FANZEYEVIEW
Paul Rodgers - Cliff Pavillion Southend 25th April 2011
What more could a person want on Easter Monday, seaside, sunshine and the greatest blues/rock voice of my generation the UK has produced in Paul Rodgers, all in Southend Essex.
With a changed band line up from the last time Paul played solo at Hammersmith in November 2009, Howard Leese remains ever faithful on guitars with the powerhouse of Jason Bonham on drums and the wonderful Todd Ronning on bass.
The set list is a greatest hits on Rodgers writing excellence with a couple of covers that he has had in his set for years now.
We were treated to eight Free tracks from the opener ‘Walk In My Shadow’, the excellent musicianship of ‘Mr Big’ the achingly beautiful ‘Be My Friend’, the pomp of ‘Fire And Water’ and the wonderful sing-alongs of ‘Wishing Well’, ‘My Brother Jake’. The Bad Company era also got a healthy showing as well with the classics you would expect to be in the set , notably a subtle reworking of ‘Seagull’ the poignant ‘Shooting Star’ and the riotous ‘Can’t Get Enough’
In between these classics a new song was introduced called ‘Mr Midnight’ which gives a ‘boogie’ feel into the set, a great taste of things to come later in the year from the new cd.
As well as his terrific vocals, Paul also plays a bit of acoustic guitar, harmonica and piano, notably in the songs ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Running With The Pack’. The band are also some of the best musicians on show for this style of music, Howard is still a revelation on guitar and mandolin, Todd is one of the best bass players I’ve ever seen especially on his solo on ‘Mr Big’, he will I’m sure be in future Paul Rodgers bands, Jason Bonham seem to having the time of his life on the drums, interacting with the crowd and having lots of banter with Paul onstage. Paul’s guitar tech Markus Wolfe also joins the band onstage for a couple of songs on second guitar for ‘Feels Like Makin Love’ and lead guitar for the new ‘Mr Midnight’.
I have seen Paul now many many times over too many years now , but this performance ranks up there highly with the best of them, I have never enjoyed myself more with a stunning encore of ‘Ride On Pony’, ‘All Right Now’ and ‘The Hunter’
Paul’s voice is a strong as I can ever remember and he is really enjoying himself onstage on this tour, I hope that there will be more standing venues in future for his shows, they create a better atmosphere, and cmon you just cannot sit down at his concerts, it’s just not natural.
With a changed band line up from the last time Paul played solo at Hammersmith in November 2009, Howard Leese remains ever faithful on guitars with the powerhouse of Jason Bonham on drums and the wonderful Todd Ronning on bass.
The set list is a greatest hits on Rodgers writing excellence with a couple of covers that he has had in his set for years now.
We were treated to eight Free tracks from the opener ‘Walk In My Shadow’, the excellent musicianship of ‘Mr Big’ the achingly beautiful ‘Be My Friend’, the pomp of ‘Fire And Water’ and the wonderful sing-alongs of ‘Wishing Well’, ‘My Brother Jake’. The Bad Company era also got a healthy showing as well with the classics you would expect to be in the set , notably a subtle reworking of ‘Seagull’ the poignant ‘Shooting Star’ and the riotous ‘Can’t Get Enough’
In between these classics a new song was introduced called ‘Mr Midnight’ which gives a ‘boogie’ feel into the set, a great taste of things to come later in the year from the new cd.
As well as his terrific vocals, Paul also plays a bit of acoustic guitar, harmonica and piano, notably in the songs ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Running With The Pack’. The band are also some of the best musicians on show for this style of music, Howard is still a revelation on guitar and mandolin, Todd is one of the best bass players I’ve ever seen especially on his solo on ‘Mr Big’, he will I’m sure be in future Paul Rodgers bands, Jason Bonham seem to having the time of his life on the drums, interacting with the crowd and having lots of banter with Paul onstage. Paul’s guitar tech Markus Wolfe also joins the band onstage for a couple of songs on second guitar for ‘Feels Like Makin Love’ and lead guitar for the new ‘Mr Midnight’.
I have seen Paul now many many times over too many years now , but this performance ranks up there highly with the best of them, I have never enjoyed myself more with a stunning encore of ‘Ride On Pony’, ‘All Right Now’ and ‘The Hunter’
Paul’s voice is a strong as I can ever remember and he is really enjoying himself onstage on this tour, I hope that there will be more standing venues in future for his shows, they create a better atmosphere, and cmon you just cannot sit down at his concerts, it’s just not natural.
©Fanzeyeview 2011
Roger Allen
