Johnny Winter New Victoria Theatre London 26th October 1974
I was very sad to hear of the passing yesterday of the great Johnny Winter.
Johnny Winter was an incredible blues guitarist, an amazing performer, and a spectacular rock’n’roll star. He looked great, played and sang impeccable electric blues, and his performance was like being caught in a whirlwind.
The first time I saw Johnny Winter live was at a concert at the New Victoria Theatre, London in 1974. I went with my friend John, and it seemed quite an adventure travelling all the way to London for a concert. I’d been to a few festivals and one day events, but I think this was the first time I had travelled to the capital for a single artist concert in a theatre. Support came from Elf, who were fronted by Ronnie James Dio, but it was Winter we had gone to see. The concert was sold out and we had seats up in the circle, looking down on the stage. I recall that Johnny Winter was late coming on stage, but boy was he worth waiting for. This was Johnny the young rock’n’roll bundle of energy and fire (he will have been 30 at the time, but he still looked young and sharp to us). He wore a flash cowboy shirt shirt with long tassels flowing from the arms, and he twisted, twirled and ran around the stage, his incredibly long white hair swirling around him under his cowboy hat, while he shot fire-fast riffs from his trademark Gibson Firebird. 
Winter was every inch pure rock’n’roll energy; the renegade electric cowboy, playing dark and fast music from the delta. Flanked by fellow ace guitarist Floyd Radford, Johnny Winter and his band rocked through a set of blues, his own tracks including the ace “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo” (written by Derringer), great covers of the Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women”, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven, and Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”. He was simply stunning and we were blown away.
Philip Norman wrote in The Times of the concert at the time: “Johnny Winter has long white hair and sleeves with red streamers like abandoned conjuring-tricks; his legs are as slim as the caddis-fly’s and, like that nervous insect, he lives in electric storms…effect is not calculated by mere voltage; there was something breathtaking …in this unrepentant chaos”
John’s memories of the concert: “I first got into Johnny Winter after listening to one of the many great lives albums from the early 70’s Johnny Winter and Live. As I recall he did not tour the UK much and certainly not out in the provinces, so when we saw the date in London, we decided to go. The tour was to promote the recently released Still Alive and Well which was recorded after one of his many periods of ill health. The setlist included the title track and I think “Silver Train” (the B side from “Angie”? by the Stones). He did a lot of covers and seemed to especially like the Stones. But the stand out track was his own blues tour de force “Mean Town Blues”, which remains one of my favorite live cuts from that period to this day.”
Thanks to John for his image of the album of the time and for the photo of his poster which he bought at the concert that night in 1974.
RIP Johnny Winter.
Archive for the ‘Johnny Winter’ Category
18 Jul
Johnny Winter New Victoria Theatre London 26th October 1974
17 Apr
Johnny Winter Sage Gateshead 16 April 2013
Johnny Winter Sage Gateshead 16 April 2013
This was the first time that I have seen Johnny Winter in concert for almost 40 years. I have only seen him once before, at the New Victoria Theatre in London, with my friend John, when Johnny was in his mid-70s heyday. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since those days, and Johnny and I are both a lot older. I arrived at around 8.40pm at Sage 2, which was set up as a standing venue for this gig, and Johnny was already on stage playing Got My Mojo Working. He was sitting on a stool centre stage, accompanied by a second guitarist, bass and drums. The next song was Ray Charles’ Blackjack, followed by Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor. The majority of the set was classic blues and rock, delivered Johnny Winter style with growling vocals, and some excellent guitar from the man himself. I had wondered if seeing Johnny these days would be a disappointment, but it certainly wasn’t. He may have lost some of the energy and fire in his performance, spending the majority of the set seated, but his playing is as good as ever. He has become an older, respected bluesman, just like the old guys whose songs he covers. Next up was a good rocking version of Bony Moronie. 
The band is really tight and the sound was pretty loud, though the mix was a little murky at times. Johnny is clearly a fan of the Stones and the next song he played was Jumpin’ Jack Flash, which he always used to cover in the 70s. The two songs which followed were unfamiliar to me: Lone Wolf and Don’t Take Advantage of Me; which ended with a snippet of Gimme Shelter. Staying with the Stones Johnny took to his feet for It’s All Over Now, which closed the set. There were loud shouts for an encore and Johnny and band were soon back. At this point he strapped on his familiar Firebird guitar and slide and played Dust My Broom, followed by Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. A great set of classics played by a true master.
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