Gigs with Ivan

Marilyn Manson live on Halloween

Marilyn Manson at Bournemouth International Centre (31.10.2025) with Dead Posey supporting.

A bit of a surprise, Marilyn Manson turning up on the doorstep for Halloween.

As soon as the date was announced the protesting posts started. The Brighton gig had its licence withdrawn in light of unresolved and unproven allegations against Marilyn Manson. I wondered where the stirring would get to in Bournemouth but everything carried on after some initial noise. I went anyway and wondered about my principles.

I have seen him once before at Reading Festival in 2001. It was at the height of Manson hysteria. As a live experience it was disturbing, exciting and almost terrifying. Fake blood, whips, crucifixes lifted from the stage, screams, sounds and Manson in various raging characters.

I recall during Disposable Teens, with that chanting chorus, that feeling of being totally absorbed by a sea of bodies overwhelmed by the experience, verging on cult worship. I often refer to it as the most scary performance I’ve ever seen. So I’m back, this time in a rear balcony seats at the Bournemouth BIC. Turns out those seats are just fine for the right act.. a powerful one.

I was here just a week or so ago for Adam Ant and the audience could not have been more different. It helped massively that it was standing downstairs and that the audience members were 20+ years younger, and it was Halloween, making for some great outfits – who could tell the difference between goth and fancy dress enthusiast?

I was very impressed with goth rockers, LA based, three piece, Dead Posey, supporting tonight. All over the stage and in the crowd, lead singer Danyell Souza is the focus – at times crawling across the stage.

I can’t pretend to know Manson material but I have the headlines etched on my brain – Disposable Teens; Dope Show; This is the New Shit; Beautiful People. He does them all.

Marilyn Manson – Halloween in Bournemouth

The entrance he makes is dramatic and crowd is at high hysteria level. Controversial… yes, but this is a big showman. This is the One Assination Under God tour and the title track of that album opens the performance, not that there were that many from that LP – I checked, four.

“The more people hate me, the stronger we get!” balls Manson gratefully and angrily, with the first song over.

His antics on stage are a little calmer and less prop based than 25 years back but he is still hugely visual. Voice still powerful and with range. A real showman putting on a real big rock show.

The cover of the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams is a Manson fan favourite but it was amazing just how passionately it was received. The poppiest number in the set and crowd are going bonkers. Security keep returning to the balcony edge to discourage falling off. They have a job on but keep control.

The performance is very impressive, whether or not you are deterred by the personality. Bringing this big goth rock show to Bournemouth on Halloween is a winner. I see nothing but enthusiasm, and hysteria in some cases, in front of me. I am happy to view from up here for this one as a curious observer.

One of the two encores he returns with is If I was Your Vampire, with ‘snow’ falling down on Manson and his big fedora type hat, in a tube of light. This has been high impact, unforgettable and perhaps guilty, pleasure.

The setlist in in full: setlistfm.

Psychedelic Furs at The De La Warr Pavilion

The Psychedelic Furs live at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (30.10.2025) with Anja Huwe supporting.

It’s a tortuous drive along the coast from Portsmouth, where I was for Wednesday night’s gig, to Bexhill-on-Sea, in East Sussex. An endless trail of roundabouts, traffic lights and two lanes into one, all with queues. We made it to the De La Warr Pavilion though, and I’m glad I made the trip.

Before the venue opened at 7pm, we have a pint in The Compass, a lovely bistro style bar on the same road, nearly opposite. Parking next to the venue was easy and inexpensive at 6pm but look like it filled up quickly from then on.

Approaching this seafront, 1935, iconic, modernist building, it looks like an old Pan Am terminal. It’s due a refurbishment but inside the architectural lines are beautiful. There’s a relaxed bar upstairs, a record seller in the lobby, an outdoor balcony that’s a bit breezy tonight, with another bar downstairs. Many of the punters in the upstairs bar are artistically dressed, as if for a film festival – trendy place huh. The Furs do have that art school feel.

