Eric Bibb – The Brentwood Centre, 9th October 2006

The fourth gig on the UK leg of Eric Bibb’s promotional tour for his excellent new CD, ‘Diamond Days’ saw the caravan roll into Brentwood, his only appearance in the county that, for a little while, was a regular haunt. The man himself took to a stage on which there were no less than 7 acoustic guitars of different shapes and sizes, a drum kit consisting of a single side drum, a hihat and a cymbal and a double bass and for the best part of an hour & a half held his audience mesmerised.

With fellow American Larry Crockett on drums and the superb Danny Thompson on double bass, Eric treated the enthusiastic audience, many of whom had travelled some distance to catch this gig, to a set that saw him playing classics from the likes of Odetta to his fine and very thoughtful and thought provoking originals. Up tempo celebrations such as the glorious ‘Mandela Is Free’ which Eric dedicated to a schoolboy named Genuine whom he had met recently at a schools gig in Florida mixed effortlessly with the title track from ‘Diamond Days’, the wonderful ‘In My Father’s House’, an oft recorded song and one which is particularly close to Eric’s heart, with ‘Destiny Blues’, another excellent track from the most recent CD, each song linked to the next by a bit of history, a tale of inspiration, an expression of pleasure, always adding to the ambience and serving to produce a wonderfully rounded evening.

Special mention also must go to the support act, a lovely young lady from Yorkshire called Hayley Hutchinson whose wonderful voice and lovely songs and lyrics enchanted the audience and lead to substantial CD sales in the interval. Well worth catching this songbird!

To be honest, I was by no means convinced that the laid back acoustic style of American troubadour, Eric Bibb, and the cavernous Brentwood Centre would be a successful marriage but, all credit to both the centre management and to Eric’s soundman; the ambience was of a dive club somewhere in the backstreets, albeit with a large stage and lighting rig! It is easy to become blasé when one attends loads of gigs, but this one really was something special. As my wife said afterwards, – “Probably the best gig I have ever been to”. Nuff said!
10th October 2006

Also published in Blues Matters!

Festival of Blues – New Crawdaddy Blues Club – Sunday 1st October 2006

A brilliant day with some really superb performances saw just over £1,000 raised for the Little Havens Children’s Hospice. An enormous thank you must go to everyone involved, the bands & artists who gave their time to appear, the Crawdaddy Crew who worked so hard on what was a very long and tiring day to pull it all together, Chris J, Chris P, Johnny H, Steve Savage, Paul Dean, Paul Milligan, Paul Reynolds, Denise & Leslie, Anna Marie plus anyone else that I have forgotten, and the staff & management of the Belvedere who kept us fed & watered as well as providing the venue without charge.

The day kicked off with Bad Hair Day who, as ever, produced a rollicking set and whose very obvious enjoyment was very infectious and was a perfect start to proceedings. Over on the acoustic stage, it was great to welcome back Tim Aves in fine solo form with vocals that have all the menace of Howling Wolf and guitar picking the like of which we do not see when he is with the ‘Dillos.

Back on the main stage a debut performance by Mess of Blues whose blues fiddle intrigued and then back to the acoustic stage for a return visit by the superb Nigel Bagge & Eddie Armer, a duo that is simply magical. Nigel’s guitar picking and smoking vocals combine so well with Eddie’s harmonica playing, he produces the most wonderful tone, particularly on chromatic. Some acoustic problems lead to Nigel borrowing Chris Pearson’s beautiful electric guitar and we were treated to a set that I described as “nectar to the ears”.

A debut next on the main stage with the relatively recently formed Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’, a smashing band which sees the old firm of Ray Marquis on drums & Bernie Brewster on bass, Gary Howard on keys, Chris Pearson on guitar and John Smythe on harp & vocals. They produced an excellent set which had the audience moving and actually saw some dancing! Thanks Rosie!  They are certainly a band to watch who are building quite a reputation; recently they supported Otis Grand at the Spitz in London.

The Heaters were up next and, as always, produced a cracking set full of variety and drew some very favourable comment from musicians in the audience who had not seen them for a while. Paul Milligan’s vocals & guitar are outstanding whilst, in their now four piece incarnation, it is lovely to hear more of Paul Dean’s keyboards. Chris Patching, bass, and paul Reynolds, drums, anchor the whole thing and we even saw, or rather heard, a bass solos, none too common I can assure you!

