Nearly a month until my next road trip - another ferry over to Wales on 27 July driving to Bristol for an England v South Africa T20 cricket match that evening (having picked up a new camera lens in Bristol earlier). Then back to Cardiff for another T20 international again involving England and South Africa. A long drive up to York ensued with Joe Jackson on the 29th, and then another long drive down to London to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Lady Gaga, before heading over to Swansea for another Paul Weller gig and the overnight ferry back to Rosslare.
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Joe Jackson
Sing You Sinners
York Barbican
29 July 2022
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It may have been my first time at the Barbican, but I had been to York many times over the years. This was another opportunity for pictures of an artist after a 4 decade gap. In this case it was 4 decades and 4 days since I had seen Jackson supporting the Rolling Stones at Roundhay Park in Leeds. He played his hits mainly from the 80s, but we did have a bit of an interruption when someone from the audience shouted out and then got up and moved to the front of the stage. Apparently his wife was a big fan and I think he wanted to get a picture of her with Jackson. It completely disrupted the show and Jackson was having none of it, with security eventually intervening and escorting the man out of the theatre.
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Lady Gaga
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
30 July 2022
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This gig had been rescheduled after a postponement due to Covid. The benefit of postponements is it’s generally easier to pick up resale tickets and I only bought this one a month or two before the gig. A long drive down the M1, but fortunately the stadium was not too far off the North Circular Road. Even though there were plenty of parking restrictions around the stadium, being a Saturday I could find a parking meter slot with relatively easy access back to the North Circular.
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I was in the Gold Circle section, but it was still a very long wait until the doors were opened and we could make our way to the pitch I tried my usual trick of getting a space to one side of the stage. There was no support and still a long wait for her to appear.
Despite having premium tickets, it only became apparent when the performance started that our view was abysmal. There was a large section of the stage obstructing what we could see. I expected her to use the full width of the stage but all we ever had on our side was a couple of the guitarists. All very disappointing really, but it actually meant that I was spending a bit more time trying to get good photos. And the results were excellent. I used my height (extended by my arms) to get visibility we simply did not have at eye level. I’m even happy with the pictures when she moved to a central stage – natural light was fading fast, but the stage lighting and a steady hand meant I was more than happy with the results.
Paul Weller
Singleton Park, Swansea
31 July 2022
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This was as much a case of having the opportunity to drop into Swansea at the end of my latest road trip rather than a concert I would go out of my way to see given I had already seen him earlier in the year and he was playing in Dublin in a couple of months or so
Having stayed at a motorway service station near Reading it was back along the M4 on Sunday heading to Swansea for a second gig of the year by Paul Weller. This time it was outdoors. Getting there with plenty of time to spare I parked up in the town and walked towards the park.
I got myself placed well enough, around a metre away from the front barrier. Outdoors tends to mean decent natural lighting, certainly early on, and the prospect of good photos. And I was not disappointed. There was one incident among the crowd when a woman, probably late forties/early fifties, was veering around causing issues with others in the audience. She was clearly as high as a kite on something, and as she brushed by me you caught my arm with her lit cigarette. Yes I could feel the burn. The woman was completely oblivious to what she had done, but continued to cause disruption just behind me. Security staff were called at the front of the stage and I told them what she had done. She tried pointing the finger at someone else near here, but still was incapable of standing up straight. Her misbehaviour continued and I called security over again and this time they ejected her.
After the gig I managed to get myself a bit lost on the way back to the town centre and ended up taking the very long way there, but I still had plenty of time to get back to Pembroke Dock for the overnight ferry back to Rosslare.
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Squeeze
3Arena, Dublin
6 August 2022
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The gig postponed from 2021, but also on the same tour as the one I had seen in Sheffield over 8 months previously. I was there early enough to get a position perhaps one person from the barrier, where I knew the photos would be good. Squeeze were missing Chris Difford due to illness, but that did not detract from the performance, which again was top quality.
Madness
3Arena, Dublin
6 August 2022
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Maintaining my position, things did start to heat up when Madness came on. The stage set up was not as complex as for the Sheffield gig, but the performance was arguably better. There was one woman in front of me who clearly attended lots of their gigs, and Suggs certainly recognised her pushed up against the barrier.
When you are at or near the front you can often get people trying to push through, or coming up with some kind of sob story to try and get you to let them in front. It is very rare that I ever accede to such requests. Tonight there was quite a lot of pushing and shoving going on. We then had one character in a fez, probably drunk, trying to get through by jumping up and down attempting to “bounce” you out of the way. Now I am in my sixties, I’ve a dodgy back and a new knee. But I have size and in particular bulk. I can look after myself, but there were others around me that maybe did not have such physical attributes or indeed the confidence to hold these “characters” back. Knowing it was getting a bit rough (and having already seen the act the previous year) I let a couple of similar “vintage” through and in front of me. I also beckoned security over who tried to deal with the main ”protagonist” – apparently to little avail, as I did see him on the way out, although he had taken off his head cover and was probably trying to keep his head down and avoid catching the eye of anyone in security gear.
