Sunday
28th November
After the disappointment of Palace's 2-2 away draw at Southampton
- not a bad result, but we were ahead twice in the crucial game
- I headed off to a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo. Sepultura won
themselves some new fans with a cracking 45-minute best of set
that included the Max Cavalera-era classics 'Desperate Cry',
'Escape To The Void' and 'Arise' plus more recent offerings
like 'Choke', with 'Territory' and 'Roots' winning over the
undecided few.
Motörhead were magnificent, even reviving a couple of tracks
from 1983's 'Another Perfect Day' ('I Got Mine' and 'Dancing
On Your Grave') and inviting ex-guitarist Würzel up for
a deafening swansong of 'Overkill'. The biggest surprise was
when Phil and Mikkey came out with acoustic guitars for 'Whorehouse
Blues', with Lemmy wailing away on harmonica!
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Saturday 27th November
Still nursing sore tendons after an excellent Dismember
gig at the Underworld. The Swedes are a glorious mixture of
Slayer, The Haunted and Motörhead, though they attract
a strange crowd. When Matti Kärki asked what we've been
up to since they last played the UK, a fella nearby roared:
"Drinking piss!" Er... whatever turns you on!
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Thursday November 25th
Quo at Croydon's Fairfield Halls - a real treat. Thank Gawd,
they cut out all the cabaret stuff. No 'Burning Bridges' or
gruesome Beach Boys medleys, just heads-down rock from start
to finish. Rossi and a healthy-looking Parfitt got to the venue
late after filming the Frank Skinner Show - I wonder if they
truncated the show and excluded all the Seaside Special garbage.
Anyway, the set-list was awesome: 'Caroline', 'Somethin' 'Bout
You Baby I Like', 'Break The Rules', '4500 Times'/'Rain' and
'Hold You Back'.
Then four songs from 'Heavy Traffic'; 'Never Say Never', 'Solid
Gold', 'The Oriental' and the brilliant 'Creepin' Up On You'.
A medley of 'Mystery Song', 'Railroad', 'Most Of The Time',
'Wild Side Of Life', 'Rollin' Home', 'Again And Again' and 'Slow
Train'. 'Gerdundula' followed the new single 'Thinking Of You',
before a tendon-testing final run-in of 'Big Fat Mama', 'Roll
Over Lay Down', 'Down Down', 'Whatever You Want' and 'Rocking
All Over The World'. 'Paper Plane', 'Junior's Wailing' and 'Rock
'N' Roll Music'/'Oh Carol'/'Bye Bye Johnny' were the encores.
A bit rushed in places, but other than that no complaints whatsoever!!
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Wednesday 24th November
Richie Kotzen, formerly of Poison and Mr Big, performed
a one-man show in London last night. Best known as a guitar-slinger,
he's actually a superb all-round performer with a gritty, soul-charged
voice. A singalong rendition of Poison's 'Stand' was the highlight
of 40 minutes on the 12 Bar's tiny stage, though 'Rust', 'Where
Did Our Love Go', 'Don't Ask', 'Change', 'High', 'Shine', 'What
Is' and 'Static' all hit the bullseye. Given the show's intimate
circumstances, could've done without the selfish donut whose
mobile phone kept going off... otherwise, a stunning night.
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Tuesday 23rd November
Last night I went to see Fish and the Carl Palmer Band as
part of the Astoria's three-day Progeny festival. Have seen
both of these bands on better form, to be honest. Maybe it was
the poor turnout that affected my enjoyment, I dunno. Gawd knows
how the empty balcony and less than rammed-full stalls must
have made the performers feel.
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Sunday 21st November
Still licking my wounds after Palace's home defeat to Newcastle.
Losing to a better team is easier to accept than some of the
awful judgements that have gone against us of late, but yesterday's
referee gave biased, blind wankers a bad name. I've read that
Premiership officials favour the bigger sides against the minnows;
this game was proof. The Geordies were cynical and dirty, kicking
the ball away on the rare occasions we were awarded a free kick
and getting away with it every time. A great piece of skill
won them the game with 10 mins to go, but I remain sick as the
proverbial parrot at missing out on another crucial point.
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Saturday 20th November
The mighty Pig Destroyer at a sold-out Garage. Man, the
self-styled "pornographers of sound" from Virginia
tore the roof off the place. 37 minutes on stage - 17 songs
(a rough calculation), including two encores and an injury break
as JR Hayes ricked his back and had to be replaced by the screamer
from Labrat. Short but mighty friggin' sweet.
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Friday 19th November
I'd been anticipating the Sensational Alex Harvey Band at
the Underworld, and it was great to learn the show had sold
out in advance. Unfortunately, the front-of-house mix was unforgiveable.
I was there mainly for Zal Cleminson, whose guitar during opening
number of 'Faith Healer' (what else?!) was utterly drowned out
by the thud-thud-thud of Chris Glen's bass.
When Zal's playing was audible it sounded magnificent, and Max
Maxwell did a good job of filling in for the irreplacable Harvey,
but the poor sod that must edit the DVD that was being filmed
will have their work cut out.
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Tuesday 16th November
Europe played Hammersmith Apollo last night. Useful opening
set from Hurricane Party, too, though it would've sounded far
better had somebody bothered to turn on the PA. Joey and the
boys were absolutely, er, out of this world - save for the lack
of material from what I consider to be their best album, 'Prisoners
In Paradise'. Had almost forgotten what a fabulous guitarist
John Norum is. As he played a superb solo song introduction,
Barbara Schenker, who happened to be standing nearby, tapped
me on the shoulder and said, "Wow, that really reminds
me of my brother". If she meant Michael (and not Rudolf,
who is of course a rhythm guitarist), Norum would've been thrilled
to bits by the compliment.
