George's Gig Diary - 2000's

Dickinson was back in the band, and so were a few more guys, and they would pull all the stops out to get everyone to the show, just to make it look good. They certainly managed to pull it off. I'm glad they did, and thought it quite entertaining.

Original Alice Cooper Band guitarist makes surprise reappearance in London after 30 years. Only by now that said band was so fragmented and completely all over, you just wonder how it could have gone so wrong. Anyway, passed Ian Hunter on the way in, wearing shades of course, in the dark. That was a good start. And then some drunken fool started burbling to me some nonsense, so I ignored him, and he walked off. Oh shit... it was Michael Bruce! That was an even greater start. Gig was fun, and I couldnt believe he was here! Why now? Anyway, I still couldnt stop thinking about what could have been, even as the gig was in progress. Of course he did the old Alice numbers, most of which he co-wrote. Awesome, was the word of the night.

A very nice enchanting evening. Got to the bar for a nice glass of wine, and there's our old mucker Jim Davidson, as ever the centre of attention. The Nice's singer, far from doing vocal exercises, was propping up the bar until the very last second, but then again he does have the worst voice in rock music, so what the hell. Actually, Tom Waits is worse. Anyway, showtime, and Emerson gets on the big festival Hall organ to begin 'America', but of course the bloody thing doesnt work, or the mic has failed, so it fell to pieces. And so to the gig... Only 35 years had past, and these guys looked it, but it was quite OK. Later, Emerson brought his own band on to murder some ELP numbers, where some naff guitarist decided to solo continuously over every song. What an idiot. Next to me, this italian guy sang loudly - and ruined what was left of the gig. Oh yes, did I mention that Emerson seemed under-rehearsed? No... I didnt bother to mention it. I can only mention that this gig was supreme crap, and I'm still fed up about it 4 years later.

Two members of the original Alice Cooper Group, doing London after 30 years under the dubious title of 'Crown of Thorns'. Yeah, nice name guys. Anyway, my heroes made it here at last, and fresh from headlining arenas with the number one in the US charts 'Billion Dollar Babies' in 1973, here they were in Camden, playing to 50 people in a pub. Damn! I forgot my camera. Oh well. Dunaway, playing same bass as on the Schools Out tour, and Smith, as cool as ever, and as tall as ever, doing same Halo of Flies drum solo. It was heaven I tell you! I just wished the old band were together, but with Vince the millionaire, Bruce gone bonkers, and Buxton dead, this was the best case scenario, and it was brilliant!

Expensive concert which I viewed from outside the arena!
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It was weird to see seats put in the stalls here, never seen that before, but then most of the crowd were in their fifties. Rock and roll is getting older! Gig of ELP and Nice numbers, as ever destroyed by the insistence of Emerson wanting a guitarist in the band to twiddle all over those Keyboard oriented songs. So the music was ruined, and like the 2002 gig, Emerson's arrangements seems so unrehearsed. Worse was that the gear wasnt set up properly, and the start of the set was aborted so the keyboards could be plugged in. Cue Emerson's anecdotal repartee to save the night. Now I dont do gigs that often these days, but a new phenomenon has arisen, that of the mobile phone camera. Whenever stage action happens, almost everyone in the audience holds up their phone to take a pic. So you see 100's of little LCD screen light up in front of you! I was no exception, trying out my little cheapo model, which as you can see, didnt do such a bad job from the circle. At the end, Emerson's son took over the keyboards for a while, and the drummer's kids sat on the riser, watching. It was a family affair all right. Nice evening though. Like a sauna in there, it being a heatwave of an evening. The thicko jobsworth security didnt help, and were not needed at all. Just yobbo bullies pushing people around - I think they were pumped up expecting a young violent crowd, and were looking for trouble that wasnt there.

It had been 13 years since I saw this lot, and that's tragic, for I enjoyed this years show as much as the last. It's just fantastic music to me. Brilliant. Such an underground success. The Wildheart's Ginger had his band in support, and he joined Cardiacs on stage too. Fantastic lights, good crowd, good humour. A truly happy event. Shame about the camera phone, as one would have to be almost on the stage to get a good photo. Ah well, a nice memory all the same.

