bigger venues…surely.

The set – around an hour all told this one – winds up with the title track of the first album It Won’t Always Be Like This and then Cheer Up Baby: cue euphoric leaping, people on shoulders and concerned security. A break, crowd roars and the return. A slow new one first to calm everyone for the inevitable… the big single.”C’mon let’s do this shall we…..eh” cries Elijah… and with the opening bars of My Honest Face the place goes nuts.

Good luck lads. See you again soon.

Howard Jones – live in Basingstoke

Howard Jones trio at The Anvil, Basingstoke 15.10.2022 with Roxanne de Bastion supporting

A rare trip to Basingstoke….yes Basingstoke! My third trip to The Anvil here and the previous two, as with tonight, were both to see bands emanating from the 80s, but in the last five years: China Crisis and an ’80s Invasion’ tour with Big Country, Midge Ure, Nick Heyward and Curiosity Killed the Cat, well the singer anyway.

Tonight’s trip, induced by some spare tickets going 😁👍in the front row, was an easy drive up the M3 with a stopover, which turned out to be in the same hotel as Howard Jones and the others in his trio – Nick Beggs (once of Kajagoogoo) and Robin Boult.

The Anvil is a theatre with a 1,400 seated capacity. It opened in 1994 and looks smart once inside – a relaxing place with plush carpets and smiling bar staff who look like they are enjoying the evening. Sometimes an all-seated medium sized theatre can be a constraint (I felt like that when I saw Big Country here) but it was ideal for tonight’s show. You get a focused audience listening carefully – no chat – no phones – no cameras. No pics from me then but hey it’s good to have a rest sometimes.

Tonight’s support was solo singer-songwriter-keyboards-guitarist Roxanne de Bastion. The theatre was a perfect environment for her voice and to absorb the emotion in her lyrics… and her semi-acoustic Rickenbacker guitar.

She refers to growing up in Berlin, lives in London now, as she sings Wasteland (official video on YouTube) from her new album and that one sticks with me – modern Berlin sat across decades of horrible history (my wife Sally bought a copy of the album at the interval – You & Me, We Are the Same.) There’s encouragement from the attentive audience, even some participative singing and an 80s reward with a version of Erasure’s A Little Respect. Such a clear voice and sounding so uncluttered with the Rickenbacker or the keyboard.

Sally’s interval CD purchase from Roxanne de Bastion (er..right)

At the break I almost say hi to someone I thought I knew then realise I don’t: it’s designer Jeff Banks. I wish I’d stopped to thank him for the Debenhams expanding waist, smart work trousers I wore when I was my previously more portly self. He did some work on Howard Jones’ outfits – a hastily Googled fact that confirmed it was him.

Howard Jones

I’m of the Live Aid generation and grew up with those massive Howard Jones 80s radio singles but I have only seen him once: that was at Let’s Rock Exeter in 2021. I feel my knowledge and appreciation is a bit superficial for a seat right in front of the man, just in front of the centre stage. It doesn’t matter though: this performance is so absorbing.

Songs are introduced to enhance the context and understanding, and appreciate the Jones journey. The musicians either side of him – Nick Beggs (with an ornate upright bass stringed instrument and something I had to look up – a 10 string ‘Chapman stick’: fascinating) and Robin Boult (guitars including acoustic 12-string) – are an incredible watch. I’m in awe of that 12-string made to look so light and just hover in Robin Boult’s hands.

The set respects the popularity of the first two Howard Jones albums with more than half the songs from those. Only one from the 2022 album Dialogue and a hand-picked selection from across his other albums – with the synth-keyboard at the heart of it all with some great piano improvisation for the others to watch and follow.

Room is made early on to introduce Too Shy, number one single in 1983 for Kajagoogoo and co-written by Beggs. Howard points out that it’s not just anyone that can write a global number one hit record, teasing the audience about not being able to play it for contractual reasons…..before obliging.

