Not Going Gently

Just got back from a Sweet Charity concert. Loud & proud old school mat rockers, for those of you who may not know them. Talk about heavy duty! Talk about rocking out! Talk about not going gently - especially given the fact that the central trio have clocked up five decades professionally.

Early in the concert I was reminded of watching Deep Purple live at Belle Vue, back in Manchester, around the time of Deep Purple in Rock. It was the sheer weight of the sound that took me back, especially the sort of hammond organ vibe and deep bass underpinning the shredding guitar work. No wonder back then we used to say 'heavy man' as a sort of supreme compliment. (Embarrassing, yes, but true.) But later in the show there was lots of sonic variation on that theme, including bits of unison lead guitar with a distinct Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash, Allman Brothers feel, a spot of Floydian spacing out (though neither of the two excellent guitarists had quite the restraint of peak Gilmour), and one very Led Zep-like piece which gave their Kashmir a run for its money in terms of apocalyptic power. Oh, and some great sort of percussively-led middle eastern type stuff in the middle.

And above all the phenomenal vocal power of Ramli Sarip, whose voice has got, astonishingly, stronger and more expressive with time. It struck me early in the concert that every one of the other bands I've referenced would have sounded better with him at the helm.