A slightly odd night this one. It's the Planet Rock Christmas Party gig. I miss the first band, although I'm not too bothered. I was curious to see how well (or otherwise) Hovercraft Pirates went down as they don't seem to fit into the station's 'classic rock' format in any way and I'd never even heard of them before Planet Rock inexplicably started playing them - something smells very wrong to me, but that's commercial radio I guess...

In spite of the less than appropriate opening band Islington Academy is really full. It's a bit of a weird crowd though, with most of it seeming to consist of married couples in their forties or older and maybe not in the habit if going to rock gigs - I hear people complaining about how crowded it is! I really don't know what these people would have made of the opening act.  Most of them (mainly the younger ones) like the next act though.

Second tonight are a band who's sound would fit much better into the station's playlist - but they don't play them!  It's Justin Hawkins new(ish) band Hot Leg. It's all a bit strange as you won't find The Darkness on the station's playlist either.  However, they are a good band - although it's very much like 'The Darkness Mk 2'. They are excellent musicians, but unlike The Darkness this is far more obviously a vehicle for just one man. It has to be said though - Justin Hawkins is a 'Rock Star' and really looks the part as well as having great stage presence - as well as a radical new 'tash that would do any silent movie villain proud! I don't know what he's 'on' tonight, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk so much complete bollocks between songs - he's really away with the fairies!  He wind's up the crowd at the end by joking about not playing 'that song', but no one is surprised when he launches into the 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' riff.

The main artist I'm here to see is the headliner. Although I've always liked Thin Lizzy and have a couple of Gary Moore's blues albums I have never seen him play. I had too much going on when he last played in London so I'm looking forward to this. He doesn't disappoint! The man plays a blinder of a set.

....[Guitar Geek Alert!] Non guitar players may want to skip this paragraph. As a guitarist myself I tend to notice things like how many guitar changes there are during the set - some big bands change guitars after virtually every song. I know they can go out of tune, and some guitars can be better on certain songs than others, but I think often stars change guitars frequently just because they can - or to show off how many guitars they have. A good guitar should be able to stay in tune for most if not all of the set as far as I'm concerned, although I know that's not always the case and sometimes strings can break too. There can't be many axe heroes with a bigger collection of guitars than Gary Moore, so I was quite surprised to see him play a Les Paul for at least the first forty minutes of his set without a single guitar change! There was another guitar surprise in store. I was wondering how slim the chances were of Gary using a BFG as Gibson have recently produced a 'Gary Moore Signature' version of this guitar? Some of you probably know I am fascinated with this particular type of Les Paul since seeing Twiggy from Fables Last Stand playing one. This guitar facinated me so much I had to buy one of my own. Some people don't like them at all - they aren't to everyone's taste. So I was quite surprised when halfway through the set Gary Moore strapped on a BFG! To my even greater surprise it wasn't even his own 'Signature' model (of which Gibson must surely have given him at least one) but a standard cherry finish one. I'd love to be able to ask him why he picked that one from his massive collection.

Stereo Juggernaut take it up a step tonight with a gig at the Purple Turtle.

It's good to see them on a bigger stage with better lighting. They sound good as well. I'm running out of things to say about this band as I've seen them a few times recently and I don't like repeating myself - that's one reason I put links in my blogs - so you can go to their page and have a listen for yourself.
 
It's a bit of an odd night, with nothing much happening for over an hour after Stereo Juggernaut finish before some Goth sort of band comes on to play to about five people - at which point I take my leave.  I'll usually stay and watch the other bands if there's something I can enjoy drinking as well. However, there's no Newcastle Brown at this venue again - the Purple Turtle isn't what it was a couple of years ago, although they have made some improvments regarding the stage and dressing room. Could do better - especially now they have more competition from The Gaff and the newly re-opened Garage.

I find myself back at the venue which is fast becoming my home from home. First band at The Gaff tonight is Trashcat.

This punk outfit have some half decent songs and not a bad sound, apart from the vocals which I find pretty unlistenable.

