Sunday, February 04, 2007

The Bandroom at Farndale
















Last night Anne and I went to what was surprisingly the best gig I have ever been to EVER!
I thought that Bo Diddley (1982) in the Bear Pit in Newcastle was great, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown at the Albert Hall in Toronto was fabulous, BB King (twice) was memorable and moving in the 80's, Whitesnake in the early days tingled the spine with their arrogance, Ry Cooder had the tightest band so far, Michael Schenker had been the best guitarist I've seen (2003), U2 last year and the Stones when at Uni had the best big stage shows, and honourable mentions go to Yes, Elton John, Sade, The R 'n' B Spitfires (in various pubs in Newcastle!), the unknown blues band in Chicago, Camel, Robert Cray, and of course the incomparable Jethro Tull (3 times), the only band to come close in my view was Lindisfarne at their early Christmas concert parties at Newcastle City hall.
Back to last night, it was a clear starlit night with a blazing full moon, we were driving over the moors to a little village in Farndale called Low Mill - "Don`t stray off the path" echoed in our minds from "American Werewolf in London" as we drove down the very steep winding bank from the top of Blakey Ridge. We parked on the verge, in the tiniest village you`ve seen, near a shack where suddenly we found ourselves in a buzzing crowd. The Cava was uncorked, as well as the Chilean Chardonnay and we sipped throughout a moving, introspective set from Willy Mason on fingerpicked guitar - as an encore he played a new song - "How Old?" quipped a Wag in the audience - "last week" replied Willy, "that's not new!" replied the Wag - "How about 5 minutes ago?" - "You wouldn`t want to hear that one!" said Willy with a smile - "Why not? Is it about me?"! replied the Wag.
Then Eve came on with her two guitarists from San Diego, Mark "Twang" and "Cactus" Jim they traded furious solos on acoustics and matched Eve's awesome voice with some lovely harmonies and fingerpicking, country, rock, gospel - they did it all.
After chatting with Mark "Twang" (great stage name!!) we walked out into the frosty night, twinkling stars and the rolling moors lit by the full moon. We only just remembered not to stray off the path on the way home!

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