Congratulations to Layla Zoe for Best Vocalist in the recent European Blues Awards
And also to Ryan McGarvey for his Best Guitarist Award
Both recent visitors to the Harmonie in Bonn. Need I say more?
King King Live – Hatman 2045
It was the moment when a band came of age. A sound was pinned firmly down like a butterfly for all eternity. There will never be another Thin Lizzy concert with Phil Lynott or ACDC show with Bon Scott, but we still feel the visceral power that made them great band’s through the live releases they put out. It doesn’t matter if the tracks were almost re-recorded track by track after the show, what matters is that I can put on ‘Live & Dangerous’ and hear exactly what I heard at Portsmouth Guildhall in 1978. I can tell you how amazing a Rory Gallagher show was, but without ‘Irish Tour 74’ you wouldn’t get at half the emotion – and yes, those Rockpalast shows are great, but immortality is in the vinyl grooves my friend. In this age of silver discs with ‘perfect’ sound reproduction, is there still a place for rough ‘n’ ready live Rock? Step up to the mark King King and their first ever live offering.
Finland’s Slide Queen in Troisdorf
A reminder to readers that there is a rather excellent place for music in the Bonn area named the Troisdorfer Bluesclub EV and Friday (16 Nov) would be a good time to check it out too as one of the world’s top electric slide guitarists will be onstage. Don’t let the picture fool you, Finland’s Erja Lyytinen can play that spangly red guitar like a mean oldtime Mississippi cotton picker with a broken bottle top. Her website calls her a ‘Finnish Slide Goddess’. What more is there to say?
A Band of Friends and Fun
Rory Gallagher has been gone for more than twenty years now. His music however is rightly as present as ever though. Pick the title of any Rory album and there will, likely as not, be a power trio treading the boards with it and playing ‘Tattooed Lady’, ‘Bullfrog Blues’, et al. The true spirit of Gallagher is most likely to be found amongst those whose own sweat is mingled on the wooden stages of a million concert halls with Rory’s own – and no one sweated more alongside Gallagher than bassman Gerry McAvoy. He and drummer Ted McKenna have the memories, as my INTERVIEW with them some time ago proves. Do they still have the enthusiasm though? Harmonie, Bonn, on a Friday night is answer time and there is a big crowd to see Band of Friends who believe they still have it…
Folk Club Bonn
Guest at Folk Club Bonn in Sträters Sports Bar on Friday (4 Nov) is Londoner Sean Taylor, described by Eric Bibb as: “A wonderfully talented modern troubadour whose sincere, thoughtful songs pull you in… he swings. Check him out!”
IYOUWE-Focus on Youth
Following hot on the heels of its opening, the Rock and Pop Zentrum (RPZ) was home on Sunday for the workshop presentations of Bad Godesberg’s ‘I You We’ project promoting Youth Culture in Bad Godesberg.
Band of Rory’s Friends
4 November sees a visit to the Harmonie of long time Rory Gallagher bassist Gerry McAvoy and his celebrated Band of Friends, including Gallagher drummer Ted McKenna. Reason enough to remind readers of an interview 3songs did with the band in 2013. Read HERE what it was like to be onstage with Rory and what it feels like to be playing those songs to ever newer generations of Rory fans…
Layla Zoe Breaks Free in Bonn
It was a long haul. In February when I interviewed Layla Zoe at the Harmonie she was at the start of a Blues Caravan tour that would take her round the world, and so it did, only ending recently in France. Whilst it was great to see her trading vocals with Ina Forsman and Tasha Taylor, Layla with her own band and particularly with Jan Laacks can’t be beaten. Friday saw Layla, with Jan and two newcomers on bass and drums, back in Bonn.