From The Jam (And the Ruts DC) - G Live, Guildford - 4th April 2025

I had seen From the Jam once before, at Guildford University Student Hall in 2016 (a gig that many lists seem to think never happened!) and greatly enjoyed the gig, but I had no real intention to see them again, especially as it seemed that the last remaining "The Jam" member, Bruce Foxton, had seemed to have to give up playing through ill-health.

However, when it was announced that Bruce (nearing 70 now) was returning to the band to finish one more tour, after knee surgery, and that the support at my local venue, G-Live, was to be Ruts DC (a band who I quite liked, especially for tracks like Babylon's Burning, In A Rut, Staring At The Rude Boys and Something That I Said) I decided I'd go along and see Bruce one last time - Someone also pointed out after I bought my ticket that it was, in effect, Bruce's farewell home gig, hailing from Woking as did all The Jam members.

I arrived at the venue about 30 minutes before Ruts DC were due on and found a grand total of 8 people in the auditorium!

The stage was sparse, but dominated by a huge photo of Rick Buckler, The Jam's drummer and original member of From The Jam, who sadly died a few weeks before.

There were lots of people outside by the bar, though, and the hall started to fill up as the time for Ruts DC to appear drew closer.

Listening to some people around me, I was surprised that some people had no idea who they were. They weren't Clash or The Jam big in their day, but some of those tracks were Punk staples. Equally, though a lot of people, like me, had come along to see and hear them almost as much as From The Jam.

They arrived a little early, the time that has passed since their heyday apparent as the drummer walked on with the help of a stick, which seemed to catch out whoever was responsible for the 'mood music' as it continued being played over the PA as the band readied to start.

Once that was sorted they started.

Despite their advancing years, the threesome put on an energetic, powerful set.

Bassist and Vocalist, John 'Segs' Jennings, delivered powerful vocals, the drummer, David Ruffy (the second original member of the band, their original singer died in 1980) put on an impressively powerful drum performance throughout (dodgy knees or hips don't matter if you're sitting down, I guess), while relative newcomer Leigh Heggarty was excellent on lead guitar.

They are no spring chickens (the same could be said of much of the audience, although being a university town, there were a fair number of much younger people in the crowd), but I suspect they didn't sound any better in 1979.

They played a selection of their better known tracks, some of 'Seg's introduction were a bit lost so I'm not sure what some of the lesser known ones (to me, at least) were, but it was a very enjoyable set mixing songs from their early Punk days through their reggae-influenced years to the more recent 'Kill The Pain', worth arriving early for, which is a rarity in my experience.

Unsurprisingly, they finished with "Babylon's Burning" which had nearly everyone singing along.

Setlist:
Faces in the Sky
Something That I Said
West One (Shine on Me)
Jah War
Kill the Pain
Staring at the Rude Boys
Psychic Attack
In a Rut
Babylon's Burning

After that we had the usual stage shuffling, but neither band had anything in the way of frippery.

At just after 9, 4 people appeared. Most I didn't know, but I quickly recognised Russell Hastings from 2016, the man who takes the Paul Weller position in 'From The Jam' and, I must say, does a great job after all these years.

He captures the essence of Weller's vocals, but never strays into mimickery or pastiche, as a tribute band would do.

Initially, Bruce didn't come out ("He's having a quick run around the block", Hastings quipped) and David Moore took the Bassist role for the first 30-40 minutes.

They started the "Setting Sons" tour set, with mostly tracks from that album (the only The Jam album I own on vinyl bought in their heyday, because I loved Eton Rifles),rattling through 'Little Boy Soldiers', 'Thick as Thieves', 'Private Hell', 'Saturday's Kids' and the Martha Reeves cover, Heat Wave with great applomb and, it seemed, not really missing Bruce all that much.

But still it felt that something was missing, so it was to a huge roar of applause that a rather frail looking Bruce Foxton finally appeared and took up his place next to Hastings at the front of the stage, although I struggle to recall exactly when it happened now!

I'm pretty sure he was there by the time they got to 'Pretty Green' and 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight' was driven by his distinctive bass sound.

