Meeting the Tall Man (Part 1)
As many people on my friends list are aware, I rarely get time to post here and mostly lurk r get a quick daily synopsis from 
stevieannie. I tend to be a tad on the busy and away-from-the-computer side of the force too often. However, last night was a night off from work and playing music and a rare opportunity to go see/listen to someone else playing for once and fleetfootmike (who more than willingly came along with me) set me the challenge "now you need to do a review posting...
St Albans Arena, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band featuring Rick Vito. How could I not, with my reputation??
For the 40th anniversary of the formation of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood has gone back to his musical roots to revisit and pay homage to the early Mac blues tracks with a 4 piece band (Drums, Bass, Guitar and Keys)in support of a newly recorded and released album "Blue Again"
Peterborough was the first date on the UK leg of the tour but I was on the opposite side of The Atlantic, at OVFF when Mike,bardling and our Fleetfoot Mike bassist Mal went to see the show. Nothing could have dampened my joy at being at OVFF but I have to admit a little wistfulness at Mike's recounting of meeting Mick Fleetwood and the rest of the band after the gig and chatting for a wee while.
I checked the tour dates against my diary and out of the other 8 dates, it looked like the only one where I wasn't gigging or out of the country was the St Albans one last night, so with Annie happy for me to go out on the tiles I booked tickets for myself and Mike.
Annie will happily confirm that I was more than a bit giddy with excitement at the prospect of getting to meet and chat with Mick and I gleefully tripped out of the house with a huge grin, a giddy sense of anticipation and 2 or 3 choice items that I might get autographed if the opportunity arose. I am NOT normally like this AT ALL. In fact this is probably the nearest to geeky fanboy I have ever been. Ever.
Smooth, if somewhat drizzly journey to St Albans, listening to Mike's copy of "Blue Again" that he'd picked up from the previous gig and savouring the upcoming treat seeing it all and hearing it for real.
Got to the venue with enough time to spare to get our bearings and sneak a quick peek at the merchandise table. Mike had a brief chat with the guy running table to see if the band would be doing the meet-and-greet like they had in Peterborough and he said that, unfortunately, despite coming out to meet people at all of the other UK gigs, they'd not be coming out front after tonight's gig but had pre-signed some CDs already.
Bother.
Oh well, I thought, they've probably got an after show party planned as it's the last night of the UK tour or maybe they've got flights to catch. Never mind, I swallowed my disappointment and we got comfy in our seats in time for the support act.
Todd Wolfe (web at http://www.toddwolfe.com ) used to play in Sheryl Crow's band and was on tour in Europe with his band supporting his new 5th album "Borrowed Time" when he hooked up with Mick Fleetwood and was invited to play solo support for MFBB's UK leg.
Sat on stage on his own with just a guitar and a tambourine-loaded stomp board and growling out some really heartfelt blues numbers in a rich, gravelly voice he did a very fine job setting the mood for the main act. Mike said that the stompboard under his left foot that he pounded 4 on the floor and sometimes double time with a toe-heel rhythm was a new addition since seeing him do the support 10 days earlier but that it really helped underpin the numbers. His style really reminded me of the hypnotic early blues recordings that I have on tape in a box somewhere in storage and which I must get round to finding now...
After a couple of numbers on a fairly bright sounding acoustic, played hybrid slide style, he switched to a broodingly dirty sounding electric in drop tuning and ripped through a couple more numbers before switching back to acoustic for 2 more songs, the last of which was a sweet ballad (wish I could remember the US singer songwriter he was covering..) before a quick interval.
What a great start to the evening. A good choice for a support for what was promising to be something very special after the break.
stevieannie. I tend to be a tad on the busy and away-from-the-computer side of the force too often. However, last night was a night off from work and playing music and a rare opportunity to go see/listen to someone else playing for once and fleetfootmike (who more than willingly came along with me) set me the challenge "now you need to do a review posting...St Albans Arena, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band featuring Rick Vito. How could I not, with my reputation??
For the 40th anniversary of the formation of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood has gone back to his musical roots to revisit and pay homage to the early Mac blues tracks with a 4 piece band (Drums, Bass, Guitar and Keys)in support of a newly recorded and released album "Blue Again"
Peterborough was the first date on the UK leg of the tour but I was on the opposite side of The Atlantic, at OVFF when Mike,
bardling and our Fleetfoot Mike bassist Mal went to see the show. Nothing could have dampened my joy at being at OVFF but I have to admit a little wistfulness at Mike's recounting of meeting Mick Fleetwood and the rest of the band after the gig and chatting for a wee while. I checked the tour dates against my diary and out of the other 8 dates, it looked like the only one where I wasn't gigging or out of the country was the St Albans one last night, so with Annie happy for me to go out on the tiles I booked tickets for myself and Mike.
Annie will happily confirm that I was more than a bit giddy with excitement at the prospect of getting to meet and chat with Mick and I gleefully tripped out of the house with a huge grin, a giddy sense of anticipation and 2 or 3 choice items that I might get autographed if the opportunity arose. I am NOT normally like this AT ALL. In fact this is probably the nearest to geeky fanboy I have ever been. Ever.
Smooth, if somewhat drizzly journey to St Albans, listening to Mike's copy of "Blue Again" that he'd picked up from the previous gig and savouring the upcoming treat seeing it all and hearing it for real.
Got to the venue with enough time to spare to get our bearings and sneak a quick peek at the merchandise table. Mike had a brief chat with the guy running table to see if the band would be doing the meet-and-greet like they had in Peterborough and he said that, unfortunately, despite coming out to meet people at all of the other UK gigs, they'd not be coming out front after tonight's gig but had pre-signed some CDs already.
Bother.
Oh well, I thought, they've probably got an after show party planned as it's the last night of the UK tour or maybe they've got flights to catch. Never mind, I swallowed my disappointment and we got comfy in our seats in time for the support act.
Todd Wolfe (web at http://www.toddwolfe.com ) used to play in Sheryl Crow's band and was on tour in Europe with his band supporting his new 5th album "Borrowed Time" when he hooked up with Mick Fleetwood and was invited to play solo support for MFBB's UK leg.
Sat on stage on his own with just a guitar and a tambourine-loaded stomp board and growling out some really heartfelt blues numbers in a rich, gravelly voice he did a very fine job setting the mood for the main act. Mike said that the stompboard under his left foot that he pounded 4 on the floor and sometimes double time with a toe-heel rhythm was a new addition since seeing him do the support 10 days earlier but that it really helped underpin the numbers. His style really reminded me of the hypnotic early blues recordings that I have on tape in a box somewhere in storage and which I must get round to finding now...
After a couple of numbers on a fairly bright sounding acoustic, played hybrid slide style, he switched to a broodingly dirty sounding electric in drop tuning and ripped through a couple more numbers before switching back to acoustic for 2 more songs, the last of which was a sweet ballad (wish I could remember the US singer songwriter he was covering..) before a quick interval.
What a great start to the evening. A good choice for a support for what was promising to be something very special after the break.
