Since leaving Jethro Tull and carving his own niche, famed guitarist Martin Barre showed (to play with the lines from one of the evening’s songs) that it was a old day, yesterday, but a new day now. Barre, with his bluesy and rocking team of Dan Crisp/voc-g, Darby Todd/dr and Pentangle alumnus Alan Thomson/b made famous songs of years past fresh and new, with more recent material replete with vintage beats and harmonies.
Free to delve into his personal selection from 50 years of Tull recordings, Barre opened by giving red meat to fans with searing renditions of “Hymn 43” as well as newer material such as the infectious “Steel Monkey.” Songs from his solo albums (Back to Steel and Roads Less Travelled) featured Crisp’s rich and earthy vocals on the upbeat “Back To Steel” folksy on the pastoral “Lone Wolf” and urgent with hard hitting teamwork between Todd and Thomson during “Moments of Madness.” Through this early part of the show, Barre played with relaxed inspiration, with his solos cogent, melodic and creative.
Able to pick and choose from his large catalogue, Barre adroitly focused on the bluesy early albums, with a heaping spoonful of material from the classic Stand Up, as the band went through gloriously manic mood swings on “Back to the Family,” a frantic and energized “For A Thousand Mothers” with Todd in 5/4 heaven, ricocheting through the jazzy “Nothing Is Easy” and hitting hard shades of blues on “A New Day Yesterday.” Joking that he “ruined a good blues band” he selected songs from the other wonderfully nascent albums,with the lilting “My Sunday Feeling” mixing Barre’s sleek soloing with Thomson’s bop line and Todd’s hip high hat, while the reflective “Teacher” filled the packed house with rich sonorities and moody harmonies.
Most creative in song selection was a rollicking take of The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” that thundered like one of our recent storms. As the band closed out with classics like “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath” (with guest Carl Verheyen jumping on stage and adding extra guitar texture), the audience couldn’t help but feel the celebration of Barre’s liberty to delve into his past with new ears and still move forward with his own fresh material. Who was the guy that sang for him in his band way back when?
Upcoming shows at Bogies include Dave Marotta 03/17, The Complete Bookends Album 03/21 Venice 03/24 and Terry Reid 03/31
Photos and info by Kevin Marsden