This band were advertised as Southern Rock with an ex-Lynryd Skynryd player in it so we thought we’d give them a go. They had been doing the Feenstra circuit for a while and seemed regular visitors to these shores. We were at the pub quite early in order to get a table and were in the second row with virtually an unrestricted view to the stage only feet away.
There was a support act and as usual Pete Feenstra gave them a big introduction. They were Four Wheel Drive, all youngsters and unfortunately they had chosen a name that comes up about 10 million Google hits so I can’t give much detail about them.
As I said they were young and it looked like they had got a diploma in rock bandsmanship. Apart from the invisible drummer there were twin lead guitarists who competed in gyrations and hair tossing. The curly fair haired one played a black Les Paul and the curly brown haired one had a Strat.
They both played very loud and looked like they were having a whale (wail?) of a time. The bassist lacked the curly hair and facial hair so he made up for it with quite a bit of grimacing and posing at the front of the stage with one foot on a monitor. He also handled the lead vocals with the other 2 chiming in.
We had a set of loud fairly self indulgent heavy metal type rock that did grate after a while, OK after about 30 seconds then.
Teresa quickly went from being amused at their youth to how much longer are they going on for quite quickly? As she said – when all else fails play loud and take your shirt off. The Strat player did just that.
They got a good reception from the easy to please crowd and Pete Feenstra thanked them profusely (they probably played for nothing). After a short interval on came Skinny Molly with the ex-Lynryd Skynryd Mike Estes resplendent in a Tom Petty style top hat. That only lasted for one song and we had a set of good American blues rock.
I’m not very familiar with either their repertoire or that of Lynryd Skynryd apart from the couple of big hits so can’t comment on the individual songs but they were very proficient and quite relentless. Mike Estes played his lovely old 1959 Les Paul Junior double cutaway all through and looked like he seriously knew what he was doing.
The other guitarist, Chris Walker is actually English although he fitted into the band perfectly and with his long hair (frequently tossed of course) and shades and looked the part. He played a Strat with a foray into a Gretsch and another Strat (both the Strats had the middle control knob removed for some reason). On bass was Luke Bradshaw and Kurt Pietro handled the drumming. They were good and tight and Four Wheel Drive could certainly learn something about doing a good set from them.
We had some obvious Lynryd Skynryd songs and of course Free Bird was the encore. I thought that despite their obvious proficiency there was just a touch of been there before about them. I don’t know what their tour schedule is but maybe they were coming to the end of it and were slightly going through the motions. The audience loved them and I can’t say that I was at all disappointed.
Teresa was not totally happy with Free Bird as it went on for quite a time and ended up a bit of a messy jam. I think she prefers her classics not to be messed around with. The set finished well after 11 and in seconds the bassist was out from behind the stage with the CDs for sale. I thought them worthy of a bit of extra cash so bought the CD and a shot glass as well. For some reason I only got 3 of the band to sign the CD cover. Maybe the drummer couldn’t write! Very enjoyable.
http://www.skinnymollyrocks.com/
There are good band biogs on the site & some links to myspace pages for some of them.
Thursday 20 November 2008
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Stephen Stills - Brighton October 10th 2008
We had a choice for this one – either drive to Brighton on a Friday for a sit down gig or hike to Shepherd’s Bush the next night for a stand up. The sit down option won and I booked fairly reasonable seats in row H. After agonising over whether to stay the night and rave in Brighton or just drive home the prices of a one night stay forced my hand into driving back. That and the fact that the venue told me that it was a 7.45 start with no support for a 9.40 finish. We’d be back before midnight if I drove so that was that.
The drive down there was as you’d expect for a rush hour crawl through Croydon to the M23 but we had plenty of time. We parked in an NCP type place close to the venue which is on the front facing the sea and went in. The merchandising was rather desultory with half a dozen t-shirts and some signed old CD’s on offer. There was nothing there to tempt us.
We went up to the busy bar and had time for a quiet drink before going in about 7.30. Things didn’t bode too well is The Brighton Centre isn’t a theatre but more a big empty all purpose arena. The stalls are totally flat but the stage was quite high so you had a chance of a decent view even if it may come with a stiff neck if you were right at the front. Round 3 sides were banked seats and unfortunately it was only about ¾ full for a genuine legend.
As with most sports hall type places it was high and there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. In the winter I suspect it would be pretty cold as well. I can well imagine the place doing a Holiday on Ice spectacular in a month or two.
More or less on time the lights dimmed to near blackness for the audience and on trooped the band to great applause. As if to confirm my fears of cold Steve Stills wore quite a big coat that only came off after the first song of the second half. He went straight into Helplessly Hoping playing a gorgeous Gretsch White Falcon. The sound, aided by a couple of banks of curved PA speakers high up was absolutely superb. I was pleasantly surprised by that. You could have expected quite a bit of echo but someone had done their homework well.
The band was pretty stripped down with just Steve Stills on guitar, with 3 others on bass, keyboards and drums. The bass guitarist was tiny and had on Mexican trousers – you know ones with metal bits down the side which led you to believe that he was in fact Mexican but when introduced at the end he had an Italian name. On drums was Joe Vitale and he did some back up vocals as did the other two.
After the first song the band trooped off and on came the Martin D28. Once again the sound was very good but I think he must hold the record now for the number of guitar changes in a set. They were changed after every song and sometimes in the middle of songs as well. Fortunately it didn’t interrupt the flow. What followed was about 45 minutes of magic.
We had Treetop Flyer, Change Partners, 4 + 20, Blind Fiddler, Girl From The North Country, Johnny’s Garden, Cross of Freedom and to end the set Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (the band came on half way through this one as well). His voice although a touch croaky at first got better and better and he didn’t hold back at all. He did say that he wouldn’t be doing the castrato parts on a CSN & Y song but he managed them all with no disappointment.
We got a decent bit of chat with explanations of Johnny’s Garden (he inherited the gardener from buying a house from Ringo who bought it from Peter Sellers & the gardener came with it) and also the info that the gardener had given him the trousers he was wearing! He was also pretty chuffed with losing some weight. He was on the ELF diet he told us – eat less food! He definitely seemed to be enjoying himself which I like to see.
After the first set they trooped off probably to give his guitar tech a break as he hadn’t stopped at all. During the interval I was given a couple of chances to show off and I grasped them with both hands. First off as we stood to stretch our legs the guy who had been sitting next to me said he’d like to know how the Martin was tuned for Judy Blue Eyes so I told him straightaway – E E E E B & E. That was how I was going to tune my Aria acoustic as soon as I got home.
