Concert Review : Andy Fairweather Low - The Ferry, Glasgow

One of the great joys for me over the past few years has been the return of Andy Fairweather Low to the live arena in his own right. Having put his solo endeavours to one side after the failure of Mega Shebang to make a meaningful impression on the world, he spent the years since then acting as guitar for hire. Given that this included long term engagements with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters suggests the skill and talent that he brought to that role.

Of course, those of us of a certain age remember AFL as the teen idol lead singer with Amen Corner, whilst those less chronologically challenged will recall his biggest solo hit Wide Eyed And Legless which is a condition I well recognise from my younger years. Of course, his previous career never really gave a hint of what a fine guitarist he is.

I've written previously on this blog about AFL, and it will be no great surprise to find me waxing ecstatically about his latest appearance in Glasgow on 6th November. Whilst much of the set was familiar, the songs were given a different twist in that the keyboards were replaced with a horn player which gave them a different feel.

What was different - indeed, almost a month later it still strikes me as astonishing - was the size of the crowd. The previous gigs at The Ferry had been reasonably well attended but left no doubt that the boat was in no danger of loosening itself from its' moorings. This time, however, the place was packed. Not full by any manner of means, but the audience had increased by about three time since the last show.

I'm not sure what's happened in the interim. The tour he is on, and the gig at The Ferry in particular, was no better advertised than happened previously. There's no new album to have generated any more of a profile.

What was clear was that all the "new" folk in the audience were more than familiar with the songs that were played. Hell, there was even three women who started screaming - yes, screaming - when he played Hello Susie, the first of the old Amen Corner songs played in the set.

It made it quite a thrilling evening for me as AFL is someone I'm happy to continue to champion as, in my (admittedly not very humble) opinion, not enough people recognise his worth. It was clearly just as thrilling to Andy and his band who were visibly quite taken aback with the reception which started at noisy and built from there.

All the hits from Amen Corner, Fairweather and solo segments of his career were played along with a number of songs from his excellent last album Sweet Soul Music. As he has done since his comeback, the set also contained a sprinkling of old blues, gospel and country tunes that provided a grand potted history of the key styles of the last 60 years. Most enjoyable and touching was his tribute to the recently departed Les Paul, playing the song Just Because which was his first ever released record way back in the 1960's.

Encoring with Bend Me Shape Me and (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice had The Ferry in singalong mood. Bend Me Shape Me was always a favourite of mine and it's been marvellous to be able to hear AFL perform this live over the past couple of years.

I did notice that AFL will be supporting the Robert Cray Band on their British tour in the summer of 2010. Hopefully, that will help to (re)introduce Andy to a wider audience which can only be a good thing.