ALVIN LEE BAND IN CARDIFF 27.4.01

BY NICK WELLINGS

Well, I have finally returned home from across the gig England. What can I say? WOW!! I am still on a high and I am still replaying moments from the gig in my mind. There are many highlights for me.

So where to begin... well, the gig was to begin at 8:00PM. My friend Matthew, myself and David Cooke went to the venue, only to be told we were not allowed in for another 15 minutes. If it wasn't for our eagerness to get to the gig, we could have gone later on, whilst the support band was nearly ending its set.

So we found a pub and continued a discussion we had started in the hotel about Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, 70's music and modern music, guitar playing and more. At the time stated we made our way back to the venue and we were allowed in. After around 20-30 minutes of milling around and more talking, the support act took the stage. When they started, I could feel my insides shaking and the floor vibrating! Needless to say...I made my way to the back of the hall to try to escape the noise. Eventually the band stopped playing and I was pleased to be able to hear again. They stripped the stage of their equipment to allow the proper music to begin! We were waiting for Alvin to arrive for around 20 minutes, the crowd were quite restless and had begun to move to the front of the low stage in anticipation of the Alvin Lee band's arrival.

(This is where my memory becomes somewhat hazy, I was concentrating on having fun and watching Alvin rather than memorising exact details!)

Suddenly, a cheer went up as Alvin Lee and Steve Gould mounted the stage. Following them was their drummer, sporting a shaved head. Alvin stepped up to the microphone and asked us if we were "ready for some rock and roll!". The whole crowd shouted an loud affirmative "YEAH!". Alvin asked again and the reply was an even louder "YEAH!!!". He took this as he cue to begin, and he launched into "Rock and Roll Music To the World". At this
point I was ridiculously excited, Alvin was metres from me, he was playing the songs we all loved and he was enjoying himself. I was jumping around, clapping when the drummer showed us to, I was shouting the words with my friend. All around me other listeners were having a great time. Everywhere there were signs that Alvin wa connecting to people, that his music was affecting them. People were tapping their feet, some were dancing, some were clapping, many were smiling. I was bouncing around singing with the songs, a man was playing air guitar along with Alvin.

Unfortunately...some had taken to large amounts of alcohol to improve their enjoyment of the gig. Two men in particular were rowdy and they began to annoy Alvin. One was wiggling Alvin's microphone stand and was waving right in front of Alvin's face. Alvin made faces as he played his guitar, and at the close of one song, mumbled to them into the microphone for them to "Grow up...". Eventually the men were such a nuisance that they had to be escorted of the premises. I was grateful for this as they were getting in my way when I was trying to take photos and when I was trying to watch Alvin play. Indeed the security guard took my aside and told me to stop photographing the gig. I had my flash turned off, so I thought I was causing no trouble...however many people were using flashes and they probably were annoying Alvin somewhat. I obligingly put my camera in my coat, and moved away from the stage. I made my way out of sight of the guard and naughtily continued to snap away :)

As Alvin and the band worked their way through the set, they displayed their considerable musicianship. Alvin showed us all why he is considered a first rate guitarist, he utilised many great techniques in his playing. He employed pinch harmonics in certain phrases, fret tapped passages and notes up the neck. He showed sweep picking on fast, repeating passages and also he showed why he was considered at one point one of the fastest plank spankers around, tearing up the fretboard on blazing licks for "Schoolgirl" and "Going Home". Alvin also confirmed his status as a great showman, using all the tricks he has learned to entertain the audiencewith. He used a Harmonica as a slide, he used the microphone stand in the opening part of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" to create the sliding sounds. He played for a time with a drumstick on (I think ) "Hear Me Calling". He also got the crowd involved, by making us copy phrases that he sang and played as we copied what Alvin did, he made it harder for us to keep up and to copy him, we had to give up! Also we took part in the song "Johnny B.Goode" which I enjoyed screaming along to immensely :) Alvin also showed off his band. At one point he left the stage to allow Steve Gould to have his bass solo. Steve turned in a great performance, showing us a varied repertoire of techniques and sounds, as he wound up his solo, he cued Alan Young to extend and develop his drum backing into a energetic drum solo. I could feel the floor rumble and shake as he got into. He varied rhythms and fills and used all pieces of the drum kit, he modulated the volume from loud to quiet to loud again. This was the first drum solo I had ever seen and I was impressed, the sheer energy as well as the musicianship of Alan Young came over in his playing. As Young ended his solo stint, the other Alvin emerged from where he had been hiding behind a speaker and began to play again. As David later said to me, if there is a time to take a leak, (during the drum solo) then that's a good place to take it!

