Eddie and the Hotrods The 100 Club 06/07/18

Quite a sad moment really as this will probably be the last time we see Barrie Masters performing, unless he is like Lazarus or Wilko and comes back from the dead. Only Joking he is not dead or dying but this is the Rods farewell tour. After a few pints in some Soho hostelries we entered the 100 club, one of the best places in London for live music, so much atmosphere and history. Some of the bands who have played there, blues, punk, soul, rock and home to probably one of the longest Northern Soul all-nighters in the country. Just a great place. For a change we managed to see the support which was Ed Tenpole Tudor, very entertaining as he went through his repertoire just accompanied by his acoustic guitar, he is as mad as a hatter.

When the Rods came on I was a bit worried because I had heard that Barrie was ill. He may have been but he done his hardest not to show it. I can always chatting to him when only a few people had turned up to one of his gigs, he told me that they always tried to put everything into a show because he understood how the working class man only had so much money to spend. He always put everything into it. On the night he gave an exuberant display and looked as though he enjoyed every minute of the show. The band played all their hits, “Telephone Girl,” “Do anything you wanna do,” “quit this town,” and all the other songs that made them one of my favourite bands, finishing as their usual encore “Gloria.” All top class songs, a cross between R&B and Punk rock. I thoroughly enjoyed the night and if it is their last tour I wish them all the best. It would be good to see Barrie Masters enjoy his retirement but I am pretty sure that he will pop up again. Good luck to him.

Duncan, July 2018