Despite the sprawling building, the venue itself is relatively small with a 1,500 capacity. It reminds me of my old school hall (that was built three years later I find), even the balcony where I am seated, at the rear (third row centre – eventually). It could be a scene from the Ramones’ Rock’n’Roll High School film. The difference is the lower, standing balconies to each side. Novel.

My photo makes it look further than it is to the stage but cameras not welcome up here so I stick with my phone and only snap a few to show I was here.

The support band was a particularly interesting one. I never did see 80s German goth rock band X-Mal Deutdchland but had a compilation LP with a few tracks on and they were a John Peel radio show regular. Tonight we have their singer, Anja Huwe, to entertain us.

A genuine treat to hear Anja Huwe and best of all the rendition of Incubus Succubus, the track I remember most from X-Mal Deutschland. (Link to Peel recording.)

My Psychedelic Furs history involves buying all the LPs, including the first four on cassette. (More here on my Furs in Pompey blog.) Then at the end of that tour was The Roundhouse gig where I ended up in the end of tour party with the band, where I found out I was born in the same hospital as bassist Tim Butler.

Hence my Psychedelic Furs bond is a firm one. There are only a few bands that can play absolutely anything and I know it. The set list tonight is a wander through tracks from the first to the most recent, eighth album. No room for anything from The Book of Days mind.

Small show feel – The Furs live in Bexhill

The confined nature of the stage was now enhanced by the lighting, making it all look even more like a school hall concert. No roving spotlights either, so that when any band members, notably bassist Tim Butler, went walkabout off to the sides they disappeared into the darkness, bar the glow from nearby phones.

No saxophone on this tour, following the death of Mars Williams, two years back. Perhaps a mark of respect and it is such a missing addition given how the sax flavours many Furs songs.

Richard Butler acts out the songs with his hand gestures and expressions – as I was seated I didn’t feel I should join in. He’s very mobile for 69 and his little jumps in anticipation of a song show he’s up for this. The voice is still the sound of a thousand smoked cigarettes.

Richard Butler on stage at the De La Warr Pavilion

President Gas, a favourite, is delivered early – no controversial mock salutes tonight. Other poppy tunes include Love My Way and Pretty in Pink and, while I enjoy these, it’s the rougher rasping numbers that are better as a live experience. There’s the chaos of Mr Jones from Talk Talk Talk and the slower strains of the brilliant The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll, from the latest 2020 album. Wrong Train is another belter from that album and that gets an airing.

The lighting at times uses the pink and green associated with the Forever Now LP and that deep purple colour of the 2020 Made if Rain LP. Quite minimalist though and I wonder if there is more unused equipment in the truck for the London Palladium tomorrow.

The Furs – Tim Butler on bass, on the right

The poppy Pretty in Pink and similarly poppy but more urgent Heartbreak Beat round off the main set. The crowd has been quite calm but appreciative… and now they’re noisy. I imagine this is one of the more sedate venues on the tour.

The Furs return with the weaving, stop/tart of It Goes On from the second LP, Talk Talk Talk. (I failed to resist a t-shirt of that LP, downstairs at the merch desk.) Then the final beautiful offering…India. Starting with that slow build-up, Richard Butler using some percussion to mimic the unmistakable interference sound, then the rumble before the song gets in full flow with the frantic drumming and thrashing guitar. Great way to finish.

They’ll soon be back to the US where they live and I wonder when, and if, we will see them tour the UK again. Enjoy it while you can, eh?

Inhaler live – Pompey

Inhaler at Portsmouth Guildhall (5.10.2025)

After the trek back from Bristol, via home to pick up wife, Sally, we get to Portsmouth Premier Inn to see a police cordoned and be called to be told of its evacuation due to a fire. A rebooking in Havant and some time to kill, spent in the obvious Isambard Kingdom Brunel Wetherspoons opposite (pleasant one that always serves the purpose) and the cavernous Dockyard pub (good range of craft ales) just along down Guildhall Walk.