The set draws to a close with the string of hit singles. Familiar 80s synthpop classics: Like to Get to Know You Well; Things Can Only Get Better; What is Love and then New Song. The audience are on their feet to salute the climax and the trio return for another single from the first album, Hide and Seek.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it – hard to imagine otherwise as the show is so well put together to perfectly exhibit the talent and experience on the stage.

Nick Beggs – Howard Jones – Robin Boult (Basingstoke Anvil) (pic by Sally)

As I said, no pics from me tonight but my wife Sally did grab a photo post-performance. Oh …and go on then, there was one before the gig.

The Lemonheads live – Southampton

The Lemonheads at The 1865, Southampton 12.10.2022 with Bass Drum of Death supporting

This was an extraordinary evening – possibly the most disappointing gig I have ever been to in over 40 years of gig-going. I wasn’t annoyed; it was just so sad to witness the flawed talent and waste of it all. I didn’t want to leave however awful it got – I had to see it out and make sure there wasn’t one last flurry of brilliance….there wasn’t. No explanations and no excuses. Just a capitulation to the situation as Evan Dando, who IS The Lemonheads, disappeared off stage shortly after a pathetic bit of solo drumming and slurring in front an increasingly bemused audience.

Although a quarter or more of the audience had left by the end, most if the remaining fans had been patient and lovingly supportive, willing improvement and prepared to cut the man some slack – some slack it was mind! We are all aware Dando has had some substance abuse problems over the years but tonight he seemed to be ill, exhausted, frustrated, troubled by technical problems as well as being off his, once beautiful, face.

I was here with my old mate Chris (CMe) – he’s not old but I’ve known him a long time 😉. We went to see The Lemonheads first time back in June 1994 at something called The Que Club, in Birmingham, in what was the Central Methodist Hall on Corporation Street. I still have my ticket stub.

We remembered drinking cups of tea bought from the dated refreshment room at that odd venue – we were both driving that night – we felt like the oldest people there by about 10 years and girls there to swoon at Evan Dando were being picked up later by their waiting parents afterwards. We felt old then and now it’s 28 years later!

A hazier recollection was our trip to The Lemonheads’ 1994 Reading Festival appearance. We drove down for the day from Coventry, something we did for several years to that Festival.

It’s a Shame About Ray and Come on Feel the Lemonheads were the albums I had back then – I’ve been adding some vinyl more recently including a good 2006 eponymous album which I had been unaware of. ‘Ray’ was the biggy though, that everyone liked and hence some excitement about seeing it performed in full tonight – excitement that was soon dampened, severely.

(Evan Dando appears on Later with Jools Holland back in 1994: Being Around.)

The Lemonheads were originally from Boston and a significant part of the 90s grunge boom, but in a very tuneful and mellow poppy part of it. It was always about Evan Dando, his guitar, his voice, his tunes and his hair. The line-up has changed regularly over the years and it is only Dando who has survived – Dando effectively IS The Lemonheads.

Back to tonight and we missed the first band on, just caught the end as I explored the balcony up from the rear bar – I’d never seen that balcony area open to all on previous visits. (Read my venue blog on The 1865 for more details on this location.)

The main support, Bass Drum of Death, originally from Mississippi but started out in New York, were pretty good. Just two guitars and a drummer – no bass. They’ve had four albums (2011-18). ‘Alternative rock’ that rumbled along well.

After a bit of hanging around – 20 minutes after the posted timings – Evan Dando appeared in an orange puffa jacket, hood up, which he took off and threw into the audience once up on the stage. It was instantly apparent all was not well.

His acoustic guitar had some lead connection problems. He burbled his technical frustrations – assistance slow to appear – and gave up after several false starts and picked up his electric one. It wasn’t the equipment though: the voice was already gone. Deep notes only were happening and any attempt to lift it and he croaked and lost it.

The first solo section exposed every flaw – you can’t hide when it’s one man and a guitar and no backing or looping tricks. The Outdoor Type was nearly there and the amusing lyrics audible but we knew we were in trouble early on.

The next section was the It’s A Shame About Ray album in full, solo. So recognisable and nostalgic that the guitar did carry him to an extent but songs ran into each other, sometimes curtailed and slurred and croaky throughout. (Title track live captured on YouTube in case you doubt my judgement.) He asked if anyone knew the words to Alison‘s Starting to Happen well enough to join him onstage. Some brave woman did and gave it a go.

Next the band came on for their bit – six or so songs. A drummer and a bassist. They looked nervous. They knew this ship was going down. I understand there was another guitarist earlier on the tour – this is the last night – but he must have jumped overboard early.

The band helped a bit. At least we got some tunes going and there was some minimal vocal assistance from the bassist. They couldn’t get off fast enough when the time came though.

This left Dando to the face the horror of another solo section. Usually I pop some notes in my phone on songs played etc but all that was notable and memorable was being witness to this car crash of a gig. Into the drum kit for what was to be the last song before he fled the stage. Wide-eyed punters looked around. Some cheesed off accepting smiles. It was hard to clap anything and had been for some time. I didn’t hear one boo though – too much love in the room for the real Evan Dando. A pause and the lights mercifully went on. We all shuffled out like a memorial service was over.

I hope the real Evan Dando is still in there somewhere and returns. I will be back. It’s a shame about everything..Ray, Evan the lot.

The Enemy live in Bournemouth

The Enemy at O2 Academy Bournemouth 7.10.2022 with Little Man Tate supporting

Tom Clarke – The Enemy live in Bournemouth 2022

“Call the police
‘Cause things are getting ugly
Get on your feet
I want you running with me” (Aggro – The Enemy)

That’s the opening – The Enemy are back. The crowd have been bouncing for a while and now they’re going nuts. What a fabulous atmosphere. It’s the We’ll Live and Die in These Towns reunion tour – we are 15 years on but once they are on, it feels like yesterday.

“What a f’cking room, Bournemouth!” exclaims main man Tom Clarke. He said they’d never seen an audience like this on the South coast before. It is absolutely rocking, with a pleasant, aggressive edge.. if you get me. I’ve been upstairs on the first floor standing balcony to see the enjoyable support band Little Man Tate – I didn’t know them, just the name and they were good – well received – indie rock from Sheffield and similar era to The Enemy.

Little Man Tate – support – from the balcony

But down here on the floor it’s the We’ll Live and Die in These Towns album being embarked on, in full, in the track listed order, making for one of the most explosive starts to a gig in a long time.

“I’m so sick, sick, sick and tired
Of working just to be retired
I don’t want to get that far
I don’t want your company car
Promotions ain’t my thing
Name badges are not interesting
It’s much easier for me see
To stay at home with Richard and Judy.
Away, away oh oh oh away from here” (Away From Here – The Enemy)

Brilliant – remembering he wrote that through the eyes of disenchanted youth and not a 59-year-old grey-haired gig goer. I’m still carrying some post-Covid lurgy but this is all lifting the spirits. Tom Clarke is spitting the words out – the anger of the songs is still there. The first five songs of the album, including title track We’ll Live and Die in These Towns (Official video release), are like a greatest hits EP – four of them were released as singles.

It’s the original trio, Andy Hopkins on bass and Liam Watts on drums, with another touring guitarist. They formed in Coventry in 2006, several years after my years in the city but I think the Cov thing still drew me to them when that first great album, featured tonight, came out in 2007 and went straight in at number one in the UK album chart.

I saw them later that year at Southampton Guildhall. I bought their second album Music For the People (2008): a good follow up. Those first two albums were in a different league the third, Streets in the Sky (2012) and I’m not familiar with their fourth and last album, Automatic.

Tonight is the fourth time I’ve seen them. There was another, October 2012, Southampton Guildhall gig and in 2009 I saw them at more of a distance, at Wembley Stadium supporting Oasis.

Tonight’s set is only a little over an hour: it really is over in a flash with no let up until the quieter last track of the featured album and main part of the set, Happy Birthday Jane. Throughout, until that one, the room was wonderfully rowdy, right to the back arms punching the air and people on shoulders.

I’d initially gone down the front left side to take a few photos but I couldn’t move after that – glued to it – aside from a quick trip back to get a view from there and pop to the bar.

