Al Stewart Brought Down the House In Glenside
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Al Stewart is fresh off a blistering show at the Keswick Theater this weekend. He took control of the stage with the Empty Pockets, a band he freely admits that he stole from Gary Wright. Stewart is a legendary singer songwriter, He gained fame in the 1970’s with The Year Of the Cat, which he played during his show.
Alex Lloyd Gross/ Delaware Valley News.com photo. Al Stewart starts his show.
Stewart is known for his historical stories about his songs. “In the 1930’s the KGB were in charge of building a canal system between Moscow and Leningrad, some 30,000 people died in the process of making it. It was hardly ever used but no one’s ever written a song about it, if someone were to, it would be me. I never did . I do a dance song about Joseph Stalin, it is about who the Bolshevik people who torture him for eternity, it’s one of the least popular songs I do,” Stewart said. The song he is referring to is Joe The Georgian and that song was played to decent response at the Kewsick.
Another song he does is an eight minute masterpiece called Roads To Moscow. When he did that, it brought a standing ovation. The backing chorus from the Empty Pockets, made it hauntingly eerie.
Stewart relayed in an interview the time his friends and him snuck backstage to a Beatles concert. “I was about 17 and She Loves you just came out, they were doing two shows a night and we went to the early one. We had a guitar and told everyone we were from Rickenbacker guitars.” They found the manager and told him they had to meet their client “Mr. Lennon”. As Al picks up the story, the manager calls the police and gives them their names they walk down the police cordon. On either side are people that we know. So we do down and bang on the door. A roadie answers the door and he knows we are bunch of stupid kids and starts to push up in the opposite direction. Lennon came out to see what was going on and I get to ask his something intelligent. He calls us into the dressing room and John Lennon then hands 17 year old Al Stewart his guitar.
“We talked about 10 minutes then asked us what we thought of the show. I made a catastrophic mistake and since I stand in front of George Harrison’s amplifier, that’s all I heard. Had I stood to the side I would have heard them all equally. The next thing I heard was Lennon say “Bloody Geroge” and he thought George was playing too loud. I just happened to be right in front of the speaker”, . The next day the paper printed a review and said John was too loud, that’s all you heard. “I realized I had done that”, Stewart said laughing.
At the Keswick, there was a steady line at the merch table, to pick up signed posters. Stewart has a double live CD with the Empty Pockets that several copies of that moved. People can relive the songs they heard, as some of them appear on that record.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Delaware Valley News.com Al Stewart performs with the Empty Pockets.
Of course, he did Year Of the Cat and Time Passages. He should have played two hours longer, putting in songs and stories that could not be included in the set. Songs like “Song On The Radio”, Electric Los Angeles Sunset and possibly Broadway Hotel.
There was an opening act, Livingston Taylor, who came out with an electric, acoustic guitar and did a good job getting the crowd into the show. of Again it must be stated Al Stewart is NOT retiring. He celebrated his 80th birthday onstage at the Keswick. He is just getting started.
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