GIG REVIEW – STEVE GIBBONS

Last month saw Birmingham legend Steve Gibbons gigging at the Robin 2 in Bilston and our LGA reviewer, Paul Wood,  was there to see the latest incarnation of the Steve Gibbons Band put on a mighty fine show for his Midlands fans.

GIG REVIEW – STEVE GIBBONS

A four piece band with Steve playing rhythm guitar as well as vocals/harmonica and featuring Howard Gregory on guitar and violin, the show at the Robin showed that Steve (now in his 70s) has lost none of his on stage presence.

With roots tracing back the 60s with bands such as The Ugly, Balls and Idle Race, his successful chart period in the 70s with the Steve Gibbons Band and his more recent involvement in The Dylan Project, Steve Gibbons has a repertoire of songs that could fill a lengthy residency with always changing material.

Like most recent shows by the Steve Gibbons Band the set list was a mix of Gibbons own favourites plus a selection of songs from other artists that Gibbons appreciates – some well known (Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry), others less so (Brendan Croker).

Here’s a good live clip from Sweden last year (with John Casswell on bass, and Howard Smith on drums) with a selection of songs from the current set;

A key feature of any Steve Gibbons show is the long spoken introductions, mid song asides and street cool persona. All of these ingredients are still intact and with fine (fierce and fluid) guitar leads from Howard Gregory, the band put on a good show for the Gibbons devotees in the crowd.

As a reminder, here’s the original album version of “Mr Jones”:

and a 2009 live version of “No Spitting On The Bus”:

A full list of upcoming gigs is featured at http://www.stevegibbonsband.com/ , with the next London date being the Half Moon in Putney on the 9^th May.

For more info on The Dylan Project see http://www.dylanproject.co.uk/

Set list

Not a full set list but the Robin set included:

Tulane

Big J.C.

Mr Jones

Down In The Bunker

No Spitting On The Bus

Eddy Vortex

No Money Down

Triumph Bonneville

Blast from the past

Here’s a live clip of the band playing “Tulane” from The Marc Bolan TV show in 1977: