In addition to many large bands, the shelter for the storm program also has room for smaller bands. But is GA-20 still a small band?
They played tonight in one of the smaller halls of Tivoli Vredenburg, but they have also performed at the Moulin’ blues festival in 2022. The trio consists of guitarist Pat Faherty, guitarist Matthew Stubbs and drummer Tim Carman.
We might know Stubbs from Charlie Musselwhite’s band, Anzalone played drums for Roomful of Blues, among others. The band actually came about by chance. After Charlie Musselwhite went on tour with Ben Harper to promote their joint album, Matthew Stubbs found himself out of work.
Fortunately, he found two people who also loved vintage instruments in Pat and Chris, and soon there was reason enough to form GA-20 together. GA-20 refers to a famous Gibson amplifier from the 1950s. The band therefore consists of two guitarists and a drummer. You actually don’t miss the bass in the type of music they make. From the first songs ‘No No’ and the Loyd Price cover ‘Just Because’ it is clear that it will be a wonderful evening of garage blues.
My favorite was ‘Dry Run’ from their last studio album ‘Crackdown’ from 2022. In addition to this album, the band released ‘GA20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try It…You Might Like It!’ in 2021, with, as the title says an album full of covers of Hound dog Tayler. The Hound dog atmosphere is clearly visible live. Uptempo songs such as ‘Give Me Back My Wig’ and ‘She’s Gone’ are well received by the audience. In addition to Hound dog Tayler, covers of similar garage blues were also played. Bo Diddley’s ‘Crackin’ Up’ and Ike Turner’s ‘Just One More Time’ fit well into the show.
The covers of R.L. were different. Burnside (solo by Pat Faherty) and the very emotional Little Walter song ‘My Baby Is Sweeter’, where the harmonica solo was replaced by a very sensitive guitar solo by Matthew Stubbs. After Pat Faherty had done the now almost usual audience walk and stood on the bar during ‘Sitting at Home Alone’, we walked towards the end of the concert, but not before driving the audience crazy again with Hound dog Taylor’s ‘Let’s Get Funky’. A fantastic evening. Unfortunately, there should have been a slightly larger audience. The “cloud nine” was nicely filled but not packed.
The supporting act was by the Utrecht band “Five Dollar Shake”. The band has just released its first album ‘Bigger Heart’ and have started a tour to promote this album. I had never heard of the band even though they had already been to Culemborg blues and the Zwarte cross and were the support act for Southern Avenue and Fantastic Negrito. The band is a nice addition to the Dutch scene. A mixture of rock and blues with an enthusiastic singer and a band that clearly has fun together on stage. From the first uptempo song ‘I’m not your mother’ to the closing track ‘Hell bent’, all styles were audible, Rock, blues, Slide and sometimes even a bit of pop.
