Thursday 30th June
Steve ‘No Relation’ Way and I enjoyed
the induction evening of Eagles Fitter Fans, but having
managed to shed two stone since the news of my divorce
I fear I might’ve peaked too early; there’s
a prize of an autographed, framed CPFC shirt for the participant
that manages to lose the most weight. No matter, weighing
in at 11 stone eight, my primary goal is no longer weight
loss, more to do with finding a lifestyle that allows
me to keep it off. The indoor part of the course takes
place in a classroom hidden away in Selhurst Park’s
Main Stand, a place I didn’t even know existed.
Having arrived a little early, Steve and I wandered around
the ground before the course began and took some photos
of one another in the home dugout… great fun. Next
week the hard work begins.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 29th June
Having eaten way too much junk food over the
past 24 hours and supped enough Pimms to fill a small
bathtub, it’s fortuitous that today marks the beginning
of stage three of Crystal Palace’s Eagles Fitter
Fans programme, a ten-week initiative held at the Selhurst
Park Study Centre that allows its participants to train
like the players to lose weight, learn about physical
techniques for getting fit and also about diet and nutrition.
The first two groups managed to lose a total of 352lbs
between them, so far, which is the equivalent of just
over 25 stone. So I’m told, the final week is taken
up by an eleven-a-side game on the hallowed Selhurst turf.
There’s also an opportunity to meet CPFC legends
and current players in Q & A sessions… I can’t
wait. Tonight is an induction-only evening, presumably
some kind of weigh-in, so I’ve just been out for
a run to burn off a little of the post-Oval… er…
ovalness.
P.S. I’m relieved that Ace Frehley has added a London
gig to his schedule in December as I’ve just realised
that the ex-Kiss guitarist’s spot at the Hard Rock
Hell clashes with the Eagles’ home game with Derby
County. The thought of missing the Spaceman performing
his 1978 solo album in its entirety would’ve been
too awful to consider.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 28th June
It’s getting late and I’m just home from
a rain-interrupted yet thoroughly enjoyable day’s
play at The Oval. I’d already bought tickets to
the 50-over game between England and Sri Lanka, but when
the future ex-wife happened to win a pair worth £67
apiece, I decided to flog mine and take eldest son Eddie
to his first live experience of leather on willow. The
weather gods did their best to scupper the day, delaying
the game’s start and eventually reducing things
to 32 overs apiece after a mid-afternoon deluge that saw
yours truly take root in the bar, sinking one ice-cold
Pimms and lemonade after another.
The game?!? Oh yeah… the game. England thrashed
the tourists in the first fixture of the series, taking
several breathtaking catches and courtesy of some exemplary
bowling (notably from Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann).
The final margin of victory, 110 runs, flattered Sri Lanka,
who at one point were reeling at 15-4. It was a great
way for Eddie to have broken his duck, and I’m sure
we’ll go again…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 27th June
Steve Lukather must be a happy man. Several
months ago the Toto guitarist told me of a strong desire
to erase the memory of a disappointing display from his
band Toto at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in February
’05 through the performance of a bigger and better
show at the same venue. “With that final incarnation
[of the band], Bobby [Kimball] was really struggling vocally,”
he said, before adding: “At Hammersmith there were
technical problems and it was hard to listen to the some
of the vocals.”
Well, last night Toto laid to rest the ghost of that piss-poor
display. With Joseph Williams having replaced Kimball
at the mic, they played a slick and deeply satisfying
two hour-show, enhanced by perfect sound and great lighting.
Lukather seemed to be having the time of his life, even
introducing the band twice. This might have been due to
embarrassing a few people on the stage with an exuberant
declaration that Williams, who is the son of the Star
Wars musical creator John, was “the only person
ever to have seen the inside of John Williams’ penis.”
Nevertheless, Joseph was in fine voice, and as Toto cruised
through such aural delights as ‘Pamela’ and
‘Stop Loving You’ I swear that the earth almost
moved. It was even possible to forgive them a slightly
gratuitous version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Human
Nature’.
Here’s the full list of what was played: ‘Child’s
Anthem’, ‘Till The End’, ‘Afraid
Of Love’, ‘Lovers In The Night’, ‘Somewhere
Tonight’ (including Bob Marley’s ‘No
Woman No Cry’), ‘Pamela’, the rarely
performed ‘Lea’, ‘Gift Of Faith’,
Keyboard Solos, ‘Africa’, ‘Human Nature’,
‘Rosanna’, ‘Georgy Porgy’, ‘Stop
Loving You’ and ‘Home Of The Brave’,
with an encore of the perennial ‘Hold The Line’.
Check out Jason Ritchie’s similarly glowing review
of the show here.
[Edit: One more thing I’ve just recalled about
the Toto gig: Such was the enthusiasm of certain participants,
it contained some of the most horrendously unforgiveable
dad-dancing that I’ve ever witnessed. David Paich
and Williams were so animated, so rhythmically uncoordinated,
they made Thunder’s Danny Bowes look like John Travolta].