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Sunday 14th November
If losing to an apparently dubious injury time penalty -
away at Liverpool, no never!!!! - was a bitter pill to swallow
(Sporting Life said Palace had put on "a defiant but far
from classy" display, though a 2-2 draw would have been
priceless), transport to Deep Purple's Wembley gig provided
a further kick
in the teeth. I'd promised ex-T'Pau/Ian Gillan Band guitarist
Dean Howard to catch his 6.20pm opening spot. With no Metropolitan
Line and a bus replacement service for large chunks of the Jubilee
Line, I only just caught Thunder's robustly enjoyable though
truncated performance (no 'Dirty Love' or 'Backstreet Symphony'?!).
Peter Frampton at least had an hour to stretch out (highlights
included 'Lines On My Face', 'Show Me The Way', 'Baby, I Love
Your Way' and an excellent 'Do You Feel Like We Do'). I beat
the crowds before Purple finished. Gillan and chums had been
well below par on this
stage 18 months earlier, but looked and sounded happier tonite.
Me? I couldn't get 4.51pm out of my mind...
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Saturday 13th November
After 12 years away, Tyketto came back to rock a sold-out
Underworld. Basing their 90-minute set around the vintage 'Don't
Come Easy' album (played in its entirety), Danny Vaughn and
the boys were just as good as we remembered them - perhaps better.
Winding up with 'Forever Young' brought back the memories like
you wouldn't believe. Funnily enough, as I put my Palace scarf
on to leave, a guy came over and said: "If only Tyketto
had Iain Dowie [of CPFC - keep up at the back, there!] managing
them, they'd be top of the Premier League." Couldn't have
put it better myself, mate...
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Friday 12th November
Good ol' Geoff Downes came through with a ticket for the
all-star gig to celebrate Trevor Horn's 25 years in the
business. Unfortunately, I had an Anthrax interview to do and
arrived at Wembley just after 8pm, only to find we were queuing
for admission (metal detectors at the door, due to the presence
of Prince Charles!!). Was infuriated to miss The Buggles (who
apparently played 'Video Killed The Radio Star' and 'Living
In The Plastic Age') opening the show. Grace Jones was singing
'Slave To The Rhythm' by the time I found my seat, which was
pretty cool, but Belle & Sebastian's toothless, jangly pop
didn't improve my mood any. ABC played three numbers ('Shoot
That Poison Arrow' and 'The Look Of Love' among them) before
some aural wallpaper from the Art Of Noise and Propoganda. Then
the biggie. Geoff played keyboards with a Yes line-up featuring
Chris Squire on bass, Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin on guitars
and Alan White on drums. We got the instrumental 'Cinema' before
a hoarse-sounding Rabin took the mic for 'Owner Of A Lonely
Heart' that got Wembley on its feet. Sensational!
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Thursday 11th November
Palace's run in the Coca-Cola Littlewoods Zenith Data Simod
Shield comes to an end, losing by two goals at Old Trafford.
Hilariously, Dowie fields a team of reserves once more. Our
exit causes no tears to be shed here in Catford; the game of
real consequence takes place in a couple of days' time.
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Tuesday
9th November
Tim Bowness, best known as one half of the band No-Man with
Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, played the Spitz in London.
He specialises is quiet, ambient prog that's thoroughly enjoyable.
Shame about the dire support bands and an audience that were
so far up themselves they could have flossed with their own
dicks.
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Sunday
7th November
Excellent perforance from Palace to grab a point from Arsenal. Could
even have won the game in the end - who'd have thought that a month
or two ago? Consequently there was much swigging at an excellent Uriah
Heep gig. Lots of my favourite Bernie Shaw-era stuff (opener 'Blood
Red Roses' was a nice surprise) and even a guest appearance from Osibisa
on 'Look At Yourself'.
Have got the hangover from hell today.
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Saturday 6th November
As a warm-up for Uriah Heep's annual Shepherd's Bush bash, Ken Hensley
performed a one-man show. It was lot of fun, he played guitar and keyboards,
telling stories and accepting questions from the crowd. Ken was unexpectedly
candid, talking about his drug years and even making a reference to
Adrian Mutu, the silly Chelsea sod who recently lost his lucrative job
for taking cocaine. When I asked whether he might ever write another
song for Heep he revealed wouldn't rule it out, but the decision wasn't
his. Quite rightly, Ken also said they really need to make a new studio
record soon.
One bloke in the crowd got a bit carried away and demanded to know whether
Hensley had once called Heep a glorified tribute band. He owned up;
saying it had even felt like one towards the end of his own tenure with
the group. The fella was a bit like a dog with a bone, demanding to
know whether Ken felt the band had made good music since he left. Hensley
offered a toothless answer and everyone in the room winced as the guy
did his best Jeremy Paxman impression: he wanted the real answer. Ken
ummed and aahed, saying he thought 'Sea Of Light' was "a pop album"
and that it was impossible to compare the two entities, but eventually
had no option but to concede: "I just don't hear the songs [anymore]".
Ouch.
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Thursday 4th November
With a feeling of trepidation following their bottling offstage
(after one song!) at the Reading Festival, I went to Hammersmith Apollo
to see if The Rasmus were as good as their album, 'Dead Letters'. Came
away pleasantly surprised, despite the unrelenting girlie shrieks that
sometimes drowned them out. They even played a metallised cover of the
Pet Shop Boys' 'It's A Sin' that shouldn't have worked - but did.
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Wednesday 3rd November
Sat up till the early hours of last night watching the US election.
Gave up when it seemed Bush was likely to win again. On the plus side
- and I'm clutching at straws here - any reason to cancel a Bon Jovi
gig (Jonny and his grinning pearlies were set to be wheeled out during
the Kerry celebrations) is more than cool with me.
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