All photos used on this page are taken by myself at the shows and copyright Doug Anderson 2000.

QANGO Southampton, The Brook 5 February 2000 Setlist: Introductory Fanfare Time Again Sole Survivor Bitches Crystal Danve Kilminster's Guitar solo The Smile Has Left Your Eyes All Along the Watchtower Battle Lines Walking on Air Paddydog (John Young  keyboard solo) Only Time Will Tell Hoedown Last One Home Fanfare for the Common Man - Carl Palmer drum solo Fanfare ... reprise Heat of the Moment Encore: Don't Cry

Tonight was another sell out show - there must have been brisk business in the preceding week as when I purchased my ticket only half had been sold. The venue was much fuller than for the Wetton show we saw here last April. the audience being more appreciative (and noisy) too.

The crowd began as they meant to go on - loud cheers as band entered through the narrow doorway between bass amps and drumkit. There was a brief quiet period whilst the guys settled themselves into position, a rather nervous JY awaiting the moment of truth - the intro to the show - the opening few bars of FANFARE. It took the audience a couple of notes to catch on but when they did they cheered loudly, quietening down almost immediately to listen to the music. As Carl joins in with the introductory percussive section of Fanfare he smoothly merges the pattern towards the first full track of the set, TIME AGAIN. It doesn't take Dave Kilminster long to get into his stride with some early guitar histrionics before John Wetton joins with the vocals. From our position right in front of John Young's keyboards the sound was fine except for 'Wetton's vocals. they seemed a bit distorted during most of the set.  we were right up next to the speakers initially but even after moving a little back and towards centre stage they were still distorted for most of the loud vocal sections. With just a quick "How're you doing" from Wetton before a count of three launched the second ASIA track of the evening, SOLE SURVIVOR. Again Dave lets rip with his playing throughout the track giving a very powerful performance. Wetton's vocals are powerful, perhaps adding to the distortion in our area - it being worst during the choruses where John seems to sing louder than the verses! It could also be the fact that most of the choruses have harmony vocals - adding slightly to the vocal level at these points. Dave's guitar really screams during his final solo of the song, just before the last couple of repeated "Sole Survivor's". 
Between tracks John Wetton said a few words to someone near the front at the other side of the stage allowing just a brief pause before John Young tackled the complex intro to BITCHES CRYSTAL. After this rollicking workout Carl Palmer takes the mic to say "Hello" and tell us that it's "Hot up here." Before adding "What's it like out there?".  "Hot" replied the sweaty crowd. He then went on to introduce Dave Kilminster and his GUITAR SOLO as well as pre announcing "A song by John Wetton I'm sure you're all going to know, THE SMILE HAS LEFT YOUR EYES". 
Dave got a bit cheer from the audience before he'd even played a note of the solo.  I guess a reasonable number of folk here have seen him in this very venue a few times before with Wetton's solo band. There's a smaller cheer of recognition for the brief extract of Pictures at an Exhibition Dave begins his solo with (from the ELP contingent - who sing along to it) before he mellowed out briefly for some melodic picking before launching into some intricate classically inspired playing. After each crescendo Dave received a large cheer form the crowd - possibly why the guys are returning to the Brook again on the second leg of their UK tour in April and May. As John Wetton reappears Dave moves smoothly from the end of his solo into The Smile… making for a great transition from instrumental to acoustic ballad. During some of the long notes Wetton held in this track there was still a touch of distortion from the PA unfortunately, though not too distracting.  A quick "Thanks" and the duo are straight into the next track, ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER. Palmer and Young had returned as this track began and part way through Carl began filling in the sound with some gentle percussion, John Young adding electronic colour a little further in. As Watchtower faded out Carl used his padded sticks to create some authentic rumbling effects which moved the guys nicely into the war tale that is BATTLE LINES. 
John Young merged the two tracks nicely with his keyboards - this show is becoming one long medley of tracks! As the crowd show their appreciation John Wetton said "Thanks, Johnnie Young".  The crowd kept cheering and whistling right over the long and moody introduction to the following track, the previously unheard WALKING ON AIR. There is a long, slow, moody, gradual build of power to this track, lasting a couple of minutes, before the lyrics begin and increase the tempo a touch.  The lyrics are enhanced by some added echo to Wetton's voice, though this did make it a touch hard to hear the words in places, not helped by the PA distortion. 