We decided to try the bar to find then both heaving with not enough staff of course. Teresa had suggested I take my sweatshirt off to show my loud Hard Rock Nashville guitar shirt so in deference to her wishes I obeyed as usual. I took it off in the toilet and had the weird sensation of actually being stared at as I walked back along the bar. Then when I reached Teresa at the bar she happened to be standing next to a bloke who was wearing a guitar shirt as well. Only it was rather a weak one and he went from being rather proud of it to blabbering his appreciation of my much superior effort. Poor man probably thought he looked rather cool until he saw mine.
We just had time to get another drink before going back in for the second half. This was all electric and as I mentioned earlier after the first song the coat came off and it was all rock’n’roll. Teresa was nowhere near as keen on the second half as it was like a series of electric jams. The couple to my right obviously had wind of what was coming up as they departed after the acoustic set. I liked the electric stuff but according to the Stephen Stills forum there were those who didn’t.
I wasn’t too familiar with the electric stuff but looking at the forum (you have to sign up to read it) we probably had Buffalo Springfield 's Rock ' n Roll woman, Bluebird, Tom Petty / Mudcrutch's "The wrong thing to do" ("a song about my life", he said)! The encore was Love The One You’re With and that was it. Looking at the forum he has varied the set list and I would have loved to have heard Dark Star or Woodstock which he played on some of the European dates.
The finish was as stated and although it was early he isn’t that young anymore and has had prostate cancer recently so he’s doing pretty well and we were overjoyed to have heard some great songs live at last. Teresa was a touch disappointed that Graham Nash didn’t come on and do Marrakech Express though! We were back home by 11.40 so Brighton was denied our presence for the night. Maybe next time.
http://stephenstills.com/index-v10.html - not the best web site in the world.
Here is something from the forum:
http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2008/10/stephen-stills-olympia-paris-oct-5th.html good review of the Paris gig & good pics as well.
I have just seen SS at Brighton UK. His solo acoustic set was fantastic, he was in great voice and his playing was spot on. Several gags about his weight and the amount he has lost. He certainly looks a lot fitter. That's the good news. The electric set was a shambles - the numbers were all over amplified and instead of his trademark light inventive electric guitar licks we got heavyish blues playing of the standard that I can hear from pub bands any weekend of the year. He played the riff on Rock and Roll Woman with too much distortion which masked the melody, and put an overlong blues solo in the middle of Bluebird. I appreciate that he may want to update the sound, but sheer volume and overlong solos is not the way, in my opinion. I suggest SS revisits the tracks and plays them in a lighter style where the quality of the song and the playing shine through. SS needs to look at his audience and appreciate they bought the original records and are looking to hear something similar, or am I a lone voice.
The drive down there was as you’d expect for a rush hour crawl through Croydon to the M23 but we had plenty of time. We parked in an NCP type place close to the venue which is on the front facing the sea and went in. The merchandising was rather desultory with half a dozen t-shirts and some signed old CD’s on offer. There was nothing there to tempt us.
We went up to the busy bar and had time for a quiet drink before going in about 7.30. Things didn’t bode too well is The Brighton Centre isn’t a theatre but more a big empty all purpose arena. The stalls are totally flat but the stage was quite high so you had a chance of a decent view even if it may come with a stiff neck if you were right at the front. Round 3 sides were banked seats and unfortunately it was only about ¾ full for a genuine legend.
As with most sports hall type places it was high and there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. In the winter I suspect it would be pretty cold as well. I can well imagine the place doing a Holiday on Ice spectacular in a month or two.
More or less on time the lights dimmed to near blackness for the audience and on trooped the band to great applause. As if to confirm my fears of cold Steve Stills wore quite a big coat that only came off after the first song of the second half. He went straight into Helplessly Hoping playing a gorgeous Gretsch White Falcon. The sound, aided by a couple of banks of curved PA speakers high up was absolutely superb. I was pleasantly surprised by that. You could have expected quite a bit of echo but someone had done their homework well.
The band was pretty stripped down with just Steve Stills on guitar, with 3 others on bass, keyboards and drums. The bass guitarist was tiny and had on Mexican trousers – you know ones with metal bits down the side which led you to believe that he was in fact Mexican but when introduced at the end he had an Italian name. On drums was Joe Vitale and he did some back up vocals as did the other two.
After the first song the band trooped off and on came the Martin D28. Once again the sound was very good but I think he must hold the record now for the number of guitar changes in a set. They were changed after every song and sometimes in the middle of songs as well. Fortunately it didn’t interrupt the flow. What followed was about 45 minutes of magic.
We had Treetop Flyer, Change Partners, 4 + 20, Blind Fiddler, Girl From The North Country, Johnny’s Garden, Cross of Freedom and to end the set Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (the band came on half way through this one as well). His voice although a touch croaky at first got better and better and he didn’t hold back at all. He did say that he wouldn’t be doing the castrato parts on a CSN & Y song but he managed them all with no disappointment.
We got a decent bit of chat with explanations of Johnny’s Garden (he inherited the gardener from buying a house from Ringo who bought it from Peter Sellers & the gardener came with it) and also the info that the gardener had given him the trousers he was wearing! He was also pretty chuffed with losing some weight. He was on the ELF diet he told us – eat less food! He definitely seemed to be enjoying himself which I like to see.
After the first set they trooped off probably to give his guitar tech a break as he hadn’t stopped at all. During the interval I was given a couple of chances to show off and I grasped them with both hands. First off as we stood to stretch our legs the guy who had been sitting next to me said he’d like to know how the Martin was tuned for Judy Blue Eyes so I told him straightaway – E E E E B & E. That was how I was going to tune my Aria acoustic as soon as I got home.
We decided to try the bar to find then both heaving with not enough staff of course. Teresa had suggested I take my sweatshirt off to show my loud Hard Rock Nashville guitar shirt so in deference to her wishes I obeyed as usual. I took it off in the toilet and had the weird sensation of actually being stared at as I walked back along the bar. Then when I reached Teresa at the bar she happened to be standing next to a bloke who was wearing a guitar shirt as well. Only it was rather a weak one and he went from being rather proud of it to blabbering his appreciation of my much superior effort. Poor man probably thought he looked rather cool until he saw mine.
We just had time to get another drink before going back in for the second half. This was all electric and as I mentioned earlier after the first song the coat came off and it was all rock’n’roll. Teresa was nowhere near as keen on the second half as it was like a series of electric jams. The couple to my right obviously had wind of what was coming up as they departed after the acoustic set. I liked the electric stuff but according to the Stephen Stills forum there were those who didn’t.
