Live at
RaynersLIVE, Harrow,
Saturday 9th August 2003
The Real Feel and fine support outfit Fat Finger provided
some hot funky blues on one of the hottest nights of the year.
Damien McCabe has been called "The Buddy Guy of Ireland" by the late
great Luther Allison, and certainly in terms of passion and his willingness
to take chances his is!
Where many of his contemporaries are content to stick to the safe and predictable,
McCabe is an on stage burst of spontaneity, mixing his rapped out blues vocals
with a funky undertow. And on this sweltering hot evening it was just what the
audience wanted.
First up was Fat Finger, a solid professional combo who mixed Jimmy Reed with
Little Feat and even Robbie Robertson and The Band. Singer Jim Vandernburg has
a pleasing vocal, and drummer Cough John powers it all along. The band overcame
a broken guitar string to finally leave the stage to encouraging applause.
Barely 5 minutes later the explosive Damien McCabe hit the stage with a stripped
down trio, and launched himself into his own Magic Sam inspired "Find My
Way Back Home" and the hard-edged urban funk of the "Meat Man".
Two things are immediately apparent about Damien. Firstly, the waves of nervous
energy infuse each performance like Roger Chapman in his Family days. And secondly,
here’s a performer with a hell of a James Brown style voice who makes
it his priority to make a connection with his audience.
The opening tidal wave of energy gave way to some stinging slide on his own
self penned "I Hate To Lose", on which he was joined by the tall TJ
Johnson on second guitar. The following show stopper, Muddy Waters' "Feel
Like Going Home" - performed on the late Brian Knight's special issue Fender
- saw the band hit full stride before the rhythm section of John Kaethner on
bass and drummer Joachim Greve slipped into a jazzy mode on jazzy tinged to
"It Won't Be Me" and the McCabe-penned ballad "Heavenly Love".
Damien startlingly set his guitar on fire at this point and played "I Love
The Fine Life" amid growing flames that were successfully doused at the
climax of the song.
The deserved encore brought an unlikely but stunning version of Erroll Brown's
"Everyone’s A Winner" as part of a closing medley that brought
the house to it's feet. This was a fine climax to a great show.
Pete Feenstra - RealMusicLIVE