A little bit more than a little bit of chaos took place at the Chicago Rock Café Wrexham, recently.
Booking this seasoned splinter group of mothership
band Total Chaos proved to be a real winner for venue and customers,
doubling the usual 70 plus Thursday crowd. Word circulated that an excellent
band was coming to town for a rare appearance.
From 10pm onwards, the quartet, Phil Beaumont (drums), Amos Cooper (guitar),
Paul Sturman (acoustic guitar, lead vocals) and Mike Edwards on bass gave a
masterclass in both presentation and music. ALBOC are a covers band - with a difference.
Normally, this type of night is nothing more than a tribute; instead this
local outfit do things their way. They carefully adapt the songs to their
R’n’B remit. For two hours and twenty minutes, they plundered an eclectic
setlist that would shame even the originals.
Their relaxed and playful
manner, lead by charismatic frontman Paul Sturman, the band opened with a
personal favourite and universal standard by Van Morrison – Moondance.
Everything that followed was perfectly suited to their collective ability,
which is in abundance.
A great In The Air Tonight featured solid rhythm work
from the powerhouse pairing of Beaumont and Edwards, allowing Cooper to
texturize with sublime solos, and that’s how it was all night. Taking on
space-rockers Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here was a bold move, matching the
originals in every way. Sneaked in the slightly revised setlist was a torch
song of strong emotional depth - If I Go. Later, they showboated, with gems
by Tom Petty - Freefalling, a raucous 'Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye, taking the
song to level previously imagined.
Blue Oyster Cult’s perennial classic
Don’t Fear The Reaper was a pulsating stunner as the crowd went nuts.
Capping a glorious night, we were given a mesmerising guitar display by
Cooper on Prince’s Purple Rain. Running at neck-breaking speed with no break
takes some doing, but they seem to thrive on it. The longer the night
progressed and numbers swelled, the greater the reaction, resulting in
regular bouts of cheers and dancing.
On this evidence, it won’t be too long before they’re back by public demand.
Chicago Rock Café wishes to thank the Wrexham music stores who helped
advertise the event.
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
A little bit more than a little bit of chaos took place at the Chicago Rock Café Wrexham, recently.
Normally, this type of night is nothing more than a tribute; instead this
local outfit do things their way. They carefully adapt the songs to their
R’n’B remit. For two hours and twenty minutes, they plundered an eclectic
setlist that would shame even the originals.
Blue Oyster Cult’s perennial classic
Don’t Fear The Reaper was a pulsating stunner as the crowd went nuts.
Capping a glorious night, we were given a mesmerising guitar display by
Cooper on Prince’s Purple Rain. Running at neck-breaking speed with no break
takes some doing, but they seem to thrive on it. The longer the night
progressed and numbers swelled, the greater the reaction, resulting in
regular bouts of cheers and dancing.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
