Sunday 31st July
The sun is setting after another scorching
hot day in south London. With the rest of Clan Ling at
a christening up in Manchester I’ve been here alone,
and my weekend is effectively done. So let’s see…
how many of my goals did I achieve? Mow the lawns at the
front and back of the house? Tick. Catch up on loads of
crap TV that had accumulated on the Sky+ over the past
fortnight? Tick. Eat healthily? Tick. Go running? Tick
(twice, in fact). Refrain from drinking? Well, kinda…
though I did sink some voddie and Diet Cokes a few in
the Crobar on Friday nite. Walk Bob The Dog? Tick. Watch
England take the upper hand in the Second Test? Tick (what
a nice sporting gesture of India’s captain Dhoni
to reinstate Bell after his controversial run-out). Do
the laundry and get it dried? Check. Dig out a load of
my old Machine Head interviews from a huge pile of copies
of RAW Magazine? Check. Review the new Dream Theater album,
‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’, for Metal Hammer?
Um… no. Didn’t quite manage that last one.
So I must prepare an early alarm call…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 29th January
My neck aches and I’ve got a hangover.
Last night Status Quo played at the Greenwich Summer Sessions,
an outdoor show in gloriously idyllic weather at the Old
Royal Naval College. It was good to catch up with my friend
Steve O’Connell over a few pre-gig jars; I was on
the Pimms – a lovely summer tipple. Promoting their
rockiest album in many a long year, ‘Quid Pro Quo’,
the band put on a fabulous, energetic and enthusiastic
display… I can’t recall the last time I saw
Rick Parfitt grin so much during a Quo gig. The three
new tracks (‘Rock ‘N’ Roll And You’,
‘Two Way Traffic’ and ‘Let’s Rock’)
were a good fit in a lively and engaging set. I could’ve
done without the drum solo and ‘In The Army Now’,
but ‘Living On Island’ is a bit of a guilty
pleasure of mine, and at least they didn’t play
‘Bu***ng Br***es’. In fact, I interpreted
the decision to encore with a ‘Creepin’ Up
On You’, a gritty, Parfitt-voiced rocker from ‘Heavy
Traffic’, as something of a statement of intent.
If there’s a High Voltage Festival next year, on
such revitalised form Quo must deserve a place on its
bill. Check out the set-list: ‘Caroline’,
‘Somethin’ ’Bout You Baby I Like’,
‘Rain’, ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll And
You’, Medley: ‘Mean Girl’/‘Softer
Ride’/‘Beginning Of The End’, ‘Two
Way Traffic’, Medley: ‘What You’re Proposin’’/‘Down
The Dustpipe’/‘Little Lady’/‘Red
Skies’/‘Dear John’/‘Big Fat Mama’,
‘The Oriental’, ‘Let’s Rock’,
‘Living On An Island’, ‘In The Army
Now’, Drum Solo, ‘Roll Over Lay Down’,
‘Down Down’, ‘Whatever You Want’
and ‘Rocking All Over The World’, with an
encore of ‘Creepin’ Up On You’ and Medley:
‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Music’/‘Bye
Bye Johnny’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 28th July
My pal Steve ‘No Relation’ Way
was outta town for last night’s Eagles Fitter Fans
session. I was a bit wary of going along alone, but I’m
glad that I did so. In the most challenging session so
far – this was Week Five; the weigh-in confirmed
I’d shed another 1lb (despite a weekend of excess
at High Voltage) – there was some keepball and circuit
training. The sweat was quite literally pouring off me;
I pitied my fellow passengers on the 75 bus back to Catford.
Never thought I’d say it but I am **loving** all
of this exercise…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 27th July
Although it was broadcast a few days ago I’ve
only just had the time to watch Gene $immons getting dumped
off Celebrity Apprentice USA. For the second week in a
row, $immons decided against attending the briefing by
the client, relying instead on his own God-given intuition.
Yes, you guessed it… Gene told Donald Trump –
the only man in the northern hemisphere with a more embarrassing
hairstyle than the God Of Blunder – that the boss
of Kodak was “wrong” when his campaign floundered.
By the end of their boardroom showdown I was cringing
behind the sofa… what an unspeakable oaf $immons
is.
During the evening, eldest son Eddie and I headed down
to Selhurst Park for Palace’s friendly with newly
promoted Norwich. Both clubs had put out strong sides.
It was a good, competitive game that looked to be heading
for a goalless draw till a clever pass put one of our
academy kids, Nathaniel Pinney, though on goal in a one-on-one.
Making it look all too easy, Pinney rounded the keeper
and slotted the ball into the net from a sharp angle.
The Eagles won 1-0. The point was clear: Boss Dougie Freedman
**must** give some of the club’s youngsters a chance
during the coming season. My friend Neil Pudney had got
us tickets in the Players’ Lounge, so once the final
whistle blew, we hung around for a short while. A grinning
Eddie got the autographs of Darren Ambrose, Nathaniel
Clyne, Owen Garvan and Wilfried Zaha… a hugely enjoyable
night.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 26th July
Though I was still walking around like a zombie
in a post-High Voltage comedown, last night I stuck to
my promise to go to the Borderline for a first sighting
of Canada-based guitarist/singer Philip Sayce. Dunno how
I managed it, but I’d got it into my head –
falsely – that the evening’s support act was
Joanne Shaw Taylor. The mistake was convenient as it allowed
myself and my two friends, Neil Pudney and Bruce Osborne,
to partake in what was billed as a “last-minute,
intimate show” from Rival Sons at our planned pre-gig
meeting point, the Crobar. I’d had my reservations
about the band on the Main Stage at High Voltage (see
Diary, July 24), but playing at ear-splitting volume in
the cramped environs of the Cro, they took on a whole
new vitality. What that says about them, I’m really
not sure. Are they destined to fall short of becoming
an arena rock headline act, only to become a bar band
? Time will tell, I guess, but as all those packed into
the Crobar will affirm, last night they rocked big-time.
