UFO - Newcastle Carling Academy Gig Review

After the catalogue of errors that reduced the HardRockHouse reviewing staff to half for this evening, I gained entry to the Academy tonight midway through the erstwhile Mr. Gray and friends set (aided by fellow Quireboys Paul Guerin & Keith Weir along with Jimi Jimi and brother Nik on bass & guitar plus drummer Sam).

What immediately struck me was that there was a healthy crowd inside already, the surprise being that a solo Spike is a quite different proposition to a Quireboys show, the material being more informed by Spikes blues and country leanings as much as his love of rock.

Unfortunately they were only allotted 30 minutes tonight so after “Have A Drink With Me”, “Wins, Ties & Losses”, “Won’t Ya Stick Around” and “She’s A Rolling Stone” from the new CD “It’s A Treat To Be Alive” (which was finally available for sale at the merch stall!!) it was all too soon that they brought their set this evening to an end with a warmly received 7'o'clock.

After the lights dimmed expectation in the crowd heightened with the 'Hoochie Coochie Man' intro. Despite my ignorance of all things UFO one thing was immediately clear, as a band they still rock a crowd, from the off they were tight and Phil Moggs vocals were powerful and spot on all night.

Every member of UFO was on top form tonight, however particular mention must be made to Paul Raymond's contribution on rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals and 'new' boy Vinnie Moore whose acoustic and electric guitar work was faultless throughout.

Over the next 100 minutes or so (and very probably a fine for breaking the 10pm curfew) the Academy crowd were treated to some hard rock classics, mixed in with newer material to provide a show that belied the ages of the performers delivering it.

In fact the only noticeable victim of these advancing years seemed to be Phil Mogg, he was pretty static. throughout (although vocally superb as mentioned earlier) and really should have kept his shirt on! He's not in a bad shape necessarily but when women in the audience actually grimaced when he took his top off you know that its time to remain fully clothed!

Perhaps UFO could be best summed up by the last three numbers and the crowds reaction to these. A triple hit of classics, we got 'Rock Bottom, 'Doctor Doctor' and 'Shoot Shoot' to send us off into the night, if this had merely been a band going through the motions you could have complained that they were relying on past glories to get by. UFO however played these songs with a vibrancy and energy that surprised this reviewer, its clear also (especially in the interplay between Moore and Way for example) that the band still enjoy blasting out these tunes to an audience. So if you like your rock of a slightly older school hard rock then there is still a very entertaining and enjoyable evening to be had in the presence of UFO definitely worth checking out if you get the opportunity.