Swiss born French blues rock guitarist & singer (30) Félix Rabin stormed Temperance Café’s sold-out audience on his 10th tour, and his 3rd time at Temperance. He was joined on stage by Swiss Fantin Moreno (drums & vocals) and Italians David Caraccio (bass) and Francesco Nicola Gagna (guitar & vocals). Ten years ago, he was the opening act for Wishbone Ash and from this he got a lot of great publicity which helped him at the start of his music career.
As it states in his bio “Marked by the influence of the likes of Gary Clark Jr. or John Mayer, Félix Rabin is deeply rooted in pop-rock tinted-blues, getting funky at times, in a long-standing tradition having its musical origins in the excesses of the musical icons of the sixties and seventies, but now with the airs of a “good boy”, an introvert loner, with an incandescent frenzy in his soul.”
The intimate venue at Temperance Café was packed and waiting with anticipation from a set from Félix and his band with French and Italians in the crowd along with David an enthusiastic 90-year-old in the front row! Temperance owner Adrian Gains was again on sound and lighting.
The band kicked off with the great blues rock song ‘Moving On’ with haunting vocals, solid rhythm section and second guitar on effects backing. Great vocals & harmonies from Félix and Francesco, and wild guitar break from Félix. This was followed by ‘Say (You Won’t Leave Me) with its funky start with strong vocals, multiple voices and great bass/drum rhythm section.
This was followed by a couple of slower paced songs with ‘Angels’ with its passionate vocals from Félix, heavy beat and great guitars and ‘Little Hurricane’ with the organ effects on guitar and Francesco on acoustic guitar. They then went into ‘I Will Be Gone’ with its funky guitar work.
Before the break, the first songs from the just released EP ‘Blue Days’ were played with ‘What You Need’ with its slower tempo and echoey guitars and ‘As She Comes’ with Francesco on acoustic guitar and eerie guitar from Félix on a slow-paced song and strong plaintive vocals.
The second half kicked off with the upbeat song ‘A Good Day’ with its heavy beat and was followed by the mellow melodic beat of ‘Find Me’ (from the new EP) with its echoey guitars and laid-back sound.
Félix then played live for the second time a very new song ‘To Come Alive’ as Félix said ‘I have been playing my own songs for 10 years, but have only released EPs, so my goal this year is to release my first full album’. The song has great slide guitar work from Félix and a mellow sound with echoey guitars and expressive harmonies from Félix and Francesco.
Next up was ‘Down our Roads’ from the first album of the same name with its groovy tune, plaintive vocals and funky guitar.
Then the original trio (Félix, David & Fantin) got excited to play ‘Crossroads’ with its quick funky blues beat, during which Félix went walkabout in the audience.
With the full band now on stage they finished with a couple of songs from the ‘Pogboy’ EP with ‘Death’ with its mellow slow start, with Francesco on acoustic guitar, with breathless vocals and an echoey guitar break. The set was completed with an extended version of ‘Gone’ with souring guitar work from Felix and Francesco backed by David & Fantin’s rhythm section.
After wild applause the band were persuaded to play an encore and gave the audience their version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ with a rockier version with great vocals from Félix.
