John Waite, John Parr
London Borderline
8th May, 2011

What a bill! The two Johns proved themselves again to be two of Britain’s finest, criminally overlooked frontmen. Parr’s half-hour solo acoustic set kicked off with the stompingly strummed Coming To The Borderline, before his Gillette cut (ouch), the impassioned The Best A Man Can Get, and roadhouse hit, Naughty Naughty. At The Cathedral was a haunting war protest, and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well led into the classic St. Elmo’s Fire. Waite and his three cohorts followed in electric fashion, in every sense. Their 16-song, 80-minute set demonstrated the depth of his writing talent, solo corkers interspersed with the odd classic from Bad English (a searing Best Of What I Got) and The Babys (the romping Back On My Feet Again). Among the solo spectaculars were the new and Bad Company-esque Evil, a swaggering Mr. Wonderful and, with John on guitar, In Dreams. The New York Dolls homage, Down Town, bore measured bite, new US 7” If Ever You Get Lonely treads a similar path to Foreigner, and Rough And Tumble shook things up before an encore of The Babys’ Head First.