Laurence Jones and his band rocked up to The International in Leicester for a Sunday afternoon gig, to a room filled with his expectant fans, some of whom have supported him on every tour for 15 years, including Colin Shotter on his 75th Laurence Jones gig and Nigel & Judith Motthead who were the only audience at the Warwick Cavern in 2012 at a very early Laurence Jones gig.
The band was: Laurence Jones (guitar & vocals), Jack Alexander Timmis (bass) & Alan Taylor (drums).
With Laurence having struggled with his Crohn’s disease during 2024 & 25 he had taken the decision, after consultation with his doctors, to cut down his band gigs, so this was one of the last for a while. He has announced his solo acoustic tour for 2026 in small intimate venues, supported by his fiancé Amy Eftekhari, so he can play sitting down which will accelerate his recovery (hopefully).
After taking to the stage, he kicked off the first set with a range of songs both old and new including ‘Don’t Need No Reason’ and the classic ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ in his distinctive style with lots of great guitar riffs, superb blues vocals and smiles with being able to play the Blues to his fans.
The set also included songs from his last album ‘Bad Luck & The Blues’ including the title track ‘Bad Luck & the Blues’ with its guitar effects and Laurence’s virtuoso playing, ‘Goin’ Down’ with its gritty vocals and heavy rhythm section and the heavy beat of ‘Don’t You Leave Me This Way’ with Laurence asking the crowds ‘Are You Feeling the Sunday Blues’ with its quiet section with its passionate playing and Laurence teasing the crowd with his wondering ‘Didn’t You Know I could play quiet’!
The set finished with the old Leadbelly song ‘Good Morning Blues’ with lots of guitar riffs and gritty blues vocals underpinned with heavy drums & bass, and with ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ with its raw passionate vocals from Laurence and great rhythm section.
After a break, allowed Laurence to recover, he came back on stage with ‘Mistreated’ with its gritty blues vocals, great guitar riffs with solid rhythm section from Jack Alexander & Alan.
A rocky song was next up with ‘Stuck In The Night’ with its heavy beat and sleazy rock vocals and then straight into ‘In Too Deep’ with its off beat rhythm section and heavy vocals from an excited Laurence with great blues guitar riffs with a short segue into The Cure.
The next song was dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, who was a great influence for him taking up the guitar, and the band played ‘Voodoo Child’ with lovely quieter reflective sections building into a great crescendo to a brilliant finish.
Then clapping in time to ‘Woman’ with its rocky tempo and heavy drums and bass backing complimenting Laurence’s vocals and guitar riffs.
Then we had the first song he ever wrote and still fans favourite with the anthemic ’Thunder In The Sky’ with its great melodic blues guitar riffs, in echoey style, and its brilliant blues vocals and lyrics with feedback!
He finished with ‘Before You Accuse Me’ with its heavy blues rock rhythm and passionate strong vocals from Laurence and guitar riffs with attitude.
After wild applause he came back for an encore with ‘Foolin Me’ one of the band’s favourite songs, which they played supporting Status Quo, and as Laurence explained Francis Rossi thought was a Quo song!! with more great guitar riffs, blues vocals and great band backing to a spectacular finish!