On August 29th, 2024, the Graham Bonnet Band took the stage of the world-famous Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, and here is the record of that night. It is difficult to believe that he was 76 at the time of recording, as his voice is still the envy of many singers, even if he does not have quite the power he used to. The band that night were Conrado Pesinato (guitar), Beth-Ami Heavenstone (bass), Alessandro Bertoni (keyboards) and Francis Cassol (drums) and it must be said they are basic at best, but there again no-one was there to hear them play, their only role is provide the structure for Bonnet and it is no surprise that they cannot stand up to the likes of Rainbow or MSG (particularly the drums).
There were eight songs on the original ‘Down To Earth’ (release in 1979, so 45 years prior to this gig), and the only ones missing from this set are “Not Time To Lose” and “Danger Zone”, while included in the 16 songs are both a keyboard solo and a drum solo (really?), and an instrumental version of “Lazy” (why?). We do get his sole hit solo single, “Night Games” plus Alcatrazz’s “Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live” and MSG’s “Assault Attack”, but this is solely aimed at those who remember Bonnet when he was fronting these bands more than 40 years before. I definitely enjoyed this release, but very much from being a nostalgia trip. That he is an amazing singer is never in doubt, but he deserves a better band than this, but at least one can clearly high why he is still so highly regarded.
