Music
Average White Band
Fat Sam's Live, Dundee
Lorraine Wilson
five stars.
Although there isn't a single Dundonian on stage, this feels like something of a home gig for the Average White Band. Alan Gorrie is the closest, as a Perthite and former Duncan of Jordanstone student, but there is an extra connection with the city tonight. Gorrie lets us know that it would have been the 65th birthday of the original drummer Robbie McIntosh, a Dundee boy, who died in 1974.
Whether it was in tribute or just a particularly good night, this current line-up of AWB seemed to have an extra heap of fire and funk, with a performance that managed to be simultaneously the tightest and most relaxed I've witnessed. The grooves of Atlantic Avenue, Cut the Cake, When Will You Be Mine, and Work to Do, are interspersed with soulful balladry such as the sublime A Love of Your Own.
Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre, as original members, have attracted the cream of session talent for the shifting line-ups over the years, but this AWB is a particularly tasty concoction, with special mention to vocalist Brent Carter taking ownership of songs that are ingrained in the soul psyche, and drummer Rocky Bryant who managed to not only maintain interest in the drum solo, something that can kill a set stone dead, but actually added another layer of passion.
Dundee gig tradition is for AWB to be joined by a previous Gorrie bandmate, and tonight it's vocalist Drew Larg, who effortlessly leads the tribute to the late Ben E King. With a beautifully planned encore of Let's Go Round Again and Pick Up The Pieces, it was a night of massive smiles and sore feet. Job done.
AWB play Glasgow's O2ABC tonight.
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