Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (20 Dec 25)

Another very welcome gig by Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern in Raynes Park. Superficially it was the same as all the other Rainbow in Rock gig I have been too (and that is a very good thing) but I did nake a few mental notes during the evening.

The setlist, which always changes, seemed to be geared more toward the newer Rainbow material rather then the older Deep Purple songs. There were a couple I barely recognised and there was no space for songs like Burn, Mistreated or Stormbringer.

The keyboards were more prominent that before.

The bar staff were quietly efficient. The service was always quick and friendly, they remembered what I was drinking too.

It was worth going for Stargazer alone, it is possibly the best song ever written, though Like A Hurricane is a contender too.

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (12 Sep 25)

For some reason I had not seen Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern since February and whether that was their fault or mine, or both, I was glad to end the musical drought.

As is my custom, I was slightly late so missed the start (but not Man on the Silver Mountain) so I do not know if anything was said about the keyboard player who was new. His newness showed a little as he messed by just a little a couple of times which is no surprise given how much catching up he had to do with the other four who have been playing these songs together for years. It made no difference to my enjoyment of the evening.

Other than that things were pretty much the same, the pub was full with plenty of familiar faces, the beer was good (Wimbledon Brewery's SW19 this time), the set list was fantastic and the playing superb. 

This was exactly what I go to see pub bands for.

The Peter Ackroyd Thames Pub Crawl 2025

I had done the monumental, in so many ways, Peter Ackroyd Thames Pub Crawl several times in the past (2013, 2015 and 2017) and loved it every time but was a little hesitant this year as age has caught up with me a little and my walking and drinking were both reduced. But it is such a great walk and talk that when invited I just had to do it again.

Our starting point, as usual, was St. Stephen's Tavern on Parliament Square. A good central location to meet but plagued by tourists which makes the service a little slow. Also on the plus side it is a Hall & Woodhouse pub which means Badger Beers and I could start the day with a pint of Fursty Ferret.

From there we made our way towards Sherlock Holmes by Charring Cross pausing along the way to here tales of the early Thames and how it came to be the river we know today. Not sure what I drank and my limited notes from the day just say "Pale Ale.

Our next stop was for lunch at Mulberry Bush on South Bank. They were expecting us, most of us had preordered our food yet we were still there for well over an hour. The exceptionally slow service was a shame as everything else about the pub was rather nice.

Our next stop was a pleasant surprise.

Our eloquent guide, Robert Kingham, took us on a small diversion into the place where he works which just happens to have panoramic views like this. We lingered for a while over a few glasses of bubbly to enjoy all of the views.

We all took many photographs, because we are all curious tourists too, and while I personally liked the less familiar views looking south I chose this one full of landmarks to help anyone less familiar with London.

 

Our next stop was The Rake South Bank, on the edge of Borough Market. It has an extravagant range of beers from which I selected Verdant This House IPA. A good choice. 

The walking and talking continued as we sauntered towards Tower Bridge and our rendezvous at Dean Swift for dinner. I went for some pretty good ravioli and a decent pint of Bermondsey Pale Ale.

For me the most interesting part of this walk is the section east of Tower Bridge, a path less trodden by tourists but they are spreading! The light was fading when I took this picture looking back towards the City.

Approaching 10pm we hit The Angel which was the one unexpected low point of the evening, it took absolutely ages to get served not being a local and having to try and work out their complicated indoors/outdoors bars and the pint of Sam Smith's Old Brewery was definitely not worth the wait. That was a real disappointment for me as I had lived off that beer when I first started work in London.

The next and final pub, The Mayflower, was much more like it! The pub was lively and offered up a jolly good pint of Juicy Golden Ale, which I drank on a bench by the river with my fellow travellers. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

And for the record, we walked about 18km.

Memento at The Cavern (24 May 25)

Memento remain one of the best things to do on a Saturday night so I was back at The Cavern to see them again.

As usual I walked there and took longer than I expected (I always get distracted along the way) so I missed some of their set but I did manage to catch a good chunk of the first half and all of the second.

Arriving late I ended up towards the back of the pub, not that that mattered.

The pub served Wainwright's Gold and I had a few of those which helped to refresh and relax me. A good choice.

Memento did what Memento do, they played a wide variety of rock songs, some of which I knew, with well rehearsed skill and obvious love for the music.

