Strawbs

Gallery

Click on image for a big version.

Website/s

Official band website

Date/Tue 19 May, 2009
Reviewed by/Alan Howard
Photography by/Alan Howard

The most perfect evening. Plinston packed. On a Tuesday night! Seventies folk rock gods, Strawbs, with their classic ‘Hero and Heroine’ line-up still in tact, some thirty five years on, John Hawken replaced by the debonair Oliver Wakeman. A set list to die for. Kicked off in some style by chart hit ‘Lay Down’. The highlights are many. The most glorious ‘Down by the Sea’ featuring some spellbinding Lambert Les Paul riff magic. Wow! This band rock. Frontman Cousins’ perpetual introductions and recollections, a sheer delight. Engaging, enlightening, entertaining. Wakeman takes the spotlight on the incomparable ‘Round and Round’. His extended solo utilises just about every single key on his battery of keyboards. The set ends strongly with four essential selections from ‘Hero and Heroine’. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of the band’s first album. Aptly, the encore song is taken from it, the timeless ‘Where is this Dream of your Youth’. Bravo! With thanks to Chas Cronk [bass], Rod Coombes [drums], Oliver Wakeman [keyboards], Dave Lambert [lead guitar] and Dave Cousins [guitar].

Setlist:
Lay Down *
New World ***
Sheep ****
The Hangman and the Papist ****
The Winter and the Summer *
The River * / Down by the Sea *
Broken Hearted Bride ******
Out in the Cold ** /Round and round **
Autumn **
Hero and heroine **

Encore:
Where is this Dream of your Youth *****

* from the album ‘Bursting at the Seams’ [1973]
** from the album ‘Hero and Heroine’ [1974]
*** from the album ‘Grave New World] [1972]
**** from the album ‘From the Witchwood’ [1971]
***** from the album ‘Strawbs’ [1969]
****** from the album ‘The Broken Hearted Bride’ [2008]

Finally, a quick word about tonight’s support act, Letchworth-based singer songwriter, Donna Mackay, who does a great job! Donna’s set list is: ‘Painting pictures’ [instrumental]; ‘I’m yours tonight’; ‘Lovely man’; ‘Hello’; ‘Simple’; ‘Choo Choo’; ‘California dreamin’; and ‘Down under’.