Those of you familiar with my previous reviews may wish to put the kettle on or log off now...
I strolled through the gates of the abbey grounds around 7 p.m. and walked past the ruins of the abbey itself into one of the most picturesque settings imaginable. The low evening sun lit up the grassy arena, which was overlooked by the tor (an ancient hilltop tower).
Most of those present looked like they'd been in situ since the gates opened at 5 p.m.; nearly all were seated (in deckchairs etc.) and the picnics & buffets made a polite mockery of the "no glassware" rule.
A string quartet was concluding its short set on stage (ironically, BF's vintage style band was the only act not to feature a violin...), so I decided to have a quick look at the merchandise stand on my way to the bar.
Merch was a bit minimalist: no tour book yet, just the BFO's CD and half a dozen t-shirt designs, 50% of which (red Tokyo Joe, black Price of Love & white with b&w Kate photo) appeared to be leftovers from the previous tour. The other shirts were a grey/green bearing the distressed two-headed eagle and two for the new album: both were white and bore the band name in small lettering on the back, just below the collar. I bought the Josephine Baker design (subtle sketch of topless dancer wearing a skirt of bananas), rather than the one which looks like a dancing Liquorice Allsort (might weaken and buy that one at Hyde Park...)!
I returned just as Steve Harley & Co. took the stage and the roped off "mosh pit" was opened up, so I watched from a couple of standing rows back. I always liked Cockney Rebel during their peak (1974-75), but Sunday's set was still a pleasant surprise.
They opened with Here Comes The Sun & Mr Soft, followed by Sling It!, one of my favourites from the Psychomodo album. After a couple of songs unfamiliar to me, but which featured some wonderful violin work, they "closed" after 45 mins with a long version of Sebastian.
Granted his "encore" and told by his sound guys that he still had 6 mins left, Harley promptly played for 10! The second of the two numbers was, of course, Make Me Smile and the band was cheered off.
During the half hour break I wondered how the BFO would be received, especially if the audience proved to be unfamiliar with the latest CD. As it transpired, my fears were ungrounded. Returning from the traditional toilet & bar combo, I managed to get myself dead centre about six rows back as the BFO took to the stage.
To the right of the stage stood the six man horn section in full evening dress, with Ben Cummings (a relatively new face on the London jazz scene) deputising on trumpet for Enrico Tommaso. Bass & banjo (*insert own preferred banjo joke here) were in front of John Sutton's drums, while Colin Good was stage left on a slightly raised podium.
(*Perfect pitch is defined as the ability to toss a banjo into a skip without it touching the sides! 
)An instrumental rip through Strand, Avalon & VP passed quickly and our leader soon entered the fray, looking happy & relaxed and dressed, as ever, in black suit & tie with white shirt.
Cherisse took over the second drum kit at the back (John Sutton played percussion on the non-jazz offerings), with Ollie directly in front of her. Iain Dixon left the other horns and took a podium position behind CG, from where he contributed his sax solos and keyboard fills.
In front of CG to the left we were treated to four backing vocalists, of whom only little Shar (it wouldn't be quite the same without the long serving pocket rocket!) looked familiar. She and one other wore black, while the other two newcomers wore flappers' dresses (somebody had obviously read Windswept2's wish list here!
) in striking lime green & black diagonal stripes.
After three short vocal numbers in the jazzier style (LITD, The Only Face & lovely version of Reason Or Rhyme) things cranked up a gear with Same Old Blues, Martin Wheatley ditching the banjo in favour of some fine slide guitar very much in the style of composer, the recently deceased J.J. Cale.
Better still was the following Re-Make: very faithful to BF's 1974 solo version, with the horns adding a brooding RnB flavour. Lovely! The crowd enjoyed the familiarity of Oh Yeah, before Iain Dixon treated us to a couple of mins of bebop sax (a tune - almost certainly a Charlie Parker one - I should be able to name, but haven't yet!).
A rather subdued NYC (a good candidate for replacement when Another Time hopefully returns) led us to the Dylanesque pairing of Tom Thumb & Heaven's Door and cracking versions they were too, with BF trading harmonica licks (a hugely underrated part of his performance, IMHO) with Ollie's guitar. More nice slide work from MW too.
The crowd, many of whom far exceeded my youthful 52 years, wallowed in Jealous Guy, before BF took a five minute break, allowing the jazz band to flex its muscles again.
During I Thought the two flappers moved to centre stage and entertained us royally with a dance routine; couldn't tell a Charleston from a Black Bottom myself, but my eyes were like the proverbial organ stops! It's only for Windswept2's benefit that I mention the long legs, the corkscrew curly hair piled high and (in one case) the sexy horn-rimmed glasses... (OK, you'd better pull the screens round, nurse; I'm having a middle-aged moment!
)
After the jazzmen treated us to a beautiful This Island Earth, BF returned for a lovely Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, before the full band gave us a brooding Casanova.
Don't Stop The Dance was another familiar crowd pleaser (but another one that I've heard a little too often...) before Can't Let Go became a candidate for my highlight of the night.
LST & especially Hard Rain (the latter broken in two by BF's introductions of the band) must have had everyone out of their deckchairs and knocking over their canapes, even before the equally rousing "encore" (nobody left the stage, of course...
) of Hold On & Editions.
Everyone seemed well entertained, despite a bit of post-gig calling for (the seriously overdone, IMHO) Avalon. I think BF judged the setlist well, with jazz element a little shorter than it probably will be in the autumn; he seemed happy & relaxed and in good voice (his neck being protected at the start & end of the gig by a voluminous scarf...).
The show was filmed, but possibly only with the intention of projecting the band on to the two big screens, one either side of the stage. The backdrop featured five much smaller screens, showing prepared images, at least some of which had been used before. My gaze was on the band (and the flappers, of course!), so I can't offer Windswept2 much more on this aspect, I'm afraid.
If anyone's wavering over the autumn tour, I would not hesitate in telling them to grab tickets if/while they still can. The jazz element is relatively short and the horns add some great RnB riffs to the full band numbers (I reiterate my own wish here for an album of BF singing soul classics, e.g. Stax/Atlantic/Motown...).
I hung around long enough to explain to the stage security what setlists looked like and was second in line for these behind a young lady (possibly Tracy?) who only wanted the one used by BF! She rejected the first two which somehow bypassed my eager mitts and ended up with a couple who had only just joined the queue (Mr & Mrs Avondale or Roxysiren perhaps?). Fortunately two more setlists appeared, so all mouths were fed on that score!
All in all a memorable gig in memorable surroundings and well worth the travelling.