For more on the venue see my updated blog on the O2 Academy Bournemouth.

The band return to adoration and four more songs: Be Somebody and No Time for Tears from the second album, Gimme the Sign into Saturdays from the third and to finish the second bit of This Song… which started in the main set.

An absolutely storming gig. One of my top ones this year…and this was number 74 in this hectic year for me. I was just looking to see if I could get to another one on the tour but that would be pushing it….unfortunately. I have been getting a YouTube-full of it though since. (Birmingham gig looked fun.)

[All photos taken by Ivan, the grey-haired gig goer at 02 Academy Bournemouth.]

Gig Venue: The 1865, Southampton

The 1865, Brunswick Square, Southampton SO14 3AR. Last updated May 2025.

The rather secluded entrance to The 1865

The more I come here, the more I like it. Once you’re in it’s quite cosy with its respectfully priced and carpeted raised rear bar. Even the stage has a patterned carpet as well as the rear half of the floor. It has a 750 standing capacity and I have seen some tall tables and chairs dotted around nearer the back when less busy. On occasions, some bench table seats down the left hand side.

The 1865 is just about a mile from the Southampton Central station, down the bottom of town in a well signposted but unlikely looking street when you get to it – like a small trading estate road off Bernard Street.

If driving, more common for me, I find that College Street Car Park is best: a surface car park thus avoiding sleeping beggars and it’s just a few hundred yards walk from the venue. Obviously we have to keep an eye on these things but last visit to that car park – The Lemonheads 12.10.2022 – it was still free after 6pm. There has been some major building work going on adjacent to that car park so you may need to drive around the block to get in. Early birds may get some closer on-street meter parking, but it’s the odd space so keep your eyes peeled.

The bar prices, beer range and feel of the place makes going as soon as the doors open quite an attractive option. If around town beforehand, it’s only a large half mile walk down from the range of pubs and eateries in Above Bar Street. If you have more time I recommend the Dancing Man Brewery, right down near the Isle of Wight Ferry Port area. Great brews and interesting setting in the end of the city walls – about 0.4 miles from The 1865. The Platform Tavern, just east of the Dancing Man, along the main road is also open again since a serious fire – was a really good place for food with some good beers which I need to get to again to checkout.

From the outside, The 1865 looks like some sort of industrial unit – it can’t be here can it? But yes it is. Hopefully a little queue will be there to reassure the unfamiliar.

I like the location of the bar here, up the stairs away at the back of the venue. You can stand up there and survey the place, including the merch stand, have a chat and it not be in the way or disruptive for the stage. Perfect to see a support band from.

Some hand pulled beers on – Palmers Gold was a good one. They change them. A good range of drinks that are very reasonably priced for a venue…and service is swift.

View from the raised bar area at The Undertones gig in October 2022

The mixing desk is just in front and below where the photo above was taken from. The merch stand is usually to the right of the staircase down to the main floor, in the corner.

There is a balcony on the right hand side, up another level from the bar, with some seating up there to the rear of the balcony. I had not seen this open until I went to see The Lemonheads on 12.10.2022, which was really busy. Previously I had only seen it used as an area for special guests/ performers.

Balcony with seating at rear – open for The Lemonheads in October 22

Looking back from in front of the stage after seeing The Skids

There is another smaller bar on the right hand side as you look at the stage and some pillars down that side – handy for a lean or photo-taking place, without annoying people behind you. The only toilets are down here on the right, between merch stand and the second bar.

On my visits I have always found it easy to move close to the stage down either side for a clearer view.

I will keep this blog updated. My blogs from gigs at The 1865 are below. I am pulling away from a blog from every gig as my blogging progresses and as I start to revisit bands and venues I’ve covered before. Updating and expanding my venue blogs for places I visit more regularly is something I want to grow though.

