FANZEYEVIEW
SAINT JUDE – HARD ROCK CAFÉ, LONDON 21ST SEPTEMBER 2011
Hard Rock Café provided a wonderful setting for this intimate acoustic performance in partnership with the lucky subscribers of Classic Rock Magazine. Saint Jude are now riding on a crest of a wave after their sensational High Voltage performance together with considerable airplay on Planet Rock for ‘Soul On Fire’ which has gained them a wider audience since I first saw them play live a couple of years ago.
It was also good to catch up with some friends and to see some familiar musicians in the crowd including Matt Pearce from Voodoo Six, Luke Morley and Danny Bowes of Thunder, the latter now Saint Jude Manager.
The band were greeted to great applause and cheering from the enthusiastic crowd who wasted no time in launching into ’Garden Of Eden’ from Diary Of A Soul Fiend cd. The set was a mixture of cd tracks, four unreleased songs and an old favourite as an encore.
‘Leave A Light On’ provided the crowd with the first sing-along, now with everybody relaxed and evidently enjoying every moment of this classy gig. ‘Little Queen’ rocked it up again before the lesser tempo of ‘Rivers And Streams’ and ‘Sweet Melody’ grooved us along sweetly., next up the band slowed the pace right down for the glorious ‘Angel’ and ‘Down And Out’, for me the slower songs got a chance to really shine under the tremendous vocals from Lynne Jackaman, none more so than on these two songs. ‘Soul On Fire’ was next and probably the most familiar song in the set for the audience who sang along gamely to Lynne’s promptings before we had the first acoustic live renditions of two new songs that have been in the electric set for the last few gigs, ‘Mr Layhee’ and ‘Black Rum’ both keeping up the musical style and quality continuity from the older songs.
The set finished with the familiar set closer ‘Southern Belles’ with the entire crowd joining in on this one, a great ending to a wonderful set.
The band returned to the stage after encore shouts lead by the band manager Danny Bowes from the wings. Old favourite from The Faces in the shape of ‘I’m Losing You’ this is the sound that I love from the band keeping their legacy alive.
The band were wonderful and top-notch musicians; Lynne’s extraordinary classy vocal, Elliott’s keyboards, Ivor and Marcus swapping rhythm and lead on acoustic, Scott laying down fat bass grooves and Lee on drums with some excellent brushwork. For fans of the band, like me, who have seen the band numerous times it was great to see the songs arranged differently to give us a different perspective on the arrangements and structure. A terrific evening was finished standing around chatting with the band and friends alike, this is what gigs should be about and I am glad Saint Jude are still able to do that.
Garden Of Eden/Leave a Light On/Little Queen/Rivers And Streams/Sweet Melody/Angel/Down And Out/Soul On Fire/Mr Layhee/Black Rum/Southern Belles/ Losing You
Tour Dates December 2011
Thu 15th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now Manchester Academy Manchester
Fri 16th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now O2 ABC Glasgow (ABC1 & ABC2) Glasgow
Sun 18th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now O2 Academy Birmingham Birmingham
Mon 19th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now Scala London
Website: http://www.saintjudemusic.com/
It was also good to catch up with some friends and to see some familiar musicians in the crowd including Matt Pearce from Voodoo Six, Luke Morley and Danny Bowes of Thunder, the latter now Saint Jude Manager.
The band were greeted to great applause and cheering from the enthusiastic crowd who wasted no time in launching into ’Garden Of Eden’ from Diary Of A Soul Fiend cd. The set was a mixture of cd tracks, four unreleased songs and an old favourite as an encore.
‘Leave A Light On’ provided the crowd with the first sing-along, now with everybody relaxed and evidently enjoying every moment of this classy gig. ‘Little Queen’ rocked it up again before the lesser tempo of ‘Rivers And Streams’ and ‘Sweet Melody’ grooved us along sweetly., next up the band slowed the pace right down for the glorious ‘Angel’ and ‘Down And Out’, for me the slower songs got a chance to really shine under the tremendous vocals from Lynne Jackaman, none more so than on these two songs. ‘Soul On Fire’ was next and probably the most familiar song in the set for the audience who sang along gamely to Lynne’s promptings before we had the first acoustic live renditions of two new songs that have been in the electric set for the last few gigs, ‘Mr Layhee’ and ‘Black Rum’ both keeping up the musical style and quality continuity from the older songs.
The set finished with the familiar set closer ‘Southern Belles’ with the entire crowd joining in on this one, a great ending to a wonderful set.
The band returned to the stage after encore shouts lead by the band manager Danny Bowes from the wings. Old favourite from The Faces in the shape of ‘I’m Losing You’ this is the sound that I love from the band keeping their legacy alive.
The band were wonderful and top-notch musicians; Lynne’s extraordinary classy vocal, Elliott’s keyboards, Ivor and Marcus swapping rhythm and lead on acoustic, Scott laying down fat bass grooves and Lee on drums with some excellent brushwork. For fans of the band, like me, who have seen the band numerous times it was great to see the songs arranged differently to give us a different perspective on the arrangements and structure. A terrific evening was finished standing around chatting with the band and friends alike, this is what gigs should be about and I am glad Saint Jude are still able to do that.
Garden Of Eden/Leave a Light On/Little Queen/Rivers And Streams/Sweet Melody/Angel/Down And Out/Soul On Fire/Mr Layhee/Black Rum/Southern Belles/ Losing You
Tour Dates December 2011
Thu 15th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now Manchester Academy Manchester
Fri 16th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now O2 ABC Glasgow (ABC1 & ABC2) Glasgow
Sun 18th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now O2 Academy Birmingham Birmingham
Mon 19th Dec Saint Jude Buy Now Scala London
Website: http://www.saintjudemusic.com/
roger@fanzeyeview.com
