Sunday
28th February
Well,
it was a long old haul up to Doncaster for my first visit
to the Keepmoat Stadium, but with Palace staging a second
half rally to claim a point that took them out of the
relegation zone, the return journey (in the company of
my friend Mark Kentfield and his ‘other half’
Caroline) was a relieved and drunken one. On board the
London-bound train a rumour began to spread that Neil
Warnock had ‘officially’ joined QP-Hahaha.
It turned out to be premature, though I fully expect the
game against Rovers to be his swansong. Throughout the
match, which ended at 1-1, the Palace faithful declined
to sing the usual “Neil Warnock’s Red &
Blue Army”, opting instead for “South London’s
Red & Blue Army”. Obviously, I am not privy
to what goes on behind closed doors, and any number of
things could have caused Warnock to make the journey across
London. Although I despised him when he arrived in SE25,
that opinion was very quickly reversed. I didn’t
have him down as a quitter, though. NW will, of course,
take his loyal backroom staff, which lands the club even
deeper in the shit. Should he lure away any of the Eagles’
players, which seems inevitable, expect my remaining goodwill
towards him to dissipate quicker than it takes to utter
the words ‘Colin Wanker’.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
27th February
What
a difference an Aday makes. Much of yesterday was spent
Loafing around, in one form or another. In the morning
I attended a playback party for Meat Loaf’s new
album, ‘Hang Cool Teddy Bear, details here,
before returning home to transcribe an interview with
his daughter Pearl, whose debut solo album, ‘Little
Immaculate White Fox’, is issued through Classic
Rock’s own Powerage Records on May 24.
In
the evening I attended a local gig at the Dartfordonians
Rugby Club in Bexley, Kent. I’d been meaning to
check out the Billy Walton Band since their highly impressive
album, ‘Neon City’, dropped onto my desk.
Guitarist/frontman Walton is now a member of Southside
Johnny’s band, and there’s a definite New
Jersey flavour to his own group’s music. Annoyingly,
thanks to the railway timetable, I could only hang around
for the first half of their set. The BWB were really good
but it was the night’s opening act, Virgil
& The Accelerators that **really** blew me away.
A frighteningly young three-piece from Wales, V&TA
have only been together for 12 months or so but already
display awesome potential. Fronted by 18-year-old Virgil
McMahon, a true guitar hero in the making, their covers
of material by Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Bluesbreakers and
Jimi Hendrix are nothing less than stunning. Of course,
the band’s future also depends upon an ability to
compose their own tunes. I hope to get a better handle
on that before too long by catching a full-length gig.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 26th February
For
the past few days the streets of London have been pounded
by rain, the temperature just above freezing. I’m
so glad that I braved the weather to check out last night’s
gig from Bigelf and Priestess. The former band, a group
of metalheads from Canada, have improved out of all recognition
since my last sighting of them, opening for Megadeth in
the summer of ’07. Marrying huge fuzz-toned riffs
to flashy twin-guitar duels, their 50-minute stay seemed
to whiz past in the mere blink of an eye. Compared to
their last gig in London at Barfly back in October, at
which they hung around for a mere hour and a quarter,
at the Underworld the headliners turned in a performance
that was epic in every way. During a two-hour display
that passed right by the curfew, the US-based retro-heads
played just about everything the fans could have wished
for. For a prog-rock gig, the crowd was unusually boisterous.
In fact, during the drive home my friend Andy Beare and
I discussed the possibility that keyboard-playing frontman
Damon Fox was starting to become a little irked by their
cat-calls. “Take your shirt off!” demanded
a decidedly male-sounding voice. “Hmmm, that’s
an interesting proposition,” mused Fox, before adding:
“What are you going to take off?” The reply
of “Everything!” brought the house down. Later
on, following a demand for a Rush song, Damon appeared
to completely lose his rag. “RUSH??!!” he
exploded. “What??!! Don’t you fuckin’
dare say Rush at my fuckin’ show… seriously,
I hate Rush!” With the other band members fooling
around with the riff to ‘Cygnus X-1’, he then
sulked: “I’m going to have a cup of tea in
the back and you guys can fuck around with Rush all you
like.” Was he yanking our chain? I’m really
not sure. Anyway, here’s what was played: ‘The
Evils Of Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘Neuropsychopathic
Eye’, ‘Pain Killers’, ‘Sunshine
Suicide’, ‘Blackball’, ‘Disappear’,
‘Madhatter’, ‘Hydra’, ‘Burning
Bridges’, ‘Bats In The Belfry I’, ‘Money,
It’s Pure Evil’ and ‘The Money Machine’,
plus ‘Gravest Show On Earth’, ‘Superstar’
and ‘Counting Sheep’.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
25th February
So…
Crystal Palace are out of the FA Cup at last and can now
concentrate on the far more important task of halting
their slide into League 1. Many, many pints of cider were
consumed during the trip to Villa Park and our fans were
in terrific voice. After being outplayed throughout the
first half and leaking a goal from **yet another** unfairly
awarded corner, the Eagles bounced back following the
break and equalised through a Darren Ambrose penalty.
