Posts Tagged ‘blues’
12
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Captain Beefheart, Magic Band, Mallard. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, music, pop, prog rock, psych, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
The Magic Band The Cluny Newcastle 11 March 2013
I went to see the reformed Magic Band last night at the Cluny. The Magic Band reformed in 2003, minus Captain Beefheart (who sadly passed away in 2010). The current line-up includes members John French (aka ‘Drumbo’, who first joined the band in the 60s) on lead vocals and mean harp playing, ‘Rockette Morton’ (who was also with the Captain in the late 60s and early 70s) on bass and Denny Walley (aka ‘Feelers Rebo’ who joined the band during the 70s) on guitar. These three old-timers are joined by Eric Klerks on guitar and Craig Bunch on drums. My first surprise was how packed the place was. The Cluny was full of 50 and 60 somethings, largely but not exclusively male, who knew every word and gave the band a great reception. 
The second surprise was just how good the Magic Band of today are, and how true to the original they play the songs. Drumbo is a great front man and has the Captain’s vocals off to a T. I remember the first time I heard Trout Mask Replica, when it came out in the late 60s. I just couldn’t believe what was coming out of my stereo. The strange disjointed sounds were so different to anything else around at the time, and when you put on top of that Beefheart’s strange growls, you had an album the like of which had never been heard before. The music still sounds kind of weird today, but it remains clear how deeply routed in the blues it was, and how important a part of the music Drumbo and the others were. Oh, and it was just great to hear Diddy Wah Diddy live. If you are into Beefheart and you get the chance to see this band, do go along. Many thanks to Drumbo for signing my poster. Setlist: My Human Gets Me Blues; Low Yo Yo Stuff; Diddy Wah Diddy; Bass solo; When It Blows Its Stacks; Hot Head; Dr Dark; Circumstances; On Tomorrow; Alice in Blunderland; Suction Prints; Hair Pie Bake I; Steal Softly Thru The Snow; Owed T’Alex; Click Clack; Sun Zoom Spark; Moonlight on Vermont; Big Eyed Beans From Venus. Encore: Floppy Boot Stomp
Just remembered I also saw the Magic Band when they were touring as Mallard in 1976 or 1977 at the Mayfair and the Reading festival.
6
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Keef Hartley. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Keef Hartley Sunderland Empire 1970
Keef Hartley had a great musical pedigree. He replaced Ringo in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and then went on to play with the legendary Artwoods (featuring Art Wood, Ron’s older brother, and Jon Lord) and John Mayall, before forming his own band. The Keef Hartley Band (which soon became the Big Band) was formed in 1968, played at Woodstock, and toured a lot sharing the bill with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Yes. Keef also did a short stint as a temporary stand in drummer for Jethro Tull, and the band were once joined on stage by Jimi Hendrix. By the time I caught the Keef Hartley Big Band it featured Miller Anderson on vocals and guitar (he was to go on play with the Spencer Davis Group, The Dukes, Savoy Brown, T.Rex and Chicken Shack), Gary Thain on bass (later of Uriah Heep), Henry Lowther on trumpet, Barbara Thompson on alto sax, and a cast of thousands on various horns: Danny Allmark, Mike Davis, Bud Parkes, Dave Caswell, Lyle Jenkins, Jimmy Jewell, and Roger Wade. Something tells me that the line-up I saw at the Empire was a mini big band, and didn’t feature all the members. I also seem to recall that Dick Heckstall-Smith was a special guest; I think I remember him soloing with two saxs at once, but I can’t be certain. I remember being fascinated by this big band set-up, and by Miller Anderson’s excellent guitar playing. I recognised one song Not Foolish, Not Wise, which featured on a sample album of the time. The programme tells me” “The Keef Hartley band will select their programme from the following numbers: Me and my woman, Hickory, Don’t be afraid, Not foolish not wise, Waiting around, Tadpole, Poor Mabel, Believe in you, Rock me baby, You can’t take it with you, Premonition, Halfbreed, Born to die, Sinnin’ for you, Leavin’ trunk, Just to cry, Too much thinking, Too much to take, Danestte kid, Don’t give up, Hartley’s jam for bread, The time is near.” It goes on to say: “The band is in a constant state of progress, somehow making room for new compositions from all its members in a programme already full of “musts” and “requests”.” The programme also advertises their 1970 release The time is near “the latest album – released mid-June on Deram.” Keef disappeared from the music scene in the 1980s and sadly died on 26 November 2011, aged 67.
