The Strawbs in Concert
The Strawbs in Concert
Penny and I went to see the Strawbs in concert at the Cheese & Grain in From last night, the full electric and original line-up apart from one new member…..
Oliver Wakeman replaced his dad Rick on keyboard and man can that boy play!! His fingers were moving across those keys so quickly at times it was just a blur!
Those of you who listen to Now THAT’S Weird would have recognised the outro music from the show when the band burst into The River/Down By The Sea from their Bursting at the Seams album, with Dave Lambert’s haunting guitar riff and the big orchestral build up!
Dave Lambert and I go back a long way and he was kind enough to have left us guest tickets on the door. He is still in my opinion, one of the top ten lead guitarists in the UK and is a joy to watch and listen to on stage.
Dave Cousins seemed to be in one of his famous “moods” when he came on stage last night! First his guitar wouldn’t work and he had to swap it before they could start the set, and then the mix seemed to have forgotten the drums on the opening number, their chart topping “Lay Down” which was a shame as the vocal harmonies were superb. And the local announcer introduced them as “one of the world’s greatest ROCK bands” lol That seemed to amuse Mr Cousins greatly, as they are a Folk-rock based group lol!
The Strawbs name came from their original “Strawberry Hill Gang” which was changed just before they hit major fame in the early 1970’s.
Last night’s gig was great and I throughly enjoyed it, however it was slightly spoiled by a jobsworth attendant on the door who managed to upset Penny and I on three separate occasions, but eventually the Manager was called in and she was most helpful and apparently “had words with him”! lol
I have seen the “Acoustic Strawbs” three times in recent years but it was a real joy to see the full electric line-up again, as the last time I saw this was in 1973 at the Central Hall in Chatham!
Ross