Peter Green. Live, 6th November 2003.
Set: Half acoustic, half electric. Lots of new Splinter group tracks interspersed with classic ‘Fleetwood Mac burgers’: Need your love so bad, Man of the world (instrumental), Green Manalishi, Black Magic Woman (incredibly long and exciting jam) but no “Oh Well” (surprised?).
Peter: Ageing, santa-esque, voice shot to pieces but still has its bluesy charm. Guitar playing dodgy - most leads left to the lesser known second guitarist (amazing and lick for lick as good as classic Green). Lots of strange rambling speeches about having too much money whilst a wheelchair-bound cretin haggled from the crowd.
Band: Competent, tight and really feel the blues. Drummer excellent loose style with brushes and sticks. Bassist: fretless, solid. Organist: Taste that Hammond and plinky plonk piano, humorist. Guitarist - one of the best. Peter - the weakest link but still blinding at times.
Venue: Stale relic, good acoustics, seated. Crowd: Older than your dad, enthusiastic (air drummers and guitarists were in attendance).
The good: To finally see PG even in his less animated twilight years. Touching to hear him sing Need your love so bad after all these years. Excellent instrumental version of Man of the world and acoustic Albatross.
The bad: No beer in the auditorium? Someone is surely having a laugh? Drunken fans on our row singing along out of tune, tapping along out of time and talking all the way through anything that wasn’t a Fleetwood Mac song. Heckler on the front row with his 90 year old mother with her hands over her ears ‘cos it’s ‘too loud’.
Overall: Great night of varied material. Not convinced about who’s carrying who exactly. Good band/crowd interaction and willingness to meet the audience afterwards. Classic Mac tracks mixed with blues standards and new material. Splendid.
Rating: 7/10
Was Bill Drummond in attendance? I wonder.
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