Gigs with Ivan

The Undertones live in Frome

The Undertones at The Cheese and Grain, Frome 18.3.2022 with special guest Hugh Cornwell

Good to be back in Frome. Only my third visit to this friendly Somerset venue, last one being The Sweet last year with more venue details in that blog.

Stopping at The George Hotel again so good for a few pints to kick off after the winding roads up from Dorchester today.

It’s a while since I wore these. I understand from the guy on the merch stand the larger white ones are quite sought after.

The Undertones are very much part of my jukebox of growing up and tonight I’m sporting a few badges, the larger of which I bought at the merch stand at Bracknell Sports Centre in 1979. That was my first Undertones gig, on the You’ve Got My Number tour, with Tenpole Tudor supporting.

I saw them four times back in the Feargal Sharkey days including three Hammersmith Palais gigs during 1980/81 with the Positive Touch tour gig in May 1981 being the most memorable one (I still have the decomposing t-shirt in a bag of nostalgia clothing in the loft). The whole sweaty dance floor at the Palais was absolutely bouncing that night. The support bands at those Palais gigs also stayed with me: The Moondogs, Orange Juice and TV21.

After Feargal Sharkey left it seemed all over. I saw That Petrol Emotion a few times, featuring original ‘tones John and Damian O’Neill, and a Feargal solo performance but it wasn’t until some 30 years later that I found The Undertones live again, this time in The Brook, Southampton in April 2011. I was typically sceptical about seeing them without frontman Feargal but was impressed by Paul McLoone who was up front and bouncing then, as he is tonight.

Later I saw them in October 2016 at The Engine Rooms, Southampton and at a Butlins Alternative Festival in Minehead in 2019… so this is Undertones gig number eight for me. Waited a bit for this one due to Covid Lockdowns, as the tickets show.

Tonight’s special guest really is a special guest. It’s Hugh Cornwell, with a band: a drummer and a bassist and Hugh. A good length set mixing some old Stranglers classics – London Lady, 5 Minutes, Duchess, Skin Deep, Strange Little Girl, Always the Sun, Goodbye Toulouse and more – with tracks from his last album Monster.

Hugh Cornwell at The Cheese and Grain, Frome

A well-received set by the sell-out Cheese and Grain crowd. I still found a bit of room to get down the far side to snap a few close ups. Although new tracks like Leatherman catch the ear it’s hard to overcome the draw of The Stranglers songs. I will return to Hugh in more detail when I catch up with him on his own tour next month…all being well.

The boys from Derry take to the stage. There’s still that same slightly chaotic feel as five guys go about plugging stuff in and check each other are ok. We’re ready. They’re ready…. for a bounce, a jump and fist pump through around thirty songs, mainly old ones, but a handful of newer ones.

Family Entertainment from their first album to start and Jump Boys isn’t far behind. Over the years the biggest hits like Jimmy Jimmy and Teenage Kicks have had so much air play that it’s the lesser-known songs that are so good to hear live again, obviously as well as the aforementioned anthems.

All those songs ‘about chocolate and girls’, well more girls than chocolate…. Girls That Don’t Talk, Tearproof and True Confessions follow. It’s boys having fun music and few better than the more refined anthem from the third album The Positive Touch: When Saturday Comes.

Of course, there is that wondering of what it would be like with Feargal Sharkey but that was all done and dusted decades ago and frontman Paul McLoone bounces through it all like he always owned the old songs, as well as the new, the best of which must be the title track from the 2007 album Dig Yourself Deep. He’s got a bit of that Feargal throat vibration and the shared Derry accent brings some familiarity for Feargal seekers.

When I say throat vibration, I mean like on Jimmy Jimmy where it goes ‘Jimmy Jimmy….ohhhhh’: he doesn’t have to pinch his larynx and wobble it with his fingers like I do.

With the O’Neill brothers on either wing, hunched over their guitars, Michael Bradley on bass is the talkative bonus frontman at the heart of it all. Earlier he was stood quietly at the back of the hall in a raincoat to watch Hugh Cornwell’s set – I said hello as I brushed passed.

I suppose the newer Here Comes the Rain must be worth another listen as that was the one the band chose to sandwich between More Songs About Chocolate and Girls and I Know a Girl in the first encores.

That was never going to be all though. What could be left? Back out for a last blast with the wonderful Get Over You, which I captured on my phone from the curtained walls.

A parting tip for overnight visitors to The Cheese and Grain. If your leaving your car in the main car park overnight, check Frome Market or a car boot sale isn’t on the next day. I returned to the car to find it part of the market in full swing 🙈 I was escorted out, hazard lights on by a very understanding market supervisor. There are some signs somewhere but not near where you pay for parking.

JJ’s 70th Birthday Gig: The Stranglers live in Bristol

The Stranglers at O2 Academy Bristol 21.2.22 with The Ruts supporting

Headed cross country to Bristol on this Monday night for my second gig on The Stranglers ‘last full UK tour’ and today it’s bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel’s birthday – his 70th. Hard to believe.

I couldn’t have imagined either of us being in a Bristol nightclub some 45 years after playing the No More Heroes album on my mum and dad’s box gramaphone…tennis racket in hand, strumming away.

I’ve spent many happy times dancing around on one leg playing an air-bass guitar. This included doing so outside the Pompidou Centre in Paris in tribute to JJ’s solo album – a mixed bag – Euroman Cometh.

