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.