For a while Palace fans dared to believe, but when Matt
Lawrence’s senseless fouls awarded the hosts two
spot kicks of their own the dream withered and died. Over
the balance of the 180 minutes, the result of Villa 3
Palace 1 seems unduly harsh. Maybe Lady Luck will be a
little more kind on Saturday when we visit Doncaster?
I flaming well hope so.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
24th February
I
will be leaving for Palace’s FA Cup replay at Villa
Park before too long. Before doing so, I’ve just
been playing a CD of snippets from ‘Sting In The
Tail’, the new album from the Scorpions, ahead of
a phone interview with their lead singer Klaus Meine.
Though the disc contains less than a minute of each track,
the quality of songs like ‘Raised On Rock’,
‘No Limit’ (which is based upon a riff not
dissimilar to ‘Big City Nights’), ‘Let’s
Rock’ and ‘The Spirit Of Rock’ is extremely
impressive. Save for the nostalgic ballad ‘The Best
Is Yet To Come’, which was penned before the band
decided to call it a day, they are good ‘n’
heavy, also blessed with monster hooks…
The
interview with Klaus went really well. It was obvious
that Meine doesn’t want the Scorps to end, but as
he pointed out “the time to pass on the flame has
arrived”. Before hanging up, just in case our paths
don’t cross on the tour, I thanked him for giving
me so many great interviews and releasing so many equally
splendid LPs. It probably sounded stupid and naff but
you know what? It was heartfelt.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 23rd February
What
the heck… Richie Hevanz has left Heaven’s
Basement. Oh dear, this development spells huge trouble
for the UK rockers. The band are planning to continue
touring with a stand-in singer before the search begins
for a full-time replacement, but those are mighty big
shoes to fill. Meanwhile, UFO, Transatlantic, Venom, the
Quireboys and The Union (Luke Morley’s post-Thunder
group) are the latest additions to the bill of Classic
Rock’s High Voltage Festival. Jeez… it’s
starting to look very tasty indeed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
22nd February
The
bill of this year’s Firefest
was announced last night on ARFM
Radio. I’m thrilled that Nelson will be headlining
the second night, with stellar support from former Survivor
frontman Jimi Jamison and the reunited Strangeways. But
aside from the show’s big-hitters, I’m happy
that the likes of Newman, whose new album ‘The Art
Of Balance’ is terrific, and Grand Design have been
catered for. The full line-up for Saturday 30th October
is: Lynch Mob, Dare, Bonfire, Saraya, Bangalore Choir,
Beggars & Thieves and Grand Illusion, with Nelson,
Jamison, Pretty Maids, Strangeways, Stage Dolls, Newman
and Grand Design all confirmed for 24 hours later.
Much
of today has been spent writing the sleeve notes for a
new Thunder release. ‘Live At The BBC’ is
a six-CD set that collates vintage live performances from
the now sadly defunct South Londoners, including Hammersmith
Odeon 9.12.90, Wembley Arena 20.1.91, Monsters Of Rock
22.8.92, Don Valley Stadium 6.6.93 and Shepherd’s
Bush Empire 8.12.94, a final disc rounding up various
session appearances. The audio quality is wonderful. It’s
due out in May, I believe. Fans will love it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 21st February
Although
Palace had been in dire need of points against Coventry
from yesterday’s game at Selhurst, the visitors
left victorious. After the Eagles had most of the pressure,
even a goal-bound shot cleared off the line, the final
score of 0-1 felt like a real kick in the teeth. Luckily,
Joey Tempest and Europe were on hand to lift the gloom
with a top-drawer concert at London’s Shepherd’s
Bush Empire. I arrived at the venue in time to see Diamond
Head deliver a tight and well-received warm-up slot. Granted,
vocalist Nick Tart sounded slightly wobbly during the
opening song, ‘It’s Electric’, but the
rest of the 50-minute set (‘Give It To Me’,
‘To The Devil His Due’, ‘In The Heat
Of The Night’, ‘Alimony’, ‘Fever’,
‘Sucking My Love’, ‘Mine All Mine’
and ‘Am I Evil?’) was first-rate.
