Review: Roger McGuinn, at Birmingham Town Hall
If there’s one sound that forever defines the 60s, it’s Roger McGuinn’s guitar intro to the Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man.
Timeless and captivating, the electric version of the Dylan anthem guaranteed McGuinn and the band their place in rock history.
McGuinn retraced that heritage at Birmingham Town Hall, armed with just an acoustic guitar and his trusty Rickenbacker.
Great rock and roll anecdotes, including memories of the Beatles and Dylan’s Rolling Thunder tour, were interspersed with covers ranging from Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez to, of course, Mr D.
McGuinn may forever be associated with cover versions (Tambourine Man, My Back Pages and Chimes of Freedom) but nobody should forget how good the Byrds were in their own right.
The audience may have been somewhat sparse but this was never likely to be a night for the masses.