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 26th June
An appreciation of late night’s London
gig from Cinderella was wholly dependent upon a keenness
to worship at the altar, or conversely how much one wanted
singer Tom Keifer to have succeeded. Keifer has undoubtedly
been through the wringer these past few years, undergoing
six surgeries to restore his once-proud voice and effectively
having to re-teach himself how to sing. So nobody was
too surprised when Cinderella performed for only around
an hour and ten minutes. Shepherd’s Bush Empire
went absolutely bonkers from start to finish, but I’m
afraid I didn’t really share the enthusiasm of the
diehards. Though the band – comprising the classic-era
members guitarist Jeff LaBar, bassist Eric Brittingham
and drummer Fred Coury – were water-tight, and of
course there were obvious mitigating circumstances for
Keifer’s heroic though sometimes below-par display,
a 6/10 performance must remain a 6/10 performance. Here’s
the set-list: ‘Once Around The Ride’, ‘Shake
Me’, ‘Heartbreak Station’, ‘Somebody
Save Me’, ‘Night Songs’, ‘The
More Things Change’, ‘Coming Home’,
‘Second Wind’, ‘Don’t Know What
You Got (Till It’s Gone)’, ‘Nobody’s
Fool’ and ‘Gypsy Road’, followed by
‘Long Cold Winter’ and ‘Shelter Me’.
Following the show my friend Andy Beare and I ended up
in – of all places – the St Moritz Club, a
Wardour Street after-hours watering hole often frequented
after nights out at the ‘old’ Marquee Club.
Having spent so much time (and money!) there during the
1980s and ’90s and been absent from the place for
so long, it was a slightly surreal and disconcerting experience.
But that didn’t stop us from staying till they threw
us out at gone 3am!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 25th June
Prior to today’s phone interview with
their guitarist/keyboard player Robert Säll, I’ve
spent a great deal of time getting to know the second
album from Swedish melodic rockers Work
Of Art. Titled ‘In Progress’ due to its
lengthy and complex period of gestation and set to be
released by Frontiers Records on August 26m it’s
an absolute monster. Seriously… you won’t
hear a better AOR song than ‘The Rain’ all
year.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 24th June
Having passed it several times by car and promised
myself that someday I’d make the time to take a
closer look, I finally got a better view of London’s
newly built Olympic Stadium. I was doing an interview
with the band Vega
at a photo studio nearby, so made a point of arriving
there nice ‘n’ early. It looks extremely imposing
– but then at cost of £537 million, so it
should.
After the interview with Vega, which went extremely
well, it was over to the Islington Academy for Night Ranger’s
first UK show since 1985 (when they supported Foreigner
at Wembley Arena). Thanks to the UK’s customs officers
who detained the band for seven hours, the group’s
delayed arrival at the venue set off a whole chain of
annoying events. The show ran late, support act Airrace
were nearly bumped from the bill and there was a good
deal of grumpiness in the air (certainly from yours truly,
who was still stuck outside the Academy mere minutes before
Airrace began thanks to the Frontiers Records guest list
turning up late).
Hampered by all sorts of sound issues and with Leon Lawson,
probably best known for having played with Praying Mantis,
depping for regular keys player Chris Williams, Airrace
have played better gigs. Taking the stage without a soundcheck
and forced to trim their set to 30 minutes, the band were
limited to just seven songs (‘Two Of A Kind’,
‘Don’t Lose Yourself’, ‘Open Your
Eyes’, ‘Promise To Call’, ‘First
One Over The Line’, ‘You’d Better Believe
It’ and ‘Brief Encounter’) but the packed
crowd warmed to them once the balance levels were sorted
and the annoying clicks and pops dropped out of the PA.
An interview with bassist Jack Blades in the new issue
of Fireworks magazine had suggested that Night Ranger
might play for two hours at this extremely rare UK appearance.
Its circumstances killed that idea stone dead, and following
a lengthy changeover by the time the band took the stage
at 9.25pm the audience’s annoyance was threatening
to boil over. Fortunately, a fabulous performance from
the headliners quelled the mood. I could’ve done
without the various solo spots or the inclusion of an
acoustic song (‘LA No Name’) that only appears
on the US band’s new record, ‘Somewhere In
California’, the puzzling addition of snippets from
‘Hotel California’ and ‘Highway Star’
also serving to distract from the genius of one the night’s
finest songs (‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’),
but my… what a performance and what a reaction.
After the final chords of ‘Sing Me Away’ rang
out, the Academy stood and bellowed its unanimous approval.
Blades is a wonderful, engaging frontman and I, for one,
was thrilled by Night Ranger’s performance of the
Damn Yankees classic ‘Coming Of Age’, though
when Blades mentioned his name during its introduction
there was brief but genuine fear that he would announce:
“And here’s tonight’s special guest,
Ted Nugent…”.
Yes, you can still rock in the UK. Night Ranger proved
it. Here’s their set-list: ‘Rock And Roll
Tonight’, ‘A Touch Of Madness’, ‘Sing
Me Away’, ‘Somewhere In California’,
‘The Secret Of My Success’, Key Solo, ‘Sentimental
Street’, ‘Eddie’s Comin’ Out Tonight’,
‘LA No Name’, ‘Goodbye’, Guitar
Solo, ‘Lay It On Me’, ‘Coming Of Age’,
‘Four In The Morning’, ‘When You Close
Your Eyes’, ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love
Me’ and encores of ‘No Time To Lose’,
‘Sister Christian’ and ‘(You Can Still)
Rock In America’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 23rd June
The friends of Leslie West have rallied around
the Mountain guitarist following a recent amputation (see
Tuesday). ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons says: “Leslie
will no doubt bounce back with his unusually bionic blitz
of guitarosciousness. He will always be playing and standing
on higher ground.” Perhaps improbably, mere hours
after the surgery West appeared on the radio show of his
old mate Howard Stern (link here),
sounding unexpectedly chipper. I can’t believe that
Stern had the cheek to ask West what had happened to the
limb....
