08 July 2011 (gig)
10 July 2011
The secret is out – Steve Martin can play banjo and play it damn well!
Of course we should have suspected it when he won a grammy for his album ‘The Crow’ and the latest album, ‘Rare Bird Alert’ (a 4* review in Music-news.com), was no duffer but it is different when you play live in front of 3500 people and have to put up – naked doesn’t cut it!
The show at Hammersmith was delightful. The band was excellent, Steve’s jokes were suitably appalling (and we all laughed anyway) and his playing was excellent – this was no duffer hiding behind the talent: when he played a duet with fiddler Nicky Sanders he was the equal of a very fine fiddler.
They played most of ‘Rare Bird Alert’ and the individual talents on show demonstrated just how good a band the Steep Canyon Rangers are. They weighed in with some delicious barber shop harmonies as well as excellent playing and the audience response was to whoop, holler and whistle without any inhibitions – one of those rare nights where the crfowd was as much a part of the show as the band.
I would have preferred the mix to have been a little less ‘toppy’ – we hardly heard Charles R Humprey III’s bass – because it strangulated the vocals a little but the banjos and Mike Guggino’s mandolin were clear as a bell.
Best numbers of the night were probably ‘Jubilation Day and a wonderful ‘Me And Paul Revere’ although the duet was stunning and ‘Atheists Don’t Have No Songs’ showed the vocal talents of the band of brilliantly and produced the biggest laughs of the night. 'The Great Remember' was simply delicious..
A terrific night of great music and good humour and one to be remembered.
Set list
Pitkin County Turnaround
Hoedown at Alice’s
Word’s Unspoken
Go Away, Stop, Turn Around, Come Back
The Crow
Jubilation Day
Rare Bird Alert
Knob Creek
I can’t Sit Down
Atheists Don’t Have No Songs
The Great Remember (solo)
Hide Behind A Rock (fiddle/banjo duet)
Wally On The Run
Yellow Backed Fly
Northern Island
Me and Paul Revere
Encore :Orange Blossom Special & King Tut