A few The Jam songs I didn't recognise followed and then we got 3 'bangers' to finish the main set, 'In The City', 'David Watts' (I always sing "Wish I could be like David Warnes" a very clever school friend of mine at the time, who definitely took his exams and passed the lot!I wonder what he's up to these days?)and 'Start!'

The lights stayed down, but the expected calls for an encore were remarkably muted, maybe people were conscious that Foxton may not be up to an encore. Just as they started to gather some momentum the band reappeared, complete with Bruce and we got three more of their biggest hits, sung uproarisly to the rafters (does G-Live have rafters?) by the appreciative audience.

I was especially happy that they finished on 'Town Called Malice' as it's probably one of my favourite songs by anyone and they didn't perform it in 2016.

The cheers were loud, the band bowed and clapped the audience and, poignantly, Bruce said how great it was to play a great gig in his 'home town'.

Maybe this is the last time Guildford will ever see Foxton delivering his bass performance that is as much a part of The Jam's sound as Weller's voice (in my view), but if it was, he left on a high!

A great night to remember how good The Jam were, how good The Ruts DC and From the Jam still are and to share in, possibly, Foxton's farewell tour.

Wouldn't it have been great if Weller, apparently friendly with Foxton again these days, had appeared for just one song at their 'home gig'? Sadly that wasn't to be.

Setlist:
Little Boy Soldiers
Thick as Thieves
Private Hell
Girl on the Phone
Smithers-Jones
Heat Wave
Wasteland
Saturday's Kids
The Eton Rifles
Man in the Corner Shop
Pretty Green
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time)
Ghosts
Lula
In the City
David Watts
Start!
Encore:
Going Underground
That's Entertainment
Town Called Malice

Paul Heaton - Pryzm, Kingston - 4th March 2025

I've always liked Paul Heaton's various musical projects and had seen him and the excellent Jacqui Abbott at Somerset House some years ago

Recent reviews of him (following a great set at Glastonbury last year) had been very positive, so when I saw one of the album launch gigs at Pryzm, courtesy of Banquet Records, I snapped up a CD and ticket.

Oddly, the album was released a few months before the gig, so I put it on in the car and listened to it as I drove to Kingston.

There were two sessions this evening (as is often the way for more popular acts here) and I had a ticket for the late (8PM doors) one.

I arrived about 8 and could see a queue, so nipped in the Wetherspoons across the road, before returning to join the queue.

I finally got in around 8:30 and ended up on a slightly raised area above the floor and directly facing the stage (I'd been to one side for Franz Ferdinand earlier in the year).

Screens above the stage informed us that Paul Heaton would be on stage at 9:10 and moments before that the lights went down and he, two guitarists and a blonde woman came on.

Paul pointed out there was no drummer, unwell and self-inflicted, apparently, and that we should all post to social media that it was better without a drummer - So, done!

The woman was Rianne Downey who has taken over the singing duties from Jacqui Abbott on recent tours and the latest album, The Mighty Several.

The first song was from that album, but the second came as a nice surprise.

'Ol Red Eyes Is Back' is a firm favourite Beautiful South song of mine, so I was delighted to hear it.

Only one clip from this event as I somehow managed to record all the subsequent ones in slow motion, without audio!

Rianne took the lead for another song from the new album, Silly Me. I'm a big fan of Jacqui's voice, but there's no doubt that Rianne is an acomplished singer and she delivered this song excellently as well as providing a great foil to Paul's voice.

She won't be my favourite of Paul's singer partners, but she was very good, of that there's no doubt.

The fourth song was yet another surpise as the opening line "Fun, Fun, Fun" echoed out and we got the old Housemartins' hit 'Five Get Over Excited' - While this was a, belated, album release gig, we were obviously getting a good selection of classic Heaton as well.

The excellent 'H Into Hurt' from the new album was next, getting an especially appreciative reception, and then we had Bell Bottomed Tear (a less well known Beautiful South song) and then 'Small Boats' and the catchy 'Fish 'N' Chip Supper' provided contrasting themes from the new album.

