I love this; it’s time for the High Fives again and it’s a very different challenge this year with my live selections.  I had to work really hard to bring this down to just five gigs, but I think this just about sums it up.  In no particular order, here they are.

The Kennedys @Kings Place

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis was one of the many venues I visited for the first time this year and it was a perfect place to see Pete and Maura Kennedy live proving that you can create musical perfection with just two guitars and two voices.  As well as having a stack of their own songs to create a set from (with plenty of input from the audience) they very generously feature songs by other writers and give the audience plenty of background about the songs and writers as well.  I know you’ll find this difficult to believe, but they also did something that left me speechless; Pete played a ukulele version of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” which was stunning.  And I got to hear a live version of “Big Star Song” which had been impossible to get out of my head after reviewing the album.  And they are two genuinely lovely people.

08) Federal CharmFederal Charm and Southside Johnny @The Apex, Bury St Edmunds

Predictable, me?  The truth is, I’ve seen Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes dozens of times and I’ve never seen a bad gig.  I’ve also never seen anything resembling the same set twice.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  We got to the venue just as the support band, Federal Charm, were starting their set and the impact was instant; frontmen Nick Bowden and Paul Bowe trading riffs and solos under Nick’s incredibly powerful lead vocal.  They’ve got self-assurance by the bucketload and a bunch of great songs as well.  And that was just the support act.  Southside Johnny, surrounded by a bunch of Jukes that have been playing as a unit for a few years now, looked more relaxed than I’ve seen him in years and sounded better than ever.  They played a set that wasn’t too reliant on the old classics, but was still appreciated by the old fans.  As always, the audience (and most of the band) had no idea where the set was going next and we loved it.

Dean Owens @The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham

Dean OwensYou might have noticed that the Riot Squad are big fans of Dean Owens.  We’ve been telling you about his albums for a couple of years now but, living in London, it’s a bit of a challenge seeing a live show; luckily we like a challenge and the first one was getting the squad from various parts of London and the south-east to Twickenham on a Friday evening.  When we finally made it, the venue was perfect; intimate with a nice sound system and a very appreciative audience.  Ags Connolly (whose debut album on Drumfire Records was produced by Dean) opened the show with a strong bunch of songs before Dean delivered a great set built around the “Cash Back” album with loads of songs from earlier albums and audience requests thrown in.  It’s worth adding that Dean has a very dry sense of humour and the audience interaction between songs was great fun as well.  Top night and many thanks to Phil Penman and Drumfire for keeping the faith.

Marcus Bonfanti

10) Marcus BonfantiMarcus Bonfanti is the British blues equivalent of the Duracell bunny; he never stops working.  During 2013, he released an album and did a solo acoustic tour and a full band tour to promote the album.  I was lucky enough to see an acoustic show (in the unlikely environment of a casino in the West End) and a full band show in The Borderline.  Both gigs were excellent and Marcus is a superb blues player and singer with a great line in self-deprecatory chat and humour between songs.  The highlight of each set was the wonderful “The Bittersweet”, one of the best new songs from any genre I’ve heard this year. All of the songs are so strong that they worked perfectly in a solo setting and with the full band; spot on musically and great fun as well.

 

Carrie Rodriguez @The Old Queen’s Head, Islington

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYet another venue that I haven’t visited before; this is a room above a pub with a capacity of about eighty.  Yet again, the sound system was spot-on and the audience were very appreciative as Carrie, accompanied by Luke Jacobs (and playing between them fiddle, tenor guitar, acoustic and electric guitars and lap steel) rattled through two sets of songs taken mainly from her current album, “Give Me All You Got”, with some old favourites thrown in as well.  The songs were very high quality, the playing and vocals were superb, and Carrie and Luke’s easy relationship with the audience made this a superb night.

It wasn’t easy picking just five great live shows from the many I’ve seen this year and I should really give a mention to some of the others who didn’t quite make the list.  I saw great sets this year from Coco and the Butterfields, Henrik Freischlader, Billy Walton (four times), Paul Rose, Aynsley Lister, Elvis Costello, Civil Protection and Bruce Springsteen, but the five I’ve chosen here are the ones which surprised and delighted me.

