Venue:
The Mill,Digbeth
Date: 02/05/2019
I first saw Alabama 3 in their acoustic incarnation at SXSW in Austin in 2008. I was bowled over and saw them about 7 times in the next 3 or 4 years which was easy enough to do as they are one of the hardest working bands on the circuit. I bought all their albums including fan site releases. In short I was a big fan and then about 3 years ago I kind of stop following them – they played Birmingham shows but I was absent. I only saw that this gig was on 4 days before the actual show but as it was the acoustic band that excited me all those years back I decided to go. The show perfectly encapsulated what I found exciting about them and what had also made my interest wane. They are ramshackle and that is part of their charm, Hearing We don’t danse to Tekno anymore and Speed of the Sound of loneliness brought those memories flooding back but there was a feeling that they haven’t evolved in any significant way which is a little disappointing.There were a couple of new numbers released sine I stopped buying their albums.
Facebook.con was notable – the other a slow blues was notably out of place.
The finished strongly with Too sick to pray and I’m Johnny Cash. Larry Love is an intelligent and engaging performer under the druggie persona. Rock Freebase is a fine acoustic blues guitarist and they kick up a good groove, I preferred Devlin Love as the female singer to Aurora Dawn – more sassy and a better live presence. They were augmented tonight by another female singer Sheena who contributed more vocals and seemed to be having a great time.
The audience:
Enjoying the vibe and some funny interplay between them and Larry Love.
It made me think..
Not everything stays the same. They will still hold a place in my affections but I have moved on and not sure they have. Had some great nights out with them – hope there are more in the future.
Love the ‘Bamas, obviously my introduction came through one of the greatest TV shows ever, yes you guessed correctly, The Sopranos. Never seen them live and like you Mr T I haven’t bought a rekerd by them for awhile. Good cut ‘n’ paste review as ever.😻
It’s Rev. D. Wayne Love I have most issue with, I don’t see or hear the point of him. If he was absent I would have enjoyed it, I am sure. It was, @steveT , your recommendations that led to my first seeming this band and they are fab in the electric full cream version. Except that dick.
P.S. Give their last record, Blues, another go. It’s OK.
Thats funny @retropath2 as I also have an issue with him in the electric version and agree he seems surplus to requirements. However in the acoustic version he plays a half decent harmonica which is pretty intrinsic to the sound.
Just heard the news that Jake Black, aka the Very Reverend D Wayne Love, died today.