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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
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Album review: JAMIE WILLIAMS AND THE ROOTS COLLECTIVE – In The Moment
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Album review: JOE HICKS – Before It Gets Dark
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Album review: WARRANT – Belly To Belly Vol.1
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Album review : CHEZ KANE – Reckless
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Album review: TYKETTO – Closer To The Sun
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Album review : JOHNNY COUGAR (MELLENCAMP) – American Dream, The Mainman Recordings 1976-77 (2 CDs)
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Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL – The Stables, Milton Keynes, 14 March 2026
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Gig review: A VERY SPECIAL EVENING OF MOTT THE HOOPLE – Riverside Studios, London, 27 February 2026
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Gig review: EMERALD MOON – Le Marquee, Peyrignac, Dordogne, SW France, 7 March 2026
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Gig review: MILKFEST, Indigo2, London, 1 March 2026
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GRTR! Greats
Featured Album Reviews
Features
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Single & EP Reviews
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Author Archives: andynathan
Album review: TYKETTO – Closer To The Sun
Silver Lining Music [Release Date 20.3.26] For so long one of rock’s best kept secrets, Tyketto’s mainstream exposure has grown over the past few years with well-received appearances at broader festivals outside their melodic rock genre and even a detailed … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, blues rock, Closer to the Sun, Danny Vaughn, Ged Rylands, Harry Scott Elliott, melodic rock, Tyketto
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Gig review: A VERY SPECIAL EVENING OF MOTT THE HOOPLE – Riverside Studios, London, 27 February 2026
It is getting harder than ever to witness Mott the Hoople music being played, at least by its original creators. Ian Hunter is still very much with us but has not toured since the pandemic and sadly his bandmates have … Continue reading
Gig review: MILKFEST, Indigo2, London, 1 March 2026
A year after the first event, blues festival and charity fundraiser Milkfest was back for a return delivery. The format was similar but the carefully curated eight artist line up featured all but one new act, and a new beneficiary … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Adam Norsworthy, Alice Armstrong, blues, blues rock, Brave Rival, charity, Chris Difford, Climax Blues Band, Dementia UK, Elles Bailey, Errol Linton, gig, Greg Coulson, Milkfest, Mississipi Macdonald, Robbie McIntosh, Squeeze, Steve Wilson, Terry Carter, The Milk Men, Thomas Heppell
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Album review: SQUEEZE- Trixies
BMG Records [Release date 06.03.26] Something old, something new….. for Squeeze’s first studio album in over eight years since 2017’s ‘The Knowledge’ they have revisited what might in a parallel world have been their debut album. At the outset of … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, Owen Biddle, Squeeze, Trixies
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Gig review: MEDICINE HEAD – The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, 19 February 2026
John Fiddler is an indefatigable old trouper – despite some health challenges over the last year, he was back at the Eel Pie Club for the second time in 12 months with his revamped Medicine Head line up. Initially slow … Continue reading
Gig review: PREACHER STONE – Cart and Horses, London, 29 January 2026
Pete Feenstra chatted to Preacher Stone co-founder member Ronnie Riddle for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio. With tracks from the band’s album ‘Preacher Stone V’. First broadcast 29 September 2024. Many bands balk at the cost of making the trip … Continue reading
Gig review: MIDNITE CITY – Black Heart, Camden, London, 24 January 2026
Midnite City continue to entertain with their feel good revival of the glammy melodic hard rock sounds of the late eighties (or hair metal as it was never called in the day). This show was originally scheduled for November but … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged gig, glam rock, hair metal, melodic rock, Midnite City, Miles Meakin, Nasty Ratz, Rob Wylde, Shawn Charvette
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Gig review: LAURENCE JONES – Pizza Express, Holborn, London, 23 January 2026
The past year has been a life changing one for top blues guitarist Laurence Jones who has really struggled with the inflammatory bowel condition Crohn’s Disease. It left him unable to stand the rigours of touring, and needing to focus … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged acoustic, Amy Eftekhari, blues, blues rock, gig, Laurence Jones, On My Own
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Album review: THUNDER- Live (expanded and remastered reissue)
earMusic [Release Date 16.01.26] As Danny Bowes continues his long but encouraging recovery, in the absence of any new Thunder music or touring we have to content ourselves with reissues. Originally released in 1998, the Ronseal-titled ‘Live’ was their first … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, Ben Matthews, Chris Childs, Danny Bowes, Harry James, live album, Luke Morley, reissues, Thunder
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Album review: ELLES BAILEY- Can’t Take My Story Away
Cooking Vinyl & Outlaw Music (Release Date 16.01.26) Elles Bailey’s career seems to be picking up momentum at present. The Bristolian singer-songwriter’s last album ‘Beneath The Neon Glow’ reached No 12 in the charts and a European tour with Rag … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, blues, Can't Take My Story Away, Elles Bailey, Ethan Johns, Luke Potashnick, review, soul
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Gig review: BAND OF FRIENDS- 229 Club, London, 4 January 2026
On a day when the rock world marked the 40th anniversary of Philip Lynott’s passing, it was a fellow all-time great of Irish rock that was also on my mind as I attended my first gig of the year- one … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged blues rock, Brendan O'Neill, David Cowan, Davy Knowles, Gerry McAvoy, gig, London Blues Festival, Rory Gallagher