 

Interview coverIt’s a couple of years since we last spoke to one of our favourite guitar players, Billy Walton, so I arranged an interview before his show at “Tropic at Ruislip”.  As an added bonus, the legendary Roger Mayer (search him online, but as a bit of a clue, he designed effects pedals for Jimi Hendrix) turned up as well because he’s been working with Billy for a few years now.  Here’s what happened.

Allan – It’s been two years since we last did this, at Totteridge, and you were just about to release “Crank it Up”.  What have you been up to since then?

Billy -A lot of stuff, we’ve been playing the Jersey shore, tons of gigs; we’ve been writing, writing with friends.  There’s a lot of projects in the works right now.  We did a whole live thing over the summertime; we had a mobile unit follow us around and we did a lot of recording with that and we caught the fun vibes on the Jersey shore.  Right now I’ve been writing and I’ve got about eighteen or nineteen new tunes; maybe do another Billy Walton Band album we’re trying to work on then try and write with other people and have fun and put out some cool stuff.  That’s our plans.

Allan – Before “Crank it Up” was released you were telling me that you thought the songs were stronger on that album.

Billy – Well, songwriting always evolves and it depends on what you’re feeling. With that one we were going for a Jersey shore laid-back, more soulful type of thing instead of just guitar pyrotechnics like the albums before that.

Allan – There were a few elements of early Bruce in there as well, the New Jersey feel.

Billy – Being from New Jersey that kinda comes out it’s always gonna come out.

Roger – It’s part of the DNA, isn’t it?

Billy – It’s where you’re from; it’s always going to come out.  To dissect the Jersey shore music it’s kind of ahead of the beat, it’s driving all night, in a pumping club on the Boardwalk , and that’s what it’s about.

Allan – And how are the songs for the new album coming along?

Billy – There’s a good mix; I want to reintroduce more of the guitar pyrotechnics on the new album, we haven’t picked the songs yet so we just keep writing and we’ll figure out which ones are the best.

Roger – You haven’t actually decided on whether the line-up for the record is gonna remain constant.  There would be no reason for every track to have the same personnel on it; is it fair to say that would be a step different from a production standpoint?

Billy – Yes, absolutely.  On this tour we’re bringing two horns; Richie(Taz) is still playing with us back home but I brought these two horns with us just to switch it up a bit.  It’s all about the vibe of the night and it’s the same thing with trying to create an album it’s about getting that vibe and whoever it takes to make that vibe happen.

Roger – If I can say one thing here:  I don’t think your records have ever tried to
capture you playing live.  You’ve done the live record, but a studio record is completely different from a live record because it gives you much more scope with what’s possible.

Billy – And I think that’s what we haven’t captured on our last albums; that live vibe.  If you come out to a show, you know it’s controlled chaos.

Roger – And I think that’s true of Bruce (Springsteen)’s albums too.  Live he’s fantastic but I don’t think his albums live up to the live performance.

Allan – And it’s a great experience, a Billy Walton Band live show because like Bruce and Southside Johnny, you never know what you’re going to get on the night, do you?

Roger – That’s true, when I was with Hendrix, we deliberately never played the same thing twice any night so you never knew what to expect and that’s a jazz thing as well, which makes it exciting.  It means you can see the band three nights in a row and get three and get three different and I think that’s cool, rather than some note-for-note rendition which gets stale very quickly.

Allan – The last time I saw the band, which was at Barnet on the last tour, you played a solo where you threw the riff from “Kashmir” and the intro from the Chicago song “25 or 6 to 4” and that’s great because nobody’s expecting it.

Billy – There’s no rules and that’s what I was feeling at that time so I thought let’s get into it.

Roger – Well there are no rules, are there?  That is the rule; there are no rules.

Billy – That’s right, the band’s having fun and if you saw us last night, tonight’s gonna be totally different and it’s got to be that way because sometimes even the band doesn’t know what’s coming next and that’s great.

Roger – Should they know?

Billy – They shouldn’t (laughs).

Allan – I saw Bruce at the Olympic Park and, you know this is coming, but he walked to the front of the audience, pulled out a request placard, turned towards the band, lifted it in the air and the band launched straight into the song; that’s the mark of a really great band.

