Ian Siegal

Jazz Café, London, United Kingdom

Saturday 28th March 2015

Siegal takes the stage eager to deliver a punchy set to London fans. His trump card for this tour – due to finish in Southampton the following night – is a sharp and flexible band of Dutch relative youngsters who dig deep with the blues and fire up the rockers. Abandoning his Mickey Rourke Jnr look on the cover of his new ‘One Night In Amsterdam’ album release, Ian looks closer to Alan Davies tonight and powers his Telecaster through various album cuts and other well-delivered detours. The drumming by Raphael Schwiddessen and pumping bass of Danny Van’t Hoff make the night swing and follow Siegal’s tangential shifts into a Prince dance song, a Tom Waits classic and a raspy Howlin’ Wolf medley. The guitar player Carmen Vandenberg and Rosie Bones of the blues combo Bones are hauled up onstage to join in, adding to the party spirit of the night.

For my own taste, given that he’s as English as I am, Ian lays on the American accent too much sometimes and it jars with his between-songs chirpy Anglo banter and jokes, but heaven knows Siegal is not alone in this leaning. It is pleasing to hear him praise his band and it’s hard to argue with his contention that his lead guitarist Dusty Ciggaar (sometimes using a baritone six-string) is as good as anyone out there…indeed he sometimes sounds like the mighty David Hollestelle of the late great Herman Brood’s later lineups – agile, searing, fluid and exciting to listen to.

Highlight numbers include the skittering ‘I Am The Train’, the Seger-ish ‘Queen of the Junior Prom’, and Hispanic romp through ‘Gallo Del Cielo’.

The packed house lapped up the performance, right through to the closing Dylan tune ‘I Shall Be Released’, Dusty sparking an octane-fuelled series of major-scale axe runs into the ether.

A performance like this sure sends the fans home happy, Ian has his own take to blues rock and doesn’t hold back

Words: Pete Sargeant

Visuals: Laurence Harvey

Ian Siegal’s new album ‘One Night in Amsterdam’ is out now on Nugene Records. For more information visit: www.iansiegal.com

Thanks Peter, thanks John B