Although Inhaler formed in 2012, in Dublin, the first LP wasn’t released until 2021. Like many, my eyebrows had been raised around Covid times, with the early singles, such as Honest Face (which I bought on 10″ vinyl), having realised that it was Bono’s son, Elijah Hewson, fronting the band – I can’t deny it.

I saw them three times in 2022: Glastonbury and Victorious festivals, and at Southampton Engine Rooms (My blog link to that one). Three good LPs purchased, all reaching 1 or 2 in the UK chart and all no.1 in Ireland, the latest being Wide Open. There’s even a new single, not on the LP, released today (29 Oct), Hole in the Ground, which they play mid-set.

Inhaler at Portsmouth Guildhall – they are there, honest.

No cameras allowed at this venue and that seems a permanent thing so it’s phone only, and there are loads of them waving about downstairs. The lighting is unusual. Maybe it was upstairs only, from where the stage mostly appeared to be in darkness and sporadically bright lights beamed up into balcony faces, from what looked like giant speakers positioned around the stage. Perhaps it was the desired effect. (The phone snaps are just when the stage suddenly lit up a bit.)

The gig appears to be something of a warm-up for a special Royal Albert Hall one this week and it is a nice surprise to have them visit Pompey. It’s busy. Huge queue when the doors opened with mostly young women waiting to rush for a place on the barrier down the front. We waited in ‘Spoons. No rush. So little rush that after going straight in at 7.30 ish we grabbed a table in the big downstairs bar and met some friends. I wasn’t motivated to see the support bands this evening, which isn’t my style but no research and I was unaware of Scustin or The Guest List (there’s a name that’ll be a nuisance – comedy sketch gold).

Inhaler are an easy listening. Indie pop but with plenty of depth in the guitars and bass. Elijah Hewson’s voice has that clear, light nasal, soft Dublin sound that unmistakably marks him as the son of his father. Much less frontman and more part of the band and playing guitar throughout. It is an overall sound I warm to with rarely a song I don’t like, but then less that I can pinpoint as highlights. This is whole album music. If I had to pick favourites, they would be the ones that obviously demand pride of place in the setlist still, with It Won’t Always Be Like This at the end of the main set and My Honest Face as the last of three songs in the encore.

Despite my lofty position in the balcony, and the peculiar lighting (I suspect the Albert Hall was the priority), it was uplifting to see youths going bonkers down the front, and it’s heavily female… more stories for girls than Stories For Boys perhaps.

The band makes a great sound – a few grumbles from friends downstairs mind – but it was loud so maybe any distortion didn’t travel upstairs.

The Royal Albert Hall is going it a bit but over the three albums since 2021 they have been impressive and not over toured and I hope they enjoyed that special night. I don’t suppose Bono was there… wouldn’t want to cramp his son’s style.

The Stranglers at 51 – live in Bristol

The Stranglers at Bristol Beacon (28.10.2025) with Buzzcocks supporting.

The Meninblack march on. Jet Black and Dave Greenfield have left us – RIP. Hugh Cornwell abandoned us. No more major tours they said. The 50th Anniversary came and went. The crowds still come. The performances get more polished.

The technical ability of Toby Hounsham on keyboards and Jim Macaulay on drums continues to impress. Baz Warne, guitar, vocals, gig raconteur and now author has been ‘inblack’ for 25 years. JJ (Jean-Jacques Burnel) is now 73, going on 45, remains our leader and a role model for our failing bodies.

No more heroes, eh?

…and no I haven’t forgotten Hugh Cornwell or left him behind.

Tonight, aside from the black comfort blanket of another Stranglers gig, and catching up with friendsinblack there’s an added interest in those less common inclusions in the setlist.

I’m 62 and tonight is my 34th Stranglers gig over a 45 year period. That’s a quite conservative tally compared to so many men and women inblack, but this band are the cornerstone of my gig going and record buying and listening. Where would we be without them. My wardrobe contents might be a bit lighter for a start.

The band open tonight’s set with Goodbye Toulouse from their debut album – Rattus Norvegicus was rereleased on green vinyl on National Album Day recently. No Waltzinblack tape as the walk on music. This old tradition is maybe over and instead it’s Je Ne Regrette Rien (JJ’s French influence).

