A rant. This fizzypopvirus is getting to me - and I haven't even caught it. Yet. *offensive language*

<rant> Nice simple easy afternoon - or so I thought. Finished work at lunchtime and just a couple of quick things to do on the way home - should only take 5 minutes or so. Pop into the bank to pay a bill. Only a small amount on a credit card - which I shouldn't have had to pay at all if Farcebook hadn't tricked me into paying extra for an advert for one of my gigs after giving me free credits for adverts. Cunts. Actually, I thought I'd already paid this bill via online banking a week ago so I'd forgotten about it. What I didn't know was that my payment had been immediately returned - for reasons unknown, although I had already successfully used this payment method between these same two accounts last year. Then a credit card bill arrived for the Farcebook ad this week - with interest as I apparently hadn't paid it! Cunts.

10 minutes at the front of a non-moving queue with only two cashiers working. Then told I can't use my debit card from my other bank to pay the bill. No cash on me. Bank's own cashpoint out of order. Directed to another one a few minutes walk away. This one confirms I have plenty in my account - then refuses to let me have any of it. I only needed a fiver! Minimum amount the machine will dispense is £10 - so I ask for £10. It still won't give me any of my own money. Walk further down the road to cashpoint number 3 - it generously lets me have £10 of my own money. Ironically I used to have an account at a bank at the location of cashpoint #3 where I could have done all this business in one go, but Barclays in their wisdom decided to close it. Walk back to the other bank with folding in hand to pay their credit card bill -there is now a queue.🙄 Eventually I get to the front of the queue. Again. And payment is finally paid. It's taken me over half an hour to pay one bill for £2.40 (plus interest) at the bank. Thanks a million Facebook. Cunts.

So, onto the chemist to pick up my prescription. Fortunately it's only next door to the bank - so this shouldn't take long. Wrong. Actually it's taken a week already: There are 3 people queuing OUTSIDE the chemist. WTF? Due to all the current shit going down because of the fizzypopvirus they are now only letting 3 people into the shop at a time - 1 in 1 out. I have to wait ten minutes in the cold wind just to get into the pharmacy. This is something else I originally did online last week. Leave 2 working days to allow enough time before picking up your prescription from the pharmacy said my doctor's practice web page. I left 3 days. And then they had no trace of it when I arrived to pick it up.. Here I am a week later and it has finally turned up over the internet. Only it's STILL not ready and can I come back in half an hour? I give up and go home to get something to eat. My journey home should only have taken 5 minutes or so longer than usual to complete those 2 simple tasks.- I eventually arrive home nearly an hour later....

I have another go at picking up my prescription a couple of hours later on my way to do my weekly shop. There is now a queue of about 8 people waiting to get into the chemists. I say 'queue', but actually in this country people no longer seem to know how to queue - they just mill around and then all rush up to the door when the pharmacy assistant let's someone out. Cunts. Us British used to be so good at queueing once - society is rapidly breaking down. It's even colder waiting outside now and I have to wait considerably longer than last time, but I eventually get to the front of the queue. Again. And get my prescription. One week and three hours after I first went to pick it up - there was no queue system to get in last week. Guess what? They didn't have any hand sanitiser.

So now I just have to get my weekly shop done. I arrive around my normal time - to find I don't have to struggle to find a parking place. Which is unusual. In fact there are plenty of places. It looks like the panic buyers have been busy while I was at work earlier. Cunts. There is no sugar - for the second week running. No eggs, no toothpaste, tinned soup, baked beans, other tinned food or cashew (or any other kind of nuts) but I do manage to get everything else on my list. No toilet rolls, soap, hand sanitizer and so on of course. SO many empty shelves - all for NO reason It's like there is a fucking war on! I notice the shelves are also empty of all the beers drunk by the less discriminating, but there is still plenty of my current favourite ale.

So after several hours spent running round on errands I look forward to winding down after the working week by getting to the pub by mid to late afternoon to relax with a couple of pints.

Oh.....

</rant>

Sorry, but I really needed to vent after a long and needlessly frustrating afternoon - I know other people are going to have it FAR worse than me over the next few months or longer. But half an hour (mostly waiting outside in the cold) just to pick up a prescription at a chemist, endless supermarket shelves empty of the basics, and all pubs ,clubs, and music venues closed down - is this going to be the new 'normal' for the foreseeable future? What have we done to deserve this?

