LIVE REVIEW : IAN MCLAGAN AT THE HALF MOON PUTNEY 04/07/2014

Currently promoting his new album United States, Ian Mclagan the legendary keyboard player of The Small Faces and The Faces stopped at The Half Moon in Putney to play a three night residency. Mac has been living in Austin Texas for the past twenty years where he has put together a new version of his Bump band and recorded 5 albums in his own house. He rarely comes to Europe (his last UK tour was in 2011) so this was a rare chance to catch him live in one of London's most iconic music venues.  The show featured just Mac and his bass player John Notarthomas  After a short introduction from John, Mac came on stage and launched straight into Hello Old Friend, a song he wrote for his former band mate and friend Ronnie Lane. 

Songs from United States formed the bulk of the set but Mac didn't forget his past with excellent versions of Get Yourself Together and Cindy Incidentally. The songs were interspersed with anecdotes and stories about his his Irish family and how he came to join the Small Faces which enabled him to say a few "nice" words about their former manager Don Arden. Another funny remembrance was when he recalled landing in an O'Neill's pub after a rehearsal for a tour with Billy Bragg in search of some company (which propelled several members of the audience to buy him pints of Guinness despite him saying that he would only have drink after the gig)  I thought that the bass and keyboard combination would be a bit strange but John and Mac have been playing together for so long that they managed to pull it off with ease. Towards the end of the gig he apologized for promising to bring the band for his next UK tour during his last visit to The Half Moon and failing to do so. He then urged us to come and visit Austin and see the band at The Lucky Lounge where they play each Thursday from 6pm to 8pm. After two hours of dyed in the wool rock'n'roll on the rather worm stage of The Half Moon the show closed with a lovely version of one Ronnie Lane's greatest songs "Debris" closing off a splendid gig admirably. Ian then spent the next hour chatting with fans and signing copies of his fantastic autobiography "All the Rage".  If you can't afford the plane ticket to see the Bump Band, I highly recommend The Live At The Lucky Lounge CD that features highlights from two gigs recorded in April last year. Review first Published On Louder Than War on the 9th of July 2014.

http://louderthanwar.com/ian-mclagan-the-half-moon-putney-live-review/

LIVE REVIEW : RICHARD THOMPSON AND DANNY THOMPSON AT THE HALF MOON PUTNEY 04/04/2014

That's a show that I was well advised to have booked in advance, I bought the ticket on the 30th of October last year and the gig sold out 5 days later which was 6 months day to day before the actual date of the gig !!! The evening was part of series of show put together by double bass ace Danny Thompson to celebrate his 75th birthday. All taking place in one of London's best music venues : The Half Moon in Putney, the series of show finished last Saturday with Donovan as Danny's guest. Going to Putney from my flat in Harrow is one hell of trek and even though I had planned a little extra time in case TFL let me down (which happened) I made it to the venue 5 minutes before Danny Thompson climbed on stage to introduce the opening act Rory Butler. After joking he wasn't playing with Rory because there was no money in i for him, he left us to spend a rather wonderful 30 mins listening to Butler' great songs and neat finger picking. It's really a shame that because of  today's overcrowded music market, such a talent isn't able to gather more attention from the public. 

After a short break Danny Thompson came back on stage to introduce his friend. I'm not hugely familiar with Thompson's repertoire but being able to see him play in such an intimate setting and with such a remarkable player as Danny Thompson's for just over 20 pounds was simply too good an opportunity to miss. Thompson before starting the first song said he hadn't played at the Half Moon  for more than 30 years and than it felt good to be back. I don't know how long they had to rehearse for the gig but the interplay between the two musicians was simply stunning. Richard Thompson played two songs solo to give Danny Thompson his "statutory union break" in the middle of the show, his most well known tune "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg I don't recommend budding guitar players to watch this, might put you off slightly...) and "Salford Sunday"  from his latest album Electric. The show was warm and friendly with both Thompson's bantering on stage and throwing jokes at each other. I was standing just beside the stage door where Richard Thompson's daughter Kamila was standing while her husband guitarist James Walbourne was sitting on the side concentrating on his father's in law playing. Despite reoccurring problems with the cable on Danny Thompson's Double bass, the two of them soldiered on and the two hours flew by ending with a sing along version "I Want To See These Bright Lights Tonights" 1974 song that he recorded with his first wife Linda.

LIVE REVIEW : THE PRETTY THINGS AT THE HALF MOON PUTNEY 08/11/2013

This gig was my second visit to The Half Moon since I moved to London. I came last year to see The Kast Off Kinks, a Kinks tribute band that's made up of ex-members of the actual band. I was quite surprised to see that the gig was sold out in advance and even more by the rapturous reception the band got during their performance (they were really good but still a tribute band). I had seen The Pretty Things once previously at a small free festival in Andoain (small town just under San Sebastian in Spain). The setting was rather drab : a makeshift stage set up on a concrete square with 3 huge tower blocks encircling it. Adding to the misery, the weather was rotten with a thick mist gathering round the hills that surround the town. The band was headlining which in the UK would mean a a stage time of 9pm. As it was Spain, headline means the band went on stage at midnight. As I had quite a bit of travel to do to go back to France after the gig I had to leave before the band finished their set. I promised myself that I would catch them when they would play a club date in London. I missed them twice as they played a gig at the 100 Club during the Christmas period last year and at The Borderline last August for The Record Collector Psych Festival. When I noticed they were playing The Half Moon I booked tickets straight away.

Only Phil May (lead singer) and Dick Taylor (lead guitar) are left from the original line-up of the band. Frank Holland (lead and rhythm guitar) joined when Parachute era guitarist Pete Tolson defected while the band was rehearsing for their end of the 1990's comeback. The young rhythm section of George Perez and Jake Greenwood joined when drummer Skip Allan and bass player Wally Waller had to stop touring for health reasons. As soon as the gig started with a superb and loud version of “Honey I need” from their first album I knew that the Half Moon was the perfect setting to see a band such as The Pretty Things. The gig's setlist was a mixture of their early albums R'n'b albums and tracks from their SF Sorrow LP (fantastic version of "Balloon Burning"). Not much from the post SF Sorrow era, only "Cries From The Midgnight Circus" from the Parachute album and a rarity in from the late sixties track  "Alexander" originally released under "The Electric Bananas" moniker. Roughly midway through the gig, there was a short acoustic set where Taylor on acoustic and May (accompanied by Holland on harmonica) paid hommage to there blues roots while recalling the first times they jammed together at Sidcup high school. Further reference to their musical roots followed with 2 Bo Diddley covers ("Mona" and "You Can't Judge A Book by Its Cover"). The gig finished with an impromptu appearance by former drummer Skip Allan who duetted with Phil May during the final song of the evening.