Joe Brown and his Bruvvers-Live

25th May 2000

On May 25th 2000 I saw Joe Brown and his Bruvvers live at the Bedworth Civic Hall. I am a big fan of his radio 2 show 'Let It Rock' and I had heard his music, but I had never seen him live before. The nearest I'd got to hear him live was from listening to my dad's LP 'Joe Brown-Live!' from the early 1960's!

It was a great night! We arrived at the hall for 7:30. The first half of the show was Joe telling stories and playing an acoustic set. I loved hearing all the stories of when he was starting out-In Plaistow! Joe played a mixture of guitar, mandolin and ukulele. Joe is such a brilliant musician. Full of surprises, Joe even played fiddle on a Cajun style song with Phil Capaldi on vocals . Throughout the first half of the show his 'Bruvvers' joined him on stage. The Bruvvers are:

Neil Gauntlett on guitar and backing vocals

Phil Capaldi on drums and backing vocals (Who incidentally was on crutches because he had broken his leg!)

Rico Nilo on double/bass and backing vocals

For the second half of the show Joe came back dressed in a groovy Hawaiian shirt and gelled (spiky!) hair. The Bruvvers stayed on stage for the whole of the second half and they did some of the old Rock and Roll and Country songs such as 'Picture Of You', 'Enery The Eighth' and 'C'mon Everbody'. Joe also played melodeon on a couple of songs.

I had four favourite stories he told on the night……but I won't spoil them because they're best heard from the man himself!

One of the last songs he played was 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. For this Joe played his 'Rock and Roll' guitar. This was a great version of the Chuck Berry song! The last song was beautiful. It was 'I'll See You In My Dreams' and Joe played the ukulele while the Bruvvers played along and sang backing vocals. The backdrop for the stage turned to a dark blue with stars reflected on it to give the dreamy night time feel to the place. It was such a nice song! Joe Brown said before he sang it, "Here's one You'll be whistling on the way home"…which everyone was! A perfect end to a great evening!