Europe’s
‘Last Look At Eden’ was among the very finest
releases of 2009, so I was delighted that the Swedes elected
to air a huge chunk of it – no less than five tracks,
in fact. Overall, though, they got the mix of vintage
and contemporary material, also heavy rock numbers and
poppier hits, absolutely right. From my vantage point
in the balcony the sound quality was magnificent, and
with a grinning Tempest shadow boxing, high-fiving the
front rows, and twirling his microphone stand around,
the group appeared to be having just as much fun as the
packed Empire. I could have listened to Europe all night,
to be truthful, and for 105 glorious minutes I completely
forgot that Palace had slipped into the relegation zone.
Here’s the set-list: ‘Last Look At Eden’,
‘Love Is Not The Enemy’, ‘Superstitious’,
‘Gonna Get Ready’, ‘Scream Of Anger’,
‘Let The Good Times Rock’, Keyboard Solo,
‘No Stone Unturned’, ‘Carrie’,
‘Always The Pretenders’, Guitar Solo, ‘Seventh
Sign’, ‘Sign Of The Times’, ‘New
Love In Town’, ‘Start From The Dark’,
‘Ready Or Not’, ‘Cherokee’ and
‘Rock The Night’, with encores of ‘The
Beast’ and ‘The Final Countdown’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
20th February
I've only just regained my composure following last
night's debut UK gig by The
Devil's Blood, a truly superb female-fronted occult-rock
ensemble from Holland. I say it was a 'gig', but though
the Underworld was a little over half full it felt more
like an 'event'. The band, who performed the entire 85-minute
show caked in fake blood, prefer to call it a 'ritual',
and with no stage props to speak of inside the dimly-lit
venue - just row upon row of scented candles perched atop
their amplifiers (Ross Halfin would have done his freakin'
nut!) - there was a definite feel of otherness to proceedings.
Sporting a low-cut red leather dress and known simply
as The Mouth, their frontwoman simply stood at the mic
and sang, spurning all verbal interaction with the audience,
either staring motionless into space or retreating to
the drum-kit and turning her back on them as the instrumentalists
veered off during the jammed-out segments - of which there
were many. The Devil's Blood have three guitarists; one
to sit back and play rhythm whilst the more creative pair
weave back and forth, enhancing the group's more retro,
spacey-qualities. Imagine a glorious subterranean mix
of Coven, Jefferson Airplane, Mercyful Fate, Wishbone
Ash and Roky Erickson and you're headed in the right direction.
During the first 15 minutes I remember thinking, 'If this
is all they've got, it's more than enough. but I kinda
thought there'd be more'.
Then slowly but surely the gaps in the music began to
open up and a very good gig became a breathtaking one.
In years to come, this is a show that many will pretend
to have attended. Those of us that were **really** there
will be able to nod sagely and say, "I told you so".
Here's the set-list:
'Come, Reap', 'River Of Gold', 'I'll Be Your Ghost', 'The
Graveyard Shuffle', 'Evermore', 'A Waxing Moon Over Babylon',
'Rake Your Nails Across The Firmament', 'The Heavens Cry
Out For The Devil's Blood', 'House Of Ten Thousand Voices',
'White Faces', 'The Anti Kosmik Magick', 'Voodoo Dust'
and 'Christ Or Cocaine'.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 19th February
‘Where on earth do the years go?’ is something
that I ask myself with increasing regularity. It’s
impossible to believe that Ronald Belford Scott –
you probably know him as AC/DC’s Bon – died
three decades ago, in East Dulwich… just a few miles
from where I type. I think myself extremely lucky that
I got to see AC/DC performing with Bon, at London’s
Hammersmith Odeon during the final stages of the ‘Highway
To Hell’ tour. To state that the records the band
made with Bon have stood the test of time would be a little
like saying Katie Price has been known to enjoy being
the centre of attention. Today I shall spin as many Bon-era
AC/DC LPs as possible and will raise a glass in his honour
before, during and after this evening’s debut UK
gig from The Devil’s Blood. RIP, Bon… gone
but not forgotten.
I’ve just been listening to Helloween’s 25th
anniversary album, ‘Unarmed’. Like many, I
suspect, I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship
with the ’Weenies. At the moment I’m in the
‘love’ side. The Hamburg-based speed-metal
combo have shown remarkable bravery in re-recording many
of their best-known songs with the 70-piece Prague Symphonic
Orchestra and a choir of London-based Gregorian singers.
