Keith Ames

A rare opportunity to catch some of the world’s legendary soul, funk and pop acts in our road today as Cameo, Shalamar, Lisa Stansfield, Gabrielle and many others attracted over 10,000 fans to the latest edition of Soultown in Croydon Rec, Beckenham. My wife Julie – celebrating her birthday – producer Greg Fitzgerald, his wife Jennie and daughter Emily, plus long term friends Mark and Dawn, made the short walk to the venue’s site previously best known for its association with the Bowie bandstand.

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This evening I drove to Victoria Park in Hackney to attend the East London annual Festival, All Points East and specifically ‘In The Neighbourhood. ’ This is a fun and free-entry festival that operates during the midweek of All Points East and is run in partnership with Tower Hamlets Council. The Featured Artists Coalition were promoting a new partnership with Amex Unsigned by hosting an exclusive event on the eponymous Stage.

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A memorable night at The Forum in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, as Tom Robinson entertained a packed audience with a set of classic hits and stories. Despite suffering from a couple of physical issues, Tom was in fine musical form and led an excellent four-piece band in delivering impassioned performances of The winter of ’79, Long hot summer, War baby and many other polished diamonds.

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A marvellous evening at The Bedford in Balham in the company of Abdelkader and a nine-piece collective of musicians from across North Africa and the Mediterranean. First on stage was Kader Fahem, a stunning Algerian acoustic guitarist, whose playing was as fine as I have ever seen and heard in a London venue.

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An entertaining afternoon with the Lord’s Taverners in the Nursery Pavilion, as the charity celebrated the career, membership and contributions of Stephen Fry. In attendance were Taverners’ President David Gower, Bill Wyman, Alan Davies, Jimmy Carr, Clare Boulding, Mike Gatting, Graeme Swann, Miles Jupp and many others from across the sport and the world of stage and screen.

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Ben and I could be found at Sunningdale Golf Club in Ascot today, attending the second day of the ISPS Handa Senior Open. We were blessed with glorious sunshine throughout and as the event is not as popular as The Open itself, we took advantage of some excellent sites at tees and greens to watch the professionals at close quarters.

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Mark Batchelor and I met up at the O2 Arena this evening for a step into 1970s and 1980s nostalgia courtesy of the Doobie Brothers, who are celebrating their 50 years as purveyors of classy West Coast harmonic rock with a world tour and, happily, a handful of UK gigs. The band took to the stage at exactly 8 o’clock with guitarists Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston alongside Michael McDonald on various keyboards and vocals, plus Nashville bassist and vocalist John Cowan, Marc Russo on saxophones, Ed Toth on drums, percussionist Marc Quiñones and multi-instrumentalist John McFee.

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The Featured Artists Coalition summer gathering in London Bridge offered the opportunity to catch up with contacts across the industry, including Naomi Pohl and Dave Webster from the MU, FAC CEO David Martin, Cameron Craig of the Music Producers’ Guild, Jonathan Robinson of the Music Managers Forum, plus a marvellous trio of artists: Lekiddo – Lord of the Lobsters, Lucinda Sieger and Ch’Lu. My thanks to the FAC team and hosts Cambridge Audio for the invitation.

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A delightful summer’s evening in Denmark Street, Soho, as I attended a promotional event at Rough Trade by Jo Dudderidge, well-known for his work over many years with The Travelling Band, as he promoted his new album ‘Living history’ under the artist name of Later Youth. Upon arrival, I spotted his sister Joanna – who I have known for all her superb event and portrait photography during my tenure with the MU.

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A landmark week as ELO reach the end of their tenure as a major live act with concerts in Birmingham, Manchester and London. Julie and I drove up to the Midlands yesterday to enjoy a hometown performance for the legendary Jeff Lynne and to catch up with violinist Jess Murphy who has been with the band in recent years. It was also an ideal opportunity to see Dhani Harrison with his band, as he was to be the noteworthy support for the mini-tour.

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My thanks to artist manager Howard Mills for an entertaining evening in Hackney, as we caught up on our respective news at Oslo. Many a fascinating story was exchanged! Around 9pm we walked across to Paper Dress Vintage to hear Henry Grace and his four piece band. Henry is a classic Americana songwriter and the gig was a warm-up for his appearance on the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury this weekend.

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An emotional afternoon as the hugely influential bassist and educator Gary Crosby OBE and his highly-respected business and personal partner Janine Irons OBE together discussed ‘Records That Made Us’ and carried a small but delighted audience through the history of ‘Tomorrow’s Warriors’, plus the musicians and bands they have nurtured to national recognition.

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I drove into town this evening to catch the top class Studio Kings line-up led by guitarist Mitch Dalton. This is the third time I have had the pleasure of hearing his band at the Pizza Express in Dean Street, with the four-piece completed this time by the excellent trio of drummer Sophie Alloway, bassist Steve Pearce and keyboard maestro Dave Arch.

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A marvellous evening at St George’s Church in Beckenham thanks to a very welcome live performance by Home Service, featuring – in particular – the wonderful reeds of Andy Findon, Shane Brennan’s elegant trumpet and the pin-sharp bass playing of my former MU contact, Rob Levy.

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I attended an engaging forum last night entitled “The Remix: revolutionising the music industry from the ground up”, which took place in the Tavern Room, The RSA, London WC2. The Remix brings together industry changemakers, creative business leaders and talent for an evening of bold conversations, cross-generational skill sharing, and groundbreaking ideas for artist-led business models.

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A first visit to the Ramblin’ Roots Revue, the Americana event established in 2017 to bring a range of homegrown and US artists to High Wycombe’s Bucks University. This year saw a strong vocal and instrumental mix over the three days, featuring such well-known names in the genre as Ward Thomas, Savannah Gardner, Danny & the Champions of the World, Peter Bruntnell, and The Hanging Stars.

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My thanks to Jay Mistry for the invitation to the 21st Music Mogul’s lunch at Mele & Pere in Soho this afternoon. Always a highly enjoyable event, the gathering offers the opportunity to meet new contacts in the industry and to say hello to some old friends. In particular it was a pleasure to meet Andy James of PRS for Music and Oxford graduate Helena Thalassi-Hill, plus catch up with the Queen of UK Americana, Daisy Chute, at the following drinks in The Crown.

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