Slade 'Merry Xmas Everybody'

Last night I became 13 again and Slade wished me a merry Christmas.

Down to Croydon to the Fairfield Hall to see 'Merry Xmas Everybody - the Not So Silent Night Tour 2007' featuring Atomic Blondie, Mud II and the headliners, Slade! The Fairfield Hall has a strange atmosphere and was a rather odd place to go to on a Friday night, with it's faded glory, very '70s decor, empty corridors with groovy swirly carpets and staffed by pensioners apart from the tiny bar with what seemed like underage girls serving behind the bar, never having heard of smiling or customer service. Why were Slade here? I suppose, in part, because it was a Christmas 'show' rather than a rock gig.

We arrived too late to see Atomic Blondie (I naively assumed doors opened at 7.30pm, not that the show actually stared at 7.30pm) so, since we were sitting right down the front, decided to sit outside rather than disturb everyone. So we heard them, rather than saw them. Moving on. We also missed Mud II since Chris has a pathologic aversion to Mud. None of the original members are in Mud II so I wasn't bothered either. From the muffled thump thump thump we heard in the cafe I could tell they played 'The Cat Crept In' and 'Hypnosis' and ended with 'Lonely This Christmas', one of my least favourite songs and started my aversion to Les Gray's Elvis impersonations. Very cabaret. So on to the Main event - SLADE!

I always find it strange to think of Slade without Nod and Jim, but I'm pleased that Dave and Don keep the spirit alive by touring. Slade always were a great live band and they still are. And what a great back catalogue they've got to choose from. Last night, of course, was a selection of greatest hits but I'm always happy to watch and listen to a Slade 'best of' and from the first note we were all on our feet, hands clapping, boots stompin' and singing along word perfect. We were the converted and judging by the amount of grey hair in the audience, the long-term converted.

We were in the third row so had a great view and it was fun seeing Dave parade around the front of the stage, guitar riffing away and arms raised exhorting us to clap more and sing louder. I, of course, obeyed. Dave once offered me a cigarette in 1980 or 1981 when I helped out clearing their equipment away after a gig and I was so dumb-struck by the honour that I could only mumble a decline - that's the closest I ever came to one of the Lords of Noize. Towards the end of the show Dave noted that he'd played with Don for 45 years.

Don kept his head down, pounding away on his drum kit, never easing up at all. It was good to see him controlling the band at a couple of points, not just the pacing but also when to stop the riffing and larking about and start on the next verse or chorus with a little tap on the cymbal or drum and the others are instantly back into the right place in the song. Dave can have his fun up front because Don's in control at the back, a perfect partnership really.

And John and Mal did their part too, John gamely picking up the violin for a couple of songs and Mal singing. He's not Noddy and never will be but he's got a good voice - a few times I felt he should stop trying to sing like Nod since that just highlights the differences in their voices and sing the song his way. They were good and it was nice of John to introduce Dave and Don at the end (as if they needed it) since they are, of course, Slade, but he didn't name-check Mal or himself and he should have.

Highlights of the evening for me were a great, fast version of 'Gudbuy T'Jane' and a hard-rockin' 'Tak Me Bak 'Ome' (both favourites from 1972), the extended version of 'Run, Run Away' from the '80s and a glorious version of 'Get Down And Get With It', Slade's first hit from 1971, which closed the set and definitely ended on a high. Waving and moving off stage, Don came out from behind his kit drying himself with a towel, dropped the towel behind some amps and just went back behind the drums, eager for more and dragging the others back on stage for a stonking 'Cum On Feel The Noize' followed by the obligatory 'Merry Xmas Everybody' with Dave and Don in Santa hats, Don's having white pig-tails. I was hoarse by this time, singing along and admit to a drop of moisture in the eye when Mal sung, '...when you land upon your head then you've been slayed...' taking me back to Christmas 1973 and seeing my heroes at No 1 on the Christmas Top Of The Pops special.

There were a few disappointments - the absence of 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now', that it wasn't sold-out (one wants one's heroes to do well) and the lack of merch. I got a Slade tour tee shirt but that was it. Where were the photos? the badges? the re-issued CDs? the DVDs? Most of the audience probably has most of the CDs but you can always flog photos and badges and a wider variety of tee shirts. And I'd much rather see Slade at somewhere like the Islington Academy. Having been there a couple of days earlier to see SAHB brought it home that I was at a 'show' not a 'gig' and yet seeing them on stage and listening to that hard rocking sound and Dave's soloing and grand standing shouted 'rock gig' at me, so there's some mixed messages in there. Whatever, they sent me away with ears ringing to great music, some wonderful memories and a big smile on my face. It can only ever be a thrill to see Slade!

Keep on rockin'!