Including a symphonically-enhanced three-song medley of
‘Halloween’, ‘Keeper Of The Seven keys’
and ‘The King For A 1000 Years’, these new
arrangements are pretty radical, but I’m enjoying
them. More worrying still, I’m actually starting
to ‘get’ the quirky humour of guitarist Michael
Weikath, who spends seven lines of the booklet’s
‘special thanks’ section explaining why he
doesn’t thank anyone. A few years ago I’d
have thought ‘What an arse’; now I actually
chuckled. So no more ‘Are you the Victor Meldrew?’
comments pls.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
18th February
I
type this diary entry with a heavy heart. With Crystal
Palace returning to league action, last night’s
comedown from the weekend’s FA Cup heroics was swift
and brutal. At a f-f-f-freezing cold and graveyard-quiet
Selhurst Park, the Eagles played well for 20 minutes then
shipped a poorly defended goal to visitors Reading, before
going to pieces. Facing another side struggling against
the drop, the final score of 1-3 is very, very hard to
take. In a recent match day programme interview, defender-cum-striker
Danny Butterfield stated: “A ten-point deduction
switches your attention from chasing the teams in the
top six to [those] in mid-table, but so long as [our]
performances continue, relegation is not a worry.”
Such talk is, of course, ridiculously smug and the harsh
reality is that Palace are well and truly in the messy
brown stuff. To think I missed Vinnie Moore’s solo
gig at the Underworld to watch such utter tripe. If we
play anywhere near as badly in next week’s Cup replay,
the Villa will have no problems running up a cricket score.
With
good cheer in desperately short supply, it’s lucky
that the postie just delivered a bumper sack of mail.
A taster for their second album, ‘Freedom Rock’,
which is due to be released in mid-April, H.E.A.T.’s
new three-track EP is superb – especially the super-contagious
anthem ‘Beg Beg Beg’. Savatage have a two-disc
anthology called ‘Still The Orchestra Plays –
Greatest Hits Volume 1 & 2’, and I’m thrilled
to learn that the Floridian band’s entire 14-album
catalogue, from 1983’s ‘Sirens’ to Poets
And Madmen’ (2001), is about to undergo an expanded,
re-mastered re-issue campaign. When I can find the time,
I’m also looking forward to watching Skin’s
DVD, ‘Reunited’.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
17th February
Wonderful
news for fellow SMFs… Twisted Sister have been added
to the bill of this year’s Bloodstock
Festival, joining Ross The Boss on the Friday night.
Haven’t been to Bloodstock for a couple of years
so I might have to get my ass up to Derbyshire for that
one. However, having witnessed their show in Pittsburgh
before Christmas (see Diary, 17th December, 2009) I’m
gutted to learn that Trans-Siberian Orchestra have postponed
their inaugural visit to Europe, which was due to take
place in a month or two, “due to logistical difficulties
and the desire to put out the best production possible”.
They are now looking at making the trip in March 2011.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 16th February
Nazareth
are a band whose London concerts I try never to miss.
Last night they played the Garage, with John Bonham’s
sister Deborah as their support act. Although her material
isn’t always the greatest, Bonham has an agreeable
blues-rock voice in the vein of Maggie Bell. A 50-minute
set gathered momentum during its latter stages with songs
such as 'The Old Hyde’ and ‘Duchess’,
ending on a high note with a belting cover of ‘Stay
With Me’.
My
heart went out to the headliners who, having arrived to
a dramatic intro tape, were a few bars into ‘Telegram’
when Jimmy Murrison’s guitar amp exploded. “There
were flames and everything,” singer Dan McCafferty
exclaimed in disbelief, as Nazareth returned after a short
interlude, adding: “I’ll be having a severe
word with Mr Marshall in the morning.” Even in his
sixties, McCafferty is not the type of guy to cross. He
still drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney, and
it doesn’t affect his performance one single bit.
Having received a few disgruntled, mildly threatening
texts from the band I can confirm that Nazareth were disappointed
that Classic Rock was the only major magazine to have
panned their most recent studio album, 2008’s ‘The
Newz’. What hurt them most of all was Geoff Barton’s
claim that McCafferty’s “trademark gravelly”
qualities had deteriorated into “a hollow rasp,
which makes you wince on occasion”. It was a description
that most fair-minded Naz fans found risible. Close your
eyes and this is **not** the voice of a pensioner. Neither
do Nazareth perform like a bunch of decrepit, bus pass-wielding
old fossils. 46-year-old Murrison, their guitarist since
1994, plays slide like he was born to do so. Aged just
38, Lee Agnew, the son of co-founding bassist Pete, who
claimed the drum stool after Darrell Sweet’s demise
in 1999, keeps things loose and powerful. You know all
about it when the group lets rip with a dizbuster like
‘Bad Bad Boy’, ‘Hair Of The Dog’
or ‘Razamanaz’, but the show’s more
bombastic moments are juxtaposed by the touching melodies
of ‘Hearts Grown Cold’ and ‘Love Hurts’.
