Earth, wind, fire and sunshine

Do you remember? Actually, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but my previous encounter with Earth Wind and Fire around a year ago, as recorded here at the ShopCurious blog. I mentioned then that I was a bit of a groupie fan. Well, imagine how excited I was to be not just seeing a live performance, but actually meeting members of the band in Spain this year.

Except I didn’t realize it wasn’t that Earth Wind and Fire...



It was the Earth Wind and Fire Experience, courtesy of the Al McKay Allstars.

In case you haven’t heard of Al McKay (pictured with me right), he’s one of the original members of the band – in fact he was with them for eight years/seven albums, and he was a co-writer of some of their best known hits – including, as it happens, September.

Around a decade ago, Al put together a group of 14 hand picked musicians to form a new band that now tours the world, ‘bringing back to audiences the real musical experience of Earth Wind and Fire.’

And they do not disappoint. I danced (crazily) throughout the whole concert, which was held in the tennis courts at Marbella’s Puente Romano Hotel...














Excuse the hackneyed expression, but it was a pretty damned awesome old school Experience. And a real privilege to literally rub shoulders with such a musically talented bunch of guys.

Oh, and please accept my apologies for ruining a lovely photograph of fabulously falsetto-voiced Tim Owens, with my scary flashbulb eyes and dance-damp hair (…eeek!)

Will you?

PS See more of the concert here - including the rest of the brilliant sax solo by Ed Wynne.

Earth, wind, fire and water (part II)

After my amazing trip down the river to reach the O2 Arena (see previous post), I didn’t think things could get much better. But I’d never experienced Earth, Wind and Fire live before.  I don’t really know too much about the band, except that they’re awesome musicians –  Daryl Easlea rightly describes their first album, That’s the Way of the World, as a ‘spiritual soul masterpiece’.

Oh, and they wear fabulous ‘70s style disco costumes. Or at least they used to. I found a few pictures of the group from the late 1970s and early ‘80s, when their look was a sort of tribal fusion – mixing funky African and American Indian influences with the Elvis-style flare-legged jumpsuit look (we’ve some similar vintage flares at ShopCurious).

Then I stumbled upon a breakfast television interview with members of the band, where they’re looking decidedly conventional. In fact, Ralph Johnson is actually wearing a suit!

I also recall a very curious piece of information relating to the band… When I was at university, one of my fellow students visited her doctor complaining of feeling depressed. He didn’t prescribe any drugs, but suggested that she should listen to as much of Earth, Wind and Fire's music as possible.

You may not be as devoted a groupie fan as I am, but I thought the concert was awesome. Here are some clips. The first video is of supporting band, The Brand New Heavies, who were pretty damned good too. After a while, my hands got a little shaky from holding the camera above my head for so long. But it’s worth persisting with the second clip to hear Philip Bailey and a curiously cool sax solo.

Anyway, if you were feeling a bit down, I hope you’re now a little more uplifted?

Are you?