2017 Gigs.

[Kes]

Got tickets to see The (remaining) Who play Tommy in Manchester next week. John Mayer has pinched their regular bass player (Pino Palladino). So will have only their third bassist in 53 years..!

Got tickets for Metallica at London O2 in October. Last time I saw them live was 25 years ago at The Freddie Tribute show. Time flies.

Christ actually 25 years exactly in three weeks or so. Was first time I saw Daltrey live too.

The John Mayer Trio from it's inception was Mayer, Palladino, and Steve Jordan on drums. Take any one of them out of it, and it ain't the Trio. Mayer has decided that his latest tour will have his own support acts, ie "him", like his 'Where The Light Is' show, where he opens the show as an accoustic set, then the blues Trio support band comes on, before the main show featuring the full band.

Funny how things go around. You know Palladino as The Who's bassist, I know him as John Mayer's bassist from the Continuum period, and the Trio, and then guess who played the famous fretless bass on Paul Young's #1 'Wherever I Lay My Hat'?

[JLP]

The support for the ELO gig in July is The Shires and Tom Chaplin. Should be a cracking night.

[Kes]

Saw Paul Weller tonight at Reading Rivermead, cracking little gig.

Saw Paul Weller tonight at Reading Rivermead, cracking little gig.

Did he play anything from his upcoming release? If so how was it?

[Kes]

He played about four or five songs that he announced as being from the forthcoming album, plus one that he said he had written for a film that's due out soon.

The show was about two and a half hours, with some Jam and Style Council songs lobbed in there, as well as standards like Wild Wood, Peacock Suit, You Do Something To Me, and the closer, The Changingman. Everything he did was well played and sounded great, and of course Steve Craddock is an excellent guitar player.

Hats off to all the band, actually. Even the support act wasn't that bad.

My favourite Weller album is Live Wood. Not sure if that's still in print but I prefer it over the studio album I have.

[Kes]

The last time I was at that place, it was the late nineties, and a thing that the Queen fan club put on, with the SAS Band, and Brian turned up and did a few songs. As I remember, he did Lap Of The Gods (...Revisited). Not sure that he's ever done the song outside of anything badged up as Queen before, or since.

[Kes]

Right, at the O2, for the first of two John Mayer gigs, on the bounce!

Edit: Just brilliant!

This was his solo to the song 'Changing' on the second night, for anyone who's interested in people who can play a guitar.

phpBB [video]

Latest couple of gigs I've booked for 2017 are the Michael Casswell tribute at the 100 Club on 21 June, and Dan Reed's acoustic show at St Pancras Church in London in Sept...that gig was only £20, will be intimate at only 150 tickets, and is being filmed and recorded for DVD release...each £20 ticket includes a downloadable Hi-Resolution MP4 video file of the DVD and downloadable digital WAV and MP3 mixes of all the tracks from the DVD. The audio mixes will not be available anywhere else...not too shabby value that!

[WeeMann]

Maiden tonight in Birmingham. This will be about the seventh time I've seen them and my son's first gig. What a way to start.

Update:

08/01/17 - Celebrating David Bowie with The David Bowie Band and Gary Oldman {Brixton Academy, London}
06/02/17 - Green Day {Manchester Arena}
25/02/17 - The Divine Comedy {Albert Halls, Manchester}
03/05/17 - Steve Knightley {The Met, Bury}
27/05/17 - Jonny and the Baptists: Eat the Poor {The Lowry, Salford}
01/06/17 - #WeStandTogether featuring members of the Hallé, Manchester Camerata and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, conducted by Sir Mark Elder and Stephen Bell, with Clare Teal, Alice Coote and Guy Garvey {The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester}
22/07/17 - Sarah Kendall {The Lowry, Salford}
06/08/17 - Rebellion Festival {Winter Gardens, Blackpool} {bands I'll be seeing tbc}
07/08/17 - Rebellion Festival {Winter Gardens, Blackpool} {bands I'll be seeing tbc}
08/08/17 - Rebellion Festival {Winter Gardens, Blackpool} {bands I'll be seeing tbc}
09/08/17 - Rebellion Festival {Winter Gardens, Blackpool} {bands I'll be seeing tbc}
25/09/17 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds {Manchester Arena}
15/11/17 - Alice Cooper {Manchester Arena}
04/12/17 - Marilyn Manson {Manchester Apollo}

More to come, most likely!

[Kes]

Went to the first of Phil Collins' Royal Albert Hall gigs on Sunday night.

The poor fella can barely walk these days, but even sat on a stool for a whole show, he can still deliver. His 16 year old son Nic is more than capable of playing Phil's drum parts and with Daryl Stuermer on guitar and Leland Sklar on bass, it's just like being back there on the No Jacket Required tour. He says the reason he's doing it, and wasn't doing it before, was mainly because of his son's increasing abilities behind a drum kit.

A good show, and highly reccommended to anyone who appreciates that beyond the soppy stuff he did for things like Buster and the Tarzan movie, the bloke has made some pretty good records.

Unlike people such as Elton John, I don't think Phil will be doing too many comeback tours, as time definitely appears to be catching up with him.

I'm reading his book and I never knew he was such a boozer. Seen him once solo in the early 90s and once with Genesis in the 80s. Hopefully he will have a US date near me so I can see him one last time. Watched some of the clips from your show on Youtube yesterday and his voice seemed a lot weaker.

Went to the first of Phil Collins' Royal Albert Hall gigs on Sunday night.

The poor fella can barely walk these days, but even sat on a stool for a whole show, he can still deliver. His 16 year old son Nic is more than capable of playing Phil's drum parts and with Daryl Stuermer on guitar and Leland Sklar on bass, it's just like being back there on the No Jacket Required tour. He says the reason he's doing it, and wasn't doing it before, was mainly because of his son's increasing abilities behind a drum kit.

A good show, and highly reccommended to anyone who appreciates that beyond the soppy stuff he did for things like Buster and the Tarzan movie, the bloke has made some pretty good records.

Unlike people such as Elton John, I don't think Phil will be doing too many comeback tours, as time definitely appears to be catching up with him.

What is wrong with him? I'm sorry to hear it about him, I've always loved and admired his music. Really underrated in the music world, IMO.

Went to the first of Phil Collins' Royal Albert Hall gigs on Sunday night.

The poor fella can barely walk these days, but even sat on a stool for a whole show, he can still deliver. His 16 year old son Nic is more than capable of playing Phil's drum parts and with Daryl Stuermer on guitar and Leland Sklar on bass, it's just like being back there on the No Jacket Required tour. He says the reason he's doing it, and wasn't doing it before, was mainly because of his son's increasing abilities behind a drum kit.

A good show, and highly reccommended to anyone who appreciates that beyond the soppy stuff he did for things like Buster and the Tarzan movie, the bloke has made some pretty good records.

Unlike people such as Elton John, I don't think Phil will be doing too many comeback tours, as time definitely appears to be catching up with him.

What is wrong with him? I'm sorry to hear it about him, I've always loved and admired his music. Really underrated in the music world, IMO.

He can't play drums anymore because of nerve damage in his hands and he almost killed himself with his drinking.