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Snowy White, Blues Special
Live in De Melkweg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
December 1st 1994
by Ed Sander
Before the start of the gig it seemed it all would end up in
smoke. In advance
booking only 30 tickets were sold. By the time the gig would
finally start
(22.00) it looked very sad indeed in the hall of De Melkweg as
far as the
number of people present was concerned. Once the band started to
play, people
started coming in. The hall was everything but sold out, but in
the
end it was 'pleasantly crowded'.
For this gig the band had the 'Highway to the
Sun-line-up': Snowy White
(guitar), John 'Rabbit' Bundrick (Keyboards & Hammond), Kuma
Harada (bass and
guitar), Walter (bass and guitar) and Juan (drums). Thanks to
this extensive
strength, the total sound was as solid as a rock.
After an improvised intro the band started the lovely I Loved
Another Woman,
which was followed by Heartful of Love. The next song,
Down by the Bridge,
sounded very unfamiliar to me. According to fanclub members it
had already been played
several times at other gigs. Anyway, it was a great and nice,
long piece of music.
The next song will have been a surprise for some people, because
Can't Find
Love was played live for the first time. After this, two more
songs from the
Highway to the Sun album followed; Loving Man and
The Time Has Come.
Judgement Day seems to be a permanent part of Snowy's
setlist. As always this
Blues Agency song was fitted with some keyboard- and guitar
solos.
The next song was Hot Saturday Night, of which, in my
opinion, the live
version shows to its full advantage in contrast with the version
on the CD.
Which, pity enough, cannot be said about Love Pain and
Sorrow. Although the
music was put together very well and Snowy's solos made us forget
Mr.
Gilmour's, the characteristic sound of the singing was a bit
bungled live,
which took away a lot of the charm of the song. The fact this
song was played
live for the first time is just partly an excuse.
Keep on Working, which had an alternative title again
(Working Blues),
contained a splendid Hammond-solo by Rabbit. After a tight
Highway to the
Sun followed one of the highlights of the set: Can't Get
Enough of the
Blues. This song seems to be an audience favourite. After
some 'audience
participation' it was time for the familiar solos, of course.
Juan, Walter,
Rabbit and Snowy explored the limits of their instruments. Pity
enough Kuma's
turn didn't come (in spite of the note I gave Walter), while I
really would
have liked to see a bass-part like I have seen in Aarschot,
Belgium, with Mick
Talor's All Star Bluesband.
After the band had left the stage it seemed the audience wanted
to hear more
(what else did you expect?). Snowy and Co. returned on stage to
play a new
ballad (Midnight Blues) and a very heavy and fabulously
extended Parchment
Farm. All in all this gig lasted one and a half hours and it
was the best gig I
have seen by Snowy and his band until now [written in Dec. 94].
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