Pete Roth Trio at West End Centre in Aldershot 28th November. A chance to see the wonderful Bill Bruford...

Martin Joseph at Wychwood Folk and Music Club. Extraordinary, best gig of the year for me. Full of passion, energy and great songwriting. He really does have something worth listening to. A treat to see such a great artist in small intimate setting. Spring brings Phil Beer, Martin Simpson and Gilmore Roberts to the quiet village of Ascott under Wychwood. Very fortunate to have such a great venue 10 mins down the road.

Sinatra at the Sands. “How’d all these people get in my room!?”
Cracking backing band…

That reflects my thoughts on Toyah, too. If she'd just let her singing be dominant over her chat about being a punk pensioner, I'd be happier.

Adam Ant was a total joy in Liverpool last night.  Superfan (44 years ago, anyway) was in heaven and all her fears of what a shambles it could have been melted away quickly.  Awesome setlist (with lots of early stuff), very punky punchy sound and, for most of it, Adam in pretty damned good voice (it faded a little for 3 or 4 songs on the back straight).  For me, a total non believer back in the day this was a solid 8.5/10, much much better than I expected.  Great fun.

Toyah supported.  Brilliant (almost) 80s only setlist, again a punchy band (guitarist borrowed from Buck's Fizz apparently...he was brilliant), and she is still in amazing voice.  I could very much however do without the Butlins Red Coat act she just can't stop herself doing.  And, despite her oft-repeated protestations, she really was never punk, and her music certainly wasn't.  But if you cut out the intros and the downplayed the theatrics a tad she too was bloody good.

I’m torn between hoping this is true and considering Jim’s sense of humour. Mind you, in doing the research, Setlist.fm has thrown up the remarkable Fairport/Ian Hunter encore jam earlier in ‘72. It could have all been so different - “No, thanks David, we’ve decided to go with ‘Breakfast in Mayfair’ as the comeback single…”  

Crikey Jim! That’s an amazing addition to the canon! In the absence of a Mesmer, do you remember any of the set list?  

i was there, i was expecting the Farnell/Hill line up so imagine my surprise when DM came out to set his kit up! along with Trevor and JD, a nice surprise.
Lou Reed was ok too, I'd seen him before close up  not long before  at Manchester poly
much more than this i might need to go under a spot of mesmerism as it was over 50 years ago and i used to like a drink in those daze

a real powerhouse of a drummer for Squeeze and Jools, sad news

Bill Nelson in many of his iterations, i had forgotten what a brilliant guitarist he is and how good his music is