Ten Years After In NC, without Alvin Lee??

[Tubejunke]

I'm glad that Ten Years After will be in NC this month but I must say that its going to be a little awkward to see them without Alvin Lee. Yes Alvin is doing his own thing now. But man, this is like seeing the Experience without Jimi, or AC/DC without Angus. They get good reviews with the new guitar/vocalist. Personally I think he is Alvin Lee's son. The guy looks just like Alvin at 20 something, only without all the hair. I saw them at a festival in Germany in 1988 or 89 and I remember when they were setting up their equipment there was a guy who came out that was a spitting image of a younger Alvin. As a matter of fact people in the crowd started yelling out Alvin. At that time we were all thinking of what we saw on album covers and the Woodstock performance. Even I thought for a second it could be him. When he did come out it took a few minutes to let the years pass and get used to a more mature, middle aged Alvin. You know shorter hair (mullet) and black leather pants and vest. Remember this was the 80's. Needless to say, Alvin middle aged or not blew us all away. A true guitar "god"!!

Well nearly twenty years later the band is touring the US once again, without Alvin. I hope my skepticism is true and the frontman is Alvin's son. Its almost the only way the thing would seem right. I mean Alvin WAS the show. The band is super so I guess they should be able to make a living doing what they enjoy, even without Alvin. I don't know that he even has a son but if he did it would make sense to kind of turn the reigns over to him and not publicise it as a "son of" act...

Man I'm feeling old all of a sudden. I have been talking about seeing a 20 year old band 20 years ago (almost). It really lets you know how SHORT life really is. I mean it seems like yesterday that most of the rock legends were pretty youthful. Suddenly I am considering that some of the older ones like Jagger and Mcartney will likely be on a walker in 20 more years. Poor old Chuck Berry will surely be rolled over in the grave like Bethoven and great balls of fire will be what allowed loved ones to scatter Jerry Lee Lewis's ashes over Memphis.

But Rock and Roll is still here to stay, and it will NEVER die. Its not a girly, trendy fad or some Hollyweird, Cosmo, American Idol bull s**t. Its Rock and Roll. It spans the generations. Its a way of life to a degree. It also keeps you young I think.

So keep an eye out for TYA in your area. I'm sure you wont be disapointed, even without Uncle Jam.

Rock On!!

Tube out.......

[Strangeband]

According to the official band site, the guitar player is a fellow named Joe Gooch, born in 1977. I imagine the band will put on a very good show, but in my mind, it's not really Ten Years After without Alvin Lee.

I recall seeing the Jack Bruce Band in 1989. Ginger Baker was part of this tour, and a young fellow named Blues Saraceno was on guitar. (There were others in the band, too, including Bernie Worrell.) They played a "Cream" set, and good as it was, two thirds of Cream was not the same.

And you are right, life is short. As Neil Young stated,
"My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out than to fade away
My my, hey hey"

[sleddogman]

One of the times I saw them in Chicago was in '68 at Aaron Russo's Kinetic Playground (Clark & Lawrence.) A few of us were lucky enough to get backstage with them after the show where I managed to get Alvin Lee's, Leo Lyon's, and Chick Churchill's autograph on one of the large luggage tags that was attached to their Marshall cabinets before security caught us and tossed us out.

Alvin was/is an astounding guitarist who said that one of his heroes was Django Reinhart, who in a house fire received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralyzed and his left hand was badly burnt. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate the leg. But he left the hospital after a short time and within a year could walk with use of a cane.

His brother Joseph Reinhardt, an accomplished guitarist in his own right, bought Django a new guitar. With painful rehabilitation and practice Django relearned his craft in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralyzed. Hence, he used to play solos with only two fingers, and managed to use the injured one for some chords.

After Cream broke up, I recall seeing the Baker-Gervitz Army featuring Ginger Baker on drums and the Gervitz brothers on guitar and bass. Ginger Baker was great, unfortunately the Gervitz brothers and their material were rather ho-hum...

[Andyman]

Yep, there's some guys you just can't replace......especially a trademark guy like a guitarist or vocalist. The Stones w/o Mick??????? C'mon!!!

Never understood the Grateful Dead bands after Jerry passed either, but I guess for some the show must go on.

[bikehorn]

It's Alvin's own fault...I read that he fired the whole of Ten Years After by email! Subsequently, the rest of the band replaced him with John and continued as Ten Years After. Alvin tried to sue them because he wanted the rights to the name, but lost.

He is known for being a whiny brat apparently...too bad because he can really play.

[Tubejunke]

It's Alvin's own fault...I read that he fired the whole of Ten Years After by email!

I was hoping someone would chime in with some facts on what the breakup was all about. My thoughts on Gooch being Alvin's son were based on the fact that not many legendary bands continue without a major front man. I knew there would have to be a pretty wild explanation for a TYA tour without Uncle Jam. Bad blood can cause some serious low blows in the music biz. Kind of like Kiss touring with imposters of Ace and Peter. Not just new Kiss members but people dressed to act as the part of the original members. Like an Elvis impersonator.

I hear Joe Gooch does a mean Alvin Lee. Maybe a low blow from the band that he fired. Their way of saying were not fired, you are! Look we have a guy who looks like you but is 20 'years after' (younger).