7/12/2012 Rachel Stamp @ Nambucca

Subject	Rachel Stamp @ Nambucca
DateCreated	12/14/2012 4:09:00 PM
	Friday night finds me down Holloway Road for a sold out show at Nambucca. This is rumoured to be the last ever gig by Rachel Stamp, but who knows? Only a couple of months ago I attended Stamp frontman David Ryder Prangley's 'last ever' show before his 'retirement' at this same venue - and a few weeks later he was playing a gig up the road with his new band Temple Of Gold so... Anyway, this gig has caused a bit of a stir amongst Rachel Stamp fans and the show sold out weeks ago - many people have travelled a long way for this. By 9.35 many of these same people are becoming restless as the band's stage time was supposed to be 9.00. As there are no support acts at all tonight there is no excuse for this running late - people are starting to get pissed off as the band are said to be playing a two hour set and many of those who have travelled a long distance to be here tonight have to leave early to catch last trains. Eventually the band appear. Fortunately Rachel Stamp are on fine form tonight. The atmosphere in this packed room is electric and the band respond to the crowd's obvious enthusiasm. It's fair to say that whatever your favourite Rachel Stamps songs are, they probably played them all tonight. The setlist was: Brand New Toy Do Me In Superstars of Heartache Monsters of the New Wave I Got The Worm Take a Hold of Yourself Dead Girl Black Tambourine True Love Pink Skab I Wanna Be Your Doll Ladies'n'Gents The Agony My Sweet Rose (Encore 1) Starbirth in the Triffid Nebula Stealing Clothes from Shelley Barrett Dirty Bone Black Cherry (Encore 2) Hey Hey Michael You're Really Fantastic There was an entertaining bit of banter when one fan dared to make the fatal mistake of calling DRP 'Dave'. Just like with Mr Coverdale this is something you just don't do. Ever. Said fan was duly put in his place. The sound mix was better than average, with some evilly heavy bass notes rumbling out from Shaheena's keyboard at times to shake the whole room and the innards of everyone in it. Will ripped out some neat and sharp solos from his Gretch guitars, while Robin (some say the best rock drummer in the whole UK) pounded the drums with his trademark mixture of power and showmanship. David spat out his spikey lyrics with a rare venom which suggests he very much still 'means it' and has no intention of 'retiring' any time soon. It's a long time since anything to compare with this glampunk onslaught has been seen around these parts - I hear a couple of people saying it might be their "show of the year" and I can see and hear why. After two encores I don't think anyone goes home disappointed even if this was the 'last ever' Rachel Stamp show. And then at the end DRP says what fun it's been and would we like some more? The response is enthusiastic to say the least, and then David drops the news: They will be back for more shows next year - and they might even be recording some new songs. Maybe DRP should retire more often?

PS: This venue closed in early 2014.