A highlight for me was Heaven and Hell from the Dio Black Sabbath period, a song I have loved since buying the album in 1980 (only 45 years ago!).

I went expecting good music, beer and atmosphere and, once again, Memento at The Cavern delivered in full.

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (28 Feb 25)

Seeing Rainbow in Rock playing at The Cavern in Raynes Park is a great habit to be in and this was my first chance to do so in 2025.

A lot about the evening followed the familiar lines with plenty of good songs played brilliantly, lots of people I knew there and some decent beer (Wainwright) to drink. Any evening that ends with Stargazer, Highway Star and Smoke on the Water has to be a great evening.

There was one slight, and good, change which this photo reveals. The keyboards had a bigger influence this time and that was due to increasing the number of sets of keys from one (played at an odd angle) to three.

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (13 Dec 24)

Rainbow in Rock are my favourite pub band by quite a large margin; my second favourite pub band is Memento which is the same musicians but with a different set list.

The Cavern in Raynes Park is regular venue for them and I get there to see them whenever I can, which is a few times a year things like health permitting. Raynes Park is a doddle to get to by bus and/or walking which helps. It also helps that they sell Wimbledon Brewery's Copper Leaf red ale.

I got their in good time and started the evening close to the band with a pillar behind me.  That position gave me an uninterrupted view allowing me to take this photo. I deliberately took it during one of the quieter moments, Catch the Rainbow from the 1975 album Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow by Rainbow - you can see where the band got their name from.

Rainbow in Rock play a wide range of Deep Purple and Rainbow songs nd they delight in choosing some of the more obscure ones while leaving out obvious songs like Smoke on the Water and Highway Star. Every Rainbow in Rock gig is different.

There is one ritual that they are keeping to, for the moment at least, and that is to end the first half with Child in Time and the second with Rainbow Rising. And long may they continue to do so.

Memento at The Cavern (23 Nov 24)

Fates had conspired against me for much of 2024 and I had missed a few Memento gigs through things like double-booking and illness so it was great to be able to see them again at, what has become. the usual venue, The Cavern in Raynes Park.

It was also great to get my timing right, for once, and to arrive at the pub just before the band started playing.

The pub had changed it beers since my last visit but that was okay as the beer that I went for was good and soI had a few of them. The new beer was complimented by old friends and acquaintances and the pub had a very welcoming and convivial atmosphere. 

Memento started playing just after 9 and finished soon after 11 with just a short break in the middle. Along the way they played their usual mix of rock (Kashmir) and heavier pop (Love Is Like Oxygen) songs, including a couple by Uriah Heep which is always a good idea.

Memento know both how to play these songs and how to put them together into a consistently exciting set, and that made for a great evening. Again.

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (23 Dec 23)

It was three months since I had last seen Rainbow in Rock so obviously I was keen to see them again on a return visit to The Cavern in Raynes Park.

In many ways this was like all other Rainbow in Rock gigs that I have been to, excellent songs played excellently in a well constructed set that contained many very familiar songs plus a few unexpected ones. The mandatory crown-pleases included Child in Time and Stargazer while the less familiar songs included Never Before (from Machine Head).

What made the gig different was that this was their last gig with Andy Fuller on keyboards. He normally hides behind Andrew on bass so I made a point of taking a photo from the side this time, and in saying a few words to Andy afterwards.

Memento at The Cavern (14 Jul 23)

Memento, and their twin band Rainbow and Rock, have the happy habit of playing The Cavern in Raynes Park and I have developed the equally habit of going to see them simply because they are exactly what a great pub rock band should be.

To set the evening up nicely I walked to Raynes Park from home via Kingston Hill and Wimbledon Common.

The Memento half of the twin has a broader set list and, perhaps perversely, that means that I like Rainbow in Rock more but it is a close run thing. A big plus for the broader set list is the inclusion of Faith Healer and I had worn one of my several Sensational Alex Harvey Band t-shirts in anticipation.

Memento, like Rainbow in Rock, end the two halves of their set with long classics that everyone knows and loves; this night it was Stairway to Heaven and Freebird.

The pub played its part in another great evening by providing several excellent pints of Wimbledon Common and a great atmosphere. Include in that were several friends, acquaintances and familiar faces.

