Gigs 2000

The Ipswich Corn Exchange is a 1,000 seater hall with I suspect a terrible PA system. Luckily it didn't seem to bad from where I was on the 2nd row tonight.

The show was due to start at 8pm and I arrived at 7.45pm to find the bar fairly quiet and the hall stunningly empty, maybe only 20 people in there. I couldn't understand where everyone was. About 7.55 there was a large influx of people and then about 8pm there was another one and luckily the hall got to about 2/3 full. This was still very disappointing. The last visit, surprisingly the same weekend a year ago, was a lot better supported I wonder what happened this time. There also was supposed to be a Paul Jones/Dave Kelly gig in between and that had been cancelled the day before. I hope Ipswich isn't losing interest. Those that were at the gig could see the Blues band are a real class act. In fact I think I enjoyed this gig the best of all the times I have seen the band.

(I feel I should mention my brother and sister would go to see the band if they weren't forced to sit. I am not sure how they would handle the acoustic set though)

Oh while I am moaning I am very disappointed that the Corn Exchange now seems to have some kind off Disco running late in the evening and the boom, boom, boom really spoiled the last few numbers especially the Dave Kelly song before Got To Be The Blues which was rather Quiet.

Oh sorry there was another complaint. The person on the spotlight was hopeless this time. Last time the Blues Band played here Paul actually praised the operator because he had heard the slide guitar and shined it on Dave since he normally does slide solos only to find out it was Tom at the other end. I.E. He was paying attention well. This time Paul was doing really exaggerated hand movements to point where the light should go and the operator still missed them. At several times during the show instead of waiting for the light to spotlight the soloist, the soloist moved to the light!

I was positioned in between Tom and Paul tonight and it was very interesting watching them interact during Dave's songs. It has to be said it is funny watching the faces Tom pulls as he plays guitar. He is most unusual as a face pulling guitarist as he tends to let his jaw drop rather than clench as he bends a note up.

During the 2nd half Paul mentioned the band would go out and sign things bought at the "mega-stall" after the show. I was in no rush and had already bought a video so I decided to hang round. The band appeared within 5 minutes. I have not see a members come out and sign so quickly. Since I wanted to sit while waiting I let everyone else go first and therefore was still about as the band left. It was interesting to see them carrying the own instruments about and even loading their cars. I guess they approach shows in the Chuck Berry manner.

This appearance was effectively supporting the same album as last time. (The then Unreleased All Brassed Up) I was therefore surprised and pleased at how different the set was time. As the band played they seemed to agree the songs. I don't think there were set lists on the floor so I wonder if they do things at will or have a rough set in mind. I have just sat down and compared the sets and there were only about 8 out of 26 tracks the same. Newish ones to me that I felt convinced I had heard last time I hadn't. Apparently the Acoustic set was being record for Potential use on Wireless 2. That will be interesting if any tracks are used.

On Take Me To The Red Line Tom McGuiness and Gary Fletcher Swapper Bass and Guitar. This is made more interesting by the fact Gary is a Left Hander. Luckily I think he just plays upside done but it was interesting to see anyway.

One of my favourites of the night was Baby Please Don’t Go. This surprised me as I don't normally like the Blues Band doing songs I know from elsewhere. I loved the Bass Work on this version. Actually another cover I liked a lot was Walk Of Life the Dire Striaght's tune in the Acoustic set.

Another thing I noticed about the set is that my favourites of the night didn’t necessarily come from the first 4 albums like I would expect. I don't find the later albums as exciting as the first four but they clearly still have some great songs on them.

As I was going to the Yes gig the following Day I played my friend my favourite Blues Band album Brand Loyalty and I was amazed to notice there is a fair bit of Brass on that album. I am not a fan or Brass sections and was therefore put off All Brassed up but the songs played from it previous night were all good. I will have to play the later Blues Band albums again and see if I am into them more than I expected.

Yes - Royal Albert Hall - 20 Feb 2000

This was my first time up in the Circle of the Royal Albert Hall. This is 3 tiers up and I was positioned on the left side of the hall about mid way back on the 2nd row. I had stupidly bought the Tickets through the Yes Web Page I believe it would have been better to go direct to the Albert Hall as usual.

The sound up there was quiet good and if everyone had sat back in their seats the view would have been good. The guy in my line to the stage was sadly leaning forward so I didn't see Steve Howe as much as I would normally. This is perhaps a good thing as he seems to me to be such a ego in the band. I can't tell if he is but he certainly is the main guitarist still. Billy Sherwood got a couple of solos and a voice part or to but he was generally pretty forgettable in the far corner from me. He seemed to be there to play with Chris Squire more than anything. They seem to interact the most on stage. Jon Anderson and Igor  Khoroshev also seemed to be a pair.

When the show first started it was a favourite of mine, Yours Is No Disgrace. However as a first number it didn't work for me. In fact I thought what am I doing here. I was immediately picking on Igor and Steve and I was just unmoved. Luckily by the 3rd song I was relaxed and into the music again. In fact I have to say I liked the sounds Igor was using and although he still seemed to have lots of spare time in the arrangements, I figured perhaps Wakeman had that to. Igor can certainly sing better than Rick and he appears to be able to drums.

 I can't think of anything to say about Alan White and Jon Anderson was Jon Anderson.

I thought the set list was very good overall. I really like the Ladder so the addition of those songs works for me. I didn't really like the inclusion of  “Hearts” which was different but I got bored of it after while. I also wish they would drop All Good People. I have never taken to Awaken for some reason so I thing I would have preferred a different long song but I have no problem with it's inclusion tonight. A lot of the set was different to last time. It still had a good mixture of old and new and I think the keeps the fans keen for each tour.

Overall I was very glad I went. The tickets where very pricey but I enjoyed the music and found it very interesting being able to see what Alan and Igor were playing. I would have liked to see what the back projections were but you had to remember to look at them as they weren't visible when viewing the band from my position.

Rick Wakeman - Spa Pavilion Felixstowe - 16 March 2000

The Spa Pavilion is 900+ seater theatre that has recently been renovated. I have to say they have done a nice job too. I know for a fact I was the first to buy a ticket for this gig as it had been on the web site a good week before I could finally make a purchase on 22 Feb and even then it was me telling the booking office they had the gig.  With such a late addition I was very worried that sales would be poor. I am pleased to say however that the place was a good 2/3 full. Impressive for 3-4 weeks. Hopefully this was above break-even it would certainly have grossed more than the two Sudbury dates I did.

Despite being extremely tired from my children again I really managed to enjoy this gig. Perhaps it was the familiarity that meant I had more brainpower let for enjoyment but I was very pleasantly surprised to find this. I also spoke with several of the audience during the interview and afterwards and they all said they really enjoyed it. Even the chap next to me who hadn't seen Rick since 1976 or so and I therefore thought might stand more change of being disappointed.

I have to say I found it really odd watching Rick in such a big theatre. I spent the first two songs trying to remember when the last time I had seem him in such a big place had been. It actually hadn't been as long as my memory suggested as I finally remembered it was Norwich Theatre Royal in November 97. It just seemed longer because I have seen so many dates on so many church tours.

The thing that struck me most (apart having a safety curtain come down in the interval. It's years since I have seen one of those!) was the lighting. They didn't really using any at the Quay Theatre. I only really recall a spotlight and maybe a couple of colour changes. Tonight was a lot better. There was a nice light shining down on Rick as he played the Eleanor Rigby keyboard on Rick's right. There was also some floor lighting as well as the regular whole Stage colouring.

The floor lighting was actually handy for seeing what Rick was doing occasionally. When it was on and he was playing the Eleanor keyboard you could see a shadow on the walls of his hands moving. Not clearly but you could see the speed of movement.

Tonight’s stooge was taken from the row in front of me. 2nd Person in again so it's not only woman on the isles that are prime targets for being a victim of Rick. Stephanie got the hang of what to do very quickly. I was a bit worried she wouldn't go up at the right moment though and so clearly was the person next to me as he tapped her to remind her. To be fair she was looking after a disadvantaged child. I wonder weather Rick realised earlier in the set she had had to take him out of the theatre. At the time I felt he hadn't spotted the interruption. During the interval she was talking to a friend about the experience and me being nosey I butted in and asked if she felt she had looked worried as Rick past her. She said she hadn't as she knew what was going to happen. She had been at Bury St Edmunds (I wrote Norwich but I am sure that is wrong) on the church tour. She had even stayed behind and met Rick afterwards. Curiously though she had forgotten the bit where Rick takes his time moving reads a paper and has a cup of tea. She said she thought about asking for one for herself, which would have been amusing.

I don't know what the story was with Dance Of A 1000 lights as Sudbury because tonight I didn't notice any jumps in the sound. As far as my ears were concerned it could have been the original album version. It may well have been different still but I didn't notice any jumps in what I was expecting to hear next like at Sudbury.

It was again interesting to see how the Audience reacted during the story telling. Generally the audience seemed to fed off itself so there was a real canned laughter effect to each little amusing point in the story about being drunk in Seattle. There were even people clapping some of the sub-jokes. Yet after some of the stories finished and before the music there was no clapping just like at the 2nd night of Sudbury. I must say I was more comfortable with it this way but I wonder what happens in other parts of the country.

Rick actually changed things tonight. Instead of the 2nd batch of Countdown Stories we got the Jon Anderson wanting a room with a view story from a previous tour instead.