The final six tracks were all back catalogue, much to the delight of the packed venue.

Paul sang 'I'll Sail This Ship Alone' almost acapella and did any excellent job in my view.

'Heatongrad' is an odd sort of song, in my view, very spikey and not everyone there will have agreed with the sentiment, but it was good to hear it played.

In contrast, I don't imagine anyone was anything but happy to hear 'Don't Marry Her', 'One Last Love Song', 'Happy Hour' (another delve back into the Housemartins catalogue) and to round out the night with the ever popular 'Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)' after a litle over an hour.

I suspect the delay between the album release ('This is usually where I ask if you've bought the new album, but you had to, to get in!' Paul quipped and then compared this kind of album marketing to 'Taking anabolic steroids for your egg and spoon race') and this gig meant there was less pressure to play the new tracks (It's a good album, btw!) and that allowed them to deliver a mini-greatest hits night which was hugely appreciated by everyone, I'm sure.

I certainly did and headed home happy to have made the journey out on a freezing early March night.

Setlist:
Just Another Family
Old Red Eyes Is Back (The Beautiful South song)
Silly Me
Five Get Over Excited (The Housemartins song)
H Into Hurt
Bell Bottomed Tear (The Beautiful South song)
Small Boats
Fish 'N' Chip Supper
I'll Sail This Ship Alone(The Beautiful South song)
Heatongrad (Paul Heaton + Jacqui Abbott song)
Don't Marry Her (The Beautiful South song) (followed by band introductions)
One Last Love Song (The Beautiful South song)
Happy Hour (The Housemartins song)
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) (The Beautiful South song)

Ting Tings - Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush - 28th February 2025

I've always liked the Ting Tings, but had never seen them live.

I had a ticket for a gig in (I think) 2014 that was cancelled and they'd been so quiet over the last few years that the chances of seeing them seemed to have been filed under 'Missed'.

So, when I read there was a new album coming and a one-off gig to support the album was being held at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush, I got in quick and got a ticket.

I'd never seen Bush Hall and I was a bit skeptical about the gig happening at all, but the 28th February rolled around and all seemed well, so I drove up to Westfield to park and walked the half mile or so down to Bush Hall.

I hadn't planned to arrive especially early for 'doors open 7PM', but when I arrived, there was a small queue outside (at 7:15) around the corner in the road alongside the Hall. They opened the doors shortly afterwards and I made my way in, dropping my essential coat (it was cold, forecast to drop below zero later, outside) in a makeshift cloakroom and then walked into the main part of the hall.

The venue is, these days, rather like a large, ornate, village hall. The ceilings are high (there's a small bar with a balcony at the back on the first floor), but the floor space is modest, if not as tiny as somewhere like Aldershot's West End centre or The Boiler Room in Guildford.

The support act was a band called "Coco and The Lost" and when I'd done a quick search on YouTube I thought they sounded pretty good, so I was glad to be there in time for their set.

The band are Coco (presumably), a dark haired young woman and three young men. They were, Coco informed us, playing a stripped back acoustic set with limited instruments, but they were pretty good live and I'd be interested in hearing them in full band form sometime.

The sound was good, too, suggesting the room had good acoustics, which bode well for the main event.

After 30 minutes or so, Coco and The Lost departed the stage and the roadies took away their limited equipment leaving a considerable amount still on the stage.

The Ting Tings are Katie and Jules, that's all they've ever been, so the plethora of instruments and microphones was a bit of a surprise, but one thing you could always say about The Ting Tings was that they never stayed one thing and I already knew that the forthcoming album (their 5th) was taking a diversion into 'Yacht Rock', inspired, they said, by bands like Fleetwood Mac and Steeley Dan.

I did wonder if, perhaps, I'd find this change in style one I wouldn't enjoy, but there was only one way to know for sure and after waiting all this time and giving up hope of seeing them, I wasn't going to miss the chance to find out for myself.

Around 9PM the stage filled up with Katie and Jules initially to be joined by a female backing singer, a bass guitarist, another 2 guitarists, a man on keyboards, a drummer and another percussionist - The tiny stage was packed, this was not going to be a 'backing track' set, it seemed.