Philip Sayce is a great artist, no doubt about it. A few
of the man’s albums lurk in my collection, and although
he is capable of playing with great soul and fragility
he wields his guitar like it was a machine gun. However,
last night’s show lasted for an endurance-challenging
two hours – the last third of which seemed largely
gratuitous. He left the stage and played his guitar among
the crowd, lavishly extending versions of songs that would’ve
sounded better in more concise form. An encore of Albert
King’s ‘As The Years Go Passing By’
was tremendous, but as the Borderline’s 11 o’clock
curfew came and went and Sayce played on… and on…
and on… eventually winding up at the venue’s
existence at 11.25pm, my patience and indeed my physical
ability to remain vertical were both being taxed to the
full. I’d like to see him again on another occasion,
but maybe not quite so soon after a trip to High Voltage.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 25th July
Gotta admit, the High Voltage Festival weekend
has left me utterly spent and exhausted. Arriving back
at Ling Towers in the early hours of this morning, I felt
like I’d done 12 rounds with Mike Tyson… but
what an utterly fantastic experience. Especially on the
Sunday, the music was so good that I didn’t feel
the need to go backstage – even once – with
one great band following another, each bathed in glorious
sunlight and washed down with lashings of cold cider.
And in my world it doesn’t get much better than
that.
Just like the Von Hertzens 24 hours earlier, Pallas
[8/10] surprised the early-birds by coming onstage before
billed – 10 minutes premature in this instance.
Focusing heavily on their excellent new album ‘XXV’,
a record that saw the Aberdonians shifts the emphasis
from neo-prog into territory carved by Rush, Deep Purple
and Porcupine Tree, they hit paydirt with ‘Falling
Down’ and ‘Monster’, the latter of which
lived up to its title, before closing with their best-known
song, ‘Eyes In The Night (Arrive Alive)’,
a track that for reasons known only by Pallas themselves
is increasingly overlooked these days.
Having relocated from Prog to the Hammer stage, before
the arrival of The Treatment [8/10] I made my friend
Andy Beare a money-back guarantee. “If you don’t
enjoy this band, I’ll buy you ten pints”,
I promised. Imagine the look of dismay on his face as,
within 30 seconds of their opener ‘Drink, Fuck Fight’
The Beare turned and mouthed the words: “Shit…
I love them”. So did the High Voltage crowd, which
grew in terms of both size and enthusiasm as the Cambridge
whippersnappers ran through their paces.
Due to conflicting schedules I only caught a little of
St Jude on the Main Stage, which was disappointing, but
with Herman ‘Ze German’ Rarebell supplying
the drums, a solo set from Michael Schenker [8/10]
provided one of day two’s biggest shocks. Michael
has done outstandingly well to revive his career after
an alcohol-fuelled meltdown that reached its nadir at
the Rock And Blues Custom Show in 2007, and in choosing
to focus on his UFO, the Scorpions and MSG years the guitarist
clearly knows which side his bread is buttered. There
was a reunion with his brother Rudolf on ‘Rock You
Like A Hurricane’, and various other luminaries
walked on and off, including ex-UFO bassist Pete Way and
his stripy trousers, Doogie White and Jeff Scott Soto,
which tended to lend a slightly haphazard feel, but fair
play to Schenker for a U-turn – or should that be
a Flying V-turn – which many (including myself)
felt was well and truly beyond him.
Rock music has few better frontmen than Danny Bowes, and
optimum booze consumption in tandem with the weekend’s
most dazzling sunshine meant that a one-off reunion appearance
from Thunder [9/10] was set up to perfection. As
the Londoners purred through a wondrously relaxed ‘best-of’
display that began with ‘Back Street Symphony’
and ended with ‘Dirty Love’, Bowes wrung every
last ounce of excitement from the audience. With guitarist
Luke Morley firmly committed to The Union, a little birdie
tells me that Bowes is keeping his eyes open for a new
musical venture. Whichever band offers him a job is onto
a dead-cert winner. But in the long-term, should Thunder
never perform live again it would be a travesty.
Pure sun-drenched salutation greeted a Special Guest slot
from Black Country Communion [9/10], whose bassist
Glenn Hughes set the tone for an inspired hour-long performance
by roaring: “I am a messenger, this is my prophecy”
during a riff-fuelled opening number, ‘Black Country’.
Unlike various other Deep Purple singers, Hughes still
retains a set of golden tonsils, and although the inclusion
of Joe Bonamassa’s ‘The Ballad Of John Henry’
and Purple’s own ‘Burn’ might suggest
otherwise, BCC are more than just the Hughes-Bonamassa
show. Much, much more…
Regrettably, the crowd thinned out noticeably for headliners
Dream Theater [9/10], though of course the veteran
US/Canadian band’s brand of expansive, elaborate
prog-metal was never destined to satisfy each and every
High Voltage attendee. As somebody fortune enough to have
heard DT’s Mike Portnoy-less comeback disc, ‘A
Dramatic Turn Of Events’ prior to its September
unveiling, I already had confidence that the band could
continue with ease, I just didn’t expect them to
be anywhere near **this** fantastic. Previewing just one
song, ‘On The Backs Of Angels’, over the duration
of a monumental two-hour set that was delivered with exquisite
texture and clarity, their new percussive engine, ex-Steve
Vai/Extreme drummer Mike Mangini, slotted into his role
with consummate, mechanical ease. It was a brilliant end
to a first-rate weekend that might even have pipped last
year’s event in quality terms.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 24th July
There’s just enough time for me to grab
40 winks, change my T-shirt from a Manowar 2011 garment
to a nice red number from Trapeze’s 1994 reunion
tour, and head back to High Voltage. Time’s short,
so here’s my somewhat truncated rundown of Day #1,
which began with the Von Hertzen Brothers [8/10]
on the Prog Stage. Commencing five minutes ahead of schedule,
which allowed them to play an extra song, the Finns got
the 2011 show underway with a head-turning display that
mixed deft arrangements, huge hooks and lightning bursts
of lead guitar with assured multi-part harmony vocals.