5
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Humble Pie. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy rock, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Humble Pie Newcastle Odeon November 1974
The last time that John and I saw Humble Pie was at a gig at Newcastle Odeon in late 1974. I recall my friend Norm being there at the gig as well (will check with him; I did so and yes Norm was with me; he has a strong memory of sitting up in the balcony watching the band). On this occasion the band the 7.30 start time suggests that the band played one show, rather than customary two shows that bands often played when they called at the Odeon. I recall this as a good gig, with Marriott on his usual top form. For me Steve Marriott really came into his own at big, open air gigs. He seemed to draw power in his voice and his performance from a larger crowds. Support for this gig was McGuinness Flint. This was a later version of the band, with a line-up featuring Hughie Flint, Tom McGuinness, Lou Stonebridge and Dixie Dean. I remember them playing When I’m Dead and Gone, The programme says of Humblie Pie: “perhaps one of our hottest bans in the 70s, are also A&M’s most coloirful and illustrious soul childrenof the explosive 60s English rock n roll boom.” 
Sadly the band was to split up the following year. Humble Pie played a lot of gigs during their brief existence. Over 400 are documented in Jerry Shirley’s book from the August 69 debut at Ronnie Scotts to a show in Houston in March 1975.He believes this is about 70% of the total. Steve Marriott went on to play in the reformed Small Faces, which I saw a couple of times at Newcastle City Hall in the late 70s. I also saw Steve playing at a small venue in Sunderland shortly before he tragically died in a fire, which was on April 20th 1991. A bit like Paul Kossoff, Phil Lyonott and I am sure a number of others, Steve Marriott represents everything which is good and bad about rock and roll, tremendous talent, a huge ego, but the inability to deal with the fame and fortune rollercoster ride full of tremendous highs and depressing lows. Shame. Setlist for the gig at the Odeon was probably something like: Thunderbox; Four Day Creep; Sweet Peace and Time; The Fixer; 30 Days in the Hole; Let Me Be Your Love maker; C’Mon Everybody; I Don’t Need No Doctor. Thanks again to John for all his help with memories of Humble Pie and in writing the last few days’ posts.
4
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Buxton Festival, Humble Pie. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy rock, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 1 comment
Humble Pie July 6th 1974 Buxton Festival
I’ve already blogged about this festival in a separate post some time ago. The Buxton festival came only a couple of months after Humble Pie’s appearance at Charlton, and they were one of the main reasons that both John and I went to this festival. The festival itself was in an awful location, and it was cold and wet, but Humble Pie played a great set and livened up the proceedings as much as it was possible to do, given the grim environment. The setlist is likely to have been similar to Charlton. A DVD, taken from 8mm film, is available on Amazon and includes footage of Charlton and Buxton; now that might be worth getting, although I suspect it does not feature any sound. I said yesterday that I would write a little abut the Blackberries, who were Carlena Williams, Venetta Fields, and Billie Barnum. The Blackberries were top notch session soul/gospel singers and it was Steve Marriott’s idea to get them into the band for recording and live concerts. In Steve’s own words: “Working with the Blackberries was great. I thought it was the best period of the band. I was almost a bit overwhelmed by them at times, because they were so good. I really dug it, because I was always into black music”. Although today it may seem a relatively obvious move for a band whose roots lay in blues and soul, it was actually pretty groundbreaking for the time, and not something that management and the rest of the band necessarily fully agreed with, at least at first. Jerry Shirley said “A&M and the Management Company thought it was the wrong thing to do, from the beginning” and in the words of Greg Ridley “I was a bit dubious at the time. I liked the music with a hard edge to it, and I was thinking ‘what are the girls gonna do. Are they gonna add or subtract from the band?’ But when they came in they were great. Great singers and a great laugh”. Steve had in his mind moving from a more traditional rock format to something resembling a soul revue, and you could see that in those great Humble Pie shows on 1974. I recall their Buxton set as being strong, and for some reason I seem to recall the Blackberries coming even more to the fore than they did at Charlton a couple of months earlier. It certainly changed the format of the show, and succeeded in blending rock with soul to a much great degree. I saw the Johnny Otis show, which featured Shuggie Otis, and a massive band and singers at Reading in 1972, and I guess this was something like the kind of show that Steve was aiming to create, although much closer to the sort of soul revue that Otis Redding or Ike and Tina Turner will have fronted in the 60s. As I said above, it was very different and refreshing for its time, and didn’t go down well with everyone, some people preferring a much more standard rock format. I found the following setlist for Buxton 74, which seems a little short, but could be correct as the songs were often quite long, including significant jamming: Watcha Gonna Do About It, 30 Days in the Hole; C’Mon Everybody; Thunderbox; Let Me Be Your Lovemaker; I Don’t Need No Doctor
3
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Humble Pie. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy rock, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 3 comments
Hardrock and Charlton 
My next Humble Pie experience was at the Who’s Charlton concert in 1974. John saw them in October 1973 at Hardrock Manchester, as part of a short UK tour which didn’t call in at the North East. Support for the tour was Heavy Metal Kids. John’s uncle lived in Stretford, and he went by train to Manchester for this show and stayed with my uncle. In John’s own words: “My ticket was row AA so I assumed it would be about 27 rows back but it was actually the second row – very exciting. I think I had seen the Heavy Metal Kids a couple of times as they supported a lot of bands at that time. This was of course one of the names proposed by Island Records for Free, which thankfully they rejected.The band featured Gary Holton on vocals who was a loud, brash cockney kid who went on to a successful acting career in Auf Weidersehen Pet.They were a decent band band and got the crowd warmed up. Humble Pie had released the Eat It album and were touring with the Blackberries. The setlist was heavily drawn from that album and the earlier Smokin and featured Up Our Sleeve, Honkey Tonk Women, C’mon Everybody, Road Runner, Hot n Nasty, 30 Days in the Hole, Hallelujah (I love her so), I Don’t Need No Doctor and a couple of slower ones Blues I Believe to my Soul and Black Coffee which heavily featured the Blackberries.”
Moving forward to May 18th 1974 and John, myself, and another friend Pete went to Charlton Valley football ground for a stellar one day festival line-up which featured The Who, Bad Company, Lou Reed, Maggie Bell, Lindisfarne and Montrose. I’ll blog separately on the whole day and the Who’s set on another occasion, as it was a great and memorable day for a number of reasons and warrants full treatment on its own. Suffice to say it was a legendary concert, and a great set by the Who, and Humble Pie were a very important part of the day. John rates it thus: “For me the greatest outdoor show I have seen in my life with a stellar line up of bands. Humble Pie came on after Lou Reed with Maggie Bell following them before the Who. Pundits saw that it was a close call between Humble Pie and the Who but, despite my bias, I think the Who won it with a great set and their spectacular green laser light show.” Humble Pie opened with a “Ere, get a load of this” from Steve and launched into the Small Faces classic Whatcha Gonna Do About It. The crowd went wild and Pie kept the energy level up for their entire set. Steve had his hair cut short for the show and was wearing a nifty set of denim dungarees. He really wasn’t the archetypal rock and roll guy and retained his pop/soul sensibilities, almost to a fault, and was constantly driving the band heavily in this direction, thus the inclusion of soul singers the Blackberries. I’ll blog more about the Blackberries role in the band tomorrow. The setlist is likely to have included some of the following: Whatcha Gonna Do About It; Thunderbox; Sweet Peace and Time; Let Me Be Your Lovemaker; C’Mon Everybody; 30 Days in the Hole; Road Runner, Hot N Nasty, 30 Days in the Hole, Black Coffee, and I Don’t Need No Doctor; and possibly I Cant Stand the Rain and Ninety Nine Pounds. I’ve searched the internet and can’t find any record of a setlist anywhere, and it seems that no live recordings of the Pie’s set exist from that great day, which is a shame.
On the Eat It album there is a live side which begins with Up Our Sleeve, recorded in Glasgow and the band are introduced as “Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome the finest rock and roll band in the land”. Perhaps slightly over the top and clearly a swipe at the Rolling Stones, with the word “greatest” replaced by “finest” but for a brief period they were right up there. Just a fantastic live band. Thanks again to John for the scan of his signed album, and for helping me write these blog posts on Humble Pie.
2
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Humble Pie. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy rock, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 4 comments
Humble Pie early years and live at the Lincoln Festival and Newcastle Odeon 1972 
Humble Pie are one of my friend John’s favourite bands. He has helped me a lot with my memories of that band in concert, and with writing the blogs on the Pie over the next few days. We both remember just how great a front man Steve Marriott was, and how powerful a force Humble Pie live were in the early to mid 70s.
Formed in 1969 with Marriott, Frampton and Ridley having significant pedigrees (Jerry Shirley being a kid who got the gig after befriending Steve Marriott when they supported the Small Faces), the name, coined by Steve Marriot ,was a push back of the “Supergroup” moniker which was common at the time and had been applied to them. Their first two albums were almost soft-rock, and quite different to the soulful raucous rock band that they would develop into a few years later. The single Natural Born Bugie (why did they spell it that way?) was a major chart success reaching number 4 in July 1969.The single highlights the vocal ability of the band with Ridley, Frampton and Marriott each taking a verse in turn. A follow up single Big Black Dog did not chart, but was played often at the Sunderland Mecca that John and I both frequented, and the overall “sound” was to be indicative of what was to come.Their next album was the eponymous Humble Pie, with a great cover featured on Shirley’s drum kit, followed by their first “real album” Rock On which contains Shine On, a song which still features in Peter Frampton shows, Stone Cold Fever and Rollin Stone. After poor album sales, but a good live response, Dee Anthony came up with the idea of capturing them on a double live album – sold at a discount – an idea he was to repeat to great effect with Peter Frampton in subsequent years. Performance – 
Rockin the Fillmore, to give it its full name, was recorded at the Fillmore East (not West) over four shows on May 28/29th.They were to play that venue more than 20 times. The album contains only two self penned songs Stone Cold Fever and Four Day Creep plus the standards Rollin Stone and I’m Ready and three covers I Walk on Guilded Splinters, Hallelujah (I love her so) and I Dont Need No Doctor.The latter song would feature in every gig the Pie played. Guilded Splinters is John’s favourite piece of recorded music. He feels that it “captures everything that was great about the band: a long slow jam building to a crescendo with no flash or glitz just a great band keeping solid time and improvising over a solid base.” Splinter is 24 minutes and 30 seconds but in Jerry Shirley’s book he says it was edited down from 33 minutes. They never played this song after Frampton left and it highlights his ability and the chemistry which existed between him and Marriott during that brief but fantastic period from late 69 to mid 71.
The next album Smokin was their best selling, hitting No 6 in the USA driven by their aggressive touring, but only No 28 in the UK. Over their entire history Humble Pie never had an album in the top 10 in the UK. John feels: “While it is their biggest commercial success, for me the chemistry was gone when Clem Clempson replaced Frampton and Marriott took control. Many bands are better when the creative tension between two contributors is held in check – Waters/Gilmore, Page/Plant, Blackmore/Gillan among others – and for me, despite their next great effort, Eat It , the band were never the same. Thunderbox was decent but the next and final album Street Rats less than spectacular.”
John first got into Humble Pie when a friend at School loaned him his Rockin the Fillmore. I’m less clear how I first got into them, but first got to see them at the Lincoln Festival in May 1972, where they pulled off a tremendous performance and got a great reaction from the crowd. We both wanted to go and see them at Durham University in early 72 but it was the Rag Ball, students only, expensive (dinner included) and formal dress (which seems unbelievable for the time, but I’m pretty sure that its true). We both then saw them at Newcastle Odeon in late 1972 with Frampton’s Camel as support. My ticket shows the time as 6pm, so I can only assume that there were two shows that evening, and I must have attended the early show. I remember thinking it strange that Frampton would be supporting his ex-band, but recall very little about his set. I do remember him playing Plain Shame, which remains one of my favourite Frampton songs to this day.