Through the decades of Stranglers gigs I did fit in one JJ solo performance: The Union Chapel in North London on 3 June 2000… and evening of songs and stories. It’s even available on YouTube: JJ at Union Chapel. I think that was a bit of a one off.

Back to this evening: although a reasonbly inconvenient trek, Bristol is inviting and gets most tours. In recent years I’ve been to the O2 Academy here several times: my venue blog. The recent Guildford Stranglers gig also included my Meninblack nostalgia.

It’s a sell out tonight and we are queueing in the O2 ‘queue jumping’ lane about 15 minutes after the doors opened (met up with the Plymouth guys this evening). The early rails are taken though when we get in but still a place on one of the raised little platforms by the stairs – all ready for The Ruts.

Another compact set of classics from The Ruts, winding up with Babylon’s Burning. (Link to my phone clip.) I don’t particularly like waving my phone about but it’s quite handy on this raised platform. One of the tallest men in Bristol thought it handy as well and stood just on the front of it 🙄

The chorus of Happy Birthday started at the first pause after The Stranglers came on. The last original Strangler on stage, for his 70th birthday; doing what he’s done for nearly 50 years.

The same set as Guildford bar two songs. Grip is a welcome addition mid-set.

Hanging Around is a paricular favourite off mine and out came the phone. (My YouTube clip.)

The added attraction of this venue is the proximity to the stage that everyone has – side on stage and the venue is not that deep. All in all a more intimate gig and easier for a few snaps.

At the end of the main set,the first encore, JJ and Baz grab stools for a couple of quieter tracks from the excellent new album Dark Matters. Lines, and then And If You Should See Dave. Hugely emotional. JJ’s voice cracks when he speaks about this one. ‘It’s hard… it’s hard when you lose your mate you’ve been playing with for over 45 years’. You can feel the audience sink and then will him to hang on in there….and he continues.

Hats off to the band for cracking on with the Dave Greenfield memorial album – keyboardist Dave died of Covid in 2020 when they were half way through recording the album. And then there is Toby Hounsham who was recruited to try and fill the legendary Greenfield’s boots, or at least get us through the tour. He’s done a storming job.

And, as in Guildford, the final encores are the same. Back to where it all started with Go Buddy Go and then the epic No More Heroes. This is proving to be an amazing tour – many sell out crowds. Dave Greenfield mourned and respected. There won’t be another one like this but the legend of the Meninblack will continue. I’ve got one more Stranglers gig booked this year – Rebellion Festival – but I’m very tempted to find one more date on this tour.

Towards the end JJ strips to the waist (top down 😁) and celebrates his birthday in style. This was another top Stranglers gig. Here’s to the next time.

Pale Waves live in Bournemouth

Pale Waves at O2 Academy Bournemouth on 16.2 2022. Beaux supporting.

Got here in time to see support act Beaux starting up. They have come down at short notice from London to support their label mates. The advertised tour support acts were Hot Milk, a late withdrawal due to a Covid case, and an American band (LA) Gene that seem to have been replaced by Bitters (missed them), perhaps due to the name controversy with UK 90s band Gene that kicked up a row when the tour was announced.

Beaux is a 22 year old bouyant poppy singer songwriter chap with guitar plus bassist and drummer, with some synth backing. Enjoyable and I can see him emerging further. He is brimming over with enthusiasm and excitement at his opportunity.

After, we wander back to lean on the barriers behind the mixing desk (I’m with wife Sally at this one). After a chat with the venue’s sound engineer we are talking a friendly Showsec security woman..I’m interested in the venues she covers and how she finds those problem gig goers…you know, the drunken middle aged fighting women.

“Are you ..er ..the parents?” she asks. I gave it my best ‘smiley face and p*ss off eyes’. Actually, thinking about it, I’m probably about old enough to be a grandad of half the audience and the band so hey ho.

Yup, Pale Waves are a relatively new band by my standards. This is the third time we’ve seen them (a fact I could hardly spit out fast enough to the security woman): supporting The 1975 at some car boot sale cowshed in Exeter (aka Westpoint Arena) in January 2019 and then a top performance in The John Peel Tent at Glastonbury Festival later that year.

A black haired Heather Baron-Gracie at Glastonbury 2019

It was that first sighting in Exeter that got me interested in these Manchester Emo-indie pop rockers. They are label mates of The 1975 and at that Exeter gig they did a short but high impact set…and in doing so still outshone The 1975 in my ears. (A bloody awful venue by the way – never to be revisited, in Winter months at least.)

Pale Waves have two albums: the debut My Mind Makes Noises (2018) and the more recent 2021 album Who Am I? I like them both – quite poppy and not as gothy as the band look on stage – now softened by a blonde for black hair swop for lead singer Heather Baron-Gracie.

‘Television Romance‘ is a good first place to go to listen. They play this as the second song of tonight’s set down here in Boscombe, having opened with Change, the first track on the latest album.

Pale Waves – O2 Bournemouth – Heather Baron- Gracie

It’s not that busy tonight but full enough. The upstairs tiers are both closed and the crowd that goes back to the mixing desk isn’t so dense as to prevent a wander with my pocket zoom. Down at the front and to the far right brings a really close and easily achievable view later.

Venue details can be found in my O2 Academy Bournemouth blog – very much a ‘home venue’ for me.

