Alice Cooper - May 22 Come May, the touring music industry was in full flow although audiences were still tentative and there were still higher than normal no shows. For those who did attend gigs, there was an abundance of choice, maybe too much as artists competed against each other for those punters whilst they tried to recuperate their touring losses from the previous two years.

The month started strongly with 80s glam goths Gene Loves Jezebel teaming up with The Priscillas at Nambucca in Holloway. This was my first time at Nambucca but sadly would also be the last, as the venue permanently closed its doors a few weeks later. Another venue had been lost to increasing costs and indifferent landlords.

The Priscillas - May 22 The excellent Tensheds brought his drummer along to squeeze onto the tiny stage at Tufnell Park’s Aces n Eights, whilst in support, Paul-Ronney Angel took time off from his day job with The Urban Voodoo Machine to perform with Tamirae Brown.

Marisa and the Moths have been making a name for themselves in rock circles in recent years, and their appearance at Reading’s Purple Turtle was a full-on homecoming gig. Starting the night with the band’s original guitarists (including Sophie Lloyd who within weeks, would be playing massive arenas across the States as one of Machine Gun Kelly’s guitarists) the band played material from their excellent debut album before morphing into the current line up to play their newest songs.  

Marisa and the Moths - May 22

The Lexington in Islington was the venue for Terrorvision’s Tony Wright to perform a most welcome acoustic set. Prior to that, we were treated to a very short notice acoustic performance from a much reduced The Middlenight Men (with only five of the stage bothering band available). Reading’s Rising Sun is basically the front room in a large house, but it’s an ideal venue to see the likes of Damien A Passmore, Uncle Peanut and the previously mentioned Tom Webber.

Another trip back to the soulless and ridiculously expensive O2 Arena followed to see the Alice Cooper/ The Cult double header with added support from Creeper. You can’t go wrong with an Alice Cooper show especially as Alice prowls the stage with an energy that has long left some of the audience. Sadly not enough was played from the excellent new ‘Detroit Stories’ album but a quality set nonetheless.

Alice Cooper - May 22

Rising stars Bob Vylan played a blinder at Camden Underworld and it looks like it will be a long time before you can see them play a venue this small again. Finishing the month, Rockaway Beach at Islington Hope & Anchor featured King Effers, She Made Me Do It and The DeRellas and easily satisfied my need for trashy rock n roll fun.

Bob Vylan - May 22

May was a busy gig month, June would be busier with a number of big names from the 80s alternative scenes making an appearance.

At Reading’s Facebar, The Lovely Eggs instigated geriatric stage diving whereby the aging punters were carefully carried through the crowd to the back before they headed back onto the stage. Wonk Unit finally made it to Reading and brought their humorous DIY punk to the Facebar.

Back at the Hope & Anchor, we gathered to pay our respects to our late friend JB Hery. The three cracking sets from Swampstomper, The Electric Shakes and WitchDoktors were a raucous and fitting tribute. Club Velocity have been putting on some cracking gigs at the Facebar and Millie Manders and the Shutup more than demonstrated why so many people are talking about them. Next up we travelled down to Bracknell’s Acoustic Lounge to watch the always excellent Who Killed Nancy Johnson? and their pounding agit punk.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to get with Wolfsbane at The Water Rats in Kings Cross, but former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bailey and the gang pulled out a really tight set of rock numbers to a packed venue. Earlier Daxx and Roxane brought old school classic rock to the show and are definitely one to watch.

Wolfsbane - Jun 22 Bob Mould made his name with the brilliant Husker Du and Sugar, so a day trip to Southampton’s Engine Rooms was called for. Despite being a solo show, nobody appeared to have told Bob and he moved around the stage as if there was a full band there supporting him. Fantastic stuff.

The Hip Priests headlined June’s Rockaway Beach at the Hope & Anchor and produced another set of pure rock n roll trashiness. It’s been a while since I seen The Mission played, but their set at Reading’s Sub89 was one of the best I have seen from them. Despite the blistering heat in the venue, the audience sang along with Wayne Hussey’s every word in a fan pleasing set.

The Mission - Jun 22 Having supported The Mission a few days earlier, The Go Go Cult opened for 80s indie darlings, The Primitives at Reading’s Facebar with a short but very accessible set which should endear their gothabilly sound to a wider audience. Tracy Tracy from The Primitives had the audience entranced as the band went through their extensive back catalogue of jangly and fuzz infused pop songs (including ‘that’ song).

The Primitives - Jun 22

July is normally a quiet month as bands head off onto the festival circuit. Nonetheless, there were still a few choice gigs out there. After many delays, California punks Social Distortion finally made it across to London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. The wait had been worth it as the band pulled out a stormer of a set. Earlier Grade 2 put themselves out there as a band to watch.

Fresh from touring as a Nameless Ghoul with Ghost, Chris Catalyst brought his main band Eureka Machines to the Camden Underworld. Not only did he play a solo set first he dragged along the reformed Grand Theft Audio. In Jay Butler, GTA have a whirling dervish of a frontman as he dives into the audience and climbs onto any structure able to hold him.

Grand Theft Audio - Jul 22

Former Last Great Dreamers frontman Marc Valentine has a debut solo album out and it is brilliant. Supported by the equally great Carol Hodge, a quiet night at Camden’s Dublin Castle was something rather special including a cracking cover of Blondie’s ‘Touched by Your Presence Dear’. Janus Stark also have a quality new album out and Gizz Butt’s band celebrated with a gig at London’s iconic 100 Club. With opening support from Dealing with Damage, Spring Park and the always enjoyable Healthy Junkies, we were treated to a memorable night out as Gizz cranked out riff after riff overlaying some quality songs.

Janus Stark - Jul 22

Closing the month was another trip to Aces n Eights to see a Runnin’ Blue triple bill of Boss Caine, Tensheds and Rich Ragany.

With the festival season in full swing, August was restricted to a solitary gig. Rich Ragany and The Middlenight Men frontman Nick Hughes, reformed The Role Models for a short tour in memory of Roger Segal. The London leg was at Camden’s Black Heart and included The Empty Page, Billy Liar and the City Kids. I’d never seen The Role Models live and this was a fantastic gig all round – another of the year’s highlights.

The Role Models - Aug 22

August Bank Holiday weekend is my local festival and so it was off to the Reading Festival for the 21^st time. I’ve been every year since 2000 and have only missed 2010 (eye operation) and 2020 (global pandemic). However, the festival has changed considerably over the years and having reached this milestone, it was time to call it quits on going for the full weekend. Despite the festival no longer having the same appeal, there were still some fantastic sets out there including Kid Kipichi, Tigress, The Interrupters, Poppy and Ho99o9. I don’t normally do Reading headline sets but Bring Me The Horizon and Halsey were awesome.  

The Interrupters - Reading 2022

That was supposed to be the end of the gigging month, but I was persuaded to go to the Wokingham Music Festival for one last throw of the dice. Having a beer festival there at the same time was a godsend considering the expensive crap sold at the Reading Festival. Local band Third Lung opened the day with a set showcasing the material from their then imminent debut album. The rest of the day was decidedly prog based with the likes of The Honey Pot and Kelper Ten taking us back to the 1970s. In Albion’s singer should be singled out for the most energetic performance of the day as he moved through the audience. Headlining were prog legends Focus with their lengthy instrumentals and the only song we really knew, Hocus Pocus with its iconic yodelling. At the end of a heavy day of drinking it all seemed to make sense.

May through to August threw up a lot of quality gigs – what would the last four months of the year give us?

Focus - Aug 22