In their social media, The Ting Tings promised this would be a set of new songs and old favourites and so it proved, with a twist.

They started with the well known single "Great DJ", but it was definitely a version of the song, rather than a straight performance of the original version from their first album.

Importantly, though, they sounded good. The backing musicians were tight and the overall sound was powerful, even if the version of the song had a mellower sound than the familiar one.

The next 3 songs were all new ones (unless I've missed something).

"Song For Meadow", we were told by Katie, was inspired by meeting a young girl and "Good People Do Bad Things" proved to be a natural long term favourite on first listening, with a very Fleetwood Mac feel to it.

What has always impressed me about The Ting Tings is their ability to make a big sound from two people. On record that's easier to do with multi-tracking, but in this tiny venue, they managed to produce a 'stadium-rock' sound in an intimate setting, which struck me as both impressive and remarkable.

"Good Bye Song" and "Winning" were also new (I think) and sounded pretty good live and then we had a very different version of their iconic "Shut Up and Let Me Go", very slowed down and melodic, but actually, great!

The next couple were new songs and then we had a version of "We Walk", which again was different to the original, being more acoustic, but closer to the original than some of the older tracks.

"Danced on the Wire" was one of the first of the new songs released and followed by the old favourite, "Be The One".

New songs "Dreaming" and "Down" rounded out the main set nicely.

Of course, the audience bayed for an encore and, in case you should think they'd lost the ability to rock, they came back with a very true to the original rendition of "That's Not My Name" that pleased everyone!

I'd waited a long time to see The Ting Tings live and I can only say that it was a pleasure.

Maybe a little part of me regrets not seeing them in their earlier, louder, form, but even if I had I would have loved this gig.

As a comeback, it was triumphant!

Setlist:
Great DJ
Song For Meadow
Good People Do Bad Things
Good Bye Song
Winning
Shut Up and Let Me Go
In My Hand
Home
We Walk
Danced on the Wire
Be the One
Dreaming
Down
Encore:
That's Not My Name

Someone has posted this YouTube playlist of the gig.

Franz Ferdinand - Pryzm, Kingston - 9th January 2025

I've become quite a fan of Banquet Record's album release gigs at Pryzm since my first one to see Wet Leg.

When I saw that Franz Ferdinand were playing one to support the release of their latest album, The Human Fear, I hurriedly joined the scramble for a CD and ticket deal and managed to get one for the later of the two sets.

Lauren and I had seen Franz Ferdinand 15 years ago (wow, really!) at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth and my abiding memory was of a great gig, with an encore that never seemed to end!

It was a very cold evening as I set out for Kingston and I joined the queue for about 20 minutes while the early set crowd exited and then we made our way into the welcoming warmth of Pryzm, a nightclub/disco most of the time, except when hosting Banquet's frequent mini-gigs.

I dropped my essential coat in the cloakroom (I noticed a fair number of people in the gig still wearing heavy coats throughout!) and made my way upstairs.

As there were relatively few people in by this time, I decided to go to one of the areas to the side of the stage. The view from the left wasn't great, but looked better, when I looked across, from the other side, so I made my way there.

I found a spot directly behind the sound engineer's desk, which was an interesting place to be, with a decently unobstructed view of the stage from the side, although, sadly, the drummer was hidden by equipment - I could just make out the front of the drum kit.

Over the stage in lights were the words "Franz Ferdinand" and two large screens to either side showed the onstage action in black and white throughout.

The band came on around 9:30 to the strains of the Police Squad theme tune (I'm pretty sure it was that, anyway) and loud cheers and applause from the crowd.

Usually with these mini-gigs you get nearly all new tracks (the aim is, of course, to introduce the audience to the new album) perhaps spiced up with an old favourite or two.

So, it was no great surprise that they opened with the first track (and first single) from the new album, "Audacious".

I'll be honest, I'd only ever heard the chorus of this song and I wasn't that keen, but the rest of the song has a strong tempo and I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

They followed that up with another good track from the album, "The Doctor".

