With the country still in the midst of lockdown and no sign of any live music in the foreseeable future if at all this year I thought I would take the opportunity to look back in the archives, sounds posh I know but it’s just an spreadsheet, and revisit gigs I attended on this day down the years. I will keep this going until I can attend my first gig again in person so hopefully this also brings back memories for my gig going chums who have joined me on this great musical journey down the years.
Three of the best today for my look back trip down memory lane for you down the years.
2008, Angie Stone, Jazz Cafe, London
A brilliant night for me and Anne at the Jazz Café. It’s always packed and I question if it doesn’t often exceed its fire safety certificate as you can barely breathe sometimes. Stone is undoubtedly one of the queens of modern laid back smooth soul.
It’s great to see her in this intimate setting. The band are tight, her vocals are spot on and it’s just a lovely evening.
1997, Oasis, Wembley Arena, London
A nice freebie tonight for me and Alex who was a massive Oasis fan at the time. An old work colleague had recently got a job with Warner publishing and scored us a pair of tickets.
This is of course the old line-up with Guigsy and Bonehead and would have been the ‘Be Here Now album tour. Not their finest album as they were deep into their drug phase at the time. Luckily there are still a couple of decent tracks from it but it’s the songs from the first two albums we all want to see.
Oasis have their haters and are often called Beatles copyists or derivatives but those early songs heard live are undeniably good. Highlight for me was probably ‘Acquiesce’ on a night of great performances with Liam being his usual combative self.
The only downside was we seemed to be surrounded by dickheads who seemed intent on annoying everyone around them smoking when they shouldn’t and just being loud and obnoxious. Hey ho.
1983, Whitesnake, Wembley Arena, London
It’s notionally the ‘Saints and Sinners’ tour but the set takes in equal tracks from across their catalogue. Whitesnake were the first band Graham and I ever saw and we continued watching them at this time throughout their multiple line-up changes.
They were at the time the finest British blues rock band around and Coverdale’s voice was stunning. The band were brilliant and of course at that time everyone got an extended solo as was the vogue at the time. There are usually dull affairs but you haven’t lived until you have seen a Jon Lord Hammond solo or a Cozy Powell drum solo. Both sadly no longer with us but I am privileged to have seen them many times.
Whitesnake could do no wrong in my eyes and Graham was even more obsessed I think as I am sure he went the night after too. Sadly most of the British musicians left and were replaced by Americans and Coverdale softened their sound to appeal to that soft rock market. A tragic waste of a great blues voice and somewhat taints their memory for me.
That’s it for today’s trip down memory lane. Here’s hoping we can get to some form of normality soon but I have had several gigs slated for early 2021 already being moved to the back end so that will take it to a full twelve months at least between gigs.