LIVE REVIEW : MIKE SANCHEZ AT THE 100 CLUB 08/12/2013

Back at the 100 Club just one week after the Dan Baird And Homemade Sin gig. Sanchez started with a band called The Big Town Playboys in the middle of the eighties. After leaving the band in 1999 he went solo while being a member of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings (replacing Gary Brooker from Procol Harum). The gig at the 100 Club was billed as Mike Sanchez and his band which means you get to see Mike with Nick Withfield on bow fiddle, Mark Morgan on drums, Tom Bull on guitar, Martin Winning on tenor saxophone (also plays in Geraint Watkins's band) and Nick Lunt on baritone saxophone. He also tours solo and with a smaller line-up colled The Portions that doesn't include Martin Winning.

I had quite high expectations for the gig as all the reviews I had read on the web said Sanchez was an absolutely fantastic performer. The band came on stage just after nine (no opening act but after having witnessed the gig I wonder who would be crazy enough to open for this lot !!!!). After a short introduction where Mr Sanchez explained to us that he had woken up with a stiff neck 3 days before and that it would take him some time to get warmed up, he then proceeded to tear the place apart with a 45 mins set of relentless boogie woogie. The band was simply fantastic tight, special mention to the two guys fro the horn section (they must have lungs made of iron to sustain the sometimes lengthy codas that Mr Sanchez inflicts on them...). Mike's repertoire is almost entirely made up of covers ranging from the end of the 1930's to the 50's but he plays the material with such ease and passion that you would think he wrote the tunes himself.  The gig was made of two parts.. First a 45 mins set followed by a short 15 mins intermission  and then a lengthier second set that finished just before 11.30pm. By the time the gig finished there wasn't a dry patch left on Mike's jacket. He said that he would be back at the 100 Club next April. You can be sure that I will book my ticket as soon as the date is announced.

LIVE REVIEW : DAN BAIRD AND HOMEMADE SIN AT THE 100 CLUB 01/12/2013

Another Sunday night gig  but this one couldn't have been more different than the Autumn Defence show last week. I had heard of Dan Baird and The Georgia Satellites previously as I used to read French magazine Crossroads that championed them pretty often. I was browsing gig listings a couple of weeks ago when I noticed him and his backing band Homemade Sin were playing two nights in a row at the 100 Club on Oxford Street. I checked a couple of songs on you tube and decided that at 15 pounds the ticket it was definitely worth checking them out.

I arrived at the venue just before 8PM thinking that as it was a Sunday gig, it might start early but discovered that I was there 15 mins before the opening act was due to start. The 100 Club is a bit tired looking, I was expecting something similar to The Jazz Cafe in Camden but it was a lot rougher. Opening act was a hard rock cover act (apologies to them, I forgot their name) that featured an ex Judas Priest drummer (recently recruited apparently). Apart from the last song ("Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest) I didn't recognize any of the numbers.

Dan Baird and his 3 piece band came on stage rather casually, they just sound-checked and when everybody was ready started their set straight away. The rhythm section is made of 2 ex-members of The Georgia Satellites : Keith Christopher (bass and impeccably dressed) and Mauro Magellan (drums). The other guitar is played by Warner Hodges who also a member of Jason and The Scorchers. The venue wasn't full (150-200 people when the club can accommodate 350) , maybe most of the fans came to see the Saturday night show ? The sound in the club wasn't the best and Baird was struggling with his monitors and his mic for quite a few songs at the start of the gig. After a change of microphone, things were better but still a bit cavernous (I'd love to hear how they would have sounded in a place like The Half Moon or The Lexington). I'm not familiar at all with their back catalogue but I recognized the cover versions of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)". The band definitely models itself on the Rolling Stones pre 1973 with a bit of Hard Rock thrown in. The chemistry between band members is is clearly evident, a fact that's highlighted by the great guitar interplay between Hodges and Baird. Their seemed to be a little tension between Christopher and Baird after the second told the first to bring down his volume after the first couple of songs (end of the tour nerves maybe ?). I've got a feeling that I should have gone to the Saturday night gig. The band comes to London every December so I'll make sure I see them again to form a final opinion (and I'll check out their albums too).