Next on the acoustic stage was Roy Mette, a man without whom no Essex Festival of Blues would be complete. Roy’s music defies any categorisation other than to describe it as original, superb and thought provoking. Whether he is playing one of his own originals or his own individual take of a well known number, Roy’s performance is always powerful and stunning. Just so today!

On the main stage we welcomed a first appearance by the Untouchables, a band describing themselves as hailing from the Lea Valley Delta playing Chicago Blues – “how it used to be!” Featuring Keith Parker, voted third most popular harmonica player in the most recent Digital Blues Awards, on vocals & harp, Pete Ellison on vocals & an array of vintage guitars, Paul Green on stand up bass and Malcolm Buckland on drums, the band turned in a stonking set which again shook off any audience lethargy and had them rocking in the aisles! I am sure we will see these guys again soon, they were excellent.

Despite panic all around when, just 10 minutes before he was due on stage, he had not arrived, Martin Harley took the acoustic stage fresh from a 3 hour marathon on the M25 from Woking! And for the next 40 minutes his stunning guitar playing and vocals were accompanied by the regular thump of chins hitting the floor. Guy Tortora had originally drawn my attention to Martin having played with him at the Spitz.

Since then I had heard many good reports and so we were delighted when he agreed to play the Festival. Playing an acoustic guitar across his lap with a slide as well as a regular acoustic, he produced a bewitching set which left many an audience member asking “Who is this guy!?” and even now they are still talking about him! His CD’s flew off the shelf, so much so he had to fetch additional supplies! Martin Harley is definitely a name to watch and I am sure we will hear much more of him. Hopefully we will see him at the Club 2007. Absolutely knockout!

And so, to the headline act and, indeed, the very first act that was booked for the Festival, the superb Roadhouse. The last time they played the Crawdaddy was in late 2005 at what was the final gig with the line-up that included Lorna Reilly & Jules Fothergill, now part of funkydory who you can see at the Club on Thursday November 9th. With two superb female singers, Mandie G and the amazing 19 years old Susie D, plus new guitarist Drew Barron, this was our first chance to catch this “new” line-up which has been creating quite a stir, and with good cause. Gary Boner plus his long term rhythm section of Bill Hobley on bass and Roger Hunt on drums turned in a storming final set featuring a number of tracks from the band’s latest Blues Matters! CD, the superb ‘Broken Land’ as well as tracks from previous CDs.

All in all they treated the audience to a fine rocking set that gave the lady vocalists every chance to shine as well as treating all the guitar nuts to some great duelling guitars as Gary & Drew jousted with their instruments. 

A superb finale to an excellent day which was marred by but one thing – why did so few people turn up? £10.00 to see 10 acts over a 10 hour period, and yet quite a bit less than a hundred paying customers passed through the doors. I simply do not understand it and it is poor recompense to the artists and to the team that worked so hard and long to put it all together.

photos courtesy of Chris Patching

10th October 2006

The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang Tour – Twickenham – Sunday 20^th August 2006

I am not often lucky – I’ve been doing the Lottery since it started and am still having to come to work! So it was something of a coup to be offered 4 tickets to the Rolling Stones at Twickenham and to take my wife and a client guest with her other half. Stadium rock concerts are always special affairs even though the artists are often little more than specks in the distance and seeing the Stones at Twickenham Rugby Ground was always going to be somewhat different to the only other time I saw them, back in 1963 at my local youth club just before they hit the big time! (Status Quo played the same venue a month later!)

If I am honest, I was prepared to be disappointed. After all, the remaining original members of the band are all over 60 and I have seen far too many aging ‘stars’ from the ‘60s who just don’t seem able to accept that it is high time they called it a day!

The buzz at Twickenham was incredible and there was a great air of anticipation on an evening that was warm without the stifling heat we had experienced earlier in the summer. Openers Feeder are, I am told, a popular band but indifferent sound and tedious material made their set something of an ordeal and left one wondering “why bother”? On a weekly basis, I see bands which make Feeder seem very ordinary and would have entertained the crowd a great deal more!

