Folkways in Lisbon
As I am habitually resigned to the sweating, black-painted walls of most London venues, instead sitting with a mammoth G&T in-hand, as the sun set over the wide-mouthed river Tagus, perhaps predisposed me to review favourably this gig by Folkways in Lisbon.
“It’s only a cover band” I hear you cry. Well indeed. But any performer who manages to inspire this, needs to be written about:
[youtuber vimeo=’http://vimeo.com/300050423′]
You may be able to pick out All Along the Watchtower behind the enthusiastic guitaristry.
The other surprising thing I can share is the rise and rise of the cover-band festival scene in the UK! How many of those do you think there are every summer?
I found at least 8 weekend-long events listed for 2019, and it’s a great chance to share some pun-tastic tribute names:
At the dubiously named Tribfest, you can see the Antarctic Monkeys, Badness and Totally Tina, whose promo video has to be seen!
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfC4m0AL_ME&feature=youtu.be’]
My question, why don’t they play a TT song in the video?
At Glastonbudget, you can sway along to Oasish, who earned this fantastic paean of praise: “Yeah, he’s alright man!” – Liam Gallagher (when asked what he thought of Oasish lead singer, Paul).
And based on the video for The Big Fake Festival, I know where I’ll be asking the editor to go to next year! I can’t wait to see the Really Hot Chili Peppers and The Fu Fighters.
That was all a bit exciting, and I return now to Folkways:
In their favour:
- Imaginative and effective use of loop machine to channel a multi-instrumental ambience suited to stadium rock
- Impressive mimicking of the unique voices of Edward Louis Severson III of Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews, especially for a Portuguese.
- Genuinely creative guitar solos and atmospheric psy-jamming with loop machine as a lead-in to Superstition
- Playing the guitar with a bow for the atmospheric opening of In the Air Tonight – watch it through to see the look on Phil’s face when he starts singing, his moody meandering around the stage, and then his explosion all over the drums – makes me wonder if it’s actually a song about constipation
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeDMnyQzS88′]
- Strongly commend their Wish You Were Here and All Along the Watchtower
- It was free, outside in the sun, with a bar and snacks to hand
Against
- You can’t make all the studio-remastered classics that you’ve heard 1,000 times sound good in an open-air live performance
In the unlikely event that you need to hire a cover band in Lisbon, I recommend them.
And I’ll see you at Tribfest!
