Toby Jepson - London Amersham Arms

After seeing Toby Jepson in action supporting Thunder, this headline gig at the Amersham Arms was a must. After being in the pub for a few hours, everyone was all chilled out for a very late night. Strange gig, as the headliner wasn't onstage til 10:45 pm. Even with the gig not being too full, was this cause if the lateness of the gig - I don't know, those in attendance were certainly a noisy bunch with lots of space to be very happy and dance.

Jepson opened with Breakdown and from there headed into some of the Little Angels classics from years past with the inclusion of 'Kicking Up Dust' and 'Boneyard'. The 4th song in, 'Some People Are More Equal Than Others' culled from the excellent 'Ignorance Is Bliss' solo album, was one that this reviewer hadn't heard since seeing Jepson in Liverpool all those years ago in 2002 and certainly proved a highlight. However it was the Little Angels material that was to make up the majority of the set. Next up came 'I Want Love' and 'All Roads' from the Too Posh To Mosh CD and whislt I was never lucky enough to see the Angels perform these themselves Jepson takes both songs and makes them his own based on this evidence. Whereas these more upbeat numbers gets the crowd up dancing and bouncing it is the acoustic introductions to 'Don't Prey' and 'Ain't Gonna Cry' that really bring out Jepson's vocal talents to the full and I'd swera there was some people with tears in their eyes. Awww....!

Back into business again with 'Unwind' and 'Inside Out', both of which I'd not heard for a long time and yet still sound great. 'Forbidden Fruit' is again brilliant and seemingly was dropped from the Thunder set early on the tour, shame cause I love it. Back to the Little Angels stuff with 'Young Gods', 'Radical Your Lover' and 'Too Much Too Young'. Now as much as I am a fan of Mr Jepson, the musicians that Jepson has surrounded himself with also deserve equal praise and prove to be top notch. They have the ability to take the older material and make them more rock sounding and perhaps vital than they were originally. And for the finale, well 'Way That I Live' couldn't have been a better way to leave a show. I so much wanted more!!