I had a feeling this wouuld be a good one, and I’m glad to say I was right!

This was billed as an Aynsley Lister Band/King King “double header”, and both bands played decent length sets, Aynsley got the full 90 minutes, but King King were already on stage and in full swing when we arrived a little late after an awful journey through what Alan Nimmo refered to as “the pissing rain” when he thanked the near sell out crowd for coming out on such an awful night.

So - King King were on first and having only seen them play a 40 minute support slot previously, it was great to see them play an extended set, and boy are they good! (So good they named them twice?  ) The band is built around Alan Nimmo’s great singing and guitar playing (and superbly enthusiastic frontmanship), but take nothing away from the other guys - they are all superb musicians and really won the crowd over. I am mightily impressed by this band. If you’ve not seen them and they show up in your area, don’t miss them.

After a fairly quick re-arrangement of the stage, Aynsley wandered out with the old jazz guitar (I think he took the lighting guy by surprise, as the house lights seemed to stay on for a couple of minutes) and started playing some great slide. I thought perhaps we were about to be treated to a solo opener, but after a few bars Midus, Simon, and Dan joined him on stage, and proceeded to rock the house with “Sugar Low”. They then went on to delight a packed house with a terrific set. The audience were buzzing but did manage a perfectly observed two minutes silence during the quiet bit of Purple Rain, which really brought the house down. The guys were clearly enjoying themselves and feeding off the atmosphere that a packed house gives. Aynsley even gave “Disco Dan” (his words - not mine) a couple of minutes in the spotlight with a nice little blues jam between songs.
Aynsley again took the time to have a chat afterwards, almost as soon as he got off stage, as did the rest of the band. Mrs Icon (they all seem to think that’s really funny - but what else should I call her) got her set list signed by them all, and remarked to Midus that she always looks like she’s having such a great time on stage. Midus replied “That’s because I am!” - And we all thought she was just laughing at Dan!  Or maybe Aynsley getting his words wrong

Here’s what we got:
Sugar Low
With Me Tonight
Early Morning Dew
Soundman
What’s It All About?
Soul
Hurricane
Big Sleep
Running Out On Me
Purle Rain
Crosstown Traffic
In The Morning
Balls Of Steel (Encore)

One slightly inebriated punter came over to Aynsley afterwards and made the point that after King King’s set he felt Aynsley and co would need to “raise their game”. He said he thought they had, and came over really well. Can’t disagree with that…......

Thanks for a great night guys - I even managed to get out of the one way system at first attempt - and it had stopped raining.

Ian

Great stuff - just off to see King King at the Boom Boom Club - should be good…..........

Great review again Ian, no Slow Dancing in a Burning Room or Hush in the set I notice, is this a preview of whats on The Tower Sessions I wonder.

spurspaul - 30 April 2010 09:58 PM

Great review again Ian, no Slow Dancing in a Burning Room or Hush in the set I notice, is this a preview of whats on The Tower Sessions I wonder.

Interesting you should mention those two Paul.
They were both written on the set list in the encore section with BOS. I guess maybe they ran out of time, or wanted a choice of encore depending on how things were going.

That sounds like a great evening.
A gig starting with “Sugar low”, one of my favourite songs, that’s a flying start

Ian, that was a good one to be at!

Wonder what you’d have done if it had been a real life Great British Blues Cup situation?

jimmyo - 01 May 2010 10:51 AM

Ian, that was a good one to be at!

Wonder what you’d have done if it had been a real life Great British Blues Cup situation?

Jimmy - after seeing King King last night, a King King/Aynsley double header could be like Chelsea v Man Utd - not much between the two - as Icon said, King King are mightily impressive and were great crowd pleasers last night in Sutton - Alan Nimmo is clearly another great guitarist, with the voice to match and his band are up there with the best on the circuit - he mentioned during their set that they are recording their debut album in a month’s time, so one to watch out for…....well worth seeing if you get the chance….....perhaps a few more double headers would be nice, time permitting…....

eldo56 - 01 May 2010 12:11 PM

... King King are mightily impressive ....well worth seeing if you get the chance….

Totally agree Eldo, but have a look at my First, Last & Next!

jimmyo - 01 May 2010 02:40 PM

eldo56 - 01 May 2010 12:11 PM

... King King are mightily impressive ....well worth seeing if you get the chance….

Totally agree Eldo, but have a look at my First, Last & Next!

Yeah, sorry - I mean’t to say “well worth seeing” to anyone interested - you are lucky to have already seen them…..you certainly get about…...

Yes sounds like a great one!

By coincidence I discovered my local promoter has just booked both King King and Aynsley at the Caves, Edinburgh towards the tail end of the year (separate nights!). Clearly the Aynsley show was booked on the strength of the good showing for his show in the same venue last year, so it’s very pleasing to see that Edinburgh might be somewhere Aynsley returns to each year.

Hey

Finally back in the UK.

Looks Like I’ve missed a good gig at the Boom Boom Club.  Still will try and get to Aynsley in June.  Got so much catching up to do though!!!

Glad you had a great time Ian.

BB

The Big Blue - 04 May 2010 12:50 AM

Hey

Finally back in the UK.

Looks Like I’ve missed a good gig at the Boom Boom Club.  Still will try and get to Aynsley in June.  Got so much catching up to do though!!!

Glad you had a great time Ian.

BB

Welcome back BB - we’ve missed you!
Seems ages since you took of on holiday.

Ian