Chris Shiflett rides into Birmingham
- Jude Onions
- Mar 28, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 29, 2024
This week the guitar legend that is Chris Shiflett, (lead guitarist with Foo Fighters), rode into Birmingham's O2 Academy for the penultimate leg of his ‘Lost at Sea’ solo tour. Having not seen Chris live before I was beyond excited to actually be able to photograph a member of my favourite band who’s songs mean so much to me.
The room filled with anticipation as soon as the doors opened and grew stronger while we waited for the support act to take to the stage.
The lights dimmed, the crowd cheered and on walked Willy Cobb, a charismatic young southern American with all the swagger you would expect for someone who is doing what they love to do and on tour with Chris. His gravelly voice and strong guitar tones has the feeling of grungy 90s tunes from Nirvana to The Pixies. With a strong stage presence, he bounded around and even when he had a technical issue, he didn’t let that phase him.
As soon as Willy Cobb had left the stage after a great performance, it became a hive of activity with stage techs and roadies getting it all ready for Chris, drummer Robert Jolly and bassist Fox Fagans performance.
Once again the lights dimmed to a roar from the waiting fans wearing Chris tour t-shirts, Foo Fighters t-shirts and I even saw a cowboy and plenty of boots all waiting to stomp the night away. The entrance music was more like something from a Western film than a music gig but this paved the way for Robert and Fox to enter. While they got themselves set up, Sam the guitar tech stood on stage holding a guitar ready to hand it to Chris as he walked on and shouted ‘How we doin Birmingham’.
Chris kicked the gig straight into gear with foot stomping song ‘Dead and Gone’ to get the party started as I swarmed around in the pit trying to get different angles of the legend himself. The way Chris oozes cool and effortlessly plays the guitar is amazing to see up close and personal. His voice is smooth and powerful, probably down to the many years of honing his craft. After songs like ‘Liars Word, ‘Sticks and Stones’ and 'Carrie Midnight’ Sam the Guitar tech appears and hands Chris a newly tuned guitar. Chris Introduces Sam and this then becomes a theme for the night as every time he appears the crowd chants ‘Sam, Sam, Sam’ much to Chris’s amusement and Sam’s embarrassment.
In between songs Chris interacted with the crowd and bantered that some of the singing back was rubbish and we needed to do it again. You could clearly see that the whole band was having a great time and the crowds from all the shows on this run have been amazing. With Chris’s banter, amazing tunes, electrifying and sometimes long and complex solos and even the appearances of Sam, this gig was turning into one of those ‘I was there’ moments, especially for me.
Sadly the time was running out and soon the whole band disappeared from sight to chants of more, more, more! They all appeared back on stage to an enormous roar and Chris gave the guitar to Sam to shred, and boy can he play! The next song was a cover of ‘Cowboy Song’ by Thin Lizzy which I bet went down amazingly when the band played Dublin a few days prior.
Then the time had come that the crowd were dreading, the last song of the night ‘West Coast Town’. An amazing way to end the night with some more powerful guitar playing and smooth vocals to get the crowd stomping and singing for one last time.
This has to be one of the best, intimate gigs I have been to. Having the opportunity to photograph someone who I have watched and listened to for such a long time was an amazing privilege also.
You can view more photos on our Flickr account here
Review & photos by Matt
* All reviews are the individual writers thoughts and are not necessarily those of Dropped Halo Media.
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