Venue:
Cadogan Hall
Date: 18/10/2018
I was lucky enough to witness an evening of sublime musicianship from Mr Cooder and his band of merry men.
The evening started off with a short set from “number one son Joachim” and his accompanying bass player Sam Gandell. Joachim was playing a strange instrument which I read was an electronic zither – he has a decent voice – very 70s in tone and the gig has made me want to pick up a copy of his album “Fuchsia Machu Picchu”.
After a short 15 minute break Ry Cooder wandered on to the stage clutching a mac book and proceeded to wow the sold out audience with songs from pretty much all of his albums including a brilliant version of Woody Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man” including some lines about Trayvon Martin.
It’s not enough really to mention the titles of the songs and a review can never do the gig justice but I remember “How can a poor man stand such times and live”, “Down in the boondocks” and a superb version of “Jesus on the mainline” as being wonderful. Several songs featured from the new album “The prodigal son” and, on these he gave his backing singers The Hamiltones full rein.These are three very sweet voiced gentlemen who also had a couple of feature spots of their own. The gig ended with a stand out version of “Little sister”. This really was an evening to remember.
The audience:
Mainly men “of a certain age”
It made me think..
Why put it on a Cadogan Hall – the promoter could (I am sure) have filled the Apollo a few times over
Nice review, Johnny.
I’m officially jealous, having briefly tried for a ticket months back, but with no luck ( unsurprisingly). Due to his age, the odds me seeing him live are getting slimmer but I can understand why he wouldn’t want to undertake a punishing stint of lots of gigs. I can take a bit of comfort that virtually all of the folk at your gig were ‘real’ fans that really appreciated what they were seeing.
I think I’ve played ‘Straight Street’ from The Prodigal Son album more than any other individual track released this year. It’s simply beautiful.
The Stanley Brothers’ Harbour Of Love is my favourite.
Joachim’s instrument is, I think, more a fancy version of this, custom-made by JC himself:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira
Saw Cooder’s gig in Glasgow and can but agree: a great night fine singing and playing, all round, and a cool selection of songs from various eras. Great to see and hear him again!
Another here who tried and failed to get a ticket. My wife is a huge Ry Cooder fan and was especially disappointed not to get a ticket.
Sadly it sounds like we missed a superb evening of music.
Another huge Cooder fan. Would have travelled anywhere in the country to catch this tour – if I had bloody known about it. Saw him twice in the seventies with Flaco Jimenez, Bobby King, Terry Hall and (at least one of the two shows) John Hiatt.
Two of the best live shows I have seen.
We didn’t even try for tickets because we balked at the price but I would love to have seen him at least once.
Having attended a few Ry Cooder gigs over the years, I was at the Glasgow Concert Hall on Tuesday too and I would rate it as one of the best performances. A great mixture of songs played by fine musicians. The Hamiltones brought back memories of Bobby King and the late Terry Evans. A great show from 71 year old Ry on Tuesday followed by a storming show from 70 year old Andy Fairweather Low last night in Glasgow at the Ferry. He played until well after midnight with his expanded 7 piece Low/Hi Rider outfit.
Last one I saw wasza few years ago with Joachim and J’s wife. Fairly desiltory performance. Be nice to see this tour. Alas, unlikely.