Gigs with Ivan

Victorious Festival 2024 – my wander through it, from The Murder Capital to Biffy Clyro

Victorious Festival, Southsea Common, Portsmouth 23/24/25 August 2024.

Here we are again. Tenth Victorious in a row with a Covid Lockdown induced gap. I must like this urban seaside festival. Over the years the parking has got more challenging and the accommodation prices escalated alarmingly but the variety of bands and the value of the festival entry ticket itself has remained excellent. I’ve already signed up for next year on the £150 3-day early bird tickets.

The food and drink prices, particularly the drink prices, I think are entering self-destruct mode. Pubs nearby serve great food and good value drinks while the festival bars are queueless mostly – a £7 plus can of Madri or Thatchers Haze is just not pulling the crowds in – or £10 for little can of wine. Even reckless me went for a few days of no alcohol during the day and only one festival food feast a day.

Friday

Victorious Festival recently stepped up to a full programme on the Friday and I’m there for the start. I say I, there are various groups of friends to share the experience with as popularity grows (even the Dove is here from Plymouth). We all have our priorities and lists and dive off in various directions to satisfy our musical needs.

So many artists that this is more of photo wander through the weekend – a pictorious Victorious. Frankly my meanderings hardly touched the sides of this great event. I only visited three stages – the main two, The Common and The Castle Stages, and what was the acoustic stage, now renamed Under The Trees. I drifted..ok hobbled.. by the Comedy Tent a few times, hearing the familiar voices of the likes of Frankie Boyle and Al Murray, and passed through the little Casemates Introducing stage a few times, pausing briefly.

I also took to listening to a few bands from the seats in the premium area – you can’t see if sat at a bench with a pint, on a hay bale or in a tent on a comfy sofa, but it is a compromise I enjoy. Having seen Razorlight in Poole only a few weeks beforehand, this is how I settled for absorbing their set and its familiar tunes.

The Murder Capital – Common Stage, Friday

I was out in front of the stage for The Murder Capital though. Saw them a few years ago in The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea and yes I like their growling – new album I am unsure about – less dark and mysterious. I had to leave though half way through for the Castle Stage, a 15 minute trek away.

Yes, The Lottery Winners attracted me over as I’d heard so much about them. Lots of grand introductions to the songs and the set and maybe the actual meat of the sandwich was disappointing. These are short 30 minute sets mostly at this part of the day – maybe not enough time. The songs I knew were good but maybe not all I was expecting.

Next on over here were one of the bands I hadn’t seen but wanted to see most – The Royston Club, a new band from Wrexham with a great first album (Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars) which I bought on CD and played as much as any album this year. They lived up to my hopes with their indie rock jangly guitars. Love ’em.

Next a dilemma. The Idles are on the main, Common Stage and I’ve never seen them and like the feel, the sound and general bundle that they create…. but Maxïmo Park are on over here and I have all their albums, even the last one, and only one real memory (plus a very old Reading Festival performance) of them live from a previous Victorious and a distant view at that. Glad I stayed – all familiar stuff with some top singles and a great sound.

Happy, I toddled off back to the premium pen where I sat with gig buddy Dave with a beer and listened to the Snow Patrol set – solid, and friends enjoyed it out front. My legs needed a rest (my chair entry waiver never arrived). After that it was time for Fat Boy Slim. Clearly very popular. Everyone loved it, so it seemed from social media after but I could not get away fast enough – I almost broke into a jog. I just don’t get it. Sounded like my worst nightmare. I found peace Under The Trees with Chris Helme (ex-Seahorses) and his guitar…yes real music. He’s written some great tunes and introduced a few new ones as well. That was me wrapped up for Friday.

Chris Helme – Under The Trees stage, Friday

Saturday

After a bright blue sky day, with a sharp sea breeze and chilly evening, Saturday was a different and wetter ball game. Got in early to see Tom Walker (not distracted by the surprise added Busted set elsewhere) and aside from getting soaked, enjoyed his rockier solo singer song writer material. Caught him in the John Peel tent a few Glastonburys ago and very impressed. (The big song from Tom’s set is here on my YouTube channel.)

Then it’s Pompey’s own Crystal Tides. Lovely to see them on the main stage and they enjoyed it. Watched them twice at last year’s Festival and their punchy pop rock appealed.

Crystal Tides – Common Stage, Saturday – Billy Gregory sporting a Pompey FC shirt

Next Holly Humberstone. I was stuck outside a packed John Peel tent at Glastonbury for her highly anticipated and very well received set a few years ago as she broke through – she’s still only 24. This is lower key. Enjoyable, and yes I would go to one of her gigs (she supported Taylor Swift recently) but not enough to stop me creeping off to see The Lightning Seeds.

Holly Humberstone – Common Stage, Saturday

Old favourites, yes…and I couldn’t resist. I got there to find the Castle Stage absolutely rammed – as busy as it gets. It’s not just grey and no haired gig goers either and it’s hit after hit, finishing off with Life of Riley and of course, Three Lions on a Shirt. It still works (it didn’t get played much in the recent Euros) and it’s a celebration in the sun with a few guys from school by my side.

