|
Guitarfest 2004
Reviewed by:
Richard Hill
Eric Roach gives performance of a
lifetime to steal the show at "Guitar Fest 2004"
Sunday 19th
September 2004 was an historic day for the guitar community, for it was
the day of Britains first ever GUITARFEST. An event organised and run by
Birmingham's very own Professional Music Technology at the Adrian Boult
Hall.
Amassed outside the concert hall was a congregation of over 450 acolytes
desperate to commence worship at the six string altar that is GUITAR
FEST. The crowd streamed in with fervour of excitement and anticipation,
heightened by a short delay to the start of the event. They came to be
amazed and they were not disappointed.
The highlight of the day's events was an awesome performance from
Irishman Eric Roche. In his first appearance since his battle with
cancer his performance was awash with emotion that spilled over onto the
audience. "It's good to be alive!" he exclaimed as he arrived on stage.
After performing several songs including Stevie Wonder's "Higher
Ground", his own "Pig Music" and the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", he
revealed his life changing experience to the unsuspecting audience,
before embarking on an emotionally charged rendition of the Beatles
classic "While my guitar gently weeps". The capacity crowd fell silent,
mesmerised the great guitarists dynamic virtuosity that so easily made
the song his own. By the end he was on his knees, we were on our feet
for a well-deserved standing ovation, the second of the day.
The first was awarded to Stu Hamm who preceded Eric in the second set. A
legendary bass player he won the crowd firstly with his talent and then
with his charm, performing many of his own compositions and one of the
best covers of the day, a seamless Abbey Road / Chopin medley "in the
original C# minor key." Using elements from both sides of the classic
Beatles album he captivated the audience like no performer before him
and finished his set with his signature piece. A fabulous performance,
that on any other day would have stolen the show.
The accolade of being the opening act was awarded to local guitar hero
Stu Ford of "The E Numbers" and "Trevor Burton Band". He joked of being
unheard of but he sure isn’t now, opening the show to the 400 strong
audience with "Boogie Dance" from 1937. His slide playing was superb and
wowed the audience with fifteen minutes of blues and RnB. He was
followed by acoustic guitarist Derrin Nauendorf of Australia, who seemed
disappointed to be given a slot of only fifteen minutes. None the less
his guitar playing was exquisite and won over the audience. The final
act of the first set was Mark Thwaite of the Mission who failed to
impress with his bland renditions of Mission songs played to a poor
backing track. He only really showed his true worth when he ditched the
power chords for an e-bow on his third track, but it was too little too
late and received a lukewarm response from the audience.
Later in the day the stage was home to legendary acoustic guitarist
Gordon Giltrap, composer of such theme tunes as "Wish you were here." He
opened his act with a splendid version of "Here comes the sun" in honour
of the recovering Eric Roche. He shocked the audience thoroughly when he
broke out the distortion (on a 3/4-sized acoustic guitar), to cover
Brian May's "God Save The Queen" in the style of George Fornby, and
pulled it off as well. His guitar playing was on fine form and the
audience took his good humour well. He performed an half hour set laden
with his own material, the most memorable a composition using a ping
pong stereo delay that impressed everyone in the audience.
The previous set accommodated Pitchshifter spin off band Drawbacks, who
promoted Roland’s latest technological innovations with a new and modern
approach to live music. Incorporating samples, electronic drums and
metal guitars they split the days events making use of equipment
currently available on the retail market by Roland.
The penultimate set of the day was rounded off with a question and
answer session from bassist Billy Sheehan who recounted tales of old to
a new set of ears who were eager for him to share his wealth of
experience, expertise and professionalism. After almost an hour of Q and
A he made way for the shows headliner, Albert Lee and the most important
part of the day, the raffle to win an Albert Lee Musicman guitar.
The day had been long and arduous and those who remained to bare witness
to Albert Lee's headline spot were tired and weary. Even so they
welcomed him and the majority paid him the courtesy of staying well
after his scheduled finish time, the result of so many delays and over
runs. His life story was impressive and was far more captivating than
his backing material that lacked the effect it should have had to
display such a good guitarist's skill. Regardless of this he still
showed his dexterity and even sang his final song.
Albert Lee would surely though have been better received had the day not
been so lethargically paced, a seven hour event that could have been
completed in five would have made more of a mark on the audience and
kept the capacity to the very end. Next year though should be a hundred
times better, after all this was the first time an event like this had
been organised in Britain hence the events organisers cautious approach
to change over times. All in all though the day was a success and the
class acts far outweighed their poorer contemporaries.
A report by Richard Hill
|
