Saturday night I left Mike’s family at his place and headed down to see Jeff Martin 777 (or is it Jeff Martin and the 777? Unsure). I was quite excited to see the band as the last time I had seen Jeff Martin was in a solo acoustic setting so I was itching to feel the rock and roll thunder.
I managed to snag a nice poster and his new album when I entered the club. I ended up also picking up an Armada live album and one of the opening act’s EP when I exited the place. I showed up at a really good time…I waited five minutes with a beer in hand and the opening act came on stage.
The opening act was a chap by the name of Gabriel Lee (his EP says Stillfire…not sure if that’s a band he’s in or if that’s just his stage name?)…an Australian armed with an acoustic guitar. I was intrigued as to what he would produce to entertain a bunch of people waiting for Jeff Martin. I was pleasantly surprised when he demonstrated his Aussie charisma coupled with his excellent songs! He had some funny songs as well as serious ones…my favourite was one with the line “I love you baby but not as much as my guitar.” He had quite the vocal range as well and he definitely had the Robert Plant vocal thing going on.
After his set, I went to the washroom and stumbled into Mike’s friend Mike. I was at the concert alone so he invited me to hang out with him and his fiance Laura near the stage. I was thankful as I got some good conversation in between sets. They had unfortunately been standing there since 8PM and they opening act only appeared around 9:30 and Jeff Martin 777 weren’t due to the stage until 11. Concert start times are a tricky thing to nail down…usually at the hockey arenas they start at the time which is stated on the ticket. But bars and clubs generally don’t start until much later. I remember one Grady concert where Mike and I didn’t get out of there until 2AM and I had to work in about 5 hours after that!
Anyhow, the next band was Flowerchild who I believe are a band from around Southern Ontario. I can’t say I was overly impressed with them…however the bassist was on fire jumping all over the place and having a great time. Two thumbs up for his stage presence!
Jeff Martin 777 took the stage around 11PM. Chills went down my spine when I realized the onslaught of rock that we were going to experience! They opened with ‘The Ground Cries Out’ from their new album. I’m glad I can appreciate music without having listened to an album beforehand…it was a great number and set the mood for the rest of the night.
The night had a good mixture of new 777 tunes, Tea Party tunes, Jeff Martin solo tunes and covers (Hurt, Whole Lotta Love). I especially loved the medley at the end which had snippets of Zahira/Halcyon days/Rakim/Sister awake and I swear I heard the end jam of Mantra in there as well. Awesome!
My personal highlight was the cover of Whole Lotta Love with Gabriel Lee grabbing the mic. He can wail. I looked at Mike and Laura and we were shocked at how much this guy sounded like Robert Plant. Totally nailed it. Well done, well done.
I’m glad to have caught the band and I will definitely see them if they hit town again.
Setlist
The Ground Cries Out
(Blues Jam)
Overload
Requiem/Hurt
Queen of Spades
The Cobra/Save Me
Santeria
Riverland Rambler
Shadows on the Mountainside
The Messenger
Sister Awake Medley
Black Snake Blues
Whole Lotta Love w/ Gabriel Lee