Uncle Gilbert

Bass/Vocals                      Brian 

Lead Guitar/B.Vox           Michael 

Drums                                Dave

Set 1.

We started off with a number by the Pat Travers Band, 'Rocking Roll Suzie'. The bass was very much to the fore but not to the extent of drowning out Mike's guitar solo, which was very good and very consistent with the quality I come to expect. Both Brian and Dave were very much together, and provided a very good introduction to the evening. Next came 'Pushed to the Limit' by UFO, the vocals were spot on, as was the excellent driving rhythm which was as close to imitating UFO as you can get. One of their stock numbers came next, 'White Wedding' by Billy Idol, always well played, especially with the interplay between Brian and Michael. A big intro. led into 'Someone get me a Doctor' by Van Halen, this was their best number so far with the vocal harmonies coming to the fore, reinforced by Mike's use of the effects pedals, only slightly marred by the bass being a touch dominant.  It was Mike's turn for centre stage with 'Big Bad Moon' by Joe Satriani. Now anyone who has accessed their website will be hearing this one, but lets face it 'live' is much better. Satriani's songs demand excellent guitar playing and we got that by the bucket load. Combined with the almost lecherous vocals of Brian and the harmonising, this was a great song. A song I haven't heard them play before was Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead or Alive'. Mike took the main vocals with Brian coming into great effect of harmonies. With typical quality of the guitar playing during the bridges between verses, I just thought a little volume on Mike's wouldn't have gone amiss. The warm-up song came next, and guess what much better than the warm-up and even that was good. Excellent beat maintained throughout with a great solo and vocals. The Van Halen treatment of the Swinging Blue Jeans 'You're No Good' was to my mind the best number so far. Everything about this individually arranged song was excellent, from te guitar solo to the harmonies. Joe Satriani's 'Circles' followed. Again a new one to my ears and once more featuring the excellent guitar work of Mike. Another guitar maestro featured for the next song, 'She's not there' by Santana. This, again, had the right feel to it with Dave's drums providing the most appropriate background fill. 'Wayward Child' by Rory Gallagher finished off the first set on the same consistent high as we had so far. two guitar solos in most of The G-man's repertoire featured, although I thought the drums dominated matters for the first part of the song. Great first set with everyone wanting and demanding more of the same.

Set 2.  

The second set started off very well with 'Gimme Shelter' by the Stones, with all the quality being maintained in terms of rhythm and harmonies. I expected some dark glasses to be worn somewhere along the line during Roy Orbison's 'Pretty Woman', but nice touches where we expected them to be by Mike on guitar, ably supported Brian's very good vocals. A change of vocalist came in the guise of Paul Dannett with Robert Palmer's 'Bad Case of Loving You'. The backing harmonies on this worked very well, producing an excellent sound.. great song. 'Le Grainge' by ZZ Top is always done well by Uncle Gilbert and tonight was no exception, all that was lacking was the beards. Everything was together with drums, bass and lead working in harmony with each other. There was a slight downturn, I thought, with Bad Company's 'Rock and Roll Fantasy', especially in comparison with the previous number. The bass was perhaps a bit too the fore, flattening down the feel to the song. 'Sin City' by AC/DC came quickly on the back of the previous song, featuring Mike on vocals. Again the volume could have been raised on his mike but was fully redeemed by the guitar solo and the backing of Brian. The Cult are one of my preferred bands of the 80's for two songs, this one 'Here Come's the Rain' and 'Sanctuary' (featured in the reprise). These guys have the knack of creating, if you close your eyes and listen, everything that made The Cult's individual sound. With guitar being spot on and the vocal harmonies combined with the forcing rhythm, this is as close as you get to the real thing. With Gary Moore, you don't know whether you are going to get the Steve Metcalfe all time favourite - 'Parisienne Walkways', or 'Still Got the Blues', until someway through the song as each has a very similar guitar thread. Unfortunately for Steve we got the second one. Mike used what sounded like a mellotron through his effects range to great effect, and although you were waiting for the inevitable 'long' guitar solo which was in it's turn excellent, we still got a truly excellently performed song by the whole band. It was Marty time!! 'Shadowplay' by Rory Gallagher contained the fears of Marty singing, but Brian did very well in keeping Marty away from the mike by slapping him occasionally with a soggy beer mat. Our Air Guitar hero played with his usual exuberance but didn't detract from a well performed song. Jimi Hendrix made a belated appearance with 'Fire', again well executed with a guitar solo that was truly on fire. The main performance finished with another ZZ Top number, the well known 'Give me all your Loving'. The 'house' dancers started strutting their stuff in what little space there was, and all of a sudden it was over....aaawwwwhhh!!

BUT calls of 'Hoi another one in!!', gave us two excellent renditions, Python Lee Jackson's 'Broken Dream' and my favourite, The Cult's 'Sanctuary'. Superb!!

Uncle Gilbert are one of those bands whose enthusiasm is infectious, leading the audience down a road full of excellently played music, and a playing set that not only crosses a broad spectrum of the years of Classic Rock but also the differing styles of the bands featured. This was a very good night's entertainment to a appreciative full house.