Selfish are on next.

They have a good guitar sound and a really tight rhythm section. Their sound is firmly rooted in the 70's and 80's.

They describe themselves as a 'modern classic rock band', but I fail to spot the 'modern' part. At least they aren't a dumbed down nu-metal band with shit vocals. Certainly worth a listen anyway - particularly their song 'Heavy Living'.   

Last band are Kismetik - a punk band who look like they've being doing this a long time.

They play fast and are quite lively, but sound very generic. They are probably quite good musicians, but their chosen style of music doesn't allow that to shine through.

Oh well - nothing too exciting, but worth a look. It's a cheap place to visit and easy to get to so I'm more likely to pop down to check out bands I don't know that well.

Another gig I've been looking forward to for months, and definitely one of the best bills of the year. Unfortunately I miss most of Girlschool's set as they have to go on stupidly early.  They were quality as usual though, and I'm really glad I saw Lemmy join them for a run through 'Please Don't Touch'. It's great to see Girlschool on tour with Motörhead again - particularly at Hammersmith!

The Damned are great fun!  I was wondering if Lemmy might join The Damned for a song or two as well, and he was in the band briefly back in the day - it wasn't to be though. I'm sure Lemmy was particularly pleased to have both Girlschool and The Damned supporting on this tour though. There might only be two original members in the band these days, but they still play like they mean it - much more so than the Sex Pistols these days even with their original lineup. The Captain does most of the talking, and talks mostly bollocks as usual - but that's what you expect! The Damned have a rich back catalogue to choose from, and many of the 'classics' feature in the set, along with some more recent stuff. Obviously they don't have time to play all the classics, but I think they do a good job in the time they have.

Motörhead deliver the goods as they always do. Unusually, they haven't put an album out since they toured a year ago so they are still calling this the 'Motorizer' tour. It looks like a new album is in the pipeline for 2010 though. Like the previous two bands tonight, the setlist is largely made up of the classics - but most Motörhead fans wouldn't have it any other way. I think after a few years now the acoustic 'Whorehouse Blues' section is getting rather tired and predictable though. It's good to see Würzel guesting for a song or two. A goodly proportion of my favourites get an airing, although of course there just isn't time for all of them. The setlist spans pretty much all stages of the band's career, although Motörhead have now released so many albums that there just isn't time to play one song from every album. To be honest it's not the best Motörhead show I've seen, and Lemmy is less talkative between songs than usual - although he has such a commanding stage presence that he doesn't need to say much anyway. That said, it's still a good night - apart from the usual horrors of the bar and toilets in this overcrowded venue. Same time next year then?

This is one of the best bills at The Gaff so far this year, and draws a good crowd - thanks to Pure Rawk and Riot promotions for bringing the Trash-Stock 2009 Tour to town. Nights like this are the reason I find myself at this venue a lot these days instead of the Purple Turtle - and it doesn't hurt that the booze is cheaper too.  Apart from that, I prefer venues like this that offer more than just pints of lager or cider.

A very rare chance (these days) to see a band playing original material in a local pub. I'd never had cause to set foot in the Sebright Arms before and had no idea they ever had live music there. I only found out about tonight because the guitarist in the band is a mate of mine. So I roll up to what I thought was a free gig to be stung for a fiver on the door - it's in aid of Friends Of The Earth apparently. There aren't that many people there (the gig is obviously a well kept secret) but it's only a small place anyway so it's not too bad. As I arrive there is a local R&B covers band called Hokum playing - they are good at what they do if you are into that sort of thing, but their setlist leans toward obscure blues covers so it's not that easy to get into.

The Purple Turtle was probably my favourite venue after The Garage closed, but times change and there don't often seem to be bands I want to see playing there these days.  This venue doesn't seem to have the promoters working with them who put on decent rock 'n' roll bands any more. To make matters worse, for the second time in the last few months I find they are out of Newcastle Brown - it's just not good enough!  However, at least Bubblegum Screw are playing tonight and they are worth checking out even if I have to drink inferior beverages.

