At Temperance in Leamington Spa the trio version of Big Wolf Band - Jonathan Earp (guitar & vocals), Mick Jeynes (bass) and Justin Johnson (drums & BV) took to the stage one final time in 2024, before a deserved rest.
The previous full band gig on Friday 13th December at the Emsworth Blues Club, had a very painful start as lead singer and guitarist Jonathan had his strap brake and in catching the guitar cut a finger badly so blood was pouring onto the maple neck of his guitar. After getting bandaged up and cleaning the guitar the gig was a resounding success. (Jonathan suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder which makes this accident more serious).
Adrian Gaines (owner of Temperance) had nagged Jonathan to play as a trio and after playing as part of Temperance’s blues club this is the first full gig for the trio at the venue.
The set had some earlier songs as well as different arrangements of Big Wolf Band songs for the trio. As Jonathan said at the start, it would have a lot more guitar and was hard work for all the band which is why brought up a sweat. Bass man Mick might more up the front than normal and Justin exchanged his normal rhythm guitar for the drum sticks!
The first half contained several band favourites including ‘Walk in my Shoes’ and ‘Rolling with Thunder’ (but with Jonathan on vocals rather than Justin) and finished with Rory Gallagher’s ‘Cradle Rock’
After a break the band returned with more classic Big Wolf Band songs including ‘Heaven’s Got the Blues’ and ‘Just Can’t Find You’ which was a rare live performance of a slower more melodic song with quiet drums and bass, with expert guitar picking from Jonathan.
‘Crazy Love’ was another song performed rarely (off the new album) which was done to a quickish tempo (but not too fast) as it has a lot of lyrics to fit in!
For an encore the band performed ‘Going Down’ with great guitar work from Jonathan and powerful vocals.
After a break the band will be back on the road in late January at the Rock & Blues 2025 festival in Worksop.
