George Glen

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Holy Holy is a collaboration between Woody Woodmansey, drummer in David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars band, and Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti. With Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 on vocals and a top quality band, they say they are not a tribute band, but the real thing. We’ll see!

Expensive tickets but since Karen is such a big Bowie fan this promised to be a special treat. And we did get a long set of early Bowie songs, especially the Ziggy Stardust album from start to finish, and a number of more obscure songs I had never heard but Karen knew all the words to! All well played apart from a few shaky bits, and Glenn did a good job on vocals, just singing the songs, not playing at Bowie.

As much as the crowd lapped it all up and I was carried along, it overall lacked character and charisma, so though I enjoyed the show, I wasn’t that fussed. No more Bowie for me for a while!

6.5/11 Attended by George & Karen

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What a brilliant show from the really exciting Idles from Bristol. They have been playing their heavy post-punk songs for about 8 years now while passing me by, but only now with the launch of their debut album ‘Brutalism’ was I lucky enough to come across them and Sneaky Pete’s was buzzing with anticipation. Andy chatted to bass player Adam at the merch and they all seemed really friendly and bantery with their fans and were buzzing for the gig too.

Though we all expected it, it was still a shock to see guitarist with the ‘tash Mark Bowen strip to his underpants before the set had even started! The amount of energy and sweat generated shows he’s maybe not so daft … though he still comes across as a bit daft! And humour is a big part of their attraction, complementing the edgy intelligence and politics of the lyrics and the ferocity of the music. What a great combination and the crowd loved it. You might spot us near the front in this video, thanks John McMurtrie! Must catch them again soon.

9/11 Attended by George & Andy

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Andy and Douglas raved about Fat White Family so we had to go and see The Moonlandingz formed by Fat Whites Lias and Saul with many other luminaries. Lias is now Johnny Rocket, famous for outlandish stage outfits and antics. Would we get cape and codpiece? No we got cling film boob tube with £20 notes fixed to his nipples!

A packed Stereo really went mad from the first song and the first few songs were pretty good. Seeing Rebecca from Slow Club vamp it up in a sleazy double act with Johnny was also a bit surreal, but lots of visual interest going on with the whole band. For some reason I didn’t feel the momentum keep up and after what seemed like a relatively short set I was a bit disappointed. Maybe best songs first with not so much strong or different material to follow? Anyway, interesting band to watch out for. Will definitely watch out for supports, the challenging Women’s Aid and the very promising Goat Girl as we saw supporting Girl Band not long ago. Very Good!

6.5/11 Attended by George, Andy & Douglas

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8/11 Attended by George

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The three occasions of the release of Jennie’s great new album Reverseries, her tour arriving in London, and Mhairi’s 22nd birthday all came happily together … so off to London we flew for a great weekend, topped by this superb show!  I’ve been a big fan of Jennie’s beautiful voice and tremendous songs since I first saw her singing with Ane Brun 8 years ago at that  incredible night for me in Feb 2009.  Two years ago at the Lexington was the first time I’d seen her with her own band  and here I was again, but expecting a bigger and better set which she certainly delivered! (See set list below)

Jennie not only has a pure and captivating voice but has a catalogue of strong songs and great live performing experience from touring with her own band, Ane Brun, Peter Gabriel and Sting.   That confidence gained is obvious and along with a super band makes for a lovely combination and a brilliant set. I’m such a fanboy though, I sang all the words! Awesome.

9/11 Attended by George, Karen & Mhairi

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My 10th time seeing Laura Marling and after 6 award winning albums she is still only 27 years old. Such a wise old head on young shoulders and the creator of consistently wonderful music.

The ABC was packed and it was brave to start set with 7 straight songs from her new Album ‘Semper Femina’ which only came out the day before this concert. I only had time for a quick listen or two, but the songs definitely sounded better and made much more sense to me live than recorded. My favourite being Nouel. A captivating performance as always from Laura, no surprise there. I do wonder where her recording career will take her next though, I hope she doesn’t repeat the successful formula yet again … I think she’s smart enough to know that better than me!

8/11 Attended by George & Davie

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I’m a big fan of Sleater-Kinney and drummer Janet Weiss plays in Quasi with Sam Coomes. Explains the roundabout route to how I found myself at Sam’s tour supporting his first solo album ‘Bugger Me’. And solo the show was. One man, a drum machine and distorted keyboard … how good could that be? Well, very, very good it turns out.

Sam does his little talking at the start of the set then just pulverises his way through song after song without let up. But even though I only knew a few I was carried along like everyone else with his energetic delivery and great story telling. No Quasi songs apart from new ‘Ballad of Donald Duck and Elmer Fudd’ from the recent Anti Trump ‘Battle Hymns’ protest compilation, but an enthusiastic audience didn’t mind and appreciated every weird morsel. Top notch and I was surprised how well his songs work on people who were not already fans. He made many more tonight.  I hope to catch Sam and/or Quasi in USA in August if I’m lucky!

8.5/11 Attended by George

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What a tremendous gig. Never seen such a raucous audience response at Electric Circus for the brilliant July Talk from Toronto. The packed house brought the roof down with cheers for every song and the number of people singing along was impressive. So much love in the room for the band, who I think were a bit taken aback for such a relatively small venue! Andy worked out that it might be because they supported Catfish & The Bottlemen on their recent U.K. tour, so that would have turned people on to them. Anyway, the band reciprocated with a storming set.

Pretty standard, though quality, rock material for me … but it’s their style and delivery that sets them apart. The charisma and relationship between leads Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay makes the show. Always something interesting going on, usually sexy or mischievous! Will see again, I hope.

8.5/11 Attended by George, Andy & Douglas

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Another winner for Sneaky Pete’s, I don’t know how Nick Stewart manages to book such consistently fine bands, but I’m glad he does! Menace Beach from Leeds are led by Ryan Needham and Liza Violet and they both contribute lots of variety to a set of hooky, driving indie songs. I like! They also have the best T-Shirt ever for their new album ‘Lemon Memories’ … my favourite now!

7.5/11 Attended by George

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I’d been looking forward to Strange Bones from Blackpool having seen a few videos and been impressed, so was confused to find Blackwaters headlining. Turns out they are doing a joint headline tour, Blackwaters turn tonight. And Blackwaters were pretty cool, a little bit poppier than Strange Bones with more anthemic choruses and very tight. Will watch out for.

But Strange Bones were who I came to see and apart from the relatively small turnout I was not disappointed. In fact they overcame that initial lack of atmosphere hurdle with their raw energy and ferocious attitude. So much that singer Bobby Bentham was brave/foolish enough to stage dive onto a mere handful of people during their best known song ‘God Save The Teen’. We all lent a hand or two and kept him up during the chorus. I even managed a few lines into the mic while trying to save him from the floor! These guys are not mucking around. Impressive!

7.5/11 Attended by George