Venue:

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

Date: 20/11/2015

The squeeze is a big fan, so here we are, 3rd Steve Harley gig in 18/12, this time in the school assembly ambience of W.A.C.s Butterworth Hall. Following on from last years faithful run-through of the first 2 albums, with a symphony orchestra, this is the original line-up, bar the deceased George Ford, reformed to run through L.P. no. 3, ‘Best Years of Our Lives’, arguably when the band was at its peak. Getting lost in the single tracks around Kenilworth blunted our start, 3 songs in, missing ‘Her Comes the Sun’. Thankfully this was the first half, supposedly fan chosen songs, but, as Harley depracatedly pointed out, no-one bothered, and he was always going to play what he liked anyway. So, amongst a number of, to me, lesser known tracks, we had his new single, out for 6 weeks and known by no-one, as well as ‘A Friend for Life’, covered on Rod Stewarts latest (‘number 1’) album. (Or kerching, as Harley commented!) An elegiac, extended ‘Sebastian’was the highpoint and always is, building ever up into glissandos of ululation, tightly pegged in by Stuart Elliotts sturdy and precise drumming. Jim Cregan, … Continue reading A Night Out with Cockney Rebel