Original line-up at last. But how I hate the Empire: Its a horrible place for a gig: Stage too low, some ceilings too low, some seats too high: I could go on... Even the next door pub, once quite nice, is now an Irish themed thing with fizzy beer. Once in, I saw wall to wall old boozy blokes. And that was just the band. Poor old Howe has aged dramatically since I last saw him, and it's a shame when your heroes grow old. Otherwise, great gig, although maybe too late. Just waited too long for this one, and seen so many Asia failures over the years, in different combinations. Didnt appreciate their covers, think they should have done more Asia material. Favourite bit was Ride Easy, and Palmer's drum solo. Also One Step Closer, which was so emotional, I couldnt believe I was hearing the original line up do it at last: Wow! Afterwards, the audio recording of the gig was available for purchase, and the band sat at tables in front of the stage, and signed everything for hours, which I thought was jolly decent of them. Shame about my bottom of the range camera phone: Oh well, better than nothing...

30 years since I saw my first Iron Maiden gig, I was back once again to see yet another set. Well, it was about time, 7 years since the Earls Court gig. We had grown old together, but taken very different paths. I can still remember Murray & Harris on stage at the Bridgehouse, and there they were again tonight, all these years later, posing next to each other in the evening of their musical careers. What a journey it's been. This was the Matter Of Life And Death tour, and a benefit gig for Clive Burr, the drummer on the first 3 albums. Anyway, it was a last minute decision to do this, and luckily I got a very cheap ticket. It was great to be home, amongst metal fans of all ages, and it seemed all very uplifting, and everyone seemed so happy. What a great night it was. At the end, poor old Clive Burr was wheeled out on stage to great applause.

Wonderful concert by my old favourites, who got back together in one of their classic line-ups. Just when I needed a truly great gig to inspire me, here it was. I didnt have any expectations, but it worked. What fabulous music, and what a most beautiful stage presentation, where colours and lights and videos shone forth from a sensational steel frame. Some of the songs hit me emotionally - the sign that something was really right about this gig. It was great to see the boys back together, this time hopefully for good, and it was like a big family in there. Luckily the weather mostly held out too - it being monsoon season in Britain. Hadnt been to Twickers since seeing some rugger in the sixties, and its a nice new stadium now, filled with us rock fans singing along to our favourite band. Ticket on the rear stand, which fortunately didnt ruin it for me, what with the most grandeur of stage designs, and the good sound quality. And so, at last the great Genesis were back. We had all waited a long tome for this one!

My first trip to this little outpost near Angel station, and what a hole it is, with the worst beer: A sort of chemical freezing cold lager. No wonder everyone was farting from satan's bottom, I had to stand far from everyone to avoid the stench. Ok, this was the ELP drummer playing a set of early ELP songs, without any vocals or keyboards. Filling in was a couple of whizz-kids on guitar and bass. At best, this was a brilliant opportunity to see and hear, up close, the fantastic drum arrangements from those songs played by the master himself. Wow, those patterns are so low in the album mixes - they should release an album with just the drumming from say, the first album or Tarkus. Palmer was also as good as ever talking to the audience, who were very low in number, but Palmer still gave his all. The PA sounded awful, and sadly those guitarists were just irritating to me, as, like with Emerson's band, there is nothing worse than having a guitarist twiddling all over ELP songs (unless it was originally part of the arrangement). Amazingly, ones imagination phases out the annoying guitarist and plays back the keyboards and vocals, such is the power of the mind. I really wish that Palmer had just joined an ELP tribute band for the tour instead, I believe there are plenty of Emerson/Lake impressionists out there.

Rotten, Cook, Jones, Matlock. Excellent show, and Rotten is a great confident front man. It's just one big joke to himself and the audience. Totally iconic. I loved every second.

Brilliant gig. So great to see the boys still doing better than ever. 55,000 people there, and such a great atmosphere. A sort of Powerslave revisited, doing some of my favourite numbers. Really enjoyed it. I've now been seeing Maiden for 31 years, and that title song still ends the set proper, just like it used to in the pub days. Its been part of my life for so long, and I hope they never give up doing gigs. Went for a pint afterwards, with a big bag of chips.