After the farce of the evening’s false start, instead
of being derailed, Nazareth soaked up the audience’s
moral support and proceeded to turn the concert into a
real treat. Here’s what they played: ‘Telegram’,
‘Turn On Your Receiver’, ‘Miss Misery’,
‘Bad Bad Boy’, ‘The Gathering’,
‘My White Bicycle’, ‘Hearts Grown Cold’,
‘Shanghai'd In Shanghai’, ‘Hair Of The
Dog’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Love Hurts’
and ‘Broken Down Angel’, with a three-song
encore of ‘See Me’, ‘Razamanaz’
and ‘This Flight Tonight’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
15th February
Wow…
what a fantastic advert for English football, the FA cup,
and (more importantly, for me anyway) Crystal Palace FC.
Thanks to a thunderbolt free kick from Darren Ambrose,
the Eagles were three minutes away from progressing to
the last eight of the world’s oldest and most famous
footie competition. Aston Villa’s second equaliser
was frustrating, but… shit… what a great cup
tie. Our players and fans were fantastic, and given that
the corner that presented Petrov’s last-gasp leveller
was actually a Palace goal kick, CPFC were unfortunate
not to have won the game. On home turf, Villa **should**
have the quality to win the replay, but to assume Palace
will just lie down and die would be a grave error, and
Martin O’Neill – a proper British manager,
who buys English players – ain’t a stupid
bloke. But being a midweek replay before their League
Cup final, I wonder how many first-teamers he will risk?
The best news of all, though, is that cash-strapped Palace
will pocket £500,000 if the second game is screened
on TV, which seems probable. And speaking of which there’s
an interesting rumour that Villa chairman Randy Lerner
donated his club’s half of the attendance money
to Palace… if true, that’s an incredible gesture.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
13th February
Some
extremely worrying rumours are emanating from Selhurst
Park. With QP-Hahaha having apparently made a bid to lure
him away, it seems that Neil Warnock’s days as manager
of Crystal Palace FC are fast ticking away. Should there
turn out to be truth in this speculation, with Warnock
and his excellent backdrop staff heading across London,
I dread to think of the consequences. The only possible
solution would be sending out an SOS to CPFC’s greatest
boss of all time, Sir Steve Coppell, who performed miracles
to stave off relegation the last time the club was in
administration, a decade ago. Will it come to that? Who
knows? But Warnock is unlikely to be in the hotseat come
next season – if the club hasn’t been liquidated
by then, that is.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
12th February
Nashville
Pussy can be relied upon to deliver almost indecently
riotous, salacious, kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll
excitement. No, they are not the most verbose people you
will ever meet. Likewise, their music will never win prizes
for subtlety or intelligence, but when it comes to throwing
a party the Pussies have few serious rivals. At the Underworld
last night, guitarist/vocalist Blaine Cartwright was quite
literally off his head, ranting incoherently and in foul-mouthed
fashion of the merits of booze, drugs, sexual intercourse,
fried chicken and… er… Winston Churchill as
his wife of 17 years, the babe-tastic Ruyter Suys, delivered
an incendiary performance on the lead guitar, coming perilously
(yet intentionally) close to a wardrobe malfunction on
several titillating occasions. It was, in short, the kind
of gig you couldn’t look away from for more than
few seconds. Here’s the set-list: ‘Snake Eyes’,
‘Shoot First And Run Like Hell’, ‘High
As Hell’, ‘Speed Machine’, ‘Ain’t
Your Business’, ‘Good Night For A Heart Attack’,
‘Come On, Come On’, ‘Hate And Whisky’,
‘I’m So High’, ‘Late Great USA’,
‘Nutbush City Limits’, ‘Struttin’
Cock’, ‘Piece Of Ass’, ‘Drunk
Driving Man’, ‘Keep On Fuckin’’,
‘Go Motherfucker Go’ and ‘You’re
Goin’ Down’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
11th February
‘David
Ellefson back in Megadeth??!! No way! It just cannot be!’