Now that I knew what to watch for I felt understood how Rick was generating all the music himself. The concept of having the keys doing two different sounds depending on touch or speed seemed to tie up what Rick was doing with the sounds. That is a relief it was really bugging me I didn't understand what was going on.

With the Spa being so much bigger than Sudbury it seemed the speakers lost their clarity. The man next to me commented he couldn't hear the detail he wanted to and I noticed during Jane Seymour the stereo effects didn't seem to happen. Eleanor Rigby wasn't as loud as usual either. That one normally makes a big impact but they forgot to turn up the volume for about 10 seconds after Help. And even then they did it still seemed relatively quiet. Interestingly I did notice a lot of Stereo effect on You and I. Rick's left hand pattern seemed to come from the left and the Right was probably on both.

I hope I am wrong but the tour seemed to be taking it's toll on Rick. I was quite shocked just now when I saw on the Web site it is less than half way through. I hope Rick was just getting a cold or something. It is quiet normal for him to look relieved once he got to the end of Merlin and perhaps another song but tonight he seemed to be relieved a lot more often. I think I only noticed one place where I wasn't sure if Rick had made a mistake. And this one was curiously more a phrase in You and I that seemed half completed and then done again. I don't think I spotted any missed notes.

I decided to ask my chauffeur for the night (a friend’s dad. Now that is a weird concept to me. A friend’s dad not only liking music but also liking music I like! My dad has no interest in music as all.) how Rick looked physically. He and has dad (who was drummer at the Spa for many years) commented about the shaking hands again. That and he had put on weight again. They also commented without prompting that Rick definitely seemed tired. The friend’s granddad was very impressed at the speed Rick plays a especially commenting about Rick's ability to play the same speed with both hands.

As some one else mention Rick is now talking about doing a performance of Arthur with Orchestra in Wales in September. I look forward to it. I hope Praying Mantis don't go to Japan then or I will be really torn between my to favourite live artists.

Gary Moore - Cambridge Corn Exchange - 26 March 2000

When I got to the Corn exchange I was very shocked to see where our seats were. We were UU on the far left and I stunned to see the stage was about 100m away. The Corn Exchange is a long thin place and I hadn't really remembered how long. I must enquire if I need to use a wheelchair to sit in the disabled bay. Having said this the sound was really clear. I don't know if it is because of the style of music or the sound engineer of the venue but I was very impressed.

The lighting was probably as per the last tour and very effective despite it's simplicity.

Gary Moore was again excellent but because I was able to sit I wasn't as pumped up as last time. This meant when Gary was extending the endings I found it a little frustrating.

I was really surprised when he ended the set after about 80 mins. We did however get three encores. So the concert finished after about 1hr 45.

The 2nd from last song really had me confused. It was slow and I was convinced it was Parisian Walkways played really slowly and with a different treatment. Walkways itself had a really slow ending and people just seemed to want to get up and leave. Actually I was rather annoyed with the audience in the balcony as they were forever going for drinks and to the loo. Being so far back it was really obvious and distracting.

Gary changed the set this time and he only played one of the new album, which I found a little disappointing. I guess the album is a failed experiment to Gary now. Well I am sure he is proud of it but I mean from a fan acceptance view.

Having seen the concert twice I think I can see why I like Gary as a guitarist but don't really get the urge to buy his albums. He is a great guitarist and I can watch him solo all night but I don't think the songs are that great. Having said that I absolutely Love "Still Got the Blues". I also loved it when Gary worked with Jack Bruce but it is when Jack was singing I preferred it.

Bob Catley/Native Caine/??? - Chinnery’s Southend-On-Sea- 23 Apr 2000

Mmm what can I say about this? Well I really wanted to like it but Bob didn't come on till around 11pm, which is very late for a UK gig. And especially for me so perhaps I wasn't as receptive as I should be.

The Venue proved harder to find than we expected. It was on the seafront opposite the big dipper but it wasn't as decoratively lit as other places so we drove past it three times looking for it. Inside it was pretty much as the Oval used to be in Norwich. I reckon there were 150 to 200 at the gig (including to my surprise an e-friend from Sweden who had got a last minute flight). The stage was on the long side and the lights simple but effective. The sound seemed a little too bassy for me during Native Caine but for Bob it was better.

I didn't catch who the first band were. I assume someone local.

Native Caine came on around 10pm and played for a mere 30 mins which was good as the first band seemed better to me and the crowd didn't take to them.

Then it was time for Bob. I really like his voice and friends of mind seem to have the impression I am a bigger Magnum fan that I actually seem to be. It does have to be said I did used to over play the first 4 albums as a youngster. The fact that I have a complete collection though since is more the result of occasional bursts of interest than dedicated fandom. The last peak of interest for me was the 1st Hard Rain album. Sadly tonight Bob completely left that out. The set mainly and understandably consisted of Solo stuff and then Magnum standards.

I thought the Tower OK but I really didn't like the Legends album. This therefore left me feeling a bit cool about things. When we got to the Magnum stuff the crowd naturally picked up and so did I. Even though they were playing songs past my preferred era the songs were such a better standard. I had expected to like the Solo stuff more in a live context because I feel Bob is buried in an over produced mix on the albums. The problem still remains though that the songs are too simple and underwritten to me. I love harmonic melodies but there are just too many instruments doing the same thing for me.

It was the last night of the tour and the crowd were a little lethargic so Bob let himself go. There was lots of hugging of the guitarists as they soloed. It actually looked like he was wiping the sweat or his noise on them!

At one point Bob jumped in the crowd. At bit later someone pulled him in. This bloke then got expelled during the encore. This distraction ruined the calls for an encore so it was a strange situation whereby the crowd watched the scuffle and then remembered they wanted an encore. The momentum never really got going again though and Bob just returned.

It was an interesting nigh. I am glad I got to see the tour but it would have been nicer if it was Hard Rain or Magnum. Tony Clarkin is such a better writer than Ten's Gary Hughes. And Bob really needs a proper solo band despite his enthusiasm for Native Caine

This a bit of a negative review but I dare not let my mate add his comments. He thought Hard Rain was poor songs by a band that could sound like Magnum. This time he thought Native Caine were doing pub metal versions of melodic Magnum music and lots of other hard negative views. So we bothered preferred previous tours. What a shame. I hope for Bob's sake we are a minority.

Peter Green's Splinter Group/John Mayall's Blues Breakers - Ipswich Regent - 16 May 2000

This was a good night of British Blues. It was effectively two concerts in one. Both bands played 90-minute sets. The show started 7.35 and ended around 11.10, which was unfortunate for some of the audience as they started to drift away around 10.30. I assume to catch the last buses or something.

The Peter Green Splinter Group was first on. They were OK but I thought a bit to laid back for me. Also it is not really Peter's band. The main man is the other Guitarist. I almost felt like I was an onlooker at a Victorian freak show. Peter is clearly not at all there still. I hope he is playing again now because he wants to and not because he is being used.

He sang most of the Lead Vocals but they weren't very clear and he was also asked to talk before one song but it again off the wall and not very clear. It's such a shame.

The first encore was Albatross and Peter had next to nothing to do it in whole piece. He did play a little harmony guitar in places but a lot of the time he just seemed to be looking for parts to play.

In other songs Peter did take some lead solos and it was good to see. I wonder if all this touring is helping him to find is old ability. I would like to hope so.

After a half hour change of John Mayall's band came on. The first song was without John and sung by the guitarist who also did another song later one. This was much more my cup of tea. The first number with John especially. After a while I noticed the songs were rather drawn out and the early intensity was lost. I could certainly see why John Mayall was the main band. They were only a four piece but they were very professional and I got the impression the Lead guitarist was better than the Splinter group one but I am prepared to be wrong on this. The Blues Breaker newer songs were better the Splinter groups ones. I don't think John Mayall or Peter Green have been writing lately. I don't know if John ever has.

John Mayall was clearly very pleased with his musicians and to be on stage and it was good to see. Especially as the Regent must have been close to capacity.

I initially thought £17.50 was expensive for the tickets but as we had to full sets I think it was a good value night out. I prefer the Blues band if I want to see Blues played but this was worth seeing. I don't think I would bother going to another town to see them but then I am into to Blues Based Heavy Rock more than Blues.

Lou Reed - Royal Albert Hall - 18 May 2000

For the first 20 minutes of so I thought this was going to be a brilliant concert. After a while I realised Lou was going to play most of Ecstasy which I quite like but isn't as exiting as some of his stuff. Then it has to be said I was a little disappointed there weren't that many standard Lou tracks. Or even interesting old ones not played for a while.

Lou had asked for suggested songs on the Internet. I would be interested to see what was suggested. I can't really believe it was this set.

Lou was exceptionally slow coming back for the first encore and pretty slow for the 2nd one. The end result was the gig started at 8.20 and finished at 22.45 (I hope) As soon as the last note of Perfect Day started I had to make a dash, as I didn't think I would get back to Liverpool St in time for the last train at 11.30. As it happens I did but I used a Taxi and was lucky to catch one as soon as I got outside. The driver told me the pervious person had been to the gig and was rather fed up there weren't many Reed Standards.

It was good to see the interplay with the band. They obviously get on well together and enjoy playing up to one another. Tony Smith the drummer is really interesting to watch. He must be one of the most expressive drummers to watch. He really seems to be into every hit of the drum. At one point the roadie came behind him and replaced his glasses. I couldn't see how often he lost them.

