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The Acoustic Strawbs

Venue: Rock Plaza
Town: Sevenoaks
Date: 4th February
Website: http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk

Our friends’ at Brandywine Music are putting on some tremendous acts at venues across Kent and Sussex and tonight was no exception. OK, so it might not perhaps have been the full punnet of Strawbs but it proved more than enough for the attendant audience on what turned out to be an extremely bitter February night. Without a word of pomp or ceremony the intrepid trio of Dave Cousins (guitar, banjo, dulcimer and lead vocals), Dave Lambert (guitar and vocals) and Chas Cronk (bass, bass pedals, 12-string guitar and vocals) took to the stage for some enjoyable reminiscing spanning the band’s forty years together.

Chronologically speaking, Cousins related the Strawbs history from their humble beginnings at The White Bear pub in Hounslow starting with “The Man Who Called Himself Jesus” via a ‘first track’ (with notable exceptions) album trawl including “The Weary Song”, to the (more or less) present day with “Cold Steel” all of which came and went faster than a snow blizzard. Smiles of recognition for each song, perhaps showing the tell-tale age of a majority of the audience were treated to “Josephine, For Better Or For Worse”, “The Hangman And The Papist” and the truly classic hit single “Lay Down”, each greeted with enthusiastic rounds of applause and finishing with the encore “Shine On Silver Sun”.

Before we knew it, it was time to brave the winter elements but each going away with a sense of feeling that perhaps we’d all had a Glimpse Of Heaven (an unashamed nodding wink to those in the know).

Pete Fyfe