I wasn’t too familiar with the electric stuff but looking at the forum (you have to sign up to read it) we probably had Buffalo Springfield 's Rock ' n Roll woman, Bluebird, Tom Petty / Mudcrutch's "The wrong thing to do" ("a song about my life", he said)! The encore was Love The One You’re With and that was it. Looking at the forum he has varied the set list and I would have loved to have heard Dark Star or Woodstock which he played on some of the European dates.
The finish was as stated and although it was early he isn’t that young anymore and has had prostate cancer recently so he’s doing pretty well and we were overjoyed to have heard some great songs live at last. Teresa was a touch disappointed that Graham Nash didn’t come on and do Marrakech Express though! We were back home by 11.40 so Brighton was denied our presence for the night. Maybe next time.
http://stephenstills.com/index-v10.html - not the best web site in the world.
Here is something from the forum:
http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2008/10/stephen-stills-olympia-paris-oct-5th.html good review of the Paris gig & good pics as well.
I have just seen SS at Brighton UK. His solo acoustic set was fantastic, he was in great voice and his playing was spot on. Several gags about his weight and the amount he has lost. He certainly looks a lot fitter. That's the good news. The electric set was a shambles - the numbers were all over amplified and instead of his trademark light inventive electric guitar licks we got heavyish blues playing of the standard that I can hear from pub bands any weekend of the year. He played the riff on Rock and Roll Woman with too much distortion which masked the melody, and put an overlong blues solo in the middle of Bluebird. I appreciate that he may want to update the sound, but sheer volume and overlong solos is not the way, in my opinion. I suggest SS revisits the tracks and plays them in a lighter style where the quality of the song and the playing shine through. SS needs to look at his audience and appreciate they bought the original records and are looking to hear something similar, or am I a lone voice.
Friday 10 October 2008
The Mick Taylor Band Beaverwood 9th October 2008
Beaverwood Club 9th October 2008
We had seen Mick Taylor once before on a supporting bill with John Mayall and were impressed. Now it was Pete Feenstra’s turn to host the ex-Rolling Stone – how he must hate that tag. It was a slightly chill evening and we were there a bit before the advertised 7.30 opening time to find it already open with Mr Feenstra at the door.
Unfortunately he had gone back to the Albert Lee stage plan of having it in the middle of the club. He had seriously cut down on the number of tables but we were early enough to get a couple of half decent seats. One look at the way it was set out told us that we would have to stand when the main act came on as there was quite a space in front of the stage that was bound to be occupied by those standing.
We settled down to natter to the people who took the rest of the seats around us and wait for others to turn up. Teresa’s brother was a definite no show as his band was rehearsing. As with the Stan Webb gig we were early enough to catch the support doing their sound check or at least most of them as the electric guitarist turned up after the other two had finished.
Pete and Derek arrived too late to grab any the seats around us so contented themselves with standing to the side of the stage and catching up with the others they knew who had arrived. The support came on and they were Andy Sharrocks and The Smoking Jackets
http://www.carta.co.uk/greenie/
http://www.lemonrock.com/paulgreen
They consisted of two acoustic guitarists, one of whom was Andy Sharrocks in his leather pork pie hat who did most of the singing and Paul Green on white SG Junior. Paul Green had played with various nonentity bands and had peaked with Suzi Quatro and Brian Connolly’s Sweet! Check the link to chart the life of a musician who has been around for a long time and enjoyed himself without ever hitting the big time. It’s quite interesting.
I have to say that I wasn’t over impressed with the band. The make up of two acoustics and an electric didn’t work for me. The singers deep, growly vocals seemed to be an impersonation of someone from the deep south, you know, Crawley way. Pete and I exchanged quizzical glances at the music on offer throughout their set and although the audience were appreciative (the crowd there usually are good and fair) I wasn’t at all disappointed when their last song came and went.
That al least gave us the chance to catch up a bit with Pete and Derek but we had to do it one at a time as I was fearful of losing our seats. There had been the usual jockeying around by later arrivals to get a decent spot for a good view and of course you can rely on Pete Feenstra to throw a spanner in the works.
Just before the main band came on he encouraged everyone to come onto the bit of floor in front of the band and thus ruin the view of all the people who were early and had got good seats! We realised this may well happen and just laughed. But at least our legs weren’t tired from standing through the support. Those that had put chairs there were allowed to move them to the very front and the crowd thronged behind. It meant that they were very in the face of the band on the low stage but it didn’t faze them at all.
After the interval on came the Mick Taylor Band to good applause.
http://www.micktaylor.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Taylor
http://www.maxmiddleton.com/
Mick hasn’t lost any weight since we last saw him and he is decidedly chubby. He looks exactly like he is – an ageing rock star with plenty of hair. With a belly to be proud of you do have that choice of where to hang the Les Paul. There is the under the belly and run the risk of not being able to see what you are doing, the BB King style of hang it by your hip and play sideways and at normal length or as Mick favoured just a bit above the belly for comfort.
He had a little trouble with his tuning at first but it all sorted out after the first song and it bothered him no further. He is a very consummate professional playing well within himself and with some taste and discretion. I don’t have any of his CD’s so can’t give you a run down of exactly what he played but you got the impression that a lot of the songs were really a basis for a bit of a jam. Nothing went on too long and he certainly enjoyed himself.
We ended up standing to the right of the stage, not far away but still with a good view through the heads. Just that bit back we weren’t cramped either. Teresa being little even managed to wrangle her way a bit closer (right next to the PA!).
The band themselves consisted of Mick on Les Paul, a second guitarist who also had a Les Paul but not with a Gibson logo on the headstock, oriental bass player who sat throughout & read his music off a chart, a drummer and Max Middleton on Roland electric piano. As usual I couldn’t quite get the names of the rest of the band (help!) apart from Max and the internet hasn’t been of much help.
The second guitarist and Mick complemented each other well and Mick was generous in letting him have plenty of playing time. The bass player may have been a late deputy as the original one possibly died last week. With Pete Feenstra’s announcements it is often hard to know what is fact and what is fiction! Max is a very good pianist and Mick paid him serious compliments when introducing him. Max is very big, wears a panama hat over his long hair and late 60’s sideburns. He just got on with his job.
The only 2 songs I recognised were You Shook Me and one form the Beggar’s Banquet album (the only Stones song he played). There was a bit of Dylan and that one included the Layla riff and went into All Along the Watchtower. Mick Taylor plays well within himself and is still one of the best slide guitar layers around. If he was to really put himself out the mind boggles! He played for about an hour and three quarters straight and even hugged Pete Feenstra at the end so he must have enjoyed himself as much as we did.
If you get the chance I highly recommend him for an evening of top quality guitar playing, not showy but very effective.