Suffice to say that my drinking buddy Andy Beare, who’d
never heard a note of the trio’s music, now has
all of their albums on his shopping list.
Despite the indignity of having been introduced by Lucio
of Planet Rock Radio, a prize plonker if ever I saw/heard
one, Skin [8/10] kept up the good work. Neville
MacDonald, whose hair is growing back at a rate of knots,
offered one of the best voices of the weekend, though
the lack of volume over at the Main Stage was a major
problem throughout the day.
Rival Sons [6/10] are up for two prizes at this
year’s Classic Rock Awards, and the California-based
retro-heads also sound great on record, but at High Voltage
there was something that just didn’t seem to sit
quite right. I took a drinks break during Queensrÿche’s
set, returning for a slick (but equally quiet) display
from Thin Lizzy [7/10]. Seriously, I’ve done
louder farts than the PA at this year’s HV, and
during Lizzy’s set – which saw Michael Monroe
join them to play the saxophone solo on ‘Dancing
In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight)’
– I almost became involved in fisticuffs with a
couple of young oiks who thought that was perfectly okay
to chatter away on their mobile phones whilst the rest
of us strained our ears to hear what was being played/sung.
I despair of these selfish friggin’ donuts…
Thanks to a loan of Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy,
Slash [8/10] enjoys the services of the best hard
rock singer in the business. Kennedy has a wristwatch,
too, which means that the show can actually be relied
upon to begin on time. There was a slight feeling of being
on auto-pilot for the top-hatted ex-Gunner, who was celebrating
his 46th birthday, but the place went bonkers when they
played ‘Nightrain’, 'Rocket Queen’ and
especially ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’.
Enabled by the sonics befitting a headline act (if you
get my drift…), headliners Judas Priest [7/10]
began well enough, with newcomer Richie Faulkner doing
such a superb Stars In Your Eyes-style impression of KK
Downing that the absentee guitarist was barely noticed
– and that’s high praise indeed. At the start,
Rob Halford was also in extremely fine voice, hitting
the right notes during an excellent version of ‘Starbreaker’,
though by the time the band reached ‘Blood Red Skies’
it was tailing off. I was also starting to do a convincing
impression of the world’s most drunken man, so The
Beare and I made our excuses and actually snuck out of
the gates during Halford’s interminable call and
response intro to ‘You Got Another Thing Coming’…
yes, you read that right – we left early. And I
don’t regret it at all.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 23rd July
The day has come at last – Classic Rock
and Metal Hammer’s own High
Voltage Festival! It rained overnight here in London;
let’s hope that’s the last of the wet weather
for at least 48 hours. I’m only reviewing one of
today’s bands (the Von Herzten Brothers on the Prog
stage), with most of my writing duties falling on the
Sunday. Hmmm… I wonder whether a libation or three
might possibly be in order?
Although Palace didn’t get the outcome I wanted,
last night’s trip to a pre-reason fixture with Crawley
Town was a lot of fun. The fiercely contested game finished
goalless, something that was due to the myriad changes
to both sides by their managers, though the Eagles’
new striker Glenn Murray, stolen during the summer from
arch rivals Broken & Homo Album, struck the woodwork
with an audacious second half shot after coming on an
a substitute, inspiring a raucous chorus of: “He
used to be gay/But now he’s okay/Walking in a Murray
Wonderland…” from the massed Eagles fans at
one end of the ground. I almost forgot how much I love
football!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 22nd July
Now that’s spooky. Yesterday, after reading
various complimentary online references from those privileged
to have heard the new Dream Theater album, I emailed the
band’s UK publicist to determine whether there were
any advance weblinks. “A watermarked promo will
be with you tomorrow,” pinged back Kirsten Sprinks
at Roadrunner Records. And it’s just dropped onto
the doormat, along with a finished copy of the Black Stone
Cherry album. Oh, happy days. Playing the DT album –
entitled ‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’ (due
September 12) – as I type this and I’m impressed.
Very impressed indeed… Better still, after several
seemingly endless days of rain, the sun is shining here
in the fair city of London, which bodes well for the weekend’s
High Voltage festival, an event that DT and their new
drummer Mike Mangini are to headline on Sunday night.
This evening, my eldest lad Eddie and I are off to our
first Crystal Palace pre-season friendly game (yes, football
is back… almost!). The Eagles travel to Crawley
Town, who 12 months ago shamefully turned us over 1-0
in a corresponding match. Crawley may have achieved promotion
to the football league in 2010/’11, but let us not
forget that CPFC had the handicap of being managed by
George Burley back then… tonight our revenge will
be claimed!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 21st July
I’d been toying with the notion of nipping
up to Nottingham Rock City for tonight’s High Voltage
warm-up from Skin and Thunder. However, today was also
my two lads’ final day at their current secondary
school and it didn’t seem fair to leave them alone.
So instead I conducted an enjoyable phone interview with
Deep Purple’s keyboard player Don Airey, whose new
solo album ‘All Out’ is rather good, and spent
another enjoyable couple of hours reviewing the new two-disc
Ronnie James Dio career anthology, ‘Mightier Than
The Sword’, for Metal Hammer. And talking of Hammer,
the magazine has released the details
of a long-awaited UK tour from Manowar, which includes
a gig at London’s Brixton Academy on November 5.
