Saturday 22nd September 2007   

Today and tomorrow sees many well known singers in the music world celebrate their birthdays, Joan Jett, David Coverdale (Whitesnake), Nick Cave, Billie Piper, Julio Igleslas and the Boss – Bruce Springsteen.

Tonight the locals at The Butchers Arms are in for a party and celebration of their own with Mansfield based singer / songwriter/ guitarist Jon Stringer.

In appearance Jon is the spitting image of ZZ Top members Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, only he’s much taller (6 feet 4 inches tall and has long hair!

From the moment Jon plays the first note of the opening song in his first set, the audience are trans-fixed by his appearance and the sound quality of his backing music, guitar and crystal clear vocals.

The first song is entitled "Coming Back To Life" taken from Pink Floyds 1994 no1 album " The Division Bell", Jon delivers his vocals with clarity and deep meaning and the guitar solo’s are worthy of any great guitar player.

After Jon welcomes the audience he proceeds with "Fix You" by Coldplay, a very emotional song which crescendo’s into an array of keyboards, drums and guitar for the final two minutes of the song. Jon then announces "Here’s a classic rock song for you" and launches into "Sunshine Of Your Love" the classic Clapton song from his Cream days in 1968. He plays another classic Clapton song next, "Badge", Creams last Top 20 Single 1969. It’s very rare that a solo performer attempts to play the material Jon is playing here tonight, that alone speaks for itself what an accomplished musician Jon Stringer really is.

The next song is another rock classic by Pink Floyd, the excellent "Comfortably Numb" which boasts a couple of brilliant guitar solos, which Jon plays spot on.  Yet another 70’s classic Rock tune follows in the shape of Free’s "Alright Right Now" the audience are singing along to every line and enjoying every minute of it.

As a ZZ top look a like it’s only common sense that there’s going to be one or two ZZ Top numbers in a Jon Stringer set and here’s the first taken from their 1973 album "Tres Hombres" the excellent "La Grange", which Jon delivers faultlessly and brings a little piece of Texas to this Derbyshire pub.

The last song of the first set is an excellent version of Gary Moore’s "Walking By Myself" , a great closure to a vibrant and lively first set.

After a short interval, Mr Stringer is back for his final set of the evening, opening with another classic Pink Floyd track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" the pub at this point is full and eyes are fixed on Jon as he delivers an excellent guitar intro to "Shine On".

The thing that surprise’s me most is what full sound Jon is producing with his two-way all active Mackie system, equivalent to any full band sound, with his very own real instrumentation sampled sounds which again creates that very live feel of what Jon as aimed towards, (a big sound for one man).

Next we are treated to an excellent version of ZZ tops "Got Me Under Pressure" taken from their 1983 million seller "Eliminator".

It’s 26 years this week since Post Man Pat was first screened on tele, and tonight we are treated to Jon’s own rendition of "Post Man Pat" without backing tracks!! This went down a storm with the audience as his lyric’s aren’t quiet the same as the original...ah ah ah....

Next another Coldplay song "Clocks" which again sounds so refreshing and hard to believe that a band isn’t playing with this complete full sound.

Back in the 1970’s Bill Nelson formed "Be Bop Deluxe". Nelson himself was (and still is) an excellent songwriter and guitarist and tonight Jon plays two Be Bop songs back to back, " Ships In The Night" a top 25 hit from 1976 and the theatrical "Swan Song" although relatively unknown to the audience, the song goes down a treat. For the next 4 minutes we are taken back to "Sweet Home Alabama" the classic Lynyrd Sknyrd song, people are singing to the chorus and dancing and obviously enjoying this classic 70’s rock number.

In America "Tubsnake" is slang for Surf-board, tonight we are treated to three ZZ Top numbers back to back, first up is "Tube Snake Boogie" then "Tush", running into the ballad "Rough Boy", which Jon performs with absolute passion and conviction.

"The Rolling Stones" have now been performing for 45 years and with so many great songs in their back catalogue, it’s hard to know which one to play – tonight Jon chooses their last number 1 (in the UK) "Honky Tonk Women" , ok so Mick Jagger never had a beard, but Jon does the song justice in his very own unique style.

The floor in front of the stage area is full of people dancing to this selection of rock standards from yester-year.

Paul Rodgers is currently singing with Queen, Jon strikes up next with a Rodgers song from his "Free" days, 1973’s "Wishing Well" – Paul Kossoff was a great guitarist – Jon does his legend justice.

Back to the MTV days of the mid 80’s is where we’re taken next and to ZZ Tops first Top 10 hit (in the UK) "Gimme All Your Loving", and tonight anyone who walks in the pub as Jon’s playing this song would be forgiven for mistaking him as Billy Gibbons – Yes, he’s that good.

This is Jon’s last song of the evening…until the Landlady and many cheering fans shout for more. The only way to conclude a night like this is to play a classic number 1 hit from the 1970’s "Another Brick In The Wall" is the closing song of the evening and with Water’s lyrics and Gilmour’s legendary guitar playing, Jon is in his element to the very last note of the song. As Jon puts his guitar down, "Sergeant Pepper" is played, with the lyrics " We hope you’ve enjoyed the show", one thing is for certain tonight, the people of Brimington have definitely enjoyed this show.

Review by (Mark Holmes)