29 November 2016 (gig)
30 November 2016
I must admit to some concern over Alan Nimmo’s vocals before this gig after the band cancelled many of their shows because he had strained his voice.
In the end he was in fine voice and the band were cooking, on absolutely top form.
You aren’t really going to get any great revelations from a King King show.
Alan Nimmo has been getting awards left, right and centre for his vocals and guitar playing while Wayne Proctor is now a Hall Of Famer having won three awards in a row at the Blues Awards. Linday Coulson is one of the grooviest bass players around and Bob Fridzema plays Hammond better than anyone else around at the moment. What the band will offer is Blues tinged with Glasgow soul, superb songwriting, passion and ballsout rocking. They also happen to have an instantly recognizable sound and remarkable skills.
The capacity crowd was treated to a selection of King King classics , opening with a powerful and soulful ‘Lose Control’, delivering a fabulous extended ‘Rush Hour’ and the first peak of the night with ‘Long History Of Love’.
This is band who can peak on song after song, taking the audience up and holding them there for what seems ages but when they turn in numbers like ‘More Than I Can Take’ with Fridzema’s Hammond swirling and Nimmo’s guitar solo devastating for any other band that would be the sign-off number except that they follow it with Alan Nimmo’s tribute to his – now thankfully cancer free – brother Stevie, ‘You Stopped The Rain’ in such a soulful style that you are lost in the sheer emotion of it all.
Even then they hadn’t peaked. Frankie Miller’s ‘Jealousy’ is a deeply hard and emotive ballad and the band gave it all it was due before moving into a superb and funky ‘All Your Life’ led by Coulson’s bass.
Finally they did ‘Stranger To Love’ which featured some outrageous guitar playing and quieted the crowd as Nimmo got quieter and quieter, finally exploding to the finish.
All in all a typical King King gig which is to say that they have hit this level of excellence every time I’ve seen them. They NEVER disappoint.
Support for the night – and on the tour – was Broken Witt Rebels. A Birmingham quartet who are probably the most exciting new band I’ve seen all year. The crowd at the start was small owing to an early start but by the time they had torn into ‘Georgia Pine’ and ‘Guns’ the place was bouncing and they played their socks off, winning a lot of friends in the process. This band could be huge.
Picture copyright Laurence Harvey