That was my first reaction to the news that Megadeth’s
co-founding bass player was once again in cahoots with
Dave Mustaine, just in time for a 20th anniversary US
tour for the ‘Rust In Peace’ album. So much
water has passed beneath the bridge since Mustaine overlooked
Ellefson when resurrecting Megadeth for the 2004 album
‘The System Has Failed’. On the press trail
for that album, in the wake of a controversial lawsuit,
in addition to claiming he wished he’d taken the
advice of his band-mates and producer Dann Huff and sacked
the bassist many years earlier, a seething Mustaine told
me: “Fuck David Ellefson. He’s been a professional
ass-licker for his whole career.” Six years later
we’re lead to believe everybody’s older and
wiser, and that getting back together is not about money.
Hmmmm… I’d like to believe it but I’m
older and wiser, too. However, it’s very cool to
see Ellefson wearing an Angel Witch T-shirt in the group’s
new photos.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
10th February
It
had to be Shefki fuqquing Kuqi, didn’t it? To be
fair, the script was written long in advance as the hapless
former Eagles ‘striker’ Kuqi returned to Selhurst
Park, ending Palace’s fine run of recent results
by nudging home the only goal of last night’s game
against promotion-chasing Swansea. CPFC were outplayed
in the first half but did enough to have taken a point
during the second 45. The experiment of playing Butterfield
as a striker seems to have run its course, especially
with Stern John sitting around unused and back from his
loan spell at Ipswich. Given the emotional stress of the
past few weeks and the way they have battled on against
all the odds, the team looked utterly exhausted. And to
be honest, as the final whistle blew, I felt likewise.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 9th February
I’ve
been busy playing an advance CD of Treat’s new album,
‘Coup De Grace’, which drops on the 22nd of
next month. With scarcely a bad song to be heard, this
is Scandi-AOR at its best… definitely a case of
buy or die for lovers of brilliantly crafted melodic hard
rock.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
8th February
Why
oh why did I go so far over the top on a Sunday night?
After a bus journey across London (the Charing Cross rail
route was closed for “essential repair work”),
I bought home some chips, then proceeded to stumble and
drop them, smashing the plate and smearing the kitchen
floor with barbecue sauce… Mrs L was **not** amused.
It’s apparent that cider, vodka and lager do not
mix. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… the fallout
from another FM gig!!
The
band were previewing their new album ‘Metropolis’
with a gig at the Roadhouse in Covent Garden. Given its
quality, I was quite surprised that just three songs featured
in the ensuing live set (four if you happen to include
‘Metropolis’, a guitar showcase for newcomer
Jim Kirkpatrick). I’m still finding it hard to stop
one of these tunes, ‘Over
You’, from rattling around my head. But the
show was quite superb from start to finish. The cherry
on the cake was seeing the band grinning like kids as
they were joined by Mick Ralphs for a sublime encore of
Bad Company’s ‘Feel Like Making Love’.
FM have been in no hurry to force their reunion down anyone’s
throats; ‘Metropolis’ was made at their own
sweet pace and even 15 years away they remain among the
best live bands this country has produced. Here’s
hoping they get a better rub of the green this time around.
Meanwhile, here’s the set-list: ‘Wildside’,
‘Face To Face’, ‘That Girl’, ‘Don’t
Stop’, ‘Metropolis’/‘Over You’,
‘Flamingo Road’, ‘Only The Strong Survive’,
‘Blood & Gasoline’, ‘Dangerous’,
‘Hard Day In Hell’, ‘Burning My Heart
Down’ and ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’,
with encores of ‘Frozen Heart’ (nurse, the
screens!!!), ‘Bad luck’ and ‘Feel Like
Making Love’.
P.S.
In yesterday’s televised draw, England were paired
with Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro in Group
G of the European Championship Qualifiers. That’s
kinda tough, I guess, but it could have been a lot worse.
There are just 122 days till the World Cup begins…
tic toc, tic toc. Can’t wait!!
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
7th February
Last night I was entertained by Todd Rundgren’s
Johnson. That’s not something you get to say too
often, unless of course you happen to be Mrs Rundgren.
Todd opted to be his own warm-up act for a UK premiere
of the 1973 album ‘A Wizard, A True Star’,
adding his own personal twist to ten Robert Johnson standards
that have been recorded for a new studio album which arrives
this year. Speaking in advance of the show, Todd had suggested
it would be “a theatricalisation rather than a note-perfect
performance of [‘AW,ATS’]”, and
that’s exactly what we got. For reasons that only
Rundgren will know, the original running order was messed
around with, transposing ‘When The Shit Hits The
Fan’/‘Sunset Blvd’ and ‘Le Feel
Internacìonále’ to the end of the
set proper. There were also numerous costume changes,
the singer/guitarist hamming it up as an astronaut, a
clown, a portly chef and a rocker in a shiny silver suit
- for pix go here.