Billy – Like us, the E Street Band are all music lovers.  Everybody you see playing that way, you know they have a load of Motown records, they have all the Stax records and they still put them on and that takes them back.  One night I went to hang out with the E Street guys in Philly and they played “Higher and Higher” and the place just erupted (Billy sings and finger-pops the chorus for emphasis) and afterwards everyone was just so excited that they did that song.

Roger – Because a great song played by great musicians gets a great reaction.  It’s exciting and memorable.

Allan – So you’re in the process of raising funds to make the album now; how’s that going?

Billy – Well, there are many different things we’re trying to do and one is that we’re talking to this guy, Tony Braunagel who’s just produced Curtis Salgado, he’s done Taj Mahal albums and he’s interested in doing an album with us, but that’s not definite; it’s not in stone, we’re just raising funds for the next project.  There’s always gonna be a project, because we’re always writing and we’re always playing, but right now that’s the one.

Allan – And that funding’s happening through indiegogo , isn’t it?

Billy – That’s right, indiegogo.  The way the music industry has gone it’s a great way (to fund an album).  It used to be that the label that gave you the money, the producer pays everything, you pay him back, but now fan funding allows the artists to do it themselves and own it.

Allan – And it allows you give something back to the fans that have funded it as well.

Billy – Absolutely, they feel a part of it; they get packages where they get so many CDs and other deals.

Roger – And that’s still only the beginning because it only takes you so far, you still have to try to get airplay. It’s still only the opening pawn move in a chess game.

Billy – You need a fish to catch the bigger fish.

Allan – Are there any guitar players that you listen to or you’ve worked with over the last few years that you would recommend to a UK audience?

Billy – That’s a good question; there’s a lot of great players out there but to name one;  Freddie King!  There’s a lot of evolutions of Albert King and Freddie King out there.

Roger – But the thing is can they write good songs?  Not that they’ve got some licks that they’ve served up in a generic way.  Can they write good songs? That’s what makes them stand out.

Allan – When I saw you play with the Henrik Freischlader Band in January, it struck me that he can write a good song and he has a very soulful voice as well.

Billy – The thing is, with players that I like, they have something that you can say “I can tell where they’re from”, they’re unique.  They’re not just generic  Clapton copies; that’s what I don’t like.  What I do like is, there’s a couple of bands in New Jersey that came up after Katrina from New Orleans and these cats can play and you could tell they were from New Orleans; you could hear it, you could feel it and that’s what I like.  And it doesn’t have to be a guitar player, it can be any musician.

Allan – I was surprised a few years ago when I read a Bobby Bandiera interview and he was asked about new music he listened to and he said he didn’t listen to a lot but he did say that he liked Radiohead, which was a bit of a shock.

Billy – Well, Bobby might have been messing with the interviewer there (laughs).

Allan – We first met when you were playing with The Jukes; are you focussing on the Billy Walton Band now, or is there a chance that we might see you back with Southside in the future?

Billy – Absolutely.  I’m friends with those guys, Southside is great; I enjoy the whole Jersey heritage and I still do gigs with them  once in a while but I’m really trying to focus on my stuff.  When you think about it there has to be more generations of music from Jersey.  Everybody speaks about Bruce and Bon Jovi but what about Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack in Atlantic City; there’s evolution there.

Allan – We spoke briefly during the first interview we did about some of the Jersey Shore bands and musicians; what is it that makes that scene so special?

Billy – There’s a lot to it.  In summertime the Jersey shore is a vacation spot; everybody from Philadelphia, Washington and New York City hits the shore and along the shore there’s a party every night in the summertime and there’s clubs all along the Boardwalk and everybody meets their girlfriends and they dance, it’s that whole scene.

Roger – It would be like thirty miles of Blackpool but slightly classier.  And it’s better than New York because the clubs are bigger.

Billy – What’s great about New Jersey too is the brotherhood of the bands.  There are clubs next door to each other and when you go on break, you walk out and go and jam with your friend’s band next door and they come and jam with you.

Roger – A bit like New Orleans in a way.

Billy – With those guys we all know what each other’s doing and the players are interchangeable.  We all get together and have fun and listen to music and talk music and that’s what’s different about it.

Allan – It’s great that Bobby (Bandiera)’s been on tour with Bon Jovi for what seems like forever now, but as soon as there’s a break in the tour he goes back to the Jersey shore and he’s playing  McLoone’s Boathouse and places like that.

