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"Blood On The Rooftops and other stories"Invisible Touch in concert at the Grey Horse Kingston on Thames Saturday 27th November 1999.
Review by Alan HewittHaving seen the band's inaugural gig a few weeks previously, I was once again wending my merry way through the highways and byways of Southern England to see them once more. The Grey Horse is a venue which many established bands have played on their way to stardom so at least Invisible Touch were in good company!
A few familiar faces were spotted in the crowd as the band opened their set with the crowd pleaser; Mama which set the tone for the evening; grabbing everyone's attention despite some dodgy sound at the start although things did improve with the rest of the set by which time the sound engineer(??!!) had been strangled and replaced by the band's very own soundmeister Ken Hilton who ensured that the rest of the set was mixed thoroughly a bit like the set list itself. Next up was the heavy rock of Abacab which was very well received by the enthusiastic crowd. Domino and Jesus He Knows Me were executed faultlessly and the "Reverend" Whitehouse soon had his flock eating out of his hands again.
The first of the evening's medleys was also where the band had their only stumbling point with a very hesitant beginning to Firth Of Fifth although the preceding tracks; Eleventh Earl Of Mar and Squonk were simply stunning. Once again, kudos here to Dave Woodward's guitar playing (but more of THAT later in this review). Once again the contrast between these evergreen "oldies" and Land Of Confusion couldn't be more emphatic and everyone delivered these contrasting tracks with gusto.
Fountain Of Salmacis certainly tested Dave's vocal capacities to the limit and certain members of the audience as well and it was wonderful to hear this version played with vigour and energy. However, the highlight of the evening for me, and probably a few other people as well I suspect, came with the band's rendition of Blood On The Rooftops the neglected classic from Wind & Wuthering. Well, what can I say about that - words fail me really (well, not quite). I was aware that it was possible that they might play this track given that I had had several discussions with Mr Woodward about it but nonetheless, WHAT a surprise and a BRILLIANT performance as well despite what at least one churlish member of the crowd said afterwards!
With that performance the remainder of the set threatened to be something of an anti climax but nothing of the sort. The more familiar medley of In The Cage/In That Quiet Earth/Apocalypse in 9/8 once again sorted the men out from the boys and no respite was given and no prisoners taken with a vigorous work-out for Home By The Sea and this more familiar material elicited an extremely enthusiastic response from the crowd.
The band's "signature tune" Invisible Touch followed and yet another raucous performance of I Can't Dance brought some vigorous audience participation which could have ended up being VERY embarrassing for some people, couldn't it Will??
The finale of Dance On A Volcano/Los Endos simply gets better and I cannot imagine how the band's drummer; the legendary Phil Duke could improve on her last solo but she did - where did the extra hands come from? I don't know but it was a superb performance worthy of Mr Collins himself.
The band took their well-deserved bows and left the stage only to return for their encores beginning with a tasty rendition of Dancing With The Moonlit Knight and Carpet Crawl both of which improve with every performance. Then the band "turned it on again" with a storming performance of Turn It On Again before bringing the house down with an exhausting The Knife which left even the most die-hard members of the crowd satisfied and more than a little exhausted.
Then it was all over, just another gig? I think NOT! This was one performance which for me at the very least was equal to anything I have seen by any other tribute band and in fact it does give me a great degree of pleasure in saying that with Invisible Touch now playing a set drawing on almost every album from Trespass to We Can't Dance any other bands out there had better look out because this band have ARRIVED!!
As usual my thanks to everyone in the band for their constant encouragement and for their enthusiasm and on this particular night for making a dream come true for yours truly - thanks a MILLION guys! .
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Copyright ©1999 Alan Hewitt