It was a real surprise to see Lou Guitar-less for Ecstasy. It was also good to see smiling every now and then

I was in the Arena area on one edge about 30m from Lou. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the closest I have seen Lou so that was pleasing.

The Albert Hall seemed reasonably full. It is always hard to tell as so many of the box sets are owned buy lifers who don't returned the tickets when they aren't interested in the performers.

The sound was pretty much perfect all night except for one over the top song I could recall knowing some of the lyrics too but not the tune. I have a feeling it was the end of the main set so I am sure I should know it.

Several songs seemed to have a different feel or arrangement to them. Small Town from Songs For Drella was very interesting to hear in a band format.

Ecstasy was interesting to watch to, as I hadn't picked up that the violin type sounds were actually Fernando Saunders playing a Stick Bass with a bow. He also did a solo that was part of the song and surprised me.

It was a good night and we got value for money a few different songs and I would have been even happier.

Alarm-2000/Big Country - UEA Norwich - 19 May 2000

I was not looking forward to this one bit. I suffer from M.E. and was suffering badly from a Lou Reed concert the night before. On top of that the UEA is a horrid standing only gig. I was only really going because one of my two "chauffeurs" for gigs wanted me to see what he enjoyed so much.

Prior to the gig, I had heard a lot of gossip about Big Country from him and a friend in Holland. The band had been performing basically the same set for years and on the early dates in Germany apparently weren't enjoying themselves.

Tonight was a completely different story. The set was completely revamped and the band really seemed to enjoy playing. I expected to know a lot of the set since I had copied a bootleg for the friend and also recorded stuff off the Radio for him. Unfortunately for me the revamped set meant much of it was new to me.

Overall it was a fairly reasonable night out. I drank 1.5 pints of Cider, which on top of my painkillers helped my endurance and I forced myself to move to the music to get into it a bit more. I think it did the trick although I am not looking forward to the next few days on my bed recovering.  I think I preferred Mike Peters Alarm 2000 set musically but most of the Big Country set was OK. It didn't get me going but equally it didn't annoy me and the time seemed to pass quite quickly.

Alarm 2000 had a lot of lights and dry ice. They didn't use any dry ice for Big Country and the lighting wasn't very bright on the band. Very weird. Big Country were also a lot quieter.

The two guitarists were very different. Stuart Adamson was quite normal but did do the occasional hop jump or splits. Bruce Watson was a completely different character throwing what looked to me like a lot of Punk guitarist posses. He didn't seem to get many solos. I didn't pay much attention to the bass player and drummer, as they were harder to see from my position. The drummer must have been tired by the end though as I think he played drums for all 3 bands (I didn't see the first band but my friend noticed it was him)

The encores bought the set to a nice frenzied ending. Instead of shouting "More" for one of the encore the crowd starting singing the crowd part from the previous song. I.e. "Oh no, where did the feeling go 2 3 4". As they were doing this it stuck me the irony of singing this to a band that were splitting up and supposedly going through the motions in Germany only a month or so before.

It was a reasonable night out and thinking back I probably enjoyed this gig more than the Def Leppard the last gig my friend encouraged me to go to.

Blackmore's Night/Mostly Autumn- Cambridge Corn Exchange - 24 May 2000

I am not sure what my motive for going to see this was. It might have been to have a laugh at "that nutter Blackmore" or it might have been because the music was OK. I had seen a boot video of them live so I had a rough idea what to expect. I think I pretty much went with an open mind to see what there was to see really.

To start with there was some bloke playing medieval instruments. Badly it seemed to me. Not a good start.

Then a three-piece band called Mostly Autumn that I actually quite enjoyed. One was on flute, one on guitar and one on a large tambourine thing. This she forgot to bring on stage with her. Again a good start. The music the flute was playing was very good though and it struck me I ought to try and get some music of the pieces to give me something I enjoy to play on my Midi Wind Controller.

At about 8.40 Blackmore's Night returned to the stage (They had helped the first guy out on one tune). I was quite surprised at how many musicians they were using. There were two keyboard players. An acoustic bass guitarist. A Violin and Mandolin player. A drummer. Candice on vocals and recorders and of course Ritchie on guitar. The first artist also joined the stage occasionally to help on recorder etc.

Being mainly acoustic in nature it was a fairly quite gig. And the lighting was very dim. They came on to thunder and lighting, which was quite effective, but most of the show was spent with only dim lighting on the band and a spot light on Candice. Very annoying for me as she rubs me up the wrong way dreadfully. I can't really identify why. Perhaps she just seems to feminine or show biz like. I really wanted to find out why they had two keyboards but I was on the right of theatre, which was Ritchie’s side, and everyone else was cramped up on the left. It was therefore next to impossible for me to see what they where doing which was a shame. The violin was an excellent addition to the band that I don't recall from the albums. When I heard the first Blackmore's Night album I thought it sounded a little computer generated. The 2nd album seemed better and live the band sound great. Candice can certainly sing although she seemed out of place on Sixteenth Century Greensleeves. (Which I am of course used to Ronnie James Dio doing) My friend commented that she sounded a little like Steve Nicks. Something I had noticed unfortunately. It didn't bother me too much tonight though.

After about 1hr I was just starting think that it was getting a little samey and the people next to me got up and left. This seemed a little extreme to me, as they both knew what to expect one even had an album. Still it gave me a little more room to stretch.

Having his girlfriend singing and playing the music he has wanted to certainly seems to help Ritchie’s temperament. Candice was forever saying Ritchie Says and eventually she managed to get him to talk direct. I don't expect that happens to often. Candice actually made a few quips about Ritchie being Moody etc and when she introduced "No Second Chance" she said Ritchie decided tonight it was for all ex-members of Deep Purple and Rainbow.

Apparently Ritchie was pleased that the audience listening and appreciative. I don't know if this was in comparison to other nights on this tour or Deep Purple Audiences. We got two official encores plus a song after they shook hands with the audience but didn't actually leave the stage. Ritchie spent quite a long time shaking hands, which was nice to see.

Overall we had a good night. The music isn't to my normal taste but it makes a good change and is something I can quite get into when out and about. It was nice to get chance to see the band. I hope net time they manage to do some Castles. Framlingham would be good setting to me. I certainly respect Ritchie for bucking the trend and doing what he wants despite what fans and the press and previous band members might think. Good on him.

Samson/Angel Witch - Astoria 2, London - 26 May 2000

This was an interesting gig to go to originally Praying Mantis were due to play. Unfortunately they had to pull out leaving Samson and Angel Witch.  I have always liked Angel Witch's albums so I decided I would go despite my extreme fatigue.

More than that since I knew someone in the Samson ring from negotiations with Mantis etc I decided I would go down and watch the set up. I have previously seen what Mantis did in Japan so it was interesting to confirm that all the bands do much the same. They start of setting by setting up the drums. Then move on to a guitars setting up the basic sound and then any additional sounds. They gradually go round the band and do the vocal mics and then as a final check they play a tune or two to set up the on stage monitors and get the house balance perfect.

The bill was upside down to me. Especially if Mantis had played as they would have been due on at 7pm or so. Going back down to two bands allowed the sets to be a bit longer and for Samson to have Thundersticks Caged up. I think if Mantis had played all bands would have had about 45 mins instead Angel Witch had about an hour and Samson had about 70 mins.

Angel Witch only had Kevin Heyborne left from the old days but that didn't matter. I thought they performed very well and the crowd gave them a terrific reception. To my surprise Kevin was on the right. The Bass player in the middle and a 2nd guitarist on the left. I was on the right side of the stage and I found I struggled to hear the solo by the 2nd guitarist, which is a shame. The Bass player at a guess seems to be a better vocalist than Kevin but I am glad he was only used for certain lines and screams. The set consisted of old and new. I have the new album from the old web site and I am sorry to say I didn't really like it. Zoom Club records in the UK have just officially released it. I am a dinosaur and Angel Witch are at the fastest end of my musical spectrum so it not a complete surprise I found they had moved away from my taste band. Of the old songs it wasn't all the 1st album material. There were compilation-released tracks such as extermination day and Baphomet.

Samson came on around 9.15 and as expected they failed to move me. I can't tell what it is that makes me indifferent to them but that is how I feel. I had hoped I would know a few songs because I had the Japanese Metal Crusader album. Unfortunately I only knew possibly one song from the main set. At least I knew both tracks from the Encore. They played two brand knew songs the first of which I quite enjoyed. The 2nd was indifference again though. Also during this song they had some technical problems with the Nicky Moores mic. First he was given a new one and then when that failed to he took Paul Samson's backing vocal mic. This was then replaced about two songs later. I don't expect this help the bands confidence one bit but they persevered and did a good job of coping.

Towards the end of the set Thundersticks escaped his cage while Paul Samson did a sort of guitar solo. It's not a full solo so maybe it was even a song. Thundersticks who was still masked and in Bondage gear came to the front in a Grim Reaper type cloak and carried a dolls head. He then placed it on the mic and proceeded to visually argue with it and throw beer etc. It made an interesting diversion.

As I said I knew the encore and was pleased to get Tomorrow Or Yesterday from Metal for Muthas. This is a really good song and I was surprised it was used as an encore as in Japan it had been in the main set. They finished the night on Mr Rock'n'Roll, which is a reasonable song. They crowd certainly enjoyed it.

I probably have a false impression but the impression I got was that the Angel Witch crowd reaction was stronger than the Samson one. It is of course hard to judge especially when you are pleased at the crowd reaction for Angel Witch and progressively more tired for Samson.

