Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band

[EltonFrog]

Went to the gig last night in Oxford. Feckin ACE so it was, if you can ge tickets go and see them you will have a great night out.

Seriously try and get tickets.

Bash the pope in the face with a shovel to get tickets if you have to.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

I saw Hugh Laurie in one of the chat show a few weeks ago - and IMHO I would not pay any money at all to listen to him again, not even for free tickets

I guess we all have different taste and that is good, otherwise this world would be very boring

 

[vernon]

The review in the Daily Telegraph begs to differ with the OP

They say that every man should have a hobby. So Hugh Laurie is to be congratulated for turning his into a lucrative second career, offering considerable pleasure not only to himself but also to devoted fans of his more established occupation. The star of US medical series House and former comedy partner of Stephen Fry is touring the world to promote his second album of blues, jazz and roots Americana.
“If you love a thing, you love a thing, you can’t help it,” said Laurie apologetically, as he introduced another of the early 20th-century black American songs that makes up his repertoire. “I'm not suddenly going to discover hip hop, I’ve accepted that now.” It was all very English. Indeed one might say frightfully English.
Seated at the piano, Laurie gurned with pleasure as he heard his band of American veterans play, pulling comedy faces or doing comedy dancing. Between numbers, he apologised with charming, self-effacing humour for his competent but inexpressive singing, his obsession with old songs and his inappropriateness. “Blimey? What sort of fool would try and sing after that?" he gasped as elderly American soul singer Sister Jean McClain rounded off a belting version of Bessie Smith’s Send Me To The Electric Chair with some gospel-style scat. Then Laurie looked around and gulped theatrically, as if he had just realised, oh, it’s me.
Middle-class Englishman sings the blues? What’s wrong with that? You can see blues bands in pubs all around Britain performing with as much gusto, sensitivity and nuance as Laurie’s more elevated ensemble, and not one of them would apologise for loving this rich, deep genre, which, in any case, has roots in the folk music of Europe and the rhythms of Africa.
Laurie’s modesty is really an excuse for parlaying the fame of his acting into a musical career. This is an appealing comic shtick and, last night, his audience lapped it up. However, from a critical perspective, it only emphasised his inadequacies. Laurie is an entertaining frontman, and that requires an often underrated skill set, but he wouldn’t be at the Hammersmith Apollo without his TV fame. He can play the piano very well, although here it was never lead instrument, and he always deferred, obsequiously, to his band of veterans when it came to solos.
As a vocalist, Laurie lacks that something extra which would allow him to get inside a song and make it his own. Fortunately, his backing singers don't, and last night, Laurie sensibly ushered them to the front of stage as often as possible. The best moments were those that were pared down, with McClain bringing a lifetime of drama to I Hate a Man Like You and younger Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno bringing an eerie intensity to The Weed Smoker’s Dream. It was these stiller, more concentrated arrangements where the band was most musically effective.
For the rest of the night, the musicians were clearly having a good time on stage, and the audience was having fun too, but Laurie’s self-effacement established the general mood. They never really let rip and took the music to a higher plane. If this was the blues, it was a particularly pallid shade.

 

[rich p]

My mate gave me a copy of one of his CDs. I binned it pronto after listening. Badly performed tripe!

 

[Fnaar]

Saw it on the telly. Like most of the songs, but it's all a bit cozy and safe for me, like feckin' university academics discussing hip hop or northern soul. The tw@ts
Sorry CarlP, I'm sure you loved it and enjoyed it, good for you, but t'aint for me.

 

[EltonFrog]

I don't give a flying fig, I had a great night out, and so did my mate, and so did the entire audience of the The Oxford Playhouse. Two standing ovations and two encores.

 

[Arch]

The review in the Daily Telegraph begs to differ with the OP

Doesn't this quote match the OP's expression of having a good time?


"For the rest of the night, the musicians were clearly having a good time on stage, and the audience was having fun too,"


Or is it that if something is popular and enjoyable, it must therefore be low rubbish, not fit for those of you on higher plane to contemplate?

 

[vernon]

Doesn't this quote match the OP's expression of having a good time?


"For the rest of the night, the musicians were clearly having a good time on stage, and the audience was having fun too,"


Or is it that if something is popular and enjoyable, it must therefore be low rubbish, not fit for those of you on higher plane to contemplate?

Take the last line of the review:

If this was the blues, it was a particularly pallid shade.

It struck me as being the review of an adequate gig and not an experience particularly worth repeating. My interpretation is that Laurie ought to be grateful for a bunch of musicians to support his average performance and that he was trading on his high profile in in other occupations to fill the seats. No other band of comparable ability but with no high profile performers could aspire to filling the venue is what I read in the review.

 

[The Brewer]

I loved House, but this musics not for me

 

[vernon]

A parallel experience is going to see Ade Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds. The band trades heavily on the fame of Ade Edmondson and despite him assembling some great musicians to support his passable ukulele and mandolin playing and playing to a niche audience, they'll never fill large venues or sell gazzillions of albums/CDs.

Having said that I will be seeing the band perform in Pocklington in December at the Arts Centre, capacity about two hundred, in an annual Christmas gig ritual that I share with my pal who lives there. It will be entertaining, not wildly so, but it will not be the focus of the day's activities.

I get the feeling that Laurie's gig's are a bit like Ade Edmonson's but less enjoyable.

 

[ayceejay]

I understand this criticism to mean nice English bloke, comedian actor musician does well for himself: therefore I hate him.

 

[vernon]

I understand this criticism to mean nice English bloke, comedian actor musician does well for himself: therefore I hate him.

Nah it means funny comedian, adequate small screen actor, underwhelming musician and I like the bloke I'm just not tempted by his music.

 

[EltonFrog]

His singing, is an acquired taste, he is not the best singer in world, but he is a very good interpreter of the music, and a fine piano player, Anyway, it don't much matter, if you don't like it don't go and see it, I'm just sharing with the group, that I and and a coupe of thousand others had a great time on Saturday seeing his band at the Playhouse.