Living Colour at The Craufurd Arms
On the evening of Tuesday 3rd October 2017, I went to see Living Colour (LC) at the Craufurd Arms in Wolverton, Milton Keynes. I have been familiar with this American band since the late eighties; and though my memory is slightly patchy on this, I think I saw the guys play in London in support of Anthrax back in the day. Will have to dig out all my old gig tickets to jog my memory.
I certainly have the albums “Vivid” “Time’s Up” “Stain” and “Collideoscope” and enjoy the fusion of funk, hard rock and metal.
The whole build up to the gig was a bit weird. I first found out about the event on the 25th September via an email from the venue (I am on the mailing list and receive regular newsletters so would have known about the event earlier had it been scheduled for longer). I bought a ticket immediately, then mentioned the show to a few friends.
The show itself was due to take place just eight days later.
To have so little time in between the event promotion and the event itself surely meant that it was impromptu, unplanned, or came about because of some other fluke of circumstance (a cancellation perhaps).
I did a little bit of research and found the tour details published on planetrock.com, here’s what I found …
SEPTEMBER 2017
Glasgow The Garage – Tue 26th
Bilston The Robin2 – Wed 27th
Leeds Brudenell Social Club – Thu 28th
Nottingham Rescue Rooms – Fri 29th
Manchester Club Academy – Sat 30th
OCTOBER 2017
London ULU – Sun 1st
Norwich Waterfront – Wed 4th
Liverpool Hangar 34 – Fri 6th
Newcastle Riverside – Sat 7th
… No mention of the Wolverton date or the venue!
The rushed nature of the gig wasn’t the only unusual thing I noticed. On arriving at the Craufurd Arms, there was a large double decker tour coach and trailer filling the car park. Normally bands that play the venue turn up with Transit vans and other less glamorous vehicles.
The gig was sold-out - no real surprise given the quality of the band - but I had never been to an event at the Craufurd where there were so many people. The merchandising for the bands had to be in the main pub rather than the music hall to make way for all the punters. My mates and I still got nice and close to the stage though.
Though Living Colour is a long established band, there was no branded dressing of the stage area. I bet there just wasn’t time to get any bespoke backdrops commissioned.
Living Colour has always been vocal on subjects such as racism and discrimination; I don’t suppose there was a race related agenda at all, but it was just interesting to observe that whilst all the band members are/were black, all the road crew, minion types at the gig were white.
That brings me on to another observation; the fellas from LC are still lean and trim, no middle aged spread on any of them. I have been to a few gigs over the years where time clearly hasn’t been so kind to the aging rockers – Chuck Billy from Testament or Rob Halford from Judas Priest for example. Getting to the point, one of the crew members was a big, overweight twenty/thirty something - think Brian Blessed but with ginger hair and a big ginger beard. He was responsible for the guitars and watching him putting them on was quite funny. The straps, being adjusted for Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish were so tight on him that the instruments were digging into is armpits and they looked like they were three-quarter sized.
Anyway the band was promoting its new album called “Shade” and was supported by an English band called “Stone Broken”.
Living Colour took to the stage a little after 9pm. The fellas looked a little bemused, most likely disappointed, by the small size of the venue. The opening line from Corey Glover “we’ve played in loads of venues, but we’ve never played here”. Perhaps a come down in status for the band but a pleasure for the residents of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area.
The band didn’t look completely interested/engaged to start with but got into its stride and the audience followed in terms of enthusiasm and participation.
There were some sound issues part way through the set. A broken microphone clearly frustrated Corey but whilst it was being fixed, he launched into an impromptu acapella rendition of Otis Reading’s “The Dock of the Bay” (follow this YouTube link and you’ll be able to listen to the song yourself). He sang the song all the way through and it went down well with the audience. There is no doubt that Corey Glover has a great voice, lots of range and power.
The set lasted for the greater part of two hours and included a nice mix of classic (“Cult of Personality”, “Middle Man”, “Glamour Boys”) and new tunes (like “Who Shot Ya”). Unusually for a Craufurd gig, Living Colour’s set included significant (something like nine minute) bass and then drum solos. The heat in the hall was significant and drummer, Will Calhoun, was soaked through by the time he was done with his solo slot.
At the end of the show there wasn’t an encore but the guys did come out and engage with the audience and to sign merchandise. I really should have bought a copy of “Shade” and got it signed but I didn’t have enough cash on me so that was the end of that.
All in all, it was a great gig and a damn fine way to spend a Tuesday night. Once again the Craufurd Arms pulled a blinder, I have seen some excellent international bands at this venue, Living Colour followed in the footsteps of Honky and The Atomic Bitchwax in terms of representing the US.