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 22nd June
Regular readers of this page will know that, as a
super-obsessed fan of Crystal Palace FC, I’m unable
even to utter the name of our fierce rivals, Br***ton
& Homo Albion, let alone set foot in the confounded
place. So on earth what was I doing behind enemy lines,
down on the South Coast, yesterday? Well, since hearing
(and indeed reviewing) their album ‘Out Of The Pit’,
I’ve wanted to check out the Canadian, female-fronted
metalheads Kobra
& The Lotus. The band, whose aforementioned debut
record was produced by Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, BCC,
Aerosmith, etc) and none other than ex-Goddo legend Greg
Godovitz – the former having handled the vocals,
the latter instrumentally – are due to play here
in London on Sunday, but said gig happens to clash with
the unmissable Toto at the Hammersmith Apollo. So I jumped
onto a train and used the opportunity of a show at The
Hydrant as an excuse to catch up with a few people including
Claire Lloyd and Seven Webster from 7pm management, who
represent the excellent Skindred among other acts.
Apart from my homeward-bound train sitting stationary
at Preston Park for 45 minutes for no apparent reason,
it turned out a fabulous evening. The vodka and Diet Cokes
flowed over a tasty Thai curry. With several other bands
booked, situation-wise the K&TL gig wasn’t ideal
but barring a few sound gremlins the group’s 35-minute
display matched expectations. Besides thundering through
a cover of Sabbath’s ‘Heaven And Hell’
and a solitary track from ‘Out Of The Pit’
(‘Ballad Of Jane Doe’), Brittany Paige and
company elected to preview four songs – namely ‘Aria
Of Karmika’, ‘Dark Passenger’, ‘Nothing
Good Lasts Forever’ and ‘Welcome To My Funeral’
– from a new album called ‘Visionary’
that’s due to drop later this year. On the evidence
presented it’s likely to be a bit of a corker.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 21st June
I was at the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst
watching a rare UK club gig from Walter Trout when the
texts began to pour in. No, not the ones about Bernie
Marsden having jammed with Whitesnake on a couple of numbers
down the road at Hammersmith… There was distressing
news about Leslie West. Mountain’s mainman had undergone
an amputation… Holy shit! The revelation served
to remove the sheen from an excellent gig by the Troutmeister,
and a decent warm-up set by the ridiculously named
P-A-U-L.
“This is our first time here at the Beaverwood,”
said Walter with a grin as he added: “I’ve
been known to find some wood at the sight of an attractive
beaver.” Haven’t we all, matey? Fair play
to WT, who these days is accustomed to playing larger
venues such as Shepherd’s Bush Empire, but slotted
in last night’s show as a personal favour to Pete
Feenstra, the promoter that booked his earliest British
dates. Despite being cramped and sweaty, the band played
for just short of two hours, with tour manager Andrew
Elt – the same guy that was in Dutch band the Sleeze
Beez?! – stepping up to contribute some excellent
vocals during a song that I think was called ‘Lord
Have Mercy’.
Feenstra took me back to the dressing room to say ‘hi’
to Walter. When I chastised him mildly for not having
played ‘Life In The Jungle’, the title cut
of his debut album from 1989, the guitarist replied he’d
have done so had he known I was in the house. “It’s
so tough to play everything; the other day I looked on
my iPod and realised I had 250 of my own songs,”
he explained, “and I don’t have all of my
albums on there!” Afterwards, my friend Andy Beare
and I stood around and sank some vodka and Diet Cokes,
toasting the improved future health of Mr West.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 19th June
Email from Danny Bowes, who has received a quantity
of finished copies of Terraplane's 'The Singles Anthology'
that were sent to him by Lemon Recordings for distribution
to the other four ex-band members. "All good, apart
from our hair and clothes on the cover, of course,"
the singer jokes,
"oh and the music...".
Talking of matters postal, my Saturday morning involved
a visit to the local sorting office to collect a package
from Eagle Vision that was too large for the letter box.
It contained the CD and DVD of Bad Company 'Live At Wembley',
a gig witnessed by my pal Steve 'No relation' Way and
I last April, and 'Live At The Greek 1982' by the Doobie
Brothers - a show filmed and recorded with Michael McDonald
on vocals. Looks good.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 18th June
Like many others that witnessed their debut
UK tour, I was uncertain of my expectations regarding
the Dio Disciples, a collective of former members of Dio
(the band), plus much-travelled bassist James Lomenzo
and the vocal pairing of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens
and Toby Jepson. They’d pleasantly surprised me
at Download, but only for 30 minutes. How would the band
fare over the course of a full show?
Fronted by RJD’s cousin, Dave ‘Rock’
Feinstein, The Rods were first up… **and I almost
missed ’em**! I’d been told they were due
onstage at 7.35, so imagine my surprise when I walked
past the Islington Academy at five to seven and was informed
they were on in five minutes! Though my heart went out
to the New Yorkers, faced by a miniscule crowd and forced
to curtail their first number when Feinstein’s guitar
failed, their support set was nevertheless disappointing.
