Gig review: GRAHAM BONNET – Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

GRAHAM BONNET- Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

Graham Bonnet has always been one of rock’s most singular characters. The man with the short hair, Hawaiian shirts and musical background far removed from your traditional metal belter who gave Rainbow their commercial breakthrough. The man whose self-destructive tendencies made his tenure with Michael Schenker a short one. And a man who after a long period under the radar has been a prolific tourer for the last couple of years as he approaches his seventies.

He has also returned to hard rock with a new band and a very well-received album ‘The Book’, and yet the tour opened with a very thin crowd, possibly not even three figures, in north London. The venue was a disappointment too, particularly a lighting rig that meant bands and crowd viewed each other in virtual darkness.

Three bands were on the bill. I arrived too late to catch openers Void but there was the bonus of an appearance by Chrome Molly, the hard-working Leicester rockers who never quite made the big time in the eighties but are now enjoying a second honeymoon.

Chrome Molly - Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

Affable singer Steve Hawkins- now one of two remaining members – got the crowd on side, while a number of songs from a forthcoming album ‘Hoodoo Voodoo’ were significantly heavier, not least as Andy Barrott and Michael Schenker-lookalike Jon Footitt now give them a two guitar attack.

There were a few oldies to bring back memories for those of us who remember their original incarnation in ‘Take It Or Leave It’, ‘Thanx For The Angst’ and most impressively of all, the Noddy Holder/ Jim Lea-penned ‘Shooting Me Down’ with its air of a should-have-been-hit.

Ending with ‘Corporation Fear’, they may never reach the heights they failed to scale first time round, but their energetic set will have won friends.

GRAHAM BONNET- Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

As Graham Bonnet came onstage it was endearing that whereas many singers his age have adapted their singing style, he still adopts the same no-holds-barred, full throttle approach. Unfortunately sometimes he can pull it off but not always, and on an otherwise inspired opener in ‘Eyes Of The World’ he sounded dreadful, though ‘All Night Long’ was a great improvement – other than the off stage added keyboards which were already annoying me.

He was given good backing vocal support by bassist Beth-Ami Heavenstone and excellent guitarist Conrado Pesinato, even if in one of Graham’s few comprehensible remarks he bizarrely described him as a terrorist.

GRAHAM BONNET- Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

I went into the gig fully expecting the new album to be heavily showcased, but they just played a solitary song in the hard rocking ‘Into The Night’. Though he delivered a great bluesy performance on ‘Love’s No Friend’, which I always think of as a younger cousin to the more famous ‘Mistreated’, Rainbow material also formed a lesser part of the material than at previous shows.

Instead we were treated to long overdue airings of his other projects from the first half of the eighties, beginning with ‘SOS’ from his ‘Line Up’ album, a neglected classic in the Purple Rainbow family tree, which was also the first time I have heard Morse code sung at a gig!  There were at least a couple from Alcatrazz days in the rapid-fire ‘God Blessed Video’ and ‘Jet To Jet’, while I was delighted to finally hear ‘Night Games’ live after all these years, singing along to what was  a top 10 single in the day yet somehow seems to have been airbrushed from history.

GRAHAM BONNET- Boston Music Rooms, London, 8 November 2016

A further treat was to hear a couple from his brief tenure in MSG and though he sounded frankly awful on ‘Dancer’, the classic ‘Desert Song led to outbreaks of air guitaring from those of us of a certain age.

The gig was now boiling up nicely – it is always good to hear the overplayed ‘Since You Been Gone’ sung by the voice that popularised it, and it led into a rattling ‘Lost In Hollywood’. Unfortunately he was then suddenly lost in the dressing room, with no encore or even a goodbye. As at previous gigs, his full-throated style meant that he had run out of steam after little over an hour.

It was a fun night out with a revamped setlist to delight those of us who cut our rock teeth in the first half of the eighties, but not one which in all honesty would have attracted any new admirers.

Review and photos by Andy Nathan

Album review (The Book)
Archive reissues


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Josh Taerk Sunday Sessions 2024

Latest session: Sunday 25 February
Next session: Sunday 14 April

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio



David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 25 February 2024.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 27 February 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 4 March 2024

COLLATERAL Glass Sky (Big Shot Records)
THE ZUTONS Pauline (ICEPOP)
THE GEORGIA THUNDERBOLTS Rise Above It All (Mascot)
MATT PEARCE & THE MUTINY From Here To The Moon (indie)
THE BLACK VULTURES Never Say (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 4 March 2024

09:00-12:00 LEE AARON Tattoo Me (Metalville)
12:00-13:00 THE END MACHINE The Quantum Phase (Frontiers)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023


To see our Tweets you need to be logged in to a Twitter account



Popular (last 10 days)


This entry was posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply