Roy Harper and Free – a concert to remember.

Posted on by Opher

During the course of the sixties and seventies I must have gone to a hundred and fifty Roy Harper concerts. There’s only one person who might have gone to more Roy Harper concerts than me and that was Bob the Rucksack. He worked for British rail and had free travel all over the country. For a time in the eighties and nineties he made it his business to go to every single Harper concert and notched up some train miles in the process!

Some concerts stand out in the mind more than others. Often Roy would share the bill with other acts, usually as top billing. I’ve seen him play with some strange combinations – the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, Al Stewart, Ralph McTell, Ron Geesin etc. But the strangest match-up I ever saw was Roy playing a small pub in London with Free as the support act.

I picked up Roy from Forwych Road on my motorbike. I had a 350cc AJS. Roy had a guitar in a case slung over his back.

Somehow we arrived at the pub. I’m not sure how because my ability to navigate is notoriously bad. I parked the bike on the pavement outside the venue. Roy gave me the guitar to carry in. I was a roadie for the night.

I remember walking into the changing room. Free were already in there and we were greeted warmly. We sat around and chatted.

There were no costume changes back then. You performed in what you normally wore. When it was time for the show to start Roy stayed low-profile but I went out to watch Free perform. There was no stage. They had set up in the corner of the pub. The audience, probably only a hundred or so, stood around and watched.

I had the privileged position of being right at the front. When Koss stepped forward like, an unleashed Goliath, to play his solos it sent Goosebumps all through me. He looked like a lion with that mane of hair and his playing was so powerful. The band were colossal and to be stood next to them as they played was an immense joy – to be that close!

After their set Roy came out with his battered acoustic, sat on a stool, used the pub’s mics and set off.

I was nervous.

Following the power of Free, I wondered how he was going to cope. But Roy was completely unfazed. The banter flowed. The songs fired. The audience was transfixed. It was a Roy gig.

What a night!

Koss and Free – Opher’s World pays tribute to genius.

Posted on by Opher

Freeband

Koss was simply one of the nicest guys I ever met on the London Underground Scene. Whenever I think of him I always think of the big warm grin he gave me when I was backstage at a London Pub gig in around 1970. On stage he was the most powerful guitarist I’d seen. He’d stay quietly in the background doing his thing and then when it came to solo time he’d step forward and transform into this monster guitarist. His feet apart, bent over the guitar, straining with every sinew, hair flayed out like a lion’s mane, then grimacing, head thrown back, eyes tight shut, forcing those notes out with every facial muscle and it was so powerful and perfect it shook you. He was unique. The sound he got out of a guitar was different to anyone else. He was one of the very best.

Not that the rest of the band were slouches. Paul Rodgers vocals were so strong and clear. I used to think that he had the best voice in Rock Music. Andy Fraser, despite his lack of years, was formidable on bass and simon Kirke could handle the kit.

It’s hard to believe from this perspective that they were all such young kids. The sound of that band was something way beyond their years. They were so exceptional.

They started out as a Blues band but almost from the off began writing their own material and developing into a much more Progressive style. They had such power on stage and were so tight. As musicians they just amalgamated into something amazing. The synergy was incredible. This band was so much more than is evident from their few hit singles or even the wealth of their albums. They were one of my favourite live bands.

The first album set the scene with its spectacular cover of Albert Collins ‘The Hunter’, which was a favourite at gigs, and a number of bluesy songs mainly written by Paul Rodgers. The second continued the theme but it was the third ‘Fire and Water’ with the hit single ‘Alright Now’ that propelled them up to the top tier.

The pressures were immense and the drugs took their toll. Paul suffered heart-attacks and was unreliable, so stoned a lot of the time that he could not speak, stand or play. He got kicked out. The band carried on and fell apart.

Koss died on a flight to Los Angeles at the age of twenty five from heart failure brought on by drug abuse.

There’ll never be a guitarist like him or a band like Free.