Now in their 29th year as rock 'n' roll crusaders for all that's way, way cool about early '60s Britannia pop, Merseybeat and Shadows-styled instrumentals, The Rapiers—"the best '60s band since the '60s"—are truly worth flying 5,000 miles to see, hear and dig.
Leftover housekeeping here. Thanks to Rob Bradford for documenting in the dark.
The Rapiers
The Savage / Bongo Blues / Saturday Dance / I Want You to Want Me / Theme From a Filleted Place / Do You Wanna Dance / Shadoogie / My Grandfather’s Clock / William Tell Overture
Jet Harris with The Rapiers
36–24–36 / Jet Black / Scarlett O’Hara / Applejack / Dance With the Guitar Man / Besame Mucho / Nivram / Theme for Something Really Important / Diamonds / Song for Tony
Danger lurks around every chord change for Rapiers running on a tight-turn stage while doing Rossini justice. Just ask Colin Pryce-Jones, who recently admitted how close he came to calamity during the band's opening set closer, William Tell Overture, at September's Shadowmania 2008 at the Lakeside Center, Frimley Green, Surrey.
"I hadn't really looked until we did the number how close I was to the edge of the stage, and of course it's pretty dark out there where the audience is," he says. "When I turned to the left and started to do our gallop, I naturally took off at full pace—only to spot that I was in great danger of running straight off the stage and into the audience!
"I don't know how I did it, but I just managed to pull up in time without wobbling; because of course with a number like that you have to keep a firm grip on the position of the guitar and what you are doing.
"At our 25th Anniversary Concert at Amersham we had the side walls of the stage to work off, but at Lakeside you could end up in the audience with a huge crash!"
You be the judge whether Colin courted fate; frankly, from the comfy safety of my office, I don't see it. However, I've sourced three (!) differing angles of his near nightmare, courtesy Shadowmania attendees Richard, Gillian and Kitty. Two are YouTube-posted, the third a Windows Media Player file.
Hoorah! Shadowmania 10 is in the books. So how'd Neil, Colin, John and Nathan fare solo and backing Jet Harris before 1,000 of the toughest Shadoraks on the planet? Here's instant comment I've culled:
Nick McNulty:
The Rapiers played a short but packed set with lots of unexpected favourites but their version of the William Tell Overture has to be seen to be believed. I particularly enjoyed Jet's set this year. He was edgy and so powerful with Besame Mucho, Diamonds and Dance With the Guitar Man with the female vocals and Cliff Hall standing in at the last minute on keyboards. The songs were played in their full majesty and yes, Jet smiled but we had all beaten him to it. Great great set and he was so funny with his one-liners.
Richard Franklin:
...The Rapiers' rendition of the William Tell Overture definitely needs to be seen.
Maurice Woodcroft of Flingelbunt:
The Rapiers were as polished and professional as ever, and that William Tell heart attack inducer! Blimey! Jet as sardonic as ever: "The only exercise I get these days is chewing a toffee." Priceless! His playing was a bit special as ever and the Tony Meehan tribute was very moving.
Ralph Gowling:
We have campaigned long and hard to see The Rapiers unleash their own instrumentals at concerts, so you would have been truly proud to see the lads bring down the house at Shadowmania with a high-octane William Tell. The legs were pumping fast and furious, the fingers were picking out the chords at a frantic pace, and the crowd were spellbound at seeing The Rapiers perform the galloping number at such a gallop without falling flat on their faces. The cries of "Encore", "More" and "Again" said it all. It seems we have a certain Mr. Bruce Welch to thank for getting The Rapiers to perform WT as their closing number. Bruce must have been equally chuffed as The Rapiers when the crowd bayed for more on top of the thunderous applause.
NB: Lots more chat and comment on MSN ShadowMusic. Pix, song sets and video links, too. Photo below by Tab Bryant.
Thanks to camcorder-carrying Richard Franklin of Yeovil for hitting the record button in time for The William Tell Overture "at the gallop" yesterday at Shadow Bruce Welch's 10th edition of Shadowmania.
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