Heather Baron-Gracie is very much the focus of the band – songwriter, lead singer, guitarist. More of a central focus than when I’ve seen them previously…..as my photo selection underlines in hindsight. It’s a very visual performance. She’s given a lot of space to project from by her band mates.

There’s a break for Heather to sort her black lipstick out before an acoustic selection for which she’s seated. The attentive and polite crowd whoops its approval. It’s dreamy and jangly and I can understand the appearance of a couple of Cure t-shirts I spotted earlier.

Pale Waves are surely a band that were hit unduly hard by the unwelcome Covid interlude to music making and performing. Their awaited second album Who Am I? was released in February 2021, reaching no.3 in the album chart, but the associated tour to promote it had to be postponed until now.

The set list draws from both albums with one new song. Seven songs from the 2021 album – songs notably focusing on relationships.

The first of the encores is She’s My Religion. (My YouTube clip) Heather is down in the pit to retrieve a rainbow flag and she parades her colours for the final song: There’s a Honey, (YouTube single link) a big one from the first album.

Pale Waves haven’t been down this way much before but I’m sure they’ll be back as their following grows.

The Stranglers return home: Guildfordinblack

The Stranglers at G Live, Guildford on 3 February 2022. The Ruts supporting.

Billed as the ‘final full UK tour’ this Covid delayed gig is something I have looked forward to for… well years.

As soon as it was announced I wanted to return to the town where I first saw a gig – Penetration at Guildford Civic Hall in 1979 – and see The Stranglers in the town where they started out. During the Covid delay we lost keyboardist Dave Greenfield to the evil plague – a real sickener when that depressing news emerged as I painted a bench in my back yard one sunny May Lockdown day. This has meant the latest album, Dark Matters, and this tour have become memorials to Dave – a respectful celebration.

My Lifeinblack

If there is one band I have associated with throughout my gig-going life more than any other it’s The Stranglers. Six decadesinblack from the 70s to the 20s….for them and for me. Plenty have followed them more than me but they are a massive part of ‘my’ music.

For me it all started with No More Heroes on the weekly Radio 1 chart show. I remember discussing my potential purchase of the single with school (and lifelong) friend Big Gra (GGu – Sprog from Staines) – I was concerned it was a bit of a short track and I was skint. Big Gra pointed out that they cut them short on the charts and as a respected spikey topped, Doc Marten wearing punk of the class I took his nod of approval and bought the single, picture cover, from Squeeze Inn record shop in Ashford Common… a few units along from Davro’s Discount Store, where young Bobby joked and laughed with customers.

Weeks later I returned to buy the No More Heroes album and that was it. A lifetimeinblack had started. That was 1977.

My first giginblack wasn’t until 8 July 1980 – London Rainbow. This was quite quickly followed by two gigs on the Menininblack album tour in 1981, Hammersmith Odeon and again London Rainbow. My first black shirts were in my wardrobe – the first of many.

Some old tickets, handwritten lists and scrapbook bits help piece togther my decadesinblack. I can be sure that as I arrive in Guildford this is at least my 28th Stranglers gig. It could be more.

The 28inblack includes more recent appearances supporting Simple Minds, Alice Cooper and a Hyde Park Green Day out. The there are festival performances at Guildford Festival, Reading Festival and Ross-on-Wye.

JJ when The Stranglers played Hyde Park supporting Green Day 2017 – my trusty pocket zoom

One that always sticks in the mind was the trip to Wolverhampton in the early 90s, from my then Coventry home, and when standing outside trying to sell a spare ticket, Stuart Pearce (England full back and massive Stranglers fan) rocked up while we (mate Chrisinblack, CMe, was there) were spotting lookalikes to kill time. ‘This bloke looks a bit like Stuart Pearce’ I muttered – “it IS Stuart Pearce!” I got him to sign the spare ticket and kept it. It was top gig – beer fuelled – I remember Walk on By particularly and Dave Greenfield doing his downing a pint while playing his solo thing. That was in the Paul Roberts frontman era.

Tonight’s line up

Some people get a bit sniffy about the post-Hugh Cornwell years but he left in 1990, 32 years ago. Paul Roberts was the guitarless frontman from 1990 to 2006 and Baz Warne took over as main vocalist and guitar from 2006, having been in the band on guitar from 2000. John Ellis played guitar in the Paul Roberts years as well.

On drums in recent years has been Jim Macaulay. The last gig original drummer Jet Black played was in March 2018 and prior to that he would play part of the set as he moved into semi-retirement. I wonder if I’ll see him again – last time was in Salisbury on the 2015 Black and White anniversary tour. He played for part of the set.

The man now in the hot seat and in the shadow of Dave Greenfield, on keyboards, is Toby Hounsham.

So with Jean-Jacques Burnel (bass), the only original Strangler, tonight we have Baz Warne (guitar/ vocals); Toby Hounsham (Keyboards) and Jim Macaulay (drums)… They are today’s Meninblack😎

G Live: Tonight’s Venue

My first visit to G Live. It’s modern and like a mini Bournemouth BIC and a preferable size. A spacious bright bar area and tonight all standing downstairs in the high ceiling auditorium, with a seated balcony with some thin sections of seating extending down each side of the balcony – I guess they are great seats if you don’t want to/ can’t stand. Capacity 1700 with this set up.

It’s at the top end of the main high street in Guildford so some pubs to choose from. Inevitably I had to pay homage to The Star Inn near the bottom of the main street – the pub where the band played early gigs.

