We caught the end of the openers and they sounded more than competent. The Western Sizzlers were next - this is the first time we'd seen Rick Richards outside of the Georgia Satellites and they produced a solid set based around their new album "For Ol' Times Sake..." (purchased on the night) which includes a nice cover of Quo's "Break The Rules" and a very Quo-esq "One More Beer" (think "Wild Side of Life"). As I found out later via a brief chat, singer and songwriter Kevin is a massive Quo fan (I jokingly pointed out that his 100+ times of seeing them was "lightweight", but I think he won the argument by saying that the vast majority of those were "proper Quo" with the pre '85 line-up!).
Warner E. Hodges was up next. Keen readers may work out that I'd seen him twice recently already via his involvement in Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, but I'd never seen him on his own before. I didn't know most of the songs, but he was really good as expected. A very heavy impromptu encore of "Country Roads" bought about a bit of a sing-a-long - excellent stuff. He was as gracious as always afterwards posing for photos and a chat.
Top of the Bill was Mick Ralphs with his Blues Band. They have changed their vocalist since we saw them last. I've no idea why, but there was something about the previous singer I didn't quite take to. Only a perception - but he gave off the impression he thought we were lucky to be able to hear him sing (he was good, but...!). As I say, only a perception from distance, he may well be a top bloke.
The new guy seemed much more personable, but as a result the material played was a bit different. To be fair, I didn't know much of it. Predictably "Can't Get Enough" was thrown in (can't really argue with that to be honest) and Mick's guitar playing was really good and the rest of the band too. Mick also was happy to have photos taken afterwards - a true gent.
All in all, a long day (we'd had a long darts session in the afternoon), but a good one.
Setlists anyone please?
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