15th Anniversary Concert - October 21st 2006

A Big Night... (a Ridiculously Detailed Report)

The Band wanted to celebrate its 15th anniversary in some special way, and a sold-out concert in Tauranga's 600-seat Baycourt Theatre, along with a pile of special guests and friends from through the years seemed like a good idea! In case you missed the show, or were there want to relive a few memories, here's a quick run through what went on. If you want to see more pics, there are a pile in the Gallery.

Things kicked off, as the audience was coming in, with some lovely jazz piano, courtesy of Alana Milson. Then noted stand-up comedian Hugh Robb (also the cameraman and editor behind the Kokomo a gogo DVD) wlecomed the crowd and entertained them for 10 minutes with some very funny observations on life, the universe and everything. He then turned the stage over to Derek and Nigel - The Self-Righteous Brothers - who were in front of the theatre's red curtain and played:

STRANGE ANGELS (D. Jacombs)
THE BALLAD OF KOWHITERANGI (N. Masters)
BETTER LEFT UNSPOKEN (D. Jacombs)
BATON ROUGE (G. Clark)

Then, upon Derek's introduction, the curtain pulled back to reveal a fully-built shack/railway station (created by the incredibly skilled Grant Bullot) and the original line up of Kokomo Blues from all those years ago - Derek and The Fabulous Bullot Brothers, Grant and Roger.

There was a fantastic reaction from the crowd and it was just like a little time capsule as the boys tore through half a dozen of the old blues tunes that they were most well-known for. They played:

STEALIN' (Trad)
MISSISSIPPI BLUES (W Brown)
BYE BYE BLUES (T Johnson)
DIDDIE WAH DIDDIE (A Blake)
LOVE IN VAIN (R Johnson)
SO MUCH TROUBLE (B McGhee)

Then Derek introduced Grant and he stepped out, playing blues harp, into the audience. The curtains closed behind him.

 There were audible gasps and cheers from the crowd, obviously amazed that the building had disappeared in only about three minutes. The band played out the first set with:

FREIGHT TRAIN (J Terry)
GOOD GRIEF (B Lake)

Then the curtains closed and it was intermission time. Alana played piano in the theatre for those not heading out for a smoke and to buy drinks and CDs...

I N T E R M I S S I O N

...the second half started with the same 6-piece line-up that finished the first half. They played:

TOO MANY WORDS (D Jacombs)  

Then the first of the guests hit the stage. Tracie de Jong, who Kokomo Blues recorded the album Stromboling with in the mid '90s sang one song from that album and then sang harmonies with Derek on another. It was an absolute treat to hear Tracie sing "Bonfires", since Derek sang the original version. This was the first time Trace had sung it and it was beautiful.

BONFIRES (D Jacombs)
RIDING UNDERGROUND (K Martin / D Jacombs / B&T de Jong)

After Tracie, Rotorua bluesman Mike Garner (who is just recording a new album that features Nigel, Derek and Sonia) joined Derek and Grant, singing with Derek and playing harp with Grant on:

KEY TO THE HIGHWAY (B Broonzy / S Terry / B McGhee)

Then Mike donned his electric guitar and played an absolutely sensational rearrangement (in a style not unreminiscent of Son House's Death Letter Blues) of:

 RAINY NIGHT IN TAUPO (D Jacombs) 

He played fantastic slide guitar on it  and sang it with effortless authenticity. What a great voice that man has!
After Mike, John Michaelz hit the stage - looking very well dressed for the occasion - and he and Derek tore through a ten-minute version of:

BURDEN DOWN (D. Jacombs / J Michaelz) 

Then it was time to hear a couple of different drummers. First of all, Bruce Morley, who had come down from Auckland for the night, joined the band for a dramatic rendition of:

I WONDER WHY (I CAN'T GET NO SLEEP) (G Clark / D Jacombs)

John stayed on stage and took over megaphone for the song and the band yelled out the answering lines. It was a lot of fun. After Bruce, Matt Hennessey - who made the trip all the way from Whangarei - took over the kit and played one of the songs scheduled for the next Kokomo album (the Dylan tribute CD):

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (B Dylan)

It was during this song that the (very impressive) lights went to another level, with big turning blues wheels on a huge orange background and all sorts of other groovy effects.

ANY ROAD UP (D Jacombs)

At that point, completely unexpectedly for the band, a distinguished-looking grey haired figure stepped from the wings onto the stage and grabbed a microphone. It turned out to be Colin Lunt, immediate past President of the Jazz Society, who was there to present Derek with a Life Membership to the Society in thanks for Derek's years as Director of the National Jazz Festival. You could have knocked him over with a feather - what a nice surprise! 

Liam's partner in Torch Songs (and life) then came on, the very beautiful Carol Storey. With backing from Liam, Nigel and Paul she sang a slow, sultry rendition of:

DON'T TEMPT ME (D Jacombs)

Then the whole band joined in and Carol led them with seemingly effortless poise through her interpretation of:

SMOKY BLUES TOWN (D Jacombs)  

Liam stayed on stage and the whole band blasted through:

YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE (D Jacombs)

and

THE WORKING CLASS SHUFFLE (D Jacombs / J Michaelz)

which was sung by John Michaelz in the manner that he used to do it years ago with his band Hard To Handle (drummer Paul was also with that band, as was Derek briefly). The general excitement lifted a notch as John leapt around the front of the stage and got the audience clapping. A good extra shot of adrenalin to keep things pumping for the final tune:

STRANGE ANGELS (D Jacombs)

...which, unlike the version that started the show, was a full-on boogie with everyone taking long solos and Grant and Sonia walking out front and swapping horn and harp lines. It went on for quite a while...
After that there were two encores. Backing singer Tim Mellalieu joined in for:

SUPERHEROES (D Jacombs)

and everybody came back on stage and sang along or played percussion or just generally danced and had a good time on:

I'LL BE YOUR BABY TONIGHT (B Dylan)

It was a great way to end the show (which had now topped the 3 1/2 hour mark).
The band would like to thank everyone who came, and everyone who helped backstage (thanks Jim Newman for doing the curtains, Dave Keating for videoing proceedings, Jan Holdem for doing everyone's hair, the support team selling CDs Julie & Cohen Nicholls and all the Baycourt staff who were so friendly and helpful in the lead-up to the show).

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