Tonight’s support: The Ruts

This is a treat. It’s not often I see a support band that I once drew logos of on a Tippex patch on my taken in drainpipe jeans 😳 thank god there were no mobile phones when I was a lad.

I bought In a Rut when it came out, served in a clear polythene outer. I never saw them live until there were just the current three left. That was at Mr Kyps, Poole in 2015 – an ear splitter. Then a couple of Ruts also appeared in the Dead Men Walking hybrid band with Kirk Brandon and Jake Burns which was a novel evening.

What a great set. Most are in early to see them. We get greatest hits and a new one: SUS; It was Cold; West One; Never Surrender; Jah Wars; Staring at the Rude Boys; In a Rut and, of course, Babylon’s Burning. What a set. A top clutch of tunes.

In A Rut at G Live (My YouTube phone clip)

The Stranglers at G Live

See I got you here eventually – excuse my indulgence. I thought it was pretty full for The Ruts but by the time I made it back in from the everlasting wait at the bar, the Waltzinblack walk-on music was over and the place was heaving with tall mature blokesinblack.

Toiler on the Sea, a Black and White album classic to start before heading backwards with Something Better Change and Sometimes (brilliant): songs to spit words out to. (My YouTube clip of Sometimes)

The new boy Toby is introduced on keyboards to an supportive cheer from ‘the familyinblack’.

JJ with Toby Hounsham on keyboards behind

There’s a luxurious collection they have to choose from – Skin Deep and Nice ‘n’ Sleazy in the early selections, with a couple selected from the new Dark Matters album – which is a strong memorial to Dave Greenfield. Water and cover (Disciples of Spess) This Song Will Get Me Over You. Five songs from the new album in all throughout the show. Two of those are as an acoustic pairing later on: The Lines, an acknowledgement of aging and experience, and the inevitably emotional And If You Should See Dave . (Have a listen.)

It’s a big appreciative crowd without being wild. We are all getting oldinblack I guess. In Nuclear Device the shouts of “Bruce… She-ila” were a little muted – perhaps there’s a lot of ‘Golden Brownies’ in. It does get a huge cheer and the mobile phones are in the air. The lighting seems more elaborate than usual for The Stranglers and there is a space themed projected backdrop for some of the set. That Stranglers logo is never far away.

A track to make it into the set from one of the Baz Warne sung albums – Suite XVI – is Relentless. A classic of the modern Stranglers era.

Walk on By is as magnificent as ever. The fourinblack meandering down their focussed paths each of their instruments take. The set builds to my favourite section: Straighten Out; Duchess then Hanging Around. Tops.

After that a few bottles of Corona 😷 lager are cracked open as a nod to the pandemic, JJ mentions how they couldn’t get a gig round here back in the 70s in the early pub gig days. That beforr a bit of pub rock in the form of Go Buddy Go – one of the first Stranglers songs.

To end, JJ ascends the sparkly lit steps to the drum and keyboard platform, for a mock My Way finale as he decends, bass slung at the ready and they launch into the song that started it all for my ears in 1977: No More Heroes. Still a beauty.

Goodnight. I’ll see you in Bristol.

Echo and the Bunnymen: big coats and Bournemouth live

Echo and the Bunnymen at O2 Academy, Bournemouth on 4 February 2022

The Bunnymen were a key part of my growing up (a bit) in the early 80s in Birmingham, initially as a student. Big second hand coats and messy fringes. Our fashion houses and gentlemen’s tailors were the musty second hand clothes shops of Digbeth, with their excellent line in dead men’s jackets and big coats. Clothes of character and history for a couple of quid. I am delighted to see Ian McCullough sporting a super big coat this evening, although I doubt it’s a dead man’s one and the messy fringe seems relatively cropped and tidy this evening.

Previous Bunnies encounters

My old ticket stash and list of early gigs reveals the first Bunnymen encounters as Hammersmith Odeon May 1981 and two Birmingham Odeon gigs in 1983 and 1985.

Memories are dark and shadowy, as they would be for a Bunnymen gig and no cameras or phones to assist. I do remember a Brixton Academy gig more clearly – grand venue, with the seats out and a sloping floor to help the view. I was living in Twyford near Reading at the time so another period of London accessibility, although expensive dodgy late night cab rides home were an occasional necessity when missing the last train home.

With Shepherd’s Bush Empire (2001), here at Bournemouth O2 supporting James (2013), Oxford O2 (2014) and a V97 Leeds appearance that’s a fair few I can rustle up.

There have also been a couple of more unusual Ian McCulloch solo gigs. In October 1989, at Leicester De Montfort Hall, a ‘crowd’ of less than 100 of ud watched him on his Candleland tour. It was sparse enough to be embarrassing in that sizeable venue. My other solo experience was Winchester Discovery Centre (YouTube clip) in April 2017 which was an up-close and personal, seated, acoustic affair. Towards the end a bloke ran on to the stage area and locked McCulloch in an embrace and wouldn’t let go. They were seperated and the stage invader weirdo ejected, before a few encores.

Tonight in Bournemouth

We are in Chaplin’s nice and early – me, wife Sally, gig buddies Dave and Ann and Steve (SGo) who we all know from Glastonbury Festival. There is some sort of DJ on before the Bunnymen, otherwise known as ‘no support’ in my book, so no rush. Good job as it turned out: I’d forgotten my reading glasses or the usual pre-gig prep of screen shotting the tickets from what turn into inpenetrable apps when in a hurry to get in with intermittent connectivity. Ann to the rescue 👍. One day I will really mess up this e-ticket stuff…I guess with some pleading at the box office and some proof of ID you’d be OK : I’m yet to test that theory.