My memories of Humble Pie in concert from those days are primarily of Steve Marriott. He was just such an amazing front man. All cockney swagger, the guy had absolutely no fear, and he took total control of the crowd throughout every performance. His voice, range and power were just amazing, and you got the feeling that he was believed and felt every single word. If you don’t know what I mean go to youtube and look out a live version of I Don’t Need No Doctor or Rollin’ Stone. Do I really remember him shouting “My skin is white, but my soul is black” or is that my memory playing tricks? I don’t think I’ve seen a performer since that even comes close. Or maybe, and I guess its a crazy comparison, I see something of the Marriott attitude in Robbie Williams; the total ego, the power of the performance, the ability to hold a massive crowd in his hand. And I see some of the Marriott mannerisms in Paul Weller, but then he is a big Marriott fan. A typical Humble Pie set list from 1972 was something like: Up Our Sleeve; C’Mon Everybody; Honky Tonk Woman; I Wonder; Hallelujah I Love Her So; I Don’t Need No Doctor; Hot n Nasty; Four Day Creep; Rolling Stone. Humble Pie sets tended to include a small number of songs as each one ended up as quite a marathon with lots of jamming. Thanks to John for his excellent contributions to the above. More tomorrow.
1
Mar
Posted by vintagerock in Uriah Heep, Virgil and the Accelerators. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, pop, prog rock, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Uriah Heep Stockton Arc 28 Feb 2013
Support: Virgil and the Accelerators
Went along to Stockton Arc with my mate Norm to see the mighty Uriah Heep last night. Support came from new up and coming blues rock power trio Virgil and the Accelerators who are fronted by a young ace guitarist. We only managed to catch the last couple of numbers of their set as a result of a detour to the Stag Inn, but were very impressed by what we saw. Virgil and Co are very much from the Cream/Taste/Hendrix mould and have been getting rave reviews, going down a storm everywhere they play. After a short wait Uriah Heep came on stage to a great reception from the packed house. The current Heep line-up has been stable for some time with front man, Heep main man and orginal guitarist Mick Box, longtime and great frontman singer Bernie Shaw, Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Russell Gilbrook on drums. Sadly Trevor Bolder is not able to join the band for this tour, as he has recently being undergoing treatment for cancer. The good news is that his treatment has gone well, and he is expected back in the band later this year. Bass duties are currently being handled very ably by JJ Jowitt. The set was a mix of new and old, with the usual favourites. I’ve seen Uriah Heep several times over the past 10 years or so, and they remain an amazing live act. All of the ingredients that brought them to the notice of rock fans in the 70s are still there; screaming harmonies, swirling organ, great powerful vocals, and very LOUD volume. For the encore some ladies from the audience were brought up on stage to dance to Free n Easy; which seems to be a regular feature of the set now. Stand-out tracks for me were Sunrise, Gypsy, July Morning, Lady in Black and Easy Livin’. 
Its strange to think that over 40 years have past since I first saw this band at Newcastle City Hall; I remember them announcing Easy Livin’ as their new single. As Mick Box said last night as he introduced Gypsy “where did all those years go?”. Mick was on fine form; his showmanship still continues to develop, as he waves his hand around and above the neck of his guitar, casting spells that cause the instrument to play itself (that probably doesn’t make sense, but if you see him play you’ll know what I mean). Great rock, great nostalgia, and still very powerful. Long may they continue to rock. Norm and I both enjoyed the concert. Uriah Heep left the stage around 11pm and we were back around 11.45pm. Setlist: Against The Odds, Overload, Traveller in Time, Sunrise, All My Life, I’m Ready, Between Two Worlds, Stealin’, Nail On The Head, Into The Wild, Gypsy, Look At Yourself, July Morning, Lady In Black. Encore: Free n Easy, Easy Livin’
6
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Jake Bugg. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, country, folk, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Newcastle Academy 5 Feb 2013 Jake Bugg
Last night David’s friend Phil and I went to see Jake Bugg, the new much hailed up-and-coming superstar troubadour. Jake is all of 18 years old, and is selling venues out up and down the country. The Academy was jam packed to the walls and had been sold out for weeks in advance. I’d read about Jake and heard some of his stuff. He wears his influences on his sleeve, and his music is very reminiscent of the 60s, Dylan, Donovan, old blues, and country. His songs are all self-penned and its hard to believe that they can come from someone so new to the music business. We arrived just in time for the support act Little Green Cars, who come from the USA and were pretty good, playing a pleasant mix of indie, folk and psych. 