It was a very good night for old-fashioned metal fans. I hope gigs like this at the Astoria can happen again. The Astoria hold probably up to 500 and I know there were 300 advanced ticket sales with a reasonable walk up crowd expected to. The Astoria has an excellent PA system and lighting set up. So it is a good place to play for bands that are of a medium size, which lets face, it is most of the bands I like now.

I know for sure I won't feel like going but I have committed to returning for Saxon tomorrow night.

Saxon - Astoria 2 London - 27 May 2000

What a disaster! I got to the Astoria and for my first gig entered when the doors opened. There was quite a queue to get in and when I did all the upstairs seats had gone (except ones behind the glass). For the first time in the three occasions I have been here the whole of the upstairs on the upstairs was accessible to everyone. This still didn't help though.

I therefore went downstairs to the standing area and sat in a cuppyhole. Went to get my painkillers and oh hell I left them in the smoke free jeans I was wearing at home when I loaded my pillbox. What to do? What to do? I decided to ask if I could leave the strictly no readmission hall to get some painkillers. Unfortunately I had bought a can of Cider and when I asked Security he wouldn't even consider letting me out saying I shouldn't drink with Painkillers anyway. Which is true but I know what is OK and what isn't after all the time. Anyway I cursed to myself decided to go back in the upstairs area and saw some being let in with a wheelchair.  That must have been murder to get there in London! I asked the woman who was helping explaining I had M.E. etc. and she said it would be no problem. I was allowed to go and ask the security again! He was not impressed and thought I was having them on. I remembered I had my Disabled badge on me and he said "Sorry you have only just remembered that?" I said, "Yes". Of course I had I suffer from M.E. and my brain doesn't work. Not ideal I this situation! He eventually agreed I would be allowed in. Luckily I found some Ibrufen and got back in but all the seats had now gone.

The warm up band (Blaze I think) came on and some cleared. They were reasonable they struck me as a sort of Attention. I didn't like the guitar work but they had keyboards and weren't that bad.

At 8pm Saxon came on and I have to say they gave a stonking show even through my pain and fatigue. I ended up standing on one of the seats leaning against the wall. I had tried standing on the floor but the area got more and more crowded and I couldn't handle the pure standing anyway.

So to the gig! The venue was the most packed I have seen it. I suspect Samson must have had only 350 if the capacity was 500. The place tonight was heaving. It was also extremely responsive to Saxon. Biff Bifford is a real pro and knows how to work the crowd. From my position I couldn't see too much of the stage just the front foot or so. There was an extra set of Barriers up tonight where security was between the band and the crowd.

Paul Quinn and Biff seem to be the only originals left. Or at least they were the ones I remember from the classic era. Paul Quinn was mentioned a few times but he doesn't really solo that much. I guess Graham Oliver was the main lead guitarist. It is certainly his replacement that did most of them.

There was a good old-fashioned drum solo, which was a bit to long for my liking. Mind you I couldn't see the drums so the appeal was even less tonight than normal.

It is actually a long time since I saw Saxon. Back on the Strong Arm of the Law tour in 1981 I think. The set has obviously changed in that time. There were about 4 of the new Metalhead album and one or two tracks of most of the previous albums. I thought it a good mix of old and new really. They were also a lot quieter than I remember they used to be. I seem to recall them being exceptionally loud in the 80's. Perhaps I am just deaf now ;-)

They left the stage around 9.25 and then did two encores talking us to the curfew time of 10pm tonight. Boy was I glad they went off so early it gave me that little extra hope that the end was in sight. Despite my enjoying the gig I had seriously considered leaving early, as the Ibrufen wasn't helping that much. (Co-Proximal being my main aid. Ibrufen just being on active days to give me the extra boost) I really didn't want to abandon the gig though. I had fancied it from when I first heard about it. The only thing putting me off was it's timing at the end of the 5 gigs in the previous 10 days. I was here so forced myself to remain.

Saxon compared to the Son Of A Bitch gigs, which have also been promoted as Saxon was like Night and Day. To me there was no comparison although it has to be said I preferred the authentic guitar solos in the old tunes and not the modern style of the new guitarist.

I was pleased to see that Dogs of War was still in the set. I really liked that album and though it deserved another song really as well.

I expect the majority of the fans had a really good time tonight. I know Saxon where at a 3,500 festival in Holland the day before so I am not sure if they had played England recently or not. They certainly seemed to enjoy doing so and Biff mentioned not to get him started on why there are no UK festivals lately. I totally agree although I obviously want old time band festivals not modern Ozzfest type stuff. There surely has to be a market for something.

Santana - Wembley Arena - 14 June 2000

I booked this one late consequently our tickets were near the back Disabled section. This makes for a very poor concert. The only other band I had seen this far back was Kiss and that was OK because they were loud and had video screen and a great show set up.

Tonight was a big disappointment as the sound was pretty poor and there were no video screens. Its a long time since I have been to a gig where the vocals aren't clear. This was par for the course in the 80's but I was appalled today.

That a side we got a pretty reasonable concert. The last time I saw Santana I was amused when 5 minutes before coming on stage the Roadies lit on stage JossSticks. Also Carlos came on in Moccasins. I was rather stunned at how little of the set I knew since I had quite a few Santana albums.

This time there were a lot more songs I knew. I must admit I expected a few more of Supernatural but he did my two favourite Put Your Lights On and Smooth. The last got the biggest cheer of the night and most people on their feet (Maria Maris the new single was also popular). It also got a guest apparent from Rob Thomas the original singer. I must admit I was surprised to see him as he only sings that song. I wonder how many dates he has appeared at.

After about 1hr we got a bass and drum solo. This then turned into a bass solo which admittedly was interesting as I hadn't heard one like it before. Carlos then asked him to do another song and we got a bass version of Imagine. To be honest I felt the gig went a bit flat form this point on. We of course got Black Magic Woman and then Oye Como Va but this two was a bit dragged out being the last song on the main set.

For the Encore we got Afriaca Bamba and an extremely extended Jingo. Santana's band was also joined by the Afriacan sounding support band. I guess this would be OK if you went for the Rhythm's but I go to hear Carlos playing. He is a great guitarist and I would like to have heard a lot more from him.

I guess overall it was a so so concert. If I see him again I will have to get tickets earlier and hope he isn't quite so popular so we can see him somewhere a little better. The Albert Hall would be more ideal.

Lynyrd Skynyrd / Company Of Snakes - Hammersmith Apollo - 20 June 2000

This was another gig that caused me a few problems but I am glad I went.

I booked it earlier in the year and I suspect I wasn't to bothered. Having said that I got central seats in row 2 upstairs so I suspect I had my choice of the theatre. A month or so back I suddenly realised I didn't know if I had ever booked it. Certainly I had it in my diary but I never received the tickets. I was in the embarrassing position of having to ring the box office and ask if I had booked it. I had seen a credit card entry for the Apollo but I had guessed it was for Rick Wakeman or something. Strange really, as it was too much and after then. Oh well it is easy to spot with hindsight.

The next problem was my friend that normally drives me to gigs has got a new job in Cambridge and today had a meeting in Chester and couldn't get back in time. I had considered going early and meeting him but England were playing football and I suspect he preferred to watch that anyway. I therefore decided to take a London friend and then if the gig was to late I could crash on his sofa. The gig did go on to late by an encore and since that is my favourite track, Freebird, and one I have even requested is played at my funeral there was no way I was going to miss it.

I got to the venue in plenty of time and picked up my duplicate tickets and on the dot of 7.30 the support band came one. I had no idea who they were to start with but after the first number, which was OK, they mention Bernie Marsden. Ah ha! The ex-Whitesnake band. Excellent! I had wanted to see them. They had Mickey Moody on the other guitar, Neil Murray on Bass (I wondered what he had done since Cozy Powel’s death and leaving Peter Green's Splinter Group) and Don Airy on Keyboards. I didn't catch who the drummer or singer were. A very heavy weight support act anyway. I have never really listened to Whitesnake, as I don't like David Coverdale's vocals. To me the vocalist did a good job of copying him and I thought the set very enjoyable including a couple of Bad Company song. In a couple of numbers there seemed to be some strange feedback from the drums or something. Perhaps it was just bass boom because I was upstairs. I noticed it in Skynyrd to. Snakes played for 1hr and got the evening of to a good start. I am glad I hadn't decided to arrive late with my friend.

So to Lynyrd Skynyrd they came on stage at 9pm and did 90minutes then Freebird. Their first album to me is absolutely brilliant. After that though I am a bit in different. This is the reason I was half hearted about seeing them. I have seen a few videos of them in the 90's and so I knew it would be mainly old standards and a few new tracks. I guess overall that is what we got although I have a feeling some of the old stuff had been varied a little and we got a medley of tunes early in the set.

The biggest driving factor for me going to see them and buying the last album was Blackfoot's Ricky Medlock is now a member. To me he has almost taken over the band especially compared to videos I have seen. He is such a charismatic player. I would also guess he gets the most solos. He certainly started a lot of the songs and normally took the first solo. The others did their share and it was the original guitarist that did Freebird slide guitar but they didn't have half of the stage presence.

People seem to think Edge Of Forever is the best Skynyrd has produced in years. Perhaps it is but it didn't grab me greatly. The songs seemed heavier compared to the rest of the set. They were certainly OK they just didn't sparkle quite as much. I guess I would really prefer to see Medlock doing another solo or Blackfoot album.