Roger – Because it’s fun.  If you’re a musician why wouldn’t you want to do something different if you’ve been on a tour round the world and it’s boring as hell.

Billy – You’re right.  You’re away from it all and you’re in a bubble.  We played Churchill Downs in Kentucky in front of thousands of people with Bon Jovi and that night I got on a plane and flew home to New Jersey and played in front 150 people at a club, a jukejoint and I loved them both because I had fun.

Roger – We used to do that with Jimi (Hendrix, of course); straight off the stage and straight down the pub and jam, every night.

Billy – You wanna play, and you wanna have fun, youknow?

Allan – Have you noticed any changes in the UK audiences over the last 2 years?

Billy – Yes, there’s a mix; it’s not just the older demographic.  We get the traditional blues fans coming out to hear a guitar player. Then you have the Jersey people who buy into that thing of having a good time and having a party and you get the younger crowd so it’s a great mix.

Allan – I noticed particularly at the gig in Barnet, on the last tour, there were teenagers wearing Billy Walton Band T-shirts and I thought that was great because I’ve seen a lot of blues players recently at shows where I’m the youngest person in the room, and that really worries me.

Roger – That’s really sad, man.  You should look out for a band called the 45s; they sound like the Rolling Stones did in 1965 and Jimmy Page and the guy from Dr Feelgood gave them a bit of a leg-up, but this is guys that are seventeen and nineteen who wanna portray that energy.  So the energy is there with younger people; I’ve been working with some younger people who still like the kind of music we’re talking about so it’s obvious that the music goes right across the borders.

Allan – And do you think we’re starting to see a move back towards guitar-based blues/rock again?

Roger – In a way yes, but I think people just generally want to see someone perform.  You might not like “Strictly Come Dancing”, but at least it’s a live performance; whatever you say, the band’s playing live.  So that from that standpoint, nine million people every Saturday are watching celebrities dancing to a live band.  It can’t be all bad.

Allan – I’ve noticed that over the last year I’ve seen some great young and enthusiastic British blues/rock bands and I wonder how much of that is down to what guys like you are doing?

Billy – Well, you can find inspiration in many different ways.  It could be guy playing saxophone that makes you want to pick up an instrument and try that but just getting out there and playing, that’s the main thing.  I was fortunate to grow up in a scene in Jersey where I’d go out to a blues club and there’d be older guys and I’d sit in and I’d get my ass kicked every night and the there was a point when I’d go back down there and I’d kick their asses.  They introduced me all these songs that I didn’t know and it was ‘“Born Under a Bad Sign”, what is that, what the hell, I’ll play it’.  And it just opens you up and I was fortunate to have that, to be able to play with these people and let loose and go with it.

Allan – And I hear you had a good time playing with Walter Trout this week.

Billy – Yeah, Walter Trout, he’s a Jersey boy; he’s originally from Ocean City.  We had fun; I tried to take my amp off the stage after we opened up and that wasn’t allowed so it was great, we jammed an Elmore James tune and had some fun with it.

Allan – And that’s what the Jersey scene’s all about I guess, isn’t it?

Billy – Absolutely; one hundred per cent.  On tour, we have bands open up for us and most times we end the night with the band up on stage playing with us.  It’s the party, that’s what it’s about to me; what’s gonna happen that night and what picture’s gonna be painted that night.  And then tomorrow’s another one.

Allan – Well, great to meet up again, it’s always good to hear what you have to say and I’m looking forward to the show tonight now.

Billy – Thank you.

The Billy Walton Band are currently on the second leg of the UK tour, which finishes on November 26th at the 100 Club and you really should get out to see them.  Failing that, help
the guys to fund the new album and grab yourself some nice goodies as well.

Bobby Bandiera (Photo by Keith Golub)

Bobby Bandiera (Photo by Keith Golub)

I first saw Bobby Bandiera play in June 1995 at The Leadmill in Sheffield as part of an unplugged-style tour with Southside Johnny.  I know; it’s a huge surprise that I was at a Southside Johnny gig, but you have to take my word for it.  Looking back at it with the benefit of nearly twenty years of hindsight, the tour was probably an attempt to find out if Southside still had a following in the UK and whether a tour with a full band was a viable proposition.  On the night, Johnny and Bobby were outstanding; it’s surprising how much variety you can squeeze out of two voices, a guitar and a few harmonicas.  They played every request that came from the audience and proved that good songs are still good songs when all of the arrangements are stripped away.  Before the gig, I knew that Southside was a great singer and harmonica player; after the gig, I knew that Bobby Bandiera was a hugely talented guitar player and a very, very good singer.