In the gig’s early stages, as he pranced around
the stage using a microphone headset it all threatened
to become a little pantomime-esque, but backed by a band
that included a member of The Tubes (drummer Prairie Prince),
a Car (keyboard player Greg Hawkes) and the near-legendary
bassist Kasim Sulton, there was no denying the stellar
quality of the music. Although Rundgren is in his early
60s he went for every note and delivered each time. Being
at the Hammersmith Apollo to see such a historic show
felt like a real privilege. My one real problem was its
brevity – it’s excessive to charge £50
for a show that lasts for less than 70 minutes (exclusive
of the Robert Johnson segment). Anyway, here’s what
was played, starting with the Johnson set: ‘Dust
My Broom’, ‘Stop Breaking Down Blues’,
‘Walkin’ Blues’, ‘Love In Vain’,
‘Sweet Home Chicago’, ‘Red Hot’,
‘Come In My Kitchen’, ‘Hell Hound On
My Trail’, ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’
and ‘Crossroads’, followed by: ‘International
Feel (In 8)’, ‘Never Never Land’, ‘Tic
Tic Tic It Wears Off’, ‘You Need Your Head’,
‘Rock And Roll Pussy’, ‘Dogfight Giggle’,
‘You Don’t Have To Camp Around’, ‘Flamingo’,
‘Zen Archer’, ‘Just Another Onionhead’/‘Dada
Dali’, ‘Sometimes I Don’t Know What
to Feel’, ‘Does Anybody Love You?’,
Medley: ‘I’m So Proud’/‘Ooh Baby
Baby’/‘La La Means I Love You’/‘Cool
Jerk’, ‘Hungry For Love’, ‘I Don't
Want To Tie You Down’, ‘Is It My Name?’,
‘When The Shit Hits The Fan’/‘Sunset
Blvd’ and ‘Le Feel Internacìonále’
and a stirring, triumphant encore of ‘Just One Victory’.
Earlier
in the day, following a humiliating home defeat earlier
in the season, Crystal Palace exacted sweet revenge over
Scunthorpe United, a 93rd minute goal from Neil Danns
allowing the Eagles to leapfrog their opponents in the
table. But for the Rundgren gig I’d have been at
Glandford Park – a ground that remains on my ‘to
visit’ list. All the same, a third win in a week
is just what the doctor ordered.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
6th February
I’m
glad that John Terry was relieved of his captaincy of
the England football team. Terry might be very gifted
footballer but, from what I’ve read about him this
past week, he’s also a pretty rubbish human being.
I agree with former CPFC legend Ian Wright’s verdict
that this whole affair must teach him that “he breathes
the same air as us mortals”. Boss Fabio Capello
is known for a low tolerance threshold when it comes to
off the field indiscretions. Had he let off Terry with
a rap on the knuckles, I’m sure others besides myself
would’ve lost enormous respect for the England boss.
I do, however, dispute the logic of handing the armband
to deputy skipper Rio Ferdinand, whose own sins include
drunk-driving and an eight-month ban for ‘forgetting’
to turn up for a drugs test. Third-in-line, Steven Gerrard,
also has a charge sheet of his own. What a bunch of nauseating
ne’er-do-wells seems to play the beautiful game
these days. And before anyone points out the fact: It
speaks volumes of my own desperate hypocrisy that I shall
cheer their every last kick in South Africa this summer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
5th February
Martin
Turner’s manager Martin Darvill has been in contact
regarding my allegations of disrespect towards Turner’s
Wishbone Ash co-founder Andy Powell (see diary, 30th January).
Though it was conducted in a friendly bout of texting
that went on to talk about football, Leeds fan Darvill,
who also represents Uriah Heep, Asia, Emerson Lake &
Palmer, Focus and Curved Air among others, seemed mildly
perplexed, believing that I misinterpreted the situation.
“I’m sure MT had a glint in his eye when he
paused, but it was too dark to see the twinkle,”
suggests Darvill, whose own idea it was for Turner to
request a round of applause for the original line-up on
each night of this tour. Darvill assures me: “MT
has done this without the pause since the 100 Club.”