Too many of their songs were crammed into medleys, and
what was the point of allowing drummer Carl Canedy a solo
with an hour-glass counting down their 40 minutes? No
doubt about it, they played some fine material (including
‘Hurricane’, ‘I Just Wanna Rock’,
‘Evil In Me’, ‘Let There Be Metal’,
‘Born To Rock’, ‘Wild Dogs’, ‘Waiting
For Tomorrow’, ‘Violation’, ‘The
Night Lives To Rock’, ‘Nothing Going On In
The City’, ‘Crank It Up’, ‘Power
Lover’), but having waited 29 years to see them
again since they opened for Maiden on the ‘Number
Of The Beast’ tour, at the Academy the Rods were
just too disjointed to really enjoy.
Conversely, the Dio Disciples matched all expectations
– and more. Owens really has the knack of interpreting
RJD’s balls-out anthems, whilst Jepson stepped up
manfully to handle more melodic tunes such as ‘Children
Of The Sea’ and an excerpt of ‘Catch The Rainbow’.
And when the pair worked together, delivering lines in
tandem on ‘Stargazer’ and ‘Straight
Through The Heart’, the result was truly marvellous.
With ex-Rainbow Doogie White dropping by to perform ‘Long
Live Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and ‘The Man
On The Silver Mountain’, the Academy roared its
approval for 105 minutes. It was hard to imagine anybody
that cared enough to buy a ticket walking away without
having enjoyed what they’d seen.
Here’s the set-list: ‘Stand Up And Shout’,
‘Holy Diver’, ‘Don’t Talk To Strangers’,
‘Egypt (The Chains Are On)’, ‘The King
Of Rock ‘N’ Roll’, Guitar Solo, ‘Catch
The Rainbow (Excerpt)’, ‘Stargazer’,
‘Neon Knights, ‘Straight Through The Heart’,
‘Children Of The Sea’, ‘Killing The
Dragon’, ‘The Last In Line’, ‘Long
Live Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘The Man
On The Silver Mountain’ and ‘Heaven And Hell’,
with encores of ‘Rainbow In The Dark’ and
‘We Rock’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 17th June
This morning I was poised at the PC at 9am,
awaiting the announcement of the 2011/’12 footie
fixtures. Was the computer **finally** going to do me
a favour over Firefest weekend, or pit the Eagles at home
to Wet Sham or something similarly unmissable? There were
whoops of joy as CPFC were paired with Ipswich Town at
Portman Road, a ground I’ve visited many, many times.
Nottingham here we come!!
Yesterday’s gig schedule offered another of those
annoying clashes: the farewell UK performance of veteran
Southern Rockers Doc Holliday at the Peel versus Neal
Morse at Koko? Hmmm… It was a tough one. In the
end, even though the Peel is (for me, at least) in the
arse-end of nowhere, I decided that I’d just have
to do my best to catch Morse at High Voltage instead.
Having been informed that Doc Holliday were onstage at
9pm, and with my eye set firmly on a train that was due
to leave Norbiton for Waterloo at 11.06pm (with another
overground journey still to follow), you can imagine my
frustration as that time came and went; so did 9.15, 9.30
and 9.45. Proceedings finally began at 10.05pm, which
meant missing the encores in order to catch the last possible
train home… grrrrr.
Barring the odd small glitch such as a pub-rock stab at
‘Hey Bo Diddley’ that caused anxious glances
at the wristwatch from yours truly, Doc Holliday were
absolutely magnificent. Shame on all of those that stayed
at home or in the pub instead of turning up to wave them
off. Guitarist/singer Bruce Brookshire and company sounded
amazing with a full and rich front-of-house mix, despatching
one hook-enriched Southern gem after another – even
a melodious version of the Marshall Tucker Band’s
‘Fire On The Mountain’. It was with great
reluctance that I snuck out after a moving rendition of
‘Lonesome Guitar’ in order to avoid spending
the night on the station. Here’s what was played:
‘Last Ride’, ‘Never Another Night’,
‘Bad Love’, ‘Fire On The Mountain’,
‘Magic Midnite’, ‘Moonshine Runner’,
‘Hey Bo Diddley’, ‘Trudy’, ‘Thunder
‘N’ Lightning’, ‘Redneck Rock
‘N’ Roll Band’, ‘Song For The
Outlaw’, ‘Highway Call’, ‘Lonesome
Guitar’. (‘Keep On Running’ was also
on the set-list, but got dropped… presumably for
curfew reasons).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 16th June
Interviews-wise, it’s been a hectic couple of
days. In a story to promote The Enid’s spot at High
Voltage, Robert John Godfrey gave me some excellent quotes
about the current state of the progressive rock scene,
also his thoughts on the show’s running order. I
bet that Mostly Autumn’s ears were burning. There
was also an interesting conversation with Steve Von Till
– primary school teacher by day and frontman of
influential noisemongers Neurosis by night. A very lucid-sounding
Michael Schenker has also just informed me that, should
everything go according to plan, his brother Rudolf will
fly into to HV and play ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’
with him!! It’s a crying shame that Rudolf couldn’t
bring the rest of the Scorps with him – they really
should be on that bill.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 15th June
Having chin-wagged with Rob Halford and Glenn
Tipton at the Golden Gods on Monday night, I was intrigued
to spot yesterday’s clarification about the future
of Judas Priest. The pair had spoken enthusiastically
of a new Priest record that’s still in the writing
stages, so their new statement is handy. “When we
announced the farewell tour, we stated that it was our
last major world tour. Nothing has changed — we
didn’t say that it was the end of the band or that
we were going to retire or the band was going to break
up... just that it would be the last major world tour
we would be doing, which is still the case,” reveals
the press release, adding: “We have plans for a
new album, plus possible future releases, and we would
still consider doing the odd live show — if it is
something special or for a great cause — but no
more world tours.”