The sound is excellent throughout. A combination of the thoroughly refurbished venue and the polished performances we get from the band, consistently these days. I am on the front row of a side balcony. An excellent view from here although getting in and out is a bit of squeeze – you don’t want to be popping in and out from a seat here, unless you’re at the end of the row.

I took a video of one song, as is my way, either gambling on one or recording on cue from an introduction or opening notes – Thrown Away, the chart single from the Gospel According to the Meninblack LP: one with JJ on vocals. This seems to be a track I’ve always liked more than most fans…. here on my YouTube channel (Thrown Away). The lone track played tonight from that 1981 concept album – I saw them twice on that tour so perhaps a reason to warm to it, unusual though it is.

A treat of a Stranglers gig these days is hearing some less aired tracks. Tonight there are two songs from the other 1981 LP, La Folie, which you don’t hear often: Tramp and Pin Up. The backdrop for Pin Up sees a series of small images flashed up in various windows, randomly – there must have been some cheeky ones in there.

Last time I saw The Stranglers here (blog link), it was a rearranged gig and it was seated downstairs, front row (so up on my feet). Tonight is standing down there, with some usual unreserved seating at the back, but the crowd are quite static. Something Better Change starts a bit of movement in pockets but I guess everyone’s legs are getting old. I noticed how many bald heads there were and commented, wondering what proportion of men over 60 were bald? It wasn’t long into the set that Baz Warne commented on the number of bald heads. Whatever the reason, the audience did seem a bit subdued . It’s Tuesday night but hey ho, it’s no Sunday/ Monday. I’m sure they haven’t all got work tomorrow.

One album that passed me by and I picked up later on CD was Giants. This 2012 release is the middle one of three with Baz Warne on lead vocals. They play a couple from this tonight: 15 Steps and Mercury Rising. I must dig this one out more often.

Yes, it’s still those hits that the crowd laps up most. The softer Golden Brown or Always the Sun, or the harder Peaches or Hanging Around (maybe my all time favourite Stranglers’ track).

There is still room for a few from the most recent LP, Dark Matters, and White Stallion, which appears to have established itself as a new anthem.

In the encores the old pub rock sound still has a place with Mean to Me, a track featured on the free white EP that came with the essential Black and White album, which is clearly being rested this tour. It’s hard to knock No More Heroes off its closing number perch these days. The first of their singles I bought when it hit the charts. I still remember buying it, closely followed by the album, from the Squeeze Inn record shop on the Staines Road West, Ashford Common. We’ve all come a long way since then. No more heroes, eh?

Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow live in London

Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow at London’s 229 venue (25.10.2025) with The Baby Seals supporting.

My ROCKtober continues to gather pace. Do I blog it all or spend a bit more time on some. No, I’ll hammer on through and perhaps I’ll have to be briefer.

Not many pics tonight as I’m without my trusty pocket zoom. This is a Saturday night out in London to live in the music, well and have a few beers – a top night out with old friends and “Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow“. As Annabella reminds us – she’s the one, she’s the voice but there’s another band about using the name. How can there be a Bow Wow Wow without Annabella? That voice and style is so distinct.

Only my second visit to 229, near to Great Portland Street tube (and a short walk from Regent’s Park tube) and opposite an extremely hospitable and convenient beer drinkers’ pub (The Albany). This all very handy.

I wasn’t expecting The Baby Seals tonight but this garage three piece from Cambridgeshire bought some punchy punky sounds to a filling venue.

Not a bad turn out already and as I eye the people coming in down the stairs by the bar, I can sense the trickle of history and old John Peel disciples coming in. The curious and the individual who probably saw Bow Wow Wow back in the day…I didn’t by the way, but went to a few gigs on the (English) Beat tour that they toured the UK with last time.

The Bow Wow Wow uniqueness comes from the drumbeats and the singing, often chanty singing, and that hallmark occasional shrillness that Annabella brought to the tunes in her early teens. The other uniqueness comes from that Your Cassette Pet, originally cassette tape only EP. (I still haven’t found a copy when casually browsing the second hand shops.) So, it’s a cracking start with Louis Quatorze and Sexy Eiffel Towers among the first songs, from that EP.

