The Alarm
May 10, 2011The Brook, Southampton
Just a short time after The Alarm’s front man Mike Peters has finished a two week tour with the reformed Big Country, he is off again with his own band The Alarm on a tour of the UK celebrating The Alarm’s 30th Anniversary. The current line up are something of a super group with Craig Adams on Bass(The Cult,Sisters of Mercy, The Mission), Mark Taylor on Keyboards(Simple Minds) James Stevenson on guitar(Chelsea, Gene Loves Jezebel, Generation X) and Steve ‘Smiley’ Barnard on drums (Joe Strummer’s Mescaleros).
The band are welcomed on to the Southampton stage by an expectant large crowd, who are treated to reworked versions of two of the bands best known hits ‘Sold Me Down The River’ and ‘Rain in the Summertime’ which are played expertly on duelling acoustic guitars.
As part of the 30th Anniversary an CD album with DVD called the “The Sound & the Fury’ is to be released and this will include a special version of an early Alarm number ‘Unbreak The Promise’ which was recorded at the bands annual Gathering in Prestatyn with an army of loyal fans from audience on backing vocals, a scaled down version is performed tonight with plenty of willing enthusiastic members of this audience joining in. The band step up the pace when the electric guitars came out and they show energy in their quality performance, leaving the audiences demanding more as they leave the stage after a storming version of the classic ’68 Guns’.
During this tour the band have been inviting people to bid on a chance of joining the band on stage and perform with them for a song, the money is all being donated to Mike’s Charity Love Hope Strength Cancer Foundation who motto is ‘Saving lives one concert at a time’. Tonight’s highest bidder was Steve Webster from Winchester, who climbed up the Brook’s swimming pool style ladder at the side of the stage to take his moment in the spotlight. The chosen song was quite apt ‘Love Hope Strength’ and Steve took the spotlight with some confidence and produced some great sounding vocals, he also upstaged Mike with possibly the best/worst haircut of the night depending on your point of view.
The last three numbers of the set were extremely powerful and completely uplifting with every member of the audience joining in with the band, after an emotional ‘Spirit of 76’ the band left the stage after giving 100% making this visit to The Brook another very memorable one. If this wasn’t enough Mike Peters returns to the Brook on June 9th with Big Country for an intimate warm up for their performance across the water at the Isle of Wight festival, I am sure that is going to be a gig not to be missed.
Set-List
Sold Me Down The River
Rain In The Summertime
Rose Beyond the Wall
Strength
Shout To The Devil
The Stand
Unbreak The Promise
Blaze Of Glory
Alarm Calling
Superchannel
Absolute Reality
Drunk + Disorderly
Marchin’ On
68 Guns
Love Hope Strength
One Guitar
45 RPM
Spirit of 76
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8w-M84RKq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjmUBwdXoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxnQPkUDSeE
http://www.lovehopestrength.org
Words, Pictures and Video by
Dave Chinery(Chinners).