Venue:
Half Moon, Putney
Date: 13/10/2021
This was my fourth gig of the last four weeks and comfortably the best. I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ve never seen Albert Lee live before though I have been aware of him since I saw him on tv playing at the Everly Brothers reunion at the Albert Hall. Other readers will know far more about his illustrious career but I just went along because I thought it might be worth it – and the Half Moon is only a 10 minute bike ride for me so it didn’t seem like a big risk.
Albert, on guitar (or keyboards) and vocal, was accompanied by a drummer, electric bassist and keyboard player (all also on backing vocals). They played songs by people such as Gram Parsons, Rodney Crowell, Carl Perkins, Ray Charles and Jimmy Webb – so it was pretty Afterword-friendly material. But the thing that struck me was how ego-free the whole event was. Albert seems like a very unassuming man despite his obvious huge talent. The overal sound was excellent and his guitar had a beautiful clear ringing tone. He didn’t spend ages playing showboating solos but when he did solo it was in a style that perfectly fitted the song and arrangement. The band were as tight as can be, they swung and they all added something interesting to the mix but all in the service of the song.
Highlights for me were a great arrangement of Well Alright and Richard Thompson’s Tear Stained Letter. I’ve seen RT play it live more times than I can count and I’m a massive fan of RT but Albert Lee’s version was stunning – not a massively different arrangement but with his own stamp on it.
All in all it was a wonderful gig, great songs, brilliantly played.
The audience:
I’m in my mid-50s and I felt pretty young. Everyone was very considerate of other audience-members, no chatting while he played and I didn’t see anyone videoing the peformance. They all seemed to be having a great time.
It made me think..
Live music can be so wonderfully joyful. I’ve really missed it and I’m so glad it’s back. You should be able to get it on prescription if you’re feeling a bit down.
And, my goodness, Albert Lee is a hell of a musician. My only regret is that I haven’t seen him live before.
Excellent! Would have loved to be there. I’ve never seen Albert solo, but I was at the Everly Brothers reunion, which was a pretty memorable night.
I believe I saw him in his Heads, Hands & Feet days. Yes, I’m that old. He really made his rep in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band where he replaced his idol James Burton. Probably Nashville’s favourite Englishman. He’s played with everyone.
Saw him with both HH&F and Emmylou’s Hot Band. Wonderful guitarist.
He was a regular in pub circuit band, Hogans Heroes, twenty odd years back, so whilst still jetting back to and fro Nashville. Always a great night out.
I saw him around then. As a great fan and lover of country rock generally I’m ashamed to say I was a bit bored. He was coming out of the 80s when playing a million notes an hour was good and he can do that all night… and did. I did get a few good games of pool in though
That’s where I caught him – Hogan used to organise a little ‘Steel Guitar Festival’ over a weekend up near Newbury in a school hall every year. There was usually a star steel guitar player – sometimes from America – headlining the event, and lots of other stuff going on – steel guitars for sale, side sessions and so on. Great grub from the school kitchen too; cheap and cheerful like the rest of the weekend! It was fabulous and you never knew who might turn up to play a guest slot – Albert Lee, clearly, or, one year, B.J. Cole with his amazing ‘Transparent Music Ensemble’ – complete with theremin – which was outrageous fun!
Saw him one lunchtime in a small record store. Was about 2 feet away playing mainly keyboard. Not flashy at all.
Did a lovely version of Rodney Crowell’s Til I Gain Control Again. Such a sublime song.
No comment to make on Albert Lee, but your penultimate para may seem obvious, but is worth saying again and again. While you were at your gig, I was at Leveret at Stoller Hall, Manchester; on Monday it was Karine Polwart at Bury Met. These were the first gigs this year with proper walls that didn’t flap in the wind. As each trio took to the stage, the mutual love between performers and audience was palpable – a joy made more intense for 18 months’ longing.
Karine’s album with Dave Milligan is a bloody delight.
It is, would have liked to have gone to Bury too.
He is playing the Beehive in Honiton on Friday 22nd and they are struggling to sell out. I met the man for a last minute interview a few years ago….I had no time to prepare, I just grabbed some LPs and my recorder and headed down to his modest hotel. He padded out of his ground floor room in his socks holding a cup of tea, greeted me like a long lost friend, and he was absolutely charming. We talked Eric, Everlys, Crickets, Emmylou, Head Hands and Feet….even Chris Farlowe (he was in the Thunderbirds), as well as his solo work (he reckoned Polydor signed him because they thought he was Alvin Lee!).
Rushed home, a quick edit and I broadcast it that evening. I saw him the next day at the gig and they apparently insisted the restaurant played it while they were eating and were very pleased…! He was appearing with Peter Asher and he introduced me to him…..Asher treated me like something he had trodden in.
I remember seeing Albert Lee & Hogan’s Heroes at the long-gone Rayners Hotel in Rayners Lane near Harrow. It was the night after The 2002 “Concert For George” at which Albert had been a guest musician. He joked that the night before, scalpers had been selling tickets for £700 and tonight we could see him play for £10. It was one of the loudest gigs I’ve ever been at. Superb music but painful to be anywhere down front.
He is a lovely man. A pal of mine catches every gig he plays in or around Leeds and has met him post-gig several times.
He’s very personable and doesn’t seem to mind appearing in about a dozen selfies so far with said pal.