Peter Tork & The Shoe Suede Blues
London 100 Club
10th February, 2007

It must be tough being Peter Tork. Forty years on from Monkees mania, it seems that history still puts his tele-antics well above his musical talents. Tork finished off a short tour dash across the UK with a finale at London’s 100 Club. With an expectant crowd of vintage fans, garage aficionados and the curious, Tork delivered a no-nonsense set of his latter-day material, speckled with a few predictable Monkees tunes. The most musically accomplished of the pre-Fabs did his best to engage the audience with his talents. Newer material culled from Cambria Hotel was delivered with humour and consummate professionalism. Tork can easily hold his own and he and his band’s playing was supremely competent. Tork’s occasional delve into goofy facials sent the crowd into predictable hysterics. The Monkees numbers, Last Train To Clarksville, I’m A Believer, Daydream Believer and Stepping Stone were strategically placed, and Tork looked as though he was enjoying his independence from pop funnyman celebrity status.