Friday 22 November 2024.

Friday 22 November 2024. GALLIANO live at Shepherds Bush Empire. British acid jazz band playing a UK tour to promote their fifth studio album 'Halfway Somewhere'. Their third studio album 'The Plot Thickens' hit number eight in the UK charts in 1994. I saw them live 30 years ago in 1994, at The Grand Clapham. ----------- Levels 2 and 3 are closed as unsold , but the stalls standing and Level 1 are rammed solid. A mainly middle aged crowd who remember the acid jazz heyday of the 1990s. There is a DJ support , but nobody knows his tunes ,so he just ends up being background music. GALLIANO on stage at 9pm and played for 1 hour 40 mins. Seven members in the band including Mick Talbot on keyboards, and a percussionist and female backing singer. All seven members are wearing some kind of cap/hat. They sound great and really tight too. Lots of dancing , swaying and nodding along from the crowd. The old school soul boys n girls were enjoying it. They played a few tracks from the new album . Highlights included ' Little Ghetto Boy' and ' Pleasure , Joy and Happiness' and near the end, it was good to hear a short chorus version of the Maze classic ' Joy and Pain'. An enjoyable show. ----------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- Thursday 21 November 2024. SEASICK STEVE live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Seasick Steve, the much celebrated American blues guitarist and singer who continues to serve up a hot mix of boogie, blues, rock, americana and folk music is hitting the road to play his tracks live! His career did not take off until he was in his 60s. He is now aged 73. Seasick Steve has sold almost 2 million records Worldwide, earning three top ten albums in the official UK album chart. I have seen him live a couple of times before. This is the last show on his five week UK and European tour. ' A Trip a Stumble a Fall Down on Your Knees ' is the thirteenth studio album by American blues musician Seasick Steve. It was produced by Steve himself, and was released on June 7, 2024, through SO Recordings. It was preceded by four singles: "Backbone Slip", "Funky Music", "Let the Music Talk", and "Internet Cowboys". ---------- All the levels open tonight but the venue is not sold out. JAMES DIXON was on at 7.45pm for his 45 mins set. James went down well with the crowd , as his style of guitar playing was very like Seasick Steve and his right foot was used for his bass drum. He played a good cover of Greg Lakes ' I Believe in Father Christmas' SEASICK STEVE arrived on stage at 9pm and played for a lengthy 2 hours 5 mins , as he did lots of chat between songs. He still has that long grey beard and wearing his trademark cap. With the release of his latest album, A Trip, A Stumble, A Fall Down On Your Knees, Seasick Steve was spinning his traditional bayou blues and playing them on guitar, banjo, harmonica, diddly bow and stomp box. It’s been a number of years since he first appeared on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny television show, bashing wildly at a three string guitar and spinning yarns of his life busking, sleeping rough and jumping freight trains through the Mississippi Delta. But ten years later an unauthorised biography exposed his background for what it was, a session musician playing in funk groups and singing backing vocals. But this had no effect on the crowd because whatever his past, he remains a fantastically compelling and charismatic live performer. Joined on stage by drummer Dan Magnusson, guitarist Luther Dickinson and harmonica player Richie Prynne on several tracks, Steve sat on a chair at the front of the no frills stage surrounded by old battered amplifiers and began the evening with the brilliant My Donny. Continuing an incredible evening of his own brand of blues rock, his rich weathered voice was put to good use on the likes of Diddley Bo, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl and Started out With Nothin’. There were a number of songs from his new album like Backbone Slip which was pure groove, Move To The Country which certainly had the crowd’s attention whilst Funky Music had them swaying and singing along. But there were plenty of fans favourites too, such as Walkin’ Man and Dog House Boogie all played on a plethora of homemade battered guitars. A really good show.

Posted 22nd November 2024