Blues Suited, Booted and Kilted.
King King (and the Laurence Jones Band), O2 ABC2, Glasgow, 21st March 2015
King King (and the Laurence Jones Band), O2 ABC2, Glasgow, 21st March 2015
The Glasgow date of the Reaching for the Light UK tour was a Win Win for King King – the second last show of the current tour was a sold-out Saturday night affair and kilted front man Alan Nimmo’s home gig.
And when you put the award winning King King in front of an appreciative and enthusiastic Weegie audience (plus those that had put in some serious miles to be at the gig including uber-fan Amir Amozig from Montreal) and throw in a guest appearance from Stevie Nimmo to bring some Nimmo Brothers six-string interplay to proceedings, you have the perfect recipe for an hour and forty-five minutes of exceptional, meaty blues-based success.
Not that the audience had to wait for the main course to be served a blues feast fit for a King King.
Laurence Jones, still in his early-20’s, served up quite the appetiser with The Laurence Jones Band.
Jones will release his third album What’s It Gonna Be in April and while 2014’s Temptation was a solid offering, newer songs and an excellent and gritty interpretation of Leadbelly’s 'Good Morning Blues' prove the third time is the Coming of Age charm for the young and talented blues man.
Opening with the feisty and fast-paced 'Hurricane' from Reaching for the Light, King King went on to deliver a predominately up-tempo, blues rockin’ and ridiculously tight set that featured five songs from the new album.
While 'Hurricane' certainly backs up Alan Nimmo’s claims that the new album is faster and louder than what has come before, Reaching for the Light also sees the band adding more shades of blues to their musical palette.
New songs performed that cross musical boundaries included the AOR blues of 'You Stopped the Rain' and the rhythmic soul-blues groove of 'Waking Up;' both have bags of commercial appeal and in a cookie-cutter free musical world would be staples of mainstream radio playlists.
New number 'Stranger to Love' is fast becoming a King King tour de force.
A pulsating and powerful piece of slow blues rock, it flexes even stronger muscles live than its album closing counterpart, Alan Nimmo spraying melodic notes across the extended instrumental section before cranking out some seriously burning blues guitar.
The new numbers all hit a spot and the rocking edge of fan favourites 'Take My Hand' and 'More Than I Can Take' are guaranteed crowd pleasers, but the slower numbers and bring-it-down moments are where the band moved from excellent to exceptional.
'Long History of Love,' the outstanding and atmospheric blues rock ballad from Standing in the Shadows, featured a soulful yet bright-with-vibrato organ solo from Bob Fridzema, setting up the melodic lead lines of Alan Nimmo who delivered an in-the-zone solo of tremendous power and feel.
The Eric Clapton number 'Old Love' (now so owned by King King that if old slow hand wants it back he’d better bring a Court Order) is a true highlight of any King King gig; it closed the main set in top-drawer fashion.
Free’s 'Heavy Load' took on added poignancy at the end of a week where Andy Fraser had passed and the 39th anniversary of Paul Kossoff’s death was being remembered, but it was an uplifting sing-a-long encore finale when the band bowed out with 'Let Love In,' the up-tempo feel good closer from Standing in the Shadows.
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 and noted groove drummer Wayne Proctor, it’s not hard to see or hear why this is the best British blues rock band currently performing and recording.
King King at Glasgow was a testament to the above paragraph and one of those gigs where it’s almost impossible to find fault.
The band were on top of their game and Alan Nimmo was in fine bluesy voice throughout – but on his guest appearances (which included a vocal duet with wee brother Alan on 'Old Love'), Stevie Nimmo’s guitar was too low in the audio mix for maximum effect.
But at least it could be heard, which is more than can be said for some of the quieter musical passages and a good number of Alan Nimmo’s between songs introductions, thanks to the disease that is the chatting-all-night-with-the-mates-over-a-drink-or-five gig goers.
While a disrespectful minority, who have no place at a live music event, continue to spoil it for the majority by continually talking and reaching for the bar, Messrs Nimmo, Coulson, Proctor and Fridzema are deservedly Reaching for the Light.
