Richie Havens In Concert
| I
originally saw Richie in the early
70s in Glasgow, so it came as something of a surprise to find
that he was still going around performing very regularly. Many
people in the United States have e-mailed me to describe their
brilliant experience of seeing him in their local area. I regularly get e-mails
from others who also didn't realise that he was still touring and are
pleasantly surprised when he turns up in their area. It was therefore a great delight for me to have the
opportunity to travel to Manchester in May 1999, 25 years after I
had first seen him, to enjoy a performance at the Band on the
Wall. All the comments I had received from fans around the world
were absolutely accurate - this is a truly great performer. If
ever you get the chance to see Richie in concert, you must not
miss out.
Since then I've seen him several times, the first being in London in 2002 (review below).
I was astounded at the energy he gave to his performance. The
stories I have heard from fans about his willingness to spend
time chatting with them are absolutely true. He has a wonderfully
relaxed manner and is always willing to give of his time to talk
about music, or anything else! Take a look at the photos page to see him
chatting with fans after concerts.
My most recent chances to see Richie were in
Milan in January, 2005, Limerick, Ireland in July 2005 and London's Jazz Cafe in
January 2006. Again, he was outstanding each time, backed by lead guitar
and 'cello. A review of his London 2005 show (from the Independent) is given
below. Meanwhile, having sat in the front row for that Glasgow show, I
managed to grab a broken guitar string at the end, so history went full-circle
at Milan, when Walter Parks, Richie's guitarist, passed me a broken guitar
string he'd replaced during the Milan show! Richie then autographed the
pack it was in. And at last, my attempts to persuade Richie to return
to Scotland paid off when, on 18 January 2007, he played to a packed
crowd in the ABC, Glasgow and wowed everyone. The
response he got from the audience ensured a quick return - July, 2007. |
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Forthcoming planned UK dates:
15, 16, 17 Feb, 2008: Jazz Cafe, London |
A major
option for those attending one of his shows is the opportunity to buy
items that can only be obtained there or from his official website.
These include CDs, items of artwork, his biography & tee-shirts.
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Currently, Richie
tends to be accompanied by two very accomplished musicians, Walter
Parks (guitar) and Stephanie Winters ('cello). Each of them has
their own website and they also have excellent CDs available for
purchase, either on the websites or at shows. Two very friendly
folk, they will happily chat to you after a show. Their websites are at
www.walterparks.com
and
www.stephaniewinters.com. |
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In the past, I've listed future concert dates on these pages,
acquired from the official Richie Havens site, but I can't
guarantee to update the site as often as I'd want, so if you need
to know when Richie may be coming near you,
click
here and you'll see the pages from the official site, listing
forthcoming dates.
In the meantime, here's a review of his concert at the Jazz
Cafe in London in January 2002, published in Uncut:
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He ambles on stage, a stooping figure, with long
pointy beard, looking like he's auditioning for the part
of Gandalf in a musical remake of Lord of the Rings.
Then he strikes that familiar open chord and unleashes
his remarkable voice, rich and deep, like grit coated in
honey. That weed must have been mighty strong, for
suddenly it's the summer of '69 and we're back on Max
Yasgur's farm. At 60, Richie Havens is still proud to
be part of the Woodstock generation, and it shows,. He
continues to preach the philosophy of peace, love and
music, plays 250 dates a year and has a new record deal
and new album on the way. There's not much he hasn't done
in a 40-year career which began in the Greenwich Village
coffee houses back in 1962 when he shared the bill at the
Cafe Wha? with the likes of Bob Dylan, Fred Neil and Phil
Ochs. Fittingly, he begins with a magnificently
syncopated take on "Maggie's Farm".
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Havens was never a prolific songwriter and has mostly built
his career around inspired covers. Yet between songs he's an
inveterate storyteller, and the last time he was here his show
consisted of roughly one-third music and two-thirds anecdote
about the time when the world was still young.
| Tonight it's more musical, perhaps because he's not
solo, but accompanied by Bill Perry on tasteful lead
guitar licks and Walter Parkes on acoustic guitar. Yet
he's still got plenty to say for himself and introduces a
Dino Valente song with a long story about its author. He
still possesses a fine voice, soulful yet sweet, and he's
an immaculate interpreter of great songs. We could,
perhaps, have done without Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams",
but "Here Comes the Sun" is radiant and
beautiful, dedicated to "the very special people who
are going to clean up this planet". He means 'the
kids' and, in a wonderful piece of Woodstock-era
optimism, he warns: "We'd better join them, or else." |
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He's still unfashionably committed to all of the old political
causes and he burns with a mission on a raga-like version of
Jackson Browne's "Lives in the Balance". He closes, of
course, with "Freedom", his Woodstock anthem. Warm,
compassionate and committed, it's good to know that some things
don't ever change. (Nigel Williamson)
And now a review of the January 2005 show at the same venue, published in
The Independent:
"You're doing it,
you're really doing it tonight", said one fan after Havens' spellbinding cover
of "All Along the Watchtower". And he was. This was a downright ferocious
performance, and all from a man who by rights should be applying for his free
bus pass by now.
The setting, too, was
perfect. The Jazz Café's design is such that the crowd are a broken pick away
from the artist, which allowed the audience to see a performer in total control,
and giving it everything. So, as Dylan's four-chord wonder opened the evening,
we were treated to the sight of a guitarist bar-chording top down with this
thumb, a technique which not only looks impressive, but gives him range and
speed.
Add to that a left
foot which flails about as if independent from the rest of the old man's body,
and you have a sense of a unique live music experience.
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The pace of the
evening fluctuated, though, as extensive retuning between songs allowed the
audience respite. One might have thought that this kind of pedantic noodling
would be irritating, but the man has turned tuning into an art form. It's not
just the engaging banter - "Our government spends trillions getting us into
outer space. We're already there!" - but the fact that Havens clearly loves to
fool about with a progression or riff. And, just when one thinks that the next
song is never going to come around, there it is, emerging from a retuned
A-string or a throwaway chord.
And so on to the meat
of the performance, where Havens was skilfully assisted by his fellow guitarist,
Walter Parks. "Paradise is a Hard Place to Find" was delivered with grace, as
Havens bent and wrapped his voice around an ostensibly prosaic tune. "Blood on
the Wire" [sic: Lives In The Balance], with its Spanish chord-progressions and
tub-thumping rhythms, captured an end-of-era loss of innocence. Moreover,
Havens' insistent phrasing of "there is still blood on the wire" is a reminder
that this performer has lost none of his world-changing energy.
The support left the
stage for a central solo mini-set which included an understated "Here Comes the
Sun", a song that Havens describes as "the happiest song I know". There was a
little disillusionment evident, though, in the baritone growl of the chorus.
"Stardust", too, was breathtaking, with the rich, maudlin chords of the bridge
offering a poignant alternative to the ballad's upbeat message. |
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The band - now four
strong with two guitars, cello and bongos - re-emerged for a final set which
climaxed with a manic rendition of "Freedom", the song which made Havens famous
at Woodstock in 1969. That left foot got going again, and he sang "Freedom" as
if it were the first time. The audience, too, responded frenetically to a
rhythmic pace which was going through the roof, and which was eventually
curtailed by an athletic and wholly unexpected scissor kick from the leading
man.
But this audience was never going to let Havens away without an encore, and he
reeled out two more ballads from the new material he has recorded. The highlight
of the evening, though, came with his final number, an unaccompanied version of
Joe Cocker's 1975 classic "You Are So Beautiful". As the audience left, sweating
and happy, the only possible reservation was that Havens was a couple of songs
light of a balanced set. But as the man is 64 years old, we might just let him
off. (Ed Caesar).
