Richie Sambora at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

2012 1016 Richiesambora

I was at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night to see Richie Sambora (the guitarist with Bon Jovi). I had a brilliant time. Naturally enough he mainly performed songs from his new album, Aftermath of the Lowdown (which I haven’t got hold of yet; I really must, it sounds brilliant) but played a few others too, including a cover of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ by Oasis, which was most unexpected. I was a bit gutted he didn’t perform very many songs from his first two albums, but at least he did ‘Stranger In this Town’, which is my favourite.

He played quite a few Bon Jovi tracks, including ‘These Days’, although personally I’d have preferred him to perform more of his solo songs. I love Bon Jovi, but I’ve seen them before and I’m sure I’ll see them again, and there were several songs I would like to have heard that weren’t performed. I still had a fantastic time though.

The Empire itself is pretty awesome too: a converted theatre with the seats taken out of the stalls for standing/moshing purposes. There wasn’t a great deal of moshing going on last night, despite the surprising plethora of younger people there; I’d expected the audience to be mostly older. I found it quite amusing that the older people hung around at the back while the younger ones pushed forward into the crowd.