We had seen Mick Taylor once before on a supporting bill with John Mayall and were impressed. Now it was Pete Feenstra’s turn to host the ex-Rolling Stone – how he must hate that tag. It was a slightly chill evening and we were there a bit before the advertised 7.30 opening time to find it already open with Mr Feenstra at the door.
Unfortunately he had gone back to the Albert Lee stage plan of having it in the middle of the club. He had seriously cut down on the number of tables but we were early enough to get a couple of half decent seats. One look at the way it was set out told us that we would have to stand when the main act came on as there was quite a space in front of the stage that was bound to be occupied by those standing.
We settled down to natter to the people who took the rest of the seats around us and wait for others to turn up. Teresa’s brother was a definite no show as his band was rehearsing. As with the Stan Webb gig we were early enough to catch the support doing their sound check or at least most of them as the electric guitarist turned up after the other two had finished.
Pete and Derek arrived too late to grab any the seats around us so contented themselves with standing to the side of the stage and catching up with the others they knew who had arrived. The support came on and they were Andy Sharrocks and The Smoking Jackets
http://www.carta.co.uk/greenie/
http://www.lemonrock.com/paulgreen
They consisted of two acoustic guitarists, one of whom was Andy Sharrocks in his leather pork pie hat who did most of the singing and Paul Green on white SG Junior. Paul Green had played with various nonentity bands and had peaked with Suzi Quatro and Brian Connolly’s Sweet! Check the link to chart the life of a musician who has been around for a long time and enjoyed himself without ever hitting the big time. It’s quite interesting.
I have to say that I wasn’t over impressed with the band. The make up of two acoustics and an electric didn’t work for me. The singers deep, growly vocals seemed to be an impersonation of someone from the deep south, you know, Crawley way. Pete and I exchanged quizzical glances at the music on offer throughout their set and although the audience were appreciative (the crowd there usually are good and fair) I wasn’t at all disappointed when their last song came and went.
That al least gave us the chance to catch up a bit with Pete and Derek but we had to do it one at a time as I was fearful of losing our seats. There had been the usual jockeying around by later arrivals to get a decent spot for a good view and of course you can rely on Pete Feenstra to throw a spanner in the works.
Just before the main band came on he encouraged everyone to come onto the bit of floor in front of the band and thus ruin the view of all the people who were early and had got good seats! We realised this may well happen and just laughed. But at least our legs weren’t tired from standing through the support. Those that had put chairs there were allowed to move them to the very front and the crowd thronged behind. It meant that they were very in the face of the band on the low stage but it didn’t faze them at all.
After the interval on came the Mick Taylor Band to good applause.
http://www.micktaylor.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Taylor
http://www.maxmiddleton.com/
Mick hasn’t lost any weight since we last saw him and he is decidedly chubby. He looks exactly like he is – an ageing rock star with plenty of hair. With a belly to be proud of you do have that choice of where to hang the Les Paul. There is the under the belly and run the risk of not being able to see what you are doing, the BB King style of hang it by your hip and play sideways and at normal length or as Mick favoured just a bit above the belly for comfort.
He had a little trouble with his tuning at first but it all sorted out after the first song and it bothered him no further. He is a very consummate professional playing well within himself and with some taste and discretion. I don’t have any of his CD’s so can’t give you a run down of exactly what he played but you got the impression that a lot of the songs were really a basis for a bit of a jam. Nothing went on too long and he certainly enjoyed himself.
We ended up standing to the right of the stage, not far away but still with a good view through the heads. Just that bit back we weren’t cramped either. Teresa being little even managed to wrangle her way a bit closer (right next to the PA!).
The band themselves consisted of Mick on Les Paul, a second guitarist who also had a Les Paul but not with a Gibson logo on the headstock, oriental bass player who sat throughout & read his music off a chart, a drummer and Max Middleton on Roland electric piano. As usual I couldn’t quite get the names of the rest of the band (help!) apart from Max and the internet hasn’t been of much help.
The second guitarist and Mick complemented each other well and Mick was generous in letting him have plenty of playing time. The bass player may have been a late deputy as the original one possibly died last week. With Pete Feenstra’s announcements it is often hard to know what is fact and what is fiction! Max is a very good pianist and Mick paid him serious compliments when introducing him. Max is very big, wears a panama hat over his long hair and late 60’s sideburns. He just got on with his job.
The only 2 songs I recognised were You Shook Me and one form the Beggar’s Banquet album (the only Stones song he played). There was a bit of Dylan and that one included the Layla riff and went into All Along the Watchtower. Mick Taylor plays well within himself and is still one of the best slide guitar layers around. If he was to really put himself out the mind boggles! He played for about an hour and three quarters straight and even hugged Pete Feenstra at the end so he must have enjoyed himself as much as we did.
If you get the chance I highly recommend him for an evening of top quality guitar playing, not showy but very effective.
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Brian Wilson – RFH 26th February 2004
The band was eleven strong and that was augmented by a 7 piece string & horn section (The Stockholm Strings!). The start was a bit twee & contrived with all of the eleven on one side of the stage surrounding The Great Man doing a sort of Hi Brian, how about we sing a few songs? What should we do first? Hey I know, a big hit that all the audience will applaud & we pretend it’s off the cuff!
We were also subjected to ‘We were just talking backstage and decided this was going to be our best ever gig!’ A touch patronising but their heart was in the right place. It was virtually unaccompanied with just a couple of acoustic guitars & some bongos squeezed in there somehow as they huddled round a couple of mikes. But after Surfer Girl & In My Room you forgot about the setting. After a few more numbers in a similar vein the band spread out and we got into the first half proper.
There was no support and the whole thing started off just a bit after 7.30. Once into the full electric bit the first half was just full of good stuff. The band consisted of 2 guys on keyboards, one of whom did a lot of instrument swapping, 2 guitarists (one looked like a 60’s beatnik & was from Liverpool apparently and the other also played French horn & theremin), an old looking bloke on bass, a pretty blonde woman as eye candy on backup vocals, drummer, percussionist, multi instrumentalist on flute, saxes, clarinet, harmonica who led the strings & horn, a balding fat poof (I searched for a better description, really) who did the high vocals, back up and actually played some mean guitar and The Great Man himself who sat behind a keyboard in the middle of the stage who did most of the lead vocals and barely touched his instrument all night.
He looked like he was getting a pit porky again and was dressed casual to the point of slobby. Despite being high up in the balcony the sound was pretty good but I was grateful I’d brought along the binoculars to pick up a bit more detail. After the intermission they all trouped back for the Smile album. Surfs Up was a highlight and Vegetables highly amusing with the entire band holding bits of produce and the girl singer with a red pepper and courgette in each hand as if they were maracas. Also The Great Man produced a small cordless electric drill at one point and sort of played it in front of the microphone. The binoculars don’t lie!