Back over to see The Lathums. The best of my Saturday. A festival set is never enough if you really like a band and they are one of my current top choices on the turntable. Gentle, jangly melodies delivered in a beautiful way. The Smiths of their generation.

The Couteeners were next for me – on the same stage. I wasn’t stage side until later and the end of the set was so powerful with Not Nineteen Forever a belter to blow away the clouds.

The Courteeners – Common Stage, Saturday

After that I dragged myself over with a few friends to catch The Pixies. Bloody cold by now and an emergency top from the Lambretta stall came into play.

This was a set like a proper gig, not a festival set. More intense. The audience was focused and it seemed more like Pixies fans near the front, than casual observers. Excellent sound, despite the sea breeze coming over the Castle Stage.

Where Is My Mind from Surfer Rosa is my pick but the set draws heavily from the Doolittle and Bossanova albums. There’s a Jesus and Mary Chain cover, Head On early in the set.

That was my Saturday. We escorted my mate Sheff to his hovercraft to the Isle of Wight and returned to the haven of our hotel. The weather was pretty challenging today without ever getting disastrous enough to bail out.

Sunday

Bright and yes, still breezy, and The Kooks kicked off my day. I felt like I’d heard it all before and wasn’t that enthused but a decent turnout and a bit of ooo lah to start the day.

Common Stage – early start for The Kooks

Now it’s Red Rum Club time. One of the highlights of the weekend but still a short half hour set – it’s about as close to the stage I went all weekend and staggered out at the end having really enjoyed it. That trumpet adds so much to this Mexican sounding band from Merseyside.

I still think of them as relatively new but it’s four studio albums now and I’ve seen them four times previously – always get the crowd dancing and highly recommended.

I wander over to see The Hunna, another band I’ve seen a few times and a big favourite with wife Sally. Another sizeable crowd over here and busy up stage front. Half an hour not quite enough again but hey ho it’s rocking familiar stuff.

I’m wilting. Maybe it’s the all daytime drinking that has got me today. I need a rest, especially my knees. Even a huge fiery chilli wrap doesn’t save me – I end up wearing half of it. I decide to bail out to our nearby hotel for a few hours – I want to focus on a few bands later that I came to see. A beer in the hotel and John Power of Cast is just checking in with his guitar for his set later, Under The Trees.

Refreshed and changed into warmer attire, I stride across to see The Clockworks, from Galway and now based in London. Not sure what the problem is but they can’t get started. There’s a big crowd around the Under The Trees stage – relatively mobbed.

Clockworks – Under The Trees stage, Sunday

They have a debut LP, Exit Strategy out which I have been playing heavily since its 2023 released. Inevitable comparisons with Fontaines DC and there are those similar trance-like repetitive lyrics – maybe a bit of modern twist on Joy Division. Angry. Bills and Pills sticks in the head for the night. I have to see them again soon. This 15-20 minute delayed token is a taster and more is required.

So it’s last act time. There are choices: Wet Leg on the Castle Stage? John Power acoustic if I stay here, or Biffy Clyro back on the main, Common Stage?

It has to be Biffy Clyro. I saw the last 15 mins of their Glastonbury set in 2017 but haven’t seen them since despite playing their stuff a lot, especially the Only Revolutions album, and the singles compilation.

Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro – Common Stage, Sunday

I didn’t regret my choice. This was a big powerful headline set. They haven’t been on tour for a couple of years and these bare chested rockers really put everying into it, despite the increasingly hostile weather. How very Scottish.

Just the 17 acts over three days this year – better focus. Not a competition I know but my faves, in order: Biffy Clyro; The Lathums; Red Rum Club; Maximo Park; The Pixies; The Royston Club….but I want to go and see The Clockworks again now.

After all that it was back to the hotel for a few beers with friends – rock on.

Kodaline warm-up gig – Belfast

Kodaline live at the Telegraph Building, Belfast (16.8.2024)

This was on a whim. I was in Belfast for a few nights with a few mates for the big Stiff Little Fingers gig at Custom House Square. There were tickets available and after wandering the pubs during the day we thought this would be something to divert our attention from more and excessive ale.

I have seen Kodaline before – my wife loves ’em – and after catching half a set at Reading Festival in 2013 we saw them support Snow Patrol in Bournemouth in 2019. I get to ‘overhear’ CDs of course and radio plays but that is the extent of my experience though.

Four studio albums and a pop, maybe light rock, often folk, sound but no more albums since 2020 beyond a live one. This gig tonight is a warm-up gig for their Electric Picnic festival performance on the following day, in County Laois – not so far into the Irish countryside from their Dublin roots.

The venue tonight is a novel one. It is the shell of the former Belfast Telegraph newspaper offices and print room, and next door to the library that was used as the front of Police HQ in tv’s Line if Duty. Inside, it really is a shell. Temporary festival style toilets (dark and grim and they smell worse indoors!) and a bar put up out the back of the main room. A useful space overall though this venue, housing up to 1200 people with a very high ceiling and big and easily visible stage, even from the back. I did think there would be some seats but no. I parked up on a metal pipe out back for the support act so just listened and saw nothing – he sounded good but didn’t catch the name (can’t count him in the gig list eh).

