1970s Blues/Guitar Rock - Friday gig

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The Hunter

The Hunter

Midfield
Last plug from me everyone...if you are partial to Free (All Right Now, Wishing Well, The Hunter) then get yourself along to the Free Convention gig at The Park Hotel on Tynemouth sea front on Friday night. Headlining is the Andy Fraser Band.... Fraser is Free's original bass player and co-songwriter. Playing in the region for the first time since 1975!!
Top support from Free tribute band Freeway who, in John Buckton, have the finest interpreter of the late, great Paul Kossoff's emotional blues guitar playing. And Fraser has agreed to join Freeway for part of their set too.
The AFB also has Chris Spedding on guitar and a precocious American talent, Tobi, in the line-up.
Tickets are just 15 quid, good value in my opinion. And it's easily reached on the Metro if you fancy a drink. See you there!
 


The Hunter said:
Last plug from me everyone...if you are partial to Free (All Right Now, Wishing Well, The Hunter) then get yourself along to the Free Convention gig at The Park Hotel on Tynemouth sea front on Friday night. Headlining is the Andy Fraser Band.... Fraser is Free's original bass player and co-songwriter. Playing in the region for the first time since 1975!!
Top support from Free tribute band Freeway who, in John Buckton, have the finest interpreter of the late, great Paul Kossoff's emotional blues guitar playing. And Fraser has agreed to join Freeway for part of their set too.
The AFB also has Chris Spedding on guitar and a precocious American talent, Tobi, in the line-up.
Tickets are just 15 quid, good value in my opinion. And it's easily reached on the Metro if you fancy a drink. See you there!
Click to expand...

Bump - Jack Brice's son is playing too.
 
The Hunter said:
Last plug from me everyone...if you are partial to Free (All Right Now, Wishing Well, The Hunter) then get yourself along to the Free Convention gig at The Park Hotel on Tynemouth sea front on Friday night. Headlining is the Andy Fraser Band.... Fraser is Free's original bass player and co-songwriter. Playing in the region for the first time since 1975!!
Top support from Free tribute band Freeway who, in John Buckton, have the finest interpreter of the late, great Paul Kossoff's emotional blues guitar playing. And Fraser has agreed to join Freeway for part of their set too.
The AFB also has Chris Spedding on guitar and a precocious American talent, Tobi, in the line-up.
Tickets are just 15 quid, good value in my opinion. And it's easily reached on the Metro if you fancy a drink. See you there!
Click to expand...

I`ll be there:-D
 
Just been talking to Geoff Docherty, the legendary Sunderland promoter who pretty much discovered Free - or certainly gave them a huge leg up - and he is going to be at the Tynemouth gig.
Had an hour or so on the phone with him...hasn't seen Fraser since 75 and is looking forward to a big reunion.
"Lovely lad, great bassist and very confident without being cocky," he said. "after the gigs I would let a certain number of fans in to get their records signed. The girls would rush to Paul Rodgers and some to Paul Kossoff but the rhythm section - Anndy and drummer Simon Kirke - were quiet lads."
Geoff loved Free and he saw them rise from a £40 a night band at the Bay Hotel to international best-sellers and headliners at the Royal Albert Hall.
Friday should be quite a night.
 
The boy Bruce is on first (see post above) and will do about 40 minutes...Andy Fraser Band on stage about 8.45 and Freeway will close the night (with Andy joining part of their set) from 10.15. Midnight finish.
Timings approximate of course...lots of good raffle/ auction prizes by all accounts.
Beaten to it by Abu...looks like the info stacks up from us both.
 
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Hope so for several reasons....
Andy Fraser has been pretty anxious for the last 40 years to "move on" from Free and shelve his work with the band. Now, for whatever reasons - none of us are getting any younger, perhaps - he has embraced it again. Which is great.
Secondly, the young guitarist Tobi in his band is supposed to be a talent.
Finally, I am good pals with the lads in Freeway and if they're on form it will be a cracking end to the night. They had Simon Kirke join them on drums a few years ago and they are thrilled Andy is going to do the same.
 
I used to be a regular at the Bay, saw Free there two or three times. I even worked for Geoff for a while, he used to put some great bands on and he had the foresight to pick out great bands before they became famous.
 
