Herb Alpert in London

martin

Well-Known Member
After having waited for three years my wife and I finally got to see Herb and Lani and their fabulous band at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London last night. It was the opening night of six concerts that have been sold out since 2020. I have seen Herb, Lani and the band quite a lot over the years, but this was by far the greatest experience. Herb's playing was excellent and the band is just fantastic. The program featured much more of the classic TJB and Brasil 66 tunes than on earlier concerts, and Herb even took requests that led to him playing "If I Were A Rich Man" and "A Banda" during the show. Of the newer stuff, Lani's performance of "Seasons Of Love" and Herb's "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" stood out as excellent. Herb lead the concert in a very relaxed and personal way that was both fun and also moving in many ways. I also got to meet our British friend Stephen Vakil who could tell me that he had tickets for all of the six concerts. On the photos that was placed on Herb's official Facebook page you can spot my wife and me standing in line on the right side of the door to the club: Herb Alpert

- greetings from London -
Martin
 
I really hope they are in our vicinity sometime. The last time, we flew to Seattle to see them, which was awesome and I loved it, but my wife may not go for another journey of that length! (She's more of a one-and-done when it comes to concerts... for me, the more times I can see one of my favorites, the better!)
 
After having waited for three years my wife and I finally got to see Herb and Lani and their fabulous band at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London last night. It was the opening night of six concerts that have been sold out since 2020. I have seen Herb, Lani and the band quite a lot over the years, but this was by far the greatest experience. Herb's playing was excellent and the band is just fantastic. The program featured much more of the classic TJB and Brasil 66 tunes than on earlier concerts, and Herb even took requests that led to him playing "If I Were A Rich Man" and "A Banda" during the show. Of the newer stuff, Lani's performance of "Seasons Of Love" and Herb's "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" stood out as excellent. Herb lead the concert in a very relaxed and personal way that was both fun and also moving in many ways. I also got to meet our British friend Stephen Vakil who could tell me that he had tickets for all of the six concerts. On the photos that was placed on Herb's official Facebook page you can spot my wife and me standing in line on the right side of the door to the club: Herb Alpert

- greetings from London -
Martin
Interesting! I thought he did NOT take requests.
 
When we saw him in Seattle, he asked if there were any requests but he was clearly joking and didn't really want requests. I forget the exact wording, but it was clear he wasn't really asking for requests. That didn't stop some joker from yelling out "Rise!" after Herb had already played "Rise" as part of a medley. Herb said, "We already played that!" and the guy said "Play the whole thing!" Herb just chuckled and moved on. Which I was glad for, I'd rather hear two or three other songs than the 7-minute entirety of "Rise."
 
I remember in the Montreux video from 96 which I own on DVD he even made a joke along the lines of " if there's anything you'd like to hear maybe Al Jarreau can play it for you". I love that Herb always has a top flight sense of humor.
 
He could take a cue from radio. Whenever a radio station asks for requests, they only play the ones that were going to be played anyway, within the format. So all he'd have to do is wait until he was scheduled to play one of his popular tunes, then shout, "Any requests?". After that, he could just play that next song on the set list.
 
Back
Top Bottom