On another rainy Monday night in Manchester soul, funk and acid jazz giant Roy Ayers did the second of his two nights with hip hop legend Pete Rock at the Band On The Wall. The combination of the two had all the potential for a special night but it fell well, a bit flat. Don’t get me wrong it was a good night but it could have and should have been a lot better. Personally I was expecting a full live band playing Roy’s hits from the past with Pete Rock dropping in every now and again with some breaks and scratching. I wasn’t alone in thinking this as from listening to a few people after the night as they also expected the same. To start with there wasn’t even a full band, just Roy Ayers on vibraphone and vocals together with John Pressley who was also on vocals and probably the star on the night for both his awesome playing and on stage antics, Raeford Gaskins who was playing the saxophone. Pete Rock basically was the MC for the night hid behind his laptop and decks who would every now and again when he wasn’t checking or answering his phone chance his arm with a bit of crowd participation from behind the mic. Roy and his ‘band’ treated us to just five numbers, opening up with a 9 minutes of ‘Don’t Stop the Feeling’, followed by another near 9 minutes of ‘Searchin’ before finally finishing off his first section with ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’. Pete Rock then took to the decks and played a quality soul and funk set, playing the likes of The Blackbirds, Cameo and Al Green for the next 30 minutes. All the time, to Roy and his ‘bands’ credit, they didn’t leave the stage for a break but stayed there for a bit of a boogie and sing along!! After Pete Rock’s set Roy then took over again and treated us to ‘Love Will Bring Us Back’ before finally finishing off with ‘Running Away’ which is pretty much what he did when the song finished as he just disappeared from the stage without a thank you or good night. I honestly don’t think anyone realized at this point that he wasn’t coming back on but he was probably forgotten about very quickly as soon as Pete Rock dropped ‘They Reminisce’. The crowd went absolutely mental, and quite rightly so to one of the greatest hip hop tracks ever, before Pete Rock wound the night down by playing a selection of his greatest hits. All in all like I said earlier it was a good night but not a great night and in case you wondered, yes it was still raining when it all finished. The clips of the night below are thanks to my mate Ian Walpole who was with me on the night and had a far better video on his phone than the one I had !! I've had to split some of the clips up into two due to the upload limit on this site. Enjoy !!
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| Ticket kindly signed by Pete Rock on the night Pete Rock hyping up the crowd !! |
Pete Rock spinning the MP3's
'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' - Check out Roy and John Pressley
while Raeford plays his sax. Quality !!
'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' - continuation of the above clip.
'Running Away' - Star of the show Raeford Gaskins
showing off his sax playing skills !!
'Running Away' - second part of the above clip with
Roy getting funky on his vibraphone.
Pete Rock just before he drops 'They Reminisce' and the feedback
blows the mic on my phone.
Pete Rock on the decks scratching the night away !!
Short clip again of Pete Rock's soul and funk set.
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