13/3/2020 Jimmy C & The Blues Dragons @ St Harmonicas Blues Club

A gig on Friday the 13th - what could possibly go wrong? This is my first visit to St Harmonicas Blues Club. It's moved from it's original location near Broomfield Park - a place that has childhood memories for me, and now it's at the nearby Southgate Club. Like much of North London Southgate has lost most of it's pubs as well as it's cinema, and the Police Station has shut. There isn't much to do in the area so I'm interested to check the place out. It's run on traditional 'club' lines instead of being like a pub or normal music venue, so I have to sign up as a member as this is my first visit and am issued with a membership card. The £5 membership lasts for a year so it seems like good value for money if I visit more than once or twice...

Anyway, I'm hear to see Jimmy C & The Blues Dragons - a band I've seen once or twice back in Barnet. I feel a bit out of place - I'm not used to clubs like this. It all feels a bit formal to me - all seated and a very middle aged and upward clientele. Not a rock 'n' roll crowd at all, and unusually there is no one here that I know. But it's the music I'm here for, and it's great. It's blues based rock - some original songs mixed in with a load of blues standards. Jimmy C always looks like he absolutely loves what he's doing - there is always that big trademark smile across his face. He sings well and is a terrific guitarist. The Blues Dragons are a great backing band as well - this is all top quality professional stuff.

I wasn't wild about the club itself - it's just not my sort of place, although I'd certainly go back it there was a band I was interested in seeing. And tonight's entertainment was top notch. Little did I realise that it would be the last gig I would go to for quite a while, and I wouldn't end up up getting good use out of my one year's club membership - in fact I would never get to use my new membership card again....

14/2/2020 Rachel Stamp @ The Underworld

This marks the return of a band who have been away for a while. As a result this is an event and the venue is full.

Unlike many bands returning after a few years away, this is the full original lineup - exactly what the multitude of fans want to see.

Costume changes, mood changes, the spirit of Bowie is in the room - his influence is never far away with this band.

Glam is back.

And rock is back. OK - we knew it never went away.

I am not the only one who thinks Shaheena looks amazing - she doesn't seem to have aged in the slightest.

I said rock is back - well the one who adds most the rock to this band's pop and glam is the fantastic Robin Guy on drums. Said by AntiProduct's Alex Kane to be "the best drummer in the UK" - and I wouldn't argue with that. His CV is amazing. He is back in more ways than one as he has had a big battle with cancer involving major surgery, but you would never know it from tonight's stunningly powerful performance. He is the ultimate showman drummer, but his playing is also amazing! He brought tonight's set to an end with the classic Motörhead 'Ace Of Spades' double stop ending - just for fun and because he could.

This was a really great rock show. A small intimate venue with a terrific atmosphere, and a fantastic performance by the band playing all the hits and more. One of the best gigs I've been to for a long time.

9/2/2020 Supersuckers @ The 100 Club

Like Danko Jones and Backyard Babies (see my previous post) The Supersuckers used to be one of my favourite live bands, but like the aforementioned acts in more recent years they have lost their edge and started to seem a bit tired. They are playing smaller venues these days too - last time I saw them it was in a small room at a converted railway station in Hackney - and it wasn't full. Still, they have some great songs so I thought I'd give seeing them at the legendary 100 Club a try.

I really miss the twin lead guitar attack of earlier versions of the band - 'Metal' Marty Chandler is great, but with only three members the band is really missing something as far as I'm concerned.

Bassist/singer Eddie Spaghetti is now the only original member of the band, and it doesn't have the spirit it once had.. Don't get me wrong - they are still a good band, but not the memorable one they once were.

They still have a load of good songs, but there is also a lot of newer material that is less so. Still, this is Supersuckers in full on 'Rock 'n' roll' mode instead of their 'country' mode they also tour and record in - so it's not going to be a boring show.

"Who want's to inspect Marty's guitar?"

"Nice huh?"

Fortunately they still play 'Born With A Tail' - not to do so would be like Motörhead not playing 'Ace Of Spades'!

A good night of rock 'n' roll, but not the great one I was hoping for. That said, Supersuckers are still a bad attitude kick-ass rock & roll country punk band that make Jason & The Scorchers look like a bunch of cissies. But not the band they once were. Let's hope by the time they come round again they will have rediscovered their mojo, and maybe got an extra guitarist back in.

1/2/2020 The Wildhearts & Backyard Babies @ The Forum

The Bull & Gate is crap these days so I went to the Southampton Arms up the road instead - much better for ales! More like a proper pub too.

Suitably refreshed I headed down the road to The Forum. For many fans The Wildhearts and Backyard Babies together is a dream bill. In fact I think it nearly happened a few years ago and a poster even appeared, but it all seemed to fall through for some reason before tickets actually went on sale. But now it really is happening and a lot of people including me are very excited. I think the show is sold out.

