(Review by Steve T)
The big one. The last remaining Early Birds (who all doubled as Lord Paul's little helpers throughout the weekend), FDT and the Lawrence brothers occupied the front settee and seemed transfixed from the off, though they were probably all whacked by then; I’ve been doing this sort of thing all my life.
All the hot/Jazz, fire/starter, burn jokes have already been done but halfway through the first piece the fire alarms went off. At first, people thought Ross Stanley’s Hammond had finally spontaneously combusted, and who could blame it, but as Paul beckoned the trio to stop playing, his mother-in-law confirmed our worst fears, that we had to evacuate the building.
Cheery Russell told of how this had happened to him at a gig before and it was night over, but nothing was going to jeopardise this festival and the band was soon back, actually picking it up just before the point where it was so abruptly silenced.
I’m Old Fashioned followed by a bossa nova style Loverman, inspired by Dick Morrisey. Then Darn That Dream as a tribute to Louis Stewart. Indian Summer followed by another tribute, this time to Toots Thielemans and Bluesette.
A contrafact (new melody over existing chord changes) of Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue called Smokescape from their forthcoming album Heads and Tails Vol 2 slowed it down to a sleazy blues, growing to a powerful roar with a Hammond sustain of epic proportions and the high point of the set, ticking a number of boxes for me.
Seeing this mind-blowing trio, including Matt Home on kit, is like climbing a mountain; just when you get to another level, they find yet another level to take you to and, beyond Ross Stanley’s multiple tentacles, I couldn’t figure out how this kept happening. Extraordinary.
For an encore, I’ve Never Been In Love Before, he played a novelty sounding Hammond reminiscent of an amusement arcade or a naked man on Monty Python announcing something completely different, before gaining maximum impact switching it back to the sound nobody with a soul can resist.
I’m told they were even ‘sicker’ than the last time they played here, which was already pretty ‘sick.’
They’re at the Caff in September and my far better half went into spasms when she realised this is the band the Early Birds are supporting. No pressure then boys.
Steve T.
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