It’s been four years since Nils Lofgren toured the UK. Four years since I sat in virtually the same seat in the front row of The Anvil, Basingstoke, to experience one of the most memorable concerts I had ever been to.
Four years on and I’m back and the mad axeman is back too.
In the intervening years he’s toured extensively with Bruce Springsteen and had both his hips replaced.
You’d never know, because he’s a lively as a teenager, spinning around like a top.
And he’s on top form.
It’s the first night of the tour and you might expect a bit of trepidation and hesitation, but Nils, and his ‘band’ (Greg Varlotta on keyboard, guitar, trumpet and most impressively tap dancing) roll back the years with a collection of greatest hits, old favourites and a couple of new tunes.
There’s some amazing guitar solos – Black Books, Blue Skies, some hauntingly beautiful vocals – If I Should Fall Behind, Little On Up (which almost brings a tear to my eyes the lyrics are so touching), and a whole barrel load of great rock songs – Going Back, No Mercy, Like Rain and Keith Don’t Go.
There’s a great new song, written in tribute to the late Ray Charles, called Miss You Ray.
And then there’s the encore.
A great audience was treated to a spectacular send off. Nils clearly came to dance, and he changed his shoes to prove it, joining Varlotta on the tap dancing in a memorable I Came To Dance, which followed a rockingly loud version of Springsteen’s Because the Night.
The show stopping Shine Silently ended the two and a quarter hour show, but I reckon he could have stayed and played all night.
Eighteen dates to go, and fans can catch him at the Brook in Southampton on October 29.