The stage for this event was a huge six or seven storey structure with wings that stretched the whole width of the pitch area and was dominated by a massive video screen in the centre. About five minutes late, this stage burst into life with brilliant sequenced lighting displays and video projection creating the most wonderful effect as a backdrop to Mick, Keef, Charlie & Ronnie opening their show, “back where they started in Twickenham in Richmond”, in explosive fashion with Jumping Jack Flash and the stadium erupted! We were all there for a good time and we were going to have one!

The next two hours flew past as we were treated to an excellent mix of the old songs we all know & love – ‘Honky Tonk Women’, ‘Start Me Up’, ‘Ruby Tuesday’, ‘Brown Sugar’ (accompanied by a fifty foot high computer generated topless lady cavorting pole dancer style with the Eifel Tower and other well-known landmarks), ‘Get Off My Cloud’ and ‘It’s Only Rock & Roll’. Oh how we sang along, tens of thousands of voices united, telling the World – “I know it’s only rock & roll but I like it, yes I do!!”

Highlights for me were a fabulous version of ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ which had the crowd woo-wooing as soon as Charlie started beating out the rhythm and featured Mick in tails looking just like a voodoo priest cavorting about the stage as he does so well and ‘Midnight Rambler’ which saw the band gathered around Charlie’s drum kit and Mick reminding us of the band’s roots four decades and more ago in the ‘60s British blues boom playing some tasty blues harp.

As ever the show was full of theatricality, hell the Stones have to go one better than last time! So, as the band played ‘Miss You’ a sizeable chunk of the stage onto which the band and their backing singers etc. had gathered detached itself from the main stage and set off, apparently gliding on air, some 200 yards down the pitch into the midst of the audience sat on the pitch itself. Cue even more audience hysteria!

Special mention must be made of band’s long term backing singer, Grammy winner Lisa Fischer, a lady blessed with a superb voice who has sung with many of the greats including Tina Turner from whom she obviously learned her dancing! She & Mick duetted on Ray Charles’ late 50’s hit, ‘Night Time is the Right Time’ and her performance was electric bringing the audience, those who were still sitting, to their feet!

Just as the evening had highlights, so there were lowlights. Whether it was to give Sir Mick’s recently recovered from laryngitis voice a rest or whether it was to give Keef a chance, the couple of numbers where he took over vocal duties for a couple of numbers were, for me the nadir of the evening, although I will long remember the precursor to them which saw him, or rather his image on the video screen, approach the microphone and, theatrically, pull a ciggie from a packet, light it and gratefully draw the smoke down. Cue some artistic camera work of Keef’s head wreathed in cigarette smoke before he flicked the ciggie away and was passed a guitar and started playing, his face wreathed in smiles beneath a colourful bandana wrapped around his head – hiding the scars perhaps? Also less than scintillating were the tracks from their most recent CD, songs which lacked the catchiness or attraction of the oldies and certainly did not leave me eager to buy the CD.

The evening climaxed, all too soon, with a throw everything at it version of the classic ‘Satisfaction’ accompanied by fireworks, 30 foot plumes of flame and the 63 year old Mr Jagger running repeatedly from the extreme edges of stage right to extreme stage left, more than the full width of the pitch! Where does he get the energy?! Remember, this was after a gig that was already more than two hours long.

And so, as we made our way from the stadium revelling in the memories of a very special evening we pondered whether the next time the Stones play London, Wembley will be finished or whether, as Mick so succinctly put it, “Wembley’s going to be ready for the farewell tour of the Arctic Monkeys!”

An unforgettable evening, a great experience and still snatches of Rolling Stones’ songs haunt my thoughts. It may only be rock & roll but the Stones weave a spell that is most potent. There are those who scoff at them still performing live, but they give value and entertain, more than can be said about the majority of today’s chart acts. Where will Feeder be in 40 years?

Photos courtesy of Marc Charlton.

