It turned out that Albert Lee’s show on 7th May was the first time he had been inside Union Chapel, and it’s certainly a larger venue than those he has been playing in London recently. By the time the show was done, it felt like they were natural partners.
Lee was accompanied by his band: Ali Petrie on keyboards, brother Iain Petrie on bass and Tim Hillsdon on drums. All contribute backing vocals throughout the set. The show is pretty much a tour of Lee’s career, which has taken in Chris Farlowe, Heads Hands and Feet, Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, The Crickets, the Everly Brothers, and Eric Clapton, amongst others, and plenty more, as well as his time with Hogan’s Heroes and other groups.
The set opens with Mark Knopfler’s Setting Me Up which was performed by Lee on Clapton’s Just One Night tour and subsequent album. Lee’s guitar playing is exemplary, always in the service of the song. He follows with Wheels, the Burritos’ tune, which also featured on Harris’ Elite Hotel and was a regular in her sets when Lee was a member of her band, emphasising the country picking which is the bedrock of his guitar sound. Next up is Spellbound, written by Harris’ ex-husband, Paul Kennerley, which is played with a distinct funky edge.
Stepping right back in time, Lee and band rip through the classic rockabilly of Carl Perkins’ Restless. The tightness of the band is highlighted in the sparseness of the rocker and again on the contrasting Rodney Crowell-penned Song For The Life, with its lush melody and contemplative lyric. Crowell had played the same stage 10 days earlier, and Lee remarked on how both he and Harris were touring the UK around the same time. The harmonies from the band envelop the melody sweetly.
After John Stewart’s Runaway Train with a superb extended guitar solo, Lee talks about his involvement with The Crickets and how he picked up a gig with them due to Glen D Hardin’s commitments with Elvis Presley. The tale precedes Rock Around With Ollie Vee, which was penned by Sonny Curtis and first saw the light in 1957 as the B-side of That’ll Be The Day. The band rocks out on the tune.
The first set wraps up with Gram Parsons’ Luxury Liner with Lee’s high-speed country picking fingers smoking the fretboard. He tells us he owes his place in the Hot Band to James Burton being called back to Presley’s band.
Set 2 begins with a monologue from Lee about how he got involved with the Everly Brothers. He’d been a long-time fan and was offered the guitar slot when he was touring with Heads Hands and Feet, then eventually joined their band a decade later after being “fired by Eric Clapton”.
The first three songs of the set come from the Everlys’ catalogue: a sparky Lay It Down, The Price of Love, and Ray Charles’ Leave My Woman Alone. The vocals are pretty impressive, which is a feat given the brothers’ expertise in that area.
Lee moves to the piano for a pair of Jimmy Webb songs: Too Young To Die, about his classic car, first performed on record by David Crosby on his Thousand Roads album (1993), and The Highwayman, which was played with a lot of feeling and raised a few goosebumps in the house. They return to Crowell’s songbook for a lovely Til I Gain Control Again wringing the emotion from the song. Then it’s Country Boy, Lee’s signature tune and one that stretches out the guitar and band and brings the crowd to its feet.
They take a bow but stay on stage with Lee back on the piano for the moving late Glen Campbell song A Better Place. At this point, the band is joined by Lee’s son, Wayne, on piano, with Ali Petrie playing the organ parts. They pay tribute to the late Gary Brooker (who died in February 2022) with a rendition of A Whiter Shade of Pale. Wayne Lee’s vocal is strong and comfortably reaches the venue’s outer edges.
The time has come to take it home, and Lee introduces his regular closer, Johnny Burnette’s Tear It Up, which they do. Lee’s guitar rips through the sound, and each of the musicians takes a turn. Wayne Lee is a dab hand at rock-and-roll piano, too. The audience roars their appreciation. Albert Lee is 82, but you’d never know it from the energy he puts into his performance tonight. A master at work.
Nice review Richard of one of the soundest fellas in the bizness.