Roger Daltrey & Friends - Teenage Cancer Trust @ Royal Albert Hall - 28 March 2012

This is my third trip to a Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) gig in as many years. I think it's a great cause and every year there seems to be at least one performer that I want to see. One of THE greatest gigs I have ever been to was a TCT gig - that was in 2009 when I went to see The Who perform Quadrophenia and my boy Eddie Vedder surprised us all by turning up to play The Godfather - best surprise EVER!


This year the choice was between Roger 'the Dodger' Daltrey (without Pete Townsend) or Sir Paul McCartney. I went with Roger mainly because my gig buddy Tracey is a huge Who fan (along with myself) and she was happier handing over the hefty ticket fee for a chance to hear some Who songs.


The night begins with Kelly Jones (from Stereophonics). He never disappoints vocally and I know at least 10,000 rock bands worldwide who would kill to have Kelly Jones as their vocalist. His voice is deep and soulful and we are treated to Maybe Tomorrow, You're My Star, Dakota (You Make Me Feel Like the One), I Put A Spell On You (with string quartet), Don't Let Me Down (with Ronnie Wood and Paul Weller) and The Faces cover Oh La La.

We then have Paul Weller move in to the number one support slot. He's got a few backers with him. To be perfectly honest Paul Weller has never been my favourite - he doesn't set my world alight. I respect him and his work but it doesn't really move me. My favourite Paul Weller song is Shout To The Top from his Style Council days which is not really representative of his solo work at all!


Two songs into his set and we have a plethora of guitars on stage - I've counted 5. It doesn't really add to the tunes and the addition of the string quartet for a few songs makes things a little messy. To add to that Paul seems to be constantly fidgeting in his seat which is making me more uncomfortable than the orchestra of guitars. We hear English Rose (The Jam), Aim High, No Tears To Cry, All I Wanna Do is Be With You and Devotion (which is dedicated to Roger Daltrey).

His set is well received by punters and a lone guy in particular on the floor provides me with much entertainment by air-guitaring to himself for a number of tracks.


We are then on to the main event and Roger comes out firing with Who Are You, The Kids Are Alright and Behind Blue Eyes. Roger confesses to the crowd that he couldn't find anyone else to fill this slot at the last minute so he thought he'd do it and has asked a number of friends to come out and assist him. He then introduces the first in the form of Scottish songstress Amy MacDonald. I know of her work vaguely and don't actually twig that she is the writer and performer of the jangly and upbeat Fiat ad tune (This Is The Life) until she starts.

She uses Roger's backing band to give a rousing version of Mr Rock'N'Roll, followed by This is the Life and a cover of Bruce's Born to Run. She sounds good and I enjoy it more than Paul Weller's set - oh and I allowed to say that?


Roger comes out and introduces the next surprise guest - Steve Winwood. He launches straight in to Higher Love and I am taken right back to the 80s in an instant. Steve's next (and final) tune gets everyone in the RAH up out of their seats - the classic Blues Brothers track Gimme Some Lovin. Even the complete square bear next to me is up trying his best at the school-boy shuffle.


I have to say this is not the musical experience I was expecting tonight,but I am happy to be surprised as long as the music is good.

Roger then returns with a further slew of Who songs including Pinball Wizard, I Can See for Miles, Won't Get Fooled Again and Young Man Blues. I then get my favourite Who song - Baba O'Riley. It is an all in fest with everyone on the stage although I am very disconcerted to see Kelly Jones singing the lyric "Don't cry, don't brace your eyes, it's only teenage wasteland" from a sheet of paper - WTF - are you for real? Does he seriously not know the words?

This would be an appropriate moment to end the night but Roger let's everyone off stage and then rolls into his solo song Without Your Love which pretty much sucks the life out of everything - it is slow and completely misplaced in the set list. This is somewhat made up for by the final song of the night - an acoustic uke version of Black, Red & Gray (which I have never heard live because apparently because Pete hates it!) - it's cool to get that one in there and I am happy to have been surprised again at a TCT gig. I wonder what Roger is going to pull out next year!


More photos here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/sets/72157629817367313/