I enjoyed "Slow Blues In C" immensely. Alvin played through it masterfully, although I personally missed the presence of a keyboard solo. It was evident that Alvin had been busy during his time in Spain. He played a great song that I'll call "Flamenco Thing". He deveoped a slow Spanish musical statement into a frenzied and formidable fingerpicked flamenco sounding piece. At the end he let out a loud "Ole!" it was brilliant! Another favourite improvisational piece of mine is "Skoobly-Oobly Do-Bob". When I heard Alvin start this, his voice doubling his guitar (or vice versa) I was rooted to the spot. It was amazing to watch a man so in tune with his instrument. Of course Alvin played well know hits such as "Love Like A Man", a tremendous cheer went up when this song started, many people obviously had heard it before, its one of my favourite TYA/Alvin song. Before the gig, I had said to my friend "We must shout out ""PLAY THE SONG BY HELICOPTER!!!!" in a quiet moment. Well...we did..but Alvin didn't hear us, in fact I couldn't hear us! We shouted it again and a man behind us joined in. To our surprise Alvin said "We're gonna take you back to Woodstick one more time!". We must have commuicated to him via telepathy :) What a great "Going Home" he played! As usual he interspersed the main song with a medley of hits. Included was "Blue Suede Shoes" "Great Balls Of Fire". Before the gig David was telling me that it was a disappointment that Alvin does not do "Woodchoppers Ball" often in his shows. I also would have liked to see it, I love its fast jazzy stylings but from what I gleaned from set lists it was unlikely that Alvin was going to play it. However he surprised us all by playing the main theme from "Woodchopper's Ball" for the briefest of moments, then Alvin pulled off the sustained series of hammers and pull off from the same song for a long time, before resolving back to "Going Home". I was anticipating the "I'm coming to get you one more time!!" section, that breaks the restrained section of "Going Home" and launches it into a renewed rush of energy, with drums, bass guitar and voice all at full throttle. As the guys wound up their set with Choo Choo Mama, and they left the stage everyone around me began stamping and clapping, shouts of "Alvin Alvin Alvin!" were growing, people were shouting "More!!". Eventually Alvin heard us calling and he took an encore...unfortunately I was so carried away that I completely forgot the song... The next encore was called for and answered by the band, I forgot which song this was too :( (I am annoyed that I didn't remember enough!!!!).

As the last notes rung out in the hall, and the Alvin Lee band left the stage for good that night, I realised that I had been quite touched by the music I had heard and the spectacle I had witnessed. I felt rather sad that this event was over, I had such a great time, and in the company of like minded people, Matthew my friend and David perhaps a new friend, I enjoyed my stay in Cardiff and the gig immensely. Without these two people I would not have been able to go to Cardiff at all, without David I would not have heard first hand stories of music to hear. Without them the experience would have been poorer. I would like to thank you David for your generosity, your wisdom and your patience especially when I was waiting to get an autograph from Alvin, and when I lost your tape... To start of my live musical experience with an Alvin Lee gig is about one of the most spectacular ways to start. I only hope that future gigs I go to may affect me as this one did. Perhaps it was the fact that this was my first live show...but I really enjoyed myself. Perhaps there will be better gigs...there will certainly be worse gigs...but I do know that I shall always remember this one, and I shall always treasure the memories of it that I carry with me.

In particular I must thank Toni Franklin, David Cooke and of course Alvin Lee, without them my time in Cardiff would have been many times less memorable.

Thanks for reading, photos will follow (if they develop ok!).



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