LAST WEEK IN LONDON: Slowhand and Sting
- Posted on July 1, 2008 9:57 AM
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Last Week In London
Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, 28-29June 2008
By Peter Coulston
Hello and welcome to Not The Glastonbury Show, which means that, here in London we don’t need mud and tents to rock. All we need, my friends, is a couple of rock legends, a supporting line up that comes pretty close, two sunny days and more good food and beer than we could ever consume, well, the food anyway. So this is it; Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, where we were treated to two days of brilliant weather, which explains why my face is as red as a lobster, impeccably efficient organisation (politicians and public servants please take note), lots of food and drink, lots of toilets and, of course, lots of music. There were two stages playing on both days, but I opted to stick with the main stage as the timings of both invariably clashed and I would have ended up with bits of sets instead of the whole. I must start out by apologising to Steve Boyce Band, who’s set I missed on Saturday due to lack of trains and the fact that I went to the totally wrong end of Hyde Park. Given that Hyde Park is around the size as the Isle of Wight, it delayed me a little. If it’s any consolation, what I heard from outside the grounds sounded pretty good. So this was Saturday, and there was a whole lot of blues around. My musical induction began with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, a solid American outfit from New Jersey fronted by Mr Randolph seated in front of a slide guitar which he works wonders with. Some good Hendrix /Voodoo Child to open, was followed by a tribute to Bo Diddley complete with a square guitar. The band rocked a lot with great bass and violin solos before leaving the punters begging
There was a change of pace next up, with Jason Mraz showing what they do in San Diego, California. Having recently reviewed his new album (which you have all read, haven’t you), it was good to see him live again. This set was much more about Jason Mraz than the album, with a guitar and rhythm section version of “No Stopping Us Now”. We had a little “Wonderwall” before the horns came in along with some album tracks. “The Dynamo of Volition”, “I’m Yours” and “Make it Mine” all sounded great and the inclusion of the old Isley Brothers “Summer Breeze” certainly did not offend. This is an artist teetering on the edge of great things, remember where you read it. Lots of the people around me seemed to be big fans of John Mayer, and why not. Armed with a fine array of good musicians and his own sound vocals and take no prisoners guitar style, we were in for a good set. Lots of blues influence here, including “Mercy”, along with laid back rock like “Belief” and the powerful “Gravity”. Another horn section added the final touches to a very tight band and charismatic front man.
Lots of old favourites were mixed in with the new when Sheryl Crow took to the stage, initially armed with just her acoustic guitar to play “God Bless This Mess”. Her guitar driven band and backing singers joined her for a great set which did not disappoint her die hard followers. There were new songs, including a tribute to New Orleans and a dig at celebrity nobodies (Paris Hilton, actually) mixed in with “All I Wanna Do”, “Change Will Do You Good” and “Favourite Mistake”, which all came early on. “Can’t Cry Anymore” was excellent, and there was much guitar swopping between acoustic and electric with the odd 12 String and mandolin thrown in. There was a good cover of Cat Stevens’/Yusuf Islam’s “First Cut Is The Deepest”, and “Gasoline Will Be Free” kinda blended into “Gimme Shelter” rather well. There was an acoustic “Out Of Our Heads” tribute to Nelson Mandella and “If It Makes You Happy” and “Every Day Is A Winding Road” brought the whole thing to a satisfactory close. I have always been an admirer of Ms Crow, and now even more so.
Who else could follow all of this but old Slowhand himself, Eric Clapton. The blues was the dominating factor of this set, opening with “Tell the Truth”, followed by “Key To The Highway” and “Hoochie Coochie Man”, laden with sound vocals and guitar licks to die for from both the man himself and his co guitarist and vocalist, Doyle Bramhall. With a solid rhythm section, great backing singers and old Derek and the Dominos mate, Chris Stainton on keys, this was going to be brilliant. And it was. Moving on to a solo acoustic blues, Slowhand softened up a bit for “Old Rocking Chair’s Got Me” before plugging in again for Robert Johnson’s “Travelling Blues”. “Running On Faith” went all acoustic again before “Motherless Children” and more blues blasted out as the sun was going down. Familiar ground was to follow with “Take a Look at Yourself”, “Wonderful Tonight” and “Layla” complete with piano sequence. Just for good measure the set closed on a rather abrupt note with “Cocaine”, which ended with an amazing Chris Stainton piano solo. There was more to come, however, with an encore of “Crossroads” which included Robert Randolph, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow all on stage with the man. A great experience, although some people may have expected a few more of his popular, mainstream numbers and a little more interaction with the audience.
