The Rose Theatre is a 900 hundred seat auditorium and can be reached walking from Kingston train station in less than 10 minutes walking (or 4 minutes running as I hat to catch the 22.48 train to Waterloo after the gig...). My seat wasn't the best in the house as i was in fart left of the upper circle which means I didn't see much of Andy Fairweather Low apart when he took centre stage to sing. Bill Wyman came on first and thanked everybody for coming and introduced the band members one by one. They have got a singer for every style of music, Beverley Skeete can tackle every soul number that you could think of (excellent version of It's a Man's World and I Put a Spell on You). Hamish Stuart with his sweet voice can do anything from soul (He Was Friend Of Mine) to Rock'n'roll (I'm Ready). The musicians are all top notch which resulted in some particularly fine performances. Andy Fairweather Low's sung a superb version of Route 66 on which he replicated Keith Richards's solo note for note. Geraint Watkins as usual was outstanding whether tackling the boogie woogie classic Chicken Sack, a Howlin Wolf Cover (300 pounds of Joy) or a Chuck Berry Number (Johnny B Goode, the arrangement of which was a carbon copy of the one he does with his band The Mosquitos).
The evening was divided into two halves and you can see that great care had been put into the set list has the two hour show just flew by. The between song activity was also great with Frank Mead and Watkins competing on who would make the most long winded song introductions. Watkins Howlin Wolf story was a cracker. The evening finished with another Chuck Berry Cover (You Never Can Tell), featuring Bill Wyman on lead vocals.
