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Band ready to let good times roll
CHELTENHAM: Boogie-woogie pianist Peter Gill will conjure up the heady days of 1950s rock with a new show called Let The Good Times Roll.
Backed by his band State 51, Peter will bring this feel-good show to The Bacon Theatre tomorrow.
The show will feature classic songs from the era, including music by Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.
State 51, who formed in 1993, are a five-piece band made up of Martyn Alsop on drums, Mike Croshaw on guitar, Tony Capaldi on stand up bass and Graeme Budd on the sax, Martyn, Mike and Peter share the vocals.
Last year the band performed a series of concerts which celebrated the music of Fats Domino and Little Richard.
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Pianist Peter was brilliant
MADAM - After reading letters to the Echo regarding a Cheltenham band called State 51, I decided to check them out at The Bacon Theatre..
They were absolutely right. What a magnificent performance from all of the band. It's the best live show I have ever seen.
How many in the audience had tingles down their spine at Peter Gill's playing of Flight Of The Bumblebee? I certainly did.
Thankyou to the Echo for pointing me in their direction and thankyou to Peter Gill and State 51 for such great entertainment.
Celia Jones, Cheltenham
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Visitors bowled over by Worcester rock and roll
On Friday, June 17, quite by accident, my wife and I had occasion to visit CrownGate and there we came upon a place called Huntingdon Hall.
We saw that it was a former chapel, but now used as a theatre. We both agreed it was similar to the church of St Anne and the Holy Trinity in Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York.
As my wife and I were sipping our coffee in a cafe close by the theatre, we became aware of the music that was being played.
It was not the fact that it was rock and roll that stopped us in our tracks - we're lifelong devotees -but the quality of the performances.
At the interval, we decided to finish our coffee and witness for ourselves the spectacle on stage. What we saw was remarkable. A tiny stage occupied by a five-piece band whose quality and professionalism was outstanding, and two delightful female dancers/cheerleaders.
We could not single out any one performer, as they were all unbelievably outstanding. To say that this was one of the best rock and roll performances that we had ever seen anywhere in the world -and we travel extensively from our home in New York - would not be an exaggeration.
Good luck Peter Gill and State 51 -not I understand a US band, although the name implies that it is. Come to New York please, you will be a sell out, and let us know when you are coming. Perhaps the Editor would be kind enough to pass on my address to Peter Gill or
his agent. We will be returning home on Saturday, July 16.
JOHN L ARMSTRONG AND MARGARET VIOLET,
65 Front Street, Brooklyn,
New York, 11224 USA |
Join Peter's boogie woogie tour
A treat is in store for classic rockers as pianist Peter Gill and his band State 51 head for The Theatre in Spring Street, Chipping Norton.
The acclaimed boogie woogie singer is embarking on a new national tour featuring rock 'n' roll songs from 1955 to 1960.
Gill has appeared all over the world and has been hailed as one of the UK's hottest boogie woogie talents.
He first came to prominence in 1999 when he beat off fierce competition to co-host the opening of Jools Holland's Jam House in Birmingham as one of the famed 'Duelling Pianists'. |
RAW ENERGY OF BOOGIE WOOGIE Date: 15.07.05
Let The Good Times Roll arrives at The Subscription Rooms, Stroud on Saturday, July 23 as part of a new national tour. Featuring classic rock 'n' roll songs from 1955 to 1960, this stage show will have audiences stomping, clapping and dancing in the aisles.
Featuring acclaimed boogie woogie pianist and singer Peter Gill with his band, the sensational STATE 51 the show is taking audiences by storm with its breathtaking and unrelenting energy. Peter Gill has appeared all over the world and has been heralded as the UK's hottest new boogie woogie talent. In 1999 he was hand-picked from a national search to co-open Joel's Holland's Jam House in Birmingham as one of the two famed 'Duelling Pianists'.
Since then he has been in constant demand and it is on the theatre stage that he is most at home and pounding the keys to such classics as Great Bails of Fire, Johnny B Goode, Blue Suede Shoes, Rock Around The Clock and Chantilly Lace. |
Let The Good Times Roll
TOMORROW, CHELTENHAM:
Acclaimed boogie-woogie pianist Peter Gill will take The Bacon Theatre by storm in Let the Good Times Roll.
In a tribute to the rock 'n' roll legends of the 1950s, Peter (pictured) and his band, State 51, celebrate the decade's contribution to international music.
Following a successful 2005, the band are back on a nationwide tour updating classics such as Blue Suede Shoes, Tutti Fruitti, Johnny B Goode and That'll Be The Day.
Peter, who lives in Cheltenham, says: "I was two when I first heard Elvis and I've been a fan ever since. Rock 'n' roll has that impact on you.
"I chose to play music from 1955 to 1960 as that was the time when you could hear larger-than-life legends like Elvis and Buddy Holly."
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Peter lets the good times rock 'n' roll
Peter Gill - Let the Good Times Roll.
The Bacon theatre, Cheltenham
THE story of rock 'n' roll was vividly brought to life in this energetic, colourful and vivacious show.
The versatile keyboardist and front man Peter Gill and his six-piece band State 51 gave a special performance, concentrating on the hits of the late 1950s.
With their teddy boy jackets the group looked the part and quickly proved their musical competence with a packed set.
Starting with Rocket 88 they moved on to Rock Around the Clock and See you later Alligator, followed by a selection of greats such as the Searchers' Love Potion No 9, Fats Domino's Blue Monday and Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire.
Tight and well rehearsed, each member of the group brought something different to the performance, from Peter Gill's smooth vocals to the deeper voice of drummer Martyn Alsop. Saxophonist Graeme Budd's lighter tones and guitarist James Linton's grittier style contributed well to the harmony. Anita Walsh provided pure style. Exuberant dancers Susie and Harmony completed the talented line-up. Hit after hit followed, with extensive tributes to Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Ray Charles, finishing with a breathtaking medley. The resulting encore had the audience on its feet.
This was a feel-good, foot-tapping show with a story to tell.
Maggie Ballinger |
Rockin' along
SOLIHULL Arts Complex is set to become a hub of 1950's boogie woogie when Peter Gill and his band State 51 roll in.
Rock 'n' roll classics Tutti Frutti and Johnny B Goode will be among other feel good sounds and Shirley siblings and band members Graeme and Suzanne Budd will both be on stage performing for their home crowd.
The show is on Friday, July 14, at 7.30pm. Tickets are £12 (£10 concessions) and are available on 0121 704 6962.
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Let it roll
The Rock and Roll Show put on by Peter Gill and State 51 at the Solihull Arts Complex was truly excellent.
Mr. Gill took us through the history of the music and performed many of the classics. The evening represented true value for money - the tickets were £12 (£10 concessions) were a bargain.
Not all seats were taken - next time Peter Gill and State 51 appear there shouuld be a full house. 'Let the good times roll' said the publicity posters - they did last Friday!
Graham Handley, Solihull
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Hometown boy is ready to perform rock it scienceCHELTENHAM piano wizard Peter Gill is telling the history of rock 'n' roll in Cheltenham tonight.
He is appearing at The Bacon Theatre, at Dean Close School, with the band State 51.
Let the Good Times Roll covers the period 1955 to 1960.
"It was the halcyon period for this type of music.
"Rock 'n' roll's not rocket science but it has brilliant melodies, it's great to play and it always gets people dancing," Peter said.
The audience can expect to hear hits by Chuck Berry, The Big Bopper and Jerry Lee Lewis at the 7.30pm show.
For Peter, it's a special show at The Bacon.
Not only is he performing in his hometown, he's playing songs by the man who got him in to music in the first place.
"For as long as I can remember I've had a fixation with Elvis Presley.
"As soon as I heard his voice for the first time I just wanted to be him," he says.
Fans can expect a version of Blue Suede Shoes in Peter's repertoire along with Jonny B Goode and Great Balls of Fire.
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Twist, shout and let the good times roll
THE audience will be rockin' and rollin' when brilliant pianist Peter Gill takes to the stage in Cheltenham.
The hometown star is appearing at The Bacon Theatre, at Dean Close School, with State 51 for the Let The Good Times Roll show.
Peter and the band will rip through 40 songs from 1955 to 1960 in the exhilarating show that will have the crowd twisting in the aisles.
"We're telling the story of rock 'n' roll from beginning to end in this show," Peter says. "It's really enjoyable to play because it's mostly simple tunes hut everything is so catchy and you can have some fun with instruments."
Peter has made a name for himself as a boogie-woogie player but also performs in a jazz trio. And he says the rock 'n' roll of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis was what encouraged him into to music in the first place. "This period 1955-1960 was the halcyon time for this music.
"It was a very short period but so many great songs came out of it."
