Review: The Zombies, Fleece

There are few greater pleasures to those who habitually spend their evenings enjoying live music than happening across a great support. Tonight Josh Flowers & the Wild were just such a band. The four piece kicked up a hell of a racket right from opening number Jacques Cousteau, a proper party starter. The cello really brings a different vibe to the tunes – melancholy & mournful during the quieter passages and then raucous during the heavier freak outs. Live the band take the blues as a starting point, throw in some folk and then pump out a hefty yet grooving set – it’s heavy Jim but not metal. Latest single Magpie Boy stood out, and full credit to Reuben Harsant, who spent the whole gig working harder than a one-legged man in an arse kicking competition – drums of thunder and yet funky enough to get the crowd moving. They’re back in the spring so watch for the date in our listings.

Fifty years in to their career The Zombies arrived on stage with a collective age of, well, irrelevant. The band played an excellent career spanning set, and they played with vim and vigour – still hitting the notes and tight as you like. The great thing about the band is they come from that glorious era when British beat bands took their R ‘n’ B roots and then mutated them with Psychedelia before inventing Prog Rock. So we had the pop hits and the proto Prog songs too, along with plenty from the new album Still Got That Hunger.

The pop was well represented with Tell Her No and the seminal She’s Not There, along with Really Got a Hold On Me. And for the Prog demographic, well they had five numbers mid-set from Oracle & Odyssey to their freak dancing delight. Time of the Season was particularly well received, an extended version with a mass sing-a-long. From the new material I Want You Back Again stood out (a discarded tune for ye olden days that the band re-recorded after hearing Tom Petty’s cover), as did Maybe Tomorrow, a tune that nearly delayed the LP release due to a sacrilegious one line quote from the Beatles, but fortunately Macca’s personal approval made the problem go away. The band made the tunes look effortless with some superb musicianship on display: Colin Blunstone’s vocals  remain strong, as do Rod Argent’s, and the latter’s keyboard skills covered the spectrum form Booker T to Rick Wakeman. The rest of the band (Tom Toomey on Guitar, Jim Rodford on Bass and Steve Rodford on Drums) locked in tight and were clearly enjoying being on stage.

Final numbers saw both crowd and band have a blast with Hold Your Head Up and an absolutely blazing version of God Gave Rock n Roll to You, leaving the crowd hoarse and sweaty and the band looking genuinely pleased. Let’s hope they’re back soon.

Photo Credit: Donna Coombs