REVIEW OF FAMILY REUNION AT THE 02
I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get to either of the Family reunion nights - firstly because Saturday night appeared to be sold out as well as Friday by the time I came to buy my ticket - but then luckily when I checked out the availability for Friday there was one available.
However I then went down with one of these wretched flu bugs during this last week,and was feeling really rough the day before and thinking I wouldn't be able to go - but again I recovered sufficiently on Friday to be able to get myself over to London.
So the fact it was touch and go whether I would even make it added to the experience. It was also special to see the band who had such an impact on my formative years in Shepherds Bush, where I had spent the first two years of my life when my parents were living with my Grandmother literally just round the corner from where the 02 theatre is located.
I have fond memories of weekends spent there as a child, and the connection to local history was added to when the warm up act, Papa George, turned out to be also from there and mentioned that his Dad used to own a barbers sop there - so my Dad and Grandad were probably among his customers.
Papa George did a great job of warming up the audience with a range of well executed blues numbers as well as one or two original compositions.
He finished his set and the crew moved in to set up the stage ready for Family, with a tangible atmosphere of excitement and anticipation in the air. I was almost feeling slightly nervous for Rog and the other members of the band - as from what he has been saying in recent interviews it is clearly something of an experiment to perform songs that they haven't played for forty years, with a different combination of musicians, and where even the original members have evolved over the last forty years.
It turned out this version of Family was an 8 piece band, combining musicians from the Shortlist with original members of Family - Jim Cregan, Poli Palmer and Rob Townsend.
They opened with Top of the Hill, with Poli on vibes doing an instrumental lead in - but slightly different to the original version. It was the same with each of the numbers they played - familiar tunes and words, but with an added dimension integrating the musical styles of the 'Shortlist' musicians. A case of 'old songs, new songs'.....
As Roger and Rob said in their interview, you wouldnt expect them to be able to play with the same energy as 40 years ago. And yet there was a raw edge and a freshness to their sound.
I managed to stay on my feet for the first few numbers - including Drowned in Wine which was high up on my wish-list of songs I hoped they would play. Roger was on fine form and if he was feeling nervous he didnt let it show, and seemed to relax into it and have fun as the set progressed, whilst still holding it all together and being aware of what all the other musicians were doing.
I then had to retreat to the back as I needed to sit down for part of the time. But that, too, created a different experience as I closed my eyes and just listened. There was a magical moment when they launched into an extended instrumental version of Poli Palmer's Crinkley Grin. I felt I had suddenly been transported back to the late sixties and was in a trendy London club hearing the latest sounds including a new band who had just arrived from Leicester....
All in all it was a brilliant evening - worth making the effort to get to. Just the fact they were willing to 'give it a go' and re-work all these songs reflects the fact they still have that same creative spark and willingness to experiment and take risks.
I hope this might be the beginning of a renaissance of Family and some long overdue recognition. Merlina
Family at Shepherds Bush O2 Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd February 2013
From the nerves of anticipation to the triumph of success, Family nailed their reputation forever over these two nights. By taking their songs, so long moribund in the catalogue of "prog-rock", and proclaiming anew their strength and vitality, the world now knows how important the band were, and are. It doesn't matter if they never play together again, let's pray they do, the band have cemented their status in the rock pantheon after 40 years apart.
On Friday there were palpable nerves in the building, in the audience and on the stage. Could a collection of sexagenarians pull off the seemingly impossible task of taking us back to our collective youths? Could these guys who hadn't played together for years prove to the young-'uns in the crowd that what they had been listening to on vinyl and CD could be performed live? How could the present Family pull that particular trick off? But by Saturday when Roger threw his bottle of water backwards over the stage in the opener, Top Of The Hill, and stomped around howling, we were back in those low dives and concert halls when the band were in their prime.
Our wildest dreams were fulfilled and the warmth and affection flooding on and off the stage led to many a teary eye by the end. With so many fans from all over the UK and much further, from Holland, Germany, Russia and the States and all points round the compass, they can only have been ecstatic with the band's success at pulling the reunion off so triumphantly. It was because Roger was visibly back in his youthful prime, and the music was precisely as we remembered it - strong and dynamic, lyrically passionate and thoughtful, complex and subtle. And yet we could still sing along to the glorious melodies of In My Own Time and My Friend The Sun, to name but two.
How well the musicians fitted together - the original members that remained and the In Laws, or the Shortlist as we know them usually. Two drummers - Rob and John - pounding away at the back. Rob recreating those fills he developed all those years ago, with John laying down a solid beat over the top. Gary on bass was in his element, and all after only a couple of weeks of rehearsal. Geoff and Jim blending their guitars, acoustic, electric, double-necked and all, together as if they'd always played in the same band. Poli recreated his vibe sounds with devastating accuracy, while Nick Payn became Jim King and more for two nights on sax, flute and harp. And Paul Hirsch on keyboards was always there in the mix, taking solos when requested by Roger, and playing at the top of his game.
But what can you say about Roger Chapman? The more the nights wore on, the more he lost his nerves, the more he became immersed in his lyrics and the music, and the more he became the spirit of Family - edgy, dangerous, vocally strong and alive to the moment. Cracking jokes, attacking the vocals, patrolling the stage, chucking towels and lyrical asides to the crowd. An amazing performance, and just what we remembered from the glory days.
And as for the audience of Family devotees - Friday night's was vocally the more subdued, but still enthusiastic, while Saturday's audience sensed it really was such a special once-in-a-lifetime occasion and went for broke. The band sensed the passion in the crowd and responded in kind. We sang along, we danced along, and we were all one big happy family.
Others will tell you the musical details - the song list, the lyrical changes, the basic facts. But here is our emotional response to two nights of music history. We was there, indeed.
Simon & Sandy
3/02/13