Carl took the mike again to tell us "Johnnie Young, this is you.  John Young on the keyboards". Again, the audience make a lot of noise, a reasonable number of then having probably seen John play in and around the Southampton area over the previous six of nine months. Before beginning his KEYBOARD SOLO John made a quick announcement, first thanking Martin Orford for loaning the keyboard, and explaining why he'd been on stage before the show began. Someone else had obviously been at the previous evenings concert too as the shouted out that "Keith Emerson had broken it". "Yes", agreed John, adding "Carl told me to send Keith the bill, and I will. He can give me a free keyboard as well!"  A second announcement followed, a bit of blatant self-publicity, "You've got to publicise your own gigs as well", just down the road at Talking Heads.  With a quick "apologies for anything that doesn't sound right, but this will have to do" he launched into the solo. I'd not noticed any slipped notes earlier in the set but there were a couple during the early part of the solo - nothing major and probably just being unused to the keyboard, it being a completely different brand and model to the normal one. Another reason could also be that the section with the dropped notes was being played extremely fast!  There was a little titter as John fumbled over the first chord of the next track, ONLY TIME WILL TELL, though he regained control immediately, beginning again, and leading the rest of the band into the track with confidence. The lead is soon passed over to Dave with more guitar  overdrive in evidence.
Just a brief pause before the guys don imaginary checked shirts and take us to a HOEDOWN. The crowd loved this track, chorusing "QANGO, QANGO" over their applause as the track faded into the night. Once the crowd eventually quietened down, John Young introduced us to the next track as  "a song that's becoming a bit of a conundrum, an old one and a new one! So over to you Carl" John Wetton actually started the track, LAST ONE HOME, with a few rumbling bass notes before Carl made an excellent attempt at rolling sea noises with his cymbals and padded sticks.  The music fades slightly as Wetton's vocals begin, soon building again before Dave takes a long, mellow, Dave Gilmore inspired, solo between verses. As the solo builds Carl moved onto normal sticks and the guitar moved away from Floyd territory to a more searing guitar solo. Only time for a quick "Thank you" before Carl followed the keyboard intro with a heavy beat to introduce FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN. Carl's snakes seemed to have a fair amount of echo added to them, initially at least, during this track. As had become the norm at this point, Young and Kilminster duelled Emerson's work out between then, sharing and alternating runs in an ever more wild attempt to catch each other out. An interesting spectacle! Talking of spectacle, Fanfare faded out to allow Carl to show us all just how easy playing the drums can be (if you're an expert) with one of his famous DRUM SOLO's. The solo begins with lots of cymbal crashes and racing round every item of the kit, showing off his speed and precision.  Calming things down a touch he brings out a tambourine, playing it whilst pounding on the bass drums with his feet. He slows things down even more before beginning a cheer along ("Hoi" required from the crowd) section with the tambourine , upping the tempo until the crowd can't keep up. Laying down the tambourine Carl removes his waistcoat whilst keeping the bass drums going
The others returned as Dave Kilminster took the lead straight away in this brief FANFARE REPRISE. Another loud cheer for this ELP track resounded throughout the Brook, another "QANGO" chorus adding to the happy atmosphere. "The one and only Carl Palmer" shouted John Wetton above the din before A loud wail of guitar feedback introduced us to the penultimate number of the evening, HEAT OF THE MOMENT. Dave played guitar with his teeth, Hendrix style, at one point during either this track or Fanfare. I'd moved to the rear of the hall during this track so I could nip upstairs to the balcony for some photo's from a higher viewpoint during the encore and noticed that the vocals were still distorted a touch here too.
They guys left the stage to tremendous applause for a brief time before returning for the final number of the evening, DON'T CRY.  The crowd lapped this track up and would have cheered all night had QANGO continued.  Unfortunately that was it for the show so with a cheery wave the band left the stage, the cheers taking a couple of minutes to subside.  A triumphant show and one I'm glad I was there for!