– Spear of Destiny (Sept 2019)

– The Skids (July 2022)

– The Wonder Stuff (July 2023)

– The Dead Kennedys (May 2023)

– Nouvelle Vague (Feb 2024)

Slow Readers Club live in Oxford

Slow Readers Club at O2 Oxford Academy (upstairs) 24.9.2022 with Klangstof supporting

I have written before in these blogs about Manchester’s Slow Readers Club, so more on how this recently rising band have got here, with me watching and listening, is here in my Slow Readers Club live in Southsea blog. This my sixth time seeing them, four times previously in Southsea and once in Glasgow.

The trip to an Oxford venue is a bit more novel though. [This trip is with gig buddies Dave and Ann, wife Sally (big Readers fan) and we catch up with ‘local’ Paul who we met at Glastonbury this Summer.]

After an afternoon punt on the river (!), a wander around and through excited graduating students, and a pint in the secluded Turf Tavern courtyard – a boozer visited by Prime Ministers, non-inhaling Presidents and Oscar Wilde – we head up Cowley Road to find the O2 Academy.

Some careful research (cheers Ann) leads us to The Oxford Blue pub, just off a side road right at the lower end of the Cowley Road. We are greeted by a beautiful black Labrador at the door, while a sleeping Lurcher guards the kitchen. Lovely woody pub with some tasty DNA golden ale and an interesting food selection that we get involved in. I had to try both types of pickled eggs for a starter. Beautifully presented – much better than my last experience from a jar on the counter of the Prince of Wales in Moseley, Brum.

We head on up the bustling Cowley Road for the O2’s early start: doors at 6pm with a 10pm curfew, before the kids’ club shift kicks in. I was surprised to see Frank Turner was playing in the same venue but downstairs. We are ushered upstairs, having mastered the O2 App ticketing finally…and we have enough phone reception to show someone.

I have been here before but only a couple of times: for an emerging Elbow about 20 years ago and in the last 10 to see Echo and The Bunnymen. These were downstairs I’m sure and 20 years ago it was the Oxford Zodiac.

The frontage of the O2 just blends into the high street shops – it would be easy to drive by without noticing it. Inside there is a main room with a 1050 capacity and where we are, upstairs, is a square room, 436 capacity, with a rear left side well-staffed bar. There are some seats to the rear behind a wall but you couldn’t see a band from there – the merch is there in the gloom. We opt for some mixing desk rail leaning, handily placed for the bar, which has an inflatable blue shark over it. Best ale option is the Shipyard Pale – but no, later I found they had a stash of bottled Hobgoblin in the fridges.

So it’s all pretty small scale for an O2 Academy but I like it. I am staggered by the size of the audience; no not that it was so full but it was the ‘land of the giants’. An unrepresentative sample of tall men rise up in front of us. I wondered if the floor sloped backward or maybe the giants were thoughtfully keeping to the rear. A good crowd though. A friendly well-behaved crowd and a crowd who knew Slow Readers Club and had some voices.

Tonight’s support are Dutch indie band Klangstof. A trio lost in their sound which I shall describe as experimental. A short set with nothing to grab me. I had to look them up afterwards as I saw or heard no clues as to who they were when they were on stage.

The place is quickly bouncing when the Slow Readers Club start, with Yet Again, a catchy one from the most recent album 91 Days in Isolation.

The sound is good here and front man Aaron Starkie’s vocals are really clear – great range, with him crouching low on the bassy bits. He offers the room the mic to encourage the crowd to join in – not much encouragement needed. It shows how much they have come on now that the whole audience can pump out the words with him on a lot of the songs.

Plant the Seed is an early favourite which I captured on a phone clip, here on my YouTube channel.

The vocals are so well controlled and a real feel that it leads all the instruments – no chance of getting lost in guitars. It cranks up nicely with the crowd wrapped up in it – here to watch, listen and sing, not just another night out. Enthusiasts. This is still a relatively unknown band with little national radio play. They already have a great discography to pick from. The main set concludes with On the TV and I Saw a Ghost. Two crackers, but there’s more in the tank.

Another four songs when they return with Block Out the Sun with Lunatic (have listen to the official video on YouTube) to end another thoroughly satisfying night out with The Slow Readers Club.

Better photos in my Slow Readers Club live in Southsea – I just had my phone out tonight.