It’s a bit of a relief that the gig is on at all. After the usual Covid induced postponements, the band had to leave the stage early a few nights ago in Leeds, due to front man McCulloch’s back problems. A planned rest day and he is all set to return this evening.

After getting in and surveying the inviting merch stand we pop upstairs to sit on a comfy sofa for a bit. The second floor ‘Gods’ seats are closed this evening.

(More details on the venue, a more regular haunt, can be found here in my O2 Academy Bournemouth venue blog.)

Back downstairs – midway back and to the left – the band are on and McCulloch appears from the gloom and dry ice in a huge coat. I’m wondering if it’s covering a back support. It’s plenty big enough….come to think of it mine was too big back in the early 80s.

The band is McCulloch on vocals – he doesn’t pick up a guitar tonight – with Will Sergeant as the only original band member on guitar. He’s been forever present – even McCulloch left the Bunnymen for a bit. The rest of the band are touring musicians that have changed over recent years.

The focus is all on McCulloch. We occasionally lose him to clouds of dry ice but he’s up front and central to it all. He’s quite cheerful this evening, bearing his back problem in mind, but it’s hard to hear what he’s saying between songs and he knows it.

The whole set has a welcome leaning towards the old stuff and three of the first five songs are from debut album Crocodiles: Going Up; All That Jazz and Re-es-cue 🎶

The title track of the Flowers album made a surprise early entry – I didn’t know this 2001 album at all until a few months back (Thanks Steve G). It’s a cracker. I did buy their first five albums and then later Evergreen and What Are You Going to do With Your Life. Clearly a longterm attachment…but I’ve clearly dropped the ball a few times along the way.

Ian McCulloch with big coat – balcony view

Having forgotten my trusty pocket zoom (again 🙄) I only have my unremarkable phone camera to illustrate the evening. I go for a wander upstairs. The phone snappers are up here – surprisingly few phones in the way and being waved downstairs – mature audience I guess. Upstairs you can wander freely and peer over the one deep crowd at the rail, clinging on harder like Limpets as I walk passed in case I dive in to their space – I’d do the same.

Will Sergeant and Ian McCulloch in the haze

Heaven Up Here (1981) tracks Over the Wall and Zimbo are mid-set treasures that are followed by the first – Seven Seas – from what many would say was the Bunnies best album Ocean Rain. The set is something of a masterpiece with its selection across the albums – no more than three tracks from any one album. I wouldn’t have bet on Bedbugs and Ballyhoo coming out. There’s a decent new song: Brussels is Haunted and the other surprise to me is is just how sing-a-long-a-popular Nothing Lasts Forever is. A later album classic. I thought it was just me.

Great sound. An absorbed audience. This helps the enjoyment hugely. The main set ends with The Cutter , a student anthem for me. There are two encores, the first being Lips Like Sugar (my phone clip on YouTube) which I captured on another upstairs wander.

Another half hour of classics could easily be added but hey, less is more….. nothing lasts forever eh. It’s time to end with what McCulloch has often referred to as the greatest song ever written (he’s a modest lad)…..The Killing Moon. (Official video on YouTube)

The Charlatans: live in Bournemouth 2021 (with memories of Later with Jools Holland 1999)

The Charlatans + Martin Carr on 30.11.21 at O2 Academy Bournemouth

A gig from late November 2021 that I didn’t include in my blog episodes. It was a good gig with some decent photo opportunities to accompany it but it was a busy period and I just parked it for a bit. I’ve only just realised that the end dates on The Charlatans tour were lost due to Covid in the road crew.

It was down at the O2 Academy Bournemouth again. Pretty full but not sold out. Top tier ‘Gods’ seats not open.

I sat down upstairs in a corner bar during support act Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys. Nothing stirred me from the big leather settee. I was saving my legs at the time 🙄

This gig came within a busy period for me – relentless – but I’ve always liked The Charlatans, having seven of their albums – couldn’t miss it given its proximity…and it was a 30th anniverary Head Full of Ideas ‘Best of’ tour….renamed 31st, unavoidably.

Later with Jools Holland

I had the first album Some Friendly (1990) but it wasn’t until 1999 that I saw them live, and that was a weird one: BBC Later with Jools Holland.

If you get to go to a recording of Later with Jools Holland, you don’t know who’s on. It was the case back then anyway and also your free tickets don’t even guarantee you entry – I lived near Reading at the time so the gamble was not so great as it might be with it being at the Shepherd’s Bush BBC studios (it’s filmed in Maidstone these days). Queued up and got in and was then led to the waiting area – with a bar. Again no guarantees about getting in. You had numbered tickets and the bar was free – well it was then and I enjoyed it, with enthusiasm.

People were called in by ticket numbers over the next hour or so and hopes were beginning to wane as those of us left in the holding area becames less and less. A few more beers to make the most of the trip eh. They were manoeuvring the crowd around the set and finding spaces for extra audience members to fill the right spots for visual excellence. I’d given up hope. A few more beers then, why not , they were only little bottles – about 10 of us left in the holding area by then – downed those… and then our numbers were called. Where’s the gents? No time. Hmm. I needed a piss. Oh…it’ll be fine.