An edited version of this review appeared in Cover Note published by Heath Lambert Limited

Beat Roots, The Blue Boar Hotel, Maldon, Essex – 21^st July 2006

And so, on a Friday night that felt as if I was in the tropics rather than Essex, it was off to the monthly Beat Roots gig at the Blue Boar in Maldon. Not only is the room in which these gigs are held Elizabethan, it is dominated by a Lion Witch & the Wardrobe style wardrobe which forms the back drop to the “stage” and there is also some superb real ale for sale, much of which is brewed on the premises. Add to this Dengie Delta Blues at their finest with resident band the Swamp Cats and a different guest each month and you have a near perfect way to spend a Friday evening. For July, they ramped things up to a new level with a fantastic set from the incomparable Ian Siegal.

I had heard much of Ian but had never seen him live so it was with eager anticipation that sat, quietly steaming in the heat & humidity which an excellent opening set from the Swamp Cats, with their guest Tim Aves, only served to intensify, their choice of numbers from the likes of Tony Joe White enhancing the deep & dirty Delta feel.

Ian took the stage with nothing more than a pint of Guinness and a slightly beaten up resonator guitar and proceeded to deliver a set which was raunchy, dirty, wonderful, authentic, entertaining, stunning and awesome – a set of blues ancient & modern centred around those topics which were the subjects of so much of the early Blues – sex, women, sex & booze! Ian was sometimes Howling Wolf, sometimes Johnny Cash, sometimes Tom Waits, even on one occasion Wolfman Jack, but always enthralling, always superb, always Ian Siegal.

Struggling to keep his metal bodied guitar in tune in the heat, he abandoned it and used Dave ‘Werewolf’ Richardson’s electro-acoustic, delighting in the ability this gave him to produce different sounds so that one number was accompanied by some finger pickin’ banjo, another by a wonderfully full, almost 12 string sound. Fuelled by double Jack Daniels’ on the rocks provided by the audience in an attempt to ensure that more Guinness would result in nature’s call being all too strong, Ian’s superb voice plunged the depths and soared to the night sky above Maldon, his audience in the palm of his hand, lapping up his anecdotes and the wry observations which linked the songs. All too soon it was finale time which saw Ian joined by the Swamp Cats & Mr Tim Aves for a rousing encore.

photos courtesy of Jenni Miller

Tring Blues Festival – 10^th – 12^th March 2006

The annual slog around the M25 through the Friday rush hour does not get any better but having learned from previous years, I was in plenty of time to catch the first of the three acts on the bill tonight. The Chrissy Matthews Band were an unknown quantity although I had heard reports of a 13 year-old guitar prodigy so I was intrigued. With the diminutive figure of Chrissy up front, dad Keith on bass and Lee Maloney (apologies if name wrong) on drums, the trio format seemed promising as they opened with the instrumental, “Stepping Out”. Nice, although not astounding guitar but hey he is only 13 and so it should not have been a surprise when Chrissy spoke and one heard a child’s voice.

Next up was a song which Chrissy informed us he had written “a couple of years ago”! and was from his CD “Influences”. This was to be the first of a number of original songs which included “School Day Blues”, in the classic blues style which saw Chrissy adding harmonica playing to his cv, and a song dedicated to Robert Johnson – “Blues for Robert” – as Chrissy said, “You can still have the blues, even if you come from Bicester!”

It was strange hearing the songs being delivered in an unbroken voice (although it is heading that way) and it has to be said that singing is not Chrissy’s greatest strength! Grimacing and gurning his way through the guitar solos, Chrissy provoked a good response from the already sizeable audience including a good contingent from Bicester but it has to be said he did not do it for me. Yes, for his age, he is a good guitarist and if he sticks with it and gets good guidance and learns from it, there is no doubt he could become very good indeed. But for now he is what he is, a good, if very young guitarist, and, in my opinion, the band could do with a singer rather than relying upon Chrissy.

The first night was a bit of an Essex invasion as next up were the Heaters, the Southend based band who run the New Crawdaddy Blues Club in Billericay where they also play each week. To say I am, therefore, familiar with them is something of an understatement! I had seen them just the night before! But from the word go, this was a different band to the one I know. The Heaters comprises five musicians who have played for many years and have loads of experience and not a little talent. With Paul (Dean) on keyboards, Paul (Milligan) on vocals and guitar, Paul (Reynolds) on drums, Chris (Rose) on guitar, harp and vocals and Chris (Patching) on bass their repertoire contains a wide variety of covers encompassing the likes of Robert Johnson, Gary Moore, Peter Green, John Mayall, T-Bone Walker & Eric Bibb (all of whom were represented tonight) to name a few.

