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colne festival 2007 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!!!! - SEVEN BANDS WERE REVIEWED BY PAUL ABRAHAM FROM LEEDS MUSIC PROMOTIONS......... ROADHOUSE BEEN ONE OF THEM ROADHOUSEWhile some of the hardcore Blues fans may have found Roadhouse more of a rock-blues band, they would have had to acknowledge what a talented and professional band this is. I personally felt some Pink Floyd / Mostly Autumn vibes, as the two female singers took the music to a harmonious level to compliment the excellent musicianship from the other band members.reviewed by paul abraham for the colne festival 2007Roadhouse at The Crwdaddy Club - Essex Blues Festival - Hospice Charity - 2006And so, to the headline act and, indeed, the very first act that was booked for the Festival, the superb Roadhouse. The last time they played the Crawdaddy was in late 2005 at what was the final gig with the line-up that included Lorna Reilly & Jules Fothergill, now part of funkydory who you can see at the Club on Thursday November 9th. With two superb female singers, Mandie G and the amazing 19 years old Susie D, plus new guitarist Drew Barron, this was our first chance to catch this ?new? line-up which has been creating quite a stir, and with good cause. Gary Boner plus his long term rhythm section of Bill Hobley on bass and Roger Hunt on drums turned in a storming final set featuring a number of tracks from the band?s latest Blues Matters! CD, the superb ?Broken Land? as well as tracks from previous CDs. All in all they treated the audience to a fine rocking set that gave the lady vocalists every chance to shine as well as treating all the guitar nuts to some great duelling guitars as Gary & Drew jousted with their instruments. A superb finale to an excellent day which was marred by but one thing ? why did so few people turn up? £10.00 to see 10 acts over a 10 hour period, and yet quite a bit less than a hundred paying customers passed through the doors. I simply do not understand it and it is poor recompense to the artists and to the team that worked so hard and long to put it all together.Reviewed by Ashwyn Smith (Crawdaddy News, ) - added Saturday, 13 January 2007-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------Roadhouse at the Wingate & Finchley Club - 17/9/06Two gigs in one weekend, things are looking up! I personally found the Roadhouse shows to be much more entertaining when they performed a set on their own rather than the jam sessions Gary used to take so much trouble to organise. They have a good varied repertoire of songs and deliver them with much finesse. Tonight we had Drew Barron on vocals and lead guitar, and Mandie G on vocals alongside Roger Hunt on drums, Bill Hobley on bass, and of course Gary Boner on vocals and second lead guitar. We also had the first exercising of the marvellous PA system which had graced the Green Man in Barnet. Vince brought it along and set it and the spotlights up, and it was perfect. A lovely balanced sound, which although pretty loud was perfectly clear and with total silence in the quiet passages. Thanks Vince! The closing number of the first set was "Rock Me Baby" and boy, did it rock! Drew and Gary stopped taking turns in the limelight and did some beautiful synchronised stringing. There's something about the sound of two guitars wailing like banshees in total harmony that gets the neck-hairs standing to attention. Brilliant stuff. I hadn't really heard much of Drew's playing live before, but he really is very good. Smiling, having fun, and nicely self-effacing while delivering stunning licks and slide. Mandie G has one hell of a voice, and despite the lack of assistance tonight from other members of Gary's harem dealt us a superb show. How she can keep going all evening like that, with only a couple of breaks, I can't imagine. Her showcase version of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" would have made Bob Dylan very proud, I'm sure. If only we can get more quality acts like this to the Wingate & Finchley club, and more than the usual handful of regulars in the audience to enjoy the great facilities, then we should be in for some fine gigs. Rating:Reviewed by Rob White (MSN & REVIEW WEBSITES, ) - added Sunday, 1 October 2006-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------