Oh well we are in. We get placed in the audience and told not to move. Several artists perform their first songs including Jeff Beck and Bernard Butler (Suede)…. and then… “ladies and gentlemen…The Charlatans”. (By this time my bladder was really nagging at me). The Charlatans were a lovely surprise. The album Us and Us Only was just out….. but after their first number my bladder was bursting. Another order of ‘please no movement’…another Jeff Beck song….an infeasibly long guitar solo. I’m sweating, surveying the options and clip board wielding stage managers. It was no good, I had to go….. I dived off through the black curtains and down a long corridor in a restricted area. Eventually I found some bogs without surprising any celebs or being rugby tackled by eager security guards and was able to return red faced through the black curtains without becoming a showstopper. What a relief.

A more relaxed rest of the show – three Charlatans numbers in all. Quite an experience. My first Charlatans live experience. Here’s a YouTube clip of one of the songs from that 1999 show: Forever. (No you can’t see me escaping through the curtains.)

Earlier gigs

My first proper Charlatans gig was Brighton Centre in April 2000, with them touring that late 1999 album Us and Us Only, one of my favourite 90s albums and I’d say the best Charlatans release.

It was 16 years before I caught them again: at Southampton Engine Rooms of all places. I’m not sure how they came to be playing such a relatively small venue and I must have just been lucky on a fasted finger first booking website game. That was a packed and steamy gig.

Next was a Glastonbury slot in 2019 on ‘The Other Stage’. A relaxed performance in the afternoon sunshine and I was right in front and to the left of the stage – with my bigger camera.

And on to 2021, Bournemouth O2 Academy in a post Lockdown period of going out enthusiasm, before the Omicron variant and rising disruption from Covid infection. I don’t think they can have been to Bournemouth much or I would have seen them. It’s only in the last 10 years or so that I have travelled far for gigs very often.

And what did they start with? Forever. Great choice. Tim Burgess had gone for the festive jumper – a bright one.

So many songs to pick from and I’m probably not yer average ‘Charlies’ fan but I love a couple of the more recent albums: Modern Nature (2015) and Different Days (2017). Those and Us and Us Only are my top three. Hence the mid-set back-to-back of Different Days’ title track and Plastic Machinery from that one were most welcome.

Down left, front and under the side balcony was a good spot for the pocket zoom to come out. Downside was I picked up a new grey haired gig goer’s ailment. Strained neck from peering up from a stooped position – one of those things you don’t notice at the time and makes you suffer for a week afterwards 🙄

Tim Burgess was taking mobile phone pics and selfies from the stage, social media king that he is – he really quite into his phone and kept getting it out – must have been adding to his regular Tweets.

Later in the set the gems are North Country Boy and Trouble Understanding, before the final return with the warmly welcomed Sproston Green from the first album Some Friendly.

This later backdrop featured changing nostalgic photos back through the years – a very absorbing distraction. Lots of mops of hair, trainers, hoodies and sportswear.

A wonderful selection of tunes drawn on by the band. A reflective wander through over three decades of material. Burgess leads it all with cheer – he seems a nice man eh.

Red Rum Club live in Bournemouth

Red Rum Club at The Madding Crowd, Bournemouth on 21 January 2022 + Ed Cosens

It was just three months ago that I went to see Liverpool’s Red Rum Club live for the first time, blogged here at Exeter’s Cavern. I was surprised to see they were out on tour again so soon after and pleased to see that The Madding Crowd, Bournemouth had them booked in.

With some National Lottery funding to help revive the live music scene emerge from the hard times of Covid Lockdowns, the tickets were 2 for 1: £16 a pair. Irresistible.

My first visit to The Madding Crowd out of the seated only gigs. Interesting to see it in a busier new light after previous visits to see Matt Cardle – gigs were hard to come by – The Hoosiers and Toploader .

It’s a 300 capacity and there’s about 100 in by the time the bands are on. We are early enough to grab a table and stools to the back but central of this side on to the stage set up. Good spot – the venue is only about 25 metres deep. Stand when you want – sit when you don’t. Beer table. Sorted. I like this place. Decent ale.

First it’s singer songwriter Ed Cosens, from Sheffield, with his guitar. More crowd noise and the chatter of arriving punters than the Lockdown sit down affairs so it was hard to appreciate.

Red Rum Club‘s new album is now out: How to Steal the World (I pre-ordered a signed CD after the Exeter gig). This is their third studio album, with an acoustic Lockdown extra The Hollow Sesssions also available. These two are what I’ve mainly been listening to in recent weeks. Favourite new album tracks? Nightcalling and Love me Like you Want to be Loved so it’s good to hear those.

The trumpet is rampant again tonight….. charging in just when I’m wondering where it is. It gives them their unique sound.

It’s a more expansive stage than when I last saw them last so a good view of the band. Good sound and great set. There isn’t much to add to my last RRC blog – once again a fab night out and I’d go and see them again anytime soon. There’s some idle beer talk of driving down to Plymouth for the next gig on the tour which doesn’t come to fruition.

I forgot my pocket camera this evening so just a few phone snaps as a marker of my attendance. I just let the performance wash over me, beers flowing. A thoroughly enjoyable Friday night out, with some hopes of normality. returning.

The big song near the end was Angeline but my pick is still Kids Addicted. Hope to see them again soon. If the lottery numbers come up I’ll be looking to head to Chicago to see them support the also excellent Lathums on 6 March. Could this break them I wonder?

