When we met up on the train at Pinner for our trip to the Indigo/O2 Matt was in a jovial mood. It’s an easy journey to the O2 arena with only one change at Finchley Road and we arrived having chatted all the way except when the noise on the Jubilee Line hit a really high decibel level.
The Cinelli Brothers
We arrived after the first band, The Milk Men, had already left the stage and the crew set up the instruments for the next combo, The Cinelli Brothers. Five guys who made a hell of a sound. Extremely confident musicians who swapped and changed instruments throughout the set. They all sang, including the drummer, and produced a good vocal sound. I found them entertaining but didn’t hear a track that I really loved.
Paul Jones
Next up came Paul Jones and Dave Kelly a duo. Paul Jones deserves a lot of respect he has spent his life supporting Blues Music throughout the UK. He must be at least 80, although he looks much younger, having been the lead singer in Manfred Mann during the sixties. However the set was rubbish and we left before it ended to go out and have so ehing to eat.
Jo Harman and Mollie Marriot
Neither of these two acts excited me. They had good quality of musicians on stage with them, but they just appeared like two front people who would be really good backing vocalists but didn’t have the material or the stage presence to make the audience get to their feet.
Mind you it would have taken a miracle to get this very aged audience up on their feet and dancing
Toby Lee
The highlight of the day’s entertainment, and the artist who outshone the rest was undoubtedly Toby Lee. His dexterity and skill on the guitar is unbelievable. A great blues performer backed by three other excellent performers. The rhythm section held the beat as one solid unit. Both of us really enjoyed his set and wished it had continued beyond the 45 minutes that each artist was alloted.
When Rivers Meet
We left 30 minutes into the When Rivers Meet set, not because we didn’t like their performance but because we wanted to get home. Like much of the evening’s entertainment the musicianship again was excellent but the songs weren’t up to much. If we lived locally we would have stayed.
Dr Feelgood
Although the headline act we never saw Dr Feelgood, but as Matt said all the main contributors to the band in their heyday are now dead so you’re not seeing the real thing.
We had been at the O2/Indigo for 5 ½ hours and my ears had had enough. We had eaten rubbish at a noodle bar and it was definitely time to go home. Perfect connections enabled me to enter the house in under a hour from the time we left the auditorium