After a couple of attempts in the past I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot write a decent concert review to save myself. “Effing awesome” simply won’t stand up to critical analysis. But they’re often the first words that spring to mind when describing a gig that I’ve really enjoyed.
As such I will keep this brief and leave the full-on review to those that can. One guy went to all three Black Crowes London gigs last week and I think he’s done a reasonable write-up – have a read if you’re interested.
I’ve think it’s really cool how some venues but up the name of the night’s attraction. Should be more of it I say. I really like this photo.
I’d been waiting to see the Black Crowes for years, so this was a really exciting night for me. There I was, die-hard fan – or so I thought. The gig was, um …. effing awesome … but I have to make the sad admission that I only knew about one third of the songs they played on the night. the setlist is probably not one I would have chosen, but then I’d always end up listening to the same stuff. Reading the review I linked to above, I discovered that they had played a much more “fan friendly” gig the night before. OK, so they mix up their set list a lot. Good on them. The positive out of this is that I loved all the “new” stuff that I heard and cannot wait to give their albums a closer listening so I can get into more of their material.
Many of the songs had more of a psychedelic feel than I had expected. Give my particular musical leanings this was a great bonus for me. There were lots of long, rambling guitar solos – and as you should know, the longer and more rambling a guitar solo is -the more I like it.
Have you ever been to a concert where there’s some idiot who decides to stand up and cheer / sing along / act like a complete knob etc.. without any regard for the people seated behind them whose view they are blocking? Well, every show has one and this was no exception. Now I have to point out that this woman was a good 5m to my right and as such posed no threat to my ability to see the band. She spent a good half of the night standing up, blocking the view of countless people. For some reason no-one pulled her up on it – so I suppose there was no incentive to stop. Perhaps the British are too polite to call people out on such things? Anyway, while watching her in action the story of the teabag and the flag came flooding back to me from the recesses of my memory. In the middle of a rambling solo I found myself thinking “My kingdom for a used teabag”. Here is a photo of the woman in question. A bit fuzzy, but you get the picture.
Finally, a shot of the band itself. Concert photos rarely come out for me, so I’m happy to have had success with a couple. Here is a selection of some of the better shots.
One cool thing which I’d never encountered before was the ability to buy a CD of the concert only minutes after it finished. It transpires that a mob called Instant Live work in conjunction with some bands to offer this service. The queue was huge after the show so I decided to buy online. I ordered it on Tuesday and the 3CD set (15pounds) arrived on Thursday morning. The sound quality is reasonable, and the CDs will be a great momento of the gig. Carlo and David – I’ll be sending you copies as soon I get around to it.
I can only hope that I get another chance to see them in action while we’re here in London. Can’t see the boys making it out to Australia any time soon.