Meanwhile, Priest’s 21-song set-list from the Sauna
Open Air festival in Finland looks pretty interesting,
with the likes of ‘Blood Red Skies’, ‘Never
Satisfied’, ‘The Sentinel’, ‘Victim
Of Changes’, ‘Rapid Fire’, ‘Beyond
The Realms Of Death’ and the mighty ‘Starbreaker’
all included. Very promising, I must say…
I’ve just received a finished copy of Terraplane’s
‘The Singles Collection’ from Lemon Recordings.
I’m extremely happy with the way the project turned
out, though the 19th Nervous Breakdance Mix of ‘If
That’s Wha It Takes’, which features a rapper
borrowed from the Culture Club family, hasn’t got
any less cringeworthy. In the sleeve notes (penned by
yours truly), Luke Morley reveals: “The first time
I heard it, I laughed myself rotten…”, before
a grinning Danny Bowes takes up the story: “…And
then he realised it was on our record!” Terraplane
were a band that I saw many, many times. I really hope
that people buy ‘The Singles Collection’ as
there are some vintage live recordings that could be released
should some sort of demand reveal itself.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 14th June
I was happy to accept editor Alex Milas’
invitation to conduct the backstage acceptance interviews
with the winners of last night’s Metal Hammer Golden
Gods awards. This pretty much involves thrusting my tape
recorder under the nostrils of a conveyor belt of rock
and metal musos. It sounds glamorous, and of course having
grabbed quotes from the likes of Rob Zombie, Rob Halford
and KK Downing, Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein from
Down, that’s pretty much what it is, though the
process involves a certain amount of stress. Indeed, my
determination to watch Twisted Sister’s live set
meant that one of the winners (Brian Tatler from Diamond
Head, who had collected Spirit Of Hammer) left the IndigO2
without supplying a quote. Luckily, I was able to catch
Brian on his mobile this morning as he headed back to
Stourbridge.
With my copy due by lunchtime, boozing was off limits.
However, what little I saw (and heard) of the music and
the actual awards ceremony was great. Alice Cooper got
a few laughs by announcing the night’s final Golden
God category to Rob Zombie with the words: “Previous
winners include Lemmy, Zakk Wylde, Marilyn Manson…
whoever that [last one] is…”. And, blessed
with a fabulous live sound, Twisted Sister – who
picked up the Inspiration gong – were utterly superb,
running through ‘You can’t Stop Rock ‘N’
Roll’, ‘Shoot ’Em Down’, ‘We’re
Not Gonna Take It’, ‘I Am (I’m Me)’
and ‘I Wanna Rock’. Though they went down
an absolute storm I sensed a palpable air of anticlimax
from the TS camp, Jay Jay French telling me that after
Download, at which they’d been forced to cut two
songs from their set, the band felt they had short-changed
their fans by performing for less than half an hour at
the IndigO2. “We’re so pumped up, we want
to be out there for an hour and a half or even two hours,”
he moaned. My reply – namely that 25 Twisted Sister
minutes are better than 90 mins by just about any other
band – seemed to cheer him up a little.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 13th June
Am back safely in the bosom of South London after my enjoyable
jaunt to Castle Donington. Some of the return train journey
was spent transcribing the final segment of a long phone
interview with Leslie West. There simply are not enough
hours in the day (cont’d Page 246…).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 12th June
Am so glad that I decided to miss out the final
day of Download – it’s peeing down as I type,
preparing to head back to London.
My Saturday began with The Rods in the
Pepsi Max tent at the unearthly hour of 11am. I’ll
give them a [7] – it wasn’t the band’s
fault that they had only 20 minutes to play, but the set-closing
medley of golden oldies ‘Nothing Going On In The
City’, ‘Crank It Up’ and ‘Power
Lover’ was mightily impressive. Houston
[6] still have plenty of work to do, I’m afraid.
Heading over to the Jägermiester stage, Skin
[7] played an excellent acoustic set which concluded with
a version of ‘Look But Don’t Touch’
which was dedicated to yours truly by Myke Gray when he
saw me lurking in the crowd. Oh, how I laughed!
The rest of the day was spent over at the Second Stage,
which in purely meteorological terms was cold, windy and
depressing. Luckily the bands that we watched there were,
for the most part, great. Now into their second year at
Download, Rock Sugar [6] specialise in
‘mash-ups’ of metal and pop tunes such as
Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’ with ‘You
Shook Me All Night Long’ by AC/DC. Former Loud And
Clear mouthpiece Jess Harnell remains a fabulous singer
and his band are amusing enough at first but the novelty
wears off quickly. Dan Reed [7] reprised a few
of his songs from the Network days, including ‘Cruise
Together’, ‘Get To You’ and ‘Tiger
In A Dress’. I’ve a sneaky feeling that their
creator might even find his feet again if we give him
enough time.
Dio Disciples [8] were far from the car
crash that many will have expected. At times Tim ‘Ripper’
Owens sounds so much like Ronnie James Dio that it’s
almost scary, and with Toby Jepson doubling up on ‘Stargazer’
and handling ‘Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll’
alone, the Disciples successfully defused all accusations
of trampling upon the heritage of a legend. Given his
achievements with Judas Priest, it’s about time
that Owens had his own impressionist show on BBC4.
