And the twelve points go to...
King King (and Dan Patlansky) - 02 ABC, Glasgow, 14th May 2016
King King (and Dan Patlansky) - 02 ABC, Glasgow, 14th May 2016
For Alan Nimmo this concert had been nearly six years in the making…
The Scottish blues rock singer-guitarist (and one half of The Nimmo Brothers with elder brother Stevie, who is starting to plough his own well-formed furrow with the Stevie Nimmo Trio) invested a lot of resources, blood, blues sweat and tears to put together a band he hoped could become a league leader in British blues rock.
From playing Glasgow’s "gig on the river" venue The Ferry in 2010 in front of a crowd that was never in any danger of reaching three figures, through seriously hard graft, working their collective arses off and hitting every blues bar and club gig you can think off, King King levelled up their game every year.
Three critically acclaimed albums later and on the back of a growing support and a slot on Thunder’s UK arena tour back in February, King King found themselves playing to a packed main hall at the Glasgow 02 ABC.
Prior to a show that made a Glasgow lad’s boyhood dream come true, Dan Patlansky engaged an appreciative but smaller crowd (falling victim to the venue’s early start early finish curfew) with a 40 minute set that showcased just how well the South African singer guitarist can both play the blues and rawk the blues.
Opening with the slow-build instrumental 'Drone' (Patlansky flexing his melodic blues muscles to great effect) and closing with the more bombastic 'My Chana' (displaying every conceivable way to play an electric guitar and then some), the meat of the set featured a number of songs from latest album IntroVertigo.
There was a forceful, full-on version of the raunchy, riff fuelled 'Sonnava Faith,' 'Stop the Messin’ brought some funky blues to proceedings and the slow blues 'Still Wanna Be Your Man' featured some seriously impressive crying guitar lines over Dean Barrett’s keyboard backing (Barrett is a recent addition to the band, joining Dan Patlansky’s tried and trusted rhythm section of bassist Clint Falconer and drummer Andy Maritz).
'Backbite,' a chunky and funky slice of blues rock, and the weighty 'Fetch the Spade' also featured; the pair of songs are lifted from Dan Patlansky’s previous album (and first to gain a UK release) Dear Silence Thieves.
Special Guest on Joe Satriani’s 2015 UK and Euro dates… garnering critical acclaim for both Dear Silence Thieves and IntroVertigo... out on the road with King King... all musical grist to the blues mill for Dan Patlansky as he starts to gain a foothold in the UK and European blues rock circuit.
The Scottish blues rock singer-guitarist (and one half of The Nimmo Brothers with elder brother Stevie, who is starting to plough his own well-formed furrow with the Stevie Nimmo Trio) invested a lot of resources, blood, blues sweat and tears to put together a band he hoped could become a league leader in British blues rock.
From playing Glasgow’s "gig on the river" venue The Ferry in 2010 in front of a crowd that was never in any danger of reaching three figures, through seriously hard graft, working their collective arses off and hitting every blues bar and club gig you can think off, King King levelled up their game every year.
Three critically acclaimed albums later and on the back of a growing support and a slot on Thunder’s UK arena tour back in February, King King found themselves playing to a packed main hall at the Glasgow 02 ABC.
Prior to a show that made a Glasgow lad’s boyhood dream come true, Dan Patlansky engaged an appreciative but smaller crowd (falling victim to the venue’s early start early finish curfew) with a 40 minute set that showcased just how well the South African singer guitarist can both play the blues and rawk the blues.
Opening with the slow-build instrumental 'Drone' (Patlansky flexing his melodic blues muscles to great effect) and closing with the more bombastic 'My Chana' (displaying every conceivable way to play an electric guitar and then some), the meat of the set featured a number of songs from latest album IntroVertigo.
There was a forceful, full-on version of the raunchy, riff fuelled 'Sonnava Faith,' 'Stop the Messin’ brought some funky blues to proceedings and the slow blues 'Still Wanna Be Your Man' featured some seriously impressive crying guitar lines over Dean Barrett’s keyboard backing (Barrett is a recent addition to the band, joining Dan Patlansky’s tried and trusted rhythm section of bassist Clint Falconer and drummer Andy Maritz).
'Backbite,' a chunky and funky slice of blues rock, and the weighty 'Fetch the Spade' also featured; the pair of songs are lifted from Dan Patlansky’s previous album (and first to gain a UK release) Dear Silence Thieves.
Special Guest on Joe Satriani’s 2015 UK and Euro dates… garnering critical acclaim for both Dear Silence Thieves and IntroVertigo... out on the road with King King... all musical grist to the blues mill for Dan Patlansky as he starts to gain a foothold in the UK and European blues rock circuit.
For all the talents and blues rockin’ songcraft of Dan Patlansky, on this particular night he could only ever be the warm up act for King King.
From punchy opener 'Lose Control' to the show closing sing-a-long encore of 'Let Love In,' you couldn’t get the smile off Alan Nimmo’s face.
Riding on the wave of over a thousand Glaswegian voices, King King – Nimmo, Bob Fridzema, Lindsay Coulson and Wayne Proctor – delivered their finest hour (and a half) to date and one of the tightest and on-point band performances this reviewer and music fan has witnessed in forty years of gig-going.