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Album review: MIDNITE CITY- Bite The Bullet
Pride and Joy Music [Release Date 21.11.25] Unapologetically promoting themselves as ‘hair metal’ when other more self-conscious bands might balk at the description, Midnite City are impressively now onto their fifth album since 2017. Rob Wylde’s men are not about … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, hair metal, melodic rock, Midnite City, Miles Meakin, review, Rob Wylde, Shawn Charvette
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Gig review: STEVE OVERLAND AND JIM KIRKPATRICK- The Weir, Brentford, Middlesex, 9 December 2025
In all my years gig going, I don’t think I’ve ever been to one this close, just ten minutes walk from my house. That it should be by two members of FM, a band I’ve devotedly followed for 40 years … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged acoustic, AOR, FM, gig, Jim Kirkpatrick, Lara Brewer, melodic rock, Steve Overland
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Gig review: ERJA LYYTINEN- Half Moon, Putney, London, 18 November 2025
Finnish blues rocker Erja Lyttinen, dubbed ‘the queen of the slide guitar’, has been a familiar name on the British scene for a while. Indeed I see it was as long ago as 2005 that our blues guru Pete Feenstra … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 18 November 2025, blues, blues rock, Erja Lyytinen, gig, Half Moon Putney, London, review
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Gig review: JIM KIRKPATRICK – The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 12 November 2025
Jim Kirkpatrick has been an even busier man than usual this year- with FM’s acoustic tour, new album and further tour, in between helping out The Sweet as Andy Scott got back to full fitness. Now a brief run of … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 12 November 2025, Bernie Marsden, blues rock, FM, gig, Jem Davis, Jim Kirkpatrick, Leon Cave, London, melodic rock, Ollie Collins, Rory Gallagher, The Cavern
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Gig review: KINGDOM OF MADNESS – The Carlisle, Hastings, 7 November 2025
Kingdom of Madness, formed by one-time Magnum keyboardist Mark Stanway and boasting four past band members or contributors, have even doing a great job recreating the classic Magnum years before the original band split up in the mid-nineties. Their touring … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 7 November 2025, Alan Bell, AOR, Brian Badhams, Chris Dando, gig, Hastings, Kingdom Of Madness, Magnum, Mark Stanway, melodic rock, Mickey Barker, Mo Birch, review, Richard Bailey, The Carlisle
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Gig review: MIKE TRAMP’S WHITE LION – Camden Underworld, London, 5 November 2025
The White Lion itch is one that singer Mike Tramp feels the need to scratch every so often, despite the quality of his work with Freak of Nature and more recent stripped down and more personal material. On some of … Continue reading
Gig review: ROMEO’S DAUGHTER – Pizza Express, Holborn, London, 2 November 2025
2025 has seen Romeo’s Daughter explore a side to themselves that they have never previously pursued in their career with shows in an acoustic format. At the start of the year they recorded a live album in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire and … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 2 November 2025, acoustic, Andy Welsford, AOR, Craig Joiner, gig, Leigh Matty, London, melodic rock, Pizza Express Holborn, Romeo's Daughter, Steve Drennan
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Gig review: THOSE DAMN CROWS – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 31 October 2025
Of all the many bands in the thriving New Wave of Classic Rock movement, it is Those Damn Crows who, along with Massive Wagons, have made the biggest commercial breakthrough. Indeed earlier this year their new album ‘God Shaped Hole’ … Continue reading
Gig review: LARKIN POE – Hammersmith Apollo, London, 21 October 2025
Larkin Poe’s reputation in the UK has been growing, below my radar to the extent that they are able to attract a near sell out to the legendary Hammersmith Odeon (as it should always be known). My interest had been … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 21 October 2025, blues rock, country rock, gig, Hammersmith Apollo, Larkin Poe, London, Lucas Pettee, Megan Lovell, Rebecca Lovell, Son Little
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Gig review: CHRIS NORMAN- Indigo2, London, 16 October 2025
Of those rock stars who have fallen out of consciousness in their native UK, you can file Chris Norman under the ‘Big in Europe’ category. The gravel-voiced former Smokie singer commands a devoted following abroad, particularly in Germany, but gigs … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Chris Norman, Geoff Carline, gig, Martina Walbeck, Rachel Parga, Smokie, soft rock
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL- 100 Club, London, 15 October 2025
There is no harder working touring band than Brave Rival, but of their many shows this was a special one, a well attended Central London showcase for their new (and excellent) ‘5 to 4’ EP which marks a new chapter … Continue reading
Gig review: THE DUST CODA/BAD TOUCH – Islington Academy, London, 8 October 2025
The economics of touring do not always make happy reading with too many bands chasing the same limited audience. So it made sense for two of the leading lights in the New Wave of Classic Rock in Bad Touch and … Continue reading
EP Review: BRAVE RIVAL – 5 to 4
Independent (Release Date: 17.10.25) Its been a year of change in the Brave Rival camp with the departure of Chloe Josephine, one of the twin lead singers that helped make their sound so distinctive. Given their incessant touring activity, there … Continue reading
EP review: HOLLOW SOULS (featuring Kris Barras)
Release Date 10.10. 25 Kris Barras has evolved his style fairly dramatically from his early blues rock days, embracing first more commercial melodic rock, and latterly a heavier modern rock style, even stating that last Kris Barras Band effort ‘Halo … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged album, blues rock, Elles Bailey, EP, Hollow Souls, Jared James Nichols, Jon Harvey, Josiah J. Manning, Kris Barras, Phoebe Jane
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