Live Review: Albert Lee, The Drill, Lincoln – 20th July 2025

The Drill is one of the city of Lincoln’s premier and most iconic live venues. It is also its oldest. Formerly known as The Drill Hall, this Grade II-listed building was erected in 1890 as a military training drill hall with its history and secrets still visible wherever you look, from commemorative plaques to a firing range in the basement. Having been used for hosting entertainment from the time it opened, with dances and social events held for military officers, by 1963, it was embracing a new type of music with The Rolling Stones playing a New Year’s Eve concert, the day before they played on Top of the Pops for the first time. Since then, the venue has continued to play its part in hosting the full gamut of music genres through the decades, and despite having closed for five years between 1999 and 2004 due to refurbishment and again in 2020 due to funding being withdrawn, it rose again, phoenix-like, when the Lincoln College Group took over the building in 2021. Through those years, such iconic acts as Bad Company, Iron Maiden, Bellowhead, The Libertines, and Kiefer Sutherland have all plied their trade.

This evening’s headline act could sit comfortably alongside most of the acts that have gone before, despite not necessarily being a household name. Albert Lee’s CV is a match for anyone, having worked both in the studio and on tour with many of popular music’s most famous artists, across a wide range of genres, as well as maintaining a highly respected solo career. Having first tasted commercial success with Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds towards the latter half of the 1960s, he formed the seminal outfit Heads, Hands & Feet, recording three albums, before going on to work with the Crickets. His first big break came in 1976 when he was asked to replace the legendary James Burton in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, where he remained for two years before spending five years as part of Eric Clapton’s band. However, possibly his greatest claim to fame came in 1983, when he was responsible for reuniting The Everly Brothers, playing regularly with them throughout the following twenty years.

If that wasn’t enough, Lee has also managed to maintain a successful solo career, starting with the debut album “Hiding” in 1979, while the following years have seen well over a dozen more studio albums released, culminating in 2024’s “Lay It Down”. To top it all off, Lee won a Grammy in 2002 for his contribution to Earl Scruggs’ classic bluegrass instrumental ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ and was honoured with the Trailblazer Lifetime Achievement Award at the UK Americana Awards in 2017.

With no support act, the evening’s concert was divided into two sets, with the proceedings kicking off just after 8.00 pm. This current tour of the UK sees Lee joined on stage by Ali Petrie on keys/organ and backing vocals, his brother Ian Petrie on bass and backing vocals, and Tim Hilsdon, providing drums. Lee himself took centre stage, relying on just the two signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitars for the duration of the two sets. Opening with ‘Setting Me Up’, a song written by Mark Knopfler and originally from the debut Dire Straits album, Lee had first played and sung the song on Eric Clapton’s live album “Just One Night”, and clearly remains a favourite for performing live.

Now, at 81 years of age, it would be natural to expect Lee’s vocals to lack the power of a younger man, but for the first four or five numbers, there was clearly an issue. Speaking to the audience between songs and telling his stories didn’t seem to be a problem, but as soon as the band started to play, Lee’s vocals were barely audible, and with his penchant for introducing songs by who had written them and not the song’s title, it became very difficult to recognise what song was being played. Like most people, my initial thought was that Lee’s vocals had just finally faded away, until a few of the frustrated audience voiced their concerns, resulting in some twisting of the dials on the mixing desk, and hey presto, Lee’s vocals were as clear as a bell.

With the problem solved, the first set palpably shifted up a gear, just in time for an excellent rendition of John Stewart’s ‘Runaway Train’, before closing the first half with a simply sublime take on Gram Parsons’ classic ‘Luxury Liner’ that Lee had recorded while a member of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band.

With all the gremlins dealt with, the second half of the show began trouble free, with Lee re-visiting his time with Don & Phil Everly, sharing some of his amusing stories before performing two tracks from the brothers’ back catalogue, firstly with the slightly less well known ‘Lay It Down’, before one of their latter-day hits “The Price Of Love’, proved popular with the local congregation. A highly energetic cover of Ray Charles’ ‘Ain’t That Love’, followed, Lee’s fretwork as fluid and effortless as ever, while the band’s musical prowess, constantly watching Lee for direction, provided the perfect foil.

Midway through the second set, Lee sat himself behind the piano, possibly for a rest, and who could blame him at 81 years of age, but more than likely just to help break proceedings, and add a little variety to the song selection. Starting with two songs from the pen of the great Jimmy Webb, the first, a delightful rendition of ‘Too Young To Die’, followed by the much-covered classics ‘The Highwayman’, before rounding off this triptych of piano numbers by returning to his old bandmate from his Hot Band days, Rodney Crowell, and an emotionally charged performance of ”Till I Can Gain Control Again’.

Then, with guitar back in hand, Lee and his band turned the turbo blasters on for the last two tracks, starting with an explosive cover of Richard Thompson’s ‘Tear Stained Letter’, Lee’s dizzying guitar solo matched by some splendid keyboard playing by Ali Petrie, while the rhythm section’s relentless momentum simply encouraged the musical duel. And then, just when you thought the tempo had reached its peak, the set was closed by Lee’s very own contribution to the canon of country music classics with ‘Country Boy’ delighting the crowd to the point of delirium as one after the other, the guitar solo’s just kept on coming, Ian Petrie’s bass at times trying desperately to compete as Lee’s fingers traversed the neck of his guitar with such effortless dexterity that belied his 81 years. Truly astonishing.

Unsurprisingly, an encore was vociferously demanded and duly rewarded with Lee initially returning to the piano seat where he delivered a very moving and poignant rendition of Glen Campbell’s ‘A Better Place’, before strapping on his guitar for one last time. Having delivered a night of music that had traversed the decades, Lee and his band offered up one more classic, and probably the oldest song of the night, with Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n ‘ Roll Trio’s ‘Tear Up It’, first released as a single back in 1956. Here, it received the full Albert Lee treatment even as the show’s time extended past the two-hour mark, this legendary guitar hero displayed little sign of slowing down, delighting the audience with one last fiery solo. Long may his fingers continue to burn up that fretboard.