From punchy opener 'Lose Control' to the show closing sing-a-long encore of 'Let Love In,' you couldn’t get the smile off Alan Nimmo’s face.
Riding on the wave of over a thousand Glaswegian voices, King King – Nimmo, Bob Fridzema, Lindsay Coulson and Wayne Proctor – delivered their finest hour (and a half) to date and one of the tightest and on-point band performances this reviewer and music fan has witnessed in forty years of gig-going.
Firing on all four cylinders the on-stage energy was tangible and the musicianship impeccable, whether on the cranked up 'More Than I Can Take,' the hard pop blues of 'You Stopped the Rain' (written by Alan Nimmo for brother Stevie when he had a serious health scare), the soulful heavy blues of 'Rush Hour' (the "Weegie Chorus" in full voice) or the not one but two tour-de-force numbers the band carry in their live repertoire – 'Stranger to Love' and 'Long History of Love.'
A pulsating and powerful piece of slow blues rock, 'Stranger to Love' flexes even stronger muscles live than its Reaching For the Light album counterpart; Alan Nimmo sprayed melodic notes across the extended instrumental section of the number before cranking out some seriously burning blues guitar licks.
'Long History of Love,' the band's outstanding and atmospheric blues rock ballad, featured a soulful yet bright-with-vibrato organ solo from Bob Fridzema that set up Alan Nimmo’s own, melodically phrased and impassioned solo beautifully and perfectly.
In terms of overall sound and musical chemistry, it’s hard to overstate just how much Bob Fridzema brings to King King – and when you have one of the best rhythm sections in the blues business courtesy of Lindsay Coulson (whose mid-range notes and tone add the sonic punctuation) and Wayne Proctor (a drummer who brings serious groove to the party), it’s not hard to see or hear why this is the best British blues rock band currently performing.
The only noticeable glitch in a performance that was also recorded for a live album (an announcement that went down a tad well well with the crowd) came from the man himself.
While Alan Nimmo was on six-string fire the entire night his big, bluesy bari-tenor voice was strong at the core but shot on the throatier notes, a result of multiple tours of duty and vocal attrition.
That said by around three songs in and lifted by both the crowd and his on stage adrenaline, it became far less noticeable; indeed Nimmo was at his soulful and vocal best for the band’s emotionally charged cover of Frankie Miler’s 'Jealousy.'
The running joke leading up to King King’s Glasgow show was the worry that performing on the same night as the 61st Eurovision Song Contest might lead to ticket sales in numbers similar to the 2010 Ferry gig.
As it turned out however an entire audience turned up, sacrificing the opportunity to hear a caterwauling and somewhat discordant Ukraine entry (that will be remembered more for upsetting the Russians than it will for winning Eurovision) so they could say they were there when King King rocked the blues coloured bejesus out of the main hall at the 02 ABC in Glasgow.
Eurovision Song Contest: Nil pointe. King King on the 14th of May 2016: Douze pointe.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
A pulsating and powerful piece of slow blues rock, 'Stranger to Love' flexes even stronger muscles live than its Reaching For the Light album counterpart; Alan Nimmo sprayed melodic notes across the extended instrumental section of the number before cranking out some seriously burning blues guitar licks.
'Long History of Love,' the band's outstanding and atmospheric blues rock ballad, featured a soulful yet bright-with-vibrato organ solo from Bob Fridzema that set up Alan Nimmo’s own, melodically phrased and impassioned solo beautifully and perfectly.
In terms of overall sound and musical chemistry, it’s hard to overstate just how much Bob Fridzema brings to King King – and when you have one of the best rhythm sections in the blues business courtesy of Lindsay Coulson (whose mid-range notes and tone add the sonic punctuation) and Wayne Proctor (a drummer who brings serious groove to the party), it’s not hard to see or hear why this is the best British blues rock band currently performing.
The only noticeable glitch in a performance that was also recorded for a live album (an announcement that went down a tad well well with the crowd) came from the man himself.
While Alan Nimmo was on six-string fire the entire night his big, bluesy bari-tenor voice was strong at the core but shot on the throatier notes, a result of multiple tours of duty and vocal attrition.
That said by around three songs in and lifted by both the crowd and his on stage adrenaline, it became far less noticeable; indeed Nimmo was at his soulful and vocal best for the band’s emotionally charged cover of Frankie Miler’s 'Jealousy.'
The running joke leading up to King King’s Glasgow show was the worry that performing on the same night as the 61st Eurovision Song Contest might lead to ticket sales in numbers similar to the 2010 Ferry gig.
As it turned out however an entire audience turned up, sacrificing the opportunity to hear a caterwauling and somewhat discordant Ukraine entry (that will be remembered more for upsetting the Russians than it will for winning Eurovision) so they could say they were there when King King rocked the blues coloured bejesus out of the main hall at the 02 ABC in Glasgow.
Eurovision Song Contest: Nil pointe. King King on the 14th of May 2016: Douze pointe.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Photo credits: © Graham Milne
(crowd shot by Alan Nimmo)
(crowd shot by Alan Nimmo)