Apologies for the tardy blog…I’ve been as busy as a bee!
Twelve bar blues is what I like the best and twelve bar blues we got mixed-in with loads of other classic covers from the 50s through to the late 80s. The guys were in great form and sounded different to earlier gigs at The Kings, definitely a bit clearer and definitely a bit louder which suited them better. If they’ve changed nothing then it must have been been recently syringed ears!
So a flavour of The House Shakers in no particular order. The Small Faces tremendous 1966 hit “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”, the wonderful Robert Johnson song “Sweet Home Chicago” and The Cream version of “Cross Road Blues” more commonly known as “Crossroads” and who remembers “Walking The Dog” by Rufus Thomas. The classic Beatles version of “Money”, Tommy Tucker’s “Hi-Heel Sneakers”, the very early Cliff Richard and the Drifters song and his first hit “Move It”, the 1965 Wilson Pickett song and soul standard “In The Midnight Hour”, what about some 1987 R.E.M. “The One I Love”…and so the night went, classic track after classic track, no one can play this type of music without including “Johnny B. Goode” and “Mustang Sally”, of course they did and they had some audience assistance too, great singing girls, you brightened up my night.
Of course all good things must come to a close and the night was nicely rounded off with the excellent Fleetwood Mac “Albatross”. As yet The House Shakers are not listed to appear again until the New Year however keep an eye on the diary since things do change at short notice…sometimes!
Saturday nights are already very popular and now Fridays have been added to The Kings “What’s On” calender there is even more of a reason to rock the night away; this week we had the pleasure of Grimsby’s Second Nature.
So, what do you get? Three great sets from a talented four-piece band led by Rick, not only does he do the main vocals but he’s also a fantastic keyboard player which makes such a huge difference to the covers they play such as “Road To Hell”, “Feel Like Making Love”, “Wishing Well” and “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love”. Fancy a bit of the Eurythmics, no problem, how about Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way”…and the one track many cannot cover well because of the lack of key boards, The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” including, of course, the great drumming accompaniment from Lennie. The second set was completed by the all-time classic “Parisienne Walkways” with Ted on lead guitar…or was it actually from Gary Moore in the room? Excellent stuff and obviously not the normal cover most bands would even dare to attempt.
Interestingly they started their third set with another great Gary Moore track “Over The Hills And Far Away” followed by some Whitesnake and the ever-popular Deep Purple tracks “Hush” and “Black Night”. Some Bon Jovi and Rainbow led us inevitably to their last song of the night and Second Nature’s pièce de résistance, Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” from the album “The Wall” although it was released as a single as well.
Tackling one of the best progressive rock tracks ever is daunting enough as it is but a track with two sensational guitar solos in it, one either has to be extremely confident or a fool, however these guys ain’t fools! With Ted on lead and Spike on bass, up close and personal took on a whole new meaning with the entire Kings’ crowd loving every second of the Waters and Gilmour classic and it showed as the last note faded away when they broke into a rapturous applause…wonderful.
If you missed Second Nature this time you will have the opportunity to see them again on Saturday 12th December 2009…don’t miss them.
Yet another quality rock covers band from the Scunthorpe area…it’s incredible that so much “Yellow Belly” talent exists, just how many more are there I wonder? Of course what makes Orion stand out is that all their lead vocals are performed by the gorgeous Trudy and what a voice, powerful yet perfectly controlled, and at times when performing AC/DC tracks it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between herself and Brian Johnson, or Bon Scott:-)
Orion commenced their first set wth the classic Free “Wishing Well” which flowed into “Don’t Believe A Word”, “Use Somebody” and “Dreams”, interestingly this was followed by Pink’s “Just Like A Pill” and then the now ubiquitous “Sex On Fire”! A nice change followed with Blondie’s “Hanging On The Telephone”, I wonder why more bands do not cover them? The first set was finished off with “I Love Rock An Roll” and a Queen medley.
The second set kicked off with the great Temptations track “Get Ready” and was quickly followed by The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart Of Mine”. The bar was really enjoying all these classic tracks however when (The still-performing British band) The Nashville Teens fantastic “Tobacco Road” cranked-up, we were all in heaven. A bit of The Kinks with “You Really Got Me”, Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way”, The Who’s “Substitute”, Small Faces “All Or Nothing” and the classic Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze” and the Kings was rocking however it was for the next track I had been waiting all night, the awesome Led Zeppelin “Moby Dick” Jon Bonham drum solo.
By any stretch of the imagination this is difficult for anyone to pull off but Dave duly did, his incredible Pearl drum kit built over many years and his considerable talent having toured the UK with some high-quality bands proved testament to his ability…superb Dave and the audience loved it. Orion completed their second set with “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Rock N Roll”…and no, we weren’t going to let them get away with that! How about “Shakin’ All Over” for an encore? Excellent stuff but then those classic guitar chords commenced, Trudy started jumping up and down, the crowd expected and were not disappointed, AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” barrelled down the packed bar and Orion duly completed a great evening’s entertainment.
Unfortunately we are going to have to wait until Saturday 2nd January 2010 to see Orion again.
These guys are one of my favourite rock cover bands simply because they deliver something alternative, with quality, great vocals and musicianship. It’s not often that I am prepared to simply write every track they played however check these out and ask yourself “Just how many other cover bands do these?”
Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down”, Deep Purple “Hush”, Ugly Kid Joe “Hate Everything About You”, Led Zeppelin “Living Loving Maid”…see what I mean about different? Metallica “Sad But True”, AC/DC “Sin Cty”, Black Sabbath “N.I.B.”, Deep Purple “Smoke On The Water” and Thin Lizzy’s “Whisky In The Jar” completed the first set.
Now get ready for the second set with Wolfmother “Joker & The Thief”, Judas Priest “Breaking The Law”, Twisted Sister “I Am, I’m Me”, The Cult’s “Lil Devil”, The Kinks “Lola”, UFO “DR DR”, AC/DC “High Voltage”, and Back Sabbath’s “Paranoid” finished the second set…but of course the fans were not going to let then get away with that so how about an encore?
Just who would choose Slade’s “Coz I love You” and follow it up with the fantatstic glamrock track of T. Rex and “Sold Gold, Easy Action”? Only Barking Spider would come up with such inspired choices however all good things come to an end and when The Sensational Alex Harvery Band’s version of “Delilah” commenced we knew the evening was coming to a close.
See what I mean about different? All classic stuff that many have forgotten but need pulling out of the record collection just to remind us what a glorious sound these bands made…Thanks guys for a great couple of hours.
Good singer songwriters are difficult to find however The Kings was fortunate enough to have Sutton On Sea’s class act of Graeme Stanton and supporting drummer (sorry I missed his name) for a fabulous Friday night’s entertainment.
They skillfully blended their own songs with some all-time classic covers with Graeme alternating between acoustic guitar and keyboard with aplomb. How about a bit of Elvis…no problem for these guys and they were obviously enjoying the crowd’s positive reaction but when the opening notes of Leonard Cohen’s memorable “Hallelujah” commenced the entire bar fell into silence. Wow…all I can say is WOW! Graeme you nailed it.
A couple of hours just flew by and as the evening drew to a close it was their third/fourth(?) encore that had the entire bar singing and dancing along to probably the longest-ever rendition of The Monkees massive hit “Daydream Believer” that put the seal on a perfect performance.
Keep an eye on the What’s On calendar to find out when they’re returning.