Kevin Montgomery - Featuring Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin from The Mavericks and Pat Buchanan and Jeff Finlin

The Old Chapel at the Hollymoor Centre, Birmingham, England-Saturday September 2nd 2000

I had been looking forward to this concert for a long time having heard Kevin Montgomery and Jeff Finlin's music on radio 2 and on the Internet! Being a Mavericks fan I was also looking forward to being able to see/hear Paul Deakin and Robert Reynolds again!J I bought a unique T-shirt which had caricatures of Kevin Montgomery, Robert Reynolds, Paul Deakin and Pat Buchanan on!!-Which was drawn by none other than Robert Reynolds himself!

I arrived at the hall about 3/4 hour before the show began and saw some friends who had seen the guys at previous venues on this tour. They had really enjoyed the previous shows and were also looking forward to the evening's concert. I was lucky enough to meet all of the band before the show, which was absolutely brilliant!!They were all really nice!!!

The concert was in a beautiful converted chapel. The supporting artiste, Jeff Finlin was the first on stage. He was introduced by Paul Deakin. Jeff began his set as just him and his guitar. He writes some beautiful songs and his lyrics are very poetic! He was joined on stage for a few songs with guitarist Pat Buchanan of 'The Idle Jets'. I had only heard Jeff's songs on radio 2's Bob Harris's shows and on The Internet before, so it was great being able to hear him and the songs live!! He played for around 3/4 hour and I am now a fan of Jeff Finlin's also! My particular favourites were 'Perfect Mark Of Cain', which was inspired by a quote in a Johnny Cash interview, 'Eighteen Tons' and 'Waiting On A Flood'.

There was then a short break and then Kevin Montgomery, Paul Deakin, Robert Reynolds and Pat Buchanan came on stage. If I remember rightly they began with 'Another Long Story; which is the title of Kevin's new CD. It's a lovely song and one of my favourites-as are 'Lets All Go To California' and 'Looking Out For Number One' ! The band played a mixture of great music from Kevin's album, from Pat Buchanan's 'Idle Jets' album and some fabulous covers and favourites of theirs! One of which was 'Wishing' which Buddy Holly recorded. Kevin spoke a little about this song-It was written by his father Bob Montgomery and Buddy Holly who were childhood friends.

September 2nd was also special to a certain member of the band-It was Paul Deakin's birthday!! So, near the beginning of the show the band said let's all sing 'Happy Birthday', so the band and the audience all joined in and sang 'Happy Birthday'! I also enjoyed the talking and joking in between the songs! Oh, and not to forget the impersonations from Pat and Kevin!<G> There was some great guitar playing by Pat! I remember in one particular song he played the guitar behind his head and almost knocked Robert round the head with it!!<G>. Jeff came back and sang some more songs near the end and joined the others on stage. Robert also sang some songs toward the end of the evening! After a huge round of applause from the crowd the band came back and did a few more songs. One of which was a brilliant version of the Beatles song 'Rain'. It was sung by Pat and was one of my favourites of the evening!!!(Thank you guys! ) They finished the set with 'Not Fade Away' with Robert on vocals. The band and the audience were really enjoying themselves and it was a great evening!!J After the concert everyone went into the bar to meet the band. I can't wait to see them again soon!

Thank you Kevin, Robert, Paul, Pat and Jeff!