This show was unbelievably the first ever solo show in the UK by Richard Lloyd, legendary guitarist with Television, Matthew Sweet and Rocket From the Tombs etc etc and it was also
his complete European tour!
He was over in London to take part in the 40th anniversary
commemorations of the death of Jimi Hendrix and to be part of a discussion panel at the Odeon Leicester Square earlier in the day that was part of the Handel House museum's current Jimi
Hendrix show. Handel, you say? Well, he was the house's other famous resident musician in another century.
Richard Lloyd's connection to Hendrix was as a friend and someone who got guitar lessons from him via his friend Velvert Turner. For a full explanation of this incredible story you need to read the liner notes to Richard Lloyd's 'The Jamie
Neverts Story' CD.
As they were going to be playing some Hendrix tonight, the band was a classic Power trio with Richard on Guitar and on drums Jp Thunderbolt Patterson who also plays with The Dictators,
Manitobas Wild Kingdom etc etc etc and a young, extremely famous Bass Player that I'd never heard of and even after hanging out with him and JP at the 12 Bar club later don't recall his name. However, I can tell you he is the most famous member of the
band, as he was the star of a TV show on Nickleodeon when he was a kid. I really wish I could remember his name as he was a very cool guy.
Still, back to the music. They opened with Monkey from The Radiant Monkey album and damn they sounded great, really crunchy guitar with thunderous drums and bass and Richard had no pedals or effects whatsoever, yet it sounded like he had banks of them. This became more and more amazing as the show went on and Glurp, his song for the victims on the planes on 9-11, had some
incredible guitar on it.
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Then they did Purple Haze and Richard not only made it sound exactly like Jimi could have, he did it without pedals! It
was superb to hear as was Spanish Castle Magic. They then did a stonking version of Friction where he played not only his guitar parts but Tom Verlaines parts as well at the same time! Just watching his hands moving was incredible as he strummed and picked at the same time. This was proof of what it takes to be a guitar god.
Elevation was just that, taking us into the realms of the truly unreal to get that much out of the one guitar while the rythym section just kept it all there in place. Then there was more
Hendrix, Little Miss Lover had a hell of a crunch to it and the band seemed to really be enjoying themselves, certainly far more than Television did the last time I saw them.
I think the song he introduced as being a really old song of his was In The Night and was another great guitar work out. They did a colossal version of Castles Made of Sand and closed the show with a medley of Bold As Love and Are You Experienced? that was stupendously good and had a couple of immense solos in it.
They came back for an encore that saw them play the title tracks to two classic solo albums, Alchemy and Field Of Fire, and both sounded great. This band deserve to go and play a lot more shows together and are currently looking for offers for a full European tour next year so if you can help them get in touch. You won't be disappointed.
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