I moved down the left wall to get closer. (There are a few tables and chairs to sit, if you get in early – my legs survived with a ‘wall lean’.)

For me the essential C30 C60 C90 Go is soon after and See Jungle, a single I have since its release. The former is so Antmusic in its sound, unsurprisingly maybe as Malcolm McLaren took some Ants to play with Bow Wow Wow. C30.. is such an important marker for the early 80s music scene. And here we are 45 years later listening live. Lucky us eh. We are all still here.. cheers, I’ll have another pint. I’m enjoying this.

Annabella’s got a lot of energy and makes it all look natural and effortless. It all does the memories justice – very different to my Adam Ant experience a few days earlier.

I can’t help but focus on the most familiar tunes: they’re ingrained from the 80s and late nights with the John Peel show. So, it’s Go Wild In The Country – maybe a more conventional pop song and the cover of I Want Candy that round off the set. I guess from the cheers that I’m not the only one who remembers those best. (Go Wild... captured here on my YouTube channel.)

They return for an encore of Aphrodisiac, the opening track on the 1983 LP When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going. It all seems to have rushed by. Another Saturday night out in London is over… well nearly as we pop backstage with a beer to have a chat in rooms you don’t normally get to go – I was here with Annabella’s brother as well as my gig buddy Dave. Cheers. Great evening.

The classic moment has to be hearing C30 C60 C90 Go live.

Adam Ant live in Bournemouth

Adam Ant at Bournemouth International Centre (23.10.2025) with Toyah supporting.

I’ve been to 40 gigs this year and this was the most disappointing to date. I felt old. The audience looked old and tired and Adam Ant’s voice was in a sorry state. I was pleased to be there but I felt I was watching the end and that was pretty sad.

I’d only seen Adam Ant once before and that was recent, four years ago at Let’s Rock the 80s, in Exeter. I enjoyed that, have been picking up a lot of Ant used vinyl and hence booked for what was supposed to be a show last year at the slightly smaller Pavilion Theatre. The tour was cancelled due to Adam’s health. The BIC was bigger, colder and the no standing area or tolerance of standing had a dampening effect.

I don’t know if Adam now has a temporary illness or this was first night of the tour wobbles or if his voice has just gone, but this became a hard watch. It started reasonably well and the band including the double drummers were sharp – great guitar and that classic Ant stick work to give the Antmusic sound.

I particularly enjoyed hearing early album tracks like Vive Le Rock, Xerox and Car Trouble. The setlist was an imaginative mix of new and old, solo and Ants… but I felt it all started to unravel mid-set. Earlier on there seemed to be other technical sound issues that a man in an unusually smart jacket for stage surroundings was pacing about between stage side and mix desk to check out.

Adam Ant spent a lot of time looking at the floor – I presumed at lyrics – and not much was said beyond the post song thank yous. He moved around the stage, jigged about and looked the part, never more so than with one foot up on a monitor.

Desperate but Not Serious was a highlight and maybe because it suited the current Adam voice. Five or six songs of the second half really exposed the vocal demise and that wasn’t helped by them being lesser known tracks. I could see various walk outs from those who decided this wasn’t for them. One extremely rude man left gesticulating and ranting at the stage as he walked along the front row – no need for that. Most were there to appreciate what they could and I assume like me they stayed as a show of support for what I am really sorry to say was a sad sight… well sad sound.

Last song of the main set, Goody Two Shoes, lifted moods as that irrepressible chorus hooked in: “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do ya do?”…as Adam skipped in his boots.

The audience finally got to its feet and no stewards came rushing to object. Sufficient clapping and appreciation – for a lifetime I suspect and not tonight’s performance – was given for more. The single encore of Stand and Deliver had us all remembering the glory days of this swaggering dandy highwayman.

Toyah was supporting. An excellent choice, not just because of their original eras but Toyah was able to comment on those links she had with early Adam and the Ants in the beginning.

