[Slowhand] Band du Lac: Just One Night Live

[Kevin Wilson]

Here's my take after one listen:

 

Eric really only opens up on one number - throwing his all in: "Stormy
Monday". I had expected Chris Barber to be more of a distraction on
trombone, but he never went on and on and on, the way he did at John
Mayall's 70th. He was just in the way of the cameraman when Eric was
doing the vocals, so you had to view Eric singing through the brass of a
trombone. In fact, the camera crew were taken by surprise on this
number, not capturing much of the guitar playing per se. But Eric was
swaying and lifting his guitar and squeezing out some beautiful blues.

 

"Reconsider Baby" was done in low tone/low volume mode and Eric's guitar
was mixed most prominently to the rear right speaker in the DTS mix. At
the rehearsal - looked like some school hall - "Reconsider Baby" was
performed at the same low low tempo.

 

"Lay Down Sally" sounded like an amateur version (with AFL plucking away
randomly for a solo) and "Willie and the Hand Jive" almost fell apart
while Eric was prompting Gary Brooker to do a verse. The backing
vocalists chimed in at the wrong time and they probably cut out
embarrassing giggles. 

 

"Cocaine" was also performed in a "going through the paces" style - none
of the hectic distortion seen during the 2004 tour. All in all the
audience probably weren't too bothered as most looked sozzled with wine
glasses held high. 

 


>From the whispering in the ear and nods, it seemed like Gary Brooker

(the Musical Director) asked Eric to stay on stage for the 2 "Drifters"
number - "Under the Boardwalk" and "Stand by Me". Both were neither here
nor there performances and Eric never came near to contributing a solo
on "Stand by Me", as he did so beautifully at the Prince's Trust gig on
6 June 1987, for a real Drifter - Ben E. King. These latest Drifters are
so unknown that they are not even named individually in the closing
credits.

 

I had expected Eric to perform on "I Shall Not Be Moved" - bashing out
some slide as he did at the Conscious Contact gig at New Year 2000/2001,
but alas it was not to be. He also did not play on "A Whiter Shade of
Pale".

 

Amusingly, they even focussed on a woman with a nose ring who could
hardly keep her eyes open. She seemed to wake up when the crowd cheered
and joined the cheering, though out of time with the rest. Another guy
was caught dead centre in the crowd yawning so widely that he could have
swallowed half of those around him. 

 

For the rest of the performance we had Roger Taylor (the Queen drummer)
- doing his Freddie Mercury bit - shame, some political jabbering about
relief in Africa, Ringo Starr - star of the monotone - and Katie Melua
(who probably appeals to the Norah Jones brigade). Mike Rutherford, for
his part simply stood around on stage like a statue and I wondered
whether he knew the songs (or even whether they had actually bothered to
plug him in).

 

There were upsides to the concert, besides "Stormy Monday":

1.         "How Long" (not "How Long Blues" - in case you're wondering)
came across as though they had bothered to put a lot of effort into
practising the song. Very well done.

2.         Maggie Ryder, one of the backing vocalists - who performed in
the Clapton band in 1993 - is quite a looker - if I were there I would
have eyed her for most of the night.

3.         Frank Mead and Nick Pentalow on various saxes were the
redeeming factors in a band performing at charity pace.

4.         The laser show and fireworks during the last number, "I Can't
Dance", came across well on film.

 

Kevin

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