Steve Gibbons, Tulane

Here's Steve Gibbons singing Tulane at The Robin, Bilston.

I went to this gig for complicated reasons.

Mainly because Steve was, for Terry, a model of the invincible rock & roller.

Well, Steve isn't invincible, but, like Terry he does show that if you hold Eddie Cochran, Elvis, Gene and Chuck in your mind's eye for 70-or-so years then those shining boys will always have a lot of bearing upon the way you walk through the world. And the ones who really mean it keep hold of that right up until the end.

I know this sounds a little evangelical. And I suppose if a religious man or woman holds Jesus in their mind's eye several times a day it has some bearing upon the way they navigate the world, but I have always found rock & roll to be more effective in this regard.

I was looking forward to the show but I was nervous about those silent hours afterwards, which, ordinarily Terry would fill with excitable chat about the songs, the guitar technique, the vocal inflections, that smile, etc.

As it happened, I stayed over in Bilston for the night and I did get those hours of chat from Terry, in dream form. He spoke deeply about all of the above. Also about Don Everly. I should have stayed over for a few more nights.