Venue: The Underworld, London       Date: May 13^th 2004  &
Venue: Stripes Bar, Brentford           Date: Sat May 15^th 2004

Setlist: Livin' The Life; Mysterious; How Long; Dragon Attack; Love Parade; Dave D drum solo; Stand Up; Eyes Of Love; Long Train Running; I'll be waiting; Crazy; Howie guitar solo

Acoustic set: Frozen; 4U; Purple Rain; Just Between Us; By Your Side; Cheyenne; Send Her My Love; Stranded

Yngwie Medley: Don't let It End; ??; Black Star; I am a Viking; See The Light Tonight

Encores: I Want To Take You Higher Medley: ( Enter Sandman / Michael Jackson / Crazy Train / Hot Blooded)

Funky That Funky Music Medley: (Kung Fu Fighting / Another One Bites The Dust / Ice, Ice Baby / Staying Alive)

Jeff Scott Soto is a vocalist who first made an impression on the rock world as the vocalist of Yngwie J Malmsteen's Rising Force on Malmsteen's solo debut and his '85 release 'Marching Out'. Since then, he has earned a living as a vocalist, singing with bar bands in California and fronting a number of melodic Hard Rock acts such as Talisman and Takara with limited success. However, a few years ago he and his band were invited over to the UK to perform at the UK Queen Convention. Though by no means a Freddie Mercury wanabee or clone, he is however one of the few vocalists out there who is capable of doing justice to Queen material and his band's performance caused a huge stir which has resulted in him and the band receiving further invitations to perform at the convention.

So, thanks in part to the organizers of this year's Queen Convention, Jeff and his band had a little time in the UK, which allowed them to make a number of appearances at club venues up and down the country. Two of these were in London, the first at The Underworld on Thursday 13^th May and then, 2 days later at Stripes bar in Brentford. The support at the Underworld came from Magnum mainman Bob Catley, accompanied by one of his pals on guitar, performed a variety of Magnum numbers and some of Bob's solo material.

When Jeff and his band hit the stage, I can honestly say that the volume was rather punishing on my old ears. Maybe it took a few songs to adjust the volume correctly, but it was hard to comment upon the first 20 or 25 minutes of the set other than to say that after 3 or 4 songs there was a drum solo! "We finally made it to London", declared Jeff, clearly pleased to be playing in the capital, "I've got a lot of shit under my belt. We're going to try and do a little bit of everything".

JSS himself strapped on a bass, with bassist Gary Shutt switching to guitar and the band launched into 'Eyes of Love', a fairly typical melodic hard rock tune. Then, after giving members of the band a name check, Jeff turned to his left and said, "He may not have much to say but he's a hell of a guitar player – Howie Simon". Howie then took to the microphone to sing lead vocals in a fine cover of the Doobie Brothers 'Long Train Running', which, for me, was the highlight of the show up to that point.

'If you Need Somebody' was one of those tunes that are perfect when performed in front of an audience of rabid fans. Unfortunately, though parts of the London crowd were keen to participate, a lack of familiarity with the correct lyrics and some genuinely lousy singing made for a bit of car-wreck of a performance. Things improved with the Seal tune 'Crazy', with Jeff retaining control of the microphone this time. Then it was time for the band to go acoustic with drummer Dave Dzialak bringing out the bongos and Gary switching to acoustic guitar. They played a medley of popular hits including Prince's 'Purple Rain', and Journey's 'Send her my Love', with Jeff once again proving what a versatile performer he is.

The set climaxed with a wonderful but sadly brief medley of Malmsteen numbers including a tiny snippet of 'Black Star', plus longer sections of 'Don't Let It End', 'See The Light Tonight' and 'I am a Viking'. All of them excellent tunes, which are rarely performed these days, certainly by the musicians who originally recorded them.

The encores consisted of another song from one of Jeff's many projects and then a further medley of tunes. This time the tunes were more likely to have been amongst those which he would have performed regularly during his stint with West Coast disco cover band "Boogie Nights". Starting with 'Play That Funky Music, White Boy', they threw in bits of 'Ku Fu Fighting', 'Staying Alive', 'Ice, Ice Baby' while keeping the rock fans interested with extracts of 'Crazy Train' and Foreigner's 'Hot Bloodied'. A selection that certainly kept this fan happy.

Setlist: Livin' The Life; Mysterious; How Long; Dragon Attack; Love Parade; Dave D drum solo; Stand Up; Eyes Of Love(?); It was funky sounding 'Is it any Wonder'; Long Train Running; ? to XTC; Crazy; Howie guitar solo

Acoustic set: (Frozen(?); 4U(?); Give It Up; ????; Lights; No-one said it was easy; Purple Rain; Cheyenne; Send Her My Love; Stranded

I'll be waiting (Standard, Reggae Version, Metallica version, Country and Western version); I Want To Take You Higher Medley (Smoke on the Water / ?? Michael Jackson / Enter Sandman / tiny bit of Heart of the sunrise or something Yes-ish / Stone Cold Crazy / ??? / Hot Blooded)

Encore: Funky Medley

A couple of days later, there was a second opportunity for a London audience to enjoy a performance by the same musicians. Stripes, the supporters club bar at Brentford Football club couldn't believe their good fortune in scoring a gig from such an artist and a good number of the crowd who were present at The Underworld turned up for 2^nd helpings.

The first part of the set was identical to that at The Underworld and once again I regretted not having brought my earplugs along with me. Jeff and his band took the modest size of the venue with good humour and joked about playing at a wedding party. Jokes aside, they were extremely professional and put all of their energies into giving a very good account of themselves at what was the final gig of their UK tour. Following Dave's drum solo, the band really got into the groove with 'Stand Up' and 'Dragon Attack'. Then, after joking with the audience about "Who had the chicken and who had the beef?", it was time for Howie to sing 'Long Train Running', which, once again, was very good indeed.

Jeff then asked the crowd "Do you wanna hear something that sounds like the Chilli Peppers?" The crowd responded affirmatively and the band launched into 'Colour My XTC', which indeed was a little Chilli Pepper-like in parts and which borrowed a vocal line or two. The crowd loved it, every bit as much as the cover of 'Crazy' that followed.

The audience also enjoyed the acoustic medley, responding most positively to the extracts of 'Purple Rain'. Then there was 'If You Need somebody', complete with contributions from the crowd that were a distinct improvement on Thursday Night's efforts. The band also had fun, playing the song in a reggae version, 'Metallica' version and finally in country music format. The set closed with a further medley that began and ended with 'I Want To Take You Higher' as Jeff and his band mixed in bits of Michael Jackson, Deep Purple, Metallica and Queen. Then for the single encore, the band played the 'Funky Music Medley'.

It was a real pleasure to be entertained over the two evenings by such a nice group of musicians whose lack of 'airs and graces' and who's great sense of fun shone through alongside their impeccable musicianship. Fantastic too, to be able to hear such a versatile vocalist who isn't afraid to mix rock and popular music from Funk to Disco to stadium rock and at such close proximity.

Charlie 11th June 2004