Writing this some two weeks later, I can now recall quite a
startling gig. The transition of The Felice brothers from the bar room band I
heard at the Shepherds Bush Empire some two years earlier into this rocking
band was complete.
The Greatest Show On Earth? Probably not, but getting close
to it. But what is unusual about the band is that they a far greater than the
sum of its part. Ian Felice, no great singer or even guitar player. Jimmy
Felice, that great bear of a man on electric piano and accordion, Christmas,
unremarkable bass guitarist and vocalist, Greg Farley, bar room violinist dub
bass sequencer player, gone is the washboard, and finally the basic drummer,
Dave Turbeville. But when they come together they are quite something else. It’s
a bit like the change when Dylan went electric, but no calls of Judas from
here.
The favourites were rolled out, Frankie’s Gun and Whiskey in
my Whiskey sung along by the whole audience, James and Christmas sharing the
singing duties, to spare Ian’s vocal chords? James electric piano covered in
the pink FT making a political point, even Ian at one point was reading the
paper on stage. A three song encore, including an excellent version of Springsteen’s
Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
A good week later on Tobago I
heard enough reggae to last me a lifetime, so I played Frankie’s Gun and
Whiskey in my Whiskey to a couple of locals. They got it and they got the
groove. A universal band indeed!
The photos were taken by a bog
standard Fuji compact camera, I had no control over what it was doing and I did
not like it.
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