Little Angels Shepherds Bush Empire 16-12-12

First up was a new one to me and to most of the crowd it seemed but as the buzz grew with every song The Temperance Movement made plenty of new friends.

A UK 5 piece in the vein of Free/The Black Crowes with Phil Campbell (not the Motorhead guitarist!) on superb bluesy vocals and some of the worst dad dancing I’ve ever seen.

All the songs build and go off at tangents and with 2 superb guitarists able to solo where required and a rhythm section with a real kick.

Their 6 song 30 minute set had the following songs.

Ain't No Telling

Only Friend

Be Lucky

Midnight Black

Take It Back

Serenity

With the recent release of their “Pride”ep (which is available on itunes) this is one band to watch in 2013 and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to purchase the ep the following day.

Here is the video for "Only Friend".

And "Ain't Only Telling"



Definately one to watch!!

How strange rock n’roll is?2 years ago on Skin’s second farewell tour they were supported acoustically by Toby Jepson and here we are with Little Angels and Skin back on the road.

Skin hit the stage with a real purpose and nearly took the roof off.

Neville Mcdonald riffed away and has the such a bluesy roar and looked so happy to be their.His vocals on “Take Me Down To The River” were sensational.With Myke Gray to his right playing so fluently and his short solo’s all hit the mark.

For an hour we all remembered how good Skin are and how they should have been huge.

Here is their set.

Born To Rock 'n' Roll

Money

Lucky

House Of Love

Stronger

Shine Your Light

Tower Of Strength

Take Me Down To The River

Perfect Day

Look But Don't Touch

As we left the at the end Neville was downstairs and with all the well wishes from the fans he did say they may be back in 2013.Here’s hoping.Too good to stop!!

How many bands can have a UK number one album and sell a million copies and then just stop?

18 years ago after a tour with Skin (!) that was it.

But after meeting up at the funeral of Michael Lee the seed was sown and after a triumphant Download performance a 9 date UK tour was booked.

With sold out notices across the country and Shepherds Bush packed and expectant can they still cut it!

Of course they can for 80  minutes we had all the hits from a 3 album career that few can match.

Here is what they played:

She's a Little Angel

Kickin' Up Dust

Boneyard

(including snippet of Led Zep’s Whole Lotta Love)

Radical Your Lover

The Way That I Live

Back Door Man

That's My Kinda Life

Don't Pray for Me

Soapbox

Womankind

I Was Not Wrong

Kids Wanna Rock

(Bryan Adams cover) (including snippet of AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie)

Too Much Too Young

Encore:

I Ain't Gonna Cry

Young Gods (Stand Up, Stand Up)

With Mark Richardson (drums) unavailable due to his Skunk Anansie commitments he was replaced by Dominic Greensmith of Reef and he drove the band and with the addition of The Big Bad Horns adding to the sound the band were on fire.

Bruce John Dickinson on guitar was happy to be second fiddle to Toby Jepson who is a star.He can play the frontman but his voice has grown over the years and on the acoustic start to “Don’t Pray For Me”and also “I Ain’t Gonna Cry” he had chance to shine with the crowd also joining in too!!

Here is "Don't Pray For Me"


and "I Ain't Gonna Cry"

You really do forget how good their songs were.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the song “Boneyard”and tonight with a huge crowd input it was a real highlight.

Even a song like “Soapbox” came alive and made you want to relisten to all 3 albums.

A quite wonderful evening with 3 superb performances with one newcomer putting a new name forward and 2 returning to show that they are far from over.

But quite where they go from here will be more than interesting.