Hail and kill!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 20th July
My Tuesday afternoon was spent at London’s Air
Studios in a state of physical and aural intoxication,
caused jointly by dry white wine and a 5.1 playback of
Steven Wilson’s new solo album, ‘Grace For
Downing’. Frankly, my mind is becoming ever more
boggled by Wilson’s ability to compose and perform
so much music, and to such consistently high standards.
Due for release on September 26, ‘GFD’ lasts
for around 90 minutes and is spread liberally across two
discs. Tapping into prog, jazz and classical moods, it’s
different enough from SW’s solo debut ‘Insurgentes’
but sufficiently familiar to tick all of the usual boxes.
For the most part leisurely and unhurried (a little like
Opeth’s newie ‘Heritage’, which Wilson
mixed), save for rare exceptions such as the 23-minute
prog-jazz wig-out ‘Raider II’, it’s
the kind of album I can imagine listening to on my patio
over a pitcher or two of Pimms as the sun goes down.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 19th July
I cannot stop playing my watermarked promo
of the new Opeth album, ‘Heritage’. It’s
so bloody addictive. Cheers to my friend Gina Walters,
who I’ve reconnected with on Facebook after many
years, for sending this rather
silly photo of yours truly with Skin’s Myke
Gray. Myke still appears to be wearing his pyjamas, but
why on earth am I carrying a Duty Free carrier bag around
with me at Monsters Of Rock? Answers on a postcard…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 18th July
I was torn between staying in to watch the
final of The Apprentice and trekking across London for
Crimson’s Glory’s first UK gig in 22 years.
With the Floridian progressive metal band set to revisit
material from their first two albums (namely 1986’s
‘Crimson Glory’ and ’88’s ‘Transcendence’),
common sense prevailed. I arrived at the Underworld in
time for a support slot from Power Quest… and regretted
not going for a drink instead. The Anglo-Italian power
metal combo’s cause was hardly helped by a murky
sound mix but with the exception of one song – ‘Wings
Of Forever’ – I found them pretty uninspiring.
The four surviving classic-era members of Crimson Glory
took to the stage with a new vocalist, Todd La Torre,
taking the place of Midnight, who died in 2009, and in
party mood (it was rhythm guitarist Ben Jackson’s
birthday, after all). First time around many mocked the
quintet for their gimmick of wearing silver masks, but
the music they made back then has undoubtedly stood the
test of time. Doing a fine job on songs such as ‘Dragon
Lady’, ‘Lonely’ and the dramatic ‘Lost
Reflection’, La Torre proved an exceptional addition,
hitting the ozone-threatening notes once handled by his
illustrious predecessor as his colleagues rolled back
the decades to deliver an unexpectedly stunning performance.
The crowd might have been a little smaller than anticipated
but most in attendance knew every word, singing along
at the top of their voices. A fantastic night was had
by all. Here’s the set-list: ‘Mayday’,
‘Valhalla’, ‘Dragon Lady’, ‘Azrael’,
‘Queen Of The Masquerade’, ‘Lady Of
Winter’, ‘Where Dragons Rule’, ‘Painted
Skies’, ‘Masque Of The Red Death’, ‘In
Dark Places’, ‘Burning Bridges’, ‘Red
Sharks’, ‘Lost Reflection’, ‘Lonely’
and ‘Eternal World’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 17th July
This morning was spent playing my all-time
favourite Rush album, ‘Hemispheres’, which
I picked up last night for the bargain price of £3
at Fopp Records whilst en route to a few relaxing libations
at the Crobar. Glad to have it on CD a last. My well-worn
gatefold vinyl edition, which Geddy
Lee kindly signed when I interviewed him seven years
ago, can now take a well-earned retirement.
It’s mid-afternoon and I’m home from a lunch
with my mum and dad and my two sons, the last time that
the lads and their grandparents are likely to see each
another for quite some time given the imminent uprooting
of the rest of Clan Ling. Rather upsetting for all five
of us, but it went as well as could be expected.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 16th July
Well aware of my fanboy tendencies, William Luff in
the EMI Records press office has kindly sent the new Iron
Maiden anthology ‘From Fear To Eternity: The Best
Of 1990-2010’ on two different formats: A double
CD to play, and the triple-picture disc vinyl edition
to sit and gaze admiringly at. The arrival of the package
was most welcome; last night saw another ugly row with
my estranged spouse here at Ling Towers. The situation
is becoming intolerable.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 15th July
The running
times for next weekend’s High Voltage Festival
are up. On Saturday it looks like I shall be watching
the Von Hertzen Brothers opening up the Prog Stage, before
spending the rest of the day at the Main Stage, though
if humanly possible I’ll take quick peeks at Neal
Morse, Caravan and Electric Wizard. On Sunday, it’ll
be Pallas and The Enid at Prog, followed by Michael Schenker,
Thunder, Black Country Communion and headliners Dream
Theater.
