Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Steinfeld / Stadtsaal / Austria
Concert date: 20.04.2013
Attendance: 400
With some bands, the ones stuck somewhere far back in music history, you’d almost bet money you’ll never cross paths with them. One of the acts that, for one reason or another, belongs to the club of groups whose gigs are rarer than hitting the lottery jackpot is Cactus, the American classic rock outfit from the early seventies.
The story of Cactus is a fascinating one. In the late sixties, the rhythm section of the hugely popular psychedelic band Vanilla Fudge, Tim Bogert (bass) and Carmine Appice (drums), was in England and agreed on a joint project with guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck. Right before it got off the ground, though, Beck was in a bad car accident that kept him away from music for a year. Bogert and Appice then formed Cactus and filled Beck’s slot with guitarist Jim McCarty and singer Rusty Day. In just three years together they put out three heavy rock blues albums, before the American foursome went their separate ways to pursue their own careers, and Cactus became part of music history…
…Until 2006, that is, when after a good thirty years of slumber the Americans came back from the dead with a new album and shows. Since then they’ve been treating generations who still remember the golden years of classic rock (of which Cactus were an integral part) to the occasional gig, mostly on home turf. So when you see an announcement of their show in Carinthia, Austria, in the town of Steinfeld, just 30 minutes’ drive from Jesenice, first you rub your eyes in disbelief, and then there’s only one logical decision: you simply can’t miss a show this exclusive.
Even before Cactus, The Cream Revival Band got the crowd of a few hundred at the Steinfeld community hall warmed up. As the name suggests, the trio is in love with the legacy of the immortal Cream, so it wasn’t hard for them to get into an hour-long set and leave their soul on stage. Despite minor technical problems, mostly on the drummer’s side, the three of them came across as a well-oiled machine. The trio is made up of seasoned musicians: drummer Peter Brkusic (Nick Simper & Nasty Habits), guitarist Andy Seghers, known for his one-of-a-kind Clapton gear collection, one of the biggest in the world, and their British colleague Terry Horbury (ex-Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Dirty Tricks). For Deserted Cities of the Heart the trio was joined on stage by the »Eric Clapton of Vienna«, as they introduced him, and this extra guitarist then rounded out the sound in a duet with Seghers on Crossroads and Had To Cry Today. Although the band stuck dutifully to the originals and didn’t spice up the Cream tunes with any artistic flourishes in the form of solo excursions, their excellent technical chops were hard to miss. Gray-haired Horbury, stationed on the right side of the stage, shone with a vocal that sounded uncannily like Jack Bruce, and this copy of the legendary power rock trio wrapped up the evening with some superb riffing on guitar and bass in Sunshine of Your Love.
After a short break, Cactus took the stage. Literally took it! The three up front, guitarist Jim McCarty on the left, bassist Pete Bremy on the right and frontman Jimmy Kunes between them, were already at the very edge of the stage during the opening cover of Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, and with a more intense approach than the openers they lured the crowd from a safe distance all the way up to the stage. The connection was made, the night came alive! Behind the trio, on the drum stool, sat none other than Carmine Appice, while organ player Randy Pratt was missing for reasons unknown.
Cactus filled the hall of the Steinfeld community center with the sound of heavy rock coming from McCarty’s fingers. The sound guys at the mixing desk did their part too, cranking the volume up even further, so under the speakers it was on the edge of bearable for my eardrums. McCarty looked like one of the villains from a sixties American Western, which fit the band’s iconic image perfectly, though on stage he seemed focused, calm and devoted. The new frontman Kunes (ex-Savoy Brown) won the crowd over with a likable, playful performance and an excellent, carefully nurtured white blues voice, and his dynamism gave a welcome shot of life to the usual stiffness of most still-living classic rock bands. During The Groover Kunes also picked up a harmonica, partly making up for the absent Pratt. There aren’t many gigs where the audience’s eyes keep landing on the drummer the way they do at a Cactus show. Carmine Appice isn’t just a musician with an extraordinary career, he’s also a hugely charismatic personality who pounds the drums like it’s the last time he’ll ever play. For all his aggression, Appice was precise, and together with bassist Bremy he reliably built the skeleton that McCarty’s juicy guitar sound then seasoned. As the band’s central icon, Appice predictably took a solo spot in the second half of the set, and after watching it you’d hardly guess this remarkable musician is already 66 springs old.
Alongside the material they played, mostly drawn from their classic first two albums »Cactus« (1970) and »One Way…Or Another« (1971), Cactus slotted in the ancient blues standard Evil, by Mississippi legend Howlin’ Wolf. The quartet condensed the songs into a tight blues / rock narrative, with no jamming in between and no detours into psychedelic territory, the way a Vanilla Fudge show might go. For the encore Cactus played Muscle And Soul and Rock ‘N’ Roll Children, and soon after the show they proved how approachable they are, chatting with fans at the table where a few items from the band’s catalog were on sale.
The American heavy blues band Cactus didn’t come to Steinfeld, Austria, just to cash a check – with a genuine show they convinced the crowd that even in the autumn of their existence they still do their name proud – a classic building block of the early-seventies American hard rock school that long ago became a cult. With this rousing performance Cactus proved that their revival, after more than thirty years of wandering the desert, wasn’t in vain after all!
Setlist
THE CREAM REVIVAL BAND:
1. White Room
2. Politician
3. S.W.L.A.B.R.
4. Sleepy Time Time
5. Deserted Cities of the Heart
6. Crossroads
7. Had To Cry Today
8. Outside Woman Blues
9. N.S.U.
10. Toad
11. Sunsihne Of Your Love / Spoonful
12. We’re Going Wrong (not played)
CACTUS:
1. Long Tall Sally
2. Let Me Swim
3. One Way… Or Another
4. Brother Bill
5. You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover
6. Electric Blue
7. The Groover
8. Evil
9. Drum solo
10. Big Mama Boogie
11. Parchment Farm
—encore—
12. Muscle And Soul
13. Rock ‘N’ Roll Children
Photo gallery
