Ross Stewart and Band - Sells Out Voodoo Daddy's Showroom

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James A Oliver and The Toby Lee Band

Dereham Blues Festival 10th Anniversary Opening Show 2024 - 10th July 2024

Dereham Memorial Hall 

"It was in tune when I bought it" James A Oliver, never a dull moment.

Dereham Blues Festival kicked off, clashing with England’s Euros match against the Netherlands, on a warm, humid July day, perfect for wallowing in a bluesy mood.  

I made it into my seat just after James A. Oliver’s band were hitting their straps. I wish I had been on time. This guy is non-stop entertainment.  What a performer and such fun!  I am sorry to have even missed a minute of his set.

Oliver asked if there were any Welsh in the hall, but that was met with an embarrassed silence and a disappointed “Oh!” from Mr Oliver.  In his oversized black suit, Oliver gives the appearance of a mild-mannered science teacher, who has stepped out of his classroom to entertain the staff with his real talent, well-hidden prior to.  There is certainly a Wow!! factor in regard to James A Oliver.  A big bloke, in a loose-fitting suit with a lot of talent, reminiscent of Bo Diddley.

 

James explained to me that he has lost a lot of weight since being taken very, very ill on tour in Sweden, earlier in the year.  He is grateful to be back playing to audiences again, back on his feet, after having to do a number of recent shows sitting in a chair, so slow and difficult has the recovery period been.  He gets through his shows fuelled by the adrenalin of live performance and the massive positive charge generated by the music he plays.

 

Oliver played some excellent covers, before mixing in his own songs, such as American Cars, Mean Little Mamma and the excellent Stay Outta Trouble, and then throwing in some absolute classics, including the late Wilko Johnson’s She Does It Right, which he asked Norman Watt-Roy, starring on bass, to lead off.

 

Norman Watt-Roy is far from retired, despite parting ways with the remains of the Blockheads and having lost his great friend Wilko.  Here was Norman, perhaps in slightly restrained dance mode, showing how a bass should be played.  No dull stroking of the four-stringed beast for him.  We hear Watt-Roy's powerful emphasis on the main beat of each bar.  We get improvisation, we get a head stock as large as something from Easter Island, with four huge, shiny tuning pegs flashing under the lights. We get Norman Watt-Roy, the legend, at his best.  He is a unique bass-player, who adds a bass depth normally only experienced in a reggae band, not blues.  He adds a premium to James A Oliver tickets too, but one well worth scraping together.

 

The volume felt very loud for the venue.  The acoustics at Dereham Memorial Hall are excellent.  It is a great music venue, so does not need to have everything amped up to the max.  With this opening trio this was not too much of a problem, but later on it became an issue with the Toby Lee four-piece.  The negative impact on the first set was that Oliver’s first guitar sounded to be somewhat metallic and his vocals were challenging at times, flattening the top end in my hearing range.  For Toby Lee’s main act, I was actually discomforted by the noise levels and there were reverberations clearly audible during the quieter, slower numbers, especially when Lee was playing solo.

 

These technical matters did not dampen the reactions of the audience to the two very different artists on show.  There was a raucous response to the precocious guitar acrobatics of Toby Lee, where Oliver was able to really engage between songs with his audience, who enjoyed his humour, overt Welshness and snappy, spontaneous banter and buzzing set list.

 

For example, Oliver introduces Sleepwalk, as the Welsh-version, Sheepwalk. He's not proud, he is here to give us a good time and entertain. 

I will definitely be getting to a James A Oliver gig again before too long. He has lined up over 300 gigs in 2024 and has already booked over 180 for 2025, so the likelihood of crossing paths with him before very long is high.  He is a top performer, who gets feet tapping, gets people dancing and he and his merry band spread a lot of joy.  The frequency of his bookings have been enough for drummer, Mark Kemlo to finally give up the day job and go full-time.  Kemlo is tremendous entertainment too.  He looks genuine Rock’n’Roll, with his slick greased hair, sharp moustache and loose shirt, the man looks like he has stepped straight off the prairie and onto the drum-stool.

 

Oliver and Kemlo together are something else, throw in Mr Norman Watt-Roy, ladies and gentlemen, and you have an unstoppable combo.  People say I’m too happy to have the blues, but… Oliver begins, but I lost the gag in his rapid speech.  I can say that he is a tremendous entertainer.  He plays the blues with such good humour and energy you cannot help but have a good time.

Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love is a rousing classic in which Kemlo is able to fully demonstrate his talents.  Playing with wool mallets, the pounding rhythm of this classic Diddley number is driven home by Kemlo, who, when he gets an orchestrated break in which to solo, shows what a thrilling drummer the man is.  

 

After a suitable interval it was time for the talents of Toby Lee to take the stage with his precocious youth.  In contrast to the lively banter of Oliver, Lee comes across as a smooth-talking, name-dropping, music-biz pro.  Nothing risky is said, it is all quite staged and charming.  The stage presence is pure Las Vegas, Lee can do no wrong with this audience, even with an American modern rock-blues feel to his band.

Toby Lee and his band drop by Dereham

To be totally honest, I was rather bored by Lee’s act.  I had got myself a seat at the wrong end of the row, trapped against the wall, so could not sneak out without disturbing about twenty people.  Reluctantly, I stayed in my place and listened to his anecdotes of guesting with Jools Holland and his band, of flying backwards and forwards to Croatia from the Isle of Man and then a flight to Paris first thing the morning after this gig. Thank you for dropping by.

 

Yes, it is great that a 20 year old man can play the guitar so cleverly and that he is doing so to a near-packed out audience here in quaint old Dereham, but it was not a particularly memorable set.  The set includes a few of Lee’s own songs, as well as covers of some classics, such as Kansas City and Bring It On Home (To Me), which both he does in an enjoyably slowed-up, country-rock style.

As a performer, Lee’s point of difference was essentially that he was very young to be conjuring such sounds from his guitars and he is very good at it too.  As he gets older, Lee will have to find a way to connect with his audience in the present.  His own tunes are very well turned out, but are they bringing anything new to the stage?  If each number is just a platform for more guitar licks, then he would be better finding new ways to interpret blues classics.  The rocky folk-blues style of his own compositions are well-rounded and slick, but I did not come out of the show remembering any of them. 

 

However, the audience loved him.  The mums and grandmas were almost gaga at the sight of the this smart-looking blond boy singing sweetly to them.  The men were impressed by his guitar work.  If you want a well-attended gig, book Toby Lee and his band.  It should attract the curious music-lovers, rock-loving blues fans, while he remains a novelty.  I am not sure where this is going for Toby Lee.  He lives in a parallel universe and is feted by the older big-name musicians.  I hope for his sake, that Toby Lee gets to spend time with people of his own age, that he finds a way to step outside the show-biz business and experience some living.

 

Toby Lee is a strong performer.  Technically brilliant.  Looks great.  Yet, I wonder, what was the point of this show?  With James A Oliver, you know that you will be having a fine night out, be happily entertained. I will be tracking him down again, but with Toby Lee? It is more like ticking off a tourist destination.  Been there, heard that, got the t-shirt, (or not).

 

By the way Ollie Watkins scored a late-winner and word spread rapidly through the audience on the balcony of England’s victory, bringing smiles to many faces.  After the show,  James A Oliver and Mark Kemlo readily made themselves available to chat with the paying public, but the Toby Lee entourage seemed to have headed off, job done.  Paris, was it?

Spencer Ide

10th July 2024