The K’s live in Southampton

The K’s at The Joiners, Southampton 27 January 2022 + The Radar

A late decision for me to drive over to Southampton and catch the start of The K’s eight date tour, much of which falls in Independent Venue Week. And what a fine example of a classic independent venue to start in.

I’m here in time to catch most of local indie rock band The Radar, one of two support bands tonight – some guitar work sees them up the rock end more than the indie – an almost retro rock sound at times for a new young band.

The Radar – one of two support acts – I missed the first

A Thursday night in the bowels of Winter and it’s busy busy busy: even the bar is pretty full and you can’t see the bands from there. Another Covid milestone is reached today as the ‘Plan B’ restrictions were lifted yesterday – I forgot my mask anyway. I could feel an essence of personal celebration even if it seems a bit premature. ‘Do it while you can’ is my thought: I doubt we are out of these weird and scary woods yet.

This my third visit to Joiners in four months – I’d only been once ever before that – and more observations on this cracking micro-venue can be found in my blogs for Fatherson and Spear of Destiny .

The K’s – yes The K’s not The Ks – The Joiners Southampton

The K’s are an unsigned four piece band from Earlestown, Merseyside – between Manchester and Liverpool. No albums but a smattering of singles can be found on Spotify and YouTube. How am I here? Two years ago they were one of the support bands for The Rifles at a Roundhouse gig and one song in particular leapt out. Have a listen: Sarajevo . A belter.

They played at The Madding Crowd in Bournemouth a few months back but I was elsewhere. I was chatting to a bloke at the bar in the Madding Crowd last week and he mentioned this Joiners gig was on – I was grateful as it had passed me by. I need a gig secretary I think to keep an eye on everything.

As The K’s get on the stage and finish putting their gear together a lively bunch at the front start the ‘up the K’s – up the f’ing K’s’ chanting. When the band are ready there’s some obvious pent up excitement. The accents in the chanting suggests some followers have travelled down from the North West… but could be students down here I guess – halls up the road.

It’s a fast and punchy start. Tight and aggressive power pop that any Jam fan would get the kick from.

Lead singer Jamie Boyle plays guitar as well, switching to acoustic ocassionally. Ryan Breslin (to the left on stage – classic mod striped jacket) plays lead guitar and he’s got some pedigree with K’s website noting his previous session musician roles with bands including The Who and The Killers. On bass is Dexter Baker with Jordan Holden on drums.

The 200 capacity venue is a perfect size for the mobile audience. Hard to believe Wolf Alice played here recently as a special. I’m not sure I would have survived long down the front tonight so perhaps best I was a late entry.

The first song I know is Glass Towns another single on Spotify. Spotify has it’s value, even if the royalty model is a national – international – disgrace. Surely some market intervention is needed before the UK loses its special relationship with live bands and decent music.

The fast and more familar songs get more rigorous activity going – some shoulders mounted – pretty impressive reaction on a Thursday night in January for an unsigned band.

Front man Jamie appreciates the reaction and the fact people have come out. They’ve had a month off and given the recent restrictions they are bounding with energy. He has to slow it down a bit, he says clutching his chest, with Valley One with a bit of acoustic guitar.

The penultimate song is their anthem Sarajevo (snippet from my phone). I love it. The guitars get a finger ripping thrashing. Hard to imagine they could play a gig without this song but I still had that sense of anticipation. It’s what got me here instead of sat in watching The Apprentice 🙄

They finish with ‘a new one’…didn’t catch a title.

Well worth a trip over. Ten quid to get in. A nice pint of Roadie on tap. I wander up the street to go home – two fellow ‘grey haired gig goers’ in front – well one no haired – and I heard them reflecting happily: “three bands tonight and then four tommorrow. Seven bands in two days. Not bad eh”. Not bad at all gents. Goodnight. Keep rocking.

Jah Wobble live in Exeter

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart at Pheonix Arts Centre, Exeter: 15 January 2021.

A grey haired gig goer outside Exeter Pheonix

A new gig going year gets slowly underway with an overnight trip to Exeter to catch bassist and experimental musician Jah Wobble and his band, the Invaders of the Heart. This is my first gig for over a month with a bit of a quiet time to endure a bout of Covid, which took me out for a couple of weeks. Let’s face it, it’s a barren spell for tours anyway and the Covid Omicron variant has seen the need for cautious cancellation and isolation for some bands and roadcrew.

To be honest until a few weeks ago I hadn’t heard any of Jah Wobble’s varied music, beyond his old Public Image Ltd bass lines – he left in the early 80s after two albums – and his reworked dub version of The Metal Box album. But a chance to meet up with a couple of fellow gig goers who had a ticket spare enticed me over.

The Pheonix Arts Centre would be great facility to have on the doorstep… it’s a couple of hours drive for me unfortunately. Plenty going on in here including dance, arts workshops, cinema and regular decent smaller gigs.

The building (1911) used to be part of the University College of the South West, with Law School being the last discipline to leave in 1967.

Capacity of the gig venue is 450 with room for another 60 up in the balcony, where we are perched in the glass fronted front row. This is my third visit, the others being Spear of Destiny last year and Half Man Half Biscuit a few years earlier.

