FREE Convention, Tynemouth featuring Andy Fraser and Chris Spedding

Last night I had a pleasant sea front stroll along to the Park Hotel in Tynemouth which for the past 30 years or so, has been the venue for the annual Free Convention. No, that doesn't mean it costs nothing to get in, it means that it is a celebration of the 60's/70's rock band - Free. The 2013 convention which took place last night, was special because it featured rock legends Andy Fraser and Chris Spedding.

We arrived too late to see Malcolm Bruce (son of Cream bass player, Jack) which was a shame but we were in plenty of time to join the massed audience to see Andy Fraser and his band welcomed onto the stage. Immediately, they launched into 'All Right Now'.

Fraser was of course the bass player with Free (only 15 years old when he joined the band) and remained with them throughout their relatively short life span. Alongside him were legendary guitarist Chris Spedding, who has played on more albums than I care to mention, and a young up-and-coming singer/guitarist called Tobi, who I am sure is destined to be a star of the future. They played mainly original material but besides 'All Right Now' they also threw in 'The Stealer' and then encored with the inevitable 'Mr Big'. Inevitable because it perhaps better than any other song in the Free canon, showcases what a superb bass player Fraser is. It was worth the admission charge just to witness that! Oh, and Spedding also got to do his 1975 'hit', 'Motorbikin''.

During the break we were entertained by one of Fraser's female backing singers and then Geoff Docherty was introduced onto the stage.

Docherty is something of a local legend having promoted most of the gigs that I attended in and around Newcastle in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He told us how he managed to sign Free to play at Sunderland's Bay Hotel for the exorbitant fee of £35. He then introduced the main act - Freeway.


I have seen this Free tribute act on a number of occasions and for some time they featured former Back Street Crawler and Beckett singer, Terry Wilson-Slesser. They have since gone through a couple of line-up changes but they continue to deliver a great set of Free and Bad Company covers. Last night was no exception and for a few numbers they were of course joined by Andy Fraser.

Clearly a great night was had by all and some lucky guy won the raffle and got to take away Andy Fraser's signed Gibson bass guitar. Sadly it wasn't me!