“Let’s go to work!”. They were the trademark words of the great Rory Gallagher before his legendary live performances. Julian Sas walks onstage and says those words, not verbally, but in the very way he picks up his battered white Strat and plugs in the jack cable. It’s been a long while since Sas gigs were smattered with Gallagher covers – the flying Dutchman has so many great songs of his own to choose from now – but that work ethic remains the same. It’s the 20th time that ‘Mr Music’ (Bernie Gelhausen) has presented Sas here at Bonn Harmonie and you can be sure of only two things – it will be full, and it will be great!
Welcome to the Harmonie’s very own time capsule. In the years I’ve been attending the Sas event I have always seen the same people, standing in the same places, and wearing Mr Music t-shirts. Here they all are again, the same faces, if a little more worn than before, and the same can be said for the t shirts (the Mr Music store closed almost three years ago!). Ladies and gentlemen, I take my hat off to you one and all and I thank you for always making me feel welcome front of stage. How could I not feel welcome surrounded by Mr Music, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore and Erja Lyytinen t-shirt wearers?!
If Julian is the same as he ever was, the band is not, by identity anyway. The sound though is as rough, hard and rocking as ever. With no Roland Bakker on keys, they are back to a tight-ass three-piece. sonically there is no audible gap, but maybe in a set lasting more than two hours, the extra layer would have added diversity? But that’s really splitting hairs. New bassman Edwin Van Huik gives the right amount of melody and ‘thump’ to the music and drummer Lars-Erik Elzakker may not be as loud as Rob Heijn, but hell – who is? Elzakker and Van Huik are Ted Mckenna and Gerry MacAvoy to Julian’s Rory. A perfect engine room for the master to lay down his licks over.
The death of former bassist Fotis Anagnostou of Pancreatic Cancer in early 2021 is remembered by Julian who plays emotional guitar solos on ‘Falling off the Edge of the world’. There’s appreciation for, and a dedication too, for Bernie Gelhausen after putting on so many shows here with Julian. who says with a wink “Here’s to the next twenty, or twenty-five or thirty shows Bernie”. I’m betting the same people would be sipping their beers and cheering Julian on from the same places on the floor here for all of them.
No Sas gig would feel complete without ‘Blues for the Lost and Found’ of course, and from that same 2000 disc comes ‘Working Man Blues’. Julian selects his guitar from the racked selection – this time the Gibson Firebird – before warning the fans that this will be a long one so they have a chance to grab a drink at the bar during it. There is not even a trickle of ‘deserters’ headed for refreshments though as Julian shows his slide chops. Possibly because the hall is full to capacity and the audience fills every space that a human body will fit into. Heads are craning around the pillar where the hall joins the bar area.
JSB shows are not really suitable for dancing where Bonn Harmonie shows are concerned – but that’s alright. Exercise comes from collecting a half dozen beers and transporting them over heads back to the thirsty legions of fans sweating it out in front of Julian and his fine band.
Bernie already has tickets for next year’s thirtieth Anniversary of the Julian Sas Band show available – and when you hear that announced on the night you almost forget that you can’t pop into the shop on Monday morning to buy them. Two things are guaranteed for sure: It will be full, and it will be great!
