So I went along to the UK Hall of Fame Music Awards last night and it turned out to be one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever been to. Great venue – Alexandra Palace in North London, well organised, great sound (especially considering they changed the gear for every band) but best of all I got to see some of the people that have changed my life.
The show started with the Aretha Franklin being inducted –she wasn’t there as apparently she doesn’t like flying. The Eurythmics were next up and after being inducted by Sir Bob Geldolf, played a couple of songs - Missionary Man and I think the other one was Thorn In My Side (but don’t quote me on that). They sounded great – well Annie did at least – I couldn’t hear Dave’s guitar.
Next to be inducted was Jimi Hendrix, with Mitch Mitchell (Jimi’s drummer from the Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Slash, resplendid in obligatory top hat (and who lit up a ciggie onstage) doing the honours. They then got up and jammed Stone Free and Hey Joe with Billy Cox (Jimi’s bass player from The Band of Gypsies) and this time it was the bass I couldn’t hear, although admittedly Slash was pretty loud. I didn’t recognise the singer but may work out who it was when I watch the show on Channel 4 tonight. It was a jam in the purest sense of the word and it got a bit loose at times, especially in Stone Free, but they pulled it together a bit more in Hey Joe. Be that as it may it was still fantastic just to see these legends playing together, and Slash’s tone was awesome.
Now my memory of the order of events from here starts to cloud, but it doesn’t really matter.
Bob Dylan was inducted although he was playing Manchester last night so he couldn’t be there, Alanis Morrisette performed a couple of his songs, however, it wasn’t a performance to remember.
The Who were inducted by Ray Davies of the Kinks, however, they didn’t play.
Pete Townsend inducted Pink Floyd and although they didn’t play it was still great to see Dave Gilmore and Nick Mason, who said it was reward for a lifetime of bad drummer jokes, before proceeding to tell one. Roger Waters was beamed up behind the others on the stage in a live video link from Rome, and didn’t seem too impressed that Dave had referred to him as a “passenger” in Pink Floyd’s career - maybe no more reunions after that comment!!
Sir Geoff Hurst inducted The Kinks before a performance of a couple of their songs by The Pretenders.
Joy Division/New Order were inducted and then played a song by each incarnation and dedicated the second song, Love Will Tear Us Apart, to Ian Curtis, the original singer of Joy Division who killed himself 25 years ago.
AC/DC’s Angus Young inducted Ozzy Osbourne into the hall of fame before the madman himself proceeded to bring the house down with an extra high energy performance of Crazy Train with Zakk Wylde on guitar. This was an extra special bonus for me as I hadn’t expected Zakk to be playing - he’s right up there in my top five guitarists of all time and definitely my favourite of the past 15 years. This was pure “chill down the spine” stuff and the crowd went absolutely crazy for it, proving even though he’s approaching 60 the Ozz Man can still rock with the best of them. He certainly knows how to work a crowd and many of the younger bands today could certainly learn a thing or two from him. This was the true Ozzy, not the cringe inducing version that we see on the Osbournes.
Queen’s Brian May then inducted Black Sabbath into the hall of fame and once again Ozzy was back on stage with the founders of heavy metal. This was another “chill down the spine” moment for me as I finally got to see one of my favourite bands live in the flesh. The only problem was a technical one, as Tony Iommi’s guitar kept cutting out, however, nothing could dampen this moment for me. It brought back memories of when I was learning to play the guitar and staying up till the early hours of the morning trying to get all these Sabbath songs down.
Last, but certainly not least, to be inducted as an honorary member was the late great John Peel, for who music is certainly the worse for his passing. His brother and wife accepted the award and spoke a few words, before The Buzzcocks were joined on stage by The Datsuns who together performed a version of The Buzzcocks song “Ever Fallen In Love”. This song has been re-recorded as a tribute to Peel by an all-star line up and is to be released this coming Monday with all proceeds going to Amnesty International.
Ohhhh!!!!! What a night!!!! I’m still buzzing out over it, and would pay double the £86 that I paid to see it again. Let’s see where the Pussycat Dolls, Crazy Frog and all the other insipid, crap bands are in 20-30 years time, who????????
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