So on the Virgin train cross country bound for Wolverhampton, for another gig with Terry Reid. I like Virgin Trains...plug socket, smooth, comfy, I don't work for them just don't get a chance to use them a lot. Anyone who's ever been to Robin 2 will know it's a great music venue from which there's not many of them left. A great room with a fantastic acoustic sonic, armed with an experienced and cool headed sound engineer. It reminds me of a slightly bigger Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth.
Terry's in good spirits, soundcheck was great and everyone was relaxed and chilled. What's great about this venue is there's a small hotel attached to it! I wish all venues were like that how much easier would that make touring...it should be default ;-) it just relieves all the leaving the venue angst that can put a downer on the night sometimes.
Terry's friend Robert Plant came to see him.....what was that? Yes Robert Plant from a little band called Led Zepplin. I shook his hand 15 minutes before I played. His opening gambit when he came through the doors was " who's that imposter" pointing at a poster of tribute act 'Boot Led Zepplin' who were going to be playing the venue soon....which I thought was hilarious. It's not everyday you meet arguably the most famous rock frontman of all time....
Zoe was on first displaying some great soulful vocal talent from a bygone era. She reminded me of the singers from the 70's, simple songs but all the performance is in the vocal display rather than a kaleidoscope of arrangements and chord structures. She held the stage like a country rock singer that had been a staple for years.
I enjoyed my set even though it was a little weird using Terry's gear as it's set up for him of course. I am using Terry's tree of life Gibson acoustic on this tour and it's absolutely beautiful and people obviously don't get a chance to use a guitar like it. It just goes to show though you need time with an instrument to fully understand how it responds and where it's sweet spots are. The onstage sound was great and I flew through my set. I felt a little dislocated from the crowd tonight but it always seems to be worse in my head than it is. The crowd were extremely polite...like English but turned up to eleven.
Tonight people were here to see Terry though and that was quite apparent. He was onstage again with legendary pedal steel player BJ Cole who I had a brief chat about royalties over dinner.
The highlight for me was a down right bizarre and psychedelic versions of his songs that were rediculously trippy, I don't know where BJ's head went but it was fun to witness! Terry was coaxing the polite crowd to settle in to the night with his rock and roll anecdotes and they seemed to be lapping it up. It was quite a downbeat set from Terry with songs being a little slower than usual and breathing more but the venue is great for this.
With Robert being mobbed by tipsy fans and Terry laughing his way to bed....we retired...
So next stop Newcastle! Never been there let alone play there, should be fun!
Stay Safe
Andy xx
Mostly listening to
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
No comments:
Post a Comment