Richard Strange & Clifford Slapper/Lilybud/Kevin Hewick

RICHARD STRANGE & CLIFFORD SLAPPER/LILYBUD/KEVIN HEWICK

Musician Pub 4th February 2023

What a wonderful way to spend a sunday afternoon... back in The Musician Pub for a gig i had been looking forward to for ages... and it did not disappoint in any way.

The return to the Musician of Richard Strange along with Clifford Slapper as The Ministry of Desire along with Lilybud and Kevin Hewick

The afternoon started with a set by Kevin Hewick. Kevin is an established and much respected musician and known by most... This set was slightly blighted by malfunctioning guitars and leads but Kevin handled it with style and real aplomb. He is a gifted storyteller and his tales here, as well as his songs delighted and amused the audience.

Kevin sang and played so well and i thoroughly enjoyed his short set... great start to the day...

And "Happy Birthday" Kevin!!

Next up was the wonderful Lilybud. She has a simply glorious voice and sings like a dream. Her songs are the highest quality and range from a very uplifting gospelly song to begin with and songs with a positive message or social conscience.

Lilybud accompanies herself on keyboard and with backing tracks... i am not normally a fan of backing tracks but in this case no problem... Lilybuds fabulous voice and singing simply transcend any other considerations and truly warm the heart...

So glad she got to do a longer set than last year... i could listen to her all night... wonderful!!

Headlning was Richard Strange with Clifford Slapper.... the Ministry of Desire. Richard is so much more than a singer... he is a singer, guitar player, songwriter, actor, entertainer, raconteur and a hugely warm and wonderful man... he may well have other talents as well!

Clifford plays keyboards alongside Richards guitar and vocals, and what a great player he is... so much more than an accompanist... he is a great keyboard player and gives so much to the performance.

The setlist primarily features songs from the Ministry of Desire project, many of which had not been played live before... but somehow with Richard's character and performance most of them already felt like old friends. The set also went right back to songs from the three Doctors of Madness albums as well as from Richards solo projects

Lilybud came back to the stage to sing harmony for the last few songs, but before the last song, Richard announced an unrehearsed song, a request, for the song that got him banned for life from the BBC for the second time... the Radio 4 breakfast show heard he had written a love song for Cherie Blair and wanted him to sing it live before rehearsal or hearing it... I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the Breakfast show control room as the song proceeded!!... If you dont know the song or wonder why the ban, go to you-tube and look up Richard Strange singing "You will Die"

This was a truly wonderful afternoon's entertainment and both Richard and Lilybud are truly two of the warmest nicest people out there

huge thanks to Richard, Clifford, Lilybud and Kevin for providing such a wonderful afternoon

Keep music live... keep music real.. support your local venues

Bootleg Boss

BOOTLEG BOSS

Musician Pub 3rd February 2024

Saturday night was party night at The Musician Pub with the return of the Bootleg Boss and the band.

Bruce Springsteen is arguably the greatest rock poet ever, and his songs are in safe hands with this band. If you like the Boss, you are sure to love this band, and if you have seen them before you will know exactly what to expect.

The band started strongly with a great version of "the Ties that Bind" which got the crowd moving, followed by "Badlands" which had the first vocal contribution from the large enthusiastic audience, joining in on the chorus and in some cases the verses as well. "Prove it all Night" then proved a highlight ending with some superb guitar work from Kev

The set continued with one classic after another.. towards the end of the first set Kev picked up his harmonica and said " You will recognise this introduction"... and everyone did.. and after the intro the audience took the lead vocal especially on the first verse, with the bands encouragement, on "Thunder Road" ...which contains one of those absolute classic rock'n'roll lines! This song. played live here, is a really glorious classic rock'n'roll party with the audience singing fit to bust!. The band then closed the first set with a mighty performance of "Jungleland"

The second half started with a powerful "Born to Run" and continued continued through another range of classics, including a song, "Jole Blon" that Springsteen frequently covers. Later in the set came a scintillating performance of "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" followed by the closing number, which tonight was a fabulous delivery of "Dancing n the Dark"

The band were never going to be allowed to leave yet... and they came back for "Glory Days" followed by "Because the Night" which ended with a superb guitar duet between Kev and the lead guitarist... scintillating stuff.

