Cassidy Paris + Wicked Smile – Cart and Horses, Stratford London 03/12/23

December 06, 2023 by David Vousden in AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Live Review, Melodic Rock, Metal, Rock

Located a mere stone’s throw from Maryland or a brisk ten-minute walk from Stratford International Station, the Cart & Horses in East London calls itself “The Birthplace of Iron Maiden” and isn’t shy about it. Iron Maiden played the venue on numerous occasions in 1976 before embarking on their ascent to the very top of the Heavy Metal tree, and the pub is a shrine to the UK legends (it’s also home to plenty of West Ham United fans). Every available surface is covered with art, records and memorabilia, so if you’re a fan of the boys, then the Cart & Horses is well worth a visit. The area around the pub remains untouched by post-Olympic Games regeneration and remains very much “old” London, aka dark, dreary and pretty bleak on a rainy night in December. Tonight’s music wouldn’t be all that far removed from Iron Maiden as it turned out, but more about that later as I was in town to catch up with up-and-coming Antipodean songstress Cassidy Paris, a recent signing to the Italian melodic rock label Frontiers.

Walter Trout + Alastair Greene – Islington Assembly Hall 21/05/2023

May 25, 2023 by David Vousden in Blues, Classic Rock, Guitar, Live Review, Rock

After an evening of acoustic loveliness with Milk Carton Kids at Union Chapel on Saturday, It was only a short walk down Islington’s Upper Street for Sunday's entertainment as legendary blues singer and guitarist Walter Trout is in town. For those unfamiliar, the Assembly Hall is part of the Islington Town Hall complex built in 1930, but only reopened as a venue in 2010 after languishing as storage space for many years and retains many impressive art deco features. The hall has a capacity of approximately 900, but it always feels more intimate, the staff are friendly, and most importantly, the sound is excellent. But enough of the architectural/history lesson, it's time we get to the music, and as we arrive, opening act Alastair Greene is doing his thing.

Big Big Train + Dim Gray - Friars Aylesbury 02/09/22

September 08, 2022 by David Vousden in Classic Rock, Live Review, Rock, Progressive Rock

Perhaps fittingly, with all the history involved, RGM’s latest venture into the world of progressive rock took us to the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury, an imposing, 1200-capacity, glass-fronted building that opened as recently as 2010. Its striking architecture is far more pleasing to the eye than the ugly council offices tower block that dominates the town’s skyline. I’m sure the purpose-built venue must make many a provincial town, up and down the country, green with envy. The impressive external view is matched by a multi-level auditorium that resembles an oversized set of Jenga (I resisted the urge to try to remove a brick). On September 2nd, the venue hosted a show promoted by the legendary Friars Aylesbury, who've been promoting great music in the town since 1969, and it's heartening to know that folks from those original music club days are still involved today. An impressive achievement and my thinking is if it’s good enough for David Bowie who reflected “Memories are everything apparently, and I have only great ones of the fabulous Friars” then it’s certainly good enough for me.

Black Deer Festival 2022 - Eridge Park, Kent

July 19, 2022 by Rich Barnard in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Classic Rock, Country, Country Rock, Folk, Live Review, Singer Songwriter, Rock, Stoner, World Music

My first experience of standing tightly crowded in a field for the love of music was not the euphoric epiphany it promised to be. To be fair, it was a long, long time ago; I was fifteen and fragile. Some of my fellow patrons were fearless and fighty. I retreated to a safe spot and tried not to think of the Battle of the Somme. Somewhere in a different postcode, I could vaguely make out one of my favourite bands doing their thing.

FM + Grand Slam - Islington Assembly Hall 07/04/2022

April 11, 2022 by David Vousden in AOR, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Live Review, Melodic Rock, Rock

Where does the time go? It’s a chilly, windy April evening as I hotfoot it from the day job to Islington. The reason for my haste is AOR stalwarts FM are in town on their ‘Thirteen’ tour. ‘Thirteen’ is about as good as melodic rock gets in 2022, and as it’s been a few years (the late 80s) since I’ve seen Steve Overland and co in the flesh, I’m expecting good things.