With hair punked up, Toyah had selected some early material to complement the Antmusic to come. The excellent Neon Womb and of course, It’s a Mystery. Ieya was buoyant as she recalled rioting in the students’ unions whenever she played it.

Toyah’s sound was a little problematic. Some very loud keyboards dominated a bit too much. Perfection for support bands’ sound is rare but this was probably just the beginning of an unprofessional evening where the only winners were Toyah and the box office takings.

I do hope I read of better experiences later on the tour. Maybe with this one I was not obsessed enough to be deluded…but still it was live entertainment.

Spear of Destiny live at Papillion, Southampton

Spear of Destiny at Papillion, Southampton (22.10.2025) with Billy Liberator supporting.

A rainy Wednesday night and an hour’s drive over to Southampton to a venue I’d heard a bit about but never been to: Papillion. What a place. Smart and inside an old church, opposite Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, and more to the point The Mayflower Village pub. My blog today is perhaps more heavy on the venue as it’s new to me, whereas Kirk feels like one of my most familiar performers. Several previous blogs found here. And its only four months since my last Kirk gig, that being in Theatre Hate form at the Forever Now one day festival.

Fortunately, I wasn’t driving – thank you Richard – a good selection of craft ale and lagers in the pub, before I found Guiness and Neck Oil in Papillion. I needed this tonight.

Inside there is a lot of mirrored glass – glitz nightclub decor but smart. It’s a great size for a smaller gig (450 capacity). The dance floor area provides the natural little bowl to stand in and plenty of room back from that. To left side front and rear right side, some handy raised bench seats – which I started in but felt compelled to get out more in front later , after a few pics and video down the front side (Never Take Me Alive here on my YouTube channel).

Upstairs there is a small balcony running around the dancefloor area. It was shut but with those tables and chairs set out for food and I wonder if that is ever open for gigs – maybe calmer acts.

When I was looking for the support band beforehand, I didn’t find it that easily and seeing the name Billy Liberator I thought this was a joke playing on a Spear of Destiny (SoD) anthem – was it maybe just Kirk with a guitar first? No. Billy Liberator is from Woking and has supported Big Country and The Alarm before. He was a good listen to get things going.

There is a lovely familiar feel to a SoD/ Theatre of Hate audience. Familiar faces, t-shirts, jackets, chat. It’s a warm appreciative and focused audience. We’ve come to see the band not talking through it all or piss about. ‘Reluctantly mature’ is how I’d pitch it.

The tour is the Janus tour, Janus being a double album of the rerecordings of two previous releases, Outlands (1987) and The Price You Pay (1988): two of the more successful LPs chart wise. I bought my copy on the way out afterwards.

The set was Outlands heavy which I appreciated and only a few from The Price You Pay. With Kirk’s best ever charting (no.14 UK) single, Never Take Me Alive, it’s a good listen. As well as that calmer epic this evening there are the livelier anthems of Strangers in Our Town and, sounding nostalgic, Time of Our Lives. We’re still having a good go, aren’t we?

Kirk is 69 now and he’s been a prolific tourer in recent years. Hopefully his health scare and hospitalisation last year is behind him but it’s a nasty wake up. His voice is still beautifully controlled and powerful….hitting those long high notes. There is a lot of concentration etched on his face while playing and later he looks to let himself go, warming to the singing and air punching of Liberator and Rainmaker. This was more like a reunion for old friends, such was the warmth of reception.

I confess to not knowing a lot of material after the first six albums but it’s all a good listen where it punctuated the set and the sound in here is spot on.

Mickey and title track World Service remind you why it was that those came from highest charting SoD album. Tonight wasn’t all about the obvious highlights though. A beautiful atmosphere of the ‘reluctantly mature’ having a good night out, while shining a new light on Outlands, in particular.

See you all again soon 👍 and a return to Papillion shortly for me I hope.

Simon & Oscar live and acoustic in Poole

Simon Fowler and Oscar Harrison at The Lighthouse, Poole (18.10.2025) with Steve Pilgrim supporting.

