Too old to rock and roll??

Continuing on our city adventure, we ended up at the Alix Goolden Hall.

I had written about this in a previous post (where we went to see The Wailin Jennys) and I had forgotten to bring my camera...BLASPHEME!!

Anyway, this time I had it. This is a gorgeous, old, Gothic Anglican church turned music hall and what a beauty she is!

...turrets and stained glass and deep carved pillars..

I know I've mentioned this before but I have to say it again...craftsmanship, back in the day was simply amazing...done by hand and usually with the finest materials around...

Look at the detail in the cast iron balcony...

I mean, really! Does it get much better?

(by the way, we were3 rows from the front on the main floor, I just went upstairs to take photos)

Then there's the 100 year old, 18 tonne pipe organ, which, with it's 3,100 metal and wood pipes has been restored and is being played again after a decade of silence...

O.k  o.k back to the show....

First up was the opening act who's a local boy named David Gogo...

A gifted slide guitar, blues man who's been touring with Johnny Winter for a while now...

...that's a 1920's Gibson...

He also plays this 1930's National Steel guitar with a glass slide...

He's a powerhouse on this thing.

Then, what everyone was waiting for...

The main act...

Johnny Winter.

...tattooed, cross eyed albino from Texas.

Well, the legend has been around and hasn't been too kind on his body...booze, heroin, fast living.

He had to be helped on stage and then sat for the entire performance.

But I tell you...this guy knows how to play the blues!

I've never seen anyone play guitar the way he does.

His fingers never left the neck of the guitar and they danced up and down those frets like a flamenco dancer on polished wood.

He's got these crazy long fingers that look permanently bent to play the licks he does...

 Wonder what the stories are on those tattoos...

 In fact, I kept thinking that...the stories, the life this guy has led...

the people he's played with and the places he's been.

Doing what he's so obviously good at and was meant to do.

I have to tell you something though...maybe he's not too old to rock and roll

but I think I am...

it was so freakin' loud that Tom and I could barely hear each other after the show.

Plus we went and had a few more pints and sang along and closed the Irish pub down and didn't get to the hotel till about 2 in the morning!

I'd probably need help on stage if I were 66 and had been doing that for the past 40 years every night as well!

So here's to Johnny...