REVIEW – Amazing Double-Header @ Long Street Blues Club, Con Club, Devizes – Friday 12th and Saturday 13th January 2024

What A Way To Start The New Year!

Andy Fawthrop

Long Street Blues Club didn’t allow the excesses of Christmas and the New Year to slow anything down, and kicked off 2024 in grand style with two amazing, but very different, gigs on the same week-end.….

First up on the stage, on Friday night, we had the 4-piece Pete G & The Magnitones as a very worthy and hugely enjoyable support act, with their interpretation of the Chicago Blues. But this was only the taster for the real thing to come, John Primer with the Giles Robson Band.

This guy, an absolute legend, and King of the Chicago Blues, was back “by public demand” and that was no empty boast, as the room was rammed for a completely sold-out show. He’s been Grammy nominated three times, and was inducted to the National Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis last year. As the bandleader and lead guitarist for Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Magic Slim & The Teardrops, this guy’s virtuosity as a blues musician was forged by real blues legends. He’s recorded more than 87 albums, with 17 of those in his own name. He’s written and produced more than 55 songs on more than six record labels including his own, Blues House Productions.

What a pedigree! So there can be no doubting that this guy is the real deal, an absolute Chicago Blues icon, and here he was playing in our town.

Featuring Pascal Delmas on drums, Antoine Escalier on bass, and Giles Robson on harmonica, the 4-piece band delivered a single two-hour plus set of stunning Chicago blues. Giles Robson is no slouch either. He’s a multi award winning, internationally recognized Blues harmonica virtuoso, singer and masterful showman. He was the only UK or European artist to appear on Chicago’s legendary Alligator Records (who described him as “A blues giant, absolute master of the form”). He’s only one of three UK blues artists (alongside Eric Clapton and Peter Green) to win a coveted Blues Music Award in Memphis (the Grammys of the Blues). His albums are in the top of the world’s most prestigious music magazines critics’ polls.

No disrespect to Pete G, but this main band’s sound was just so much fuller and more solid. Primer delivered gravelly vocals and some simply stunning guitar licks. The atmosphere and feeling injected into the material was superb, particularly I thought on Rainy Night In Georgia and Hoochie Coochie Man. The pace varied from fully-leaded driving blues, down to more sedate walking blues numbers. And it never seemed to stop – interspersed with only minimal chat, the numbers just kept on coming. Robson, meanwhile, played some beautiful, powerful, emotional and timeless blues with a deep groove and laden with intense feeling. His howling, growling, squealing sound, was imbued with rhythmic power and sensitive emotional expressiveness. Standing like a pair of giants at either side of the stage, and letting the rhythm section do their thing with great accomplishment in the middle, these two great artists played off each other, varying between a healthy competiveness and at other times a complementary tonal harmony.

The guy’s slogan is “You can’t paint the Blues without the Primer” and you could certainly see why. Primer was indeed the real deal, and he delivered a fantastic show that went on long into the Devizes night. Eleven out of ten on my Happy Scale!

So that was Friday done and dusted. But there was still Saturday to go! And so it was that Ian Hopkins’ LSBC combined with Paul Chandler’s Longcroft Productions to bring us another amazing, but completely different, show on the very next night.

Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman were touring their brand new studio album, and Devizes was only the second stop on that tour.

Introductions first – Damian Wilson is an English songwriter and vocalist who’s known for his exploration into different genres and is considered one of the most versatile singers in rock. To date he’s released six solo albums and three albums as a duo with Adam Wakeman. He balances his career as a singer-songwriter with being an energetic frontman for rock bands and guest vocalist. He’s toured all over the world fronting bands such as Rick Wakeman’s ERE and Threshold. He’s performed on the most prominent stages in the UK, during his two-year tenure as the lead in Les Misérables.

Adam Wakeman is best known as the keyboard and guitar player with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. He’s also released nine albums with father Rick Wakeman, and five solo albums. As a classically trained pianist, his albums cross many genres and styles from classical to rock. He co-wrote the 2010 platinum selling album Scream with Ozzy Osbourne and has also toured extensively with Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Rick Wakeman, Travis, Annie Lennox, Will Young, Slash, 10CC and many more. And, as a further feather in his well-decorated hat, he recently stepped in at short notice to play keyboards on tour for Deep Purple.

So yet again – a couple of impeccable pedigrees. And yet again two guys who absolutely lived up to their billing as brilliant composers, musicians and singers. Right from the opening piss-take chords of Smoke On The Water from Adam, and the belated comedy walk-on from Damian, we were in for a great night. If anybody was in doubt, this was all very different from the previous night – the Blues it certainly wasn’t. What we got instead was two hour-long sets of superb original songs, interspersed with an easy-going laddish banter between these two stars.

There were delicately-structured songs, soaring vocals from Damian, with sympathetic harmonies and fills from Adam. There were romantic and uplifting melodies from Adam’s keyboard which permeated every song, and provided musical background to the chatty interludes. The tracks they featured from the new album each had a backstory. I was particularly struck with Can We Keep The Light On Longer and Multiplicity – fabulous songs. I was absolutely loving this.

What I liked slightly less – and this is my only note of old man’s carping criticism – was the frequent use of an old skool cassette recorder (with its own back-story) as a comedy device, and the sometimes overlong, extended rambling chatter. I found it a bit self-indulgent and caused the occasional loss of momentum and atmosphere. What I kept wanting them to do was to do what they did superbly – play/ sing the songs! At times it felt a bit incoherent and under-rehearsed, but there were elements of a double-bluff as the comedy riffs ended and the next belting song came along.

But that’s a very minor criticism of what was overall a stunningly good performance from two very talented artists. I was kept amused and well-entertained – a cracking night out.

So – once again – hats off to Ian Hopkins and to Paul Chandler for bringing what can only be described as world-class talent to our town. This is why you should support live music and our music venues. Brilliant.

Future Long Street Blues Club gigs:

Saturday 10th February 2024 The Errol Linton Band