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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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IAN
SIEGAL AND HIS BAND
The Troubadour, London, February 2nd 2008
It’s
a night of both celebration and commiseration
in the Troubadour club, one of West London’s
oldest music venues. We’re in a small wood-panelled
room at the back of the restaurant (named, for
no obvious reason, after Antarctic explorer Sir
Ernest Shackleton). There are winners and losers
here. The victors, from the valleys west of the
Marches are generously sharing champagne with
all, the losers glumly knocking it back in between
glassesful of red wine. |
| It’s
Rugby Union: England humiliated by a resurgent Wales.
And it’s only 6.30 – we’re here
to eat before going downstairs to watch bluesman
Ian
Siegal and his band (supported by Bluesmix)
– and our hosts are anxious that we get there
in time to “bag a good spot”. And while
I remember, I think it might be Mr Siegal’s
birthday – he’s certainly celebrating
something. |
| Strangely
when we do get down, almost promptly at 8.00pm the
cramped little club is already packed. It’s
not really fit for purpose – a sort of U-shaped
space with a stage in the middle. But although it’s
changed over the years (the stage, I understand,
used to be at the back of the room where there are
now some cavernous seating booths) it does have
a very nice atmosphere – which is just as
well as we end up waiting for almost two hours before
Bluesmix,
with a eclectic mix of not so funky New Orleans
funk and blues, take the stage. That’s two
hours of soaking in the history of the place –
this was where Bob Dylan first played in London,
Jimi played here (“kiss the wall”),
and Joni. Folk guitar supreme Martin Carthy was
a regular in the sixties, and Led Zeppelin are even
alleged to have played here during a run of gigs
at nearby Earls Court. So that’s a lot of
history – and, I should add, red wine –
to soak up. And quite possibly we did a little too
much of both. |
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| And
don’t get me wrong – whilst Bluesmix
did have their moments I did feel (like most of
the audience to be fair) that they played a little
too long – so that by the time Ian Siegal
got to the stage at around 11.00 we’d all
(band included) soaked up a little more. Nonetheless
Siegal hit the stage like a whirlwind with songs
like ‘Groundhog blues’, ‘John
the Revelator’, ‘Sugar Rush’ and
‘Brandy Balloon’. |
| The
area around the stage was packed as everyone tried
to get a view, and as I’ve said before, the
number of pretty girls outnumbered the chaps in
a way that just isn’t supposed to happen at
Blues gigs – Mr Siegal has got something special,
and it’s not just his guitar playing, or his
two wonderful Harmony guitars. On the subject of
which – did I tell you Serge, that there’s
a group of what can frankly only be called Harmony
Maniacs on the internet? And loads of Harmony
guitars for sale on e-bay, and a specialist
store where you can buy them too? And some pretty
good resources
to at least help
you figure out if you might be buying something
that’s ‘not quite right’, as you
say in the world of whisky. Or that, more strangely
still, one of them has ended up in my house? Ouch. |
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Anyway
– back to the gig – or should I say
party, which is what it ended up feeling like.
Siegal ended up playing some covers that were
appropriate to the venue (beyond which I cannot
go as he swore his audience to secrecy) before
most of Bluesmix joined for a final jam on a few
songs. He’s playing again in London in June,
and I think in a few other scattered venues in
the UK. Otherwise your best chance to see him
is if you live in Holland, Belgium or Sweden.
Which is lucky for you and shame for the UK –
he’s certainly worth the price of the admission.
And if you’re really stuck then you might
like to buy a 2008 reissue of Meat and Potatoes,
imaginatively called A Bigger Plate of Meat and
Potatoes, with a new DVD recorded at the North
Sea Blues Festival. But it’s not as good
as the real thing. - Nick Morgan (concert
photographs by Kate)
Kate's
gig photo album 
MUSIC:
Bluesmix
MySpace page
Ian
Siegal MySpace page |
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Nick's Concert Reviews
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