Now that’s something I will drink to. Cheers boys, and long live the King King.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Click here for FabricationsHQ's Feature Interview Article with Alan Nimmo.
And when you put the award winning King King in front of an appreciative and enthusiastic Weegie audience (plus those that had put in some serious miles to be at the gig including uber-fan Amir Amozig from Montreal) and throw in a guest appearance from Stevie Nimmo to bring some Nimmo Brothers six-string interplay to proceedings, you have the perfect recipe for an hour and forty-five minutes of exceptional, meaty blues-based success.
Not that the audience had to wait for the main course to be served a blues feast fit for a King King.
Laurence Jones, still in his early-20’s, served up quite the appetiser with The Laurence Jones Band.
Jones will release his third album What’s It Gonna Be in April and while 2014’s Temptation was a solid offering, newer songs and an excellent and gritty interpretation of Leadbelly’s 'Good Morning Blues' prove the third time is the Coming of Age charm for the young and talented blues man.
Opening with the feisty and fast-paced 'Hurricane' from Reaching for the Light, King King went on to deliver a predominately up-tempo, blues rockin’ and ridiculously tight set that featured five songs from the new album.
While 'Hurricane' certainly backs up Alan Nimmo’s claims that the new album is faster and louder than what has come before, Reaching for the Light also sees the band adding more shades of blues to their musical palette.
New songs performed that cross musical boundaries included the AOR blues of 'You Stopped the Rain' and the rhythmic soul-blues groove of 'Waking Up;' both have bags of commercial appeal and in a cookie-cutter free musical world would be staples of mainstream radio playlists.
New number 'Stranger to Love' is fast becoming a King King tour de force.
A pulsating and powerful piece of slow blues rock, it flexes even stronger muscles live than its album closing counterpart, Alan Nimmo spraying melodic notes across the extended instrumental section before cranking out some seriously burning blues guitar.
The new numbers all hit a spot and the rocking edge of fan favourites 'Take My Hand' and 'More Than I Can Take' are guaranteed crowd pleasers, but the slower numbers and bring-it-down moments are where the band moved from excellent to exceptional.
'Long History of Love,' the outstanding and atmospheric blues rock ballad from Standing in the Shadows, featured a soulful yet bright-with-vibrato organ solo from Bob Fridzema, setting up the melodic lead lines of Alan Nimmo who delivered an in-the-zone solo of tremendous power and feel.
The Eric Clapton number 'Old Love' (now so owned by King King that if old slow hand wants it back he’d better bring a Court Order) is a true highlight of any King King gig; it closed the main set in top-drawer fashion.
Free’s 'Heavy Load' took on added poignancy at the end of a week where Andy Fraser had passed and the 39th anniversary of Paul Kossoff’s death was being remembered, but it was an uplifting sing-a-long encore finale when the band bowed out with 'Let Love In,' the up-tempo feel good closer from Standing in the Shadows.
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 and noted groove drummer Wayne Proctor, it’s not hard to see or hear why this is the best British blues rock band currently performing and recording.
King King at Glasgow was a testament to the above paragraph and one of those gigs where it’s almost impossible to find fault.
The band were on top of their game and Alan Nimmo was in fine bluesy voice throughout – but on his guest appearances (which included a vocal duet with wee brother Alan on 'Old Love'), Stevie Nimmo’s guitar was too low in the audio mix for maximum effect.
But at least it could be heard, which is more than can be said for some of the quieter musical passages and a good number of Alan Nimmo’s between songs introductions, thanks to the disease that is the chatting-all-night-with-the-mates-over-a-drink-or-five gig goers.
While a disrespectful minority, who have no place at a live music event, continue to spoil it for the majority by continually talking and reaching for the bar, Messrs Nimmo, Coulson, Proctor and Fridzema are deservedly Reaching for the Light.
Now that’s something I will drink to. Cheers boys, and long live the King King.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Click here for FabricationsHQ's Feature Interview Article with Alan Nimmo.