Red Guitars at Manchester Night & Day 2022

Thanks to everyone who came to our Manchester gig, our first tour in 38 years. We had a fantastic night, a brilliant crowd – an amazing experience. Thanks to our special guests Terra Fin who opened up the show with an awesome set, to The Night & Day team, and to Greg for a great sound.

So, here we are, all the original band back together for our Slow to Fade tour, Hallam Lewis, Jeremy Kidd, John Rowley, Matt Higgins and Lou Duffy-Howard, joined in 2022 by Jos Allen and Doug Swallow.

Fab set of photographs by Richard Duffy-Howard, have a look:

High five to our special guests Terra Fin who went down a storm with our crowd.

Thank you to everyone who sent us lovely messages on social media and reviews, here’s a few:

“They were magnificent, Red Guitars, even better than I’d hoped for.” Rob Sim

“Wow! We jived & survived. They stand alone. “ Jonathan Wood

“Thought you lot were absolutely brilliant last night. Fantastic energy and the songs haven’t lost their power over the years. In fact Steeltown, Good Tech and Fact (in particular) sounded eerily modern. Thanks so much for getting the band back together.  Brilliant. Enjoy every second. There’s a lovely energy coming from that stage.  Just don’t leave it so long til you do it all over again! 

Thought your lad’s band did a great job too, and will be following their progress. Onwards” Tom

“Best described as joyous. As for you not only are you a fabulous bass player but you exude such joy yourself. You were positively beaming, clearly enjoying yourself and that transmits to the audience, it’s infectious. It was also really good to speak with the other band members who are lovely people too. Wishing you the best for the rest of the tour. I’d love to know your fitness regime, you were bouncing around that stage like a spring lamb.” AM

“Had a great night watching @RedGuitars again last night at  @nightanddaycafe Manchester. My main impression is that Lou @LoudhailerUK is having the time of her life on that stage and weirdly doesn’t seem to age.” Nick

“@RedGuitars Thank you so much. 38 years worth waiting for” MCFC PRAHA

“What’s immediately apparent is how unnoticeable is their near 40-year hiatus. Duffy-Howard and Lewis in particular take an almost telepathic delight in playing off one another. Their enthusiasm radiates into the throng, provoking outbursts of introspective skanking as jackets are removed and shirts are further loosened.” Northern Soul

“This gig was magical on every level. TRG’s we’re both tight and loose as good live acts should be. Hallam Lewis played sparkling lead guitar, seldom did his fingers hit the usual pentatonic scale his musical mode being more that of clever semi toned dorian mode scales with that of mixolydian. His fingers ran across the fretboard like a rats up a drain pipe and he played both with guts and imagination throughout, reaching the pinnacle of experience that surpassed all expectation. It was a team effort on vocals, harmonies ticked every box that any audience could have wished for. At times it felt like a CBGBs reunion with elements of Television and Talking Heads as well as high-life, jazz fusion elements far beyond the male-strum of Punk or new wave. TRG’s are closer to Captain Beefheart at times than any 1980 type parallels such as Joy Division.” Mr Bolton’s Propelling Pencil

Next up have a look at our gig photos from Glasgow Garage here: https://loudhailer.net/2022/04/25/red-guitars-glasgow-garage-2022/

Red Guitars at Leeds Old Woollen 2022

Thanks to everyone who came to the first show of our first Red Guitars tour in 38 years – we had an absolute blast! It couldn’t have been a better way to kick off the tour. The Old Woollen, Farsley is a superb venue with a terrific vibe, stage, sound and lights. We had such a fantastic time. Special thanks to our guests Terra Fin and our friend Choque & the team for making our opening show a night to remember.

Lovely to meet Steve Homer CEO of AEG Presents at the show. Steve started this whole thing by asking if we might reform for a tour with AEG. We were lucky to open the tour at such a great venue.

Here we are, all the original band back together, Hallam Lewis, Jeremy Kidd, John Rowley, Matt Higgins and Lou Duffy-Howard, joined in 2022 by Jos Allen and Doug Swallow.

Fab set of photographs by Richard Duffy-Howard show the fun and energy of the gig. Spot the one where I’m levitating during Hal’s solo.

Doug was behind a curtain all night hence the lack of appearance on the photos but here he is with John at the dress rehearsal. And here’s our old Red Guitars buddy Choque who hosts a superb venue and team at The Old Woollen, with Hal and Lou after the gig.

Big thanks to our special guests Terra Fin, who played a storming set to open the tour for us.

Richard also took some out take photographs documenting the tour:

Thank you to everyone who sent us lovely messages on social media, here’s a few:

“Wow! @RedGuitars were absolutely brilliant tonight. 38 years since their last live show? Still got some amazing energy and a great bunch of songs. And what a great venue @OldWoollen is. Definitely be paying it another visit.” @jonnygarcon

“A triumphant return for @RedGuitars with a wonderful gig at @OldWoollen on the first date of their ‘Slow To Fade’ reunion tour. Stand out songs were ‘Slow To Fade’, ‘Fact’, ‘Steeltown’ and ‘Good Technology’. @TerraFinMusic opened proceedings with a very enjoyable set … excellent evening of uplifting music.” Across the Universal Soundscape

“A great night at Old Woollen last night watching @RedGuitars, a cracking venue. Roll on Manchester on Thursday” @Thebubblegunman

“Great venue, great beer, great band, great tunes, great gig. To sum up, it wer’great!” @StephenBatley2

“Last night was brilliant. See you at the 100 Club!”

“Fantastic opening gig last night! Looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow at Night & Day Cafe Manchester 🎸🎉🥁👍

“I waited the best part of 40 years for last night’s Red Guitars gig. I wasn’t disappointed and I’m still smiling. Same again next week!”rogytds

“Great gig, great venue. We enjoyed every minute, and it looked like you all did too ! Wish we could come to one of the others, another tour please ?”

“Fantastic gig, it’s like you’ve never been away!”

“A wonderful gig, a real privilege to be there and just so much warmth, energy and fun from the band.”

“Tremendous night! Couldn’t stop smiling. You were freakin’ awesome”

Next up look at our gig photos from Manchester Night and Day Cafe here: https://loudhailer.net/2022/04/26/red-guitars-at-manchester-night-day-2022/

Red Guitars Tour 2022 Dress Rehearsal

I was delighted to be invited to take photographs of the Red Guitars Slow to Fade reunion tour dress rehearsal at O’Rileys live music venue, Hull. Looked and sounded great!

Richard Duffy-Howard

Next up have a look at our gig at Leeds Old Woollen here: https://loudhailer.net/2022/04/20/red-guitars-at-leeds-old-woollen-2022/

Marking 40 years since their totemic first single “Good Technology”, the Red Guitars original line up of Hallam Lewis, Jeremy Kidd, Lou Duffy-Howard, John Rowley and Matt Higgins, plus guest guitarist Jos Allen, will be hitting the road again with a set featuring the early singles and songs from the “Slow To Fade” album.