The by now close to capacity audience quickly warmed to their fine interpretation of very varied material and basked in the lovely guitar playing of Chris R & Paul M whose fine vocals more than did justice to the material. With numbers such as Peter Green’s “Merry go round”, Freddie King’s “Born Under A Bad Sign”, Mayall’s “Long Grey Mare” & “You Know It Ain’t Right”, the set built to a wonderful climax with a stunningly lovely “Still Got The Blues”, the all too often murdered Gary Moore song, to which Paul M’s voice and guitar more than justice with the most beautiful measured delivery and guitar playing.

The tempo picked up with “Sweet Home Chicago” which had the audience singing along heartily and Paul M & the two Chris’s all taking the vocals, and a finale which saw Mayall’s “Looking Back” blend into the band’s traditional closing number, a superb and creative version of “Baby Please Don’t Go”, done Them style but with a glorious middle section which sees Paul & Chris playing off each other most effectively.

This was the Heaters in the most relaxed mood I had seen them, really going for it and playing better than I think I have ever heard them. The audience quickly took the band to their hearts and would willingly have had more if time had allowed.

Headliners for Friday were the band known as Dr Feelgood and my first ever gig by the band whose name is synonymous with Thames Delta Blues and who are held is such high reverence by their legions of fans, many of whom are probably going to want my blood after they read this! First of all may I say that the Feelgood’s set was packed with many of the great numbers which are theirs alone whether originals such as “Milk & Alcohol”, covers such as “Date Bait” or classics such as Mickey Jupp’s “Down at the Doctors” or Wilson Pickett’s “99 and a half Just Won’t Do”.

There was guitarist Steve Walwyn’s original composition “Instinct To Survive” which was followed by a beautiful slow blues, “Down At The Jetty”, a number which saw the vocalist and harp player Robert Kane leave the stage as Steve broke into a wonderful guitar solo before drummer Kevin Morris and bassist Phil Mitchell also departed leaving Steve holding the stage and mesmerising with a drawn out guitar solo which ended in rapturous applause from the audience, so much so that Steve started up again at which point the stage lights failed plunging the place into darknesss.

With only the house lights on, Steve continued and in true “the show must go on” style the other band members came back on stage and launched into more numbers which, like many they played in this set, can be found on their most recent live DVD. Their encore, when it came, was introduced as Dr Feelgood’s tribute to John Lee Hooker, “Mad man Blues” which morphed into the classic harp workout that is “Stone Fox Chase” which became “Bonie Maronie” and “Tequila”, a combination of tunes which I had last heard when Nine Below Zero played Tring last year!

The Feelgoods were undoubtedly very good, very professional, very slick and great entertainment and left the audience baying for more. Their performance was supercharged with energy and they played many old favourites very well indeed. But I was left with this nagging little thought. Are Dr Feelgood today the ultimate tribute band? Discuss!!!!

Saturday at Tring is a day of two parts and, as in previous years, Saturday lunchtime was reserved for the annual blues jam hosted as ever by the excellent Robin Bibi. The session was opened by a very fine set from Robin & his band and then the stage was opened to jammers who were put into line-ups by Robin which produced some interesting combinations. Age was no bar and amongst those who strutted their stuff were Nick White, the 11 year old son of the festival organiser, Derek White.

The evening saw a mixed bill, one of the great features of Tring, and opened with the first of two sets from the former Stray guitarist, the inimitable Del Bromham. Playing on a small side stage, Del’s sets combined some great acoustic and slide playing with plenty of banter between songs which included Big Bill Broonzy’s “Careless Love”, “Devil’s Highway”, the title track from his CD, and John Lee Hooker’s “In The Mood”.

Opening on the main stage were the ever popular Roadhouse, a band who have a superb new CD out on the Blues Matters! Label and who have undergone some fairly significant changes in their line-up in the last six months or so which have seen the arrival of two brilliant new singers, Mandi G and Fiona McElroy and a new guitarist, Drew Barron, a man who is creating quite a stir! Unfortunately, Drew was not able to be with Roadhouse for this gig as he was recovering from an accident (get well soon Drew!) and he was replaced for tonight by the excellent Danny Gwillim. In addition to the regular Roadhouser’s Gary Boner on guitar & vocals, Bill Hobley on bass and Roger Hunt on drums, tonight saw a special guest added to the line-up, Swiss sax player Fred Schmidt 

And what a set they delivered despite their allotted 40 minutes flying by too quickly. Very well received was “White Water”, a really rocking track from the new CD as well as the opener, “Blues Highway” and the wonderfully bluesy “Slip Away” whilst Mandi excelled with a gorgeous cover of the classic “Help Me”. I think these guys just get better all the time and so did the audience judging by the queue to buy their CD’s afterwards.

Another short set from Del filled the gap whilst the main stage was readied for a band I had been eagerly awaiting, Big Dez, all the way from Paris (France) via Austin (Texas)!

With Phil Fernandez on vocal &  guitar, Bala Pradal on organ and  piano, Marc Schaeller playing some fine harp and an excellent rhythm section in Lamine Guerfi on bass and Stephane Minana on drums.

The gauntlet was thrown down right from the start as the band played a selection of tracks from their most recent CD “Night After Night” kicking off with “#2” followed by “Junk Tour”, “Beautician Blues” and the oh so funky “Suspicion”, a selection which served to demonstrate the band’s breadth of skill and material.

Big Dez (Phil) is a frontman who commands the stage and is a smiling larger than life musician who plays some wonderful blues licks paying homage to Albert Collins and Albert King along the way. Unlike so many “frontmen” Dez really connects with and draws in the audience and the band really rocked the theatre as their set continued with tracks from “Sail on Blues” the band’s previous CD including “Lets Have Some Fun” and, the high spot for me, a great take on “One Way Ticket” which saw Big Dez teasing the audience by playing an oh so quiet guitar solo which hushed the audience before suddenly whacking up the volume and then quietening down.

The audience were enraptured and hung on his every note as Dez played them like a game fish which he had hooked but did not want to land yet! Particular mention must also be made of Bala’s excellent piano & organ solos. At the end of their set, the audience would not let them go and so they returned for a well received, (& deserved) encore with the title track of their latest CD.

Topping Saturday night’s bill were the incomparable Paul Lamb & the King Snakes, a band with a fabulous reputation whose most recent reincarnation I had not previously seen. The long term triumvirate of Paul on harp & vocals, the superb Sonny Below on drums and the hugely energetic Rod Demick on stand-up bass and vocals have been joined by superb vocalist Chad Strentz who also plays rhythm guitar, and was with the band through most of the ‘90’s, and the stunning Raul de Pedro Marinero on guitar.

With an excellent new CD recently released, the set list pleasingly included a number of tracks from it including the lively title track “I’m On a Roll”, “Far Far Away” and Paul’s very different take on the classic “Baby Please Don’t Go”. The King Snakes can always be relied upon to offer a varied bill of fare and tonight was no different with the gorgeous slow blues, “The Things I Used to Do”, an excellent “Midnight Hour” and a wonderful Paul Lamb tribute to Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, the aptly titled “Get Down Song” which sees the audience being coerced into getting down on the floor following the band’s lead. Did I say that King Snakes’ gigs are always highly entertaining?

The set drew to a close with a great medley of “CC Rider” & “Catfish” and “She’s Crazy”, a perennial live favourite. Amidst great roars for an encore, the band returned to the stage for a blistering encore with “Got My Mojo Working”, a number just made for Paul & his great band

Sunday is traditionally a more laid back day and so the daylight hours saw the wonderful Papa George playing a solo before leading an acoustic guitar workshop. Del Bromham  gave an electric guitar demo whilst Storm Warning’s superb singer & harmonica player, Son Maxwell, lead several harmonica workshops. Visitor from the USA, the fabulous Little Toby Walker gave a guitar demonstration and held a question and answer session about his unique playing style.

Sunday evening continued with two excellent acoustic sets with local guitarist David Bristow opening playing mainly his own material in what one member of the audience succinctly defined as a pre war blues style augmented by collarless shirt and braces of the period”! However, the song that stood out for me was a glorious version of “What a Wonderful World”, a song forever associated with Louis Armstrong.

The climax of Sunday, and for many, of the whole weekend, was