The screams when Kodaline come on stage indicates the fan base. The screams are excitable rather than hysterical. Unavoidable exhalations maybe from the appreciative crowd. We note that we are just about the oldest people here – that’s not unusual for many gigs for newer bands I go to these days – and that there are not many chaps in tonight. But this is no boy band. They play instruments and front man Steve Garrigan leads with piano and acoustic guitar along with the vocals.

Kodaline warm up for tommorrow’s festival

They are extremely easy listening and maybe a bit lighter than my usual tastes but they are good at what they do and this near full big room loves it.

The piano led songs give a change of pace and variety to help the set along.

One of my mates gets very animated when he hears ‘the Gogglebox’ music – Perfect World it’s called and yes they did play it and very popular it was to. News to me as a non-Gogglebox viewer.

This is just a brief passing note of my experience. I can’t offer much by way of detail or the material but always good to see a new venue and something different, when so proficient and enjoyed by an audience.

Poole Harbour Festival 2024

Sunday 28.7.2024 Razorlight; The Coral; Toploader; The South live by the sea.

Some photos and a few notes on the Poole Harbour Festival. I just went on the Sunday of this three day harbourside festival, having flown back from a holiday a few days before. Jet lag meant waking up at 11.50am on the alarm from a heavy sleep…. but I wasn’t going to miss The South. 55 minutes later I was slumped in my camping chair as The South came on stage – The South being formed from some of the remains of The Beautiful South. Unfortunately today the female vocalist and first Beautiful South vocalist, Alison Wheeler, was off sick.

The Sunday pretty much included all the bands I wanted to see at this year’s festival, with most of the other days being tribute acts. It was all well laid out and the beautiful sunny day helped deliver one of the best days I’ve had at this excellent value local event – advanced day ticket £16, and I can walk home as required.

Queue free drinks tent – yes expensive as usual but not as much as an O2 Academy or most festivals. Toilets fine unless you want to sit/ hover. There is a second stage and a dance tent. I was happy not flitting about and instead taking the break between main stage bands and you wouldn’t catch me in a dance tent anyway. I parked my chair near the front right of the permitted chair horseshoe and stood and wandered at will.

The South brought out a string of hits and got the singalongs going by the second half. I was a bit disappointed not to hear Alison Wheeler sing but it was fine for an early start and you can’t help but smile with the blue sunny sky and songs such as Rotterdam, Don’t Marry Her and A Little Time.

I didn’t get my camera out at this point as still in a state of slumber and I wasn’t sure who anyone was. Later investigation revealed original Beautiful South members to be the absent Alison Wheeler and the original saxophonist who now sings up front: Gaz Birtles.

The best band of the day was The Coral in my book. Solid, melodic rock’n’roll with their distinct sound.

Toploader next. One of the bands that saved me in lockdown with a socially distanced indoor gig when all else was lost. It got me listening to their material and refreshed my memory of their better known tracks from their successful album Onka’s Big Monka, which of course they played Dancing in the Moonlight from.

Front barrier – main stage – Poole Harbour Festival

Full of sun and adequately refreshed with ale, the early finish was perfect for me and Razorlight it was, to take us to 7pm. Another band that surprises with their familiarity when they get going – the ‘oh yes I know that one’ reaction to most of the set, even without having ever bought anything by them. They were big back in 2004-2008.

Nowadays they do a lot of smaller festivals and fill a niche – I must have seen then four or five times by now and the band still has a familiar look and sound. It is only frontman Johnny Borrell who has survived all the band member reshuffles.

There we go. Poole Harbour Festival. Astonishing value with an early bird ticket and hopefully I shall be at the whole weekend next year.

AC/DC live at Wembley

AC/DC live at Wembley Stadium (7.7.2024) with The Pretty Reckless supporting.

“For those about to rock – we salute you!”

As soon as this tour was announced, I thought surely I can’t let this go. Such a legendary band and the big clock is ticking. OK, so not in my main bit of the big rock’n’roll venn diagram but it’s definitely in the overlapping bit. Was it the last time? Who knows.

For purists, yes I know it’s not an original line up, but with Angus Young on guitar and Brian Johnson on lead vocals, it’s as good as I’m going to get and it’s that period around 1980 when Brian Johnson joined when I first had my ears opened to AC/DC.

Tonight’s support is The Pretty Reckless, from New York City and they’ve been going since 2009, without me having encountered them before – oh come on, we move in different circles.

The Pretty Reckless – tonight’s support band

Kept me and the rest of this huge crowd engaged..but everyone’s waiting for the main event. Taylor Momsen covers both left and right extremities of the stage, but never venturing far down the stage runway into the crowd. There must be rules, written or otherwise for support bands fully utilising such things.

Good stage presence and some hard rock with some grungy edge at times. I recorded one song, saved here on my YouTube channel: Heaven Knows. (2014, from their second album).

After a punctual pause it’s big show time. Dads and lads, dads and daughters, possibly mums and daughters but I’m not seeing any – groups of mates – all recalling back to the 80s and further. This is a biggy.

The baying crowd, an extremely large number wearing Highway to Hell plastic light up horns, are treated to If You Want Blood (You Got It) to open, from Highway to Hell (1979). Following this with the title track of Back In Black (1980) hit the right note and the right era. Bang on. So pleased I made it.

