Madfinger
- Line Up:
-
Mike Gibbins
(drums/vocals)
- and friends:
-
Allen Hewgley(music
archivist)
Jack West
Greg Loxley
Gary
Redwine
Glen Vandervort
-
Here is a fans account of Mikes first Solo outing. Many
thanks to Randy Justesen and Dave Amara.
ORIGINAL STORY 4-12-99:
I had
the great pleasure of watching the performance of Mike Gibbins and his
band perform in Casselbury, FL on Saturday April 10th. Ron
Griffiths flew in from England to play bass in what became a
Ivey's/Badfinger reunion of sorts. Another English band member
who beefed up the all-star line up was UFO guitarist Paul Chapman.
It was a powerful full sounding 8 piece band. They had a strong
rhythm section with two drummers. Opening the show with
Sue Me from Mike's debut solo CD Mike started on the drums and
eventually jumped down to center stage where he lead the band as the
front man. Sue Me was one of the highlights of the set! I
have to say, Mike looked great, sang great, and was an overall blast
to watch perform. Ron Griffiths was also in top form. He
looked great, played excellent, and was very entertaining with
expressions and moves reminiscent of the "Maybe Tomorrow" footage off
the Badfinger video documentary by Gary Katz. Another highlight
was when they played Come and Get It which Ron sang. Ron
was right on the money and sounded right at home while he effortlessly
played and sang through the hit McCartney song he recorded with the
band. The Layaway song was also another highlight of the show,
mostly because it is one of Mike's strongest songs. They played
No Matter What and Day After Day which were sung by a very good guest
musician (I can't remember who he was, local Florida guy I think).
They were performed well, but I told Mike I would have rather heard
him or Ron sing them. He told me he could not hit the notes so
he did not want to sing them. I really think he could pull them
off great as he has his own style and sings great to me. In
summary I have to say it was an incredible thrill watching a couple of
my favorite musicians rocking out who still looked and played in top
form. I video taped the performance and took a roll of film from
which I have posted a few pictures on this page. Fellow
Badfinger Internet fans who made it to and met at the show were; John
Nelson and Dave Amara. We were also quite honored to hang out,
chat, and sip some cool drinks in the Florida heat for a few hours
after the show with our favorite musicians!
IN
GENERAL/AFTERTHOUGHTS/
Mike
Gibbins put together a really great band for his solo artist debut
show this past April 10 in Casselbury Florida. Billed as Madfinger
with special guest and former band mate Ron Griffiths, the band's
performance was powerful and very satisfying for the audience.
Also playing that day were Modern English and the Fabulous
Thunderbirds, among others. Below are a few of the photos of the
day. After the show Mike and Ron graciously hung out with some
of us die hard fans and we all chatted about everything under the sun.
They were both friendly, told stories, watched the other bands, and
generally just had a good time hanging out after a great show!
Great guys and great musicians who brought a lot of joy into peoples
lives over the years with their music! As you can see it was
clear blue skies and about 90 degrees out so it was pretty much a
picture perfect day! Madfinger played what I believe was the
title song off his upcoming album called "More Annoying Songs".
It was a rocker with great hooks and great lyrics. With an 8
piece band powering the sound the music came across very big!
They played 3 songs off "A Place In Time," a couple off Mike's "More
Annoying Songs," 3 Badfinger songs, and ended with a Jeff Beck song if
I recall it right! They had a very good guest vocalist come up
to sing Baby Blue and Day After Day while Ron Griffiths stole the
Badfinger part of the show singing Come and Get It! Not
surprising, Mike sang and played great! He had no trouble coming
off the drums for a number of songs to do the front man lead singer
role showing his charm and charisma which added to a very memorable
show! I can hardly wait for another show!!! I hope this is
just the 1st of many!
