Mystery bassist on TV the other night.

lucas vigor · #1 01-13-2011, 08:37 AM

So, I was channel surfing the other day and came across some Phil Collins “rock gala” concert, featuring a lot of well known players, apparently. But they were British, so I did not recognize most of them. I was, however, struck by the utter coolness of the bass player. This guy did not look like a bass player. He looked like a middle aged shoe salesman, playing the bass while chewing gum and looking like he was taking a break from work. His playing was impeccable! Right in the groove and the pocket! He was playing a very cool looking status bass, and just laying down some awesome bass lines. I was getting curios and curioser! Who was this man? Something was nagging at me, that I felt I had seen him before but he really did not look familiar to me. But man, I was impressed! I watched the whole concert, waiting for the credits so I could get my answer and……….

It was MARK KING!

I know Mark King from his level 42 days, and the very active style of slap bass he played….but the Mark King I saw was more of the grooving Pino Palladino school, and it was AWESOME!

Honk'n_down-low · #2 01-13-2011, 08:39 AM

Great player!

Greyfin10 · #3 01-13-2011, 08:39 AM

When you said "chewing gum" I thought "you mean, like Mark King in all those Youtube vids I've watched". I wouldn't have like, actually GUESSED that, but I thought it (I swear).

Rusty Chainsaw · #4 01-13-2011, 09:05 AM

That'll be the Prince's Trust gig that was on over Xmas. Interesting mix of artists - the usual dad-rock suspects were all present and correct (Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Midge Ure), but there was also the likes of Alison Moyet (almost didn't recognise her, she's lost so much weight) and the lovely and quirky Paloma Faith, and then, of course, Queen. Was interesting hearing Mark King play the old Queen tunes, and, I must admit, I was well impressed with Tom Chaplin from Keane - he properly channelled Freddie Mercury in the couple of tunes he did.

It was so strange seeing Mark King up there, playing strictly tasteful fingerstyle stuff. Although he had his thumb taped up ready for action, I didn't hear him slap once. He looked like a bass-playing Gene Hunt from Life On Mars...

Gene:

Mark:

lucas vigor · #5 01-13-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Chainsaw

That'll be the Prince's Trust gig that was on over Xmas. Interesting mix of artists - the usual dad-rock suspects were all present and correct (Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Midge Ure), but there was also the likes of Alison Moyet (almost didn't recognise her, she's lost so much weight) and the lovely and quirky Paloma Faith, and then, of course, Queen. Was interesting hearing Mark King play the old Queen tunes, and, I must admit, I was well impressed with Tom Chaplin from Keane - he properly channelled Freddie Mercury in the couple of tunes he did.

It was so strange seeing Mark King up there, playing strictly tasteful fingerstyle stuff. Although he had his thumb taped up ready for action, I didn't hear him slap once. He looked like a bass-playing Gene Hunt from Life On Mars...

Gene:

Mark:

Totally!

And I also did not recognize Allison Moyet at first...it was also cool to see the drummer from Queen sing lead vocals...he was quite good! Also a trip was seeing not only Mark King playing in the role of a tasteful session bassist, but Midge Ure on guitar as well! I would have guessed these guys were studio aces, the way they were playing!

Rusty Chainsaw · #6 01-13-2011, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucas vigor

Totally!

And I also did not recognize Allison Moyet at first...it was also cool to see the drummer from Queen sing lead vocals...he was quite good! Also a trip was seeing not only Mark King playing in the role of a tasteful session bassist, but Midge Ure on guitar as well! I would have guessed these guys were studio aces, the way they were playing!

It was cool seeing Roger Taylor sing lead... most people know his singing mostly from being the one who sang the first, very high "Galileo" in Bohemian Rhapsody... he must have been wearing very tight trousers that day.

Also, is it me, or does Brian May just not age? Other than a bit of grey in his poodle perm, he looks exactly the same as he ever has!

lucas vigor · #7 01-13-2011, 10:14 AM

And with his guitar instrumental, he really showed why he is one of the top rock guitarists in the world!

MikeBass · #8 01-13-2011, 10:23 AM

Hope there are clips on Youtube of this soon...

Rusty Chainsaw · #9 01-13-2011, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeBass

Hope there are clips on Youtube of this soon...

There's a bunch of shaky-cam live footage on YT, but I'm not seeing any of the official footage. Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4fWKa1Jd0

This one, with Tom Chaplin, is fairly good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnI9uewpk8w