Floral Pavilion, New Brighton – 08/06/2019
When you think of 1970’s British folk-rock, Lindisfarne is the group you think of. Here I was, back at the International Guitar Festival of Great Britain, the oldest guitar festival in the world, to see these pioneers. The stage was set, with a very impressive array of guitars and there was somewhat of a buzz about the crowd. This was going to be a good night and when Rod Clements and the band walked on stage to a cheer that only confirmed my suspicions… I was not only in for a good night; I was in for a great one!
The band kicked off with ‘No Time to Lose’, a song penned by the late, great Alan Hull. Rod Clements took lead vocal duties on this first track and despite his age, he’s 71, his voice in superb condition. The rest of the band harmonised beautifully and I particularly enjoyed Steve Daggett dancing around at the back with his acoustic guitar. He was having a ball.
The majority of songs were sung by Dave Hull-Denholm, son in law to Alan Hull. Vocally, they are very similar; Dave was able to harness all the vocal quality and power that his father in law possessed, without him being a tribute act. He is the perfect man to sing these songs.
Despite Rod Clements being the host of the evening, he took a back seat within the music, playing a huge array of instruments, but standing back and giving Dave the space to perform the lead vocal. Where Rod did come in and in fact the whole band excelled at this, was the harmonies. The harmonies were incredible. All of them just gelled together so well.
They performed song after song, each, more crowd pleasing than the last. Lady Eleanor was great. It was the fourth song in and the audience loved it. Talking to Rod Clements before the show, he said that this band brings a freshness to these 40 year old songs, and I would have to agree. The Hammond organ sounded fantastic and Dave’s vocals combined with the group’s harmonies were stunning.
Rod is a great comedian, joking with the crowd about him writing Train in G Major, how he wrote it in D but presented it to the singer who declared ‘I’m a proper singer… I will sing it in G’, Rod went on to say that he is constantly trying to improve, he’s nearly there, and is currently able to sing it in ‘E’, but if we come back in a few years time, he might be closer to getting it, he might even have got to ‘F’!! The song was great, and was just Rod with Ian Thomson on a double bass. It was a really lovely moment. Rods slide guitar work was great, really in the relms of the so called slide guitar masters.
An energetic ‘January Song’, complete with audience sing along, brought the first half to a close and after a brief interval the band returned and launched into the second half. ‘Alright on the Night’ started proceedings and again, what a song, delivered with such energy.
The second half had so many great moments I really enjoyed ‘We can Swing Together’, a song about Alan Hull being arrested for causing a disturbance at a party. Another audience sing along moment, the audience yelling the chorus back at the band.
The audience were bouncing at this point and continued through until the end of the night. ‘Fog on the Tyne’ came next, followed by ‘Meet Me on the Corner’ and then ‘Run For Home’. The band then announced that at this point it is normal procedure to go off, sit backstage and the audience cheer for more and then they return to the stage to do the encore. But, they don’t see the point; they would rather just keep on playing. Rod interjected that ‘it has taken some of us 50 years to work that one out’ and so they sang their final song. Again, there wasn’t a single person not up on their feet singing along. ‘Clear White Light’ brought the show to a close.
And, what a fantastic show it was. I loved it. It was a perfect mix of folk, rock and blues. Rod Clements is a wonderful musician, who can get a guitar sounding solo out of anything with a string. The rest of the band were all super, Steve Daggett on keys, guitar and vocals, Ian Thomson on bass, Ex Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson and of course Dave Hull-Denholm, who’s vocal performance and guitar and piano, he played one song on the piano, was tremendous. This is a classic band, with so much to give in the future. If you haven’t seen them, you are missing out on something truly special.
