Let it roll

Last night I went to see UFO on their farewell “Last Orders” tour, which was also their 50th anniversary tour.

When I was at school, UFO were pretty much my favourite band, and I’ve seen them quite a few times over the years, so there was no way I was missing this tour.
They did not disappoint.  From the off it was classic song after classic song, until they “buggered off” as Phil Mogg put it, before coming back for a stormer of an encore.

The only complaint I would have was the price of the merchandise.  £25 for a tshirt with just the band logo on the front, and £30 for one with the tour dates on the back.  This isn’t a gripe I’ve got with them alone, it’s almost standard for any big name group to charge an arm and a leg for merch.  Outside the gig was a guy selling bootleg merch, exactly the same designs as the tour merch inside.  £10 for a tshirt and £20 for a hoodie.
While I’m not condoning this, it’s understandable why people buy from these guys, and this one seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

Now if they’d charged £15 – £20 for the tshirts inside the gig, more people would have bought them and the money would have been in their pockets.

I know some bands have said their only source of profit is merch, but if they made a smaller profit per shirt, they’d shift more units, and make more money, and the fans would get an official shirt at a reasonable price, and everyone would win.

But I digress.

An excellent gig by an excellent band who have never disappointed me.  I’ll be sorry to see them go, but 50 of quality music is an awesome legacy.

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Toto in Glasgow

Last night went to see Toto at the Concert Hall in Glasgow.  Now while I’ve heard and liked the odd song over the years, they’ve always seemed a little rock-lite for my tastes, but my wife is a fan, and I knew she’d love seeing them live, so off we went.

Well, they may come across “rock-lite” on album, but they were totally blistering live.  I knew Steve Lukather was a good guitarist, but last night I discovered he’s actually an awesome guitarist.  It was a brilliant show.  Over two hours of classic rock, and of course, they had to finish with Africa 😀

I was pretty stunned to hear from the stage that this was the first time they’d ever been to Glasgow!

Anyway, I think last night turned me from casual appreciator to fully fledged fan.  Now, I’m nipping out to buy the new album (XIV)  catch you all later.