White Men Can Play The Blues

Friday 22nd May: ...and in attempt to counter the disappointment of not being at Wembley on Sunday I'm taking a punt with two artistes who are unknown to me, although one does come highly recommended (by both Roj and my highly-knowledgeable colleague Phil). We're also not at any of our usual venues - tonight it's York's Grand Opera House. In the Dress Circle. Seated. It's really warm and, to my embarrassment, I find myself nodding off a couple of times.

Tonight's support act is Ian Siegal, a British blues guitarist, with Andy Graham on bass and Nikolaj Bjerre on drums. If there's such a thing as traditional blues, Ian comes close to playing it, to the point that I originally thought he was American. The band's short set was a joy to listen to with some very original guitar-playing styles and an easy-going vocal style. I found it difficult to distinguish the lyrics but I think that was more down to the acoustics of the venue and unfamiliarity with the songs, rather than any deficiency on the part of the band. Bjerre's drumming was simple yet very effective - he's another proponent of the small drum-kit, a la Jan Akkermann's drummer from a few weeks ago - while Graham's style verged on humorous, with a touch of funk underlying some of the bass-lines.

The short support set was over all too quickly, but it was an almost perfect set-up for the main act.

That main act was one Johnny Winter, 65 year-old, Grammy nominated Texan Blues guitarist, and personal guitar-hero of fellow blogger, Roj. As I said, Mr Winter comes highly recommended and the more I hear of the blues, the more I like it, so tonight should be a winner.

The set starts with Johnny's band (Paul Nelson on guitar, Scott Spray on bass and Tony Beard on drums) on stage without the main man. After a short instrumental, Johnny shuffles onto stage, looking as frail as you are ever going to see a live act. He spends the entire set sitting on a chair, playing some kind of small, cut-down version of a guitar. (I'm no expert, but I'm assuming it's the dew-dropped shaped, headless Steinbeger, mentioned in this review which, being professional, is much better written than mine.) Apparently, it's not just his age, but the fact that he damaged a hip while escaping a house fire a decade ago.

Anyway, while he may not be the most dynamic act I've ever seen, his voice is superb (like dark chocolate running over velvet when he speaks, which isn't that often). Again, I struggled a bit with the lyrics and, not being familiar with Winter's history or (being honest) a lot of his musical roots, I failed to spot some of the more famous tracks. Winter plays a combination of blues, rock and rock-and-roll (it's safe to say that I'm not a huge fan of the latter) and plays then well. I have to admit, I found the small guitar to sound a bit strident and preferred it when Winter swapped to a more traditional instrument (a Firebird, I think) for the encore - it had a much cleaner sound. His was a no-nonsense performance - he introduced each song, counted it in and performed it, letting his fingers doing the talking.

From some of the shouts coming from the audience, there appeared to be some long-time fans at the gig. I suspect, but can't be sure, that at least some of them would think that Winter was now past his best. From my point of view, as a "newbie", he was an excellent performer, although possibly not up the standard of the recommendations I was given. Maybe it's the case that legends have to grow, rather than being discovered. I think overall, I preferred Ian Siegal, although I wouldn't think twice if given the opportunity to see either act again.

At the end of the gig, warm, slightly drowsy and in need of liquid sustenance, we headed off to the Roman Bath where the lasers, muscle-shirts and rocks covers of Storm, were in evidence. We've seen these before and they, more or less, perform the same sort of covers as most bands we see at the Bath, but they are pretty good and, although in a different class to the main gig, were a good enough way to finish off the evening.

Friday 13th February: If there is one thing nearly as good as the opportunity to see live bands for free, it's the chance to see live bands for little money. Tonight, for the first time this year, my free time and original music were in sync so it was time to shell out the princely sum of £4 and venture once again into the crowded darkness of the Duchess.

Well, I say "crowded". In actual fact, if everybody in attendance tonight had caught the same bus home, it might have been a crowded bus. If it was a single decker. And that included the members of all three bands.

Anyway, first on stage were Dressed In Their Best, a four-piece from York. Both Andy and Roj admitted to liking these youngsters but I'm afraid that they did little for me. Over-loud drumming seemed to be the mainstay of their performance. There did seem to be a few decent tunes struggling to get out from underneath both the drums and the somewhat thrashing guitar playing but, for the most part, it was just noise to me. It didn't help that, at times, the noise seemed to change rhythm dramatically halfway through a song. I'm afraid that I caught none of the lyrics and, being brutally frank, the vocals simply weren't up to much. (As I said, all opinions are my own and, in this case, I was in the minority.)

Which is pretty much the same situation regarding the second band, as well. I Call Shotgun are listed as being from Leeds, York and Preston and are, I think, the first "Electro/Power-pop/Disco House" band I have seen. When they started, the first thing that sprung to mind was a combination of 80s keyboard-led pop and a little bit of punk. After two, vaguely similar sounding songs, we took the decision to vacate the main performance area and sit in the slightly quieter bar so that we could talk. Which meant that, as the set went on and I felt my feet tapping along, I was getting more than a little ribbing from Andy and Roj. Despite the frequent odd noises coming from Josh Weller's keyboards and Joe De Luca camping it up as he pranced around stage (at times looking as though he was more than a little desperate for the loo), I found that I was liking the performance more and more. After all, it's not often you hear a young (semi-)York based band sampling Supertramp's Breakfast in America.

Finally, on came The Telegraphs. Apparently, this Brighton-based band is generating a large amount of buzz at the moment and, because of this, they were moved up to headline act tonight. That didn't seem to make a great deal of difference to their set, however - Andy reliably informed me that they played a full twenty-four minutes, and played just five or six songs. But what songs they were. Loud, energetic, guitar-heavy rock in the style of The Foo Fighters with melodic backing vocals (courtesy of rock-chick bassist Hattie Williams, who frequently broke her image by flashing a stunningly gorgeous smile). The Telegraphs are the best new band I've seen since The Mexicolas and I will be keeping an eye out for their debut album, due out in May.

Then it was time to join the crush as everybody tried to get up the exit stairs at the same time and make our way to the Roman Bath (for which "crowded" was too small a word) to catch the second half of Storm's act. Storm are a rock covers band (what else would you expect at the Bath) and we were treated to songs by Thin Lizzy, Coldplay, Black Sabbath, Green Day (and many more), along with way too many muscle shirts, lots of smoke and a rather impressive (for a pub) laser show. (Storm - the band that entertains and cures your short-sightedness at the same time...) A hugely entertaining end to an otherwise variable evening.