It was another superb evening in every respect.

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern (10 Jun 23)

They played Stargazer. 

That was all they had to do but they played many more excellent songs too. Another great night out with the best band in the local pub rock scene.

The Cavern pub did its bit supplying a few pints of Gold to encourage a little movement (it would be bit of an exaggeration to call it dancing).

Until the next time!

Rainbow in Rock at The Cavern

When I saw Memento at The Cavern in February I said that they only band better than that was Rainbow in Rock (same band, different songs) so it is no surprise that I was back at The Cavern a month later to see them.

As always the place was full, there we quite a few familiar faces there, the beer was good and the music was excellent.

To be honest, I would have been happy if Rainbow and Rock had played just Child in Time and Stargazer but they added plenty of that to deliver a rocking two hours of music from the extensive Deep Purple and Rainbow catalogue.

Memento at The Cavern

Various factors, including the impact of covid-19 and the gentrification of some pubs, have led to be going to vastly fewer pub gigs than I used to and now the only place I go to regularly (but not frequently) is The Cavern in Raynes Park. It's about 6km away so it is a decent walk to get there and a couple of buses to get back so it has to be a good band to drag me out that far.

Memento are a very good band. I've known this since April 2016 and I have taken every available opportunity to see them since then.

While other pub bands have very good musicians and include keyboards, two things make Memento exceptional; the lead singer and the setlist. Almost all other pub bands have an average (at best) singer and play the same rock standards, like Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon.

One song helps to make my point. The band started playing and before the song was recognised this was clearly a Black Sabbath number because Memento sounded just like them. Then comes recognition and it is not an obvious song, like Paranoid or Iron Man, but it is Heaven and Hell from the 1980 album of the same name. That incarnation of Black Sabbath had Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals (for the first time) and Memento's front-man, Tamas Csemez, does Dio very well.

I was also impressed by Tamas' t-shirt which I guessed was John Byrne's cover for X-Men issue 122. I was wrong, it is actually issue 125 (September 1979).

Memento really are an exceptional band and there is only one other band on the circuit that comes anywhere close to them, and that is Rainbow in Rock which is the same people with a different setlist.

Unexpected win in the Pub Quiz

What started as a quiet evening stroll turned into a surprising win in a pub quiz.

The pub bit was not a surprise, I wanted a destination for the walk and I also fancied a pint so I headed for Ham Brewery Tap in Ham Street which is, not surprisingly, in the heart of Ham. When I bought the drinks I was told that a pub quiz was about to start and while I was reluctant at first I was swayed by it being free to enter and scheduled to last only 45 minutes or so.

The format was new to me and I liked it. There were 25 questions on general knowledge and a 5 x 5 grid to put the answers in. The clever bit was we each had to decide which answer to put where so if you were certain of an answer you put it in a box that is on multiple lines and if less sure then it went on a less useful square.

In this case we were sure of the first answer so wrote the question number 1 in a box in the centre (3 down and 3 across) because we were certain that Hercule Poirot was the detective in Murder in the Orient Express. We had no idea what the answer to 22 was so we put that in the square above it.

Once the 25 questions were completed we handed a carbon copy of our answer sheet to the quiz master for checking while we each marked our own sheets.

The second clever part of the quiz was that the answers were given in a different order, i.e. not 1, 2, 3, ... The aim then was to shout "Bingo!" once you had completed a line of five with the correct answers. We had about 10 right, and 2 wrong, before somebody shouted "Bingo!" but there was a second prize so we carried on.

We and another team both shouted "Bingo!" a few questions later and it came down to a tie-break question and the winner was the team closest to saying when Dr Who was first broadcast. We knew it was 1963 but the other team did not so we won the second prize of four drinks vouchers.

We will be going back to Ham Brewery Tap soon to claim our prize drinks and we will be doing the quiz again too.

Pielarks present a jolly evening of seasonal songs

This is the time of year for jolly evenings filled with seasonal songs served with good cheer and so I went to see the Pielarks at the Canbury Arms. I knew about the event from two friends, Peter and John, who were part of the around twenty singers collected to entertain us and their presence was another encouragement to go.

It seemed easiest to eat there beforehand and while the veggie options were somewhat limited, as is the rule in gastro pubs these days, the curry was excellent. All three of us who were eating at that time chose it. The beer was fine too and by the time the band started I was comfortably fed and watered.

