The venue in Islington suffered slightly by simply not being able to grant the bands the space that they all deserved but ever the professionals, the music, the personalities, the talent and the oh so gorgeous solos shone through like a beacon of light on a stormy night.Â
All too quickly the set came to a climax with ‘Can’t Kill a Good Thing’ and ‘(They Call Me) The Sonic Gypsy’ providing the most fitting of conclusions on what we can only hope is the beginning of the beginning once more for Mickey, Sploote and the rest of the band.
If Bigfoot could play guitar, his idol would be Jack Hutchinson. The bowler-hatted musician sports more hair and beard than an 80 year old grandmother at a child’s birthday party.
Monroe’s stage presence is that of a man who permanently has his bits wired to a 12 volt car battery. He jumps, twirls, shouts, yelps, screams and sings in equal measure. He could recite the Encyclopedia Britannica from A through to Z on stage and the fans would still lap up every single word uttered.
Before we knew it, the end of the night arrived. 14 songs including an encore of Forgotten Castaway, the song the tour was named after and then they were done. For those lucky enough, meet and greets would take place after the show or, as they were billed, “hug and a selfie”. A must have for any serious Chapter 13 fan.
The encore though was the moment of pure magic for me. Adding Light Years from the new album into the encore was a stroke of genius as it sat perfectly in between possibly some of the greatest tracks the band have ever recorded.
Having given every ounce of themselves to the crowd with boundless energy, the band proved once again that they are a force of nature.
Pekka has to duck and weave like the best of boxers at times to avoid Jason’s bass neck as it whirls around mid air
As much as Toby would like to put a little of the past to bed these days, they were obliged to add a few extra numbers in to fill out a decent length set comprising some classic Little Angels tracks