It was an excellent night out. I am glad I went. This is the last gig I have booked until December however I am hoping to see lots of Praying Mantis between now and then.

Uriah Heep - London Astoria - 15 July 2000

This wasn't a gig as such. It was a run through for a DVD. I heard about it from friend on the internet. A slightly modified set list from the last Heep Tour in 1999 was used as a sound track. Strangely it was from a German concert so have German intros from Bernie. The lads had mimed to it before we were allowed in and then around 3pm we the audience was invited in for a 2nd run through with the crowd and different camera angles. There were only about 250-300 fans but this is all they wanted. I was on the end of the front row on the right so slightly to the right of Trevor Boulder. There were about 4 changes of tape but apart from that it was a straight run through. I look forward to seeing the results and to seeing if I wasted my energy in vain. It was interesting to be there and we got a free T-shirt for the event as a souvenir which was nice. Afterwards the band came out and signed CD's and posed for photos with the fans so it was a good afternoon all round.

Praying Mantis - Dean Swift, Dean Cross Street, London - 31 July 2000

It's been 7 months since Mantis last played live together. This time it was at the Dean Swift pub again in preparation for the Wacken Festival. Being Dennis's local the crowd was very enthusiastic and very full.

Since this was basically warm up practise the band played the Wacken set twice. Well almost. One song was missing from the 2nd set. Instead we got Lovers To The Grave done without Tony.

To my non-musical ears it was a faultless performance. I love hearing these songs live so much that when I hear the studio versions again I miss the extra little shouts and whammy bar sounds from Dennis. Certainly I love the Time Tells No Lies tracks with Dennis adding his touch.

The band would have liked to have performed a couple of songs of Nowhere to Hide. Unfortunately the logistic of getting the band into rehearsal to work out the arrangements meant they didn't get time for this one off festival.

Something that struck me tonight that I don't remember noticing before is that Tony is a lot more comfortable with UK crowds. For the warm up dates in the Forever In Time I have a strong recollection of his being very stationary and apologetic to the crowd that they didn't know the tunes. Tonight he didn't have room to run around or anything but he was being much more of a front man with his arms and even trying to get the crowd to sings etc in songs like Rise Up Again. They did sing too. It will be interesting to see what things are like tomorrow at the Cartoon where the crowd will me a more unknown quantity.

Praying Mantis -The Cartoon, London Road, Croydon, 1st August 2000

I have never been to the Cartoon before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It is in fact quite a big place that is well lit from the main road in Croydon. Inside it is probably capable of holding 500. The Bar is on the long side of a rectangular room and the stage is in the right hand corner of the other side. Around the edge of the room there are sitting alcoves and the main floor is separated from the bar area by some steps leading down to the toilets.

Being so big and not being Dennis's local the crowd rattled around a bit but overall they were still quite responsive. I noticed a lot of people from the previous night and also a lot of friends I had seen at previous dates.

Tino and Chris play in a covers band called Paddy Goes To Holyhead when they have they time and the drummer of that band has a son called Ben Main who is probably 15 by now. Around 9.30 he came on with a three piece band and played around 30 minutes of Steve Vai type guitar soloing songs. Normally the bass player of the band is the singer but apparently he was ill so they had Ben's guitar tutor on Bass. At the end of the set most people I spoke to said how good he was and doesn't it make you sick he can be that good so young! The style of the music played isn't quite to my taste but I thought he did very well. It will be interesting to see what happens with Ben in the next few years.

Around 10.30 Praying Mantis came on stage and played for 55 minutes. To my surprise I enjoyed this gig about three times as much as the previous night and that is despite me being a total physical wreck. I think what did it for me was the fact everyone was on the stage in their normal place and there was lighting. The lads came on and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Speaking to people after the show most that had seen both nights seem to have preferred the Dean Swift since there was more crowd in less space. I must confess I was amazed when they said this, I preferred the band being all in one watchable place and having room to move about. I guess it is horses for courses.

The set was the same as the Dean Swift except Lovers To The Grave was slotted in earlier. It will be interesting to see if they do this in Wacken. I know a lot of fans still love to hear the Time Tells No Lies tracks. In fact one person asked me why it is they never do Captured City now. I don't know the exact answer but I guess it is down to the band feeling they have written better stuff in the 90's and only have limited time in the set.

Overall I think the set is right for Germany. I would like to have seen tracks from Nowhere To Hide but I am not sure what I would have dropped in order to make room even if they had managed to get the songs rehearsed. In a 45-minute set with songs around 6-7 minutes there is only so many ways to arrange the set. I am looking forward to Wacken and seeing how the crowd react. I don't expect most fans will have heard the last two albums since they are only just getting releases outside of Japan so a set based around the classics the TimeTells No Lies, Predator In Disguise and especially A Cry For The New World is hopefully the way to go. Friday night we will see...

Whoops I almost forgot to mention Yukie Toyomi came over from Japan for the two UK dates and the band got wind that it was her birthday so the band gave her a present and sang happy birthday for her. Ko Yamada also made it from Japan again.

Uriah Heep and ex-Mantis man Bernie Shaw was in the audience and enjoyed the show. Especially "Turn The Tables" which he was the first to record.

Praying Mantis - Wacken Open Air Festival - 10pm 4th August 2000

I was told before the gig that they were expecting about 20,000 fans to the festival this year. Last year it had been about 25,000. I later heard there might be 30,000 about. I have no idea what is true but it gives you an idea.

I was also told Overkill on the Black Stage would take most of Mantis's audience compared to some of the other bands on the Party and Wet Stages. I guess it is best to explain there were four stages. The True Metal stage was the biggest and it was paired with the slightly smaller Black Metal Stage. Then at Right angles to these two stages and probably 100m back were the Wet stage and the slightly smaller Party stage.

During the day the Black and Metal stage never had anyone on at the same time and likewise the Wet and Party. The Black/Metal Stages pretty much had something on all day until 7pm whereas the Wet/Party normally had a 15min break between bands.

By 10pm Overkill were the first band on the Black Stage to get 1hr had been on 1/2. I don't really recall what they were like, as I wasn't paying much attention to them except for the noise irritation. Mantis went on stage and I thought the predictions were true and Mantis wouldn't have much of a crowd. Dennis in true Dennis style started telling the crowd to get over here and for the other band to "shut up" and the set started.

Mantis played a stormer and within in a couple of songs I thought the crowd were pretty big. By the end of the set I felt convinced they were playing to 10,000 or so. The band who had a higher position than me were more conservative at about 5,000 but the stage was rather large and I can believe about 75 people wide. It was also a long way back to the sound tower and from what I could see holding my camera above the crowd it looked liked the crowd went all the way back. We are definitely agreed though that the crowd grew throughout the set and about two songs from the end a film crew suddenly showed up as if something special was happening and it was important to catch it.

The set was slightly shorter than we expected due to a lack of time. Not only did we not get Lovers, which was expected, but they also had to drop Letting Go. During Rise Up again Tony and been getting the crowd to join in and like in the UK he changed the song into Queen's We Will Rock You. The crowd responded to this very well and I suspect it was an excellent move to help the fans that don't know Mantis get into the show more. It was certainly great to see such a huge crowd responding so well. I hope the band managed to convert some new fans with this show. After the show the band were talking to the editor of one of the main Metal Magazines in Germany and she was saying this wasn't a crowd that would really appreciate Mantis so the great reaction was even more special.

Mantis were the first band to play in the Dark on the Wet Stage and I have to say the lighting was excellent. I would like to have seen a spotlight on Tony from the Sound tower and a light on Leon but the general impression was great.

Mantis got the Royal Hunt Sound man to do the sound and according to Beaky who was also helping it was crystal clear. Dennis also commented how clear it had been on stage too. This was because they had good Stereo separation on Tino's and Dennis's guitars.

Dennis's son Jack had been running round the edge of the stage encouraging the crowd to clap etc and during one of the songs Tony got him to sing a line in a song. Then Dennis got him out on the stage and it was nice to see them showing affection to each other. "Whenever I'm Lost" on Nowhere To Hide is written by Dennis for Jack. If he feels he has let him down in the past (my interpreation of the first verse and probably completely wrong) it seems to have only helped there relatationship now.

All the band were pleased with the performance and how the crowd grew through out and there were several fans in the Press who came up and said how good it had been. In fact someone who I didn't know at all said "They might as well pull the plugs on all the stages and go home the Festival has seen the best and nothing can touch it now".

A one line review from me would be "F**king Brilliant. I wish it could have been a full set"

The band hope to be back next year.

Rick Wakeman - Marlborough - 26 August 2000

Well what a great month August has been for me concert wise. First I saw Praying Mantis and then tonight Rick Wakeman with as a six Piece band. Possibly with the exception of Ayreon who don't play live anyway the best two acts I would like to see.

Tonight was really great. Marlborough College Memorial is basically a large lecture hall. I believe it holds about 600 and it was close to capacity. There were about 12 rows steeply banked in a semi-circle around the Stage.

To my surprised the stage wasn't in the Wakeman with Wakeman format. Rick was more centre Stage with the normal bank of 6 keyboards in pairs forming a horseshoe. He also had a Moog on the right-hand corner. Adam was off to the left and situated further back.

The guitarist Ant Glynne was on the right and the bass player Lee Pomeroy to the left. Tony Fernandez on drums was on a riser behind Rick. For the first time that I can recall he was on his old faithful acoustic drum set and not on the Electric one he normally uses with Rick. I must admit I think I preferred this one. I was also interested to spot he plays the drums with one stick up and one stick down in his hand. I can't recall seeing too many drummers that don't hold them both up. Perhaps it was the type of music I listen to.