The crowd gave them a warm reception, but everyone was waiting for the main man. Jake Bugg came on stage shortly after 9pm and the place just went crazy. Lots of singing along. Everyone (except me :))seemed to know all of the words to most of the songs. Phil has Jake’s album, and told me that most of the set was drawn from that, with a few new songs. He finished with Lightning Bolt, which resulted in a mass crazy singalong by the Newcastle crowd. The encore was Broken followed by a super cover of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. Then we all rolled out into the cold night. Phil and I both agreed that it was a great gig. This guy is amazing and has a great future ahead of him. Watch his progress; it will be rapid. Thanks to Phil for the photo; his phone camera skills are much better than mine.
3
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Family. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, music, prog rock, psych, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 3 comments
Good to see Family again after 40 years
I had been looking forward to this gig for months. It is 40 years since Family last performed together and since I last saw them on their farewell tour at Newcastle City Hall in 1973. Marie decided a few days ago that she would like to come along with me, and I managed to buy a ticket for her, so we were all set for a nostalgic weekend. The last time she saw Family was probably 1969 or 1970 at Sunderland Locarno. We travelled down to London by train on Saturday morning, met up with David for a meal, and then took the tube across to Shepherd’s Bush. We had a couple of drinks in the pub next door, and went into the Empire at 8.45pm. Family were on stage prompt at the advertised time of 9.15pm. We had standing tickets down in the stalls and by the time we got into the venue the place was absolutely packed to the walls. I bought a programme and we found a spot on a little raised area at the back of the hall, where we had a good view of the stage.
The line-up for the two reunion concerts featured Roger Chapman on vocals, Poli Palmer on vibraphone, Jim Cregan on guitar and Rob Townsend of drums. The members of Family changed quite a but during their career and last night’s grouping represented a pretty good selection of past members. The one big miss was of course Charlie Whitney. I assumed that this was because of some long term fall out between old friends Chapman and Whitney, but the programme says otherwise. Apparently Whitney was the first person that Roger Chapman approached when the idea of a reunion came up, but Charlie now lives in Greece, hasn’t been involved in music for some time, and just didn’t feel as if he could do it. Shame. 
Never the less the show did go on, and the band was augmented by a number of other musicians to ensure the strange textures of the old classic songs were recreated on stage. There were 9 musicians in total on stage at Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night. As well as the four members of Family there was Geoff Whitehorn on guitar, Nick Payne on sax, flute and mouth harp, Gary Twigg on bass, Paul Hirsch on keyboards and John Lingwood on drums. The programme refers to the additional musicians as the “in laws” and they are all members of Roger’s band. The band were introduced onto the stage by long time friend and local Leicester football hero, Frank Worthington. The set was drawn from across their 8 album catalogue with all the classics and a few lesser know (at least to me) tracks. Family music was always a strange mix and difficult to categorise, blending folk, rock, psych, and blues with a deep sense of dynamics, shifting effortlessly from the soft and melodic to loud, rocky and swirling progrock or R&B. The opening song was Top of the Hill, followed by Drowned in Wine. My favourite No Mules Fool came half way through the set. As we got to the end the classics were rolled out to the delight of the largely male, balding late 50s and 60 something crowd. The last couple of songs were the rocky Burlesque, and In My Own Time. For the encore they played an exquisite version of The Weavers Answer, and then we all sang along to My Friend The Sun. Roger was as engaging as ever, a mix of the wild rock singer, the cheeky arrogant front man, and still getting lost in some weird crazy dancing at times. 
His voice was strong, but has lost a little of its power and the warbling vibrato is perhaps not quite as evident. But hey the guy is 70 and he gave it his all and put in an amazing performance. His crack with the crowd was as cheeky and friendly as ever, like he was with a group of old friends, which of course he was. Time and age haven’t dimmed his humour or his ability to eff and blind with the best of the them. He also made a few quips about effing Whitney sunning himself in Greece, clearly missing his old friend. At the end Roger thanked us and assured us that this was to be the last effing time we would see Family. We all rolled out into the cold night, warm in the knowledge that we had just spent a night with some old friends, and a good night it was too. Marie enjoyed it and recognised the well known songs. Next reunion gig for me is the Status Quo Frantic Four gigs next month. There are some good things about getting old and revisiting your past.
Setlist: Top of the Hill; Drowned in Wine; Holding the Compass; Part of the Load; Ready to Go; Crinkly Grin; Burning Bridges; No Mule’s Fool; Sat’dy Barfly; Between Blue and Me; Hung Up Down; Burlesque; In My Own Time. Encore 1: Weaver’s Answer. Encore 2: My Friend the Sun; Sweet Desiree.
