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31 July 2012
Just one look, that's all it took. Happiness arrived on cue when the taped to the stage set list revealed that not only was it a different night; it was a different set list. Same selections from new album 'Locked Down' - nothing from 'Gris-Gris', but plenty of 'Dr John's Gumbo' as well as some jazz and American songbook standards. Looks like an interesting, if a little laid-back, list - still it's probably unreasonable to expect a night as good as the previous one.
The support is Jon Cleary again, only this time he's playing mostly the same songs but at Dr Johns’ grand piano rather than his own keyboards. And what a difference being in the right place makes - the sound is so much better, the singer just seems so much more enthusiastic and it goes down a storm. That was unexpected, and a pleasant surprise. By the end of his set Under The Bridge was becoming one tightly packed venue - seemed like a lot of people had grabbed their complimentary drink in the VIP section, then made their way down to the standing area nearer the stage. Even so it's still small and friendly enough a venue that a band member can ask "weren't you here last night?" Intimate is the word, and what a treat to see Dr John here rather than, perhaps, The Shepherds Bush Empire.
So to the main feature - and 'Locked Down' remains a great opener and statement of intent with Dr John’s distinctive growl adding the necessary hard edge. If anything the audience are even happier to bop-till-they-drop than the night before - give or take a few of the shamblin' undead on the edges. 'I've been hoodood' may be little more than a riff and an old joke - "hoo-doo ? you do" - but it's a funky riff and feeds the joie de vivre. 'Let the good times roll' sees Dr John pick up his guitar and play - not flash but intricate in places. Back at the piano 'One 2am too many' and 'Making Whoopee' are two dips at jazzier arrangements that really work - Dr John is right up there with Sinatra and Harry Nilsson for taking 'Making Whoopee' and having it seem like his own.
Boastful 'Big Shot' is also truthful - "ain't never was, ain't never going to be, 'nother Big Shot like me" is in truth a pretty honest assessment of Dr John. There is no-one like him - how could there be? Who else will ever be able to have such a pedigree? Scuffling around the edges of the birth of rock and roll - a few singles, a few sessions playing guitar, producing and acting as a talent scout; influenced by his hometown jazz influences and rubbing shoulders with many who were there at the birth of that new music. Add in his psychedelic sixties, his adoption by the emergent rock royalty such as The Band and his greater commercial success in the seventies. He's welcome at rock, blues and jazz festivals - who will ever be able to have that career path again? I don't see it happening.
The remainder of the set was a selection of the new and the very old - and sometimes a mixture of songs - 'Indian Red' got a burst of 'Down by the riverside' blended in. 'When the saints go marching in' seemed endless (in a good way), and we were no longer in Fulham but were strolling down Basin Street as the Lower 911 took their solo's - slightly shorter work outs than the previous night. 'Eleggua' is a strange encore - vocals little more than mumbled gris-gris charms and nonsense phrases over a semi-improvised accompaniment, but classic Dr John and a very cool ending to a very hot evening which had been, if anything, even better than the night before.
Set List
- Locked Down
- Now that you got me
- Rain
- I've been Hoodood
- Rite Place
- Let the good times roll
- You Lie
- One 2AM Too Many
- Making Whoopee
- Ocapella
- Big Shot
- Qualified
- Revolution
- Ice Age
- Indian Red
- When the Saints
- Lay my burden
Encore
- Eleggua