WORDS AND IMAGES BY BILLY SEAGRAVE
Billy Seagrave Joins the masses at Manchester Apollo for an evening of celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the classic Black Crowes album, “ Shake Your Money Maker”.
Reef was formed during 1993 in Street, a large village that sits two miles away from Glastonbury in Somerset. The band consists of original members Gary Stringer (vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine) and Jack Bessant (bass guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, backing vocals) along with Jesse Wood (guitar), Amy Newton (guitar) and Luke Bullen (drums).
As the lights go out, there’s a warm welcome as Reef take to the stage. The opening track tonight is “Shoot Me Your Ace”, which is also the opening and title track from the new album. Stringer’s vocal is instantly into the groove and a powerhouse of his usual delivery from the start, the track is deep and structured, with Bessant’s bass, testing the foundations of the Apollo.
The band seem to be set well back from the front of the stage, except for drums all in line, and well lit, however every time Stringer wanders to the front of the stage, he is completely in the dark, hopefully not a sign of things to come at the venue, to only half-light the stage.
Quite simply Reef is laying down a performance, that places them as one of the great live bands on the circuit, a perfect opener for tonight’s hosts, a great combination. Sporting a new line up and seemingly a new energy, the crowd is lifted in anticipation for The Black Crowes.
“Naked” and “I Would Have Left You “shows the depth of power being harnessed by the band, Newton is rocking out with Bessant whilst Bullen on the drums, keeps the heartbeat, whilst Wood on guitar has certainly learnt a thing or two from his famous father, (Ronnie Wood, Rolling Stones). So, it was no surprise as the roof comes off for “Place Your Hands”, without doubt their biggest and most recognisable hit.
Stringer is as lively as ever from the front of the stage to the back, orchestrating the crowd, Stringer at one stage into the pit and on to the barrier, getting up close and personal, with the appreciative crowd, the tracks keep coming, “Don’t You Like It”, and the penultimate track, “New Bird”.
The set closed with “Yer Old” as the guitars and drums kicked it up for the last time. The crowd looked hot, happy, and exhausted. I do not think anyone was standing still tonight and it had taken its toll. This is what a great rock and roll gig worthy of a headline slot. We loved it. Being the warmup has the band do a shorter set that normal, that did not detract from the work and effort put in by the band.
Setlist
1/ Shoot Me Your Ace
2/ Stone for Your Love
3/ Naked
4/ I Would Have Left You
5/ Place Your Hands
6/ Precious Metal
7/ Lucky Number
8/ Don’t You Like It?
9/ New Bird
10/ Yer Old
As for tonight’s headliners, as they say themselves, the whole crowd knows exactly what they’re going to get from The Black Crowes tonight: The 1990 debut album “Shake Your Money Maker” in full. And so it is, in order, vibrant, and delivered by a nine-piece band fronted by a lead man in Chris Robinson who’s clearly a student of a certain Mick Jagger. He emerges from stage side and behind their on-stage bar, complete with barman, holding a superfluous but striking umbrella.
The Black Crowes and their flock of fans celebrated by enjoying the albums songs start to finish. Joining Chris and Rich on tour are long time Crowes bassist Sven Pipien and newcomers Brian Griffin on drums and Isaiah Mitchell on guitar, Joel Robinow was on keys. The band engaged the audience with from the start. Their Rock and Blues combination, delivers straight to the soul. The show opens with a saloon type setting where it seems the band was toasting to their album’s anniversary as well as the reunion of the bands leading brothers. After the toast, the lights struck the stage and The Black Crowes opened with “Twice as Hard” which sounded timeless as the audience on cue and instantly came to life.
There is something quite simplistic in playing an album in full, as they plough through, the tracks, “Sister luck”, and “Could I have been so blind”, see the band deliver a poignant and purposefully soulful way, with little interaction with the crowd, Chris briefly introduced the next track that simultaneously lifted an already stimulated and boisterous crowd, “Hard to handle”, probably the one song most people go to when you mention The Black Crowes, is a real show highlight, rich blues enthused rock at its best.
There is no let up as the band complete the album with “Struttin Blues and “Stare it Cold”, completing a compelling and enigmatic tribute to a fantastic album. Things didn’t stop there “My morning song”, along with “Kickin my head around”, underlines the range and depth of a band that are as relevant today as they were when they forged their way to the Top.
As the set is coming to an end, there was still an opportunity to fit in a few classics in “Thorn in my pride”, and the dirty blues of “Remedy”, Finally to finish a cover of The Velvet Underground, “Rock and Roll”. The crowd ate up every minute of what Chris kept referring to as “the Saturday night rock ’n’ roll show,” and it wasn’t hard to see why. Watching live rock music done right makes for a damn good time, and few bands (if any) do it with the straightforward, ass-kicking swagger of The Black Crowes.
SETLIST
1/ Twice as Hard
2/ Jealous Again
3/ Sister Luck
4/ Could I’ve Been So Blind
5/ Seeing Things
6/ Hard to Handle
7/ Thick n’ Thin
8/ She Talks to Angels
9/ Struttin’ Blues
10/ Stare It Cold
11/ My Morning Song
12/ Kickin’ My Heart Around
13/ Wiser Time
14/ Thorn in My Pride
15/ Remedy
Encore
16/ Rock & Roll
FOLLOW THE BLACK CROWES
FOLLOW REEF