The Hunter said:
Hope so for several reasons....
Andy Fraser has been pretty anxious for the last 40 years to "move on" from Free and shelve his work with the band. Now, for whatever reasons - none of us are getting any younger, perhaps - he has embraced it again. Which is great.
Secondly, the young guitarist Tobi in his band is supposed to be a talent.
Finally, I am good pals with the lads in Freeway and if they're on form it will be a cracking end to the night. They had Simon Kirke join them on drums a few years ago and they are thrilled Andy is going to do the same.
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The singer is really good (and looks like Rodgers in his rougher looking early days) as is Buckton - the bass player and drummer are weaker (in my opinion) than other Free tribute bands.

In saying that, another tribute band (Heavy Load?) has a cracking guitarist - don't know his name but he is bald/has a shaven head if that helps to identify him. The same band has a drummer who is the dead spit of a young Kirke.

It's not going to happen, but three Free lookalikes (with talent) could have been playing on stage with Andy.
 
Abu Dhabi Red and White said:
The singer is really good (and looks like Rodgers in his rougher looking early days) as is Buckton - the bass player and drummer are weaker (in my opinion) than other Free tribute bands.

In saying that, another tribute band (Heavy Load?) has a cracking guitarist - don't know his name but he is bald/has a shaven head if that helps to identify him. The same band has a drummer who is the dead spit of a young Kirke.

It's not going to happen, but three Free lookalikes (with talent) could have been playing on stage with Andy.
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I know what you mean. I've not heard a better "koss" interpreter than Buckton but you do tend to get strengths and weaknesses in all tribute bands.
I think you might be referring to Paul Smith as the vocalist - he was actually the band's third vocalist but he has since left. The singer is now the original Freeway vocalist Bob Davidson who has a strong blues voice (when he first left the band his place was taken by Kossoff's old Back Street Crawler pal Terry Slesser).
Anyway, Friday will reveal all....
 
The Hunter said:
I know what you mean. I've not heard a better "koss" interpreter than Buckton but you do tend to get strengths and weaknesses in all tribute bands.
I think you might be referring to Paul Smith as the vocalist - he was actually the band's third vocalist but he has since left. The singer is now the original Freeway vocalist Bob Davidson who has a strong blues voice (when he first left the band his place was taken by Kossoff's old Back Street Crawler pal Terry Slesser).
Anyway, Friday will reveal all....
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Not sure about the names or the changes - I'll take your word for it - checked their site but it's still down.

What has Davidson been up to and where has Paul Smith gone?

Saw a Sless set a few weeks ago but he was only with a tape machine. Still got a great voice but was playing lighter stuff - 60's soul. Maybe he gets heavier in the second set (probably did literally the amount he was drinking...).

Actually, the singer I was referring to is the one from Heavy Load - I'm going senile.
The Kirke lookalike is Rosco
http://www.heavyloadfreetribute.com/#!__band-photo
 
RichardW said:
What time does last metro run from Tynemouth to Sunderland?
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So far as I can make out, you'd need to change from the Tynemouth-South Shields metro at Pelaw....last Pelaw train leaves for Sunderland and South Hylton at 11.29pm.
So you'd need to leave Tynemouth station about 10.45-ish at a guess.
Regulars would tell you if I was talking out of my Fender Jazz Bass like!!
 
The Hunter said:
So far as I can make out, you'd need to change from the Tynemouth-South Shields metro at Pelaw....last Pelaw train leaves for Sunderland and South Hylton at 11.29pm.
So you'd need to leave Tynemouth station about 10.45-ish at a guess.
Regulars would tell you if I was talking out of my Fender Jazz Bass like!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for info. Need to look for a 'nominated driver' methinks!
 
Abu Dhabi Red and White said:
Not sure about the names or the changes - I'll take your word for it - checked their site but it's still down.

What has Davidson been up to and where has Paul Smith gone?

Saw a Sless set a few weeks ago but he was only with a tape machine. Still got a great voice but was playing lighter stuff - 60's soul. Maybe he gets heavier in the second set (probably did literally the amount he was drinking...).

Actually, the singer I was referring to is the one from Heavy Load - I'm going senile.
The Kirke lookalike is Rosco
http://www.heavyloadfreetribute.com/#!__band-photo
Click to expand...
Bob has been playing in his own band in Northumberland... Paul Smith went off to do his own thing, he matured quite nicely in his time with Freeway and developed quite a "Rodgers" stage presence. He was very good at the Cambridge Rock Festival fronting Freeway a couple of years ago. Bob's probably the better singer.
Freeway had a coup in 2007 when Sless was with them and Simon Kirke sat in on drums...Kirke, Slesser, Buckton --not half bad for a so-called "tribute" band!!
 
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