2011 End of year Review Part 2
April
Early April saw us back at the Peel, this time for Maiden United – an acoustic rendition of some Iron Maiden songs. I wouldn't know an Iron Maiden song if it became solid and bit me on the nose. But, what an evening! The vocalist for the evening was Damien Wilson who jumped off the stage and did the whole show from the audience, and what a performance it was – easily the best male vocal performance that I've seen at The Peel. I was with there with my friend and colleague Nigel Reed (he's singer in the band Rusted Warrior), and he remarked that he would buy the album if they were good. At the end, when I asked if he was going to buy it, he said he'd decided that after the second song. It was stunning – catch them if you can.
Later in the month was a first for me – the Lexington Club near Kings Cross station to see Crippled Black Phoenix. It was a Thursday night so I stayed over near the office at Heathrow Airport. I got myself into a real fug for some reason. A big thank you to Matt Stevens and James Allen for helping me through this, and James for going out of his way to take me back to the hotel. CPB were brilliant, and the sound there was superb – 8 people on the stage and every instrument could be heard. I've just heard that they have an album due out early next year.
Finally, in April (and spilling over into May) was the Tinyfish tour – Friday at Riffs; Saturday at The Peel; Sunday at Bilston. And each day they played better. The Big Red Spark, Tinyfish's 2010 album, was my favourite of the year, and it was good to see them take it on the road. Each performance was better than the last. It was fun to follow them around with my friends – James Allen, Tim Lawrie (Mouse), David Elliott (The Amazing Wilf) and many others. We had a lovely meal – James, Tim, Sarah Ashley, my son David & I on the Friday evening – I really cherish the friendship of these people. As for Tinyfish, they would go on to play at RosFest and get really good reviews – no doubt because the chief reviewer was none other than James who is now writing for the Rock Society magazine. James simply writes the best reviews.
There was one moment on the tour that sticks in my mind - 1st May, and Tinyfish had handed over the stage to Guy Manning and band. Guy said something like, “you know I've got the hang of this concept album thing”, and promptly held up three cardboard fishes strung together, “three fishes...”
02Apr Jump, Nags Head, Wycombe
09Apr Maiden United, The Peel
14Apr Crippled Black Phoenix/ Teeth of the Sea, Lexington Club, London
23Apr Credo/ Matt Stevens, The Peel
29Apr Tinyfish/ Also Eden, Riffs Bar, Swindon
30Apr Tinyfish/ Also Eden, The Peel
May
My friend and colleague Pierre Coetzer's wife got tickets to see The Wall at the O2 through a lottery that her company run. Pierre told me that it was the best show that he's ever seen. I guess that South Africa, from where Pierre comes, was culturally isolated for years. Anyway, I had tickets for a Saturday night in Manchester. I got 4 tickets for David, myself, Mouse and a friend of Mouse. The whole of Manchester was heaving from Pink Floyd/ Rogers Waters fans. Unfortunately I could not contact Mouse because he phone was not working or something, yet we managed to meet in a busy shipping mall. And the show was stunningly good – we didn't have great seats by any means, but it didn't matter. The show was that good. And Roger Waters was clearly thoroughly enjoying himself, which made the whole thing really special. As a show, it was also the best that I've ever seen.
At the end of the month, Pendragon returned after a 2 month tour of Europe to play at the Peel for two nights, ably supported by Andy Sears. They must have been tired; their tour was brutal – a gig virtually every day for about 6 weeks. David is supposed to be moving out of here soon as his education course comes to an end. And when he does, he'll be taking the complete works of some of the bands that we've come to love – Pendragon, Magenta, Tinyfish, Panic Room. He went off to buy the complete set from Rachel Wilce, who found a copy of The Jewel at home which they gave him for free on the second night. Rachel, as I wrote earlier, is a real star. It was great to see the place packed out, and Nick Barrett and the band put on a great show. Nick made a few comments about a song that seems to have caused some controversy - “Green and Pleasant Land”.
01May Manning/ Tinyfish, Robin 2, Bilston
12May Larry Miller, Maltings, Farnham
13May Katie Buckhaven, Limelight Theatre, Aylesbury
21May Roger Waters, MEN, Manchester
28May Pendragon/ Andy Sears, The Peel
29May Pendragon/ Andy Sears, The Peel
June
The middle of June and the mad weekend – South Wales, Aylesbury & Bilston on Friday, Saturday & Sunday respectively. Friday started at home getting the car serviced and the tyres replaced. Mid afternoon and we were heading along the M4 towards South Wales, and getting stuck in a traffic jam. We got to the hotel, checked in, went straight out, got something to eat and drove to the village of Wattsville. Going through the pub, and into the back room there was the most magnificent view, and the friendly faces of Matt Stevens, Chris Fry & Chris Jones, and some rather nice sounding music being played over the PA. It was a great evening – Matt was on form, as was Alun Vaughn with his bass guitar, and Chris & Dan Fry put on a great set as well. And the whole thing was stupidly cheap to get in. It is just amazing where you can find all these talented people. It was good to talk to Alun to say well done for being part of the success of Panic Room, and reminiscing on the Peel gig where there was a power cut.
So, driving back along the M4 home on Saturday morning, sorting out whatever jobs, and then into Reading to pick up Rob Ramsay and his lovely wife Jo, and finally on to Aylesbury through country lanes. We met up with James Allen and (fellow Magenta fan) Paul Timms at the Limelight club. Jump were on form that evening – for a live recording. John Dexter Jones was having fun with the audience – talking to us without the microphone at times when he didn't want something recorded. They'd also brought back some former band members, and so the set went way back. It occurred to me that the first time that I saw Jump was at the Peel gig where there was the power cut – a theme had emerged for the weekend. I'll look forward to the live recording when it's ready.
And so to Sunday – and a trip to Bilston, which is in the far north – well, north of Birmingham anyway, to see the magnificent Panic Room. This was my third time I'd seen Panic Room this year (and a few more to come!) and they were on top form – but then, they always are. It was sad to see Alun Vaughn leave the band, but Yatim Hasemi has brought something different to the band – a overwhelming sense of infectious fun. They'd put a couple of new songs into the set from a possible upcoming album (hopefully next year), and they sound more proggy to me. Let's hope that they sound proggier to Stephen Lambe and Huw Lloyd-Jones because it would be great for them to play at Summers End. And hopefully a call to RoSFest beckons.
04Jun Touchstone/ Alan Reed/ Nerve Toy Trio/ Matt Stevens/ Unto Us, The Peel
17Jun Matt Stevens/ Chris & Dan Fry/ Alun Vaughn, Jubilee Bar, Wattsville
18Jun Jump/ Morre, Limelight Theatre, Aylesbury
19Jun Panic Room/ David R Black, Robin 2, Bilston