House of Lords - Camden 13th may 2008

A new venue for us here.Camden Underworld.Park in Regents Park near London Zoo and a 10 minute walk to the corner of Camden High St.A small door leading to a basement under the World's End pub.Holds about 750 very dark with a small stage at one end down some steps with large pillars dotted around.

As we arrived we saw the support act going into the venue but within a couple of minutes they came back. We chatted to 2 of the band EDEN Vince O'Regan(geetar for Bob Catley,Pulse,Alibi)and Nick Workman(vox ex Kick) They said that HOL hadn't arrived had no equipment and were not sure if the gig was on. We chatted about Bob Catley,Magnum,Eden and other bits and bobs. They were called away so we decided to go in as we did HOL arrived Jim Bell geetar over his shoulder and James Christian(vox)arrived as a business man with a briefcase. They said hello and went in.We found out that they played in The Canaries the night before flew to Madrid then got through customs at 6 o'clock.

We went in and Kinkade were on stage.Dumpy's Rusty Nuts came to mind with a bit of Aerosmith thrown in.Pub rock really. After they went off Jimi Bell came on to soundcheck borrowing Eden's backline.He spent about 5 mins fiddling and that was it.
Eden were on next and played for about 40 mins with a mix of their first cd and the new one due soon.I have to say they were very good.Good hooks and plenty of riffs from Vince.Heavier than I expected and a good sound for a 5 piece. Nick(vox)is a very imposing figure being well over 6 foot and still has the voice as he proved in Kick.
One to look out for.

HOL's drummer then came out to redesign the kit he was borrowing. At around 9.45 with a crowd of about 150 they came onto Sahara and wow.If this what they can do on borrowed equipment,no sleep and just turn up what could they be like.

In total they played 8 songs from the early days including Love Don't Lie, I Wanna Be Loved,Can't Find My Way Home,Pleasure Palace and Slip of the Tongue. The 2 newer cd's were split about 5 songs each and I have to say came across very well live as good as the older material.James Christian still has a great set of pipes and made Shaz's night during Rock Bottom(not by UFO!)by grabbing her hand and let her belt out the chorus.Great stuff!Bass and drums were solid but the star of the show was Jimi Bell. He burst onto the scene 2 cd's ago and can riff and shred with quite a unique style. He was outstanding and to say it again with only his geetar and someone elses backline and only a few mins practice.Stunning.

After an hour and a half they were gone.No encore but over ran the 11 o'clock curfew by 20 mins.9/10.

The sad thing is this band are quite a leading light in this style of music with 2 critically rave reviewed cd's to their name and a great name from the past and for a London Gig we get around 150 people.The scene will die.We paid £15 for 3 bands and I was very pleased that I attended. ME

Popular Posts from last 30 Days