The music was, as expected, reassuringly folky like the songs we all learned to sing at primary school  thanks to Singing Together on BBC Radio. I knew none of them which mattered not one whit as the style of the songs was familiar and there was plenty of repetition to breed new familiarity with the words.

Each song was introduced with a short story saying something about the origin of the song and how it had been rediscovered and/or kept alive in recent times. There was a variety of soloists, choruses and musical instruments that kept the evening lively and interesting as well as simply enjoyable.

We were in the covered overspill from the main bar and that was packed with people who had come to see the Pielarks and that produced quite a buzz in the room and lots of applause after each song.

The combination of the songs, the people, the food and the drink made it a rather jolly evening and I had a great time.

Memento at The Old Moot House got me dancing

On almost any other night Memento would have been my first choice band but on this evening there were three good bands to choose between and Memento came a very close second to Nursery Cryme. Luckily the two gigs were close to each other and one was due to finish an hour earlier so I was able to see all of Nursery Cryme at The Oak before dashing to The Old Moot House to catch the end of Memento.

I arrived just as they were into Child In Time, which was an astoundingly good time to arrive. This was followed by Stargazer and I was singing along. It did not take much to get me dancing too.

There were a few familiar faces there and I had some pleasant conversations in between the songs. I went for the music and the social element was a nice bonus.

All too soon it was over. Memeno were, of course, called back for one more song and they finished with Highway Star. An excellent way to close an excellent set.

Nursery Cryme at The Oak

Nursery Cryme are obviously doing something right.

When I saw them play at The Oak in July the fans were enthusiastic but not that numerous and I our group of five easily got good seats at the music end of the bar. This time the place was packed and the best two of us could do was grab the final stool at the beer end of the bar, where we could hear but not see the band, for the first half and then stand at the far edge of the music end for the second half.

Those two halves were long halves too with Nursery Cryme playing from 8:30 to 9:30 and then from 10:00 to 11:00.

The Oak played its part too. I have had unfavourable experiences with their beer in the past but I had no complaints this night. They had four bitters on with a genuine choice to make (and something I would not dream of touching). I settled for the Adnams Southwold and that proved to be a good choice and one I repeated a couple of times over the evening.

Having seen Nursery Cryme twice before I had a good idea of what to expect though there were some new songs, including one from Wind and Wuthering (1976) which we referred to as Wuth and Windering at university for reasons that made sense at the time. My roommate and I also recorded a version of Your Own Special Way which was called Your Own Obvious Way and was dedicated to Mr Obvious who won that nickname for standing next to the pinball table (Big Ben) and saying obvious things. One lyric that I recall was, "I'm almost there my score's 53, He tells me I just need a G".

Nursery Cryme also seemed to have done a little on their presentation with the lead singer dressed all in white and everybody else all in black. Note a massive change but a noticeable one and it helped.

The Nursery Cryme mission is to play early Genesis songs as they were originally recorded and that requires skillful musicianship in all departments, which they have, and part of the joy in watching them perform is seeing the way that they play together and flourish individually. They play (generally) long complex songs to people who appreciate that sort of thing, not everybody does but those who do had a great time. And the growing following that they have quickly established shows that there are lots of fans for this sort of music played this well.

Nursery Cryme are obviously doing something right.

Open Mic Night at The Oak (25 February 16)

On this Thursday evening I happened to be in Kingston to watch councillors approve a major development on The Old Post Office site despite it not meeting the conditions they had imposed on it previously (that's another long and painful story) so it made good sense to wander up to The Oak afterwards to see some of the Open Mic Night.

The other meeting finished around 9pm so I got to The Oak earlier than usual. This meant that I could catch more of the music than usual, which was good, and I could drink more than usual, which was possibly less good.

My first job was to video Maria and support do a lively rendition of the Chaka Khan hit Ain't Nobody. Maria asked me to do this and trusted me with her phone to make the recording. I resisted the temptation to do a few Facebook updates but not the temptation to play around a little with the filming, I even tilted the camera at one point as is my habit.

It was brilliant to see Catherine Paver there again after not having seen her for quite a while. She has a refreshingly different style helped by writing her own songs. I recognised Mexico from before but the comic Evil Kingston was a new one on me.