A quick note on this one. It was in the theatre of Poole Lighthouse as opposed to the larger concert hall. It holds 670 people in a steep single bank of seats and tonight it’s maybe half full.

It’s Ocean Colour Scene’s frontman, Simon Fowler, and drummer, Oscar Harrison, who are playing this acoustic treat. Oscar is mainly on keyboards and backing vocals but he occasionally swaps with the beat box drummer. It really is a very up close and personal feel – I’m in the third row. Simon Fowler plays and sings from a high chair, in the spotlights, centre stage.

No photos and no phones and everyone seemed compliant, and so I have no visuals to share. It made it extremely relaxing. Simon quietly, and with light humour, introduced the songs.

There are a few from the Ocean Colour Scene (OCS) first album ‘that none of you bought’. There are gems like Robin Hood, The Day We Caught The Train and The Circle. The Circle is about the 11C bus route that I and presumably they used to get out of Moseley, Birmingham.

Profit in Peace seems more relevant than ever. A classic protest song…almost an illustration of the genre. It’s quite emotional heard acoustic in days like these.

Better Day, another belter. I say belter: there are a few voices in the audience that shine out when the polite accompanying singing begins, spontaneously. The guy next to me is absolutely belting songs out, note and word perfect and especially notable in Robin Hood.

Fowler recalls his summer holidays of youth around Sandbanks and the Bournemouth beaches, before all the money went there. Maybe that influenced his decision to come to Poole, for which I am hugely grateful.

The Lighthouse does book the occasional gem from my world of music and tonight was one of those.

Andrew Cushin at The 1865

Andrew Cushin live at The 1865, Southampton (14.10.2025) with Mega Sun Machine and Sugar Bang supporting.

It’s good to be seeing a newer up and coming artist, and locally. My calendar can get a bit overloaded with my older and older favourites. This guy is great and that’s why we’re back (with wife Sally’s tonight – one of her favourites) for a fourth time in the last couple of years. I have a few previous outings logged and blogged here for Thekla, Bristol and Dingwalls, Camden.

We got in early about 15 minutes after 7pm doors opening. Managed to nab some stools up by the bar at the back and looking over the mixing desks and lighting control boxes. Curiously quiet this evening and the upper viewing balcony is curtained off.

Both support bands are from the Southampton area and of the two I warmed more to Sugar Bang, on first. Drums and bass boom loud to start with but the sound mellows later with some intricate prominrnt guitar work from main man McKenzie Barrass. They would be at home on a mid 80s John Peel show which is good for me….they must like The Cure.

Mega Sun Machine are less relaxed and more of a danceable onslaught of sound, some ska hints I thought, despite their indie rock tag. Brogan Tomkins says this is the first performance of this band at The 1865.

There’s a bit of local support in to give a good reception from the extremely modest audience tonight. Numbers don’t really pick up much even for Andrew Cushin, which is disappointing given his talent. The capacity is 750 and it can’t be a quarter full.

We move down the front – easily done – as Andrew Cushin gets into his stride. The lighting is quite audience facing so the band from a distance are silhouettes largely – it’s better down the front.

The tour is the Love is for Everyone tour and ten of the songs are from that one – second of his two excellent LPs, the other one being Waiting for the Rain.

Andrew Cushin has had some support and songwriting collaboration with Noel Gallagher and Cushin has some of that more psychedelic Gallagher sound on some tracks. I am amazed he hasn’t had more success. It’s a hard game.

Tonight is just such a privilege…. up close and it feels like a big band playing the local. Andrew Cushin doesn’t let up on the energy he puts in. His voice is the biggest instrument.

Earlier on at the back I was able to grab a video of Catch the Sun (link to my Grey-Haired Gig Goer YouTube channel), peering around Cushin’s sound mix man.

I can’t help thinking tonight is symptomatic of the industry. While people fight over £200 tickets to see old favourites, new talent and local venues struggle to make it work. In my mind I need to turn the tide of what I’m doing. There is still that irresistible urge to see an old big name but a trip to more local, or regional anyway, options like The 1865 is always a good night out and there are plenty of older lesser known faves. (The 1865 venue blog.)

