Alabama 3 - Brook, Southampton, 29/5/2005

  by Philip Vincent

published: 18 / 5 / 2005

intro

Country and western acid house rockers Alabama 3 recently toured Britain. At the Southampton Brook Philip Vincent watches them play to an obsessive crowd and finds them a totally "unique live experience"

Tonight is one of those nights when you can feel the excitement from outside the venue itself. I have been in the venue since 6pm for an interview with the Larry Love, the lead singer of Brixton bad boys Alabama 3, and from that point on there were fans outside without tickets trying every method known to man to get into the venue. I did the interview and photographer Matt Williams and myself went and took our seats for the show on the first floor area of the venue. The Brook is split over 2 floors and I presumed upstairs would be more chilled out whilst the band were on ! Oh how mistaken I was! . When the doors opened we realised that people were actually running into the venue to get prime position! I have seen a lot of shows and have never seen anything like this in a venue of this size. Within minutes the place was totally transformed into a buzzing nest of expectant energy. At this point we became acquainted with Porter and Christian, two some-may-say obsessive fans who have been at every date of the 'Outlaw' tour so far and at this point I realised just how dedicated the Alabama 3 fan base are ! The band took to the stage just after 9 o clock with the kind of energy that pretty much every band in the world dreams of. I was mesmerized from the outset and dumbstruck at the energy coming off the stage. The band literally took me off my feet and carried me along in a wave of country and western acid house. I eventually looked away from the band to judge audience reaction and I can honestly say the crowd were kicking the walls down. have never and I mean never seen a band make every person in a sold out venue dance, groove and basically shake their funky stuff. The band played for just over 2 hours with the energy never giving up . They also wowed us with an appearance on lead harmonica from the Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds' son for the aptly named "Have you seen Bruce Richard Reynolds ?' It was a cover of a 60’s folk tune about the great man himself rehashed in the Alabama 3’s unique way! I can’t say enough good things about this band and their fans. it was a totally unique live experience . Having met them, I have to say that they were totally down-to-earth and non egotistical guys too. Larry Love even washed a glass up so I could have a drink!) This band are a must see. They are appearing at nearly all the major festivals this summer. If you go for no other reason, go for Alabama 3 alone. The photgraphs that accompany this article were taken exclusively for Pennyblackmusic by Matthew Williams

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