How good were Mr Big [9]? Very, very
good indeed. With the solo spots trimmed back and Eric
Martin in fine voice they pushed the day’s undisputed
heavyweight champions – Twisted Sister (who else?)
– to the final round, two songs from the new album
(‘Undertow’ and ‘Around The World’)
fitting snugly alongside ‘Daddy, Brother, Lover,
Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)’, ‘Green-Tinted
Sixties Mind’, ‘To Be With You’ and
‘Addicted To That Rush’.
I’m as big a Cheap Trick [6] fan
as just about anyone (well… unless your name happens
to be Kim Gisborne), but the Illinois band blew it at
Download. Beginning with a meandering, monotone rendition
of ‘Gonna Raise Hell’ that ate up a quarter
of their allocated 40 minutes they overlooked many of
their best-known songs during a performance that seemed
set to cruise control. CT’s last UK festival appearance
was at Reading back in 1979; I thought they’d have
pulled out all the stops. Sadly, I was mistaken.
“We haven’t been here since 1983 when some
of you motherfuckers weren’t even a glimmer in your
father’s nutsacks,” glowered Dee Snider. But
on this occasion, the frontman had no need to offer out
large sections of the crowd on the grounds on non-compliance.
Even without make-up or stage costumes, Twisted
Sister [10] strode in, grabbed the festival by
the aforementioned testicular appendages and made just
about everyone else on the bill look inept. Check out
the set-list – ‘What You Don’t Know’,
‘The Kids Are Back’, ‘Under The Blade’,
‘Captain Howdy’, ‘You can’t Stop
Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘We’re Not
Gonna take It’, ‘I Am (I’m Me)’,
‘Burn In hell’ and ‘I Wanna Rock’
– and weep (with unadulterated joy).
Alas, it began to rain again just as Alice Cooper
was about to arrive onstage and, having seen TS destroy
Alice once before, I decided to head for the safety and
warmth of the hotel bar. Okay, call me a lightweight.
I can take it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 11th June
I’m dictating this diary to my butler from
a penthouse suite at the Mayfair Hotel, Donington Park
(ahem… actually my friend Harj Kallah and I are
sharing a twin room at a dodgy Travelodge-type establishment
in Sandiacre, a taxi-ride from the Download site). Having
met up with my boozing buddy Bruce Osborne and his friend
Jerry, most of our first day at the site was taken up
by consumption of alcohol. Black Stone Cherry
[7] suffered from a slightly poor sound but performed
well. The current incarnation of Thin Lizzy
[8], with new guitarist Richard Fortus (of Guns N’
Roses) taking the place of Vivian Campbell – who
returned to guest on ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’
– rocked hard and surprised many. FM
[8] played an excellent eight-song set – ‘Wildside’,
‘Face To Face’, ‘That Girl’, ‘Don’t
Stop’, ‘Hard Day In Hell’, ‘Burning
My Heart Down’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Heard
It Through The Grapevine’.
I felt sorry for headliners Def Leppard
[8] who were faced by oppressive storm clouds and a thinning
crowd. However, I’ve heard Joe Elliott sing much
better than he did and despite being based strongly upon
their ‘Pyromania’ and ‘Hysteria’
albums this 2011 show paled in comparison to the one from
two years ago. It’s set-list ran as follows: ‘Undefeated’,
‘Action’, ‘Let’s get Rocked’,
‘Let It Go’, ‘Foolin’’,
‘Love Bites’, Bass Solo, ‘Rock On’,
‘Two Steps Behind’, ‘Bringin’
On The Heartbreak’, ‘Switch 625’, ‘Rocket’,
‘Hysteria’, ‘Armageddon It’, ‘Animal’,
‘Photograph’, ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’
and ‘Rock Of Ages’, plus an encore of ‘When
Love And Hate Collide’ that featured Keith Weir
from the Quireboys/Down ‘N’ Outz on keys,
and a hard-hitting ‘Wasted’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 10th June
The work-rate remains demanding, but that’s
the way I like it. Completed a final edit of my Chicago
story for Classic Rock Presents AOR at 10pm last night,
in time to submit it before this morning’s departure
to the Download Festival… phew! I’ve also
managed to buy an extra few days in which to deliver my
Leslie West sleeve essay, which in turn allows me to contribute
to the High Voltage Festival programme. It’s gonna
be a frantic few weeks!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 8th June
This morning was spent engaged on a final edit
of my interviews with Chris Squire and Geoffrey Downes
of Yes, which will appear in the next issue of Classic
Rock Presents Prog. I’m very pleased with it. Check
out this quote from Squire on the fine art of songwriting:
“I had spent the last couple of years encouraging
Benoît [David, the band’s new singer] to get
involved. He’d never really tried his hand at writing
before. He wasn’t sure if he had any talent in that
area so he was reluctant at first, but I told him to go
out and get some copies of National Geographic magazine
to nick ideas for lyrics. It’s not that difficult!”
