It was always going to be a tricky move going solo, with a tribute night.
Coincidentally, the music of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland came full circle – back to Liverpool, well
it did for Manchester’s blue-eyed soul boy Mick Hucknall. It was at a Liverpool
club, Eric’s, he first heard Bland’s music whilst then playing with his first
band the Frantic Elevators.
It was never going to be an easy task, because for nigh on 25 years, we've
expected a huge volume of Simply Red songs to relish. With SR due to disband
in 2009 it was time for Huckers to win us over with his new direction.
Despite his immaculate pop credentials, it was still a big gamble, and a
drastic one at that.
The crowd was probably made up of SR diehards, Soul aficionados, and the plain
curious. When you’re a multi-millionaire it’s must be reasonably easy to make
an artistic change. One American asked for Simply Red tickets at the box
office, which kind of summed things for many I’m sure.
With barely 45 minutes
worth of material from ‘Tribute To Bobby’, you somehow got the feeling that
many of the audience, prior to this gig, were unaware of Bland’s work. This
would probably account for the ‘educational’ 15 minute docu-film (extracts found
on the album’s DVD trailer) before the gig started, a good filler for a show
we knew wouldn’t be much longer than 1 hour 15 minutes, short by his standards.
It wasn’t a sell out by any standards. The upper tier was sealed off, and
there were many empty seats in the ten thousand capacity brand spanking new arena
on the Albert Dock.
Looking lean and fit in grey suit, blue shirt and sharp tan boots, he was welcomed
with the usual fervour of whistles and screams. It was a cool and slow start.
Cry Cry Cry’s steady beat unfolded with Mick’s impeccable voice still
in great form as he moved endlessly across the stage, beaming with delight
that his die-hard fans had embraced his venture, though there was some uncertainty.
He asked them, "How many of you know Bobby Bland’s music?"
A few hands went up, including mine in the snapper’s pit. He spotted me and
said, "This fella knows him!"
Thankfully, I’m a big Soul fan and aware of many of his songs, so it helped to
enjoy the night. It was obvious he’d need to introduce every song, to help us
along. Then came I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You Treated Me) a mellow
southern soul R&B gem, followed by Hucknall sitting on a stool for slithering
ballad I’m Too Far Gone with the ‘house’ set fully back-lit.
One of the main highlights came when he sang beautiful ballad Chains Of Love.
SR sax stalwart Ian Kirkham dressed the song with some sensual splashes, bringing
the biggest cheers of the night until then. He then slipped into I Pity The Fool.
Simply Red guitarist Kenji ‘Jammer’ Suzuki was given the chance to show his
finely tuned solo skills with some top bluesy fuzzy licks.
"We love you Mick", came a shout. Mick returned a blown kiss.
Rip-roaring Stormy Monday Blues allowed Mick to finally open up those
tubes, (and what tubes they are too) finally getting sections of the crowd
onto their feet, just like the good old days. The opening of single Poverty
kept things going nicely as he romped through this dazzling version which raised
the roof. As he finished the song he raised his fist, satisfied he’d done a great
job, which he had.
Back for an encore, an appreciative Mick said, "You’re very kind. Thank you
very much", launching into what might be the next single, the full-on and
classy Farther Up The Road, Bobby Bland’s signature tune. He finally got
the reaction, and conformation he’d been waiting for all night as the crowd went
for it.
Closing on another mellow note, Lead Me On proved that Mick is still one of
the greatest singers Britain has produced. So, would Bobby have approved?
Definitely.
The big question is, where does he look for inspiration next?
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
With barely 45 minutes
worth of material from ‘Tribute To Bobby’, you somehow got the feeling that
many of the audience, prior to this gig, were unaware of Bland’s work. This
would probably account for the ‘educational’ 15 minute docu-film (extracts found
on the album’s DVD trailer) before the gig started, a good filler for a show
we knew wouldn’t be much longer than 1 hour 15 minutes, short by his standards.
He asked them, "How many of you know Bobby Bland’s music?"
Back for an encore, an appreciative Mick said, "You’re very kind. Thank you
very much", launching into what might be the next single, the full-on and
classy Farther Up The Road, Bobby Bland’s signature tune. He finally got
the reaction, and conformation he’d been waiting for all night as the crowd went
for it.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
