Alabama 3 / Million - The Queens Hall, Edinburgh, Saturday 22nd March 2025

If I am being honest, I wasn’t too sure what to expect at The Queen’s Hall last Saturday. Graham, who has an eclectic taste, if you think shaking it up with Bowie remixes is eclectic (just kidding), bought the tickets a while ago and asked if I fancied it.

So, we arrived, full of pizza, at The Queens Hall to see The Alabama 3. Right up to this point, all I’d ever heard from them was the theme tune to the second best TV series ever. That was enough to convince me to come, there cannot every have been a better match of theme to TV programme. I’m deliberately not filling in the blanks – if you know, you know!

Unfortunately, we missed pretty much all of the support – Million. They were a duo comprising guitar, bass and a Macbook. We heard their last song. Both of us really enjoyed what we heard, and I’ll be looking out for them again.

Nine o’clock sharp and the lights went down. Five members of The Alabama 3 appeared. The night started with a cover of the Eagles Hotel California. The vocal was supplied by the only female in the gang, Zoe Devlin and what a voice she has. I really enjoyed it, and the song really set up the evening for all that was to follow.

Front man, Larry Love, the alias of singer Rob Spragg, appeared from stage right. Wearing a gold lame jacket, cowboy hat and shades he set a commanding presence in the centre stage.

Then, bang, we were off on a pretty much non-stop 90 minute journey of what I can best describe as cowboy-techno-Americana. All sporting cowboy shirts, the band pointed to this vibe too. I really enjoyed what they produced. There was no bass guitar, save for one track when Zoe took hold of a four string. Rather, The Spirit, who haunts the keys provided all of that, and did it well. A big part of the band’s sound is the harmonica and Harpo Strangelove, in his shades and equally cool attitude played it hard throughout the night.

Cocaine (killed my community) was an unexpected toe tapper that came up second.

This evening was, primarily, a review of the bands 97’ debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane and their 2000 offering La Peste with 13 of tonight’s 18 songs being drawn from them.

I often wonder how bands feel about playing ‘that song’; you know, the one they are really well known for. Is it the opener, the big finale or snuck in during the bulk numbers. Tonight, Woke Up This Morning, came in at song four. It made me smile. I enjoyed hearing it live and it prompted great memories of chats with so many friends about the ending of that particular show.

U Don’t Dans 2 Tecko was next up, this was the highlight of the night for me, I loved the vibe and I loved the tongue in cheek confidence it was delivered with.

The Old Purple Tin took a good swipe from Prince and his Purple Rain in the middle of the track and Sister Rosetta just kept the dance vibe going.

The Thrills Have Gone was the first of the encores. This track features a sample from Paddy Joe Hill, one of the members of the wrongly convicted Birmingham Six. I really liked it. I feel music should feel edgy and this track, it's sample and its content was just that.

The last track on the debut, Peace in the Valley, brought the night to a great close.

I looked round the packed room. There were those who had easily been at raves in their younger years, still banging out those dance vibes whilst having a bit of an empty look behind their eyes. There were country fans, their shirts gave them away, and folk like us, who had come along for a look. The thing that united us? We all loved it. The Alabama 3 is a band who can put on a show and that was very evident on Saturday.

I had not listened to Alabama 3 before Saturday, since we left The Queen’s Hall I have had these two albums on a loop. I like a bit of country, and the techno backbeat combine well and simply make my head bob and lips smile.

Me and this weird bunch of musicians who come from Brixton and not Alabama and who number far more than 3 are going to become great friends and, until they come again, I will be spinning their disks on my record player and bobbing my head with a smile. You should give them a listen, you might be surprised.