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BEARSTOCK Brentford FC 20 December 2003
(Thanks big time to Tim Staffell & Amigo, Pete Johnston & Tim Collinson - you
are all stars and helped save the day! £160 for charity is not bad at all in
this day & age)
Another healthy sized post-match crowd despite Brentford just losing at
home. Reloaded sadly pulled as Nikk Gunns was again hit by illness, this
time a nasty lung infection, get well soon mate. Anyway, Rat Daddy set-up
and all was going well until they said they didn’t want to perform as they
thought the crowd would not like their full-on glam rock image. Crikey,
isn’t rock’n’roll all about taking risks and trying to win over a new
audience? So they packed-up and left - good luck to them but sadly they won
no new fans at Stripes.
Tim Staffell & Amigo had ably stood in and did two sets of jazz, blues
and a touch of rock. Tim Staffell was a member of Smile, the pre-Queen band
that also featured Brian May & Roger Taylor and he played a couple of Smile
numbers tonight.
Played most of the new ‘Amigo’ album (well worth a listen
if you like blues meets jazz rock) and personal highlights including the
album’s title track, ‘Country Life’ and the very catchy rhythms of ‘Why
Can’t We Be Free?’ The five-piece band played tightly and the bluesy vocals
of Tim Staffell suited the songs to a tee. The Smile track ‘Earth’ was
superb and ‘Doin’ Alright’ (a song featured on Queen’s debut album and a Tim
Staffell penned one) took a more jazzy flavour which gave a whole new life
to the song. Plenty of top class musicianship on show with bassist Richard
Lightman switching to slide guitar on a real r’n’b stomper (whose name
escapes me!) and Tim’s son Andrew played a very tight drum backbeat. Fellow
guitarist John Webster nicely complemented Tim Staffell’s guitar parts.
A great performance and they saved the day! Over £160 was raised via the
raffle and it should have been more but we lost some of the potential
audience due to the enforced late start at 6.30pm as opposed to 5.15pm.
Definitely the last charity gig I organize, as it just isn’t worth all the
hassle and time spent but at least the crowd (few in number but high in
quality!) enjoyed the night and we raised some needy funds for diabetes
research.
Big thanks to:
My great family of Nabila & Jasmine for again putting with my panics and
never ending waffle about Bearstock
Pete Johnston star as ever and keeps the live music scene going at Stripes
Stripes Bar and Brentford FC gracious hosts
Tim Staffell & Amigo saved the day and played a very enjoyable two sets.
Robert Rankin lover of all things Brentford & a great author to boot!
Tim Collinson great PA and great to see him wearing a Black #5 t-shirt (they
appeared at the first Bearstock and won some new fans).
And also thanks are due to:
Orion Publishing, Macmillan Publishers, Dorling Kindersely, Batttttty,
Gollanz, Michael O’Mara, Time Warner Publishing, Classic Pictures, Changes
One, Alison, David Randall, Transworld Publishers
Review: 2003 Jason Ritchie
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