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The old adage says that white men singing the blues is about as
likely an event as flying pigs. The sheer strength and brilliance of
Seasick Steve's blistering set for Richard Thompson's Meltdown
Festival shows us that the skies may still be clear of pork, but the
blues certainly knows no boundaries.
Seasick Steve kicked off the night's performance by shaking the
hand of everyone in the front row- no mean feat considering the size
of the Royal Festival Hall. In fact, any doubts about the size of the
venue dwarfing Steve's brand of hobo-blues were quickly dispelled.
From the beginning this was a wonderfully sincere and surprisingly
intimate performance that might just as well have taken place in a
stomping bourbon soaked roadhouse rather than the austere concrete of
the South Bank.
The UK likes a bit of an underdog and the nation state has truly taken Seasick Steve
to heart. He admitted to the crowd that he sometimes thinks
that his sudden success after 50 years has all been a dream and
that one day he'll wake up, hungover under a bridge. It's these
moments of sincerity that highlight his genuine charm; there's no
arrogant star swagger, just a humble and highly talented musician who
genuinely loves his audience.
He knows how to get everybody to enjoy themselves too. During the
performance he easily made everyone join in (despite their Monday
night blues) and even left the stage to sit playing in the stalls
without missing a note. One particular moment involved him serenading
a fan on stage with the wonderful Walking Man - turning something which
could easily have been cheesy stage cliche into a genuinely touching
moment.
The audience was treated to a rich spread of material - from his
low-fi breakthrough album Dog House Blues to last year's rocking Man
From Another Time. The fascinating plethora of mostly home made
ramshackle instruments made sure that roadies were kept just as busy as
Steve and his drummer. Swigging away from a bottle of wine he looked
in his element.
The night concluded with an epic rendition of Dog House Blues that
playfully refused to end. Afterwards, the crowd poured into the night
with aching thighs from foot stomping and hands red raw from all the
applause. Steve himself stayed behind to meet and greet fans instead
of jumping on the first boxcar out of Charing Cross; there's no better
illustration of the warmth and generosity of his performance.
Performers a third of his age would have had trouble keeping up, but
Seasick Steve made it look a simple as falling off a rock.
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