It is very much the Angus and Brian show. They are 69 and 76 respectively. The rest of the band are newer additions – Steve Young on guitars, Chris Chaney (from Jane’s Addition) on bass and Matt Lang on drums. They don’t venture far, ŵhile Angus and Brian wander.

Angus Young on the end of the stage runway – he makes that his place

Brian Johnson doesn’t say much – he needs to save that voice so no unnecessary screaming. The voice waivers a bit on some songs but he’s 76 for goodness sake and this a full set, part of long tour. Thunderstruck is still memorable – that’s why we came isn’t it? For songs like this.

A large bell descends for another classic on the setlist: Hells Bells. I had been listening to the most recent album (2020), Power Up, in the weeks before but only a few tracks from that – it is the Power Up Tour.

With five tracks from the 1980 album Back in Black, this is good setlist for me and I’m presuming everyone, looking into the crowd. Brian has his prolonged stint on the end of the runway before Angus takes charge – you’d be forgiven for thinking it was his solo project. I suppose he is the true core of AC/DC right the way through….and still in his shorts and school uniform.

Towards the end of the set the songs just get bigger and better. Highway to Hell, then Whole Lotta Rosie – brilliant. To finish this rock’n’roll nostalgic treat is Let There Be Rock, an almost endless performance with Angus guitar solos that speed up, slow, almost stall and then restart with gusto.

The culmination of this guitar feast sees the end of the stage walkway rise up with Angus on board and the solos continue. An unforgettable sight.

What do you do for an encore? Ah yes. TNT and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). What a great phrase that is – almost a prayer to precede any heavy rock gig. Cue the fireworks. Bucket list ticked.

The Killers bring a bit of Las Vegas to London

The Killers live at O2 Arena, North Greenwich, London (5.7.2024) with Travis supporting.

A seventh Killers gig for me tonight. I’m on a quest to stay sober for the evening after a string of irresponsible evenings, including my near death experience at a Bridgestone Arena, Nashville gig and the alcohol induced haze of the rainy Southampton St. Mary’s gig (previous blogs in the links). While not being absolutely squeaky clean, I didn’t have my first pint until after Travis had played and I remained restrained to immerse myself in the performance.

This was one of a run of dates The Killers were playing at the O2 Arena – I saw them here before, about 10 years back from up in the gods, when Brandon Flowers had been having throat problems. Things were better tonight with a decent view of things from the deck at the top of the lower tier, three quarters of the way back.

Travis played as good a support set as I can remember. They really got the crowd going with some old faves and a few from their new album, LA Times.

Fran Healy with the orange hair – Travis

One of the new ones was Alive, captured here for my YouTube channel.

Fran Healy on the drums..I mean yes actually on the drums

Plenty to keep the attention and momentum going and the last song, the anthem Why Does It Always Rain On Me, was introduced as one they always get everyone to pogo to. The crowd obliged – all the crowd. Very impressive and the new album is a good listen.

After the break, the show sign above the stage shines out. Expectations are huge and it all gets to bursting point at last, after the dramatic show opening. (Link to my YouTube channel.)

A show opening that really brought a touch of Vegas to town. So much better than an outdoor gig. The O2 is just right for this sort of gig – not always the case. It’s glitzy stuff this.

My wife Sally is the big Killers fan but I know the material – all of it and way back. Pretty good then to get six tracks from 2004 album (a CD that’ll be then) Hot Fuss. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine featured early on and I’d put that up there with Dustland Fairytale as my picks of the night.

The opening run of Read My Mind, the wonderful Somebody Told Me and Spaceman really got the party started. Brandon Flowers is the man and it’s hard not to just follow him with your eyes. He’s up on the stage edging and covering the whole front to ensure everyone who can gets to say hello.

The lights are good without overwhelming the show. There are interesting backdrops, moving backdrops and it’s non-stop hits. The setlist is a crowd pleaser. After all the Rebel Diamonds album, which the tour is called, is a greatest hits album with a few added tracks tacked on. There is no real low point.

The two new tracks from Rebel Diamonds – Your Side of Town and Boy – started the encores. These were followed by the sound of Erasure’s A Little Respect, and yes, out comes Andy Bell to guest on that. He stays for Human. That’s a treat. I’ve never seen Erasure but would have liked to back in their day.

Guest appearance by Andy Bell of Erasure

Robin Vannucci jr on drums plays with crowd

Mr Brightside to end. I’ve almost heard it too much but hey ho, it’s inevitable and a fitting end.

I have finally made it – seeing The Killers and seeing it through to the end with out overdoing the beer. They were great and I was good. Job done. Next time Las Vegas?

Green Day – Live in London

Green Day live at Wembley Stadium (29.6.2024) with Nothing But Thieves and Maid of Ace.

I generally subscribe to the rule that football stadiums are best used for watching football matches. Everything else is a compromise and I even prefer a large field to see a live band in. Some bands are just too popular to resist though and if you’re in a seat, you will get some shelter to trade off against any echo, with a bit of elevation to see the stage and the screens, with sight of the band in any detail being a bonus.

Wembley itself is a strange bit of town to try and enjoy yourself in. Hardly a pub left and gratitude has to be expressed for a seat in a hotel bar and £7 small bottle of beer. With the stadium prices equally repellent, just don’t arrive hungry or with a significant thirst. Best to get all that bit over with and enjoy a big band with a lot of fans ….and the occasional arsehole who doesn’t get out much or really like music – there are some in every crowd.

