The Blues'n'Jazz Festival is a three day event, held right in the center of the town. Three main stages plus a few lesser ones. Wilko Johnson and band started the festivities at 1900hrs sharp and the whole set lasted just around 70 minutes. Naturally, I could have done with double or triple the length of the gig. But I really should be grateful that Wilko Johnson has visited these shores once again, and I should be even more grateful to the organisers of the Blues'n'Jazz Festival for booking our favourite guitar slinger.
Ecellent sound, crystal clear bass, guitar and drums and all those well worn song ditties, that somehow manage to sound fresh each and every time you hear them. As the event is more like a big public party (there's an entrance fee of around EUR 40.00 for a oneday ticket to be paid, but this is valid throughout the area), you didn't have the typical Wilko Johnson fan in the audience, although I did spot a few with their well worn Dr. Feelgood T-shirts.
It was a bit strange to see Wilko on stage at 1900hrs in glaring sunlight, but I believe he needed to be in Scotland the next day for a gig, so he probably took the flight back the very same evening (Zurich airport is close). The band was in excellent form and went down better than I had thought possible for this kind of background. I didn't catch the drummer's name when Wilko introduced the band, but it wasn't Dylan Howe. The very same day there was also Rudi Rotta on stage and if you waited long enough, you could catch Poppa Chubby as well.
Cheers
Devon
The stand-in drummer is John Roberts from The Blockheads.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Julian