Gig: Prezence at The Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Green

Encouraged by my recent trip to a ska gig, we decided to try out another music event in West London. I haven’t yet managed to find many music venues pubs around Richmond and Twickenham (Eel Pie Club excepted) – so please let me know of any you have found. So we ventured to Hampton Court and The Cardinal Wolsey. You can walk there from the station and it backs onto the river so I expect it’s great in the summer.

Irritating domestic arrangements meant that I was late and had missed the first half. So I spent a while savouring my well deserved glass of red wine (my companion proclaimed the Shepherd Neame Spitfire “well kept and acceptable”) and assessing my fellow gig goers. Impressed that one or two sported rock style long hair, as the majority were old enough to have lost most of theirs. I certainly didn’t feel out of place here – but amongst friends and contemporaries. Although some of the girls had made a real effort to look glamourously “rock chick” most were in comfortable jeans. The pub was low ceilinged but the bar was large – plenty of stools. There was an area to the back with a small crowd and a large clear area in front of the band – presumably for dancing.

The youngest guy in the room turned out to be the lead singer – appropriate very long hair but a checked shirt (I thought black tee shirts were de rigour for rock – there were TT Races, Cult and Deep Purple tees on the audience). Anyway, the second set started with an encouraging screen of dry ice and we were off.

Most in the pub were tapping (and head banging) along to the music and a couple of real enthusiasts had taken to the dance floor. Hope their kids aren’t watching! Prezence are a Surrey based rock covers band and they could certainly belt out a good tune.

There were Deep Purple tunes and Bon Jovi songs (“Lay your love on me”) and I was delighted to hear “Mistreated” by Whitesnake. Now I must be the oldest living Whitesnake fan alive (I even appear on one of their DVDs) – and I could only find this on one live album (of the nine I possess) so it’s not well known. Not by Whitesnake anyway. I happily sung along – the rest of the crowd listened politely – no doubt waiting for some more popular covers.

I smiled at the peroxide poodle perm of one of the guitarists although the lead guitarist (who apparently also plays for a band called Rocktopus) was pretty good – using a foot level box of controls with skill. The keyboard guy livened up on a few tracks and looked a bit bored on others, and the drummer alternated between rather good and tired.

I watched the dancers jump around to Van Halen and we all joined in with “Highway Star” – good to hear some Led Zeppelin. As an encore we were treated to Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” – not quite the same as when I heard it at Twickenham a year or so ago but passable. A further encore provided some AC/DC “Highway to Hell”. It was past midnight and time to go home.

Chatting afterwards I learned that my favourite Whitesnake track – “Here I go again” had been left off the playlist in response to an audience request. If I find that audience member…

Anyway, a satisfactory rock gig. Prezence were pretty good, although the range of the lead singer left a little to be desired. Whilst it’s always nice to hear popular covers it would have been good to hear some of their own stuff. It made me think of a quote by Judy Garland: “Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else”.