At a time of life when others may be taking things a bit easier, the evergreen Del Bromham made two trips down from Buckinghamshire on the M1 and M25 in the space of four days, first in Putney with Stray on the Wednesday and then Staines (or Staines-upon-Thames as we must now call it), on Sunday, under his own name. He has played a number of solo acoustic ‘songs and stories’ shows, but this one was a full electric effort featuring Stray bandmates Colin Kempster and Karl Randall. The feel was therefore not too dissimilar to Stray but with a greater emphasis on electric blues, though no ballads or acoustic numbers.

There can’t be many more convivial places to spend a Sunday afternoon than a Brewery enjoying some of their ales within view of their brewtanks, but it is also an excellent shaped space for live music, though on this occasion easily able to accommodate a die hard crowd on its circular tables. From the guitars on the walls to rock inspired names for their small batch beers, it has a rock’n’roll vibe to it, and they are trying to expand their live music schedule with more original bands- I have been a regular at Brave Rival’s Sunday matinee show here, and Chantel McGregor is about to be in town.

After overcoming some logistical issues, Del opened appropriately with ‘Let’s Get the Show Started’ and the Texas blues like ‘House Of Love’, playing a Stratocaster as one of three guitars he swapped between. ‘The Well’s Run Dry’ showed his underrated songwriting skills, while ‘Slave’ had a more relaxed groove to it.

I did wonder whether we might get the odd Stray song and he obliged with ‘I Am’ from their most recent ‘About Time’ album. His usual quick witted repartee was in evidence but the theme of the afternoon, in as much as there was one, was to pay tribute to some of his inspirations as a young hopeful in sixties West London, many of whom he them encountered in his chequered musical career.

One such was Tim Rose and his version of ‘Morning Dew’ was a powerful version in which his gravel tones even sounded a little like Steve Marriott. After the biographical ‘The Ballad of JD’, he paid tribute to another hero of his youth in Steve Winwood with a couple of his very best songs in Blind Faith’s ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’ and ‘Dear Mr Fantasy’. Both were extended jams showing off the quality of his rhythm section and Del’s flair with the wah-wah pedal, as well as teasing the audience.

The second half opened with Bobby Bland’s ‘This Time I’m Gone For Good’ (where I noticed some similarities with his more famous ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of the City’) and ‘You Don’t Know How I Feel’, his guitar playing just as good as with Stray, albeit in a somewhat bluesier style.

A story about sharing a bill with a young Gary Moore led onto a fine version of ‘Don’t Believe A Word’, in full length fashion with the slow blues leading into the rock out we are all familiar with. With an anecdote about misinterpreting the lyrics when Stray recorded the Cliff Richard cover, ‘Move It’ had a meaty guitar sound, then ‘Everybody Has To Sing the Blues’ sparked a bit of a singalong as he and Colin wandered into the crowd.

He ended with a couple of Stray songs from their early seventies masterpiece ‘Saturday Morning Pictures’, with some furious slide playing during ‘Leave It Out’, then ‘After the Storm’ with one colossal riff after another and a couple of false endings. Indeed the band were dragged back for an encore of a couple more Stray songs, albeit not the obvious ones in ‘Houdini’ and, bringing things up to date, ‘Living the Dream’. They completed a most convivial afternoon in the company of a great musician and entertainer.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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