Albuquerque, Johnson Gym, 28 Jan 1973

5 Feb 1973
Albuquerque Journal
Arlene Tellez
Review, Interview
Traffic and Free In Good Concert

By ARLENE TELLEZ
Del Norte High School

[Excerpts from the review]

Traffic gave an enjoyable concert in Albuquerque Jan. 28. The blues rock band Free and John Martyn, an imaginative guitarist, also were featured.

John Martyn, a Scottish songwriter, guitarist, and singer, drew an enthusiastic response from the audience at Johnson Gym. His songs presented a variety of moods, his lyrics showed sensitivity, and he displayed remarkable skill and dexterity in playing the guitar.

Free continued the energetic pace set by Martyn. They performed several numbers off their new album Heartbreaker along with some old tunes. The group includes Paul Rodgers, vocalist; Wendell Richardson, lead guitarist; Simon Kirke, drummer; John 'Rabbit' Bundrick, keyboard; and Tetsu Yamauchi, the Japanese bass player. Yamauchi has an interesting translation - 'the house on the wise mountain'.

[...]

THIS TOUR has been rough for Free. Their concert in Albuquerque was their tenth in a row. They still have some 20 more consecutive concerts to do. According to Simon the funniest moment of the tour has been in Fort Worth.

He says all the members off both Traffic and Free were sitting in the dressing room when "a little guy came in with a cassette reorder and a mike and asked to speak with Steve 'Woodwin'." Of course there was no such person so "we told him to look down the hall in the next room. It was so funny because we were all there and yet he didn't recognize any of us. 'Woodwin'!"

[...]

Traffic gave a great performance. Steve Winwood, as always, was fantastic but the fact that they didn't do an encore was a disappointment.

[...]

sitenotes:
The complete (twice as long) review was published in the Albuquerque Journal of Monday 5 February 1973.