Twisted Wheel / Weller's Forest Adventures, Sherwood by Winner Russel Lee.

Twisted Wheel: Hard working band!

The last time I saw Paul at an outdoor gig was at Finsbury Park in the mid 90's, so heading up from London with the sun shining, I was full of anticipation for what was in store.

I was at the Island Records gig 2 weeks before, which, although an excellent gig, was a bit more subdued than others.

We got to the park only to find that there were no camping facilities and the nearest campsite was full up, uh-oh... a sober one for me then. Oh well!

Twisted Wheel had just got on stage as we entered the Arena. A sizeable crowd were already at the front of stage as they ploughed through tracks from their debut album. They certainly seemed to have earned their stripes as a worthy support band (I've seen a few dodgy ones over the years), the recent support slot for Oasis obviously paying dividends.

The all too familiar riff that starts Peacock Suit saw the main man hit the stage. The crowd roared and the heavens opened. Fuckin typical. But, hey, who gives a shit about getting wet when Weller's strutting his stuff!!!

He played through a mix of older and more recent tracks then came the intro for Shout To The Top. The crowd erupted. I was pretty close to the front, and what an atmosphere. Style Council at the Albert Hall, '87 (or was it '88?), it all came flooding back! With Eton Rifles following hot on the heels, this was one very happy old Mod.

Paul really seemed to be enjoying himself as he played through a good mix of old and new, and just as the sun was slipping behind the trees, played an excellent version of Wild Wood, trying to capture some of it on me phone was a bit tricky tho!

The familiar encore of Broken Stones, That's Entertainment, and Town Called Malice brought proceedings to a close, my voice had gone, my legs were a few feet behind me but I still wanted more....

Sherwood's peacock suit