‘A Night for Neil’

Neil Hubbard’s guitar was a thread that ran through British rock in the late ’60s and throughout the subsequent decades as a member of Bluesology, Wynder K. Frog, Joe Cocker’s Grease Band, Juicy Lucy, Kokomo and others, and as a hired gun all the way from Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita via Alvin Lee and Robert Palmer to Roxy Music’s Avalon and Bryan Ferry’s “Slave to Love”. He could play a storming solo, as Paul Carrack reminded the audience at Bush Hall last night, but he really excelled as a rhythm player: a master of the groove. Carrack recalled the remark of B. B. King, who met Hubbard on the sessions for his Deuces Wild album in 1997, that “you could set your watch by him.”

Last night’s sold-out event was a fundraiser for the charity researching the disease — Lewy body dementia — from which Hubbard is suffering, and which kept him away from this celebration of his career. The all-star bill opened with Hamish Stuart, once of the Average White Band, putting out some admirably funky stuff with a fine version of Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” and an arrangement of “Pick Up the Pieces” concocted for AWB’s appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival by their great propducer/arranger, Arif Mardin, and featuring the non-nonsense tenor saxophone of Jim Hunt.

Next came Kokomo, their five original members — singer Frankie Collins, singer-pianist Tony O’Malley, saxophonist Mel Collins, guitarist Jim Mullen and percussionist Jody Linscott — supplemented by those who have replaced the fallen along the way, including the singers Charlotte Churchman and Helena May Harrison and bass guitarist Jennifer Maidman. This was a classic Kokomo mini-set, including Quincy Jones’s “Stuff Like That”, Stevie Wonder’s “So What the Fuss”, the band original “Third Time Around” and Bobby Womack’s “I Can Understand It”.

Attention turned to the screen behind the musicians, where we were shown a little film of Hubbard in the home where he is currently living, playing his Gibson ES-355 with a young friend on an acoustic guitar. As Neil’s golden retriever lay at his feet, he strummed the intro to Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” — which the live band picked up and flew with.

Carrack was next, with “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You”, “Stand By Me” and, of course, Ace’s immortal “How Long”, pub rock’s finest hour, its chorus sung back at him by the audience. By this point, the love in the room was overflowing.

Finally the stage was cleared for Roxy Music — two original members, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera, joined by Chris Spedding and Chester Kamen on guitars, Guy on keys, Guy Pratt on bass guitar, Andy Newmark on drums and Jody Linscott, the night’s Most Valuable Player, plus the Kokomo singers, with Dionne Collins replacing Churchman. Kamen sang “Love Is the Drug”, Louise Marshall arrived to deliver “Avalon” and Mackay’s soprano saxophone was featured on a sultry instrumental that I think might have been “Tara”.

Then came a real coup de théâtre as we watched back-projected film of a Roxy concert from Fréjus in 1982, with Hubbard featured alongside Ferry, doing “My Only Love”, synched up (via a click track in Newmark’s headphones, I’d guess) to the live band. Two people who were unable to be with us on the night were nevertheless making their contribution. The technical manipulation worked beautifully.

To close, almost the entire company crowded on to the stage to go back almost to where Neil’s story began, with Joe Cocker’s gospellised version of “With a Little Help from My Friends”, the lead vocal bravely taken by O’Malley. The perfect end to a night that felt like a meeting of old friends, an evocation of old glories and an affirmation of… well, something or other. Something good, anyway.