UFO - Lights Out In San Francisco! - Gig Review

UFO
March 26, 2016
The Independent, San Francisco, CA, USA

If ever there was a night that should have been recorded for a live record, it would have been this one.

UFO has been rocking American audiences with much regularity for some forty years, and I've never seen this iteration of the band put on a better performance. The sold out crowd at The Independent in San Francisco was in great voice for the last show of the band's current US tour and the walls reverberated as loudly as ever as they sang along on most choruses. This evening was an unabashed love fest, the likes of which I hope we will soon see again.

SIDEMEN: Long Road To Glory - A Big Hit At SXSW Film For All The Right Reasons

"People said, 'Pinetop, it looks like you ought to have plenty of money.' How you gonna have plenty of money when you a sideman? No way!" ~ Pinetop Perkins (July 7, 1913 - March 21, 2011)

SIDEMEN: Long Road To Glory opened this past week to unanimous rave reviews and acclaim at the SXSW Film festival, and while it is a great film, likely as good a musical documentary as you'll see released this year, it's also a movie that has a great story of its own.

In his 97 years on earth, Pinetop Perkins never made himself a rich man by playing the piano, but he still went out of this life a rich man, celebrated by fans, friends, getting some of the acclaim due an artist of his stature by way of his third Grammy Award in 2011, and now having his tale told in this passionate documentary.