WARNER E HODGES/STACIE COLLINS
IMV 29th Sept 2026
Wow what a night that was... Tuesday 29th September at the The International Music Venue... one of the very great nights delivered by two cherished stars from the old Musician days...
But lets start with the band who played all night accompanying both artists... far more than a backing band, they are an absolutely magnificent unit.
On the drums was Mauro Magellan (Georgia Satellites/Homemade Sin), guitarist Conny Bloom (Electric Boys/Hanoi Rocks/Silver Ginger Five) and on bass Keith Voegele (Bottle Rockets/Sarah Borges)... all superb musicians and familiar from their roles in various other bands. They rock like fury, but also play with huge technical skill and subtlety... this band are worth the admission on their own!
First up however... and greeted by a rapturous cheer the wonderful inimitable Stacie Collins. No preamble.. a shout of "hit it" from Mauro and the band were rocking as Stacie stepped up with her regular opener, "My liittle Sister", followed by a host of material concentrating on her latest. album. The harp playing was as ever outstanding and the vocals spot on... Stacie has talent and charisma to spare and in this scintillating set she never stopped smiling and delivered an absolute stunner of a show...and well merited the huge ovation she got at the end... Welcome back Stacie!!
Following on of course. Warner Hodges, one of the greats, familiar from the Georgia Satellites & Homemade Sin as well as his own bands... and as always he rocked through an outstanding set of original songs and a few covers with total assurance and good humour... in fact he seemed even more relaxed than usual!.
Warner is also a hugely charismatic and talented performer who never fails to deliver a superb set. Tonight the show was an object lesson in rock and included material both old and new, a couple of more gentle (well, slightly!) country covers before launching into the full blown country rock end of the show, for which he brought Stacie back to play harp, sing and bounce around smiling and looking joyful, and which included and unlikely "Hot Legs" among others... before ending with the usual climactic " Country Roads" which had the audience belting out the vrses as well as the chorus... i doubt John Denver envisaged his song like tihs!!.
Warners guitar playing and singing were as always superb and the whole set was absolutely full tilt rocking from beginning to end... and was i think, about the best set i've ever seen him play... and i've never seen him less than superb!!
This was an amazing night.. .two absolutely supreme artists supported by a bunch of outstanding musicians, all playing on the top of their games... rocking from the first note to the last, the quality and intensity never flagging...
This always looked like being a special superb gig... and it exceeded all expectations... a really memorable night.. one of those "Were you there when... " occasions
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues
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