I simply cannot stop playing ‘Mercury’s Down’,
the new solo album from Pride Of Lions singer Toby Hitchcock
(to be released via Frontiers on August 29), which is
lucky as I’m due to do a phone interview with him
over the coming weekend. Having re-discovered it hidden
under a pile of pesky bank statements, I’ve also
had ‘Rock For Japan’ on heavy repeat. It’s
a double-disc released by AOR Heaven Records which features
rare and unreleased material from 44 mostly great acts,
including FM, Dan Reed, Fiona, Legs Diamond, Mitch Malloy,
Tony Harnell, House Of Lords and many, many more. With
profits going to relief for the Japanese earthquake, tsunami
and nuclear crises, it’s well worth picking up.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 14th July
I’ve been a Dr Feelgood fan for many,
many years, the band’s 1979 live album ‘As
It Happens’ having been among my very first vinyl
purchases. So the chance to conduct a phone interview
with Wilko Johnson, the wide-eyed, über-eccentric
former guitarist that stole the show so dramatically in
Oil City Confidential; Julien Temple’s full-length
feature film documentary about the Feelgoods, was pretty
exciting. Wilko, who tours the UK in September, didn’t
disappoint. Sounding brilliantly incoherent – seriously,
he made Pete Way sound like somebody’s life coach!
– he detailed the utter bafflement he felt not only
at securing his first major TV role as Royal Executioner
Ser Illyn Payne in HBO’s fantasy series Game Of
Thrones, but at life in general. When I asked Johnson
what the rest of 2011 might hold for him, he simply shrugged:
“Oh I don’t know anything, mate. Honestly,
I haven’t a clue. The car turns up [each morning]
and I get in it and ask: ‘Alright then, where are
we going?’” Brilliant…
Last night was spent at my beloved Selhurst Park, kicking
a ball around and undertaking various forms of physical
exercise – some of which must have looked extremely
camp! – as part of week three of Eagles Fitter fans,
CPFC’s men’s health initiative. Steve ‘No
Relation’ Way and I came through it all unscathed,
and both of us were happy to discover that 4lbs apiece
had been shed since last week.
I bought some tickets from the box office for Palace’s
opening fixture of the season, away at Peterborough United
on August 6. The game takes place a week before my ex-missus
and my two young sons up sticks and head for their new
life in Manchester, so my eldest lad Eddie is going to
join me. Regrettably, with everything up in the air at
Ling Towers in a domestic sense, the Peterborough jaunt
looks likely to be our last awayday together for quite
a while.
Gahhh! Whilst I was training at Selhurst, over at Shepherd’s
Bush Empire Sir James Of Page was making a guest appearance
with The Black Crowes, joining them for an encore rendition
of ‘Shake Your Money Maker’. There’s
some fantastic YouTube footage here.
P.S. I’m hearing a bizarre (and so far unconfirmed)
rumour that Thunder will be opening for Skin at Nottingham
Rock City a week today, on July 21, as a warm-up for the
High Voltage Festival. Hmmm... should it turn out to be
true, I wonder whether I can get myself up there...?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 13th July
Well, it wasn’t easy but I managed to
conduct a phone interview with Stefano Lionetti. For all
his talents as a songwriter, singer, guitarist and guiding
light of Lionville,
an excellent pure-AOR project whose self-titled debut
has been receiving amazing reviews, Genoa-born Lionetti
felt that his grasp of the English language was insufficient
to conduct a free-flowing conversation, but with a little
help from his brother Alessandro, who co-wrote some of
the music and helped to piece together the album, we muddled
our way through. Stefano’s English is much better
than my Italian, put it that way. I also had a lively
conversation with Matt Oliver, the drummer of UK hard
rockers Jettblack, who are about go out on tour with White
Wizzard. Their single and video song ‘Two
Hot Girls’ is highly recommended.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 12th July
An hour of my Monday afternoon was spent in a London
recording studio in the company of my Classic Rock colleagues
Jerry Ewing and Dave Everley and Metal Hammer's Jonathan
Selzer. Roadrunner Records had organised a 5.1 surround
playback of Opeth's new album, 'Heritage' (which drops
on September 19th).
The band's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson
were also in attendance. I was extremely impressed by
what I heard. In the wake of 2008's 'Watershed', which
I personally considered their best album so far (beating
the celebrated 'Blackwater Park' by a hair's breadth),
the band have followed a logical path, shedding the death
metal growls of old and pursuing a more laid back and
experimental style of music. It will be fascinating to
see what their fans make of 'Heritage', which was mixed
by Steven Wilson and comes in a sleeve that could have
been designed for Harvest Records in the 1970s, even including
some rhythmic passages from former Weather Report drummer
Alex Acuña, but it definitely gets the thumbs-up
from me.
As we prepared to exit, Åkerfeldt confided that
the band will be touring the UK in November. The itinerary
has just been announced and their date at London's Brixton
Academy is already noted down in the diary - annoyingly,
it clashes with two other gigs (Steve Hackett and Peter
Frampton's '...Comes Alive' anniversary bash) on November
13, but them's the breaks.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 11th July
Regrettably, those rumours of Würzel’s
demise are true. I’m told that he died of a heart
attack, with a beer in his hand. Though we hadn’t
crossed paths in ages I had plenty of cool dealings with
Würzel during the 1990s, including one particular
very pleasant afternoon spent balancing on bar stools
in an establishment at the bottom of Carnaby Street (“It’s
your birthday? We’re going to the pub now!”).
It was Würzel that introduced me and various other
boozers on RAW magazine to the delights of the ‘depth
charge’, a pint of cinder with a shot glass containing
Cointreau dropped into it, and I still treasure a superb
business card that he once gave me – it’s
been stuck on pin board of my office ever since. Würzel,
RIP.
My friend Andy Beare and I returned to the Sonisphere
festival for its final day. We had a great time but the
event’s so-called clash-free running order was to
prove exasperating. We only wanted to see three bands
and each, with the exception of Opeth, overran and/or
started late, causing us to miss the beginning or the
end of a set. Aussie rockers Airbourne
displayed an amazing energy that was completely contagious,
and everyone held their breath as frontman Joel O’Keeffe
(complete with guitar) drunkenly ascended a ladder to
strut his stuff atop the Saturn Stage during an extended
‘Blackjack’. Annoyingly, we had to dash across
the field as they began their last number, ‘Stand
Up For Rock ‘N’ Roll’, but my…
Airbourne got the crowd buzzing.
With hindsight, Motörhead might
have been better off cancelling their slot at Sonisphere.
Lemmy had begun things with a lovely speech in honour
of Würzel, dedicating “this entire set and
the rest of our lives” to his fallen band-mate,
but he appeared visibly inebriated, leaving many of the
song introductions to guitarist Phil Campbell, and there
were times when the performance threatened to fall apart
at the seams. Obviously, there were mitigating circumstances
and they got through it okay, I suppose, but their part
of the event was very disappointing given the group’s
usual high standards.
Missing the last few minutes of ‘Overkill’
(grrrrrr…), we dashed back to the Saturn Stage,
arriving just as Opeth hit the opening
chords to ‘The Grand Conjuration’. Performing
in descending twilight and with a surprisingly good sound,
the band ran through just four other tunes (‘Face
Of Melinda’, ‘The Lotus Eater’, ‘Master’s
Apprentices’ and a delicious ‘Hex Omega’)
during their allotted 50 minutes. The first few specks
of rain began fall as their performance ended, and despite
having intended to hang around for comedian Bill Bailey,
the thought of standing through a set from Flaccid Digestive…
sorry, Limp Bizkit… during a downpour was too much
to take. So I bought a bottle of chilled dry white wine
at an off license on the way home and we blasted the promos
of excellent new albums from Work Of Art and Sebastian
Bach whilst London-bound, toasting the memory of Würzel
along the way.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 10th July
Just for once I had a leisurely Saturday. In
between bouts of tape transcription I took my son Eddie
to his tenpin bowling club in the morning and watched
some of the final one-day cricket game between England-Sri
Lanka, which Alistair Cook’s men needed to win in
order to claim the series. It reached an exciting conclusion
in England’s favour with final flurry of wickets…
to the people that say cricket is dull: Try watching it!!
After a great day out at Sonisphere on Friday, my friend
Andy Beare and I have decided that we will most probably
go back again today (Sunday). Our passes are valid for
the weekend, so why not? Motörhead, Opeth and Airbourne
are all playing and if the weather holds we might even
hang around to watch Bill Bailey.
[Edit: As I prepared to hit the sack, there were some
worrying but unconfirmed rumours that former Motörhead
guitarist ‘Würzel’ (real name: Michael
Burston) has died at the age of 61. Should this be true,
and I hope it isn’t, watching Motörhead at
Sonisphere will be an extremely emotional experience.]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 9th July
Amazingly, my waterproof gear wasn’t
needed for the trip to the Sonisphere Festival. Apart
from a few drops of rain the threatened showers stayed
at bay. My friend Andy Beare and I blazed up the M1 to
Knebworth Park and back to a soundtrack of Terraplane’s
‘The Singles Anthology’, the new Airrace album
‘Back To The Start’ and an advance promo of
Leslie West’s excellent ‘Unusual Suspects’
(due on September 19), collecting our passes and finding
a place in the rapidly growing throng just in time for
Diamond Head. I was a little nervous
for Brian Tatler, a guy I’ve known and liked for
many years and who was thoroughly deserving of the opportunity
to play for The Big Four’s audience. Wisely, the
band included four songs previously covered by Metallica
(‘It’s Electric’, ‘The Prince’,
‘Helpless’ and ‘Am I Evil?’) and
although they were forced to truncate a few things to
shoehorn everything into thirty minutes alongside ‘Sucking
My Love’ and the post-Sean Harris track ‘Give
It to Me’, they merited and received a warm reaction.
With Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser depping for new
parent Scott Ian, and getting to perform a snippet of
his band’s ‘Refuse/Resist’ as a warm-up
for ‘I Am The Law’, Anthrax
started well but tailed off a little when Joey Belladonna’s
voice began to falter. Having strayed too close to the
front, Andy and I were caught in a mosh during the song
of the same name, but ‘Madhouse', ‘Antisocial’
and ‘Indians’ really fired up the crowd. A
new song called ‘Fight ’Em Till You Can’t’
bodes well for the band’s new album. However Belladonna
wasn’t so great on ‘Only’, voiced originally
by John Bush, and his singing was way out of tune during
‘I Am The Law’, which didn’t help.
It was good to see David Ellefson back in Megadeth,
whose pumped-up display was an absolute joy to behold.
When the band hit a groove and those guitar solos begin
to fly, as witnessed in ‘Hangar 18’ and ‘Holy
Wars... The Punishment Due’, they are truly unsurpassed
in their field. Was it just me, or did Dave Mustaine –
normally the picture of sullen concentration – appear
to be enjoying himself? Besides a convincing ‘best-of’
set – ‘Trust’, ‘In My Darkest
Hour’, ‘Wake Up Dead’, ‘Hangar
18’, ‘Poison Was the Cure’, ‘Sweating
Bullets’, ‘Head Crusher’, ‘A Tout
Le Monde’, ‘Symphony Of Destruction’,
‘Peace Sells’ and ‘Holy Wars...’
– Megadeth previewed a new song called ‘Public
Enemy No 1’, setting themselves up as the band to
beat.
Despite the fact that Gary Holt from Exodus was filling
in for absentee guitarist Jeff Hanneman, Slayer
were able to turn in a solid eight out of ten performance,
mixing classics like ‘War Ensemble’, ‘Dead
Skin Mask’, ‘Seasons In The Abyss’,
‘Mandatory Suicide’, ‘Chemical Warfare’,
‘Raining Blood’ and ‘Angel Of Death’
with newer material such as ‘Snuff’ and ‘Hate
Worldwide’. They’ve become a little like Motörhead:
a no-brainer for late-afternoon festival spots, but for
me they paled in comparison to Megadeth.