The first thing I noticed was that Adam and Tony still enjoy having a laugh together while playing. Adam and Lee also seemed to enjoy the way Ant was very much into pulling poses when setting forward to play solos. I wasn't quite sure if I liked his playing or not. I was certainly thrown by it during the King Arthur the first track. As the night wore on I got used to his style and figured it was probably as Rick told him anyway.

Damian Wilson was on vocals. I know his voice from the Ayreon albums. He has a very strong voice and I think he is better on the more gentle songs like King Arthur. I wasn't as keen on him on the faster vocals. I possibly still prefer to have had Chrissie Hammond singing but then she is my favourite Rick vocalist. Damian was pretty spot on all night. I suspect he forgot how Ride Of Your Life went though and he said something about having another week to learn the songs better when I was chatting with him after the show. When Damian wasn't singing he remained on stage a fair bit standing between Rick and Adam and watching Rick soloing close up. He seemed as fascinated as us at the master at work.

The set list was excellent three tracks of Return and One of Phantom Power. I couldn't believe my ears when Rick said they were going to do something of Phantom. Phantom is on of my favourite Rick albums and very underrated especially as it is no longer available. The crowd were pretty indifferent when Rick announced the track but they certainly responded well at the end. Apparently I have Oscar Wakeman to thank for The Visit's inclusion. Rick wanted to do a song he hadn't played before and that was Oscar's favourite.

The set was

King Arthur (Overture, King Arthur, Lancelot) - Very good but much as normal

Never Is A Long Time - I wasn't sure how well this worked. I was impressed the guitar did the parts of the Riffs played by the Orchestra quite well. Rick wore his glasses on all the Return tunes. I can't recall if they were need for The Visit too but I find it interesting he isn't confident of remembering these new tunes.

Catherine Howard and Aragon - Fairly standard versions to my memory

The Visit - Rick and the Guitarist took turns at solos on this. I thought it sounded pretty good. Ramon Ramedios was in the audience it might have been interesting to have him come up on this one. There were some songs on the album where Ashley Holt (I wonder where what he is doing now), Ramon and Chrissie all sang. I thing this was just Ashley with Chrissie backing on the album but Ramon might have joined in on a reprise or something.

Excerpts From Journey - I was pleased not to get the full thing. That was one of the downers for me of when I saw Rick and the Band before. It is just too long and I prefer the variety of using the time for more pieces. As it was we got 15 minutes of the main bits that spring to my mind when I hear the piece.

Set 2

Catherine Parr - On the set list it had Jane Seymour in brackets at the start but I don't recall hearing it and I certainly remember thinking during the set that Rick might do it as first encore with just Adam as accompaniment before doing a final song with the whole band.

Eleanor Rigby - This was a vocal version again

Buried Alive - I wasn't too sure how this would sound without Ozzy on vocals but Damian sounded really good.

1984 Overture/Hymn/Robot Man - I think this was pretty much as the last time I was the band with Rick and a vocalist.

Merlin - This was a slightly strange version. I couldn't work out what I was hearing at the start. It seemed to have a Robot Man feel to it to me. I suspect my brain was just fudge by this time though and it was probably just a funky Merlin with a slightly heavier beat. It then went in to the Lyric version of Merlin. Adam and Rick did their dual again with the two Portable keyboards this was great to see again.

Starship Trooper - This started with the intro from Heart Of The Sunrise. Again Adam came out on the Portable keyboard. It was the only real times I could see what he was doing as Rick's Moog blocked my line of sight of Adam's Rig. Rick was absolutely brilliant at the end of this. I really couldn't believe how well he played the Wurm section. And the band really seemed to enjoy playing so fast so well. Fantastic.

Encore

Jig - To me this was a strange choice for an Encore but then what can you follow Starship Trooper and Merlin with? Damian went off stage and bought a little girl from the front row to dance the jig with him, which was nice. When he got out of puff she wouldn't continue alone so he had to carry on.

Ride Of Your Life - Again I found this a slightly strange encore piece but it was good to hear.

There were no real stories tonight. Just 2hr 15-20 of solid music. The Lee needed a new string on his bass at one point and it took a while to get someone from the crew to come along and take the bass off stage while he placed his spare. Ant also broke a string during the encore as well but he got by with his other guitars.

Oh there was also a bat came flying around during the encore. I think it would have been more amusing if it had come of during Buried Alive, which was originally sung by Ozzy Osbourne. However you can understand a bat's reluctance to show up during anything associated with Ozzy.

There were several members of the Rick Wakeman list in the crowd and it was good to meet up with them.

It was a great night out and I look forward to the next time Rick can afford to get a band together to play. I dearly hope someone in South America Records Rick for TV or CD releases. We really need a new recording of Rick with and Band and Vocalist.

Lou Reed - Shepherds Bush Empire - 5 September 2000

The Shepherds Bush Empire is a lovely ornate 1000-1500 seater. It has a standing area on the floor and two levels of seating which unreserved. The level I was on was full so I assume the theatre was close to capacity.

My energy reserves have been depleted for so long this summer that tonight I completely failed to find anything to help me enjoy the gig. This is a damn shame as I am pretty sure it was better than when I saw Lou at the Albert Hall earlier this year.

It has to be said I wasn't that motivated about going though. It was only because a friend told me I was stupid not to see him in such a small theatre and the fact a 2nd night was added that I went. I expected the set would be the same and I have already seen this tour live and in full on TV. I did have a nagging doubt that it might be slightly different, as I couldn't work out why Lou would tour the UK twice on the same tour. I guess it is just a successful and enjoyable tour to him.

It therefore came as quite a shock to me to discover the way things had changed Performance wise in the last few months.

The set was quite a bit shorter (it has to me said to my bodies relief which was clock watching every ten minutes!). Just under two hours. I am sure we got about 2hr 20 at the Albert. There was only one encore of Vicious and Dirty Blvd. And I know The Blue Mask was missing as the set closer. I have to say Set The Twilight Reeling felt a lot more like a closer and when I heard it and when it was I was pleased.

(When I got home I checked and Vicious was extra but Mad, The Last Shot, Dime Store Mystery, The Blue Mask, Sweet Jane, Perfect Day were all missing)

I thought Mike Rathke seemed a bit absent tonight. Perhaps I was too tired to notice him but Lou didn't seem to pay as much attention to him as I remember last time. He did get a solo spot at the end of though

I just love watching Tony Thunder Smith on drums. He is so animated. Actually he kind of reminds me of Animal from the Muppets.

I also love watching Fernando Saunders. He definitely seemed Lou's main playmate tonight. He got a couple of feature spots including a rather lengthy one in Set The Twilight

Lou seemed in a very good mood tonight and he was quite animated at times. He also made the odd comment. He delivered a lot of lines differently to on record at least. At a guess different from last time. He also didn't have a fag during Ecstasy, which surprised me. I feel sure he did the previous two times I saw him. He did have one later though. He made us wait 5 minutes for an encore luckily tonight I didn't mind as I still had plenty of time to get home. I wonder why there was no 2nd encore. It was 10pm so perhaps there was a curfew?

I am still rather amused at the bands love of playing the same not over and over again as fast a possible. It is rather exciting though and you have to feel sorry for Tony having to drum so fast so long.

Paranoia Key Of E
Turn To Me
Modern Dance
Ecstasy
Small Town
Future Farmers Of America
Turning Time Around
Romeo Had Juliet
Riptide
Rock Minuet
Mystic Child
Tatters
Set The Twilight Reeling
Encore
Vicious
Dirty Boulevard

Bother! After the house lights had gone up the music came on and the roadies started to break up the stage. I therefore left for the exit. Apparently there was then a nod from the wings and the lights went down and Lou came back for two more songs! I will have to be more cautious in future.

Camel - Waterfront, Norwich - 5 October 2000

To be perfectly honest I was rather dreading this. I had heard the set could be as long as three hours and it was a standing gig.

At their most exciting I really love Camel but there have been a lot of tunes in recent years that have been less pacey. These are fine when I am comfortable but not when I have to stand.

The Waterfront is a long thin venue with lots of posts to help obscure the view. It is nice and intimate but not the best for seeing the band. Having said this I liked the lighting it was simple but very effective. It went very well with the music.

The gig was in 2 halves. The first halve was all electric. There were only two non-instrumental tracks in the first half and I thought that good, as it is the vocals are what I find most dreary. Apparently Andy Latimar normally does the vocals but he had lost his voice earlier in the tour so Colin Bass was doing them. He could have used a bit more volume in the mix to my ears.

After an hour they went off for a ten-minute break. The stage was then set up for an acoustic session. Not only did I loose moment/adrenalin rush for the break I also had to suffer the worst part for another half hour. I am sure they were very good versions but too tough going for me. I have to say though that I really enjoyed Rajaz, which broke the set from acoustic to electric again.

After about an hour of the 2nd set, the band went off again and then came back for a 15 minute of so encore. It stopped almost exactly on 11pm. I don't know if that was by design. Apparently the set was pretty much as Europe.

I love watching Andy Latimar on guitar and I thought it interesting that he plays guitar with such feel and he is a real face puller. In fact he plays with his whole body. IMO you don't see enough of this now. Either the feel or guitarist pulling faces!