The time was getting on and just as I was thinking about what the encore would be and deciding probably Good Vibrations they went and played Good Vibrations as the last song of the set. And a superb storming version it was too. The encore was hardly a token here’s the one we haven’t played yet either. Help Me Ronda, Surfin’ USA and Barbara Ann hardly counts as a token gesture! They may have played one other as well but I’m not sure about that (I’ve just remembered – it was Fun Fun Fun!).
There was even a second encore of a slow one that I wasn’t too familiar with before the show ended at 10.20. What is really strange about Brian Wilson’s music is that he seems to get it right first time. No one does better versions and modern renditions by his own band are simply the old songs played with better equipment and sound. The gig was sufficiently good that I coughed up a tenner for the programme afterwards without any anaesthetic. Having given it a quick once over it isn’t bad value for money. On the anorak front the keyboard player who hopped around a lot played an electric vibraphone thing that sounded good, guitars were Telecasters, a couple of Danelectros, Fender Jaguar and BFP (balding, fat, poof) steamed in with a 12 string electric, Strat and a red gold plated Firebird 7 (over the top in my view & the sunburst 5 is the business).
www.brianwilson.com will fill in the gaps.
We were also subjected to ‘We were just talking backstage and decided this was going to be our best ever gig!’ A touch patronising but their heart was in the right place. It was virtually unaccompanied with just a couple of acoustic guitars & some bongos squeezed in there somehow as they huddled round a couple of mikes. But after Surfer Girl & In My Room you forgot about the setting. After a few more numbers in a similar vein the band spread out and we got into the first half proper.
There was no support and the whole thing started off just a bit after 7.30. Once into the full electric bit the first half was just full of good stuff. The band consisted of 2 guys on keyboards, one of whom did a lot of instrument swapping, 2 guitarists (one looked like a 60’s beatnik & was from Liverpool apparently and the other also played French horn & theremin), an old looking bloke on bass, a pretty blonde woman as eye candy on backup vocals, drummer, percussionist, multi instrumentalist on flute, saxes, clarinet, harmonica who led the strings & horn, a balding fat poof (I searched for a better description, really) who did the high vocals, back up and actually played some mean guitar and The Great Man himself who sat behind a keyboard in the middle of the stage who did most of the lead vocals and barely touched his instrument all night.
He looked like he was getting a pit porky again and was dressed casual to the point of slobby. Despite being high up in the balcony the sound was pretty good but I was grateful I’d brought along the binoculars to pick up a bit more detail. After the intermission they all trouped back for the Smile album. Surfs Up was a highlight and Vegetables highly amusing with the entire band holding bits of produce and the girl singer with a red pepper and courgette in each hand as if they were maracas. Also The Great Man produced a small cordless electric drill at one point and sort of played it in front of the microphone. The binoculars don’t lie!
The time was getting on and just as I was thinking about what the encore would be and deciding probably Good Vibrations they went and played Good Vibrations as the last song of the set. And a superb storming version it was too. The encore was hardly a token here’s the one we haven’t played yet either. Help Me Ronda, Surfin’ USA and Barbara Ann hardly counts as a token gesture! They may have played one other as well but I’m not sure about that (I’ve just remembered – it was Fun Fun Fun!).
There was even a second encore of a slow one that I wasn’t too familiar with before the show ended at 10.20. What is really strange about Brian Wilson’s music is that he seems to get it right first time. No one does better versions and modern renditions by his own band are simply the old songs played with better equipment and sound. The gig was sufficiently good that I coughed up a tenner for the programme afterwards without any anaesthetic. Having given it a quick once over it isn’t bad value for money. On the anorak front the keyboard player who hopped around a lot played an electric vibraphone thing that sounded good, guitars were Telecasters, a couple of Danelectros, Fender Jaguar and BFP (balding, fat, poof) steamed in with a 12 string electric, Strat and a red gold plated Firebird 7 (over the top in my view & the sunburst 5 is the business).
www.brianwilson.com will fill in the gaps.
Jeff Beck – Royal Festival Hall 13th September 2002
Neither Teresa nor I had seen Jeff Beck before so we were not too sure what to expect. Also we were not over familiar with his less popular music so it would definitely be an experience one way or another. For a change I drove up to Waterloo and not for a change parking was difficult. NCP wanted over £9 for a few hours unsupervised rental of about 8 square yards of tarmac so we ended up by the Eurostar entrance for a bargain £6 as long as we stayed under 4 hours. The 5 hour rate was £12! Nothing would have been more welcome than a beer after that but the bar was heaving and as we hadn’t had time for any dinner I didn’t fancy a drink on an empty stomach.
The tickets said 7.30 so were sat down on time because these days you have no idea about support acts and the like. On the dot of 20 minutes late a couple of band members started up and a few seconds later Jeff Beck walked on already playing his guitar. The first number was Beck’s Bolero. He wore black cor blimey boots, black Levi’s and a black vest. He looked to have hardly aged but through the cruel eyes of the binoculars he did look a bit worn, still very good for his age and still totally skinny.
His band started off with a bass player, one woman guitarist, one male guitarist, a keyboard player and a drummer. It was nicely loud but not making our ears bleed. The stage set up was a bit odd as we could see before the start that two full drum kits were set up. This hinted at a support act but that was not so.
We were then treated to an evening of excellent music played by a variety of musicians who came and went with gay abandon. The one constant was Jeff Beck who was on stage all of the time. We were also treated to a very rare phenomenon. All through the gig Jeff played just the one guitar and even then he hardly had to retune it. Possibly it could have been one of his signature Stratocasters but it seemed to have a signature near the bridge rather than on the headstock. Whatever it was he used only the one and did give it a kiss at the end.
After a couple of tunes (with no vocals) the second male guitarist left and we had a few more with the altered line up. Jeff is not the most communicative performer in the world and all we got was some cheery but mumbled occasional thanks. After about half an hour a singer came on and did ‘I ain’t superstitious’. (Dino – he looked a bit like you only less good looking). He did another song and then went off. All the time Jeff wailed away getting sounds out of his guitar that mystified me. Even with the binoculars I couldn’t work out what he was doing. It didn’t help that there was still the other guitarist on stage and so it was sometimes hard to tell who was playing what.
The female guitarist had long blonde hair that reminded me of Jennifer Batten’s. All of Jeff’s introductions were inaudible so we didn’t know who was who. I looked on the internet the next day and found an interview with him and guess who played on his last album? Jennifer Batten of course, so I assume it was her. Also the article said that Jan Hammer was on keyboards. The rest I didn’t recognise. Jennifer played a custom guitar the likes of which I had never seen. She came out for the odd shared solo but was happy standing at the back avoiding the limelight and enjoying herself. Jan Hammer was even more inconspicuous playing away at the side in near darkness.
