Johnny Foreigner - Joiners, Southampton 06/12/10

Venue: Joiners, Southampton Support Bands: Stagecoach, The Amelias, Yesterdays Notion Date: 06/12/10 It was almost exactly a full year ago to the day that I last watched Johnny Foreigner in the intimate surroundings of a packed (despite the horrible weather) Southampton’s Joiners. Main support on the night came from fellow Alcopop! label mates Stagecoach. Despite already being a big fan of band I’m ashamed to say I’d yet to witness them live, needless to say I wasn’t disappointed. The band took to the stage powerfully with fan favourite ‘We Got Tazers!’, before launching straight into their incredibly infectious and ace new single ‘Not Even Giles’. The rest of the set consisted of hits from both the band’s We Got Tazers! and Crash My Ride EP’s, including crowd favourites ‘Axe Behind My Back’ and ‘Map To The Freezer’. Before ending on ‘Good Luck With Your 45’, accompanied on stage by members of Johnny Foreigner. Although, sadly no barbershop this time. Even though some of the crowd may not have been familiar with Stagecoach before the gig, they certainly will be on a lot of people’s radars afterwards, as the band delivered an explosive high energy set filled with total hits, whilst clearly having a lot of fun in the process. After a short break, it was time for the headliners, Birmingham’s Johnny Foreigner to take to the stage, which they duly did in their usual energetic style launching straight into ‘Champagne Girls I Have Known’. The band played songs from right across their rapidly growing back catalogue. With such a vast selection of great songs to pick from the band must find it hard to make a set list, despite that, the band managed to fit in all the live favourites you would expect from a Johnny Foreigner gig, tracks such as ‘Eyes Wide Terrified’, ‘Feels Like Summer’ and ‘Salt, Pepper And Spinderella’ were all there with the crowd singing along to every line. The band also played newer tracks, ‘Harriet By Proxy’ and ‘The Wind And The Weathervanes’ from their recent You Thought You Saw a Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears and That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With the Sky So Clear and Sea So Calm EP, both of which were well received by the enthusiastic crowd. As promised there was “total collabortionville” between the bands as members of Stagecoach, returning the favour from earlier, took to the stage to share vocal duties for ‘Salt, Pepper and Spinderella’. The climax to the show, as those who have seen Johnny Foreigner live before should know, was the ever brilliant ‘The Coast Was Always Clear’ and, if what had happened before could be described as total collabortionville, this, was total-ultimate-collabortionville, as the set ended with all members of both bands on stage (after the song had to be stopped briefly due to members of the crowd trying to get in on the act and taking to the stage), for an incredible climax to an amazing gig. If you get the chance to see either of these bands live, it’s definitely an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up, as without doubt both bands are destined for greatness in 2011 and beyond!