Strawbs

Twickenham Stadium

12 September 2009

40 Years On

Day 1

Strawbs held their two-day 40th anniversary festival at Twickers on 12-13/9/2009. This comprised a sequence of mostly 40-minute sets by Strawbs lineups, spinoff bands and Strawbs' members bands.
Unfortunately I could only go on the Saturday due to other commitments :(, but it was a fantastic day with great music, humour and camaraderie.

Dave Cousins & Ian Cutler

Proceedings opened with a duet between Dave Cousins and violinist Ian Cutler. Ian is also part of the Blue Angel Orchestra, which is one of Dave's spinoff bands.

Zeus

Next were Zeus, a new acoustic band Dave Lambert has formed.

Graeme Taylor has played in many bands including Gryphon and the Rolf Harris Band.

Dave Lambert.

Violinist Tom Leary was also in Feast of Fiddles and Little Johnny England.

Jon Davie was also in Gryphon as well as having played with John Williams and John Etheridge.

Strawbs (Heartbreak Hill lineup)

This was the first time the lineup that recorded Heartbreak Hill had ever played live, as Strawbs had split up shortly after recording that album, with Dave Cousins starting off on his radio producer career.

Guitarist Jo Partridge has also worked with many top bands of the 70s and 80s.

Tony Fernandez joined Strawbs before they recorded Deadlines, and has worked with Rick Wakeman for the last 34 years.

Andy Richards took over the keyboards after Deadlines and has played with many well-known artists since.

Chas, by then, was the only other remaining member from the Hero & Heroine lineup.

Cry No More

Cry No More grew out of the coming-together of Chas and Roy Hill.

Roy had supported the Strawbs 1978 Deadlines tour.

Strawbs (Blue Angel lineup)

Fast forward a couple of decades or so, and we come to the lineup from Blue Angel.

Dave Cousins singing and playing the dulcimer on Benedictus.

Great to see Blue Weaver playing with the band again. He brought with him not just one Mellotron, but two! Great to hear these vintage instruments in action again.

Cathryn Craig is a fabulous singer and it was great to see her in a Strawbs lineup.

Chas joins the chorus.

It's not so often you see Brian Willoughby playing an electric guitar these days. I'd forgotten how good he is!

John Ford

Next up was John Ford, specially flown in from the USA.

Fantastic to see him given a decent-length slot - it was a real delight to hear Hudson-Ford songs such as Floating in the Wind again.

John Ford, Tony Fernandez, Cathryn Craig and Blue Weaver

The "Part of the Union 2009" lineup delivered a rousing finale to his set as Tony, Cathryn and Blue, who of course played on the original, joined in.

Dave Cousins & Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman's return to the Strawbs fold for a duet with Dave Cousins made a wonderful climax to the evening. Great also to see and hear a real grand piano in action - how often do you get that nowadays?

I'd never seen Rick live before, I was totally blown away.

A fabulous end to a great day's music!