Maze April 2010 Indigo O2

For the whole of my musical life, I’ve loved Frankie Beverly & Maze. To see them live over the weekend at the Indigo O2 was something special, not only for me but also for my Bro and the other members of IDMC who opened up the show for them on Saturday night.

Coming hot on the heels of the SOS Band a few weeks ago, the Indigo is fast becoming the venue of choice, much like Hammersmith Odeon was back in the day for listening to live soul music in London. It’s becoming that place where memories are made.

I first saw the SOS Band back in 1988 at Hammersmith, and even though the gig a few weeks ago was fraught with some weird technical problems, as my friend Jo said, we were merely enjoying the memories of the music.

Maze is timeless! The songs, the music, the musicianship it’s all quality. Their music transports you to all your favourite places, and times, to have melodies conjure memories from the deepest recesses of your mind. When you don’t care about the drunk spilling their drinks down your expensive leather coat and when (as a photographer) you looking around you for somewhere to put down one of your most prized possessions because you just don’t care. You know you could dance all night, you just want to get lost in the music, vibing you know. (I’m listening to ‘While I’m Alone’ while I’m writing this so you know I’m still vibing!)

All the popular hits were on the set list, Joy & Pain, Golden Time of Day, Southern Girl. They didn’t do any new material, but that didn’t matter. According to Mr Beverly, there is new material soon to come on a new and long-awaited album, aptly entitled ‘Anticipation’. (In fact, I believe this is the Anticipation Tour)

Maze used to perform in London regularly until around 10 years ago. Being at Saturday’s gig with people who had seen the band play in London last year who were just as thrilled as I was (it being my first Maze Live experience).

Maze don’t need new material to fill a 2000 seat auditorium, and fans of their music will always come to hear the classics like Before I Let Go, Call On Me & Happy Feelings.eing

We welcome the new stuff because we know there will be some gems in there to add to the massive back catalogue of tunes in their repertoire, but they can continue to dine and live off their existing work for years to come.

At 63 Frankie Beverly and the boys (a mixture now of original members and some younger mans) jam and groove just the same as when they were young boys fresh, keep it coming dudes! and keep coming back.

On a final note: To all those t***ers who passed the digital rights bill the other day in the commons in the ‘wash-up’ people like you don’t understand that if you produce throwaway music, people won’t value it, but if you create quality it lives on and on, and people BUY IT! I own loads of Maze on Vinyl, on tape, mini-disc and CD, that didn’t stop me buying and downloading tracks on iTunes YESTERDAY!