Still, some bands are worth the compromise – you just won’t see them otherwise. Green Day don’t tour the UK that often and they qualified for me. Blur, last year, made the grade and the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert was one amazing day that I doubt will be matched in my lifetime, for the variety of added guest artists and emotion.

Previous trips to see Oasis and The Killers were overwhelmed by the negatives.

First band on were the punk band of sisters from Hastings, Maid of Ace. I had been enthusiastic about catching them with some pre-gig listening. They were damned loud – really overwhelmingly so. One way to make an impact. Someone turned it down a bit after that and my ear protection was returned to its little case for the rest of the evening.

I quite liked our spot at the top and back of the lower tier of seats, back level with the other end of the plastic covered pitch. It was under a small overhang – handy if it rains and I didn’t notice any sound issues.

Next on, Nothing But Thieves. Ahhh that’s better. A softer sound – well everything is softer than Maid of Ace – I have listened to their recent indie rock albums but I’m not that familiar. They’ve had four LPs to date – from Essex – and I enjoyed their set.

Frontman Conor Mason looked moved and disbelieving (on the screens – neither my eyes nor my zoom are that good) at the size of the event and the positive response he was getting.

By the time Green Day come on everyone is in place and out of the concourses – it’s only 8pm. Huge expectation.

My third Green Day gig – all outdoors. Reading Festival 2013 and one of my most enjoyable gigs ever. In 2017 is was Hyde Park, another goody with some great bands joining them that day. Wembley Stadium 2024 turned out to be right up there with the best. My favourite of 30 gigs so far this year, and that surpassed my expectations and quashed my Wembley Stadium resistance a little.

This tour celebrates their 1994 album Dookie and American Idiot from 2004, but there’s room for five tracks from their recent Saviours album – it’s a good’un. They open with The Amerian Dream Is Killing Me and that one is already a song that gets inside your head somedays.

Billie Joe Armstrong – Green Day do Wembley

It’s the Dookie LP first and it is played in order. Let’s go crazieeee’ screams Billy Joe and most of 90,000 oblige by the time we get to Basket Case. Fantastic. I was all prepared to stick in my seat but it was party time. I looked around at times to see people stood dancing and punching the air on all tiers and all round the back curve.

Billy Joe – Wembley – full pocket zoom power

Several more from the Saviours LP and the stage went green. American Idiot exploded into life. I wonder what it was like down in that front standing section. It looked like joyous mayhem.

They shuffled the American Idiot tracks a bit. Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends the slower highlights. There is very little let up though – one song into another and each greeted with similar enthusiasm. You can almost hear a collective muttering of ‘oh I love this one’ every time.

The set finished with Bobby Sox, another from the latest album and although we were nearly two and a half hours in, there was time for an encore: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Time of your life indeed. Suck it up while it lasts and you can see all this stuff.

Off we went and yes I stopped for t-shirt, and it fitted. Yup, I know they cost too much but only as much as 4½ pints of horrible Wembley lager eh.

Placebo – Southampton Summer Sessions

Placebo live at Southampton Guildhall Square (26.6.2024) with Friedberg supporting

One of a series of outdoor concerts in various cities this summer, the Summer Sessions in Southampton is being held in the Guildhall Square. The Guildhall sits at one end of the square and the inside is used for four bars, a merch stand and has the usual toilets open – preferable to a smelly, hot plastic cubicle, although these are available outside in the square if anyone wants more of a festival experience.

It’s about a 3000 capacity for the event, although I haven’t seen that confirmed. There is plenty of room to the rear, near the Guildhall pillars, while the stage front area is squeezed more by the fencing and buildings either side. The stage is on the pavement of what is usually a busy street with pubs and restaurants – handy for beforehand. I sat out there earlier listening to part of the soundcheck in a café directly behind the back of the stage – wish I’d got there earlier.

Rear of stage – gentle start in the café

The support band is Friedberg, named after an Austrian town. I listened and I waited but absorbed little. Self-described as indie pop and I certainly got the pop bit. There’s a fair bit of hanging about until Placebo come on around 9pm, preceded by a recorded message to put phones away and enjoy the moment.

I’ve seen Placebo in several countries since my first experience of them at the V97 Festival near Leeds – more of a look back in my last Placebo blog is here: 2022 Placebo blog.

Lead singer/songwriter Brian Molko comes out to announce “we are Placebo – we are a European band”. It is just Brian and guitarist and bassist, Stefan Olsdal, that are named band members but there are two keyboards, another guitarist and drummer playing with the band at the moment. Brian spent a lot of his youth in Luxembourg, having been born in Belgian, so he is something of a Euroman, though now a British Citizen and having always spoken and sung with that distinctive American accent (his dad was American).

The sound is good – a still evening allows it to stay constant and the bodies in the square stop and building echo (unlike the inside of the Guildhall too often when gigs are on in there).

The 2022 album, Never Let Me Go, features well tonight – it’s a great album. Single Beautiful James is maybe the best from it, second track in and Happy Birthday in the Sky is another early play, dedicated to Brian’s brother who died in 2022.

