GIG REVIEWS
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GIG REVIEWS |
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Seasick Steve
@ Leeds Metropolitan University 31.01.08 www.vanguard-online.co.uk I was a blues baby you see – weaned and nurtured by the laments of men whose guitars wept and whose stories of ‘waking up this morning’ were some of the first songs I remember - so I wasn’t going to let a force 10 gale and driving rain keep me from seeing the “new” blues phenomenon, Seasick Steve. I say “new” but Steve has been around for years and his is a real hobo to Mojo story (he won Best Breakthrough Act this year) - the kind of story real blues is all about. It must be a sell out and I am wedged in a section of the audience who look like they have wandered in from a Willy Nelson lookalike convention. As we wait for Steve to come onstage, one Willie asks another if he has seen Steve before. The reply is, cryptically, “Not realistically…”. Then ensues a conversation based around which major live acts of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s each has missed due to each being so off their heads that they don’t remember if they were there or not…It is clearly going to be an unusual evening…. The crowd have replaced the usual chant of “Yorkshire, Yorkshire” with “Steve-O, Steve-O” and the man himself appears onstage to rapturous applause. After a blistering opener he confides that, the first time he played Leeds and he heard the chanting, he thought he was being booed. It was only when someone backstage had pointed out “they are shouting your name, boy!” that he had felt comfortable to go onstage. He grins and declares tonights Leeds audience to be “crazy”. Over the next hour Steve takes us through a selection from his album Dog House Blues, including Last Po’ Man, My Donny, Hobo Low and Cut My Wings. His evident joy at being here playing to an audience who are swaying and bobbing to the music, shines through and this infectious delight infuses his playing and he seems to be having a great time. He gives us delicate love songs, heartfelt bluesy songs about the hobo life and a great song about all the things he isn’t meant to indulge in since his near fatal heart attack! He introduces us to his diddly bo, a seemingly unplayable one string instrument which appears to be constructed from a plank of wood, a string and two tin cans. We even get a brief lesson in ‘bo slang. As an encore we get Dog House Boogie, which is a funky little toe tapper of a tune that starts out at a jaunty pace. As it progresses, Steve takes it up a notch faster and faster and faster until surely his hands must fall off with exertion? The gig ends with the drummer and Steve playing so fast until each can barely keep up with the tune and then it ends. The Willie-alikes, Crusties, hippies and I go into the night with a warm and cosy feeling of seeing someone who is finally getting a little appreciation for years of finger numbing playing and who is clearly having a great time on it. |