Dating back to a gig at London’s Marquee in March
1984, I’ve seen Metallica on many,
many previous occasions. They rarely, if ever, disappoint
and last night was no exception. To the band’s great
credit they tapped the spirit of these Big Four shows
by focussing on the classic era of thrash-metal, including
just one track from current release ‘Death Magnetic’
(‘All Nightmare Long’) and even ignoring their
huge hit ‘Nothing Else Natters’ in favour
of a blitzkrieg of molten riffs and snare-drum mutilation
to concentrate on the group’s first four albums.
As hoped, musicians from all four bands plus Diamond Head
gathered together for an encore jam through ‘Am
I Evil?’, and I felt a wave of pride for the song’s
co-composer when Lars Ulrich announced: “If it wasn’t
for Brian Tatler, there’s a pretty good chance none
of us would be here tonight.” It was a monster metal
moment, make no mistake. Here’s the ’Tallica
set-list: ‘Hit The Lights’, ‘Master
Of Puppets’, ‘The Shortest Straw’, ‘Seek
& Destroy’, ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’,
‘Ride The Lightning’, ‘The Memory Remains’,
‘All Nightmare Long’, ‘Sad But True’,
‘The Call Of Ktulu’, ‘One’, ‘For
Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Blackened’, ‘Fade
To Black’ and ‘Enter Sandman’’,
plus ‘Am I Evil?’, ‘Battery’ and
‘Creeping Death’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 8th July
Awoke to the pitter-patter of steady rain against
the bedroom window. As I type, it’s becoming a torrential
downpour. Bollocks… am off to the Sonisphere festival
in just a few hours. It will be a complete mud pit. Will
have to dig out my oldest and most disposable pair of
trainers and some bin-liners to double as some kind of
waterproof garment; the disapproval of the weather gods
will not prevent me from a unique opportunity to see The
Big Four (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax) and Diamond
Head.
Some cheerier news: Uriah Heep have announced a string
of ten UK dates in December. Besides my favourite London
venue, Shepherd’s Bush Empire on December 8, I’ll
do my best to attend the shows in Milton Keynes and Br***ton.
As Mick Box is prone to saying: “’Appy daze!”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 7th July
The thought of heading down to Selhurst Park,
AKA the home of football, for the first night of physical
training for CPFC’s Eagles Fitter Fans programme
had made me slightly nervous. Physically speaking I’m
the best I’ve been in years, but my ability as a
footballer leaves plenty to be desired. Apart from park
kickarounds with my two sons, the last time I played with
any kind of competitive spirit was at my most porksome
during the 1990s as part of a music journalists vs Deep
Purple match in Germany circa the ‘Slaves And Masters’
album. Luckily, the actual ball skills training begins
with some five-a-sides next week. In fact, Steve ‘No
Relation’ Way and I were two of the fittest in attendance.
The sit-ups were bit iffy after my back troubles of last
December, and the work with the skipping ropes probably
made us look like a right pair of benders, but we sailed
through just about everything else. And, given my domestic
situation, the donning of the boxing gloves was extremely
therapeutic!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 6th July
I was a little disappointed by last night’s
gig from Warren Haynes, which took place at Shepherd’s
Bush Empire. Don’t get me wrong, the Gov’t
Mule/Allman Brothers guitarist has made a thoroughly excellent
solo album in ‘Man In Motion’, but over the
course of almost two and a half hours the combination
of extended jamming sections – I’m pretty
sure he played just four songs in the first 40 minutes
– and the style of the backing musicians, which
comprised of four black instrumental players (including
a prominent saxophonist that was presumably being paid
by the note) and chick backing singer, took its toll.
When the show was good (the new album’s ‘River's
Gonna Rise’, a version of Hendrix’s ‘Spanish
Castle Magic’ and a delicious encore of ‘Soulshine’)
it was excellent, but call me Mr Niave for having expected
rock ‘n’ blues with a dollop of creamy soul…
and not the other way around. Here’s the set-list:
‘Man In Motion’, ‘River’s Gonna
Rise’, ‘Sick Of My Shadow’, ‘Your
Wildest Dreams’, ‘On A Real Lonely Night’,
‘Spanish Castle Magic’, ‘Invisible’,
‘Old Friend’, ‘Indian Sunset Play’,
‘Forevermore Railroad Boy’, ‘A Change
Is Gonna Come’, ‘Fire In The Kitchen’,
‘Hattiesburg Hustle’ and ‘Tear Me Down’,
followed by ‘Soulshine’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 5th July
Hmmm…. I’ve managed to accumulate
more than 200 ‘friends’ at my Facebook site
in less than three days. To re-iterate: If I don’t
already know you, I can’t add ya… sorry, no
disrespect intended but there are only so many hours in
the day and the confirmation process is driving me bonkers.
What really winds me up the most is people that think
it’s artsy or clever to use an esoteric shot of
one of their kids, or of a cow in a field, as a profile
photo. I don’t have the time to click around your
page in a bid find out whether we met in the bar at Monsters
Of Rock in 1988. It’s straight to the ‘reject’
bin, I’m afraid…
The third issue of Classic Rock Presents AOR has arrived.
Neil Jeffries’ cover story on the making of Foreigner’s
‘4’ looks good, and my own interviews with
Chicago, Airrace and Richard Marx are all present ‘n’
correct. That’s wonderful news; I can afford to
eat again this month. To order a copy, go here.
Just been playing a new double-CD anthology from The Pirates
called ‘Shakin’ With The Devil: 1977-79’,
which is terrific. I’ve also spent a little time
getting to know the second Back Country Communion album.