Backyard Babies used to be one of my favourite live bands about 20 years ago, but like Supersuckers and Danko Jones who also used to be fantastic live acts back then they seemed to lose their edge and started to seem 'tired'. I think Backyard Babies realised this and went on hiatus for a few years. They have put out two new albums since their return - one good, and one less so, but I haven't been able to catch them live again. Until now.

After hearing one or two good reports since the band's comeback I had been looking forward to seeing them again. However...

I was distinctly underwhelmed by their set tonight. The band played OK, although I've seen them better and with a lot more energy - although to be fair they are a lot older than when I first saw them back around 1998.

The problem for me wasn't so much the band's performance - it was the setlist. Most Backyard Babies fans would agree that their finest album was one of their earliest - 'Total 13' is regarded as a classic. It was hearing 'Bombed (out of my mind)' from this album on the radio that convinced me (rightly) that this was a band I had to go and see play live. But I don't think they played a single song from 'Total 13' at this show! If this was their own headline show I would have asked for my money back - and not playing 'Bombed...' was for me like the Stones not playing 'Satisfaction'.

However, I am glad to report that The Wildhearts didn't let me down. With their latest album with Danny McCormack back on bass duties they have been in fine and ferocious form both on record and as as live act.

The recent and aptly titled 'Renaissance Men' album has two or three new songs that instantly became fan singalong favourites, and the band themselves are playing better than ever.

The Wildhearts are just as relevant in 2020 as they ever were, and their lyrics and the anger contained in the new songs is now more topical than ever before. Ginger writes his best songs when he's been going through a bad time and is pissed off with the world - and there is a lot to be pissed off with in the world at the moment. However, that has resulted in some new Wildhearts songs like 'Let 'Em Go', 'Diagnosis', and 'Dislocated' that I think are future classics - every cloud has a silver lining. Of course we still get a load of the old favourites, but not quite as many as before - partly as the band don't want some songs to get too tired even if they are still popular crowd pleasers, but also because they need to make room for some of the new songs - which are really good and already popular with the fans. So now we  don't get the hugely popular '29 x The Pain', and one or two others which have been in nearly every Wildhearts set for many years. I expect those songs will return at some point and others will fall by the wayside, but who want's to hear (or play) exactly the same songs at every gig for thirty years? Oh yeah - Rolling Stones fans - and make that fifty years. Even with one or two old favourites missing I doubt anyone goes home disappointed - virtually every stage of the band's career was covered. The Wildhearts seem to be on a roll right now, but all too soon the show was over and it was time to go home.

30/1/2020 Girlschool @ The Underworld

First gig of the year, and it's a good one! The Underworld isn't the best venue when it's packed, but a Girlschool gig is always great fun - if sometimes a little chaotic!

With many albums under their studded belts this band have a large back catalogue of great songs to draw from when putting a setlist together. The first couple of albums probably have the most well known 'crowd pleasers', but their most recent albums have plenty of quality material as well - even though today's 'rock' radio stations refuse to ever play anything from them, but that's another story...

There has been a lineup change since I last saw the band - original bassist Enid has gone (again) and Tracey Lamb from Rock Goddess is back in Girlschool. Again. There seems to have been quite a game of musical chairs with bass players in female hard rock bands recently with bassists from Syteria (guitarist Jackie from Girlschool's other band), JoanOvArc, Rock Goddess, and Girlschool all moving - often between the same four bands! Tracey fits in perfectly though - as she was in the band for a while before she already knows most the songs, and she obviously gets on well with the rest of the band.

There are newer songs in tonight's set, but mostly it's the 'hits' that get played and not much from the middle period of the band's career. Probably the best choice. The band still play really well and are obviously really enjoying themselves - not just 'going through the motions' like some bands from the NWOBHM era do.

4/1/2020 A night at the Dublin Castle: The storm before the calm...

Pretending to be a bass player on this occasion - I think I got away with it. We were worried not many people would come out for a gig so early in the New Year, but actually between all the bands we got a really good crowd in. Not sold out, but the venue was surprisingly full - we thought we'd only be playing to a handful of people, but in the event we got quite a few people in specifically to see us. It was great to play this legendary Camden venue - and on a Saturday night too!

The promoter was pleased and had since talked about getting us back for another gig in the summer, but little did we know what the future held. Covid-19 ensured that by March there would be no gigs for anyone - for the rest of the year. So that was my last gig with any band for the next 18 months or so...