After a first album track, Bionic (recorded here from my mixing desk leaning spot), I manoeuvre my way further forward, down the right hand side to get a better pic or two. They’re into Surrounded by Spies, another last album cracker, when the music comes to a halt – Molko stares into the front of the crowd and there is a fight going on. “We can’t continue until you calm the fuck down!” “If you can’t mosh without beating the shit out of each other, you can’t mosh”, “Enough!” I couldn’t see how things calmed but thank goodness they did. “Everyone take a deep breath.” On we go.

Brian doesn’t usually say that much and focuses intensely on the performance. Mid-set is one of my favourites, the one track played from the Love Live Loud (2013 album): Too Many Friends (…too many friends and too many people …that I’ll never be there for, observing the era of social media companionship). When a song opens with “My computer thinks I’m gay”, you know you’re in for a special one. It’s a great song.

I notice moving back again that the square slighty slopes away at the rear so you need to get forward a bit – it is quite tight towards the front but generally plenty of room for what was a sell-out gig.

The last three songs of the main set really up the ante: Song to Say Goodbye; Bitter End and the wonderful Nancy Boy, from way back – January 1997. It’s still brilliant, with that snarling nasal chorus.

The break is short – the encore is coming. Ah wow. My top Placebo song – often played in my car on trips to work after the Meds album came out in 2006: Infa-Red. At full volume it can verge on the terrifying – it conjures up determined threats and revenge.

“One last thing before I shuffle off the planet
I will be the one to make you crawl
So I came down to wish you an unhappy birthday

Someone call the ambulance
There’s gonna be an accident

I’m coming up on infra-red
There is no running that can hide you
‘Cause I can see in the dark
I’m coming up on infra-red
Forget your running
I will find you”

(Infa-Red by Placebo)

That’s it for me – I don’t need anymore – but it’s time for that great Kate cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. There’s a finish eh.

A good set up this. Is an outdoor gig as good as indoors? Not usually but it’s good to see something different for the summer. I’ll be looking out to see who plays these Summer Sessions next year, and next Placebo tour I will be back…somewhere.

Paloma Faith live at Hampton Court

Paloma Faith live at Hampton Court Palace, London (20.6.2024)

I thought I’d try this one. Never seen a gig at Hampton Court before and I’ve never seen Paloma Faith live. She sounded like she would be interesting though, and she was.

All a bit of a picnic before hand. We sat on a bench with a few cans, Aldi Cheddars and tuna rolls. Not quite the checked rug and Prosecco idea that most seem to have. I don’t think I could have got up if we’d have sat on the grass – knee still in a removable support and the walk from the car park about as much as I could ‘enjoy’… but it’s a beautiful evening.

Not sure if the people here are Paloma Faith fans? Not a t-shirt in sight. T-shirts a bit scruffy for this lot. I can’t see the UK Subs playing here. The stage is right inside a courtyard and the view below is one side of that courtyard – we enter via that gateway, having already wandered through cloisters surrounding an ornate grassed square. The artists that play here really are playing inside a Royal Palace.

The stage backdrop is more Palace – a lit outer wall. Paloma Faith and her band including two backing singers take to the stage as planned at 9pm. No support band.

There’s an instant directness about the audience rapport. Paloma just chats to the audience as if she’s at the school gates picking up her kids – her dress far from down to earth and she occasionally wrestles with that to keep it covering what she needs.

After a handful of songs with the audience seated, she gets everyone up – I mean everyone, bar the injured, yes even me. She dashes to stage left and right, up the step and behind the drums, round to the piano and indeed onto the piano – belting out her songs as she goes.

I won’t pretend to know the songs by name. I picked up a few second hand CDs a few months back and wife Sally bought the recent album, so there is some familiarity.

Between songs Paloma relishes that bit as her time. There are a lot of references to her recent break up and lazy, useless men generally – we take it – keep yer heads down. She does point out that her expectations are high and suggests that she might be a nightmare to live with. I suspect she may be right – she won’t let this theme go, not this tour anyway. Eat Shit and Die is a notable low, or is it high, point of this mood. Maybe it was this one where she gave the one finger salute as she paraded. The set seems to be her therapy.

Paloma kicks off her shoes and chucks them up the back of the stage, then ups the pace of her dancing and hair shaking into the fan – loads of energy and this aging crowd does its bit to respond, on the uneven cobbled floor covered in tightly packed metal framed plastic chairs.

Singalong favourites near the end, at last drowning out the occasional sound of overhead Heathrow jets – these throw Paloma earlier when she thinks it’s a sound problem. Welcome to the west London suburbs – this is the sound of the suburbs eh.

She is a great entertainer and I’m glad I made it to this one. I’ve listened to her on the radio, on the chat shows, Saturday Kitchen and the like but it’s her live on stage where it’s best to hear her out.

There’s a bit of old school showtime about it but with a modern gritty take, all with a load of infectious irreverence.

She asks how long left. Waving arms from the wings. She’s over time. She questions whether the Palace dwellers need to sleep yet and gives it the finger – “stuff the curfew – this one’s for John Lydon”: time for a last song.

This one’s a national treasure… and I don’t mean the Palace.