Bobby played in various bands on the Jersey shore following his debut in 1968, building a reputation as a gifted player and was considered as a replacement for Steve Van Zandt in The E Street Band for Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” tour.  It didn’t happen, but in the following year he joined Southside Johnny and The  Jukes, following the departure of Billy Rush and kicked off a collaboration which has lasted for nearly thirty years.  I’m guessing that playing in The Jukes isn’t as lucrative as playing in the E Street Band, but it has other rewards.

I’ll come back to this later, but I truly respect any musician who naturally leads a band (whether it’s as a singer, guitarist or songwriter, and Bobby is all three) and can also take a back seat for a while and just be one of the players; Jimi Hendrix couldn’t do it, and he wasn’t the only one.  When Bobby joined The Jukes they were mainly functioning as a live act and releasing albums that only the dedicated fans were buying but, from the very start to the present day, they remain a live phenomenon and Bobby has always been a perfect fit for Southside’s live performances.  I’ve heard a story, from someone who knows, that Southside always likes to test any new Jukes (and there have been plenty of those) by suddenly, mid-gig, calling a tune that they haven’t rehearsed.  I’m willing to bet that he never caught Bobby out that way because according to Billy Walton, another hugely versatile frontman and supporting guitarist, Bobby’s memory for songs is legendary.

There must have been a settling-in period but I’m guessing that it didn’t take very long for Bobby to become a perfect foil for Southside and give the singer a chance to drop down a few gears during live sets by passing the baton to his guitarist for a few songs.  Leading any band isn’t easy, especially if you’re talking about nine or ten musicians and having Bobby Bandiera as a trusted lieutenant (in the same way that Springsteen has Steve Van Zandt in the E Street Band) helped keep the Jukes a tight live unit while adding another great voice to the mix.  Any musician who joins The Jukes has to be a gifted player; you don’t play the same set night after night and you never know which song (or version of a song) is coming next.  Apart from the challenge, the upside of this is that the musicians never get bored or complacent.

During twenty years with the Jukes, Bobby has also released three solo albums and continues to play live in New Jersey with the Bob Bandiera Band whenever he’s not touring in his current day job .  Did I forget to mention that Bobby has been touring as part of Bon Jovi’s live set-up since 2005 in a supporting role?  He’s usually described as rhythm guitarist, but I’m going to get all controversial on you here and say that there’s much more to it than that; the reason that Jon Bon Jovi wanted Bobby Bandiera in the touring band is that he needed a safe pair of hands.  If your lead guitarist has had well-documented substance and reliability problems, then you need a reliable backup plan and Bobby Bandiera is about as reliable as they come; a tremendous guitar player who also adds very strong vocals.  In April 2013, Richie Sambora left the tour at short notice and, in Canada, for one night only, Bobby Bandiera shook off the rhythm guitar tag and took on all the guitar duties, doing the job that he was brought in to do.  It didn’t last long, as another shredder, Phil X, was brought in the next day to replace Sambora.  And that incident kicked off all the predictable online spats between fans and friends on various sides of the debate (and not a serious word from any of the protagonists).

For what it’s worth, I’m not keen on bands bringing in extra players (for whatever reason)without giving them full bandmember status but, ultimately, it’s up to the players involved to do what they think is right.  I don’t think you can criticise a musician for taking a supporting role which (presumably) pays well without the dubious benefit of a spotlight and big-screen shot; it’s a hard world out there as a professional musician and it’s getting harder.

I know it’s difficult if you live in the UK, but the best way to appreciate the artistry of Bobby Bandiera is to see him live.  You can find YouTube clips of “C’mon Caroline” and covers of “Like a Hurricane” and “Baba O’Riley”, but the quality’s variable at best, and it’s almost impossible to find his albums online (at least at anything less than eye-watering prices). So, I guess the best I can hope for is that Jon Bon Jovi takes an extended break and Bobby comes back to the UK on the next Jukes tour; it’s unlikely but if it does happen, Music Riot will let you know about it then it’s up to you to go out and see him.