Thank you, Andrew Cushin, for another great performance. Good luck.

Red Rum Club – Monday Night in Bournemouth

Red Rum Club live at The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth (6.10.25) with Keyside supporting.

Quite a treat to get out on a Monday night to see Merseysiders Red Rum Club locally. A short six-date October tour to promote their fifth studio album, Buck. Eight of the eleven tracks on the LP are in the set tonight and there is no better way to be introduced to new material. On my early CD listening I had a few grumbles but after four albums, something different and experimental must be allowed to breathe.

With a capacity of 550, The Old Fire Station, is an odd shape with quite a small standing area surrounded by a limited amount of seating to each side on raised platforms and an area of ramps, leaning rails and more raised bits to the rear, with the bar across the back. It’s the student union events venue essentially but very much a mixed age audience tonight – noted by a passer-by who stopped by the queue outside to check what was going on. My mate Tim’s son was enjoying his first proper indoor gig, aged 12 – keep it up Lewis, you have 46 years to go to catch my gig-going tally but you started earlier than me. I’m not the oldest here which is always something of an achievement especially for a newer, well 21st Century, band.

Queued for 7pm doors opening as I was keen for a bench seat on the raised plinth to the left. Having nabbed one of those and bought a signed tour poster it was time for tonight’s support, Keyside.

With a just a few singles/ EPs this will be another band to watch. Front man, Danny Parker, introduces the songs and engages with the audience, like he’s just met us in the pub. “Anyone like football – any Bournemouth fans in?” Cheers. “What about Semenyo eh?” Absolutely. Danny’s a red but there’s a Blue in the band for balance.

Poppy india rockers with a dominant but intricate and delicate guitars, with a hint of Cast/LAs in my ears. Really clear sound and a light jangly guitar easy listen. A chorus singalong is directed by Danny for new song Rock My Love. Yup a really good support slot, well received by a near full house.

Red Rum Club come on to time at 9pm with one late guitarist having been snoozing on the bus.

A new LP and they open with the title track Buck. Some familiar songs, Eleanor and Nightcalling ensure early interest is held. The new album was inspired by their North American tour, Fran Doran explains, and some have more obvious wild west connotations.

Fran Doran and Tom Williams – Red Rum Club

The trademark trumpeting from Joe ‘the Blow’ Corby remains an important feature of the band’s sound on this latest LP. American Nights and English Mornings rolls along well amongst what I think is a difficult start to the album so that makes it a good the first one for them to play from Buck.

Call Me On Your Comedown is a slower track, introduced after some more familiar tunes – so much to choose from these days. Wild is one of my picks from the new LP – reminiscent of breakthrough Black Keys tunes. Fran illustrates its danceability.

Brando, from the 2020 album The Hollow of Humdrum is perhaps the song of the night, demonstrating their Spaghetti Western film score sound at its best. Fabulous guitar.

Kids Addicted is the really lively early anthem of theirs that has the best crowd bouncing, as the set reaches its height. This is closely followed by one of the best of any mobile phone songs… Vibrate. Ending the main set, another familiar anthem, Angeline, and a singalong Hole in My Home, from Western Approaches, their fourth and I still think their best album.

They disappear and return for another five songs to complete a 90 minute performance that was a real pleasure and felt very intimate in these surroundings.

In this final segment we have the excellent Eighteen (what would you do if you woke up and you were 18 again eh?) and first album cracker, Would You Rather be Lonely. Also, maybe the best track from the latest LP, Animal. Live, this has a massive anthemic sound, with some trumpet backing in there.

They finish with Vanilla. This is curiously their biggest Spotify hit. Not for me this one. All very immediate and uncomplicated. They’ve been playing it live for a while and it features on the new album.

Tonight’s gig has really turned up my appreciation of this venue. The key is to get in early and get a decent spot. The lighting was very centre stage focused, so my photos are a bit limited but it did enhance that small gig feel.