8/10/2007 Planet Of Women @ IndigO2

Subject	Planet Of Women @ IndigO2
PostedDate	10/8/2007
	It's always interesting to visit new venues. IndigO2 is part of the O2 Arena complex - formerly the infamous Millenium Dome. At first I assumed it was a largish seated venue I had been to a few years ago, but this gig turned out to be in a much smaller unseated venue similar in size to the Astoria. Obviously it was very modern, clean, rather 'corporate' and soul-less. Within five minutes of my arrival my throat felt really dry and parched - maybe as a result of the air conditioning? I wasn't the only one to notice this. I was driven to the bar - it was as bad as a Carling venue - apart from the prices, which were even more outrageous!  The venue boasts that due to new technology they can pour a pint in only seven seconds. Great - they can rip more people off faster than ever before.  Not to my surprise, they didn't even offer pints of anything I actually wanted to drink - again, like being in a Carling venue. Only even more expensive at £4 a pint of watery piss. By now my dry throat was demanding lubrication so had a pint of Boddingtons (weak & watery at the best of times) followed by a pint of Becks - they tasted almost the same. Two pints was more than enough.  There were supposed to be three acts on the bill, but I only went to see Planet Of Women and had never heard of any of the other acts.  I bumped into Planet Of Women's ex-bass player Jason and his other half Trudi who was taking pictures. I didn't bother with any pictures as photography appeared to be strongly discouraged unless you were 'official' and I have heard stories of some the the O2 Arena security people being somewhat psychotic. Trudi had been told she could take pictures, as long as she didn't take any of 'Pete'. "Pete who?" you may ask. Exactly. It had to be explained that he was someone from Big Brother. Like any of us cared? I'd never heard of him either, but apparently he was the 'headline' act. And he swears a lot. Yeah right.  I also bumped into hardcore Planet Of Women fan Big Dave who told be he had seen the aforementioned character walking around the venue earlier with his coat over his head so no one would recognise him. WTF! If you don't want to be recognised and hassled by your 'fanbase' then don't go running round the auditorium you fuckwit! More about him later - if anyone actually cares... It's always interesting to go and see Planet Of Women these days as I never know who is going to be in the band! Well, I know Jade, Nina, and Jolene will be singing as usual - but who will be on the stage with them? The drummer was the new guy who played on the recent tour, and the new guitar player (sporting the most beautiful natural wood finish Telecaster I've ever seen) was the extra guitarist on the last tour too. The band are currently 'between' bass players and usual lead guitarist 'Static' was filling in on bass just for this one-off show. It was good to see the band back on a big stage where they belong - the biggest I've seen them on since their appearances at the Download festival.   However, there were some technical problems during the show. Static was posing and throwing shapes more at this gig on bass than he normally does on 6 string duties! Unfortunately, he broke his E string on the second song. Rather than switch to a spare bass and lose the momentum of the show he elected to carry on and play the rest of the 45 minute set on three strings - and made a pretty good job of it as far as I could tell. The sound mix out front left a bit to be desired though, and the bass couldn't be heard much. More importantly, Nina and Jolene's backing vocals were all but inaudible.   There were a few new songs in the set, as well as some of the usual old favourites like the single 'Waking Up The Neighbourhood' and 'I'm A Woman'. The technical problems continued when the guitar failed on one of the band's finest songs 'Jimmy Page'. There was no guitar for a good couple of minutes or so during this song while Static carried things on his three string bass. This new guitarist is actually pretty damn good (when his equipment is working) and although I thought he was 'showboating' a bit much at times when the emphasis should be on the girls - he came in with a perfectly timed solo when his guitar was eventually working again. The set ended with what is now the band's usual show closer - the AC/DC styled 'One More Drink For The Road'. This is a terrific singalong number, and Jolene suggested to Jade that some 'audience participation' might be in order. Jade got the crowd going on the old 'left hand crowd Vs right' & 'Front Vs back' routine. At first I wasn't sure this was wise as the venue wasn't very full and the idea looked like falling on it's arse - as someone observed "This isn't Iron Maiden at Hammersmith". However, they managed to pull it off (ooer missus!) and it was actually a triumphant end to the show!  At the bar between acts a very pretty girl asked me if I was there to see Pete? I'm like 'Pete who?' She explained that he had been on Big Brother and she then proceeded to really slag him off - although it was obviously him she was there to see. WTF? And she said he swears a lot. I politely explained that I have better things to do with my life than wasting it watching Big Brother... So, on to the 'headline' act - Pete Bennett & the Love Dogs. Oh dear. This was the man who was too important to be photographed or recognised by fans when he was in the crowd earlier. Anyone else ever heard of him? Others said his band were good musicians (although I wasn't impressed by the guitarist) but I wondered how much of the performance was actually on DAT? This was lowest common denominator 'pop' music. The only decent song wasn't one of his own - the Squeeze classic 'Cool For Cats' in a desperate bid for some sort of imagined credibility. This 'celebrity' was a total non-entity. Not to put too fine a point on it - he's an idiot and has no place on a stage or TV screen. He just jumped and ran about without really having any idea what he was doing - sample quote: "Oh - I don't know what to say now!" Then just don't say anything you moron. Oh, and he swears a lot. Wow - he must be really rock 'n' roll then. No - he's not big and he's not clever. His performance (if you can call it that) was entirely unconvincing and I couldn't discern the slightest inkling of any talent or justification for his presence on that bill - let alone headlining it. This was so bad it was embarrassing just watching it - I can honestly say this is one of the very worst acts I have ever seen. In spite of his supposed 'celebrity' he had only fifty or so people down the front watching his inane antics. I expect you'll be seeing him again before long though - he'll be asking "Do you want fries with that?"