Rock the Coast festival in Spain.
Just happened to be on holiday nearby!
Headline act Rainbow.
Bloody awesome.

With Zippy, Bungle and George?

Yep the full cast

Hi Duke!

I thought of you when I saw this (love the song, btw):


https://youtu.be/9cNMD0qjlBo

I guess the last concert I saw was Elton John last October. I'm seeing Peter Frampton in a couple of weeks.

:D

long time no see

how're you doing?

It has been a long time! I'm doing okay, thanks! I hope you are well. ;)

I have been checking in now and then- very quiet around here these days.

I'm doing fine ta, it has been quiet, but you should definitely pop in often, and keep us updated on what Bruce tunes (or others) you've been listening too!

Blue October. Such an awesome band. Can’t wait to see them and meet them in Dallas in October!

What a show it was!

Blue October “I Will Follow Tour” - Toyota Music Pavillion, Irving Texas.

Dallas shows are very special to this band. This was no exception.

It's been a good month, three of my very favourite singer songwriters doing shows very near, within days of each other...

David Ford, did pretty much a solo gig, just him, piano, 4 guitars, drums, harmonica, percussion, and his loop machine... absolutely superb gig, I'd forgotten how good he is on guitar.

Foy Vance, Foy's full band, as part of his current tour, really enjoyed it, good performance

Finally, Duke Special, doing a career retrospective... primarily himself on piano, the brilliant Ben Castle on saxophone, flute and clarinet, and the spectacular Chip Bailey on drums, stumpf fiddle, cheese grater and whisk, squeaky toys and general percussion duties, with some special guest performers... A magical 3 hour show!!

Three fantastic gigs!

Cinderella panto.. last show of the run

enjoyed very much

Bat Out Of Hell The Musical in Düsseldorf 12/28/22.
Wasn't as good as it used to be.. Unfortunately.
We gave our other tickets away. And that was a huge step for us. :/

I missed it over the summer in the UK for various of reasons but it doesn't really seem like I missed much.

It never really looked good to me to be honest. It seemed very much like what We Will Rock You was like, one of the last shows I've seen (last year). I enjoyed that to a certain extent but the story had so many missed opportunities and stupid unlike Queen / rock things, it seemed too much like a panto and didn't get to the heart that we can hear in Queen's music in my opinion. It could have been so much better with a better, simpler message.The electric guitar reveal at the end and Scaramouche being able to play it made no sense. A simple: guitar is found and falls to dust but the characters realise rock is in your heart message and you don't necessarily need to play it yourself to enjoy would have fixed that. It seemed so obvious to me. :roll: The disconnect between the fantasy -metaphor story line, the timeless music and the audience just really sucked and to me it seemed from everything I saw from the Bat musical, that would be exactly the same. :-(

I know people use the term "jukebox" musical to sort of defend why a musical doesn't have a decent story or connection. To me it's just an excuse not to go the extra mile to provide something that will be memorable and heartfelt, just like the music always was. Something like Back To The Future the musical has it for sure! A much, much better musical book writer with a better imagination at the helm, clearly. I'd rate BTTF the musical a 9 and We Will Rock You, based on the performance I saw, a 4 or 5 at best.

duke special with chip on drums, and some guest performers

a brilliant gig as always, but the final song of the show was a tom waits cover, where duke invited some guests up

And I don't know who the female vocalist was, but it was a ~~~~ing awesome performance, she owned that stage and sang her heart out. I have to find out who she was, and listen to more of her stuff.

It was one of those moments where the decision was, if we don't leave now, we'll miss the last bus... but couldn't leave
and missed the last bus

Theatre production of Shawshank Redemption. Bloomin marvellous.
Mrs R was happy pointing out (many times) the naked prisoners at the start. 👀

Bruce Springsteen and the E-street Band - Edinburgh and Birmingham. Both in the pit, both sublime as always.

Papa Roach in Bremen. Wasn't as good as I expected. Jacoby sounded well, but they played all the songs that I personally dislike.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Hyde Park (both nights)

Epic, rocking, superb. Excellent 3 hour sets.
As good as I ever saw him at his best and really brought things full circle with a similar approach when I first saw him live 20 years ago. I found the random requests stuff disappointing at Wembley in 2016 (Coventry 2 days before was superb) as it made things quite hap hazard from what I remember.

This was a far more controlled, professional, solid set with no stopping for almost 1 1/2 hrs into the main set on both nights. And after an emotional 15 minutes reflecting on age and life and leaving us with a brilliant message, he goes straight back into rocking.

Absolutely phenomenal for Bruce's and the band members' ages.
I hope he tours into next year or perhaps comes back in 2025 for one last farewell with E Street.
But if this is it, he definitely left us on a high.

A massive renewed interest in his music after that.
Wow.

Foy Vance with the Ulster Orchestra, Joy of Nothing 10th anniversary gig.

very good gig

I saw Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets last weekend in Melbourne. It was mind bendingly awesome.

duke special plus special guests (1st dec)... brilliant gig as always

must've been near enough 3.5 hours of songs from start to finish.

someone from the audience shouted out do a tom waits song, and he sung Martha :)

final song of the night, a rainy night in soho dedicated to Shane MacGowan

Illegal Eagles Chatham Central Theatre for the 14th time!

Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street band - Cardiff.

Wonderful show, wonderful setlist, incredible opener.

Nice to see AndyK too.

Sunderland next up.

Sunderland… Amazing show. Hellacious conditions.

Bonnie Tyler
O2 Indigo.
Marvellous