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The Charlatans
Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin
27 August 2022
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Kilmainham is famous for it’s jail, and its hospital, although this hospital is now a museum, and the gigs take place in its gardens. Two acts from Manchester, the first being the Charlatans. I hadn’t really heard any of their stuff, but I might suggest their’s was the better of the two performances this evening. They actually tried to make a show out of it, in stark contrast to the main act.
Liam Gallagher
Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin
27 August 2022
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Throughout their existence I had gone out of my way to avoid the City-loving Gallagher brothers (although one of my kids was best pals with one of their Irish cousins). This was an opportunity to find out what all the fuss was about. Alas I am none the wiser. Liam Gallagher turned up wearing a white floppy hat that never left his head. It made me wonder if he was sporting a hangover and avoiding any bright lights. His dialogue consisted of saying, before every Oasis song, “any Oasis fans out there?” I have nothing more to report on this occasion.
Steve Hackett
Genesis revisited - Foxtrot at 50 plus Hackett Highlights
Swansea Arena
9 September 2022
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A daytrip to Swansea. It’s a trip I may make quite often, as for many acts wo do not visit Ireland this is often the nearest venue to where I live where they may appear. It’s about an hour from Pembroke Dock ferry port to Swansea, and Irish Ferries do an 8:45 crossing from Rosslare to Pembroke Dock, and it’s quite easy to get back after a gig in Swansea to the port for the 2:45am return journey. My first time at Swansea Arena and nothing really of note to report. It’s a good venue but it is off the beaten track which makes it more difficult to sell out, making it easier to pick up tickets for events.
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Suzi Quatro
The Waterfront Hall, Belfast
23 September 2022
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Another new venue to explore, and an act I was seeing for the second time in 2022. A 650km round trip, getting back home in the early hours. And it was worth it. This time it was only Suzi—no QSP, and no Richard Tuckey. But it was good old Rock ‘n Roll. I think the audience were more engaged than at the Royal Albert Hall earlier in the year, and everyone had a very good time.
Heidi Curtis
3Olympia, Dublin
10 October 2022
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i arrived at the theatre with plenty of time to spare allowing me to get in the queue for the forward standing section. I was probably waiting 45 minutes but the way the queue evolved I could have left it until 15 minutes before the doors opened.
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At least the support acts for the three Weller gigs were different. And this one was without doubt the best. I did not know much about her, but a quick search revealed Heidi was an up and coming Geordie. She came across as a little nervous, but when she was singing the nerves seemed to drop away. A very talented young woman - one to keep an eye out for in the future.
Paul Weller
3Olympia, Dublin
10 October 2022
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Third time in not much more than 6 months, and I can't say I am a particularly avid fan. Circumstances, including Covid-19 postponements, meant it all fitted together in a way that resulted in seeing his "Fat Pop" tour on these three occasions. There were variations in the setlists, particularly with some of his older Jam and Style Council stuff, resulting in most of his major hits being played across the three dates.
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Australian Pink Floyd
The Forum, Bath
25 October 2022
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A tribute band, which is a bit unusual for me. But this band, along with the Bootleg Beatles, seem to attract more interest and better reviews than others, In this case the "franchise" has been around for over three decades. Plenty of personnel changes over that time and far from Australian in this day and age. In fact only one of the ten people on stage was Australian. He had been involved throughout the band's existence. A flying kangaroo rather than pig gave it a bit more of an antipodean flavour.
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I only picked this ticket up a week or two before the show as it provided a stopover on the way to a Covid-postponed Deep Purple gig rearranged for the following evening.
Blue Oyster Cult
AO Arena, Manchester
26 October 2022
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The support for Deep Purple were arguably legend themselves, having been part of the hard rock scene since 1967. Buck Dharma had been involved throughout the band's history.
Deep Purple
Whoosh!
AO Arena, Manchester
26 October 2022
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When I started going to gigs in the late 1970s/early 80s Deep Purple had perhaps some mythical status as the best heavy metal band around. Of course there was also the likes of Led Zeppelin but they essentially disbanded with the death of John Bonham and I personally would think of them more hard rock than heavy metal. Equally I guess there could be a similar debate over Deep Purple but my recollection is they were definitely considered heavy metal back then.
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I missed out out on the various formations of the band until this Covid delayed gig in Manchester. This was my opportunity to experience hits like "Smoke on the Water", "Space Trucking" and "Black Night".
