rivers2cross

The last live music I saw was The Alarm in Llandudno just over two years ago just before the pandemic struck. It has been an extremely long wait, but finally last night I saw The Alarm (it had to be them really) this time at The Electric Ballroom in London.

I hadn’t been on a bus, train or tube in over two years as well, and I did all these as I retraced familiar steps in going to a gig in London. My favourite part of the journey has always been the train from Reading to London Paddington, and yesterday was no different. I’ve always loved seeing places that I am familiar with from the train. I was born and grew up in Maidenhead, and seeing the football ground always triggers happy memories. Dad taking us there when we were very small to watch Maidenhead United. Nearer to London the sight of the Wembley Stadium Arch in the distance. Ealing Broadway Station. I have no idea why I like that station, perhaps because sometimes it was easier to get off the train there and use the tube to get into London. And the wonderful architecture of Paddington Station itself. How I missed all these sights, and how great it was to experience them again after so long.

The one down side to the venue was the early start time, due to it turning into a nightclub afterwards. Something that happens to a lot of music venues these days. This meant even with finishing work early there wasn’t a massive amount of time to catch up with friends. There were lots of people at the concert who I’ve known on social media for some time and who unfortunately I never saw last night. However, I did manage to get to The Elephants Head beforehand and it was lovely to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too. The friendships I’ve made over the last 5-6 years play a huge part in my enjoyment of these nights and last night was no different.

Original guitarist in The Alarm, Dave Sharp, provided the support. The man is a genius on the guitar, and watching him perform was an absolute masterclass. He played a really strong set with perhaps not surprisingly the best reaction coming for the two Alarm tracks he performed, One Step Closer To Home and Tell Me. The latter was a firm favourite in The Alarm’s set back in 1983/84 and not played by Dave in many years. It was epic!

Before the pandemic I was seeing and enjoying The Alarm as much as I have ever done. On tour in the UK and also on a couple of occasions in New York. The band has featured heavily in my fundraising books. I think you can see from the smile on my face just how much I was looking forward to the gig and they didn’t disappoint. It was a wonderful set celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary. A brave decision to start and end the show with songs from last year’s WAR album, soon to be re-released as Omega. Mike Peters has taken the decision to put in as many tracks into the set as possible and this has meant shortening some tracks and segmenting tracks together. I thought this worked really well as did having James Stevenson back on guitar and doing without a live bass, and it meant seeing some real gems from the Declaration period including What Kind of Hell and For Freedom. All the big hits were smashed out and the London crowd on a Friday were really up for it. A quite brilliant evening!

I’ve waited over two years to see this and it was well worth the wait. I see them again in two weeks this time in Oxford, so not quite so long to wait and if I manage to get up to Leeds next weekend I’ll be seeing then yet again! Quite simply the band that changed my life… Until tomorrow x