It was, though, a real pleasure when they played "Darts of Pleasure" next and it definitely generated an increase in the crowd's enthusiasm, although the first two songs had been loudly applauded.

A track from the new album was played next, "Bar Lonely", which I enjoyed and seemed to go down well, but then the familiar intro to "No You Girls" (one of my favourites) started. The crowd really liked that and the excitement ratcheted up a notch.

The playing was as good as I'd rememebered from before, punchy and up tempo guitar indy rock and they sounded great.

Alex was energetic on stage, while the rest of the band played their part. From where I was the drumming was especially clear and really drove the performance - Interestingly a young woman, Audrey Tait, replaced the band's original drummer, who'd left a year or two before, but any fears that a replacement wouldn't be as good were soundly dispelled, the drumming was a highlight!

Other tracks from the album followed and I'm looking forward to hearing them in recorded form now (I'm writing this before my copy of the CD, released today, arrives!), along with, possibly their best known track "Take Me Out", which was brilliantly performed and bought the house down.

At one point, Alex said "We played the next song on the first set, let's play something else" and someone shouted "Michael" from the crowd, which was supported by others (myself included) and so that go played, seemingly spontaneously, but I did wonder if the suggester was a plant - Maybe I'm just cynical - It was a good track to play, though. ("Love Illumination" was the only song from the earlier, shorter, set that wasn't played, so I guess that was it).

After a couple more album tracks, Alex told us they were going to dispense with the usual leaving and coming back for an encore and did we want another song - Of course, the response was positive.

He then asked if we wanted "Matinee" or "This Fire" - After a bit of pantomime of getting the crowd to cheer for each song (of course, the cheer was from everyone for both!) they finished by playing both old favourites, rounding out with "This Fire" (the lyrics of which seemed oddly relevant as the news was full of the LA wildfires that day!).

I'd come expecting mostly new stuff, but hoping seeing them a second time wouldn't taint my very positive memories of the first time I saw them.

With a set packed with old favourites as well as great sounding new tracks and a performance packed with energy and power, I came away even more enthusiastic about Franz Ferdinand than ever and even more convinced that they're one of the best bands I've seen live.

What a great start to my musical 2025! If you can, go see them soon!

Setlist:
Audacious (New Album)
The Doctor (New Album)
Darts of Pleasure
Bar Lonely (New Album)
No You Girls
Night or Day (New Album)
Take Me Out
Do You Want To
Build It Up (New Album)
Michael (Audience request)
The Birds (New Album)
Hooked (New Album)
The Dark of the Matinée
This Fire

Hard Fi - Guildhall, Portsmouth - 19th November 2024

Back in the early 2000s, I'd really liked Hard Fi's upbeat, staccato guitar driven music, despite being a bit too old to really identify with their lyrics about being in a Young Offenders' prison, being skint two weeks after being paid and getting involved in unneccesary trouble on the mean streets of Staines, but I never got around to seeing them live.

They seemed to have dropped out of sight for a long while, so when I saw they were playing at Portsmouth Guildhall, I bought a ticket.

The journey down the A3 was easy enough and I parked in the nearby station car park, making my way into the venue in plenty of time to see the support act.

This was a 4 piece group, led by a blonde woman, called Extra Joy.

Sometimes support acts are horribly misjudged for an audience, but they were an excellent choice for Hard Fi, delivering an energetic indy-rock set that attracted more people as they played.

As is often the case for support acts, the sound balance wasn't great with the instruments drowning out the vocals, but generally they were pretty good and got everyone in a positive mood on a freezing cold Tuesday night.

One of the best support acts I've seen in recent times.

There was a relatively short break until Hard Fi themselves came on stage at 9PM.

By then, the hall was pretty much full, although as I was right at the front, I can't be 100% sure it was completely so and there were seats taking up a reasonable part of the rear of the hall.

Around me, there were plenty of the 'faithful'. I didn't intend to stay at the front (right against the barrier) for the whole set, but in the end I did, so I can't comment on how the sound balance was around the venue.