I’m now transcribing three lengthy phone conversations
with members past ‘n’ present of the band
Chicago, namely current alumni keyboardist and vocalist
Robert Lamm and trumpet player Lee Loughnane, also the
group’s former bassist/singer Peter Cetera, the
latter of whom gave me one of the most revealing and satisfying
interviews that I’ve ever conducted. The results
will be published in the forthcoming issue of Classic
Rock Presents AOR. With the story due to be submitted
before I depart for Download (if humanly possible), the
clock is ticking… so enough of my yackin’
and back to the grindstone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 7th June
Oooh look, the running times for the weekend’s
Download
Festival are up. In terms of stage clashes the only
significant disappointment is that it’s almost impossible
to watch FM **and** Alter Bridge on Friday evening. Trainspotter
than I am, I’ve already pored over the list to determine
the bands that I shall bust a gut to see, and they include:
Def Leppard, FM, Thin Lizzy and Black Stone Cherry on
Friday, followed by Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Cheap
Trick, Mr Big, Dio Disciples, Dan Reed, Rock Sugar, Skin,
Houston and The Rods on the Saturday. Besides Rob Zombie,
H.E.A.T., Jameson Raid and a sneaky look at The Pretty
Reckless, whose album I really liked (honestly!), there
was little to tickle my fancy on Sunday’s bill,
so it’s back to London a day early for yours truly…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 6th June
Much of yesterday was spent working on a hefty
set of liner notes for the expanded edition of Leslie
West’s forthcoming studio disc, ‘Unusual Suspects’,
which arrives via Provogue Records on September 19. I’ve
been allowed to hear a few of its tracks which feature
such guest musicians as Joe Bonamassa, Slash, Billy F
Gibbons, Zakk Wylde and Steve Lukather, and I’m
happy to say that they rock.
In between bouts of tape transcription I began sifting
through a newly acquired set of the recent Queen album
catalogue re-issues (thanks a bundle, William R!). It’s
amazing to think that until now I had never owned any
of the group’s classic-era releases on CD, so this
is a journey of rediscovery that I shall undertake slowly
in order to maximise listening pleasure (Christ…
that sounds like an advert for condoms, doesn’t
it?!)
This is slightly off topic, but I was upset to read of
the demise of singer/songwriter Andrew Gold (he of ‘Lonely
Boy’, ‘Never Let Her Slip Away’ and
‘Thank You For Being A Friend’ fame) at the
age of just 59 years. Gold’s 1976 album ‘What’s
Wrong With This Picture?’ is a bit of a favourite
of mine, and well worth picking up should you see it in
the bargain racks.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 5th June
There
I was at a Wembley Stadium that basked in sunlight,
with a handful of minutes to go till the kick-off of the
England-Switzerland game. A chilled bottle of wine had
been imbibed during the trawl across London from Catford,
and with the evening’s triple-header from Journey,
Foreigner and Styx still to come, I found myself blissfully
wondering: “What can Mr Crapello and his overpaid
oiks do to fuck up such a glorious day?” 90 minutes
later, as I snuck out of the Stadium a few minutes early
to avoid missing the start of Styx, with the score at
2-2, the answer was evident. England didn’t even
start playing till going two goals behind to a Swiss side
really should’ve been despatched with very little
trouble. For those of us that still care about the fortunes
of the national side, it’s **so** frustrating.
Having sprinted to the Wembley Arena box office, I took
my seat in time for a 50-minute pomp-rock masterclass
from Styx. With original bass player Chuck Panozzo returning
to the stage several times, the Chicago band were like
an aural juggernaut. Check out this stellar set-list for
size: ‘The Grand Illusion’, ‘Too Much
Time On My Hands’, ‘Lady, ‘Fooling Yourself
(The Angry Young Man)’, ‘Miss America’,
‘Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)’, ‘Come
Sail Away’ and ‘Renegade’.
Foreigner suffered a little from gear problems and their
sound was a bit on murky side, but an hour’s worth
of vintage material served to maintain the thrill factor.
During ‘Cold As Ice’ Kelly Hansen leapt from
the stage to run out into crowd, losing his security guard
tail along the way and jumping up and down on seats but
still returning to the mic in time for the next verse
– very cool! The band have been playing pretty much
the same set-list – ‘Double Vision’,
‘Head Games’, ‘Cold As Ice’, ‘Starrider’,
‘Feels Like The First Time’, ‘Urgent’,
‘I Want To Know What Love Is’, ‘Hot
Blooded’ and ‘Jukebox Hero’ –
for the past few years, but you’ll hear no complaints
from yours truly.
Journey had to be a bit special, and thankfully they were.
However, I’ll bet that whoever was responsible for
triggering the audio vocal sample that rang out through
the Arena during the changeover is no longer in gainful
employ by the headliners. As if one ‘Tapegate’
controversy wasn’t enough! Anyway, the band included
four songs from the impressive new album ‘Eclipse’,
which I felt was just about right. The rest of their 95-minute
set was dedicated to classic song after classic song.
Since I saw him last on an indoor stage at London’s
Hammersmith Apollo three years ago, Arnel Pineda has really
grown into the role of fronting the band – as opposed
to merely singing their songs. And what a great job he
now does. Football might sometimes let you down, but for
most of the time you can rely on the power of live rock
music. Here’s the night’s final set-list:
‘Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)’, ‘Only
The Young’, ‘Edge Of The Moment’, ‘Ask
The Lonely’, ‘Send Her My Love’, ‘Resonate’,
Guitar Solo, ‘Stone In Love’, ‘City
Of Hope’, ‘Lights’, ‘Mother Father’,
Keys Solo, ‘Open Arms’, ‘Chain Of Love’,
‘Wheel In The Sky’, ‘Be Good To Yourself’,
‘Faithfully’, ‘Don’t Stop Believing’
and ‘Anyway You Want It’, followed by an encore
of ‘Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 4th June
For the last few days I’ve been busy
absorbing the new album from Yes. ‘Fly From Here’
is the band’s debut with new singer Benoît
David and features a returning Geoffrey Downes of Asia,
who took over from Oliver Wakeman during the recording
process (at the instigation of the prorject’s producer
Trevor Horn – as I learned during yesterday’s
phone interviews conducted with Chris Squire and the aforementioned
Downes). I’m extremely impressed with ‘Fly
From Here’, the first studio album from Yes in ten
years. It’s released by Frontiers Records on July
1 here in Europe.
