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Blues Brothers Official Tribute & Musical

The Blues Brothers - The West End

When the Blues Brothers opened in the West End it swiftly became the hottest ticket in town. It was a fantastic dream gig for any musician, I had a fantastic band – Glen, Terry and Martin were all doing Blood Brothers so I had to replace them. As the Blues Brothers was only booked into the theatre for 12 weeks it would have been daft for them to have left and this was something I wouldn’t allow anyway. It would have affected the band in Blood Brothers and I couldn’t have done that as I have ultimate respect for Rod Edwards the musical director, Dave Rose his deputy, and the show in general.

I booked Ian Aitken on guitar and Phil Mulford on bass, Lindsay Bennett on trumpet, Barry Cook on drums and Andy Spiller on keys. The whole band were fantastic! It wasn’t like playing in the theatre at all, this was a proper band.

All of the musicians cared about detail and keeping it true to the style, Phil Mulford and Ian Aitken especially. I would class both of these players as world class. Phil never overplayed or used the wrong instrument on the gig and he has a fantastic technique on bass, he just laid it down faultlessly, and Ian played some of the best solos I have ever heard.

For every night for six months it was fantastic. We were doing the Wogan Show, the Olivier Awards on tv at Pebble Mill, London Tonight, stag and hen nights in the theatre, and Sunday Night at the London Palladium. It was fantastic – but then some over anxious manageress decided to ban drinking in the auditorium because of a couple of minor incidents. This coincided with a cast change - Con and Warwick left and were replaced by Simon Foster and Brian Hibbard. When a show goes to the West End it is very exciting to be part of it - the rehearsals, the press night, opening night, and reading the reviews - you build up great friendships with your other musicians and actors, all working together to make it work. I experienced that with both the Blood Brothers and Blues Brothers, after a cast change it is never the same, well not to me anyway.

I went on to do another 3 years on tour with the Blues Brothers and it went on for another 7 years after that - but it was never the same.
 

this website was cobbled together by Ada, masterminded by Tony McCormick 2008