I couldn't see the other too well. The keyboard player seemed pretty good on the Hammond and all I noticed about Colin Bass was he looks like a pink version of the Incredible hulk due to his strong eyebrows. Actually the keyboard player reminded me of Mickey (I think) from the Monkees

Towards the end of the set, which was exactly the pace, and excitement factor I needed, the keyboard player did vocals. Andy had sung Rajaz and a couple of acoustic numbers so I guess he was breaking himself back in gently.

When talking to the audience he had a rather strange manner. I couldn't tell if he was just playful, uncomfortable, mad or on something.

I am glad I went, as Camel are a class act. It is not often they play here so they were worth making the effort. Next time I hope it is somewhere with seats. I used my walking stick seat but it was uncomfortable after an hour or so. I think it is 50-50 if I would go again while I am ill. It would depend on the venue and how keen I am to go to a gig. I am worried at present I have seen too many this year and the novelty is running out. Still I have another batch of Praying Mantis and I don't want to miss those!

Jeff Healey - Norwich UEA - 11 October 2000

For months my mate and I have been trying to work out the newest band I have ever gone to see live. We have been unable to succeed because so band's could have released their first album around 1981/82. Now we have the answer. It is Jeff Healey in 1989. Almost the 90's!

Again going into the gig I was far too tired but this time it was more indifference to the gig. I have Jeff's first album see the light and the video. I love it but I can't say I play it much. Some songs are a bit to soft for me. I guess to me, he is a bit like Gary Moore a great blues guitarist with mediocre songs.

Well tonight I enjoyed myself beyond expectation. It was another horrid standing gig and my stick is so uncomfortable I didn't want to sit on it but equally I didn't want to stand.

Only knowing one album it was again mainly down to getting off on the guitar solos and their were loads of those so it was great.

I was surprised to see a 2nd guitarist on stage and even more surprised that he got the first solo in a lot of the songs. He even sang a song but the less said about that the better. He can sing but I don't like the style of vocal. I really enjoyed his guitar playing. Perhaps a fraction more than Jeff which is interesting. He was another face puller and whereas Jeff wasn't really.

Most of the set Jeff played sitting down but occasionally he stood with the guitar on a half laid back stand. Then at the end of the song he would lift it off and play standing up but still in his unusual hand over the top style.

This in fact was the main thing to watch. He tends to play it like a steel guitar but with his thumb. I can't see that that is normal steel guitar style. He make's really strange shapes with his hands. I wonder if he can do stuff others can't.

Jeff is blind and I found myself wondering about all the problems it must cause for him on stage. He can never be sure when people have spotted his signals. No set list on the floor to my knowledge at least. You can't see if the crowd are responding well but quietly or if they are bored. He is a credit to people overcoming their disabilities. He was quick to pick up Norwich was a quiet polite crowd vastly different to Glasgow the night before.

The set was about 1hr 40 with the encore and I was pleased to find he did more of See The Light than I expected considering it was his first album.

The bass player and drummer were fine as usual.

I am glad another gig is out of the way (I must do something about this attitude) and that I enjoyed it more than anticipated. Oh and I hated the support act. It was dreary acoustic guitar strumming by a solo player.I believe he was Alex Lloyd. I am surprised it didn't put everyone in a coma. This week I got a Mantis bonus track about the death of the guitarists daughter at birth and this is such a good bouncy track to listen to despite the tricky subject matter and it dealt with excellently. I guess some people like their music for different reasons to me. It is definitely the excitement factor I get off on most.

Hawkwind - 21 Oct 2000 - Brixton Academy

Hawkwind were the third band I ever saw live. It was 20 years and 6 days ago and I still remember how I really hated the gig. I found it really boring with so called music that was full of Grasshopper effects and stuff. Since then my opinion has changed slightly. My old boss at work was into them and one day I borrowed a tape of Levitation (The tour I hated was promoting it) and another album from him. I was surprised to find the 10 years on I quite got into it.

Therefore when I heard of this Hawkwind reunion gig I quite fancied going. I didn't however get up enough enthusiasm as I had never been to Brixton Academy and I knew it would be a late gig.

Then one day my old boss said he had tickets for it and did I want to join him, as his wife wasn't into them. I still didn't decide to go. I was thinking about it for weeks and then after a busy week he offered them to me again. I was in serious rest mode and dreading the idea of a standing gig but I felt like rebelling on my body and going for it so I did.

I am glad I did as I quite enjoyed it and it was certainly a good event.

The trains did there best to get me to the gig late so I arrived stressed out but it was nice to meet someone from work again after almost 7 years of being ill.

My ex-boss said he didn't mind if he wasn't standing downstairs so when we arrived we had a word with security and to my relief they allowed us into the free seating Balcony. We had missed the support act but we didn't mind and still managed to get very good seats 4 rows back. For some reason the first two were marked off with red tape.

The Academy is pretty much an old style English theatre probably holding 1500 people. It is quite strange inside in that it has what looks like an old building where the stage is. The edges come out to meet the balcony and above the stage in the middle is a two person wide balcony. I don't know if this is all false or if the Academy was built on the front of an old building. It was interesting anyway.

Hawkwind were due on at 22.30 but the queues to get in around this time were quite big so I wasn't to surprised when they took to the stage around 22.45. There were lots of spaces in the crowd at this time. By the time the band left the stage at 02.15 (Yes that is correct 3.30mins non stop!) the balcony was totally full.

The people near to us were all smoking the funny stuff and I have to confess I had hoped for that as I am convinced I can get through a gig better when the air is polluted with these fumes. I can't see why the fatigue subsides but I am convinced it does. I also have to say I was feeling sick at various points during the gig. I have a feeling it was the petrol fumes from someone's petrol cigarette lighter. But of course it could have been the passive smoking.

Anyway I was in a relaxed state and up for the gig. Hawkwind came with the first set of I guess at least 20 members past and present of the band. The music struck me as being prototype trance/rave music but of course heavier. I only have a couple of Hawkwind albums so I didn't know much of it but I could get off on the hypnotic rhythms and stuff. Also every couple of songs fire-eaters or dancers came out to baffle me. The dancers were reasonable but not always in sync with each other. The fire-eaters did the same basic things over and over.

Because I didn't know the stuff a lot of times the music started with a slow starting prelude that took ages to build up. Some times it did and sometime apparently it was the whole song. I am afraid I tend to be thinking come on get on with the music but a couple of times during the night I really enjoyed the build ups.

I couldn't tell who most of the musicians were and often a song started with some dialogue. One of the singers came on dressed up in some weird clothes. But he was completely outdone but the Sax/flute player who came of in a spiky costume with small holes for his eyes and mouth. Very weird.

The lights were very hypnotic and rave/psychedelic like in nature. I found the use of the strobe a pain as I am very photosensitive but I still enjoyed them.

What I have thought of, as grasshopper effects are really 1970's BBC Radiophonic workshop sound effects the sort of think you might hear in Dr Who. Lots of bubbling oscillator? noises etc. I don't really no how they are all created. The were about 4 keyboards sections on the stage and even when I was watching hard the sounds didn't all seem to be played as such.

There were incredible amounts of dry ice in use and by the time Motorhead's Lemmy rejoined his old band mates on stage with 90mins to go I noticed that upstairs at least the smoke was so thick you struggled to see even half the crowd. Luckily it cleared a bit after that.

The overall stage lighting was very dim i.e. so the moving lights etc were more effective. It did mean it was harder to see who was doing what though.

I was disgusted to see Sam Fox the ex-page 3 model come on a sing I think Masters of the Universe and then again on Silver Machine. The last thing I want to admit is having seen someone with as little street creditability as her sing live. She might be OK as a singer for all I know but I am not into fluffy pop and she didn't appear to be singing in key tonight.

I figured the show was ending on Silver Machine but they did another song I didn't recognise after that. Then they disappeared

The sax player obviously hadn't had enough though as about five minutes later he returned and started playing the Pink Panther theme to whatever the after gig music was. Very weird! A guitarist did come out and joined him but none of the others were interested so he gave up said goodbye and that was that. The music of the night was due to go on to 6am but my friend wasn't bothered about seeing it and I had certainly had enough by then.

I have to say I found it really funny how many people were sleeping during the early parts of the show. I think at least 4 people were sleeping near me. They all woke up in time for Lemmy's appearance and then proceed to get into things again. My friend had told me people had been planning to meet in a pub around 3pm so I am not surprised they didn't last but you would think they would want to watch the main act in full.

Overall it was a very good night out and definitely an usual gig experience

Praying Mantis - 31 October 2000 - The Cartoon, Croydon

See Mantis Pages

Praying Mantis - 2 November 2000 - Dean Swift, London

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Praying Mantis - November 4th, 2000 - The Gods Festival Maximes, Wigan

See Mantis Pages

Rick Wakeman - Spa Pavilion Felixstowe - 5 November 2000

This was the 2nd leg of a tour I had already seen 3 dates of. Originally there were no nearby dates so I wasn't going to bother with this leg. Then about 2 weeks ago this show at Felixstowe was added in. "Oh no" I thought. This is really going to push the attendance figures. Rick had already played the theatre on the first leg of the tour and despite there being only 3 weeks of sales they managed about 500-600 people. Surely people that saw that tour would be disappointed if they come again and see exactly the same thing. I was also worried how many would bother after all they can't all be as keen as me. Then I looked at the date and worse still it was the night after I was in Wigan with Praying Mantis. I would be a total wreck. Still Rick was playing a local theatre and I want him to do so again so I made the effort and this time got mum to drive me. She had already seen this tour once so I wondered what she would make of it.

