Greg Lake - Songs Of A Lifetime 25-11-12,London

This turned out to be a one man show which was a surprise as I was expecting a full band and backing singers similar to when he last toured (about 2004). Its not a big stage. The big man was introduced onto the stage via a recording of Moonchild and a modern rap style version of In The Court Of The Crimson King. And there he was on his own (although some unkind souls might consider that a good thing for health and safety reasons never mind the half ton drum kit and riser that Carl used to use). The opening track was 21st Century Schizoid man with Greg singing and playing bass to a backing track. (All the backing tracks seemed to be new recordings which did make me wonder who played on them.). His voice has stood the test of time well and perhaps due to giving up the cigs he is singing better than he was 20 years ago on the Black Moon tour. There was actually a slight gasp when he started playing Trilogy. Everyone was thinking 'is he really going to hit those notes?' Of course he didn't but using a 'slightly' lower register than the original he did a respectable version which then seemlessly lead into Still You Turn Me On.

 

One of the purposes of doing the one man show was to be able to talk about his songs and influences. We got plenty about Hendrix , Elvis , The Beatles and Hank Marvin which was very interesting. He talked about how ELP got together. Very familiar and the facts are well known and have been repeated many times. Still it was very interesting when he recounted his meeting with Mitch Mitchell , his two bodyguards , a manager and a gun! Thankfully as time testifies , Lake lived to tell the tale and Palmer turned out to be the safer option . I especially liked his story about seeing Elvis in 1970. First song , 3 women fainted and had to be attended to. Second song similar story. By the end it was like a refugee camp with people crying. Elvis has left the building. He was stunned by just how good he was and said he it would take him a long time to get over the fact that he would never be that good.

 

Apart from his owns songs (C'est La Vie , Lend Your Love Tonight , Lucky Man etc) he also played the odd classic rock n roll song as well the Beatles 'You've got to hide your love away' helped enthustically by the audience on the main chorus. During the interval I had a chat with a very nice couple who had come all the way over from Boston , Massachusetts. Apparently the lovely lady had serenaded her future husband with Take A Pebble all those years ago. Quite a talent!

 

The encore track was rocking verion of Karn Evil 9. Strange one to end the show on I suppose but good fun.Overall a very enjoyable evening with GL now taking the show over to Italy. Enjoy!

 

PS he did play Father Xmas!

 

Thanks for posting the set list. I couldn't remember all of it.

 

On the Curtis Mayfield cover he played keyboards and very respectably to. Trivia question - when did he play keyboards in ELP?