It was the first Saturday of the Edinburgh festival season, the international cycling championships with roads closed and Scotland playing rugby at Murrayfield. Meanwhile, Fife band Lights Out By Nine must have eight members to be on stage by 2:30 pm.
At the scheduled start, the band were three members down and could only hold for a few minutes. With tight Fringe bookings meaning the next show would be along in just over an hour, Lights Out By Nine started their 2nd of 5 appearances with (sax player) George Morrison’s Chapter 26, and they are faultless as always.
Soon after Tom Stirling arrived meaning we now had a vocalist. Tommy dug deep into his soulful roots to unleash a passionate Working On It. Like a progressive guest list, lead vocalist John Frame arrived to deliver some authentic blues originals and arrangements such as Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City, Mr Brown and Why Did You Do It. This mix was before gifting us Life During Wartime with more funk than Talking Heads ever had. Crowd pleaser Pick Up The Pieces learned from their time playing with Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) not only highlighting the brass section of John Beresford on trumpet and the prior mentioned George Morrison on saxophone but spotlighted Alan Kyle’s impassioned electric guitar and Tom Stirling’s chords on Hammond Organ. These and other highlights like Love And Happiness keep riveting together with the return of Malcolm Herpich on drums and founder member Dougie Hunter on electric bass.
Finishing off with Wrap It Up, there was no time for encores as the Fringe rolled on and the sold-out audience departed into the Edinburgh sunshine.
Lights Out By Nine - Live! plays The Jazz Bar on the 25th and 26th of August. Book tickets here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lights-out-by-nine-live
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