Aynsley Lister – Out on his Own
Aynsley
Lister has balls. I know that not just because
he says so in one of his best songs, but because he showed it in Bad Godesberg's Klangstation
on Sunday. Classic Rock magazine
recently voted Lister amongst the top ten contemporary Blues artists of the new
Millennium – in the good company of John Mayer and The White Stripes – so playing to
twenty people must have been a shock to the system. True to tradition though ‘the band played
on…'
Arriving at
the Klangstation in Bonn Bad Godesberg was odd.
I had my camera and permission to take photos. The only thing I was worried about was
this: Would there actually be a
concert? My concern started when I discovered
that the Klangstation website had a calender for November but no concert listed
for Sunday. My usual source of
information, the Mr Music CD shop in Bonn centre was closed all weekend, and phone
calls to the hall just rang and rang.
The face of blues future? – Aynsley Lister
It was a
relief then to see a poster on the door of the Venue with Aynsley Listers
silhouetted figure on it. Even more
comforting to look through the glass door and see the man himself soundchecking in an
empty hall. The trouble was that come
showtime the hall was still virtually empty.
As Lister
began a couple of solo acoustic numbers I could almost feel the sinking
feeling. There were around twenty five
of us watching – then Aynsley introduced the band and the audience was promptly
reduced by two, as drummer Rich ‘Spoons' Spooner and new Portugese bassist Midus
Guerreiro took the stage. The hope of a
sudden surge of late arrivals gradually subsided and we all decided to make the
most of things (the band included).
The Aynsley
Lister sound is an eclectic mix. There
is more than a hint of John Mayer in quieter songs like ‘Beautiful' and
certainly a very strong hint of ZZ Top when he rocks it up on ‘Everything I
Need'. There is also a hint of someone
else about his appearance – his spiky hair style a mix of Beckham meets Michael
Owen. But there is also an edge to the
music (and the hair) that is distinctly Aynsley Lister. It's surely this edge that made Thomas Ruf sign the
man up for his Record Company and it's this edge that gets him noticed by the
magazines like ‘Classic Rock' and gives him more female fans than the average blues artist I suspect.
I think it
would be unfair of me to review the performance itself. No complaints I hasten to add, but who could give a super show in such
circumstances? In the event we got a
pretty good evenings music, including a super rendition of Prince's 'Purple Rain', a full show and an encore too. Hats off for not making an early exit. I can only hope that Aynsley and the band
found some of the famous British sense of humour to get them through. As when an elderly member of the audience
went to the stage front and requested (in German) that Aynsley addressed the
crowd in German. Poor non-German speaking Aynsley looked
like he was hoping the stage would swallow him up – or maybe swallow the old
guy in front of him up. Maybe you should
learn ‘Danke Schön' for future use though Aynsley? I fondly remember that from Rory Gallagher
Rockpalast days. On the subject of
Rockpalast, there is a live DVD available of the Aynsley Lister Band – it was
recorded at the Harmonie in Bonn in front of a large audience. Which is to say that the fans are out there, but they deserve to
know that there is a great show in town and Aynsley Lister deserves to have a
good audience for his excellent music.
Aynsley and me – I'm the one with the glasses 
Please come back again Aynsley – Just make sure we know when.
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