There were friends there as well as performers, notably Colin and Peter, so it was a sociable evening as well as a musical one. A good evening all round.

Open Mic Night at The Oak (11 February 16)

I seem to have slipped into the habit of going to the Open Mic Nights at The Oak (just north of Kingston Station) on Thursday nights but have yet to fall into the habit of writing them up regularly as I did when they were held at the Grey Horse (just down the road and even closer to the station).

The reasons for both habit changes are connected. One reason for going to The Oak is for the 5,000 steps it gives me and rather walk aimlessly for forty minutes it is nice to have a destination in mind, especially when that destination has friends, music and beer. The change in motive means that I now get to the pub nearer to 10pm than 9pm which means that I miss more of the music and so have less to write about.

This Thursday was fairly typical. I could be simplistic and say it was the usual people, the usual songs and the usual beer but it was more than that and every night there is different in an interesting way.

On the people front, Tony, Eugene and Maria were there and performing as usual and Pete was the unusual factor. Musically I did not recognise any of the acts, apart from the trio already mentioned, and I paid most attention to a young American woman who did a decent version of Hallelujah. The beer choice was limited and unimaginative but a respectable pint of Young's Ordinary is always satisfactory.

The evening ended with Tony and Eugene leading assorted musicians and singers on stage and also the audience in a reggae version of Knocking on Heaven's Door. It was a sign of how much I was enjoying the evening that I joined in.

Old music from a new bottle

The Open Mic nights that I used to go to at the Grey Horse had moved (more or less) to The Oak just a few hundred metres north. This was a pub that I knew from when I lived in Kings Road though it was far from my favourite then and it had been many years since I last went there during which time it had a few make-overs and name changes. The new venue and day (it had moved from Wednesday to Thursday) had thrown me a little and it took a while before I was finally able to get there.

When I did get to The Oak it was just like old times with many of the acts I knew from before playing some of the songs that I remembered to some familiar faces in the audience. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it worked well at the Grey Horse and there was no reason that it should not work at The Oak too.

One of the familiar acts, and one that I was especially pleased to see again, was Catherine Paver with her mix of reasonably simple tunes and complex words. I broadcast her first song on Periscope as something of an experiment. I think that it worked but Periscope only keeps videos for 24 hours so you will have to take my word for it.

Now that the new venue and day have wormed their way into my consciousness I am sure that I will be going back for more old music from a new bottle.

Hoaxwind get me dancing at The Old Moot House

I would have accepted the invitation to Anna's birthday party at The Old Moot House anyway but I was even keener to go as she had persuaded Hoaxwind to play for her and I had not seen them since they supported Psychedelic Warlords almost a year ago.

The Old Moot House had had a checked history and several names since I moved to Kingston and I had not seen it in its latest incarnation so that was another attraction in going.

I got there not too long after 8pm, the official start time, and the place was already busy. In addition to Anna, who I sought out straight away,  there were several other people there for me to say "hello" to, including most of Hoaxwind.

They hit the stage around 9pm and played two sets with a short break in the middle. The set-list was familiar with a mix of the long classics (Orgone Accumulator, Brainstorm, etc.) and some later and shorter songs from the Calvert period (Death Trap, Urban Guerrilla, etc.).

It was the familiar Hoaxwind sound too thanks to their large cast that featured all the spacey delights of keyboards, sax/flute and electronics, all backed by two guitars, drums and vocals. That was seven people working well together to produce a rich and bouncy sound. It got even better in the second half when they were joined by a violinist.

It was suggested to me by some of the band at half time that they were playing faster than usual so I looked out for that in the second half and, if anything, they seemed to have got even faster! I liked their sound (as always) and there is plenty of room for different interpretations in the Hawkwind universe.

I was too engaged with the music to take a full set-list and when I did note tracks I used just one word to save time and distraction. So my notes of the set were just Orgone, Brainstorm, Hassan, Assault, Spirit, Master and Silver. If you know Hawkwind then you will have no problem adding the missing words.

Many of these songs were absolute favourites of mine and I was singing loudly and badly throughout but it was Master of the Universe that got me dancing in the way that only dads can.

It was yet another fantastic evening from Hoaxwind. It was just a shame that there are not more of them.