LIVE REVIEW : SUNNY AFTERNOON AT THE HAMPSTEAD THEATRE 10/05/2014

With the announcement of the shows transfer to the west end next October it's more than time that I published my review of the performance I saw last month... I must admit that I didn't have high expectations on this musical but as I'm huge Kinks fan I simply couldn't miss it. It had some official band input in it as it's based on a story by Ray Davies and I was curious how it would compare to "Let It Be", the lousy "musical" about The Beatles I went to see last year. The show's first run from the 24th of April till the 25th of May at The Hampstead Theatre and following its success will be reprised at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October.

The Hampstead Theatre is a small venue with only 325 seats and we were right in the middle with a perfect view of the stage. The story starts with the beginning of the band when they were playing dances and parties backing future manager Robert Wace. It then charts their rapid ascension to fame following the release of You Really Got Me and the numerous problems they had with the music industry culminating with the band being banned from touring america for 5 years. Despite a couple a couple of inaccuracies and a few historical short cuts, the play is rather splendid with really good historical detail. All the main players in the Kinks 60's story are there (impresario Larry Parnes, Music publisher Eddie Kassner, producer Shel Talmy, managers Robert Wace and Greenville Collins, Rasa Davies and all the members of the Davies clan). Ray (really good performance by John Dalgeish) is pictured as the thoughtful, shy one while Dave (played a bit heavy handedly by George Maguire) is pictured as a raving lunatic, only interested in partying and raising hell. The songs are perfectly slotted into the story and some more obscure Kinks tracks get an airing (who would have thought they'd manage to fit Maximum Consumption, from 1972's Everybody's in Showbiz album). It's a musical so everything is slightly tweaked to come up with a happy ending thus bypassing several important elements (Pete Quaife the bass player leaving two times and being replaced by John Dalton for example) and as the show culminates with the band playing Lola at the Madison Square Garden, it conveniently skips the hit and miss Rock Opera albums of mid seventies and Ray Davies public breakdown during an open air gig in London in 1973.

Nevertheless it's a remarkably entertaining show which made excellent use of its cast (who double on instruments and acting parts for most of them) and set with good historical detail and a good story. It's more than a jukebox musical. Don't miss it when it plays in the west end !!!

LIVE REVIEW : MICKEY JUPP AT THE RIGA MUSIC BAR SOUTHEND ON SEA 14/06/2014

The problem with going to a lot of gigs is that they all tend to start blending into each other after a while but my first Mickey Jupp gig was a momentous occasion for me. I've only recently discovered his music but I've spent numerous hours listening to his songs over the past year. After a coupled of unconfirmed shows in Southend last March got called off, two gigs at Southend's iconic music venue The Riga Music Bar got announced for mid-June. Rubbing my hands in delight, I convinced my girlfriend that he would be the perfect occasion to visit Southend for the first time.

After having a nice meal in a small cafe just down the road from the venue, we made our way to the venue. The Riga is quite small but it has the perfect size and shape for a rock club. There's a few tables at the back and a row of seats against the wall on the left, the right side of the room is taken up by the bar area. The Riga is a venue that Mickey Jupp has played in many times over the years. He started playing gigs in the Cricketers that's just round the corner from the club.

Opening act was the The Blues Spiders featuring Mickey Jupp fan Russ Cottee on guitars (he likes the guy so much, he even parted with a beautiful Gibson 335 to offer it to the great man for his birthday). I understand they've only been together for a few months, but despite a few rough edges, the performance was pretty impressive with some really nice slide parts from Russ. After a short break Mickey Jupp and his band came on stage (with Mickey wincing slightly at the MC's intro describing as a Southend legend). Featuring his long-time musical foil Mo Witham on guitar, Dennis Masterton on bass and former drummer of The Paramounts (later to become Procol Harum), Mick Brownlee, the band opened the show with "Cheque Book", a song that Jupp often chooses to open his gigs and which was first published on the Legend album in 1971 (commonly known as The Red Boot album). The setlist featured quite a few new songs from the four albums Mickey has put out over the last few years (you can purchase directly from the man himself via Paypal). Particular highlights were nice versions of "Trying to Unlike You" and "Song For Holly" and a rousing "I Should Be Lovin' This" written 20 years ago while Mickey was on his way to tour Sweden with The Refreshments. The set divided in 3 parts didn't bypass his more famous tunes with all the classics getting an airing (Standing At The Crossroads Again, Switchboard Susan, Big Black Cadillac and many more). Some rarely aired numbers were played, Don't Talk To Me from 1980's Oxford album introduced by Mickey as "the nearest to a hit record I ever got".

Even though the band played remarkably well for an outfit that gets together only a couple of times per year, I could feel Mickey getting frustrated with Mick Brownlee's drumming. I can only say one thing : "everything sounded fine from our side". The crowd participation grew as the night went on which Mr Jupp seem to appreciate a lot (especially during the singalong on One night with You). The band closed with a rather rocking 3rd set that ended with a cover of Bye Bye Johnny and Rockin Robin as an encore.

LIVE REVIEW : LUKE HAINES AT BUSH HALL 03/06/2014

I had left Mr Haines last London gig slightly disappointed. After the glorious evening that was The North Sea Scrolls at St Pancras Old Church, that solo gig  in the wonderful setting of the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall didn't tick all the boxes for me. I think it probably had something to do with the song selection that relied strongly on Haines's then latest release "Rock'n'Roll Animals", a great album but not one that I think withstands the solo acoustic treatment too well. I wasn't particularly excited by the couple of new songs from the forthcoming New York in the 70's album either ("Alan Vega Says" and "Lou Reed Lou Reed") . However when a full band gig at Bush Hall was announced and with the promise of a full performance of the Baader Meinhof album thrown in the mix, I know I had to attend or I would regret it till the day I died.

It was only my second visit at Bush Hall and I was wondering if the sound was going to be better than the one for Electric Soft Parade gig last November which was pretty cavernous (much better it turned out to be). Haines was backed for the gig by a young rhythm section (different guys from the ones that were backing him when I first saw him in Manchester in 2009). The venue was almost full, clearly proving the Baader Meinhof album's followers is growing, almost 20 years after its rather muted release. Haines had left his usual black Les Paul at home and had pulled out his Telecaster from the After Murder Park - Baader Meinhof period out of its cupboard for the night. The first part of the show was the new album "New York in the 70's" in its entirety and the whole thing was great from start to finish. I haven't heard the album yet but I've read it's supposed to be quite synth heavy but the power trio versions were fantastic. Haines seemed to be enjoying playing with a band again after spending a few years playing solo gigs. After finishing the last song from the album "NY Stars", Haines announced there was a change of plan and that he was going to play all his B-Sides backed by an Orchestra before launching into Baader Meinhof. Although he plays the track regularly at his solo gigs, this full band version really gave the song its full power. Highlight was an absolutely fantastic version of "Mogadishu", probably the best song ever written on Somalia's capital.

After a short break, Haines came back on stage to play a few songs on his acoustic guitar. Starting with "Inside The Restless Mind of Rollerball Rocco", he followed it with "Rock'n'roll Animals" and "21st Century Man" (that included "Junk Shop Clothes" in the middle). The full band came back on stage to reprise "Lou Reed Lou Reed" to close a rather glorious evening.