Concert Reviews

The doors were only opened at 8.30pm instead of 8 pm, which meant that everything started late and due to time constrains we couldn’t stay for the entire KISS GB set. It was great to see so many KISS fans donning their T-Shirts and a dad brought his little daughter along, who wore a ‘Starchild’ star. The original unwanted were quite entertaining and their music was good albeit it a tad dated sounding at times. They played Kiss’s ‘Tomorrow and tonight’ which was a nice thing to do but the song bared little resemblance to the original track. Nonetheless, they were pretty good overall. KISS GB opened their set with ‘I was made for loving you’ and it made me cringe. At first I thought this must be a comedy night with ‘Gene Simmons’ big belly and ‘Paul’s’ inability to reach those higher notes. With a vast back catalogue to choose from this probably wasn’t a great choice. But from then on they were really good, each song and t...

Scottish opening act KING KING played good old rock and roll and their set was highly entertaining and uplifting. Not long after King King had left the stage, the main act EUROPE took us all by storm. Their album ‘Walk the earth’ is a rock triumph and the title track was the song the Swedish rock band started the evening with. Joey Tempest and the boys haven’t lost any of their charisma and showmanship as well as musicianship and Joey’s voice was as great as ever. Older gems like ‘Rock the night’ went down well and the newer material fitted in well with more seasoned songs. We had to leave roughly an hour into their set and will remember them fondly – absolutely brilliant. Also see: Europe 1987  

His youngest son Michael Jr in conversation with the epic broadcaster Michael Parkinson, who at the age of 82, is still a charismatic figure. Aided by clips from the iconic TV show ‘Parkinson’ the evening focused very much on the show itself and the many celebrities that came and went during its run from 1971 to 1982 and 1998 to 2007 respectively but also covers some personal stories about his upbringing and his experiences as a broadcaster with all the ups and downs this brings. Although all clips were from the ‘The Best of Parkinson’ DVD which has been released some years ago, it was still lovely to hear him talk about towering figures like Orson Welles or his duet with Bing Crosby. A truly enjoyable evening

Originally planned to take the slot of support act were ‘Men without hats’ but mere days before the Birmingham gig that was changed to Dan Burton, a young man, probably in his early 20s who has just released his very first EP. While battling some sound issues especially related to his microphone Burton played some high energy pop, reminiscent of the good old 80s and 90s and his songs were poppy and easy to listen to. Dan himself was really sweet and friendly and well received by the audience. xx Howard Jones’s set included all the greats including ‘Like to get to know you well’, ‘Hide & seek’, ‘No one is to blame’, ‘Human Touch’, the ever beautiful ‘What is love’ and ‘You know I love you … don’t you?’ which he dedicated to the audience. Armed with a drummer, a percussionist (all electronic of course), a guitarist and an additional synthesizer guy Howard Jones, whose voice is still superb, upped the ante from the start and the songs were all amazing...

Pop legend Howard Jones joined by Men without hats is going on his 'Best' tour and he will be in Birmingham in November. Another legend, talk show host extraordinaire Sir Michael Parkinson will also come to Birmingham in November 2017 and I will be there xx

Support act: Isgar Three-piece opener ‘Isgar’ are a somewhat unusual choice for a support act until you realise that their synth-man is also working for Erasure. While singer Beth’s voice is hugely impressive and their songs are emotionally deep (how refreshing) their short set didn’t really allow me to get into their music, mainly because there is ‘sparse’ and then there is ‘too empty’ as far as the overall sound was concerned. Enjoyable nonetheless.  The Roundhouse is an iconic venue and with Erasure being an iconic band – this evening was epic. Before embarking on a stadium tour as support act to Robbie Williams, Erasure played three gigs in support of their new album ‘World be gone’, which peaked at #6 in the UK charts and deservedly so. The mostly downbeat, reflective and thought-provoking album is in many ways an unusual album in the high energy catalogue of the band’s work but it captures Erasure at their best. The stage is simple and the lighti...