With trains delays, floods and storms I wondered if I would get back from Wigan in time. Thankfully the predicted worst storm for 100 years was either late or just not that bad and I got hope with time to spare. I dare not rest though in case I went into a crash (I find as long as I can keep the adrenaline flowing I can keep pushing. Resting for as little as 15 mins can set me into decline and it is just beyond my endurance to start pushing again.)

Around 7pm the weather was definitely bad and when we got to the coast it was great watching the rough sea. We parked up and the wind was so strong it was hard to walk straight. With suspected poor ticket sales and bad weather I wondered if the gig would be on. We got inside and I was pleased to see it was.

The last time Rick played Felixstowe he it was a few weeks into the tour and Rick looked very tired. I was therefore stunned to see Rick was in great shape tonight and he played a really special show. He had changed almost all of the stories and even mucked about with the set on the spur of the moment. It was truly worth the effort and fatigue.

The crowd as I predicted was very disappointing 300-400 I would guess. But they all seem to enjoy the gig and my mum comment Rick had played a lot better than when she saw him in Sudbury.

Rick came on for the first set half way through Pachebel as usual and then joined in with it. Then instead of saying how he wanted us to pause for thought for all the suffering e.g. young children being made to watch him. He came off stage and selected four of the audience. In fact he had a close call as he almost selected the lady he choosen last time for holding the Pedal in Merlin. I spoke to her later and said she must be a glutton for punishment and apparently she was as she had the same seat as last time. Any way he chooses someone a couple of seats from her and a couple from my row and someone else. He then said he had done a function the week before for Transsexuals, homosexuals and lesbians that liked to have sex with the pets and that he would like to apologise to these people as they were now going to see a second show in a week!

Instead of Birdman of Alcatraz were got After The Ball tonight. This was a nice surprise for me and mum really enjoyed that one. I don't know why she didn't like Birdman though I think both are great.

It was then the story of his Granny at the Albert Hall performance Journey. She had refused to move seats to allow Peter Sellers to sit with his wife.

He followed this naturally enough with The Recollection and Dance of a Thousand Lights. Which were 2nd set songs last time. Recollection also had drums on it. A bit like the ones of softsword actually (Timpani?). I assume this was a backing track. I can't see Rick being able to generate them but I wasn't really looking. I have to say I thought they really helped the piece though.

We got a quick story about Cilla Black in Pantomime followed by the usual intro to Seasons Of Change from Prelude To A Century. Then a David Beckham joke. Apparently he has started doing after dinner speeches (which people found amusing enough as he doesn't have a reputation for being too bright). We then got a short intro to Jane Seymour. Just the fact he wanted to play it years ago but it's only recently technology allowed him to get the sounds. The first half ended on the Nursery Rhyme Concerto.

The 2nd half started with Rick saying there was more rain in his dressing room that outside. He therefore came on stage in a workman's hat and coat. He started to tell the story of how Elgin Mansions got named and tried to take the coat of and completely failed for about 60 seconds much to the crowd's amusement. Apparently it was unintentional. He finished the story and then played it apparently for the first time in years. I doubt it was true though. He certainly played it well. I wonder if he likes playing these tunes for his own amusement at home.

Catherine Howard and Catherine Of Aragon followed a couple of Jokes from Countdown. Then the Norman Wisdom intro to Children Of Chernobyl. You know he never tells these stories in exactly the same way. I am aware of bits missing or bits I haven't heard before.

Next was a story about after show signing sessions. One mother and daughter wanted signatures and the daughter told her mother to ask Rick something and she was scared to. It turned out Rick had signed her knickers and the mother wanted it done again. Rick agreed and expecting her to have some in her bag. No she just dropped her Jeans. A pair of old ladies were then heard to say, "We don't have to do that do we?"

And You and I and Wondrous Stories followed this supposedly because it was Jon Anderson's birthday the previous week.

The Set closed with the usual Help/Eleanor Rigby combination.

For the encore Rick played Angels From The Realms Of Glory from the new Christmas Variations album. This was after another funny but worrying story. The CD's came back from the factory in time for the November release but they have the wrong barcode on them. He said it reads 2KG of Persil. This means his Xmas disc has now been delayed and gets a February release next year :-( Poor Rick

So overall a lot of variation from Rick and a very good night.

After the gig I made a point of remembering to ask Rick directly how he gets the secondary sounds to work on the "Piano". It is down to key pressure. Apparently there are 8 levels of key depression and you can assign sounds or commands to each level. It is obviously very hard to master this technique.

Praying Mantis - Dean Swift - Nov 21 2000

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Praying Mantis - London Astoria 2 - 22 Nov 2000

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Status Quo - 6 December 2000 - Ipswich Regent

It was nice to have a gig in Ipswich again. I wasn't to inspired and a bit annoyed that it was now the start of 3 gigs in 10 days but nevertheless I was in reasonable shape for the gig.

It was my mate’s birthday so we had a quick drink and then decided to take in the support act Two-timers. Bad move but an interesting format for a duo. A man on guitar and Bass drum. A woman on vocals, harmonica and drums. It was a sort of Bluesy set which I should have liked but they really rubbed me up the wrong way. They were a bit loud to and it went through me. Given the amount of Amps on stage I was worried Quo would be even louder. Luckily they weren't.

Before Quo came on I was impressed to see they had a reasonable stage set. I had almost forgotten the days when bands did that. And then Quo came on and I must admit it made me think back to the days of the 80's when loads of Metal bands were coming to Ipswich with good stage sets.

Amusingly I had written to the local newspaper and complained a) the local theatres weren't booking bands and b) the local paper wasn't covering them. Not only did they print the letter they went to the archives and pulled out some pictures of the bands I mentions and they seem to have been reviewing gigs and quite often adding a photo since. So for the first time in ages there was a telephoto camera taking pictures during the first couple of numbers.

Quo came on and were much better than I hoped for really. Well until the encore. The main set was full of numbers for what Rossi called the Hard Core fans. I.e. Pre-1980 tunes. The encore was quite long and full of the horrid cover tunes I had been dreading before the gig.

It was interesting to see the roles of the band members. Quo is mainly Rossi and Parfitt now. They had a new drummer and keyboard player this tour and the bass was played by Tom (I think) who is still the young upstart to me that replaced Alan Lancaster. He is a strange character. He just doesn't seem to fit in with the band too me. He has short hair and just seems uncomfortable doing the Quo posses. There were a lot of Quo fan club members there and they seem to like him so I guess he is Ok.

I was really surprised how laid-back Parfitt is. He does a reasonable amount of vocals but he doesn't seem to play lead guitar at all. It was nearly always Rossi and he is a real character. Nearly all the way through the show when he wasn't singing he was talking to the fans while playing. It was quite amusing to watch.

If they had stopped before the encore I would have said it was a pretty good gig. The encore was just horrid though.

Uriah Heep - Mermaid Theatre - 9 December 2000

The 2nd DVD filming session this year! This time it was a full live performance for the Acoustically Driven Heep release.

It was a hard set for me to appreciate, as the bulk of it was stuff I hadn't heard before. I am not to experienced on unplugged sets either.

The band had a lot of support tonight. An extra percussionist. He also played a bagpipe type thing I think called Uillean Pipes. A steel guitar player. 3 back up singers. One who played flute too. 3 violin or viola players and one Cello. Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson joined the on flute for two songs too. And Pip Williams (who will mix the resulting album joined on acoustic guitar for Black Lady.

I was a bit worried about the sound on the first number as this sounded distinctly country. Not my favourite style. Things improved though.

One of my favourites of the night was Golden Palace of Sonic Origami. This was very effective. Once Ian Anderson came on for his two numbers I noticed how static everything was and there was very little interaction between the band. Ian being Ian the mad Flautist he couldn't stand still and he kept playing to all four members at the front of the stage. Anyone that reads my reviews will be aware I like to see band interaction. I also think it helps the band members relax and the crowd going more. Again that was my perception tonight.

Speaking of crowd interaction one of the fans was very keen (Actually there were two others from Finland too) and he kept on clapping. This is fine when it is to the beat but from my position 10 feet away he was distinctly late and often went on when the music demanded a pause. There were one or two people near me wishing someone would tell him to shut up. I hope he can't be heard of the recording.

The first three songs weren't recorded to well so they decided to do them again at the end of the set. It was interesting to see how much more the crowd and me for that matter where into the 2nd performances. Again I got the impression it reflected on the band. They ended up playing about 6 tunes again overall.

Just before Ian Anderson left after his two numbers he announced Sonic Origami had gone silver having sold 50,000 units. The band were then presented with the discs. I was curious as to who they would get him off the stage. His numbers were definitely the best for me.

Bernie who is my main interest in Heep performed very well. Phil Larzon was also very good. I couldn't physically see what Mick Box was doing and I was very disappointed how little he seemed to do. There were no real solos and the Steel guitar often got more than Mick. This was my biggest disappointment. As usual I didn't really pay that much attended to Drums and Bass. Bernie seemed to miss singing some of the lines taken by the chorus and he was clearly singing them with the mic. I thought the string section were used quite well and enjoyed a lot of the touches from the Percussionist.

It was a good night. I look forward to getting the DVD and I guess seeing the premier on a big screen

Rick Wakeman - Winter Gardens, Ventnor, Isle Of Wight - 15 December 2000

See my Wakeman Picture Pages