The Oli Brown Band – The Blues Café, Harrogate 8th February 2008
It’s not every day you get a call out of the blue to ask you along to a gig to see a band you’ve never heard of, but last Friday was one such day and with the call being from a trusted source I went with the flow.
Seeing the Oli Brown Band at the Blues Café Harrogate turned out to be one of those memorable moments in your life, no kidding! An extremely small venue by any standards, about 100 literally crammed in with no elbow room and people up the walls (there’s a staircase that’s a good vantage point).
On arrival Oli and band were just setting up, no roadies here, and then let us have a glimpse of what was come with a short but tantalising soundcheck.
Two extraordinary sets followed of blues, blues rock with plenty of light and shade and many stunning guitar solo’s, and a confidence of vocal seen only in seasoned professionals, teasing the audience whose ages ranged from 14 ( I guess) to 70+ and working them up to demand a few encores. Here Oli showed his maturity as a performer, (as he had all night) relating to his following engaging everyone including yours truly (and misses) into singing along.
His band, Simon Dring on Drums and Fred Hollis on 6 string Warwick bass were truly awesome in their own right, with timing as tight as anything you care to mention, providing a solid platform for Oli to work his magic.
There were too many highlights to mention here but if you can catch Oli, you must before he really hits the big time as he’s just come back from playing in the USA and has signed to Ruff records. This really was a memorable evening, one I hope I’ll be able to say I saw him when he were now’t but a lad.
Oh I forgot to mention that Oli is still only 17 (although he might be 18 now) and Fred and Simon ain’t much older. As a lady of about 65 stood beside me remarked, ‘makes you wish you’d spent a bit more time practicing’.
Thanks for the call John
DE
Seeing the Oli Brown Band at the Blues Café Harrogate turned out to be one of those memorable moments in your life, no kidding! An extremely small venue by any standards, about 100 literally crammed in with no elbow room and people up the walls (there’s a staircase that’s a good vantage point).
On arrival Oli and band were just setting up, no roadies here, and then let us have a glimpse of what was come with a short but tantalising soundcheck.
Two extraordinary sets followed of blues, blues rock with plenty of light and shade and many stunning guitar solo’s, and a confidence of vocal seen only in seasoned professionals, teasing the audience whose ages ranged from 14 ( I guess) to 70+ and working them up to demand a few encores. Here Oli showed his maturity as a performer, (as he had all night) relating to his following engaging everyone including yours truly (and misses) into singing along.
His band, Simon Dring on Drums and Fred Hollis on 6 string Warwick bass were truly awesome in their own right, with timing as tight as anything you care to mention, providing a solid platform for Oli to work his magic.
There were too many highlights to mention here but if you can catch Oli, you must before he really hits the big time as he’s just come back from playing in the USA and has signed to Ruff records. This really was a memorable evening, one I hope I’ll be able to say I saw him when he were now’t but a lad.
Oh I forgot to mention that Oli is still only 17 (although he might be 18 now) and Fred and Simon ain’t much older. As a lady of about 65 stood beside me remarked, ‘makes you wish you’d spent a bit more time practicing’.
Thanks for the call John
DE
