- Chris Hillman Birthday
Concert
- The Coal Porters, 12
Bar Club, London 5th December 1999
-
- The annual Chris Hillman birthday gig this year
found itself re-located to the 12 Bar Club, as
the previous venue The Weavers Arms has now
closed. The 12 Bar Club's size is such that a
full blown electric set by The Coal Porters was
out of the question, so tonight was a bluegrass
(ie. acoustic) tribute. There were four onstage
to start with, Sid on mandolin, Pat McGarvey on
banjo, Neil Robert Herd on acoustic guitar and
someone announced only as H on dobro. They began
superbly with He Was A Friend Of Mine,
replicating the Byrds 3 part harmonies to great
effect. This was quickly followed by My Uncle
which was one of several highlights. The
inevitable Sin City preceded Sweet Mental
Revenge, with Sid joking about his claims to have
written it when The Long Ryders used to play it.
Two more Burritos tunes in the shape of Wheels
and Older Guys (which Pat did lead vocals on)
were followed by Draft Morning - vocally this
didn't quite cut it in my view, though musically
they got the mood spot on. Sid was again on form
with his one liners, one time quipping when his
mandolin de-tuned "It must be cold in here,
'cause my playing's hot"!
-
- All three Coal Porters shared vocals on Bob
Dylan's When The Ship Comes In which was new to
the set but welcomed by the very healthy
audience. Neil then took lead vocals on Lost
Highway before another great version of Time
Between. Bob Loveday then joined the band onstage
to add fiddle to Pat's vocals on I Am A Pilgrim
which ran straight into the fantastic Fallen
Eagle which I'd not heard before and was a real
crowd pleaser.
-
- Six Days On The Road then closed the set before
the band quickly returned for the encore. Dave
Woodhead joined the band and added his penny
whistle skills to So You Wanna Be A Rock'n'Roll
Star, which, whilst different from the usually
raucous electric version, lost nothing as a
result. Recalled once more the band were joined
this time by Steve and Steph from opening act The
Arlenes to share a verse of You Ain't Goin'
Nowhere. Again this went down well with the crowd
singing along even before Sid asked them to.
-
- Sadly, there was no transatlantic call to Chris
Hillman to wish him a Happy Birthday this year,
though that didn't detract from a rejuvenated
performance by the band. Neil Robert Heard who
admitted being nervous, showed that he can play
and sing, and Pat seemed more at home on the
banjo than the last time I saw him. With drummer
Dave Morgan in the audience as well, it's about
time the whole country got to see how well the
new line-up can perform a full electric set of
their own material. From tonight's showing, it
should be something worth seeing.
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