Facelift Magazine - The Canterbury Scene and Beyond

Bruford - Aston University, Birmingham 19 May 1979

My first chance to see Dave Stewart and Bill Bruford in person and indeed

Allan Holdsworth (who at this gig, and at about every other of the numerous

times I've seen him since, was too low in the mix). Standing in the bar

before the gig I'd been asked by Dave Stewart where the television room

was - I was happy to oblige being a student at Aston and so for several

months after this my main claim to fame. I've always wondered though -

just what was Dave so keen to watch on TV prior to the gig?

Richard Sinclair's RSVP - The Warehouse, Chester 8 June 1994

Great intimate atmosphere. First time I'd seen Richard live since Camel's

'Rain Dances' tour back in the Autumn of 1977. I got the feeling Richard

would have played all night if he'd been allowed to This was a great

lineup with Pip Pyle, Didier Malherbe and Patrice Meyer with Richard

predominately on bass which I think for live shows is his best instrument.

In Cahoots - Cannonball, Birmingham 8 June 1991

This was like watching the band performing in your front room - the

Cannonball is a small room above a Birmingham back street (Adderley Street

- hence the name) pub. There was no keyboard player on duty so Phil

Miller was filling in with guitar synth and this gave the band a slightly

different sound. An excellent performance including three pieces lasting

25 minutes each, all without ever getting boring for a second.

Brainville - The Wheatsheaf, Stoke-On-Trent 17 June 1998

It wasn't until some time after that I realised this was the first gig I'd

been to in years where I didn't have a pretty good idea what material I was

going to hear. I'd no idea with this lineup if it was going to be all

improvised stuff or just songs or what. In the end it was as all of these

and more. An excellent show at a fine venue which is sadly no longer in

existence.

Allan Holdsworth - Bass Clef, London 24 February 1986

A quite magical evening in a tiny jazz club. The queue to get in stretched

a good 200 yards down the road - fortunately I'd sent off for a ticket.

The performance part of the club held only about 100 with about the same

number packed into the restaurant area and watching the gig on closed

circuit TV! Wave upon wave of incredible soloing from Holdsworth and

keyboard player Kei Akagi.

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