Some guitar players throw shapes and use smoke and mirrors (and the occasional wind machine) to grab your attention, but Bobby Bandiera doesn’t need any of that; he just has to play and sing.  He’s a very modest guy who seems to be happy just to be doing something that he’s very good at, and that always looks and sounds good on stage.  Whether he’s playing with his own band, The Jukes or a group of teenagers at a rock school, he’s always a great player to watch and he always looks like he’s having a great time.  What more could you ask for?

Wrecking Ball tourYou have to wonder what was in Jon Landau’s mind when he made this statement in a 1974 article in The Real Paper: “I saw rock and roll’s future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.”  At that time Bruce had released two critically-acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums (“Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” and “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle”) and “Born to Run” was just a twinkle in his eye; either Jon Landau was incredibly prescient or he made a very lucky guess.  Whichever way you look at it, surely even Landau wouldn’t have predicted that The Boss would still be playing stadia and arenas forty years later.  The band on Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” tour, now in its second year, includes five musicians (Max Weinberg, Gary Tallent, Roy Bittan, Steve van Zandt and The Boss himself) from the “Born to Run” album which was released in August 1975.  However unlikely it is, that’s why I’m in the Olympic Park in Stratford to watch the E Street Band for the first time as part of the Hard Rock Calling festival on a rare sunny summer day in London.

The Boss is one of those artists I’ve loved since the very early days but always avoided seeing live.  I know this sounds weird but there are artists whose work I love so much I didn’t want to see them live and possibly be disappointed.  You have to admit there’s a kind of twisted logic to it.  Anyway, call it the bucket list if you like but I finally saw sense this year and decided to go to the Hard Rock Calling gig.

The support line-up of the Zac Brown Band (great country music throwing in “Kashmir” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” towards the end of the set), Alabama Shakes and Black Crowes who dropped a Georgia medley of “Hard to Handle” and the wonderful Joe South song “Hush”.  And then it was time for the The Boss.

The E Street Band hit the stage slightly early with a high-powered version of the “Wrecking Ball” song “Shackled and Drawn” which slid straight in to “Badlands” and the audience were hooked from the start. As usual, Bruce picked request placards from the audience, walked back up to the stage, showed the band the card and immediately launched into the song.  The first song to get this treatment was “Johnny 99”, transformed from the stripped-back album original to a full-on band arrangement with horns and fiddle from Soozie Tyrell which was followed by a rock version of  “Reason to Believe” driven by Steve van Zandt’s guitar riff.  The two audience requests obviously had The Boss in a “Nebraska” mood because “Atlantic City” completed a run of three songs from the album before rousing versions of “Wrecking Ball” and “Death to my Hometown” brought the first part of the show to a close.

The band has been playing entire albums throughout this tour and tonight it was “Born in the USA”.  If “Born to Run” was the album which made Springsteen famous, “Born in the USA” was the one which made him a global phenomenon with its crowd-pleasing anthems.  It’s easy to forget how many classic songs come from the album until you hear it all live. With such a huge amount of great songs to choose from, it’s obvious (even with a three hour set) that some fans won’t get to hear their favourite song.  I would have loved to hear “Highway Patrolman” or “Factory”, but I did get to hear “Bobby Jean”, so I’m pretty happy with that.

As if we hadn’t heard enough anthems, after a relatively low-key close to the set, the encores kicked off with “Jungleland”, “Born to Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “American Land” before closing with the downbeat but very moving acoustic rendition of “My Lucky Day”.

As a bit of break from forcing my opinions on you, I decided to get some feedback from Faye and Alice who came from Birmingham for the gig.  Alice (who’s been going to Springsteen gigs since before she was born) loved the gig (not surprisingly) bouncing about and singing along to all the songs while Faye (who was seeing The Boss for the first time) was amazed at how good the show was and loved the idea of the band playing songs chosen by the audience.  So, a big thumbs up from Faye and Alice.  I hope you both had a safe journey home.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are a live phenomenon; they can play for three hours without even scratching the surface of their repertoire and drop immediately into any song called by The Boss without missing a beat, but it’s not just the musicianship I admire.  The E Street Band (and Southside Johnny, Gary Bonds, Bon Jovi and Billy Walton) are all part of a Jersey shore tradition of bands that give a hundred per cent and want to play all night because they love playing and they understand that a mainly blue-collar audience wants their favourite bands to give them everything they have; you work hard to earn your dollar and you expect bands to work just as hard to earn it from you.

