Foghat - Slow Ride - Live in Concert
Filmed at two shows in Houston in 1999,
Slow Ride - Live in Concert features a career-spanning selection of hits and favorites performed by a classic Foghat lineup that included three of four original members --- singer and guitarist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bass man Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl. Missing from the original lineup is slide guitarist Rod Price; here his spot is managed well by former Molly Hatchet slide man Bryan Bassett. The show begins, appropriately enough for the long-running band, with "Drivin' Wheel," a Peverett/Price co-write that Foghat had been performing for nearly 25-years at the time of these shows. And with all that experience under their belt Foghat is hitting on all cylinders here and clearly having a blast while doing so. Peverett has a grin on his face throughout the film and there's some joking around too; at the beginning of hit "Stone Blue" Dave asks the crowd if anyone remembers the '70s (when the song was all over radio) and follows up with a second query "Does anyone think it's still the '70s?" to which Stevens amusingly raises his hand. The set includes a take on Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too" featuring incendiary guitar work from both Peverett and Bassett; another blues cover, the Robert Johnson-attributed "Sweet Home Chicago" finds Peverett rocking a guitar with a rectangular body like Bo Diddley favored. Two cuts from the band's new at the time Road Cases album are performed: the Peverett-penned boogie "Rock Your House" and the Peverett/Bassett co-write "Angel of Mercy" that Dave introduces as being "as close as we get to a ballad." The show finishes hot with three biggies: "Fool for the City," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," the Willie Dixon cut that the band turned into a staple of their own, and of course final number "Slow Ride." The camera work throughout the film is excellent, especially when zooming in on guitarist Bassett.
Slow Ride - Live in Concert is a great snapshot of Foghat as the new century was about to begin; Peverett died about a year and a half after these shows so it's unlikely that a film of this caliber will come along again. Included are a few interview and backstage snippets. This is a DVD+ CD set.
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