London Locations ( November 2012 ) Part Two

Just a few more photos from my trip to London last week with my mate Glenn. This is a view across the Thames from the South Bank, looking towards the financial heart of the City, with The Gherkin in the background. I still need to get a closer look at that building... maybe next time...

We crossed the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral.

I hadn't seen St. Paul's up close in about 20 years so it was good to see it again, although we didn't have time to go inside. The sun was just starting to go down at this point, so the light hitting the dome made St. Paul's look magical, even though the photos don't quite capture the true colours.

After walking down Ludgate Hill, along The Strand and on up past Leicester Square, we headed towards the West End  -  after having a nose around some guitar shops in Wardour Street. Of all the musicals showing at the moment ( The Lion King, Kiss Me Kate, Shrek etc. ) this version of Singin' In The Rain had probably the most impressive front-of-house sign... and the umbrella theme was pretty apt. ( To be honest, we'd been lucky with the weather: the night before it had chucked it down with rain but we were too er, refreshed to really care and the Friday was cold but lovely, as the photos show. )

Christmas in Oxford Street this year is apparently sponsored by Marmite :-)

...and Carnaby Street is sponsored by The Rolling Stones. Seriously. Obviously tying in with the crusty old rockers' 200th anniversary ( or something like that ) the Stones were all over Carnaby Street, even having their own shop filled with memorabilia. We had to go in, of course, and say "Grrr!" for the camera ;-)

( And, tucked away at the other end of Carnaby Street, was the Mach Schau Gallery which was exhibiting some fantastic rare photos of The Beatles, too. Great stuff! )

In Leicester Square there was even a shop devoted to M & Ms  -  four floors of them, in fact. Glenn and I had to pose with the Abbey Road M & Ms  -  it would be rude not to. Only in London!

I'll leave you with a shot of the beautiful London Eye, taken from Waterloo. Toodle pip and all that...

James Marshall Hendrix

The great Jimi Hendrix would have been 70 today. Hard to believe, really. We can only wonder at where his genius would have taken him over the years if his life hadn't been so sadly cut short.

Here's Jimi in the gunslinger outfit that "inspired" Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy's "Sabre"...

And here's the Voodoo Chile himself, doing his thing...

London Locations ( November 2012 ) Part One

I recently spent a fantastic couple of days in that there London Town with my mate Glenn. We were there to see The Dandy Warhols at Heaven ( review to follow, of course ) and to generally take in the sights. Friday, the day of the gig, was very wet and windy ( just for a change! ) but Saturday was much brighter and I managed to take a lot of photos. Would you like to see some...?
( Thought you might... )

This is a cool-looking bar near to our hotel in Waterloo. There was also a fascinating shop nearby called Radio Days, which sold all kinds of vintage and retro memorabilia, from old radios and record-players, to vintage glamour posters and mags, to fab 'n' faded clothes, to cocktail accessories. I had a good nose through a bunch of old music mags but came out with nothing. Time waster!

After chomping on a full English Breakfast on Saturday morning, Glenn and I wandered along the South Bank until we came to the Tate Modern. What an amazing place! Formerly a power station, the Tate is a huge, imposing structure with vast interior spaces... as you can see...

"I call this installation Girder With Rivets..." ( Glenn showing off his latest masterpiece... )

"And this one is entitled Lack Of Chairs... "

As well as just messing about, we also took the chance to look at some proper artwork. Luckily, there was a brilliant exhibition of Surrealism on display featuring, among others, these awe-inspiring works by Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Delvaux and Picasso. Cool or what?

From the Tate we headed along the river bank, past The Globe Theatre...

and on past The Golden Hind and Southwark Cathedral ( where a graduation ceremony was taking place, with loads of beaming students and parents ) and on to our original destination, before we'd been sidetracked by Surrealism, London's latest skyscraper  -  The Shard...

Apparently the second-tallest building of its kind in Europe, The Shard is a stunning new addition to the London skyline, which I'll definitely have to visit when it's fully open to the public ( from next February ) and visitors will be able to book tickets to a viewing area at the top. It should be an amazing view from up there...

Further London locations to follow, featuring St. Paul's Cathedral, Christmas lights, life-size M&M's and a giant gorilla :-)

Adam Ant at Bristol O2 Academy

A year on from the last Ants Invasion of Bristol, Sir Adam Of Ant returned with another storming set of Pop hits and Punk perversion. And this time I even dragged Sarah and her mate Jacqui along. Well... I say "dragged" when in fact they had both been obsessing over Adam for weeks before the gig and were ready for some Friday night Antics...

Due to Bristol Academy's ridiculously early doors on a Friday night we missed the support ( probably no great loss ) while having a drink over the road in the slightly more sophisticated Colston Hall.We made our way across to the venue and, after about 20 minutes of listening to some groovy old rock 'n' roll on the pre-gig soundsystem, Adam and his band appeared to rapturous applause.

Still rocking the Hussar / Napoleon / NHS glasses look ( well, it's certainly unique ) Adam launched into a set which veered wildly across his career from the S&M days of Whip In My Valise and Beat My Guest, through the Burundi beat of Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Dog Eat Dog ( "Brush me, Daddio!" ) to the MTV-friendly likes of Strip and Goody Two-Shoes. Just as he had done a year previously Adam concentrated as much on old school Ants material like Fall In ( a great singalong ) and a cracking version of Zerox as he did on Top 10 stuff like Stand And Deliver. It was a good half dozen songs into the set before he spoke to the audience, telling us that Kings... still feels new every time he plays it ( and it still sounds awesome... but it needs some Marco... ) and regaling us with the surely apocryphal tale of how he was inspired to write Lady. ( It involves going through Malcolm McLaren's pockets to nick loose change and meeting a 7' 9" naked dominatrix... all good stuff! )

Highlights of the set for me were an atmospheric Ants Invasion, a sensual ( of course ) Physical, an audience-pleasing Ant Music and a Rockabilly reading of Goody Two Shoes  -  never my favourite of his songs, but pretty damn special tonight. Even Vive Le Rock sounded good...

I'm glad to report that Mr. Ant's recent flurry of touring hasn't affected his performance ( steady! ) and Adam is in fine, enthusiastic, cheeky form, with his stage moves still sending people weak at the knees... including my companions :-)
And, it has to be said, his voice is in bloody good shape for a man of his age, still managing to hit some impressively high notes, although occasionally reigning it in somewhat when necessary. I do however miss the  bonkers Native American yelping of the old Ants' backing vocals on the Kings... songs. Adam of course still does all that but his band don't really rise to the occasion. Come on, guys! After all, ridicule is nothing to be scared of...
New song Cool Zombie was unveiled and sounded pretty good. It should be interesting to see how well his new album does when released. Adam's unlikely comeback has been pretty amazing so far
( I never thought I'd be seeing him play these wonderful songs 30 years after his first brush with fame ) and it would be fantastic to see him actually sell some records too. Again, it's unlikely... but the unlikely is something Adam has always specialised in.
After a final, mass outbreak of  "doing the Prince Charming" in the encore ( I can't believe I did that! ) Adam and band took their bows and left. And so did we... to have a few drinks and mess about in Bristol...

Oh dear! Time to go home...

Never forget...

Four more years!

Phew!

( Please don't screw it up... )