After the singers couple of songs the band stopped for an interval. We stayed in our seats during the interval and witnessed the crew setting up a third drum kit at the front. After our ice creams the band came on again, this time with some youngsters dressed all in red who treated us to a few garage numbers with Jeff contributing from the side. These youngsters turned out to be White Stripes, a popular new band from the States. To confuse matters the bass drum (and it was a very simple kit) had ‘Yardbirds’ on the front. They went off very grateful to have shared the stage with Jeff Beck.
Then we had another singer come on. She was very tall and willowy with a shock of blonde hair. She only did one song. Another drummer joined the group for a couple of songs and it was a bit like Piccadilly Station. Decent introductions would have helped but the show rocked on anyway.
The ads had said that Roger Waters should be appearing as well but we were seriously beginning to doubt it. So many musicians had come and gone that there didn’t seem time for any more. Then just as were thinking that maybe one of those who had already come on was also called Roger Waters on came the old Pink Floydie himself.
Teresa was surprised how tall he was until I pointed out that as a public schoolboy he had higher education. He was assisted by 3 black back up singers (regulars of his I think as one was P P Arnold). He was also dressed all in black and did some songs from a recent album. He could not have been more fulsome in his praise of Jeff Beck. He was very good but you had to wonder why a performer of his stature came on for just a couple of songs. But it all added up to a wonderfully varied evening.
For his last song Jeff did an instrumental based round A Day In The Life from Sgt Pepper. I still don’t know how he got the sounds he did from his Strat.
Jeff was very grateful for the reception he got and gave due credit to the band. For the first encore Jeff did a solo with an Indian sound to it. A tabla player had come on for the singer with the big blonde hair and for the odd other number and I still can’t work out how he got the sitar sound out of the Strat.
Biggest non-surprise of the night was the second encore – Hi Ho Silver Lining of course (good prediction Dave). Jeff ‘sung’ it and they were the only words of his that I understood all night. The solo was suitably unaltered from the original and all of the guest musicians came on and did their bit. It did seem that they all had a very enjoyable time, as did we. It ended at 10.40 so we got our moneys worth from Jeff and got back to the car just before the 4 hours were up. It was a hugely enjoyable evening and we haven’t had a bum gig all year.
One last note. In front of us sat 3 couples (Teresa & I disagree over their marital status) who were the audience from hell. They came in, with drinks, a bit late and spent the whole time moving, chatting, going out to get more drinks and generally annoying everyone else in the vicinity. They came back late from the interval of course and at least that meant that we didn’t have their heads bobbing about in front of us. One of the women was very drunk and made our night by staggering off and falling down the steps. She came back but was now in the ‘I don’t feel very well’ stage and kept quiet. The bloke she was with was so embarrassed by her that he left never to return! Jeff Beck was so good that they just were a minor irritation.
The tickets said 7.30 so were sat down on time because these days you have no idea about support acts and the like. On the dot of 20 minutes late a couple of band members started up and a few seconds later Jeff Beck walked on already playing his guitar. The first number was Beck’s Bolero. He wore black cor blimey boots, black Levi’s and a black vest. He looked to have hardly aged but through the cruel eyes of the binoculars he did look a bit worn, still very good for his age and still totally skinny.
His band started off with a bass player, one woman guitarist, one male guitarist, a keyboard player and a drummer. It was nicely loud but not making our ears bleed. The stage set up was a bit odd as we could see before the start that two full drum kits were set up. This hinted at a support act but that was not so.
We were then treated to an evening of excellent music played by a variety of musicians who came and went with gay abandon. The one constant was Jeff Beck who was on stage all of the time. We were also treated to a very rare phenomenon. All through the gig Jeff played just the one guitar and even then he hardly had to retune it. Possibly it could have been one of his signature Stratocasters but it seemed to have a signature near the bridge rather than on the headstock. Whatever it was he used only the one and did give it a kiss at the end.
After a couple of tunes (with no vocals) the second male guitarist left and we had a few more with the altered line up. Jeff is not the most communicative performer in the world and all we got was some cheery but mumbled occasional thanks. After about half an hour a singer came on and did ‘I ain’t superstitious’. (Dino – he looked a bit like you only less good looking). He did another song and then went off. All the time Jeff wailed away getting sounds out of his guitar that mystified me. Even with the binoculars I couldn’t work out what he was doing. It didn’t help that there was still the other guitarist on stage and so it was sometimes hard to tell who was playing what.
The female guitarist had long blonde hair that reminded me of Jennifer Batten’s. All of Jeff’s introductions were inaudible so we didn’t know who was who. I looked on the internet the next day and found an interview with him and guess who played on his last album? Jennifer Batten of course, so I assume it was her. Also the article said that Jan Hammer was on keyboards. The rest I didn’t recognise. Jennifer played a custom guitar the likes of which I had never seen. She came out for the odd shared solo but was happy standing at the back avoiding the limelight and enjoying herself. Jan Hammer was even more inconspicuous playing away at the side in near darkness.
After the singers couple of songs the band stopped for an interval. We stayed in our seats during the interval and witnessed the crew setting up a third drum kit at the front. After our ice creams the band came on again, this time with some youngsters dressed all in red who treated us to a few garage numbers with Jeff contributing from the side. These youngsters turned out to be White Stripes, a popular new band from the States. To confuse matters the bass drum (and it was a very simple kit) had ‘Yardbirds’ on the front. They went off very grateful to have shared the stage with Jeff Beck.
Then we had another singer come on. She was very tall and willowy with a shock of blonde hair. She only did one song. Another drummer joined the group for a couple of songs and it was a bit like Piccadilly Station. Decent introductions would have helped but the show rocked on anyway.
The ads had said that Roger Waters should be appearing as well but we were seriously beginning to doubt it. So many musicians had come and gone that there didn’t seem time for any more. Then just as were thinking that maybe one of those who had already come on was also called Roger Waters on came the old Pink Floydie himself.
Teresa was surprised how tall he was until I pointed out that as a public schoolboy he had higher education. He was assisted by 3 black back up singers (regulars of his I think as one was P P Arnold). He was also dressed all in black and did some songs from a recent album. He could not have been more fulsome in his praise of Jeff Beck. He was very good but you had to wonder why a performer of his stature came on for just a couple of songs. But it all added up to a wonderfully varied evening.
For his last song Jeff did an instrumental based round A Day In The Life from Sgt Pepper. I still don’t know how he got the sounds he did from his Strat.
