Al Stewart & Colin Blunstone Deliver an Evening of Vintage British Music
by Brad Auerbach
Al Stewart in concert, February 25, 2025, at California Center of the Arts in Escondido (Photo by Brad Auerbach, used with permission)
In an amazing double bill, two much-loved British artists, Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone and singer-songwriter Al Stewart, delivered a criminally undersold show at the gorgeous California Center of the Arts in Escondido, on February 25, 2025.
Blunstone offered a solid set of songs from his solo efforts, along with a satisfying splash of the band’s songs. Backed by a quintet, Blunstone observed that his original band was formed in 1961, but their first hit (“She’s Not There”) came in 1964. Its followup, “Tell Her No,” was the first Zombies song assayed this evening, and his voice remains in fine form. The loping drum riff of the chart-topping “Time of the Season” followed several songs later. The rich harmonies of the refrain were intact.
Denny Laine (co-founder of the Moody Blues and Wings) wrote “Say You Don’t Mind,” which was covered by Blunstone in 1972. Blunstone acknowledged that the live version lacked the original 21-string orchestra used in the recording at Abbey Road. With only a slight dash of echo from the soundboard, Blunstone hit the high notes with aplomb.
Watch Colin Blunstone perform “Time of the Season” at the Escondido show
Introducing the next song, Blunstone explained the link with headliner Stewart: they lived near each other in London, on either side of Hampstead. Between them lived Alan Parsons, who played a significant role in both singers’ careers. Parsons (after honing his chops as sound engineer on Abbey Road, Let It Be and Dark Side of the Moon) invited Blunstone to sing “Old and Wise” on the 1982 Eye in the Sky album by the Alan Parsons Project. Parsons also produced Stewart’s Year of the Cat, the title song of which inevitably closed the evening, but not before Blunstone closed his set with “She’s Not There.” [Various Zombies albums and collections are available here.]
Colin Blunstone live at the California Center of the Arts in Escondido, February 25, 2025 (Photo by Brad Auerbach, used with permission)
Stewart could develop another revenue stream by assembling his songs into a curriculum for teaching geography and history. He said the atlas is his best source for songwriting. During a full set of hits and deep cuts, between songs he dropped stories about Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Shackleton and a long-forgotten monarch of Bulgaria.
Indeed, he later acknowledged in a self-deprecating way his sartorial choice of a cardigan, “de rigeur for a secondary modern professor.”
Related: Our Album Rewind of Stewart’s Year of the Cat
Backed by the far younger members of the Empty Pockets, Stewart had a well-oiled group of musicians to fill out the sound of his mostly acoustic songs. He opened his set with the perfectly titled “You Should Have Listened to Al.” A few songs later, for the FM staple “Time Passages,” Chase Huna perked up the proceedings with his appealing saxophone work.
Dueling acoustic guitars drove “On the Border” (decidedly not the Eagles song), another one packed with historical imagery. Stewart once explained, “The first verse is about the Basque Separatist movement and then the second verse is about what was then the Rhodesian [Zimbabwe] crisis.”
Watch Al Stewart perform “Year of the Cat” at the Escondido show
Stewart generously gave the Empty Pockets stage time to perform a track from one of their two albums that hit #1 on the Billboard blues chart. Guitarist Josh Solomon described recording at Abbey Road Studios and grabbing the opportunity to record a version of perhaps the bluesiest track already recorded there, “Oh! Darling,” from the album named after the studio.
Related: Our interview with Colin Blunstone
Stewart is incredibly engaging and droll. His story of seeing the Beatles in Bournemouth at age 17 and blagging his way backstage as a representative of Rickenbacker guitars to meet Lennon was sweet.
It is gratifying, no doubt, that Stewart found a band able to deliver the sound he captured years ago. The band is probably now about the same age Stewart was when he originally recorded the songs.
Stewart finished his set with “Year of the Cat,” the song that saturated the airwaves in the summer of 1976. Buttressed by Huna’s sax solos (the original inspiration of which was suggested by Parsons when Stewart recorded the song) brought the crowd to its feet, with a smile on everyone lucky to be in the venue.
Stewart has many more dates throughout the year. Tickets for many of them are available here. His recordings, including many expanded editions, are available here.
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