Al Green - Hammersmith Apollo Friday 6th July

[Guest]

CONCERT SOLD OUT, I HAVE 1 SPARE TICKET AVAILABLE AT FACE VALUE £39.00 IF INTERESTED CALL 07909905368.

[WendyTinley]

CONCERT SOLD OUT, I HAVE 1 SPARE TICKET AVAILABLE AT FACE VALUE £39.00 IF INTERESTED CALL 07909905368.

Went to see Al Green last night at Birmingham Indoor Arena... review follows... shamelessly nabbed from elsewhere but I believe the review is an accurate one...

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Green's 15-strong band (horns, keyboards, guitars, drums and percussionist) trooped on first and

struck up a deep, loose-limbed funk with plenty of horn stabs as punctuation. This doubtless

sounded, to the happy and expectant crowd, like the very definition of "baby-makin' music", with a

little extra gloss and extravagance on the side.

Then his two male dancers sidled up, body-popping and boy band dancing, before one of the two

female backing singers - Green's daughter Deborah, in fact - announced the entry of the Reverend at

the head of this all-action procession.

The Al Green of 61 years' vintage is a very different character to the wide-collared, sweat-soaked

version of the 1970s. Dressed in a smart suit and bowtie, with sensible shoes which shone almost

as much as his pearly whites - he looked like a well-manicured salesman.

Before he even started singing, as the band continued their uplifting grind, Green was dishing out

single red roses to all the ladies in the front row. Between this chore, he told us how pleased he

was to be here, and introduced his band - who had already earned their money by this point - before

opening with I Can't Stop and Let's Get Married - both of which were relegated to the odd chorus or

two amid the general good-vibe-building.

For all the revue-show stylings of the gig, however, one thing was absolutely beyond doubt: Al

Green has still got some voice, the perfect distillation of the soul and gospel styles. It was ceramic-

smooth as he and his singers shared a version of Amazing Grace, switching to that powerful, in-

tune yell all his fans are familiar with when he broke into a little Sam Cooke.

Then it was roses and handshakes for everyone up the front and mass singing along, as he gave us

Let's Stay Together. It was a faithful and wonderfully sung version, although Green did tend to start

a line and let the audience finish it a little too often.

Unfeasibly, it was all uphill from there. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? was just perfect, a soft

ballad which the crowd helped out with once more. Then it was all energy, with Here I Am (Come

and Take Me), a soul covers medley, and Tired of Being Alone almost blending into one big,

ecstatic whole.

For his finale, Green stretched out Love and Happiness to epic proportions, with his excellent band

on the best form of the night.

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My added thoughts...

He was on stage for just 50 mins...

He let the audience sing way too much for him...

He preached God... far to often... (yeah I know he is the Rev. Al Green - but still)

There was no encore... the band just finished playing after he left the stage... what a let down...

He still has the most fantastic voice...

[Pete S]

Went to see Al Green last night at Birmingham Indoor Arena... review follows... shamelessly nabbed from elsewhere but I believe the review is an accurate one...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Green's 15-strong band (horns, keyboards, guitars, drums and percussionist) trooped on first and

struck up a deep, loose-limbed funk with plenty of horn stabs as punctuation. This doubtless

sounded, to the happy and expectant crowd, like the very definition of "baby-makin' music", with a

little extra gloss and extravagance on the side.

Then his two male dancers sidled up, body-popping and boy band dancing, before one of the two

female backing singers - Green's daughter Deborah, in fact - announced the entry of the Reverend at

the head of this all-action procession.

The Al Green of 61 years' vintage is a very different character to the wide-collared, sweat-soaked

version of the 1970s. Dressed in a smart suit and bowtie, with sensible shoes which shone almost

as much as his pearly whites - he looked like a well-manicured salesman.

Before he even started singing, as the band continued their uplifting grind, Green was dishing out

single red roses to all the ladies in the front row. Between this chore, he told us how pleased he

was to be here, and introduced his band - who had already earned their money by this point - before

opening with I Can't Stop and Let's Get Married - both of which were relegated to the odd chorus or

two amid the general good-vibe-building.

For all the revue-show stylings of the gig, however, one thing was absolutely beyond doubt: Al

Green has still got some voice, the perfect distillation of the soul and gospel styles. It was ceramic-

smooth as he and his singers shared a version of Amazing Grace, switching to that powerful, in-

tune yell all his fans are familiar with when he broke into a little Sam Cooke.

Then it was roses and handshakes for everyone up the front and mass singing along, as he gave us

Let's Stay Together. It was a faithful and wonderfully sung version, although Green did tend to start

a line and let the audience finish it a little too often.

Unfeasibly, it was all uphill from there. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? was just perfect, a soft

ballad which the crowd helped out with once more. Then it was all energy, with Here I Am (Come

and Take Me), a soul covers medley, and Tired of Being Alone almost blending into one big,

ecstatic whole.

For his finale, Green stretched out Love and Happiness to epic proportions, with his excellent band

on the best form of the night.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My added thoughts...

He was on stage for just 50 mins...

He let the audience sing way too much for him...

He preached God... far to often... (yeah I know he is the Rev. Al Green - but still)

There was no encore... the band just finished playing after he left the stage... what a let down...

He still has the most fantastic voice...

Wendy I was there too. Did you see Candi Staton's set? She was fabulous. Voice sounded slightly rusty on the first number but after that - Stand By Your Man, In The Ghetto, Young Hearts etc - absolutely superb. I enjoyed Al, couldn't see the point of the dancers (they were a nbit of a distraction) but as a showman he was top notch. I could see the last number was going to go on and on so we slipped out then and were back home in half an hour.

My missus actually won the tickets via the Express & Star, but if I'd paid £74 for two tickets I'd have wanted a bit more from Al I think. Just kicking myself we forgot the camera, being 5 rows from the front.