RUST FOR GLORY/MARRAKESH EXPRESS
IMV 15th November 2025
Wow... what a night that was at the The International Music Venue brought together by Paul Collins...absolutely fabulous!!... We had nostalgia, soaring harmonies, rock'n'roll, great singing, superb musicianship and some magic throughout... an absolute joy!!
First up recreating the magic of Crosby Stills and Nash we had MARRAKESH EXPRESS... kicking off with :"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and you had to pinch yourself to realise this was a new band playing, not the original... the guitar playing and harmonies are spot on and the feeling for the music is clearly deep and loving. the set then continued with classic after classic, all beautifully and authentically performed... a few songs in the band went back to Crosby's back catalogue for a beautifully performed "Turn Turn Turn" and "Eight Miles High" (which of course has no reference to drugs of any sort!). The remarkable thing about these two piecces is that the guitar man managed to make a 6-string fender sound exactly like a 12-string rickenbacker... withchcraft!!... but superbly done...
The band continued with CSN classics including a rousing "For What it's Worth" before delivering a truly outststanding version of "Carry On"...
We'd just about caught our breath from that when the introduced Alex (in the role of Neil Young) for a magnificent "Find the Cost of Freedom/Ohio". The band closed with "Woodstock" and a superb version of the anthemic "Love the one you're With" to close out a truly magnificent one hour set... along with everyone else in the room i loved every second of the performance... outstanding.
Equally astounding... two guitarist playing left handed with guitars strung right handed...
Makes a tough job to follow a performance like that, but of course next up was the phenomenal Rust For Glory - Neil Young Tribute Band... however often i see them i marvel at the authenticity and energy of the band... in particular Alex's uncanny portrayal of Neil.
After a bit of fine tuning the equipment Alex greeted the audience and the band blasted into "My My Hey Hey" before a powerful "Powderfinger" and mighty version of "Southern Man"
From here the band concentrated on a few quieter songs, all Neil Young classics, including one of my favourites, "Down by the River" as well as "Cinnamon Girl" before inviting Marrakesh Express back to sing the harmonies in the beautiful "Helpless"
After this the band turned the heat up to 11... or more... with a blistering version of my favourite track, "Cortez the Killer"... i was thinking how can they follow that... the answer was with "Like a Hurricane" which started where Cortez left off and built on the power and energy taking it to unparalled levels... they then ended with a totally breathtaking "Rocking in the Free World" which left band and audience breathless and ended in the traditional way with Alex demolishing his guitar before throwing it down... After this, little time to recover breath before the band responded to the calls and delivered a glorious "Tonights the Night" to end two hours of blistering wonderful Neil Young Music.
The Rust for Glory band is a superb unit... powerful bass and drums driving things and some brilliant guitar work from the guitar player... but up front Neil Young (Alex Curtis) is a mesmerising leader, delivering an uncannily authentic impersonation of Neil Young...
Rust for Glory is one of the most exciting and uplifting bands around!!
Huge thanks to both superb bands and to Paul for bringing it together
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