Most of the set was crowd pleasing old stuff that the mostly 40 somethings (and the few older and younger people) lapped up.

They started with 'Middle Eastern Holiday' and 'Gotta Reason' before moving through a few lesser known, but still familiar tracks from their first 3 albums.

The tour supported the recent release of a 4 track EP and they, probably wisely, played those one after the other, in the middle of the set.

On the positive side, they held up well amongst the favourites, having the familiar hard driving guitar sound of the liveliest of Hard Fi favourites and 'Don't Go Making Plans' didn't sound a million miles away from the sound of tracks on Duran Duran's 2023 Danse Macabre album (which I say in a complimentary way).

After that, the main set rounded out with old favourites, 'Cash Machine', 'Suburban Knights' and 'Hard To Beat', which had the crowd singing along.

The inevitable encore started with front man, Richard Archer, alone on a guitar delivering 'Move on Now', one of their slower hits, but still a great track.

The rest of the band rejoined him for a lively final trio of old favourites, 'Unneccesary Trouble', 'Stars of CC TV' and 'Living for the Weekend'.

It was refreshing to see a band with the original lineup all present and the distinctive sound of Hard Fi is made up of all the group, which probably explains why they sounded so good all these years on.

The set was surprisingly short, only about 1h 20min, which I'm sure left a few people wondering where favourites like 'Feltham is singing out' were, but overall it was a highly enjoyable performance.

Of course, it was a cold Tuesday night, but Hard Fi had everyone feeling as if it was the weekend and I'm sure most people, like me, left feeling Hard Fi are great live.

One of my favourite gigs of 2024!

Setlist:
Middle Eastern Holiday
Gotta Reason
Stay Alive
Tied Up Too Tight
Good for Nothing
Better Do Better
Always and Forever
Don't Need You
Don’t Go Making Plans
Cash Machine
Suburban Knights
Hard to Beat
Encore:
Move on Now
Unnecessary Trouble
Stars of CCTV
Living for the Weekend

Rhoda Dakar - The Boileroom, Guildford - 25th October 2024

At the height of the Two-Tone Ska craze, I had gone to see The Selecter, along with the Bodysnatchers (and, oddly, Holly and the Italians, who were definitely not ska) and had come away much impressed with the fun and energy of the all female Bodysnatchters

Sadly, they were a very short lived band, never recording an album, but many of them went onto form the Belle Stars, who did have some success.

Rhoda Dakar, their lead singer, though, sang with the Specials and then had a solo career.

A few years ago, I'd seen her do an appearance at Banquet Records and liked her manner, so decided to see her live with a band if the chance arose.

It finally did, as a practical proposition, this year and so I went along to the Boileroom to see her and her band perform tracks from The Bodysnatchers and her more recent 'Version Girl' album.

There were two support acts, the first, Skye, was a young woman who sang R&B over backing tracks. Not really my thing, but she wasn't awful.

The second act, a 4 piece led by a woman called Cora, were definitely not my usual style, but I really enjoyed them.

Performing jazz, the singer had an excellent voice and the 3 musicians with her seemed pretty good as well - I thought their set was worth going to hear alone.

They, though, had come on around 8:30, so I knew I'd be waiting a while for Rhoda.

As expected, she didn't come on until around 9:40, which, if I'm honest, felt a bit late.

The venue was pretty full by then, though as I was at the front, I couldn't see just how full it was.

The band consisted of a guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboard player and a saxophonist.

Rhoda appeared, looking trim, in a black and white dress (very Two-Tone) which she commented she hadn't worn in 12 years and so was a little tight (it looked fine to me)and also apologised if she didn't hit all the high notes as she had a cold.

The setlist was a mix of old and newer tracks, from the Bodysnatchers era (The tour accompanied a new release of her 'sings the Bodysnatchers' album, which is as close to a Bodysnatchers' album as exists, unless you count the Peel Session recordings) and her more recent 'Version Girl' album which features covers of non-Ska records in a ska style (a very good album it is too).

