The Hamsters Plinston, Letchworth Garden City
22 October 2004.

Back on the treadmill, Slim, Otis and Zsa Zsa are in town for another much-needed dose of rhythm and blues. No, we ‘ain’t talkin ‘bout’ Usher or Beyonce as Slim points out to the tonight’s capacity crowd(ed) house. Several hundred of the locals are about to ‘get down’ to another lesson in how it’s done, another pro show from Essex’s finest show band.
   It’s a show in three parts with the spotlight on the music of Texan trio, ZZ Top and the late great James Marshall Hendrix, six-string revolutionary, with the Hamster boys concentrating on material they didn’t perform at Plinston on their earlier trip here, this year.

To warm things up, the boys open the show with some classic Hamster cuts. ‘Chevrolet’ the first number sounds better than ever with its mock tragic ending ‘well, I killed by baby today because she would not get out of the way of my …’
   Two of tonight’s highlights are administered early on, a cut each from the band’s 2004 ‘Open all hours’ CD and DVD ‘To infirmity and beyond’. ‘Lucky in love’ is a straight down the line shuffle boogie number which offers us a little light head-banging therapy, a great song played tonight with great style. ‘Junk in my trunk’ is another classic Hamster given a new lease of life on the band’s first ever DVD.
   After a short break, the heart of Hendrix’s music comes under the stethoscope. ‘Fire’ is the opener with Slim’s guitar sound more fluid than ever, switches aplenty at his feet. ‘Voodoo Chile’ is the number everyone wants to hear and it’s played tonight with great gusto and segued straight into ‘Hey Joe’. Slim introduces ‘Izabella’ as a song Hendrix wrote around the time of the Vietnam War. It is the best number of the night for me with its pure rock funk riff rattled out by Zsa Zsa and Slim. By demand, ‘Red House’ is dark, deep and pure blues.

And so to set three and time for a shot of ZZ Top, ‘TV Dinners’ is more than just a repeat of the original series of ‘Eliminator’ licks. The Hamsters’ antidote is a faster tempo that works really well. The close continues the ‘Eliminator’ theme with the Texan’s greatest hits ‘Gimme all your lovin’ and ‘Sharp dressed man’ which sees the ‘funky’ Letchworth in full voice.
   Slim announces that the band will be accompanied by John Otway and Wilko Johnson on their next visit in a year’s time. Gentlemen, is this wise? We are all a bit nutty here in the first Garden City any way? Isn’t there a danger in bringing even more madness and mayhem with you next time that things could get out of hand? The head bangers have already taken over the asylum, sounds divine! 
   Set List One: Chevrolet (Condensed Hamsters); Georgia Slop (Condensed Hamsters); Lucky in love (Open all hours); Junk in my trunk (To infirmity and beyond); The Walk (They live by night); Cadillac Walk (Pet Sounds); Sweet Little Lisa (Condensed Hamsters)
   Set List Two: Fire (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); I’m bad, I’m nationwide (Verminator); Voodoo Chile (Pet Sounds); Hey Joe (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); Arrested for driving while blind (Verminator); Izabella (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); Rough Boys (Afterburner); Red House (Hamster Jam); Got me under pressure (Pet sounds)
   Set List Three: Little Wing (Pet sounds); TV dinners (Verminator); Foxy Lady (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); La Range (Verminator); Tush (Verminator); Purple Haze (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); Wild Thing (Hamster Jam); Star spangled banner (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); All along the watchtower (The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts); Gimme all your lovin (Verminator); Sharp dressed man (Verminator).

This review originally written for www.plinstonlive.com
 

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