15 July 2011 (gig)
16 July 2011
This is the third time I’ve seen Ian Siegal in the last few months but the first time with a band around him and while he was delightful as support for Jack Bruce & North Mississippi Allstars he was in his element as headliner and played a helluva set for the assembled throng.
His new band consists of Cody Dickinson from the North Mississippi Allstars, Andy ‘Gunner’ Graham on bass and Paddy Milner (Jack Bruce band and solo) on keyboards and the gig was a warmup for the Peer At Peer festival in Belgium – if they manage to generate the same fervour in Belgium as they did at the Borderline is should be a stormer.
Ian concentrated on the music from his new album ‘The Skinny’ , kicking off with the title track followed by a brilliant ‘Moonshine Minnie’. His guitar was working and his voice – that growl he manages was well to the fore along with a tuneful side and as he ripped into a stunning ‘Hard Pressed’ the crowd was warming up nicely.
There was plenty of variation in pace and style and we were treated to a more than fair sampling of what makes Ian Siegal so special. He has real charisma and a completely confident manner to go with a unique voice and great guitar playing – his slide is superb and he picks with real ferocity as well.
Cody Dickinson gives him a powerful backdrop for the music and adding Paddy Milner gives him a wealth of keyboard styles to back the music up and fill it out but it is Ian Siegal up front and the weight falls on him; lucky he is up to it then!
He ripped out a funky and down ‘n’ dirty ‘Stud Spider’ and a stunning ‘Hopper’s Blues’ to close out the set and, due to the ridiculous curfew in Westminster, was quickly back out for ‘Walk In The Wilderness’ – just sublime – and an awesome ‘Run Through The Jungle/Born On The Bayou’ CCR medley.
On of the things that endears Ian Siegal to his followers is his lack of predictability – he plays what he wants and not what is expected – but he always seems to deliver something special.
