9/4/2010 Michael Monroe & Dirty Harry @ Islington Academy

Subject	Michael Monroe & Dirty Harry @ Islington Academy
PostedDate	4/9/2010
	A busy night ahead with more than one gig to get to. I start off in Islington were Michael Monroe is playing at the Academy. Support comes from Dirty Harry - who's singer made an impression on a few people at Ginger's Birthday gig last year. This is turning into quite an incestuous scene as not only is Ginger appearing on the same stage later this evening, but Denzel who plays drums in Ginger's solo band is playing with Dirty Harry tonight. The band's 'Glam, Slam, Thank you mam!' vibe seems to go down quite well with the crowd - most of whom probably don't really know who they are watching, but they like it! Harry has certainly put a good band together, and now they seem to be getting some decent support slots like this and the Gary Numan tour. The place is packed to see the ex-Hanoi Rocks frontman and his new band. And it's a pretty good band too, featuring members of the Wildhearts, Hanoi Rocks, and New York Dolls. This band isn't just one that looks good on paper - they play really well together too. Ginger looks like he's thoroughly enjoying going back to being 'just' a guitar player in a band like he was back in the early days of the Quireboys and getting back to his roots. Needless to say ex-Hanoi Rocks and current New York Dolls bassist Sammi Yaffa fits in perfectly, as does current Dolls guitarist Steve Conte. This band really gels together and this is definitely one of the best shows of the year so far. The setlist is a real treat, with new and old stuff from Michael's solo career and previous band Demolition 23, and well as plenty of Hanoi Rocks classics and a New York Dolls cover! The atmosphere at this show was electric and I'm sure everyboby went home happy!  I don't have time to hang about after the show as I have another gig to get to, so I hot foot it to Holloway Road...

PS: There seems to have been a bit of a mix-up with the pictures in this post - I think the last couple are from the gig I went to later...