The gig at the Hard Rock Café on Friday the thirteenth of April was to celebrate the life of drummer Davie Halley, who died back in December 2017.
Organised by Shock City Productions, the gig was to celebrate the life of Davie, featuring many of the bands that Davie had worked with.
The MC for the night was Glasgow rock DJ legend Tom Russell, “the Godfather of Rock”, who segued each band together with a short introduction and background of their involvement with Davie.
First on stage were Arthur Montford and the Sports Jackets, namely Tam Gallagher and Tam Watson (both with Rose Room), Allan McNeill and Desi Osborne (later to play with Passionate Friends). The guys did 3 numbers Bob Marley’s Stir It Up, Driver’s Seat by Sniff ‘n’ the Tears and finally Bowie’s Rebel Rebel. That got the show off to a great start and set the tone for the night ahead.
Next on were Rattlesnake Tattoo, who did an excellent set, good old fashioned hard rock. Led by Jeff Jeffrey (previously worked with members of Simple Minds, Hue & Cry, Del Amitri and Heavy Pettin), he was equally supported by Ronnie Garrity on bass guitar (previously with the Heavy Metal Kids, Quireboys and Eric Bell’s Thin Lizzy)and Brian Gatens on drums. Jeff was acquainted with Big Davie through their work with the band Glasgow. The crowd really appreciated the short snappy set.
Passionate Friends then took the stage after the introduction from Tom Russell. “This band played at Ibrox with Rod Stewart, and where Rod got the Home dressing room the boys were given the cleaners cupboard!”
Along with the 3 McNeill brothers John, (Jonzip from the Zips), Malky and Allan, and Tom Watson (guitarist with Rose Room), the band were joined on drums by Desi Osborne, previously with Scheme. They played 5 original numbers – Wake Up Shake Up, No Hard Feelings, First Time, Turn Away and lastly the song that had been played during Davie’s funeral service – Time Bandits.
Then it was onto Chris Glen. Previously the bass player with SAHB, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Chris and his band members treated us to a variety of rock classics, much to the delight of the 150+ audience. The two tunes which stood out for me were the SAHB classics Framed and Delilah. The band were also joined on keyboard by Stuart Clyde, who had previously played with Davie in the bands Glasgow and Café Jacques. Another previous Café Jacques member was vocalist Chris Thomson.
The final band of the evening were Eddie, Archie and Barrsy – 3 of Davie’s mates who put together a great set of classic rock tunes, much to the delight of the crowd.
Davie’s brother Rick took the stage to thank the friends, family and guests for honouring Davie in such a fashion – all in all a great hard rock night was had by all.
