AOR-Spirit of The Alarm- Talking Heads, Southampton 07-12-2008
Having being an Alarm fan for over 23 years and hearing their songs sang many many times by the legendary original singer Mike Peters, I was a little apprehensive with this new venture by original guitarist Dave Sharp. Dave has put a band together to celebrate the music of The Alarm. Tonight is only the band's third live gig together, kicking of with "Hardland" from the "Change" album Dave's Classic guitar sound was immediately recognizable and great to hear in it's original form. Lead singer Wayne Parry did a pretty good job on vocals, doing his best as a front man to whip up the crowd. The band is made up of 5 members with Wayne Parry(Lead Vocals),Dave Black(Bass), Si Smith(Drums), Tom Szakaly(Hammond Organ, piano) and of course Dave Sharp(Lead Guitar/Vocals). It was slightly disappointing not to hear some of Dave's classic tracks such as "One Step Closer to Home" and "Change" , which hopefully we will get to hear as the band gain more confidence.Despite seeming a little nervous the band put in a commendable performance with excellent versions of rarely played songs such a "The Road" and "Black Sun". The set was cut short due to the Sunday night curfew, the short set ended with the classic track "Strength" with Dave really letting with go with a brilliant guitar solo, a version that was true to the original from the album of the same name, with many audience members singing it out at the tops of their voices. An interesting variation from the "Alarm family" which just seems to just grow and grow, Mike has "The Alarm",Eddie has "Westworld", Dave Has "Aor" what next maybe a band from Nigel Twist ??
