The Strawbs
London Twickenham Stadium Live Room
12th September, 2009

The first of two days celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Strawbs was full of band members past and present, plus guests, five line-ups playing alongside other acts. With so much music, the quality wasn’t consistent and there was plenty of self-indulgence. Singer/ acoustic guitarist Dave Cousins kicked off sedately with violinist Ian Cutler, but things picked up with Zeus and the 1978 Heartbreak Hill line-up of The Strawbs, who were starting to swing. The duo Cry No More – Strawbs bassist Chas Cronk with Roy Hill – mixed music with stories and jokes and had everyone smiling. The Strawbs Blue Angel line-up had more solid rock songs, adding backing singer Cathryn Craig, while Cousins was the centre-piece in a pretty enjoyable set. John Ford, a one-time member, did a solo spot that started in singer/ songwriter fashion but soon moved into a ballsy rock’n’roll version of his Nice Legs Shame About The Face, which went down a storm. The day’s closer and highlight was the duo of Cousins and Rick Wakeman, who provided plenty of top music, albeit secondary to Wakeman’s standup comedy, with stories from the road that had everyone laughing. After some politically incorrect jokes about a South African athlete, he turned to the camera and blamed Cousins. Judging by the crowd, it was Wakeman everyone had waited to see.