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Their actual setlist was relatively short at only 13 songs, but the genre lends itself to long guitar solos and there were also keyboards and bass solos listed in setlist.fm. None of that detracted from the experience though and it was all worth the wait. And I was only a few rows back meaning I got some decent photos.
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As a useless piece of trivia, I am pretty sure this is the first time I have seen a band with four long-standing members with a combined age of over 300. Messrs Gillan, Paice, Glover and Airey come in at a total of over 303 years.
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Johnny Mac and the Faithful
3Arena, Dublin
19 November 2022
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Bit of a stressful build up to the Rod Stewart concert. My wife was supposed to be accompanying me but she stayed in Wexford for the potentially imminent arrival of our second grandchild. I did not know if I would also be staying at home and we only decided 3 hours before the advertised start time for the support to head up to Dublin for the gig.
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My phone updated a few minutes before I set off and threw me out of the Ticketmaster App/ I tried to download my ticket at the service station on the M11, and every time I tried to reset my password it returned me to the logon rather than password reset page. Eventually I tried directly on their webpage and managed to get into my ticket and then resumed my journey to Dublin.
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Then I got caught up in traffic heading to an autumn international rugby match at the Aviva stadium in Dublin, then encountering roadworks on the final stretch (which was also delaying the Rugby traffic)
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My next concern was parking. I had pre-paid for the Arena car park, but on prior occasions I had difficulty downloading my ticket in the underground car park. I managed to get the ticket up on my phone as I stopped at lights just before the car park, but when I drove underground it was lost. My concern was whether I would be further delayed trying to sort that out, but the car park personnel; just waved me through when I explained what I think is a very common issue.
As soon as I got into the arena they announced the support was on in 10 minutes, giving me time to head to the merchandise stall before taking my seat in the flat floor section.
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This was the same support as for his last concert here in 2019, and indeed I had already seen them in Nottingham earlier in the year when they were supporting the Fratellis, so I knew what to expect. A dynamic performance from Johnny himself was pretty much guaranteed and he definitely warmed the audience up.
Rod Stewart
3Arena, Dublin
19 November 2022
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It was only 15 minutes after the support left the stage when Rod appeared on it. Despite his advancing years he put in a good show. I think it was a better performance than when I saw him at the same venue three years previously. He certainly had an excellent supporting cast which helped. He also took a few "de-sweating" breaks when he changed gear, with one being devoted to blue and yellow in recognition of his support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. That perhaps went down a bit better than last time when there was an "Armistice" slot with a bit of focus on Churchill, who is not the most respected historical UK politician in Ireland.
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There was though one faux pas when he was referring to how well Ireland was doing, referencing both political and economic situations, but stating that Ireland was doing much better than "the rest of the UK". He said it quite quietly though and many may have missed what he said, and there was certainly no intention to cause any offence!
The final road trip of 2022, a Glam Rock weekend. It commenced with an early morning ferry to Pembroke Dock, then a drive to Frome in Somerset. The Cheese and Grain is a small venue - its capacity is only 500 but had gained fame earlier in the year when Paul McCartney played there ahead of his appearance at Glastonbury. This venue has also featured Foo Fighters in 2017 and seemed to have built a reputation for hosting warm-up gigs ahead of Glastonbury performances.
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This was the middle of December though. The venue provided a Christmas fair and light show. Father Christmas made an appearance , although that may have been Andy Scott in disguise. During the light show they played Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" which would feature two more times on this road trip.
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Tony Wright
Cheese amd Grain, Frome
16 December 2022
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Tony Wright is from Bradford. He had hosted "Top of the Pops" and appeared on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks". He certainly had a sense of humour and put on a pretty decent acoustic performance.
Sweet
Cheese amd Grain, Frome
16 December 2022
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Originally Sweetshop, then The Sweet. Only one of the classic line-up remained, Andy Scott. Since their 1970s heyday there have been Brian Connolly's Sweet, Steve Priest's Sweet and Andy Scott's Sweet. Connolly had died in 1998, drummer Mick Tucker in 2002 and Steve Priest in 2020. Now there is only one Sweet remaining and there is no need to differentiate any others.
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I was there early and gained a position centre stage at the front well before the support appeared. A great position to get some photos. I was a bit surprised at just how heavy they were and I had ringing in my ears afterwards. A thoroughly enjoyable pre Christmas gig.
Sons of the Seventies
The Tramshed, Cardiff
17 December 2022
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This year's support for Slade was the same as last year's. Well not quite as one of the guitarists had recently left the band. Again featuring popular rock from the 1970's and as in last year's performance they ended with Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz".
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Slade
The Tramshed, Cardiff
17 December 2022
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The setlist was the same as last time. As in Frome the previous night I was centre stage at the front, meaning I got some good photos
