On Tuesday night, legendary New York Dolls axe man and rockin’ troubadour Steve Conte blew the house down, and we wouldn’t expect anything less from someone who’s worked with artists as diverse as Willy DeVille, Paul Simon, Suzi Quatro and the almighty Chuck Berry. Roll over Beethoven indeed!
Conte delivered an adrenaline-charged show that demonstrated why the biggest names in music just love to work him – and why his fans simply adore him (including yours truly). Playing an intimate gig at a venue made for live acts with attitude, it goes without saying that this one was a sold-out affair.
After three support slots from bands including My Reckoning and Melodramas (who support him on the current UK tour), the man himself took to the stage at the rather late time of 11pm (possibly even later). Now, that’s proper playtime for a proper rocker as far as I’m concerned, and hell, was it worth the wait!
Having recently re-located to the Netherlands, Conte’s current backing band is Dutch, with Yozz on bass and Youren on drums. Almost exclusively playing songs from his ‘Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth’ album (with a few surprises and surprise guests in between), the openener was ‘This Is Then End’ – a number with a kicking percussion intro, a garage-rock sound and wicked guitar solo in between. ‘The Truth Ain’t Pretty’ with its catchy beat and ‘Get Off’ with its choppy rhythm were next. Only three numbers in, and Conte already rocked the very foundations of the building.
The first surprise number of the evening was the Eddie Cochran classic ‘Summertime Blues’ – but performed the Conte way. Just imagine the track played with real edge and a punky attitude, and you get the idea. Then it was back to his own repertoire, with the creep n’ gritty ‘Texas T’. “Texas T, you got me by the balls” goes the chorus of the song, but here it was the crowd that just couldn’t get enough and that had him by the balls.
Another treat was ‘Busload Of Hope’ with its dark, bourbon-bluesy New Orleans vibe that has echoes of Willy DeVille and Tom Waits ringing through. Well then, where there’s New Orleans, there’s a dose of voodoo, and where there’s a dose of voodoo, there are inevitable links and opportunities attached. Mr. Conte took one such opportunity to invite the first special guest of the night, the flamboyant Paul-Ronney Angel from ‘The Urban Voodoo Machine’ to join him for some serious rock n’ roll teamwork!
Other tracks performed were ‘Strumpethearted Monkey Girl’ (not you average love song…) and the noir ‘Gypsy Cab’.
For ‘Indie Girl’ there was another surprise on the cards, and what a surprise it was. Acclaimed Flamenco guitarist Raimundo Amador was welcomed and if you wonder why a Flamenco guitarist from the school of Paco de Lucia should play with a New York Dolls guitarist, then the reply is “Why Not?”. Quite a few of Conte’s own songs allow for creative playroom and Flamenco is yet another style that proves to work well with his compositions. Besides, Raimundo Amador has established himself as a Flamenco-rock guitarist, with blues legend BB King participating in Amador’s first solo album ‘Gerundina’ (1995). Rock, blues, Flamenco, Steve Conte…. Does it begin to make sense now? And ‘Indie Girl’ in particular was the perfect vehicle for some serious jamming due to the track’s slight Latino / Santana twang to it. This one descended into epic guitar solos, with two incredible musicians sweating it out on a stage that proved to be way too small. Simply orgasmic, but still not long enough… sigh.
The musical repertoire went from Flamenco to Bo Diddley’s ‘Pills’ to Willy/Mink De Ville’s ‘Venus Of Avenue D’ (another orgasmic moment!).
As if all wasn’t awesome enough already, things got more awesome still, with Raimundo Amador returning a second time, with the additional support of young-generation Flamenco guitarist Lin Cortés. The number performed was called ‘El Lago’ (‘The Lake’), a popular Spanish ballad. Jazzed up, funked up, rocked up – the audience gave it the thumbs up and deservedly so. Shame the venue didn’t hand out any complimentary Sangria during this absolute highlight of the set.
