Hi all,

Thought you might like a few impressions of the Jazz Café gig last night...

What a strange weekend it'd been... I'd left the BBC on Friday, so the Saturday was a bit of a daze, and after the dumping of Liverpol out of the FA cup on a really dubious penalty decision (Well, it was, sorry all you McNabb/Utd fans (a contradiction in terms?)) I was in dire need of some cheering up. After an eventful train journey where my best mate/best man Adrian relieved himself of his lunch ( think he was in delayed shock after the match), The Man 'Imself really made up for the rest of the weekend..

All the songs were as ever excellent, and I sang my lungs out on just about everything, apart from the new one, which is excellent and I hope it appears on a release really soon. Good of him to include 'Hollow Horse' and especially 'Merseybeast', which was kind of my swansong at the BBC ('I'm funky and I'm free'-- I was wearing the T-shirt on my last day at work.).

Second half was dynamite too. Danny Thompson was excellent, and the interplay betwwen Ian and him made it look like like they'd been playing together for years... funny to see this great bassman pointing the finger at 'our lad', but Ian deserved it. He said it was a great gig and the audience was 'f**kin' great'.... I'll take his word for it! We were in the corner under the overhang standing on the stools, and couldn't hear anyone else singing but us, until 'Evangeline' and 'Stone My Soul', when everyone seemed to be yelling their heads off! Good Stuff!

Loved his line in 'Still Got The Fever' about Robbie.... Is there any chance that the mighty thunder of Mr Sharrock's drums will once again be heard on a McNabb release? The prospect of teaming up rock's greatest drummer and rock's finest singer/songwriter (IMHO) is mouthwatering. Add Danny Thompson, and Ian could rule the world! (Slight hyperbole!) He's right about the music business being the fashion business these days. I don't care about how unfashionable Ian becomes, as long as he keeps delighting exiled scousers like me and the rest of McNabb die-hards (and curious newcomers) with gigs like last night's.

Hope my photo's come out!
Phil Croker

Received 25 January 1999. Posted 26 January. Corrections 28 January.
This review Copyright © 1999, Phil Croker. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The right of Phil Croker to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Photo by Nigel Davis.