100 Club, London

100 Club, London - Saturday 23rd April 2022.

As followers of The TR5’s will know, I host 3 different radio shows on 2 radio stations. Whilst doing this I get sent and get to hear some great new music now and again. This happened with a studio project called Bus Stop Lovers. I got sent the first album. This is the originals project of one Dave Fletcher, lead singer of Jam tribute band The Jam’d. I played some Bus Stop Lovers on my radio shows, I played some Jam’d too. Dave and I got talking. I saw that The Jam’d had a gig coming up at the legendary 100 Club in London. “Any chance The TR5’s can support?” I asked, it being a very prestigious venue that we would love to play at. Dave checks out our Facebook page and comes back straight away, “Yeah, I don’t see why not” he says. We’re in!

Valentine kindly agrees to give me a lift to Finn’s house on the day of the gig. We load up and head to the rendezvous point. Upon arriving we are greeted by Finn in his work clothes. “I’m off for a quick shower” he says. Valentine and I unload his car and he heads off. Richey arrives soon after. We start to load his car up and Finn arrives back, fully dressed and gig ready. We’re just about to drive away when our exit is blocked by a local fire crew. They’re investigating the huge fire on the ranges behind Finn’s house. They say it’s significant but they have it under control. That explains all the smoke outside my house 2 miles away!

We hit the road and despite the odd recalculation of the Sat Nav we’re soon on the familiar route of the A3 in to London. The journey is smooth and painless until we get nearer to the centre of town and then we just slow right down to a crawl. The joys of driving in Central London! It takes us about an hour and a half all told but eventually we find the stage door entrance to the venue. We’ve arrived just after Ted too.

We’ve already been warned about the 3 flights of stairs to get down to the venue so we know what to expect as we unload the cars. Richey and Ted head off to their allotted car parking spaces as Finn and I lug the stuff down. The Jam’d have finished their soundcheck so we say hello to soundman Phil and set about setting stuff up around The Jam’d’s gear. The stage is nice and long so we decide the best place for Ted to set up his drums is at the end. We’re taking a break from our normal 3-1-1 formation to go for a 4-1 set-up with Finn just behind.

We really are walking in hallowed footsteps at this venue. I chat with the guys from The Jam’d and it really is such a pleasure to meet another band who like a bit of banter and who have a great sense of humour. We love that! Within 5 minutes we’re all taking the mickey out of each other! This is going to be such a great evening.

Rusty soon arrives and we run through a couple of quick songs to soundcheck. Straight away the sound is great. Phil clearly knows what he is doing. With everyone happy we take the chance for photo opportunities. We pose on the stage in front of the big 100 and then outside the front door under the 100 Club sign. Ricky and Patti take the photos and we’re well chuffed with how they look.

There’s still an hour before show time so, as everyone else decides to go for food, Richey and I decide to head to a local pub for an alcohol-free beer and to keep an eye on the football scores. His team is playing. They draw 0-0. My team had won 3-1 earlier in the day so I am happy. The pub we’re in is heaving but it was good to find a seat and chill out away from the venue for a bit.

Richey and I then head back to the gig. We’re greeted by a queue of people waiting to get in. It’s not quite time for the doors to open yet though. We sheepishly walk past them and make our way down the stairs and in to the venue. Security guys greet us and furnish us with wristbands and we head to the bar again before hanging out in the dressing room briefly for more banter with The Jam’d (honestly Dave, I didn’t turn your fan up to 2!) Not really ones to enjoy hanging around backstage we head out front again to witness a steady stream of people coming down the stairs and in to the venue. Before we know it, the place is packed.

With everyone back and fed and watered it’s time for us to take the stage. We go straight in to ‘Hello World’ and we are really rocking. I look around from the stage to a sea of people smiling and loving what we do. Each song we play is greeted with huge roars of approval. There’s lots of dancing too. The Jam’s music was inherently built on 60’s sounds so it is no surprise that the audience are loving what we’re doing. We’re loving this too!

With time running out I realise that we’re going to need to drop a song from the set, the last thing we want to do is overrun our time. I shout across the stage “Let’s go on to ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ “. Ted just looks at me blankly. Ah, of course, he’s got his ear plugs in. I sidle across the stage and explain the plan. Everyone else is made aware too. ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ really rocks, the whole place is rocking now and the applause at the end of each song is almost deafening, even with ear plugs in!

We finish our set with ‘Slow Down’, it’s an old Larry Williams song that The Beatles covered (we play their version really!) but The Jam recorded it on their debut LP as well. It’s a real crowd pleaser. The place is really rocking. I’m dripping in sweat too (No, Dave from The Jam’d, I didn’t turn your fan up to 2!) but that’s it! It’s all over. We’re on a tight schedule tonight so there’s no time for an encore. We depart the stage to huge cheers of approval.

With everything packed and out of the way, we settle down with more alcohol-free beers to watch The Jam’d. Many people approach us to say how much they enjoyed our set, we’re really buzzing, this whole place is really buzzing.

The Jam’d hit the stage and go straight into ‘In The City’ and what follows is a set of Jam songs played with power and passion by a band that clearly loves the band that they are a tribute to. As the only known Jam tribute band on the circuit with a brass section their choice of songs includes some not often heard classics like ‘Tales From The Riverbank’ and ‘Just Who Is The 5 O’ Clock Hero’ (dedicated to John Weller on the anniversary of his passing). The banter in-between the songs is plentiful and the whole set has been a real pleasure to witness from start to finish. Amazing.

Richey and Ted then head off to get the cars and then we set about loading our equipment out, up the 3 flights of stairs! We’re still buzzing though, so we don’t care!

The venue has pretty much emptied out at this point so we say our thanks and goodbyes to soundman Phil and the guys from The Jam’d. “Aren’t you going to stay and help us load our gear out?” asks John from The Jam’d. “No” I say straight-faced, “We’ve done ours”. Oh yes, the banter has been good tonight!

With that, we’re out of there. Our first gig at the one and only 100 Club is done. Let’s hope we can do it again sometime. Finn and I jump in to Richey’s car and we’re back out in to the London traffic. It’s heading towards midnight now as we crawl past Carnaby Street and there appears to be an inordinate amount of people still out and about at this time of night. Many of them are scantily clad females causing Finn to remark “Blimey, it’s like Newcastle”!! We crawl past the stage entrance of the London Palladium too. Outside which there is a lot of people hanging around. “I wonder what’s been going on at the Palladium tonight” I muse in the car, “Dogging” says Richey. Finn and I guffaw and the tears of laughter roll down my face. Classic. What an excellent night all round.

- Lucky