Jeff was very grateful for the reception he got and gave due credit to the band. For the first encore Jeff did a solo with an Indian sound to it. A tabla player had come on for the singer with the big blonde hair and for the odd other number and I still can’t work out how he got the sitar sound out of the Strat.
Biggest non-surprise of the night was the second encore – Hi Ho Silver Lining of course (good prediction Dave). Jeff ‘sung’ it and they were the only words of his that I understood all night. The solo was suitably unaltered from the original and all of the guest musicians came on and did their bit. It did seem that they all had a very enjoyable time, as did we. It ended at 10.40 so we got our moneys worth from Jeff and got back to the car just before the 4 hours were up. It was a hugely enjoyable evening and we haven’t had a bum gig all year.
One last note. In front of us sat 3 couples (Teresa & I disagree over their marital status) who were the audience from hell. They came in, with drinks, a bit late and spent the whole time moving, chatting, going out to get more drinks and generally annoying everyone else in the vicinity. They came back late from the interval of course and at least that meant that we didn’t have their heads bobbing about in front of us. One of the women was very drunk and made our night by staggering off and falling down the steps. She came back but was now in the ‘I don’t feel very well’ stage and kept quiet. The bloke she was with was so embarrassed by her that he left never to return! Jeff Beck was so good that they just were a minor irritation.
Dr John, Fairfield Halls 30th July 2002
A disappointing crowd turned out to see the last date on The Night Trippers tour. Linda Lewis was the support and she was very good. She had plumped out a bit since her skinny 1970’s days but her voice was still as high and pure as ever. She was backed by a dwarf on guitar who looked like he sold copies of the Big Issue in his spare time and a percussionist. She played her ‘hit’ at the end and I must say that it obviously passed me by when it first came out, as I didn’t remember it at all. She must be about 50 but she looked good although she only just won the struggle to get into her tight black satin trousers.
Dr John’s band opened up just before 9 and the very vocal drummer soon was introducing the man himself. We went on a musical tour of most styles and all were played with style & professionalism. All 3 in the back up band were black & I think from New Orleans. The guitarist had great fun when he played his Strat doing very good pastiches of Santana & Hendrix. There was a lot of funk and his gorgeous red Gibson (either a Cherry Red Howard Roberts Fusion or an ES 137) didn’t let him down. Dr John insisted that the audience stands up and at one point he got a dervish from the front to lead a sort of New Orleans conga round the stalls.
As you would expect there was no lack of eager rhythmically challenged volunteers to follow her and the white towel that Dr John insisted she wave above her head. It was obviously a voodoo rite that we in Croydon were unfamiliar with. The skull on his grand piano was easier to understand although it didn’t join in the vocals. The Doctor himself joined in the dancing in his own idiosyncratic style. He lurched around the stage more or less in rhythm and at moments of great emotion he pulled his suit jacket down past his shoulders and stuck his chest out. This went down very well with the audience who understood the mystical significance of it.
The encore was a rousing version of what else but Such a Night. Two hours of melting pot New Orleans music was very good value indeed. His rendition of Walk On Gilded Splinters was a tour de force and worth the price of admission alone. You missed a good one.
A highlight of these things for Pete & I is the audience itself. We were richly rewarded by a family of seemingly normal people. Consisting of middle-aged parents & teenage son they were dressed as only drab suburbanites with no sense of style can do. But to complete their outfits they all wore several rows of big bright beads round their necks. They joined in the conga of course and remained oblivious of just how extremely silly they looked. Possibly Native Americans, possibly from a religious cult, possibly just plain plonkers. We will never know but they did give Pete & me a laugh.
Dr John’s band opened up just before 9 and the very vocal drummer soon was introducing the man himself. We went on a musical tour of most styles and all were played with style & professionalism. All 3 in the back up band were black & I think from New Orleans. The guitarist had great fun when he played his Strat doing very good pastiches of Santana & Hendrix. There was a lot of funk and his gorgeous red Gibson (either a Cherry Red Howard Roberts Fusion or an ES 137) didn’t let him down. Dr John insisted that the audience stands up and at one point he got a dervish from the front to lead a sort of New Orleans conga round the stalls.
As you would expect there was no lack of eager rhythmically challenged volunteers to follow her and the white towel that Dr John insisted she wave above her head. It was obviously a voodoo rite that we in Croydon were unfamiliar with. The skull on his grand piano was easier to understand although it didn’t join in the vocals. The Doctor himself joined in the dancing in his own idiosyncratic style. He lurched around the stage more or less in rhythm and at moments of great emotion he pulled his suit jacket down past his shoulders and stuck his chest out. This went down very well with the audience who understood the mystical significance of it.
The encore was a rousing version of what else but Such a Night. Two hours of melting pot New Orleans music was very good value indeed. His rendition of Walk On Gilded Splinters was a tour de force and worth the price of admission alone. You missed a good one.
A highlight of these things for Pete & I is the audience itself. We were richly rewarded by a family of seemingly normal people. Consisting of middle-aged parents & teenage son they were dressed as only drab suburbanites with no sense of style can do. But to complete their outfits they all wore several rows of big bright beads round their necks. They joined in the conga of course and remained oblivious of just how extremely silly they looked. Possibly Native Americans, possibly from a religious cult, possibly just plain plonkers. We will never know but they did give Pete & me a laugh.
Friday 3 October 2008
Stan Webb September 2008
Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack
Chislehurst 2008
We had seen Stan Webb before (see review with John Mayall and Mick Taylor in 2004 & March 2008 at Herney Hill) a couple of times and it was with no hesitation that we went for the man again
After the usual confusion of who was driving who in the end Teresa & I made it to the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst nice and early just the two of us. I paid for our full potential of 9 and we got in just as the support act, The Matt Bullard Band were finishing their sound check.
Having got a drink we sprawled ourselves across a couple of small tables at the very front waiting for the rest of the contingent to arrive. A few minutes later Brian & Margaret came in so the 4 of us sprawled. Pete Feenstra was on particularly good form tonight and after a while introduced the support to good applause.
They consisted of Matt on lead Strat, an aging bass player with a floppy cap to hide his lack of hair, a 2nd Stat player who wouldn’t have looked out of place in a dole queue and a lanky drummer. (Nicked from previous review – sorry) He has a basic web site and this is what it says about the bass and drums: Roger and Fred have been Matt's rhythm section for the past 12 years. They call themselves 'To The Bridge'. They are experienced, tight and really know how to funk things up! http://www.mattbullardband.co.uk/index.htm
They played loud, funky blues and were very good. They made no bones about being derivative so we got a good selection of old blues tunes played with verve and some good humour thrown in. They got a good reception from the appreciative crowd especially when Matt dropped his pick into a mass of cabling and couldn’t find it. He obviously didn’t have a handy replacement and took a lot of good natured ribbing from the rest of the band. As he said after it was finally retrieved – always carry a spare pick.