So now we know…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
4th February
Wow,
oh wow. My jaw remains slack, the dull buzzing in my ears
a reminder of last night’s Saint Vitus gig. Although
many of their records reside in my collection, I had never
seen the Californian doom-metal masters onstage before
– excusable, as despite reuniting in 2008 they’d
been absent from the UK for 20 years. With three members
of their best known line-up on board, namely guitarist
Dave Chandler, vocalist Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich
and bassist Mark Adams (the fresher-faced Henry Vasquez
filling the drum stool), demand for this one-off UK show
had been so huge they moved it to the Academy from my
least favourite London venue, the Scala. Chandler seemed
like quite a character and his between-song banter was
amusing. “These days there’s a whole bunch
of cute girls at our shows, it’s bizarre but we
love it,” grinned the wizened six-stringer, who
also dedicated ‘Clear Windowpane’ to Blue
Cheer’s late, great Dickie Peterson. Pace-wise,
the 80-minute display veered from the turbo-charged ‘White
Stallions’ to the deep, ominous, lumbering doom
of ‘The Troll’, which Chandler revealed was
being played on tour for the very first time. With members
of support crew Orange Goblin cavorting side-stage, the
two-song encore of ‘Dying Inside’ and ‘Born
Too Late’ was strung out for mesmerising 20 minutes
– a fantastic way to finish a stellar show. Here’s
the set-list: ‘Living Backwards’, ‘I
Bleed Black’, ‘Clear Windowpane’, ‘The
War Starter’, ‘Look Behind You’, ‘The
Troll’, ‘White Stallions’, ‘Mystic
Lady’ and ‘Saint Vitus’, with those
encores of ‘Dying Inside’ and ‘Born
Too Late’.
P.S.
I’ve updated the Playlist
and YouTube sections. Yes, yes,
yes… I know, this month’s Playlist should
probably have been sponsored by Frontiers Records, but
the fact remains they are releasing some quality stuff
right now.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
3rd February
It
was the type of night that doesn’t come along too
often in football. A cash-strapped second-tier side facing
Premier League opposition in an FA Cup Fourth Round Replay,
under the floodlights and with all the passion that such
encounters can provide. With defender Danny Butterfield
forced to play up front and the Selhurst faithful roaring
on their heroes, what happened next was a bit like a fairy
story. In the course of six glorious minutes, Butterfield,
who had scored a single goal in the past six seasons,
notched a ‘perfect’ striker’s hat-trick
(a left-foot shot, a right-foot shot and a header) to
secure a lucrative home tie with Premier League team Aston
Villa. For 90 minutes, a small corner of SE25 rang out
with drunken cries of ‘Cay sera sera, whatever will
be will be, we’re going to Wem-berley’, and
its newly revised equivalent (sung to the same tune):
Shaun Derry, Derry
He's better than Steve G
He's better than John Terry
Shaun Derry, Derry
A truly unforgettable experience. I’m so glad my
eldest lad Eddie, whose passion for the Eagles is growing
to rival my own, was there with me to savour the moment
instead of merely watching it on the box. Funnily enough,
this morning there were no emails from Glenn Hughes…
Hahaha!
P.S. Fair play to Cloven Hoof bassist Lee Payne, another
Wolves supporter, who sent a nice sporting message that
said: “Palace thoroughly deserve to be in the next
round, you even out-played us at Molineux, too.”
Top fella.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
2nd February
What
the buggering flip is going on with Aerosmith?! With its
eye-catching cover line of “We can’t wait
around for Steven” (a quote from Joe Perry), the
new issue of Classic Rock offers all sorts juicy tidbits
on the group’s current predicament, revealing how
they approached both Paul Rodgers and Bill Idol with a
view to becoming the group’s new frontman. Now,
on top of revelations
that Tyler auditioned to replace Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin,
the increasingly unpredictable singer’s solicitor
has sent the band a four-page letter calling for a meeting
of all ‘Aerosmith shareholders’ on February
9, effectively warning of legal action that could prevent
the band from continuing without him. To quote one of
the band’s own songs: Crazy.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
1st February
The
transfer window has slammed shut. Incredibly given Palace’s
fiscal plight, with defender Nathaniel Clyne spurning
an approach from Wolves and reserve goalie Darryl Flahavan
going out on loan to Oldham for the rest of the season,
the only player actually sold was wonder-kid Victor Moses,
whose own departure was very much expected (though, it
must be said, I envisaged him moving to a far better club
than Wigan, who are fast becoming a graveyard for unsuccessful
CPFC cast-offs). Call me a scaremonger but whilst I’m
ecstatic that the squad has stayed together, the financial
repercussions are terrifying. The administrators will
have sought to raise more than £2.5 mill. There
had better be a buyer in the wings or the club might not
last out for the rest of the season.
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