But there’s more to it than that.  The Jersey shore bands are part of a family, literally and metaphorically.  The Boss demonstrated that at Stratford by bringing his mother on for “Dancing in the Dark” and his sister Pam to accompany him at the close of the set.  And don’t forget Clarence Clemons’ nephew Jake playing tenor sax.  I’m convinced that “We Take Care of Our Own” from “Wrecking Ball” isn’t flag-waving patriotism, it’s about all the players, singers and songwriters whose spiritual home is The Stone Pony.  It doesn’t matter how successful you become, you’re still just one of the Jersey crew; for every Bruce, Steve van Zandt and Jon Bon Jovi, there’s a Soozie Tyrell, Ed Manion and Bobby Bandiera and they all have a huge amount of mutual respect.

If you can still get tickets for Springsteen gigs in the UK or Europe, then you should really give it a try; you won’t be disappointed.

 

Photo by Allan McKay

If you check out MusicRiot regularly, you’ll know that our contributors have one thing in common; they’re all passionate about (maybe bordering on obsessed by) music.  All of the Riot Squad (John Preston, Louie Anderson and, most recently, Klare Stephens) love music of all styles and the reason we do this is because we want to share our passion and maybe get a few more people to listen to the music we love, whether it’s live or recorded.  Also, because music is such a personal thing we like to bring that element into our contributions; opinions are always subjective, but at least we’re upfront about it.  Often it can feel like shouting in the dark: then you have a weekend like the one I’ve just had.

Last week I published a review of the excellent album “Closer than you Know” by The Kennedys and I was invited to review their gig at Kings Place in London on Friday.  I also had a gig lined up for Sunday night, going to watch the Billy Walton Band in High Barnet with some good friends.  Both gigs were superb in very different ways; you can read The Kennedys review and previous Billy Walton Band reviews here on MusicRiot and work out for yourself that I’m impressed.

The live performances by these bands, however, are only part of the story.  All of the musicians at these two gigs (Pete and Maura Kennedy, Billy Walton, William Paris, Rich Taskowitz and John D’Angelo) are extremely gifted musicians who love what they do and love to interact with their audience personally and online. Both bands mix with the audience when they aren’t actually performing (and sometimes when they are; yeah that’s you Billy and Rich) and have a huge amount of respect for their fans, fellow musicians and songwriters.

Both gigs were superb in different ways; The Kennedys stripped down their songs to arrangements for two acoustic guitars and two voices while the Billy Walton Band played raucous r’n’r (and blues and soul and the rest) in the way that bands from New Jersey do.  Both bands were happy to play requests from the audience regardless of the setlist they had prepared.  Most importantly, both bands were obviously having a good time.  So far, so good, but excellence is pretty much what I expected from these two bands and this weekend was about much more than that.

I’ve been reviewing gigs in London and elsewhere for MusicRiot for six years now and sometimes it can be a bit depressing; you watch incredibly gifted bands and artists performing to audiences which just scrape into three figures and most of them are friends of the band.  I’ve been to blues gigs where the majority of the audience at least twice as old as the musicians.   It was great to see two very different gigs this weekend where the ages of the audience ranged widely and everyone was there to hear great live music and have a good time.  And that brings me on to the reason why we all contribute to MusicRiot.

We don’t ignore the established bands at MusicRiot; we had two reviews of the Daft Punk album last week and we’ve reviewed albums by Bruce Springsteen, Scissor Sisters, Lana del Rey and Saint Etienne in the last year or so.  We also love to discover a diverse range of bands and artists that you might not have heard of and tell you all about them so we’ll carry on telling you all about artists like The Kennedys, the Billy Walton Band, MS MR, Sally Shapiro, Tomorrow’s World, Lilygun, Stoneface Travellers, Dean Owens and many more.  We’ve even got some pretty good photos for you to look at.