With nowt to do on a Friday evening, I finally found the
time to watch the first part of the BBC’s documentary
Queen: Days Of Our Lives. Including previously unseen
footage, including the band’s first ever TV appearance
(which was thought to have been wiped) and interviews
with Brian May and Roger Taylor, plus vintage reels of
Freddie Mercury and John ‘Mr Invisible’ Deacon,
it did a decent enough good job of telling the band’s
story. I do like the fact that May has finally stopped
dying his hair.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 3rd June
Though I’ve been making a determined attempt
to stay off the booze, the prospect of Century Media Records’
launch release celebration of Arch Enemy’s ‘Khaos
Legions’ album and the newie from In Flames, ‘Sounds
Of A Playground Fading’, was too good to ignore.
The invite told us to expect free booze, Texas hold ’em
poker tables, Nordic bar canapés, heavy metal music
and Swedish hostesses. Well, okay… if you really
insist!! I’d never played poker before so therefore
had no idea why the pile of chips in front of me kept
on growing, but beginner’s luck never lasts and
once my ‘fortune’ had evaporated, the rest
of the evening was spent propping up the bar, supping
voddie and diet cokes and gossiping with industry chums.
It was a terrific evening – just the slice of good
cheer that I needed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 2nd June
I’m on news ‘n’ reviews duty
once again! Just as the final pages of Classic Rock’s
June 22 issue are hovered up, it’s time to submit
my latest reviews for Classic Rock Presents Prog. The
weather is piping hot, the postie has just delivered finished
copies of the pair of double-pack Tokyo Blade re-issues
(‘Blackhearts & Jaded Spades’ and ‘Ain’t
Misbehavin’’ and ‘No Remorse’
and ‘Burning Down Paradise’) for which I wrote
the sleeve notes, and with
Martin Popoff’s hefty new book Black Sabbath FAQ:
All That’s Left To Know On The First Name In Metal
having thudded onto the doormat, it’s turning out
a beautiful day!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 1st June
Among the first pieces of advice offered by
friends that had been through their own divorces were:
“Try to steer clear of power ballads for a while.”
Last night I flew firmly in the face of such sage counsel
by attending Richard Marx’s gig at the Royal Albert
Hall. Despite Marx’s near-legendary sentimental
streak, the show’s more than two hours flew by with
nary a moist tear-duct nor even a trembling lip. 21 years
had passed since the Chicagoan singer/songwriter last
trod the Albert Hall boards, but although there were quite
a few empty seats and boxes the affection and sincerity
that flowed between the artist and his devout followers
was unmistakable.
The show had been billed as an ‘electric’
performance but Marx began alone with an acoustic guitar
for a couple of numbers before bringing on a four-piece
female string section. It was frustrating that ‘Don’t
Mean Nothing’ was performed in such a low-key style,
but what the heck. His 1991 hit ‘Hazard’ was
prefaced by a lengthy and amusing explanation of the song’s
genesis – Marx had believed it was “the dumbest,
lamest thing” ever, his wife Cynthia reckoned it
was a sure-fire smash… having recorded it “just
to prove her wrong”, some “five and a half
months later it was a Number One in 13 countries”
– and a new and unreleased tune called ‘Save
Me’ was delivered in tandem with a video screen
performance featuring Marx’s three sons, who are
budding musicians and/or writers. To be honest, I felt
that unplugging his acoustic guitar, heading out into
the crowd to sing ‘Always On Your Mind’ (a
tune penned with Vertical Horizon’s Matt Scannell)
without the benefit of a microphone was one of the most
futile things I’ve ever witnessed in all my years
of attending concerts; for most of us inside the cavernous
Albert Hall, Richard was completely inaudible.
Luckily, the backing band arrived onstage during the closing
stages of the following song, ‘Through My Veins’.
Although Marx’s Osama bin Laden joke was dreadful,
his self-deprecating banter was much better and the show’s
climax (including ‘Don’t Mean Nothing’,
‘Should’ve Known Better’ and ‘Right
Here Waiting’) was little short of breathtaking.
Here’s what was played in full: ‘Endless Summer
Nights’, ‘Keep Coming Back’, ‘When
You’re Gone’, ‘One Thing Left’,
‘Hazard’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Hold
On To The Nights’, ‘Now And Forever’,
‘Always On Your Mind’, ‘Through My Veins’,
‘Take This Heart’, ‘Angelia’,
‘Over My Head’, ‘Satisfied’, ‘When
You Loved Me’ (a brand new composition), ‘Better
Life’ (covered by Keith Urban), ‘This I Promise
You’ (popularised by N Sync), ‘Don’t
Mean Nothing’ and ‘Should’ve Known Better’,
plus encores of ‘The Way She Loves Me’, ‘Everybody’
(once again recorded by Keith Urban) and ‘Right
Here Waiting’.
P.S. The monthly amendments to the YouTube
and Playlist pages are up.
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