The historical and literally palatial setting

Sting and Blondie, live on Plymouth Hoe

Sting, Blondie, Germein (16.6.2024) live at The Summer Sessions, Plymouth Hoe

New venue for me – the historic Plymouth Hoe – my first Sting performance and a chance to see Blondie play again. A sunny day and dry evening, despite the awful weather warnings earlier in the week.

Plymouth Hoe from Crown Plaza restaurant

I didn’t see Blondie back in the 70s/80s. Realistically a bit early for my gig going but that Parallel Lines album was a regular on my turntable. Yup, I know it’s not the same now but it is what it is. I managed 1998 at Reading Leisure Complex and two gigs prior to this one in the last two years. (Last one blogged here at Dog Day Afternoon.) It is still special to see a Blondie in 2024, with Debbie Harry and Clem Burke drumming, from the original line up. Ex-Pistol Glen Matlock is on bass, as he has been on recent Blondie tours.

Clem Burke on drums, sound screened off from Debbie Harry

I confess to only hearing Germein, first band on, from the bar area – knee in a stretchy support thing and I’m grateful for a bench. I peered over a plastic hedge for one song and these three sisters from South Australia were being enjoyed. Poppy and danceable and a crowd happy in the realisation that it wasn’t raining, with blue sky emerging.

As Blondie came on stage I went into the main standing area, the right hand front premium priced bit. This was tarmac, sloping away right (to test any knee or foot weakness). I was expecting a slippery, muddy field earlier this week, so I am very again grateful.

Debbie Harry is 78 but this is still Debbie Harry live in front of us and I appreciate that. What an icon. As with last time I saw her, the voice works and well on most songs. Possibly the set list needs to accommodate the voice these days and I think that makes the shorter support sets work better.

They open with One Way or Another, then Hanging on the Telephone, preceded by the recorded phone ring.

Clem Burke’s drumming so distinctive and loud that he’s behind a plastic screen so the old girl can sing without bursting an eardrum.

Debbie Harry – Clem Burke – Blondie in Plymouth

A couple of older old ones from the first LP in 1976 appear: X-Offender and In the Flesh. Then later hits Rapture and The Tide is High. This gives Debbie Harry more of a chance for the toothy smile she can sing through, with an occasional lazy slur. Still the cool New Yorker in town. She has a few words between songs – just enough to know she’s real, and she’s enjoying it.

The 1999 single Maria has elevated in popularity as more time has passed on. That was the comeback single. I wander down front right for a pic but don’t linger as a posse of tall people are there. The venue isn’t huge but quite big enough (I think about 15,000 but not much info about on this) and there is a decent view even if you wander back to the mixing desk.

Heart of Glass gets the disco going. There are a few Debbie Harry solo numbers and Dreaming to end. It is all a bit dreamy really – 2024, aged 61 and standing on Plymouth Hoe seeing Debbie Harry sing live. Doesn’t seem that long since I was stood in Sunbury Record Scene in 1978, aged 15, clutching Denis single, picture cover.

No Denis today. Enjoyed this set enormously and nostalgically but a hint of regret at not hearing my picks that would include Presence Dear, Picture This and Union City Blue.

The blinding sun drops down below the level of the stage backdrop and apartment buildings behind. As a crocked gig-goer at the moment I had to retreat to the bar area and ‘my’ bench. I could hear the beginning of Sting and peer through a fence and I settled for saving myself for a bit and standing for the last estimated hour. This worked.

My first Sting gig and I didn’t see The Police either (my dad prohibited my attendance at Reading Rocks 1979). After the first few Police hit singles, which I still have, and a taped first album, I don’t remember having a particular interest. It was radio music from a band with a huge global following. Sting went solo and continued in that vein. Yes, I saw the appeal of Englishman in New York but that is about it. So I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd pleasing set. There were a few songs I’d never heard but a lot of Police songs and familiar tunes.

With Message in a Bottle second song in, I thought I may have messed up as I peered through the plastic hedge, resting my dodgy knee. All was fine.

When I joined the crowd about 40 mins in, I got a good view, crystal clear sound, and lighting to help the photos. Unlike other performers in their 60s, there is no need for Sting to lurk in the shadows from a backlit stage. It looks like Sting’s been in the gym and eating sensibly since the 1980s so hell, shine a light on it mate. I contemplate another beer and the kebab stall potential.

Can’t Stand Losing You, So Lonely (Sue Lawley) and Walking on the Moon in a 15 minute spell was the sort of thing I was hoping for but surprised to witness.

Sting had a bit to say but not too much – no preaching. He said he hadn’t played in Plymouth – “beautiful city”- since 1978 and said sorry. He came over as a normal guy just playing his best. No fancy stuff. A very good rock guitarist and a drummer (who has played with Devo and Mumford and Sons) with him so the old Police songs with pace could sound quite nicely raw. I suppose I was expecting backing singers, brass and a bit of overindulgence.

I say ‘just a normal guy’. He refers to his lovely little house in the English countryside and corrects himself: “well it’s more like a castle actually”.

My anthem for the day was King of Pain I guess – OK it wasn’t that bad but a burden. Maybe a good tune for an ibuprofen advert. A relaxed Every Breath You Take to end the set. An encore was inevitable. Minimum fuss and Roxanne. Brilliant to hear that once live in my life. It’s taken a surprisingly long time – maybe I’m surprised it happened at all but I’m glad it did.

