Hugh Laurie, Letting it Rain

This weekend I was lucky enough to have tickets to see Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band in one of my all time favourite venues, Newcastle's Civic Theatre. If you follow Hugh Laurie's vast and varied career, you'll know that he often gets a chance to show off his musical talents in his acting roles but the last few years he's been putting in the extra hours and has so far released two fantastic bluesy cover albums, Let Them Talk and Didn't It Rain. Being a fan of the albums and of Hugh Laurie in general my boyfriend and I jumped at the chance to see Laurie and his band perform live. Expectations were high but I'm thrilled to report that they were far exceeded.

Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band was one of the best live shows I've ever been lucky enough to witness and I've been to more than my share in my short 27 years. By the end of the 2.5 hour performance my hands, throat and cheeks were numb from clapping, cheering and smiling practically non stop.

This is the part where I'd love to share the highlights with you but the whole damn thing was one giant high. The only low was when Hugh and the band finally disappeared off the stage for good after two wonderful encores.

The incredible Mr Laurie was a ball of inspiring energy the entire time. He was smart, witty, sarcastic, sincere and utterly ridiculous at times. It was hard to tear your eyes off him but tear you must because the rest of the band were just too impressively entertaining to be denied. The seven piece, Copper Bottom Band were seven of the best musicians I've ever witnessed. Their talent, their presence and their incredible ability to really 'perform' for their audience was more than I would have ever have dared to hope for. Saturday night will easily go down as one of the best I have ever spent. If you're a fan of Hugh Laurie and truly wonderful music please do check out his two wonderful albums. They are certainly worth the time.

-Lesley
xxx