26
Jan
Posted by vintagerock in Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, music, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 2 comments
Peter Green Splinter group
When I was getting into music in the 60s I listened to a lot of white blues. Cream, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Ten Years After were never off my record player back then. My guitar heroes were Clapton, Alvin Lee, Frank Zappa and Peter Green. I would listen to Greeny and The Supernatural again and again, trying to learn how to play them on a cheap Zenta guitar. There was a feel and a tone about Peter Green’s playing which gave it an atmospheric quality unlike any of the other guitar greats of the day. And those early Mac singles: Albatross, Man of the World, Green Manalishi, Need your Love so bad; Black Magic Woman all classics. By the time I got to see Fleetwood Mac in the early 70s Peter Green had sadly gone on his well publicised journey into the wilderness of his own mind. The world had lost a guitar genius, and I truly thought we would never see him reemerge from his darkness. But, in the late 90s Peter did return to gigging as a member of the Splinter Group, coaxed out of seclusion by long time collaborator and fellow lead guitarist Nigel Watson, and with Cozy Powell on drums. I first saw the Splinter Group with my mate Will at a packed gig at Redcar Coatham Bowl. This was the first time that we had been to the Coatham Bowl to see a band for many years, and it was great that we were going go see a hero of ours. Peter and the Splinter group played a set which drew from blues classics and from his old Fleetwood Mac days. I am afraid my memory fails me as to the exact set, but I think they played Need your Love so bad, Oh Well, Albatross and Black Magic Woman. It was just great to see Peter and hear him play in such a small venue. I was quite apprehensive about the gig, and didn’t really know what to expect. Peter seemed to be in good spirits, and although at times it was clear that he was less than comfortable as a front man, glimpses of the old Peter Green came through from time to time, and his guitar playing was fine and at times as fluid and beautiful as ever. Nigel Watson was by his side, watching over him and at times stepping in to sing or take the lead guitar parts. A great gig. We saw Peter Green play again a few years later on a bill headed by John Mayall at Sunderland Empire. I also had a ticket to see him play at the Colne Blues Festival a couple of years ago, but sadly he pulled out as he was again unwell. I hope that Peter is doing OK and perhaps there will be a chance to see him again in the future.
I went to see the reformed Magic Band last night at the Cluny. The Magic Band reformed in 2003, minus Captain Beefheart (who sadly passed away in 2010). The current line-up includes members John French (aka ‘Drumbo’, who first joined the band in the 60s) on lead vocals and mean harp playing, ‘Rockette Morton’ (who was also with the Captain in the late 60s and early 70s) on bass and Denny Walley (aka ‘Feelers Rebo’ who joined the band during the 70s) on guitar. These three old-timers are joined by Eric Klerks on guitar and Craig Bunch on drums. My first surprise was how packed the place was. The Cluny was full of 50 and 60 somethings, largely but not exclusively male, who knew every word and gave the band a great reception. 
The second surprise was just how good the Magic Band of today are, and how true to the original they play the songs. Drumbo is a great front man and has the Captain’s vocals off to a T. I remember the first time I heard Trout Mask Replica, when it came out in the late 60s. I just couldn’t believe what was coming out of my stereo. The strange disjointed sounds were so different to anything else around at the time, and when you put on top of that Beefheart’s strange growls, you had an album the like of which had never been heard before. The music still sounds kind of weird today, but it remains clear how deeply routed in the blues it was, and how important a part of the music Drumbo and the others were. Oh, and it was just great to hear Diddy Wah Diddy live. If you are into Beefheart and you get the chance to see this band, do go along. Many thanks to Drumbo for signing my poster. Setlist: My Human Gets Me Blues; Low Yo Yo Stuff; Diddy Wah Diddy; Bass solo; When It Blows Its Stacks; Hot Head; Dr Dark; Circumstances; On Tomorrow; Alice in Blunderland; Suction Prints; Hair Pie Bake I; Steal Softly Thru The Snow; Owed T’Alex; Click Clack; Sun Zoom Spark; Moonlight on Vermont; Big Eyed Beans From Venus. Encore: Floppy Boot Stomp
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