This band have improved noticably over the past year and it's good to see them on a larger stage where frontman has Mark has more room for his Jagger/Johansen inspired mincing and strutting.

I wish this venue would sort itself out and start getting the quality of rock 'n' roll bands it used to have a couple of years ago, and get adequate supplies of Newcastle Brown in as well. It's not rocket science is it? Bubblegum Screw are good tonight, but the Purple Turtle very rarely seem to have this sort of band on here any more, and more dedicated rock venues like The Gaff are starting to take over...

Back to The Gaff tonight for some more reasonably priced drinks and quality rock music. Spit Like This are on first.

I'm not particularly impressed by their music as none of their songs seem very memorable, but they do make an effort to put on a good show - which I appreciate.

They don't sound as 'metal' as they used to a couple of years as they've lost that heavy crunching guitar sound after switching guitarists. The emo looking guy can play well though, but maybe they would be drawing bigger crowds by now if they paid as much attention to songwriting as they obviously do to image...

The Glitterati are tonight's headline band. It's a couple of years since I last saw them and the band has seen major lineup changes since then. Now they are making a bit of a comeback to promote their second album. They have drawn quite a crowd and The Gaff is pretty full. 

I was a bit worried they might like the last band pay more attention to image than music. I needn't have worried. If anything it wouldn't hurt them to pay a bit more attention to looking like a rock 'n' roll band, but they have some catchy tunes, and they play really well. This is what a proper rock 'n' roll band ought to play like - this is really full on 'in your face' stuff.

These guys really play like they mean it, but they also manage to sound really good - a trick not a lot of bands can pull off with any conviction.

I'm here tonight to check out the venue as much as the band - this is my first visit to The Garage since it's reopened after it's refurb. This used to be probably my favourite venue for quite a while as it was easy to get to, it was easy to get a decent view due to the layout and lack of pillars, and it had a nice long bar from where you could still see the stage. OK, so the sound was often shit - but that applies to nearly all London club venues.  This venue has been much missed since it's closure several years ago, and for a long time it looked unlikely it would ever reopen. The reason for it's closure was basically that the roof fell in and it would cost far too much to repair. That and the drains needed sorting out. This was around the time that the owners the Mean Fiddler Group were selling off all their venues anyway - they sold this one too. It went through a change of hands or two, and at one point work actually started on repairs - then the recession kicked in and all work on the venue was stopped. Things have changed a bit on London's live music scene since The Garage shut. We have lost several important venues due to the dreaded CrossRail scheme: The Astoria, LA2, Metro, and SIN have gone, and further up Holloway Road Nambucca shut due to a fire. This has left a shortage of music venues, and now The Garage is back to help fill that gap. The place is rather more 'corporate' (a regretable recent trend in music venues) than before, but I doubt it would have re-opened otherwise.

Back to a better venue with decent beer, and much easier to get home from 24/7 as well. This is Monsta Ents biggest and best show at The Gaff yet, and one I've been really looking forward to.

This mini-supergroup contains three of the finest musicians you are ever likely to see playing in a club - Robin Guy is arguably the best rock drummer in the UK and much in demmand - I doubt anyone can match his CV. John McCoy belongs to the 'Keep it simple and play it incredibly tight' school of bass playing like ZZ Top's Dust Hill. Bernie Torme's guitar skills are the stuff of legend, and as well as playing in Ian Gillan's band with John McCoy he has an amazing CV.

I've only seen G.M.T. once so far, but they made a big impression as they were amazingly good. That was at The Standard a couple of years ago - tonight I think they are even better! Maybe it's because this is a smaller but better venue, maybe it's because the place is full and the atmosphere is great, but the band really seem on fire tonight.

Their performance seems more agressive and 'in your face' than last time I saw them, and I think this place has really brought out the best in them. Tonight John McCoy also deploys his Elephant bass - what smoking ban?

G.M.T. don't seem to play in London very often, but next time they do I highly recommend catching them - I'm sure you won't regret it if you like high powered rock 'n' roll.