No support act this evening but a set of two halves with a break ‘to give the bar some support’ in these difficult times. A good selection of beers and a staggeringly good range of low alcohol brews… I settled for a my favourite big brewer stout: Mena Dhu, from the St Austell Brewery. It’s good little bar with an outside terrace as well – maybe not in January eh – and you don’t need to have a ticket to go in.

As you’d expect the bass sound is up front but the other band members get their moment, a keyboardist and a great guitarist to the fore at times. Jah Wobble has worked with so many different people over the years.

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart

It’s relaxing stuff that gathers pace through the set and gets some dancing going down the front later. It’s busy enough with a bit of room and not many up in the balcony.. a few hundred all told maybe.

Jah Wobble’s real name is John Wardle. The story is that the name stuck after a drinken Sid Vicious met him for the first time and misheard the name and thought he said Jah Wobble.

Mr Wobble plays seated for some songs but is up and on walkabout to check on the band with a special place for that drum bass connection. One track illustrates that more than any with bass and drums speeding up throughout to a frenzy.

This is a bit of an experimental one on my part and a worthwhile one but where the set was gathered from remains mainly a mystery. One song was from Public Image Ltd’s Metal Box album, and my perhaps obvious highlight was Public Image itself.

Several numbers see Jah Wobble losing himself in his drums in the front right corner of the stage while the main drums are still thumping away – full on African music drum sound.

I see the band played Ronnie Scott’s recently and I can see how this mainly bass and drums led instrumental performance, with improvisation opportunities throughout, would lend itself to the jazz club approach. Bet that was a good ‘un.

An enjoyable start then to my 2022 personal tour. Something different and new to me. After an encore for an engaged audience it was back out to the less relaxed atmosphere of a cold, wet and fairly wild Exeter city centre on a Saturday night.

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart – Pheonix Arts Centre, Exeter

My Top Gigs of 2021

Very much a year of two halves, split by Covid restrictions which lifted for normal gigs in July. Four barren months to start the year, kept sane by livestreams and TV live recordings then a trickle of socially distanced gigs.

These socially distanced events were hugely significant in the context of Lockdown. In the case of Kirk Brandon in Bath it was reorganised several times and I built a week’s holiday around it.

Toploader at the Madding Crowd, Bournemouth was as near a normal gig as one could get sat down and spaced out. Then there was the surreal and emotional experience of a folk club in rural Hampshire seeing The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s Phil Odgers play solo following the recent sudden death of co-frontman Stefan Cush.

Phil Odgers (Men They Couldn’t Hang) – North Boarhunt Social Club

I appreciated the efforts made to get these events up and running againts all odds…the artists, the stage crew, the bar staff, the promoters, the venue managers, security… the lot.

From July onwards I made the most I could of the free for all. 43 gigs or days of festivals; 106 different bands: eight of them twice and two of them (Kirk Brandon/Spear of Destiny and Peter Hook) three times.

I have looked back and I enjoyed every single gig, all to varying extents of course (and a few terrible support bands). I didn’t come away disappointed from any gig…even Jethro Tull. (I enjoyed the voyage of discovery but won’t be seeing him again.) It’s been a great period to see any live band due to the surge of enthusiasm and increased mutual appreciation of audience and artists in the post-Lockdown period.

Yes there were a few times I felt uneasy – the trip to the Greenwich O2 (Gorillaz) with such a big crowd and some tight smaller venues in the earlier post-Lockdown weeks – but didn’t catch anything. 43 maskless gigs and not a sniffle. After all that I went on an abortive trip to Bristol Airport to try and see The Skids in Glasgow and contracted Covid at some point in the subsequent days.

As I say I enjoyed them all but there are always favourites. Of course this can be based on a performance, the atmosphere, the crowd, the place, the company or it just being a bloody good night out and from this I have arrived at my top five gigs of 2021… in order (links to the blogs).

The magnificent Peter Murphy – Bauhaus at Ally Pally

1. Bauhaus (Ally Pally)

2. Skids (O2 Islington)

3. Wolf Alice (Bournemouth O2)

4. Martin Rossiter (Kentish Town O2)

5. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (Poole Lighthouse)

It’s hard to get down to a top five and Scritti Politti (Birmingham); Big Country (Liverpool); Heaven 17 (Bristol) and the newer Red Rum Club (Exeter) were all in the running.

Green, Scritti Politti – Birmingham Town Hall

There are also some magnificent live moments – single songs that make the whole trip worthwhile. These were some of them..and yes I’m a sucker for a surprise cover:

Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Bauhaus)
Blinded by the Sun (Chris Helme, Seahorses)
Altogether Now (The Farm)
What a Waster (Libertines)
Atomic (Sleeper)
Kids in America (Kim Wilde)
Wood Beez (Scritti Politti)
Life of Riley (Lightning Seeds)
Sheena is Punk Rocker (Ramonas)
Kings of the Wild Frontier (Adam Ant)
Love Will Tear Us A Part (Peter Hook + the Light)
Alcoholic (Starsailor)                      Haunted by You (Martin Rossiter, Gene)
Cosmic Dancer (Nick Cave)
Complete Control (Skids)                   Liberator (Spear of Destiny)
Ziggy Stardust (Bauhaus)

I feel a new Spotify playlist coming on.

I’ve just about finished my Covid bout – done my 10 days isolation – and there is a natural breather even if there isn’t an enforced one. Lots to look forward to. Next stop Exeter Pheonix Arts Centre.

Happy New Year 🤞

Rock on 2022 🎶🎵