If there’s one lesson that I’ve learned from six years at MusicRiot it’s this; whatever you hear on daytime radio, there’s always good music out there if you know where to look and that’s why the Riot Squad do what they do.  And thanks to Richie Taz for the title.

I don’t want to alarm you but, this summer, our gig venues (large and small) are about to be invaded by bands from New Jersey.  There are 4 bands from the area touring our sceptred isle over the next few months, so here’s a quick rundown on who’s touring when.

Southside and Billy Walton at Buxton Opera House

Southside and Billy Walton (photo by Allan Mckay)

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, veterans of the 70s Stone Pony scene, and an incredible live experience, will be making a very brief visit at the beginning of May:

Thursday 02/05/13          City Hall, Salisbury

Friday 03/05/13                 The Apex Arts Centre, Bury St Edmunds

Saturday 04/05/13           Burnley International Rock & Blues Festival

The Billy Walton Band (whose frontman Billy Walton has toured the UK a couple of times as guitar player with Southside Johnny) form the second wave of the onslaught when they arrive in mid-May.  A night with BWB is guaranteed to be a great night of rock, blues and soul as Billy and  sax player Richie Taz front up while William Paris and John D’Angelo keep the show rock solid.  The dates are:

Thursday 16/05/13          Beaverwood Music Club, Chiselhurst, Kent

Billy Walton (Photo by Allan McKay)

Friday 17/05/13                 The Cluny, Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne

Saturday 18/05/13           Calva Bar, University of Cumbria, Carlisle

Sunday 19/05/13              Kings Arms, St Mary Street, Bedford

Monday 20/05/13            Yardbirds, Church Street, Grimsby

Tuesday 21/05/13            The Fishpond, Matlock Bath

Wednesday 22/05/13     The Greyhound, Beeston, Nottingham

Thursday 23/05/13          The Cellars, Cromwell Road, Eastney

Friday 24/05/13                 Blakeney Harbour Room, Blakeney, Norfolk

Saturday 25/05/13           Saint Bonaventure’s Club, Barkeley Road, Bristol

Sunday 26/05/13              Barnet FC (Underhill Stadium), Barnet

Monday 27/05/13             The Pavilion, Broadstairs, Kent

Thursday 30/05/13          The Flower Pot, Derby

Friday 31/05/13                 Travellers Rest Club, Barrow-in-Furness

Saturday 01/06/13           Boom Boom Club/Sutton Utd. Football Club, Sutton, Surrey

In early June, the venue sizes move a few notches as the Bon Jovi “Because We Can” tour comes to the UK.  Despite the controversy surrounding Richie Sambora’s sudden departure from the tour a couple of weeks ago, the show goes on.   The additional musicians on the live shows include guitar player Bobby Bandiera, who spent a few years as Southside Johnny’s head honcho with the Jukes.   The dates are:

Saturday 08/06/13           Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Sunday 09/06/13              Villa Park, Birmingham

Wednesday 12/06/13     City Stadium, Cardiff

Thursday 13/06/13          Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Sunday 16/06/13              Isle of Wight Festival

The final wave of the invasion overlaps slightly with the Bon Jovi tour when Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball tour rolls back into the UK in mid-June.  It probably won’t come as a surprise to you now to hear that there’s an ex-member of the Asbury Jukes in the E Street Band.  Ed “Kingfish” Manion (baritone sax) joined the horn section for the “Wrecking Ball” tour after many years  of touring and recording with Southside Johnny.  You can see The Boss here:

Saturday 15/06/13           Wembley Stadium, London

Eddie Manion and Billy Walton at Buxton Opera House

Eddie Manion and Billy Walton (photo by Allan McKay)

Tuesday 18/06/13            Hampden Park, Glasgow

Thursday 20/06/13          Ricoh Stadium, Coventry

Sunday 30/06/13              Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London

Just in case I need a sledgehammer to get this message home, some great music has come out of New Jersey (and I haven’t even got on to Patti Smith, Gary Bonds and The Four Seasons).  Some bands have been incredibly successful over a long period of time and some haven’t; what the bands touring the UK this summer have in common is mutual respect and shared personnel.  You can probably still get tickets for The Boss and Bon Jovi but, if they’re playing anywhere near you, try to get out and see Southside Johnny and Billy Walton; you won’t regret it.