Peverett's performance seems even more astounding when you are aware of his suffering, and how close his passing came after this show. His voice was strong and passionate, his guitar playing was killer, and his rapport with the fans was second to none. He must have known the time was near and wanted to go out in style doing what he loved. Peverett wasn't the only impressive thing about this show however. Referring earlier to guitarist Bryan Bassett as "very able" was actually a sort of pun, because this guy was simply incredible both times I saw him. Reading his bio, I discovered that he was a founding member of the group Wild Cherry, anybody not remember their #1 hit song "Play That Funky Music"?, and he also did a six year stint with Molly Hatchet during the 90's. His staggering slide-guitar work and dazzling solos reminded me a lot of the great Warren Haynes.
The set list covered most of the essentials, going all the way back to the first album for their scorching cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love To You", on up to "Rock Your House" and "Angel Of Mercy" from their 1998 live album, Road Cases. Along with all of the hits, such as "Fool For The City", "Slow Ride", and "Stone Blue", was also an impassioned rendition of "It Hurts Me Too", from the old Savoy Brown days, as well as a show-stopping performance of the Robert Johnson classic "Sweet Home Chicago". Much of the older material was seriously neglected at this show, however, seeing that only one song was played from their first four albums. At the very least, they should have included "Ride Ride Ride", and "Road Fever", from the second album (usually referred to as Rock and Roll), and "Honey Hush", and "Home In My Hand", from their third album Energized. There was certainly plenty of room left on the disk!
The DVD was disappointingly short in length, especially considering that it was the final document of "Lonesome" Dave Peverett's long and brilliant career. I'm sure that Foghat was probably one of the opening bands on this bill, like when I saw them, so their set length was obviously limited, but they should have made special arrangements, or combined two shows, considering that they were recording for this DVD. The main feature ran for 88 minutes, but much of this was the interview footage interspersed between the songs. The actual ten song performances only totaled about 61 minutes, which is a damn shame.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i've always loved live albums, as you can see here.