They finished their set, we finally all met up and Pete paid me for what I had laid out. Then we got ready for the man himself. After a short while and after the usual chaotic introduction form Mr Feenstra Stan’s back up band came on and were much the same as last time with Jim Rudge the perm-haired bass guitarist with the small hands, Gary Davis the sideways on 2nd guitarist and Mick Jones the permanently grimacing and gurning drummer.
http://www.stanwebb.co.uk/ - pretty basic but helpful web site with band details.
Stan came on and was extremely casually dressed in jeans and t-shirt. He was in very good form, not only on his gold Les Paul but conversationally. We had his views on various topics and of course they were hilariously irreverent. He saved most of his scorn for Gordon Brown, the government and Scots in general. When one foolish member of the audience asked what the alternative was Stan spluttered ‘well you go and do something about it then’. His nice Marshall amp was giving off quite a bit of mains hum that he didn’t appreciate and we got a few ‘fucking thing’ as he turned round to look at it and twiddle a few knobs.
Each song was delivered with 100% commitment except when something went wrong. In reality there are two Stan’s. There is the committed blues man who plays and sings with his soul and there is the between songs say what I damn well like Stan. Rarely do they clash but when he totally forgot the words in the middle of one song they did. He and the band were highly amused and it took him a while to find his way again.
His between songs patter was worth the price of admission alone. It was rarely anything less than hilarious. We got the ‘Well even Hitler had his faults’ and random comments on just about anything that took his fancy. His playing was as good and effortless as ever although from where we sat I was getting just a bit too much of the 2nd guitarist. Stan seemed to play a little less bottleneck than usual and although he had a wah-wah it only came into play at the very end of the set.
His rendition of I’d rather go blind was as heartfelt as ever and we got the stroll through the audience without his guitar as a treat. He had done the same thing at The Fairfield before but this was in a pub/club atmosphere and he enjoyed wandering through grabbing a pint, singing, chatting and being quite suggestive to some of the women. As we were sitting at the front we missed a lot of it but it’s good for those with less good views to be part of the action.
At the end he was of course dragged back on for an encore and he played tribute to Pete Feenstra for continuing to keep live music alive. Pete himself was so funny by getting everything wrong (when he thanked Matt Bullard he pointed out the other members of the band & called the 2nd guitarist Chris before admitting he really didn’t know what his name was at all!). Something just makes you feel good after an evening with Stan and I really can’t recommend him enough. He plays the blues and makes you laugh – what more do you want?
Chislehurst 2008
We had seen Stan Webb before (see review with John Mayall and Mick Taylor in 2004 & March 2008 at Herney Hill) a couple of times and it was with no hesitation that we went for the man again
After the usual confusion of who was driving who in the end Teresa & I made it to the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst nice and early just the two of us. I paid for our full potential of 9 and we got in just as the support act, The Matt Bullard Band were finishing their sound check.
Having got a drink we sprawled ourselves across a couple of small tables at the very front waiting for the rest of the contingent to arrive. A few minutes later Brian & Margaret came in so the 4 of us sprawled. Pete Feenstra was on particularly good form tonight and after a while introduced the support to good applause.
They consisted of Matt on lead Strat, an aging bass player with a floppy cap to hide his lack of hair, a 2nd Stat player who wouldn’t have looked out of place in a dole queue and a lanky drummer. (Nicked from previous review – sorry) He has a basic web site and this is what it says about the bass and drums: Roger and Fred have been Matt's rhythm section for the past 12 years. They call themselves 'To The Bridge'. They are experienced, tight and really know how to funk things up! http://www.mattbullardband.co.uk/index.htm
They played loud, funky blues and were very good. They made no bones about being derivative so we got a good selection of old blues tunes played with verve and some good humour thrown in. They got a good reception from the appreciative crowd especially when Matt dropped his pick into a mass of cabling and couldn’t find it. He obviously didn’t have a handy replacement and took a lot of good natured ribbing from the rest of the band. As he said after it was finally retrieved – always carry a spare pick.
They finished their set, we finally all met up and Pete paid me for what I had laid out. Then we got ready for the man himself. After a short while and after the usual chaotic introduction form Mr Feenstra Stan’s back up band came on and were much the same as last time with Jim Rudge the perm-haired bass guitarist with the small hands, Gary Davis the sideways on 2nd guitarist and Mick Jones the permanently grimacing and gurning drummer.
http://www.stanwebb.co.uk/ - pretty basic but helpful web site with band details.
Stan came on and was extremely casually dressed in jeans and t-shirt. He was in very good form, not only on his gold Les Paul but conversationally. We had his views on various topics and of course they were hilariously irreverent. He saved most of his scorn for Gordon Brown, the government and Scots in general. When one foolish member of the audience asked what the alternative was Stan spluttered ‘well you go and do something about it then’. His nice Marshall amp was giving off quite a bit of mains hum that he didn’t appreciate and we got a few ‘fucking thing’ as he turned round to look at it and twiddle a few knobs.
Each song was delivered with 100% commitment except when something went wrong. In reality there are two Stan’s. There is the committed blues man who plays and sings with his soul and there is the between songs say what I damn well like Stan. Rarely do they clash but when he totally forgot the words in the middle of one song they did. He and the band were highly amused and it took him a while to find his way again.
His between songs patter was worth the price of admission alone. It was rarely anything less than hilarious. We got the ‘Well even Hitler had his faults’ and random comments on just about anything that took his fancy. His playing was as good and effortless as ever although from where we sat I was getting just a bit too much of the 2nd guitarist. Stan seemed to play a little less bottleneck than usual and although he had a wah-wah it only came into play at the very end of the set.
His rendition of I’d rather go blind was as heartfelt as ever and we got the stroll through the audience without his guitar as a treat. He had done the same thing at The Fairfield before but this was in a pub/club atmosphere and he enjoyed wandering through grabbing a pint, singing, chatting and being quite suggestive to some of the women. As we were sitting at the front we missed a lot of it but it’s good for those with less good views to be part of the action.
At the end he was of course dragged back on for an encore and he played tribute to Pete Feenstra for continuing to keep live music alive. Pete himself was so funny by getting everything wrong (when he thanked Matt Bullard he pointed out the other members of the band & called the 2nd guitarist Chris before admitting he really didn’t know what his name was at all!). Something just makes you feel good after an evening with Stan and I really can’t recommend him enough. He plays the blues and makes you laugh – what more do you want?
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