GIG: Girl Talk – I Am Woman (Mari Wilson, Barb Jungr, Gwyneth Herbert)
DATE: Sunday 3rd July 2011
VENUE: The Alban Arena, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3LD
COST: £17.50 plus a transaction fee for the whole order
OUR VERDICT: Girls do more than talk

Links:

www.mariwilson.co.uk
www.barbjungr.co.uk
www.gwynethherbert.com

'Girl Talk – I Am Woman’ is the sum of a musical roller coaster ride of love, heart-ache and girl power. It’s a mix of great music and humorous chat from three luscious ladies, Mari Wilson, Barb Jungr and Gwyneth Herbert, with ivory tinkling in accompaniment from Adrian York (with a touch of backing vocal). The girls are all accomplished singers in their own right, and we were not sure what a mix of three would bring together so we strapped ourselves in and got set for what turned out to be a fine evening of music and fun.

The show has some great songs including (and by no means comprehensive), “Venus”, “Under My Thumb”, “Jolene”, “More Than A Woman”, “I’m Every Woman” and “Young Hearts Run Free” and Minty’s guilty pleasure, Charlene’s “I’ve Never Been to Me”. All three girls looked great on stage, in heels, slinky dresses with lashes curled and red lippy on.

A bit of chat (the Girl Talk) in between songs, gave us plenty to chuckle at, and at one point Gwyneth revealed a secret which we won’t spoil by revealing here! Enough to say it was amazing and worked really well in one of the songs!

There was a cover of the B52’s song, “Give Me Back My Man” which had a line about giving the other woman fish and candy in return for her man, which in turn led to a rather humorous bit of banter between the girls about why anyone would want to swap fish for a man!!!

Gwyneth had a solo spot in the first half, and sat perched on the edge of the stage while singing a mournful song about “the other woman” which was actually quite uplifting towards the end as the other woman always ends up lonely. She has a very dusky, evocative voice which we liked a lot.

In the second set, it was Mari and then Barb’s turn in the spotlight each singing their chosen songs, accompanied by Adrian on piano and sang with such passion, emotion wrapping its arms around the audience until the last note faded. We have seen Mari on many occasions and know her great vocal range and ability to make every song she sings sound fab and tonight we were not disappointed.

Until tonight we had never seen Barb perform and we were impressed with the power in her voice. She sounded great.  Both had picked perfect songs for their voices.

It is amazing what sound Girl Talk can deliver, with just 3 vocalists (very fine vocalists at that) and a pianist. Even the acapella songs sounded very powerful, with not only vocals but a bit of the doowop style backing which gave an extra depth to the sounds resonating in our ears.

If Girl Talk comes to a town near you, get along and experience this fantastic show for yourself.

Brian with Adrian and the Girls

RINGO STARR

GIG: Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band
DATE: Saturday 18th June 2011
VENUE: Liverpool Empire
COST: £60 plus an really outrageous, extortionate booking fee of £11.50
VERDICT: You can take the boy out of Liverpool....

When the tickets for Ringo went on sale, it was clear from the start that any Minty And The Beeb gig review was only gonna be written up by one half of Minty And The Beeb!

Not even a freebie ticket for a McCartney gig would temp Minty into the Beatle world. But for The Beeb it was a chance to see a real live Beatle. So with one ticket in hand we both headed up to Liverpool once again.

After booking into the hotel we headed out to meet up with friends. The Beeb with Janine, Phil and various other good people, while Minty went on a pub crawl with Dave W.

Ringo in his Teddy Boy jacket

Inside the Empire theatre The Beeb caught up with Janine at the opposite side of the hall for a quick chat. On the way back to his seat the great opening notes of “It Don’t Come Easy” opened the homecoming gig for Ringo. The band sounded great, and Ringo looked even better. He was in great shape and nattily dressed in a bit of a Teddy Boy look jacket.

First of the other members of the All Starr band to do his bit was Rick Derringer, who did his old McCoys hit “Hang On Sloopy.” This is an excellent live song that went down well with the audience. Rick then introduced Edgar Winter who  did a blistering “Free Ride.”

Wally Palmer from The Romantics was an unknown artist to the Beeb, but Gary Wright’s “Dreamweaver” was spot on.

Probably the best singer of the night was Richard Page who did Mr Mister.s big hit “Kyrie.”

Rick Derringer (l) and Richard Page (r)

Ringo came back for the nostalgic “The Other Side Of Liverpool,” then got the crowd going silly with “Yellow Submarine.”

When Edgar Winter strapped his keyboard over his neck for “Frankenstein,” it was like watching the film of him from the Old Grey Whistle Test in the 70’s. His hair was as white then of course!

After another round of various members singing, Ringo finished off the proceedings with “Photograph,” “Act Naturally,” “A Little Help From My Friends” and “Give Peace A Chance.”

All the way through the gig, Ringo made references to how much he loved Liverpool. It became a bit of a running joke.

The gig was very enjoyable, but looking back at how much everyone else in the band contributed to the show makes you wonder how much the £70 price tag for the ticket was VFM. Still...it WAS a Beatle, even if he never used THAT word all night. A good night out, but it will be a while before the Beeb forks out £70 to see Wally Palmer and Mr Mister again.

Ringo on the drums