I can report that Living Colour has still “got it”, so my recommendation is go and see the band if you get a chance.
Finally, thanks to Mike and Darren, good company, good food, good music and a good night out.
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
https://youtu.be/TPCjd9V7OCg
I certainly have the albums “Vivid” “Time’s Up” “Stain” and “Collideoscope” and enjoy the fusion of funk, hard rock and metal.
The whole build up to the gig was a bit weird. I first found out about the event on the 25th September via an email from the venue (I am on the mailing list and receive regular newsletters so would have known about the event earlier had it been scheduled for longer). I bought a ticket immediately, then mentioned the show to a few friends.
The show itself was due to take place just eight days later.
To have so little time in between the event promotion and the event itself surely meant that it was impromptu, unplanned, or came about because of some other fluke of circumstance (a cancellation perhaps).
I did a little bit of research and found the tour details published on planetrock.com, here’s what I found …
SEPTEMBER 2017
Glasgow The Garage – Tue 26th
Bilston The Robin2 – Wed 27th
Leeds Brudenell Social Club – Thu 28th
Nottingham Rescue Rooms – Fri 29th
Manchester Club Academy – Sat 30th
OCTOBER 2017
London ULU – Sun 1st
Norwich Waterfront – Wed 4th
Liverpool Hangar 34 – Fri 6th
Newcastle Riverside – Sat 7th
… No mention of the Wolverton date or the venue!
The rushed nature of the gig wasn’t the only unusual thing I noticed. On arriving at the Craufurd Arms, there was a large double decker tour coach and trailer filling the car park. Normally bands that play the venue turn up with Transit vans and other less glamorous vehicles.
The gig was sold-out - no real surprise given the quality of the band - but I had never been to an event at the Craufurd where there were so many people. The merchandising for the bands had to be in the main pub rather than the music hall to make way for all the punters. My mates and I still got nice and close to the stage though.
Though Living Colour is a long established band, there was no branded dressing of the stage area. I bet there just wasn’t time to get any bespoke backdrops commissioned.
Living Colour has always been vocal on subjects such as racism and discrimination; I don’t suppose there was a race related agenda at all, but it was just interesting to observe that whilst all the band members are/were black, all the road crew, minion types at the gig were white.
That brings me on to another observation; the fellas from LC are still lean and trim, no middle aged spread on any of them. I have been to a few gigs over the years where time clearly hasn’t been so kind to the aging rockers – Chuck Billy from Testament or Rob Halford from Judas Priest for example. Getting to the point, one of the crew members was a big, overweight twenty/thirty something - think Brian Blessed but with ginger hair and a big ginger beard. He was responsible for the guitars and watching him putting them on was quite funny. The straps, being adjusted for Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish were so tight on him that the instruments were digging into is armpits and they looked like they were three-quarter sized.
Anyway the band was promoting its new album called “Shade” and was supported by an English band called “Stone Broken”.
Living Colour took to the stage a little after 9pm. The fellas looked a little bemused, most likely disappointed, by the small size of the venue. The opening line from Corey Glover “we’ve played in loads of venues, but we’ve never played here”. Perhaps a come down in status for the band but a pleasure for the residents of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area.
The band didn’t look completely interested/engaged to start with but got into its stride and the audience followed in terms of enthusiasm and participation.
There were some sound issues part way through the set. A broken microphone clearly frustrated Corey but whilst it was being fixed, he launched into an impromptu acapella rendition of Otis Reading’s “The Dock of the Bay” (follow this YouTube link and you’ll be able to listen to the song yourself). He sang the song all the way through and it went down well with the audience. There is no doubt that Corey Glover has a great voice, lots of range and power.
The set lasted for the greater part of two hours and included a nice mix of classic (“Cult of Personality”, “Middle Man”, “Glamour Boys”) and new tunes (like “Who Shot Ya”). Unusually for a Craufurd gig, Living Colour’s set included significant (something like nine minute) bass and then drum solos. The heat in the hall was significant and drummer, Will Calhoun, was soaked through by the time he was done with his solo slot.
At the end of the show there wasn’t an encore but the guys did come out and engage with the audience and to sign merchandise. I really should have bought a copy of “Shade” and got it signed but I didn’t have enough cash on me so that was the end of that.
All in all, it was a great gig and a damn fine way to spend a Tuesday night. Once again the Craufurd Arms pulled a blinder, I have seen some excellent international bands at this venue, Living Colour followed in the footsteps of Honky and The Atomic Bitchwax in terms of representing the US.
I can report that Living Colour has still “got it”, so my recommendation is go and see the band if you get a chance.
Finally, thanks to Mike and Darren, good company, good food, good music and a good night out.
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
https://youtu.be/TPCjd9V7OCg
RSS Feed