I awoke, rather stiff and sore, on Sunday morning to the fact that I was actually going to do this all over again. Being Sunday, there were, of course, no trains running at all from where I live (which is not the Outer Hebrides but a London borough); however, I had expected that and planned accordingly, arriving back at Hyde Park in plenty of time. The crowd was similar in size to Saturday, but different, in that Saturday’s punters were mostly beer and cider people while the Sunday crowd had more of a taste for glasses of white wine and jugs of Pimms. Having said that, I personally saw no drunkenness or anything even resembling bad behaviour and the only Police presence was on stage at around 8pm. I bet that doesn’t get mentioned in any sector of the media that currently has an obsession with alleged binge drinking in this country; perish the thought that they would ever report anything positive. The show began, right on time, with The Mikki Free Electric Blues Experience, a bunch of guys from Florida with a self confessed thing going for Jimi Hendrix. Mr Free and much of his band are Seminole Indians and the bass player is ex- Cheap Trick. They opened with one hell of a version of “Summertime Blues” followed by “Voodoo Child” by which time they were joined by the backing singer, a young Native American lady with a one hell of a voice, that no self respecting Seminole would eject from his tepee. Hendrix at Monterey was recaptured with “Wild Thing”, and the whole thing reached a peak with a ZZ Top cover in which Mr Free used a guitar given to him by Billy Gibbons. Great stuff to start the day, and this was just the beginning. By contrast, one of South Africa’s best known musical exports, Arno Carstens was next with his powerful acoustic style that went over well given there were three guys with two acoustic guitars and a fraction of a drum kit. I am not familiar with his work but know that I really should be. The songs were so well structured with the title track of his last album “Another Universe” being a fine example. His current tour list includes supporting Meat Loaf, Suzanne Vega and Paul Weller and spots at the V Festival and T in the Park. Catch you again, Arno, I promise. The sun had been absent for the most part on Sunday, but came out in force as The Bangles came on stage. These girls still look and sound great and brought the West Coast sun along with their West Coast music. “Manic Monday”, “Going Down To Liverpool” and “Eternal Flame” were all there as well as some new stuff like “Ride the Ride” which was a bit Status Quo. “Walk Like an Egyptian” closed the set with a bit of “Mrs Robinson” thrown in. Nice to see you, girls; come back soon
Starsailor seem to have been around a lot longer than they actually have, due to the quality of their material and the fact that they do what they do very well. “Alchoholic” came very early followed by some newer stuff like “Tell Me It’s Not Over” and “Win Your Love”. James Walsh has excellent rapport with the audience and easily fitted “Poor Misguided Fool” and “Lullaby” around a Beatles medley and a bit of “Venus in Blue Jeans” as a tribute to Neil Diamond. “Good Souls” had to be the closer and it was. No surprises or disappointments there. KT Tunstall was the new kid in town on this bill, but you would never have known it. She has a well controlled vocal style and very catchy songs, all of which were put to good use by KT and her very competent backing group. “Other Side Of the World” wasn’t too long coming and she did “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” mostly on her own using a loop station. “Another Place to Fall” and “Saving My Face” went over well and she closed with “Suddenly I See”, which unfortunately suffered from a problem with her voice, which she had predicted might happen earlier in the set. She recovered halfway through, however, and redeemed herself. Great stuff.
The jug of Pimms set had secured the last of their refills by the time Messrs Sumner, Summers and Copeland, aka The Police, hit the stage and everyone was ready to party. Looking pretty good in their black tops with skeletons on them (I think; it was getting late), they appeared up for it too, with Sting in very crowd friendly mood on this, their last UK gig of their (last?) tour. “Message In a Bottle” was all that was needed to get the crowd going, followed by “Walking on the Moon” Sting talked quite a bit and explored the extremities of the stage while the other two got on with the job. In between good versions of “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, things got more serious with “King of Pain” and “Driven to Tears”, but brightened up with “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “De do do do, De da da da” not to mention “Regatta de Blanc” which had everyone singing. Then there was a brilliant “Can’t Stand Losing”, and they left. Why do they do that when they know as well as you do that there is stuff left to play, and nobody’s leaving until they play it? So, they came back and played “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take” and we thought it was all over, for real. Andy Summers, however, had other ideas and a great “Next to You” really did close the night. Sting was on form vocally and I never really appreciated how good the other two are, especially Andy Summers’s guitar. Last tour? Forget it, there’s another ten years in these guys yet. As for me, I’m not so sure after this weekend. When’s the next one. Stay safe and well and stay out of the sun.
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