Martin Turner returned to the Robin 2 carrying the sad news that drummer, Tim Brown, had recently passed away. The gig, as a whole was dedicated to Tim’s memory. The rest of the, Misha Nikolic and Danny Willson, remained awake for most of the show. Returning to the fold was drummer Rob Hewins, who had previously worked with Martin nearly 20 years ago.
A decent audience of around 200 people
This is part of the ‘Two Eras’ tour which is coming to an end and mainly covers songs released by Wishbone Ash versions 1 & 2 which, of course, includes the ever-popular Argos period as interpreted by Martin.
There was no support act tonight so the audience were given almost 2 hours of tunes.
The band go straight into The King Will Come, from Argus or should that be Argos?
As usual Martin was able to recount his dalliances with young females, in and around Devon mostly, and experience of certain medicinal substances with several of said dalliances ending up as lyric-fodder
Next up was Blind Eye, taken from the band’s first album, Wishbone Ash released in 1970. This song always gives Martin the opportunity to practice his pirate face, and this was followed by Errors of my Ways from the same album. The twin lead guitars from the early 1970’s was reproduced quite faithfully by Danny and Misha; nothing needs to be said about the bass!
Pilgrim from 1971’s Pilgrimage was followed by Ballad of the Beacon from Wishbone 4 and then came War and Peace aka Warrior and Throw Down the Sword, both from Argus.
Nearly time for tea and biscuits as yet another tale is recounted about a young lady and her addition to certain medicinals. This was presented as Doctor from the band’s first album.
Part 2 starts with Silver Shoes from the band’s fifth album, There’s the Rub. It’s at this point Martin Turner recounts some of his more amorous exploits while trying to drag Misha into singing – without any success whatsoever – which leads us on to the title track from Front Page News and then the NSFW-titled F.U.B.B. also from There’s the Rub. Lady Jay, also from 1974’s There’s the Rub, came next.
A rarely heard song, Diamond Jack from Front Page News, leads us on towards the end of the show.
The finish line is in sight and the end is reached once You See Red, written by Laurie Wisefield and sung by Danny Willson (the Laurie Wisefield lookalike) is done along with one final trip back to Argus for Blowin’ Free.
The band briefly leave the stage but their return leads us to another rarely played song in Living Proof from 1980’s Just Testing. Just time for one more of Martin’s stories about yet another young female with Jail Bait from Pilgrimage being the result.
200 or so people leave happy.
RIP Tim Brown.
Words & images: Reg Richardson