"In the show we're able to tell the story from start to finish, from when the first stars started having hits up to the end when Elvis was in the Army, the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran were dead and Jerry Lee Lewis was disgraced," he says.
The Cheltenham audience can expect to hear hits such as Roll Over Beethoven, Rock Around the Clock, Jailhouse Rock and Great Balls of Fire.
DANIEL POUNTNEY
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Peter raises the bar
Cheltenham musician Peter Gill's a busy man. He's about to tour his first play, is writing a book about the
First World War and is this weekend starring in his new show, Let The Good Times Roll. But he wouldn't
have it any other way, as DANIEL POUNTNEY found out.
When Peter Gill gets excited about something he goes for it full tilt.
Music is his first love but instead of quietly picking up an instrument from time to time and spending his spare cash on CDs, he became an internationally recognised piano player. He plays boogie-woogie, jazz and rock 'n' roll and was handpicked to open the Jam House club in Birmingham alongside Jools Holland a few years ago.
Some of us have a casual interest in history. So has Peter, although he has written numerous books on the war years and become chairman of the local branch of the Western Front Association. He's written a play about the beginnings of the TOC H movement which he is starring in, and touring, next year too.
He's just finished a week-long rock school to help children develop their own skills, he's a charity fundraiser and he's a fantastic father.
"When I get passionate there's no stopping me.
"Some people have their work and their hobbies - for me they're the same thing, they're just life," he says.
When I interviewed him, his flat in Pittville, Cheltenham, was still strewn with Hallowe'en decorations from his 10-year-old son Ethan's party the night before.
And Ethan's cat Fairy was surveying the scene from the lid of the grand piano in the lounge.
"I've given up trying to keep her off it," Peter laughs.
On Boxing Day 2000, Ethan was rushed in to Bristol hospital with a burst appendix.
When he recovered Peter started running marathons to raise money for the people who treated him. Ethan was back in the same ward two years ago when another hospital made a mistake in a routine operation and he went in to intensive care.
"As a parent, when your child is hurt you feel absolutely helpless," Peter says.
"Then they're treated and come out and it's easy to forget the people who made them better. I didn't want to do that, I never want to forget how useless I felt when Ethan was ill. So I'll continue raising money for them wherever I can," he says.
Peter is currently on tour with State 51 and their dazzling rock 'n' roll show. Let the Good Times Roll arrives at The Bacon Theatre, in Cheltenham, tonight.
Hits from the period 1955-1960 like Roll Over Beethoven, Rock Around the Clock and Great Balls of Fire gives him the chance to cut loose on the keys.
But his favourites are the ones by the man who got him into music in the first place, and whose portrait has pride of place in hi
sitting room.
"I've got no idea when I first heard Elvis Presley but for as far back as I can remember I've wanted to sound like him," Peter says, smiling.
"My parents like music but never really pushed it on me, except to pay for piano lessons when I was six or seven.
"But I heard Elvis and that was it - it was all I wanted to do."
With that mission accomplished, Peter's only frustration is fitting in everything else he enjoys — like writing his latest book on Cheltenham men who fought in the great war.
"I take on more and more because I'm always thinking of new things to get involved in," he says. "At times I wish I could focus on just one thing and become brilliant at it, but I'm interested in so many different things and I have to spread rny time between them all - but I suppose it keeps life interesting," he says.
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Rock'n'roll makes Gill groove
THE versatile Peter Gill brought us a vigorous dose of rock'n'roll from the 1950s with his five-piece band, State 51. He has a fascination with history, and this came through in his introduction to each number, which was put firmly into a rock time-line. Starting with Ike Turners Rocket 88, considered the first rock and roll song, he moved on to Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock and See You Later Alligator, which were followed by such well-loved numbers as Jerry Lee Lewis's Great Balls of Fire and Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues.
Peter is an internationally recognised piano player, and he brought together a well-rehearsed and disciplined group of musicians, each one contributing to the sound.
Graeme Budd's vocals and skill on the saxophone brought a lighter touch to numbers such as the Searchers' Love Potion No 9 and the 50s instrumental Tequila.
And Anita Walsh set her stamp with a sultry version of Fever, originally made famous by Peggy Lee.
Tributes to Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Ray Charles and Gene Vincent followed, and an encore which took the audience to its feet.
I felt that this material needed a more relaxed atmosphere so that it could be opened up to younger people, and its dance and energy could be spread to a new generation.
Nevertheless, it was a foot-tapping, feel-good show.
Maggie Ballinger
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