The setlist began with a track called Mule Jerk, which I didn't recognise, and then 'Walking After Midnight', 'Easy Life' and 'Ghost of the Vox Continental' (the latter a particular favourite of mine) from the Bodysnatchers era.

As the set progressed, she chatted easily (as she had at Banquet Records) and the songs progressed into some from the Version Girl album, notably 'Every Day is Like Sunday', 'Peace, Love and Understanding' and 'Man Who Sold the World', while Bodysnatchers songs 'Private Eye', 'Ruder Than You' and the encore finale, 'Rocksteady' also featured (full setlist at the end).

Rhoda sounded good to me and the band were both energetic and skillfull and the set buzzed along well, with the audience joining in as things went.

The saxophonist, especially, was very good, although the band all played well and definitely captured the Two-Tone sound well.

For a moment, I was (almost) back at a Bournemouth nightclub in 1980!

I left happily humming the songs in my head, which is what you want from a nostalgic gig - I'd enjoyed myself.

Setlist:

Bastille - Pryzm, Kingston - 20th October 2024

I'd seen Bastille live before and been a bit disappointed, but when the chance to see them launch the '&' album at Pryzm, courtesy of Banquet Records, I decided the opportunity was too good as I like their recorded material.

They had put on two sessions at Pryzm and I'd booked for the later one, which stated a door time of 7PM.

I arrived in time, but I could see people queuing, so I did what I often do at Pryzm, popped into the Wetherspoons across the road and waited for the queue to start moving while I enjoyed a well priced, quality half.

7 came and went and there was no sign of the queue moving, but when I finished my beer, I headed over and joined a very long queue, extending past a row of reclining phone boxes, at around 7:30.

Luckily, the queue moved pretty quickly when it did and it probably took less than 15 minutes to get in.

I made my way down to the floor, but this was probably a poor decision on the day.

Two large screens displayed a new 'stage time' of 8:15 around 8:05 and the band appeared, led by a small string section and then Dan Smith and Charlie Barnes, who I recognised from the time I'd seen them live before, plus a woman on a guitar who was introduced, but whose name I've forgotten.

The '&' album is a bit of a side project for Dan (who is really Bastille), with some of the musicians on stage and is a collection of songs about people from history (real and literary - Leonard Cohen, Oscar Wilde and Adam and Eve, amongst them) who he finds interesting.

With a mostly acoustic lineup (there was an electronic keyboard and some electric guitars), the sound of the songs was both familiar and different to those I'd heard live and on albums before.

Not having heard any of the songs before (the gig comes with a CD or vinyl album for a very reasonable price, but the album isn't released until 25th and I'd not sought out any of the tracks online), I can't say how the live renditions match up to the recordings, but Dan told us that the album has a very raw sound, with scratches, breathing and the sound of chairs moving on it, so I'll expect something different.

Dan's slightly spoken vocal style was present on many of the songs, although in one (The Dutchess and the Drawbridge) he sang incredibly high and I was impressed at how he sustained the notes at that level.

As a nice bonus, we got a slow-ish rendition of classic hit, Pompeii, probably their best known track, which the audience appreciated.

I was impressed that the set ran a full hour, albeit with a fair bit of chatting between songs, as previous gigs have topped out at 45 minutes, which probably explained the late start for our session.

I enjoyed the gig and, although the songs didn't strike me as immediately memorable as tracks from earlier albums, I suspect some will be 'growers'.

Edit: Writing almost a week later, 'Eve & Paradise Lost' and 'Emily & Her Penthouse in the Sky' stick in my mind.

I look forward, to hearing the album versions to see how closely they relate to what I heard live.

One negative, though, was that most of the set was performed sitting down and I couldn't see the performers on the low stage most of the time from my place on the floor. Luckily the two screens provided a view throughout, so I didn't just get a view of other punters.

Setlist:
Intros & Narrators
Seasons & Narcissus
Eve & Paradise Lost
Drawbridge & The Baroness
Leonard & Marianne
Pompeii
Telegraph Road 1977 & 2024
Red Wine & Wilde
Emily & Her Penthouse in the Sky
Blue Sky & the Painter