Vega - The Underworld, London 09/10/21

October 12, 2021 by David Vousden in Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Live, Rock, Melodic Rock, AOR

As it had been eighteen months since my last, pre-pandemic, live gig, I jumped at the chance to check out melodic rockers Vega on their return to touring at London’s Underworld. Eighteen months seemed like a very long time until I realised Vega and I last crossed paths, in the live arena, ten long years ago (March 2011) at London’s (sorely missed) Borderline. Vega were newcomers in those days opening for Houston, an act coincidentally now also on the Frontiers label.

Dan Reed Network - 229 The Venue, London - 23/11/18

November 26, 2018 by Rich Barnard in Classic Rock, Blues, Live Review, Rock, Hard Rock

I set out on a crisp November evening to catch the Dan Reed Network on the London leg of a fourteen-date UK tour in support of their new album, Origins, at the intimate club 229. The night is hosted by radio station Planet Rock, (those tongue-out champions of chunk, churn and chug) and thus the black t-shirted rock credentials of the evening’s opening acts are beyond question. Hollowstar, from Cambridgeshire, are satisfyingly old-school bluesy hard rockers who sell out of CDs while they’re still onstage and Glasgow’s muscular Mason Hill - who also swiftly win the crowd - deliver a heaviness of the type I haven’t witnessed in years. It’s fantastic to see these hungry young guns perform with so much passion and pride and both acts give tonight absolutely everything they’ve got, which is plenty.

Aaron Lee Tasjan - Omeara, London 02/11/2018

November 05, 2018 by David Vousden in Americana, Folk, Live Review, Singer Songwriter, Rock

A typical Friday night in London and unsurprisingly the streets are full of people with things to do and places to go. The London Bridge area is as good a place as any to experience the hustle and bustle of London life with seemingly every other doorway leading into a coffee shop, restaurant or pub, while the imposing 95-story Shard skyscraper looms overhead. Just up the road from London Bridge tube station, we find Omeara a bijou live venue (capacity 350) which opened in 2016 and is the brainchild of Ben Lovett (Mumford & Sons). After two or three near misses this is my first visit to Omeara and I’m immediately impressed with the venue hidden away in Flat Iron Square, an open courtyard type area with galleries, street food etc. The vibe is cool and hip but not annoyingly so, the door and bar staff proved friendly and the venue itself looks like a decaying regency ballroom as imagined by Universal Studios for ‘Poseidon’s Fury’.

Deer Tick - Islington Assembly Hall (30.01.18)

February 01, 2018 by David Vousden in Americana, Live Review, Rock

Upper Street in Islington on a Tuesday night is pretty busy, the bars are doing decent business and Dionysis Savvopoulos (I'm told) is playing a rare London show at The Union Chapel, but the reason for my visit this evening is the oddly named Deer Tick are in town on their ‘Twice Is Nice’ tour. The Providence, Rhode Island act recently released not one, but two albums that have featured heavily in recent weeks on the RGM stereo. I’m not quite sure what to expect, but I’m looking forward to it all the same.

Ian Hunter & The Rant Band - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London UK

November 17, 2016 by David Vousden in Live Review, Rock, Singer Songwriter, Classic Rock

Earlier this year Ian Hunter released his first record in four years the excellent ‘Fingers Crossed’ which displayed that the former Mott The Hoople frontman had lost none of his ability to recognise a good tune and coin an interesting phrase. The album really is terrific and still gets regular spins at RGM towers (check out our review of the album here). The announcement of a date at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire had me very keen to pop along and check out the man and his Rant Band in the flesh.

Colleen Brown - The Dublin Castle, London UK.

June 28, 2015 by Rich Barnard in Live, Rock, Folk, Singer Songwriter

Having been very impressed by the video for ‘Soap & Denim’, the RGM team headed out to Camden to see Canadian songstress Colleen Brown, who is here touring in support of her new album Direction…