The consensus of the reviewers was right; it’s a
grower. I was a little harsh in my initial dismissal of
it. I shall stay behind after school and write 200 lines:
‘I won’t be such a complete and utter pillock
in future. Honest’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 4th July
Brilliant news – Lizzy Borden have added
a London gig in December, taking place 24 hours before
the band’s spot at Hard Rock Hell. I’ve been
a fan of the veteran US glam-rockers for many years, their
‘Visual Lies’ album being something of a personal
fave, and it was fabulous to see them play an excellent
slot at Sweden Rock in 2008. Now I get to witness them
again in a club for the first time since they did the
‘old’ Marquee in Wardour Street during mid-1987
– great!
There are strong rumours that Shaun Derry, who quit Crystal
Palace for QP-Hahaha, is to return for a third spell at
Selhurst Park… great news, if true. And former loanee
Kagisho Dikgacoi, known more succinctly as KG, has signed
a deal that ties him to the Eagles for the next three
years. Progress at last…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 3rd July
Well, my birthday offered more ups ‘n’
downs than the proverbial whore’s undergarment.
Accompanying my eldest son Eddie to his school fête
was a bit of an upsetting experience. My two lads have
both been very happy there, but with the rest of the family
due to uproot to Manchester in time for the new term in
September, I felt a bit weepy in walking out of its gates
for the final time (for me, at least; Eddie and Arnie
still have around two weeks before the summer break).
My new Facebook
page is threatening to spiral out of control. I find myself
with more than 100 ‘friends’ in less than
24 hours. Consequently, there’s a rule: If we’ve
not met before, or you are not a business associate of
some kind then I can’t add you. Otherwise things
are just gonna get unwieldy. Sorry. However, it’s
been great to catch up with so many folks from my past.
I was happy that my friend Lindsay sent a great
photo that he took at this summer’s Download
Festival featuring yours truly with Bob Catley from Magnum.
Jules Millis of fast-rising Melbourne-based melodic rockers
White Widdow also sent a shot
of us together at last year’s Firefest.
During the evening I headed into central London. Some
24 hours earlier it had been the birthday of The Treatment’s
Dhani Mansworth – the drummer had turned 18 (sickeningly
young!) – and a gang of people were celebrating
in the Montagu Pike, a Tottenham Court Road public house
that now occupies the site of the Marquee Club. I nipped
into Fopp Records and treated myself to the re-mastered
CD of Rush’s ‘Caress Of Steel’…
a bargain at three quid… and took root in the Crobar,
where as the Montague revellers (including Dhani’s
dad Laurie, of Airrace, and that band’s singer Keith
Murrell) spilled in and out during the course of the evening,
all sorts of booze-fuelled tomfoolery ensued. Am paying
the price for it this morning, but what a fantastic night!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 2nd July
I’m not doing any work today as it’s
my birthday (sorry, no clues re: the number concerned).
I’ve just been watching the ‘Live At Reading’
DVD from 1982 that accompanies the new re-issue of Twisted
Sister’s ‘Under The Blade’ on Armoury
Records. It’s ‘kin excellent. My eyes moistened
a little during the final part, when the band are joined
by Lemmy, ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and Pete Way
to administer a sound thrashing to the Rolling Stones
anthem ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll
(But I Like It)’. For those of us that were in the
crowd that day – check out these photos with Messrs
Snider, Mendoza
and Way – the footage stands as a real time-piece
of a long-gone era.
I was thrilled to receive a pressie from my old mate Robert
Fields, who stumbled upon a dusty, hard-backed tome entitled
Joseph Paxton And The Crystal Palace in a Glaswegian book
store and thought of yours truly. Most kind. Given that
it later lent its name to the greatest football club in
the world I’ve often wondered about the beautiful
building made of glass, destroyed by fire in 1936, the
basic structure of which survives in the grounds in the
park of the same. This will be an interesting read. I’m
currently wading through a hefty tome on the band Steely
Dan by the US writer Brian Sweet, but it’s on the
bedside table and will be up next!!
Well, I’ve caved in under pressure exerted by a
few American friends, mainly from Charrie Foglio and Caroline
Gibbons, to get myself a Facebook
page. Am not completely sure whether I like it or
not, though being on there is certainly very addictive.
There are also a few pitfalls. The 'Phil Mogg' page is
run by someone who is passing himself off as UFO's Phil
Mogg for some strange reason - and certainly without any
endorsement from Phil himself. Pete Way’s is diverted
to an Oddbins off license (only kidding). And the respective
mailboxes of Kip Winger and Dan Reed were both too over-subscribed
to accept me as a Friend… boo, hiss! However, I
did get a laugh from an indignant tweet by Steve Way –
with whom I am attending the CPFC Fitter Fans project
(see Diary, Thursday) – that reads: ‘First
session at Crystal Palace FC is done: ten more weeks more
to go... shit-dave ling weighs less than me.” Brilliant!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 1st July
Last night I took my eldest lad Eddie over
to Wembley, where we attended the filming of one of his
favourite TV shows, The Cube, presented by Philip Schofield.
We’d been once before, but this time there was much
more excitement involved as a nurse from Newcastle pitted
her wits against the many evils thrown at her by the show’s
vindictive spheroid star.
Bowling up unsuspectingly at Wembley Park tube, I’d
forgotten that Take That were playing a gig at the Stadium.
The place had turned into a real-life Cougar Town. Most
agreeable, LOL!
P.S. Look out for monthly updates at the Playlist
and YouTube pages. In anticipation
of my birthday, which is tomorrow, as a treat my webmistress
has also re-designed the site’s front
page, which I think looks bloody superb!
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