For the encore, Paul-Ronney let rip one more time with his buddy Steve. If this wasn’t one of the best intimate gigs in a long time, then I don’t know what is. See you again soon, Mr. Conte – in the 100 Club, in the Underbelly Hoxton, or wherever it is you wish to play next.
Conte delivered an adrenaline-charged show that demonstrated why the biggest names in music just love to work him – and why his fans simply adore him (including yours truly). Playing an intimate gig at a venue made for live acts with attitude, it goes without saying that this one was a sold-out affair.
After three support slots from bands including My Reckoning and Melodramas (who support him on the current UK tour), the man himself took to the stage at the rather late time of 11pm (possibly even later). Now, that’s proper playtime for a proper rocker as far as I’m concerned, and hell, was it worth the wait!
Having recently re-located to the Netherlands, Conte’s current backing band is Dutch, with Yozz on bass and Youren on drums. Almost exclusively playing songs from his ‘Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth’ album (with a few surprises and surprise guests in between), the openener was ‘This Is Then End’ – a number with a kicking percussion intro, a garage-rock sound and wicked guitar solo in between. ‘The Truth Ain’t Pretty’ with its catchy beat and ‘Get Off’ with its choppy rhythm were next. Only three numbers in, and Conte already rocked the very foundations of the building.
The first surprise number of the evening was the Eddie Cochran classic ‘Summertime Blues’ – but performed the Conte way. Just imagine the track played with real edge and a punky attitude, and you get the idea. Then it was back to his own repertoire, with the creep n’ gritty ‘Texas T’. “Texas T, you got me by the balls” goes the chorus of the song, but here it was the crowd that just couldn’t get enough and that had him by the balls.
Another treat was ‘Busload Of Hope’ with its dark, bourbon-bluesy New Orleans vibe that has echoes of Willy DeVille and Tom Waits ringing through. Well then, where there’s New Orleans, there’s a dose of voodoo, and where there’s a dose of voodoo, there are inevitable links and opportunities attached. Mr. Conte took one such opportunity to invite the first special guest of the night, the flamboyant Paul-Ronney Angel from ‘The Urban Voodoo Machine’ to join him for some serious rock n’ roll teamwork!
Other tracks performed were ‘Strumpethearted Monkey Girl’ (not you average love song…) and the noir ‘Gypsy Cab’.
For ‘Indie Girl’ there was another surprise on the cards, and what a surprise it was. Acclaimed Flamenco guitarist Raimundo Amador was welcomed and if you wonder why a Flamenco guitarist from the school of Paco de Lucia should play with a New York Dolls guitarist, then the reply is “Why Not?”. Quite a few of Conte’s own songs allow for creative playroom and Flamenco is yet another style that proves to work well with his compositions. Besides, Raimundo Amador has established himself as a Flamenco-rock guitarist, with blues legend BB King participating in Amador’s first solo album ‘Gerundina’ (1995). Rock, blues, Flamenco, Steve Conte…. Does it begin to make sense now? And ‘Indie Girl’ in particular was the perfect vehicle for some serious jamming due to the track’s slight Latino / Santana twang to it. This one descended into epic guitar solos, with two incredible musicians sweating it out on a stage that proved to be way too small. Simply orgasmic, but still not long enough… sigh.
The musical repertoire went from Flamenco to Bo Diddley’s ‘Pills’ to Willy/Mink De Ville’s ‘Venus Of Avenue D’ (another orgasmic moment!).
As if all wasn’t awesome enough already, things got more awesome still, with Raimundo Amador returning a second time, with the additional support of young-generation Flamenco guitarist Lin Cortés. The number performed was called ‘El Lago’ (‘The Lake’), a popular Spanish ballad. Jazzed up, funked up, rocked up – the audience gave it the thumbs up and deservedly so. Shame the venue didn’t hand out any complimentary Sangria during this absolute highlight of the set.
For the encore, Paul-Ronney let rip one more time with his buddy Steve. If this wasn’t one of the best intimate gigs in a long time, then I don’t know what is. See you again soon, Mr. Conte – in the 100 Club, in the Underbelly Hoxton, or wherever it is you wish to play next.