To end, “a gentle, thoughtful one to say goodbye”, Fragile from his second solo album in 1987. Just Sting, sat on a stool, playing and singing on his own. That was good. I preferred Blondie, but that’s me and Sting was great. All in all, a super weekend away in Plymouth, with friends, and a well organised event.

Status Quo – live at Swansea Arena

Status Quo at Swansea Arena (4.6.2024) with Laurence Jones supporting

I still remember standing in a little record shop in the parade near Rowlands, Ashford Common (Middlesex) – Squeeze Inn – gazing at the albums displayed on the wall. It would have been 1977. There was Rockin’ All Over The World, one of Status Quo’s 33 albums. It was playing regularly in there and I recall returning a few times wondering whether to invest. I do like that title track and single (I didn’t know it was a cover of a song by John Fogarty of Creedance Clearwater Revival). Instead, after consultation with school friends and much deliberation, I opted for No More Heroes by The Stranglers, released a few months previously, and which I had the single from. My path was set. My post 1977 approach to music was up and running, not to be revisited for many years.

The Quo came to the fore in a big way again in 1985, with their stint at Live Aid, Wembley Stadium. From then on, in my mind, they’ve always been around: part of British rock’n’roll culture, on the fringes of my consciousness with the occasional single catching the ear. I picked up their 10 Gold Bars compilation album on used vinyl for 50p last year and that is the sum total of my Quo collection. But, when offered some free tickets I had little hesitation in saying yes. A band to see some time, surely, even if it was a bit of a trek – we made a 5-day holiday out of it.

I did see Francis Rossi at an interesting evening chat show at Poole Lighthouse (Theatre) a couple of years ago – he is an amusing raconteur and he has a lot of material- but this was my belated Quo debut. Some would say too late, especially given the death of Rossi’s partner in song and guitar, Rick Parfitt, in 2016. But the band still has history. Guitarist and keyboardist Andy Brown has been in the band since 1981 and bassist John Edwards has been with them since 1985.

Swansea Arena – a new one on me

The Swansea Arena opened in 2022. I am impressed. Perhaps the very word ‘arena’ makes me shudder a little – it smacks of all the wrong things about big gig, big business. This is no ‘arena’, it’s more a giant lounge. The maximum capacity is 3,500 when some standing – it’s all seats tonight (not that anyone down on the flat floor sits for Quo). More a Hammersmith Apollo or Plymouth Pavilions scale. I’d rename it.

Approached from the city centre by a gold bridge that everyone’s clearly quite proud off, it has a statement gold exterior.

Front doors of the Swansea Arena – before crowds gather

Inside the bar areas in the concourses have goldie lookin’ chains (sorry!), hanging in patterns. It’s spacious. I don’t find dreadful queues.

You can see from the photo below of support act, blues guitarist, Laurence Jones, that the stage front (front stalls on the flat) has an almost cosy feel for anything called an arena. The auditorium is not much wider than the stage. There are small, quite exclusive balconies each side, but where the room finds its capacity is from the bank of seats that goes beyond the rear stalls and on, up and up to the front and rear circle. It really goes up and steeply back a long way. What this means, I presume, is that for smaller shows the back sections can be blacked out and/or curtained off so that the place still looks full, even with half the crowd.

Considering I haven’t heard a thing by Laurence Jones, this really does the job. Loud, blues, guitar.

Status Quo tonight

The Quo open with Caroline. Immediately recognisable, even by me, and the whole of the seated flat section at the front rise up, and there they remain, heads a banging (a particularly hairy bloke continues to catch my eye down front right), and some just lolling from side to side. Good effort given that the audience is largely… well bloody old. I feel more youthful tonight in this company. The sloped seating must be an Everest to some, limping and clutching rails as they make their ascent….then down and back many times to use the facilities. Fair play – loyal fans – rock on.

Rossi says good evening and remarks on his own age, an age he escalates through the evening to nearer the truth of his 75 years.

It’s easy listening heavy – their distinctive full guitar sound, through the bank of beautiful looking Marshall amps and speakers, is loud but not excessive. My ears ride the storm without protection, maybe unwisely. The Quo are not so heavy – blues and pub rock – and almost Chas and Dave with guitars at times.

I’m not that familiar with the early songs – everyone else seems to be – but then an enormous non-stop medley, consisting of eight songs, including What You’re Proposing (can’t get that out of my head); Again and Again and Wild Side of Life. What a blitz of Quo classics.

Things slow a little for In The Army Now and another singalong chance. (Another one I didn’t realise was a cover.)

Rossi and the band really keep moving, playing together in a group and in pairs and I presume it was Andy Brown switching between keyboards and guitar. Rossi goes to face the drummer at regular intervals. He and the band all look slim and fit, as I sit lazily in my seat, with a very good view of it all.

Then the show comes in to land with the best known songs: Down Down; Whatever You Want and best of all – yes this is what I came for – Rockin’ All Over The World. I can visualise the Top of the Pops appearances to these. Well I got there in the end, thanks to my gig buddy’s spare tickets.

Keep rocking…all over the World.