The audience continued to roar and cheer and the band finally closed the show with a terrific reprise of "Born to Run"

The band were absolutely on fire, tighter and stronger, if possible, than ever, and clearly loving it as much as the audience. Musically superb and genuinely authentic Springsteen covers. I felt that Kev himself was more animated than previously as he bounced and pirouetted around the stage... in marked contrast to the bass player who consistently delivered great and absolutely spot on playing but only seemed to move his hands and fingers as the rest of him remained still.

The whole band were on the top of their game, playing brilliantly and all contributing fully to a superb band performance

Absolutely superb gig and the audience sang and whooped along throughout... more than a simple gig.. a Bootleg Boss gig is a party night... brilliant musicianship, wonderful rapport with the audience inspiring real audience participation and singing without the need to cajole a response...

So after 2-1/2 hours of fabulous music the show ended... the audience delighted with a great evening and just the dilemma... i am sure everyone had a favourite song which did not make the set list... but would be unable to suggest what could have been dropped to accommodate it... so many great songs... regardless of what wasn't played, everybody loved everything that was included and left knowing they had had a great night at a great gig.

Keep music live... keep music real... support your loal venues

Remi Harris/Man of the World

REMI HARRIS/MAN OF THE WORLD

Musician Pub 2nd February 2024

Wow... what a great night!! The Musician Pub was rocking tonight to a simply magnificent set by Remi Harris and Man of the World. The band play the music of the legendary Peter Green and do it brilliantly.

The band is Remi Harris (guitar) Dave Small (vocals/percussion/harp) Tom Moore (bass) and Matt Brown (drums)... four superb musicians who gel together perfectly and have a great rapport among themselves and with the audience.

This band are simply a cut above... a different league.. it doesnt come much better than this.

Remi's guitar playing is sublime... clean, pure and fluent recreating the music of Peter Green. Singer Dave is a focal point.. a charismatic leader and great singer and percussionist... Both Tom and Matt shine on bass and drums respectively... both as an awesome rhythm section and great as musicians individually.

And what of the show... the band took the stage and with no messing around, started with a drumbeat that sounded like a pistol shot before crashing into an incredibly powerful "Black Magic Woman" which had the audience moving from the start followed by (i think) "Stop Messing Around" before slowing down for a bluesy "Love that burns"... a song that got Remi into Peter Green's music.

The next piece was "The Supernatural" from the John Mayall era which featured a superb percussion section with Dave playing the hand drums and Matt playing his kit drums with his hands... there was also a wonderful bass passage. Dave's introduction to Peter Green was "Need your love so bad" which was next up. The first half ended with a magnificent "Green Manalishi"

After this the band took a 15 minute break while the audience collectively recovered it's breath and raved about a magnificent performance.

The second half started with a set of instrumentals starting with a Freddie King piece and ending, to huge cheers, with a great performance of "Albatross". At this point Dave returned to the stage for (again, i think) Long Grey Mare". The pace picked up again with an exhilarating powerful "Rattlesnake Shake"... a couple of songs later came a beautiful reading of "Man of the World".

Remi then did the "thank you's and announced that this is the last song coming up... Without further ado he launched into the introductory riff which raised the temperature in the room again as they concluded the set with "Oh Well" which had the audience chanting the "Please dont ask me what i think of you" section at full volume...

An encore was a 'given'... and the band came back for an ecstatic "Shake your money maker" which had the full house yelling the title line repeatedly in response to Dave singing it... and before the end Tom stepped forward to deliver a really superb bass solo and.they finally finished after delivering around 2 hours of superb music to a deservedly rapturous response from the audience.

Look at the set list... all bona fide classics and all played with commitment, passion, love, musical brilliance and great spirit...

This was one of THE great Musician nights when the roof seemed sure to raise...

Magnificent

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues"