Eagle Rock Entertainment has officially announced that it will release on Blu-ray
Hugh Laurie: Live on the Queen Mary. This is the first full-length Hugh Laurie concert to be released on video. The Blu-ray release will be available for purchase online and in stores across the nation on October 22.
Earlier this year, Hugh Laurie realized a long cherished ambition to perform in the Art Deco surroundings of the liner RMS Queen Mary, in Long Beach California. He and The Copper Bottom Band performed tracks from both of Laurie's hugely successful blues albums:
Let Them Talk from 2011 and the recently released
Didn't It Rain. One of Laurie's greatest musical heroes, Professor Longhair, famously performed on the ship at a party that Sir Paul McCartney hosted for his wife Linda in 1975. His set concluded with "StaggerLee" (interpreted by Laurie on the deluxe edition of
Didn't It Rain) and was captured on his renowned album
Live On The Queen Mary.
Hugh explains: "The Queen Mary has been moored at Long Beach since 1967. She crossed the Atlantic a thousand or so times before retiring to serve out her days as a hotel. But there is a bigger reason for its holiness. It was on the Queen Mary, at a party hosted by Sir Paul McCartney (then a humble mister), that the great Professor Longhair recorded the album that changed my life. Professor Longhair Live on the Queen Mary didn't need no fancy title. It is what it is, and changes who it changes."
Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band have just finished a triumphant sold out tour of the UK and Europe to critical acclaim and are about to embark on the second leg of their US tour showcasing his album
Didn't It Rain. The Times said of the album "Close your eyes and you could be in a club in New Orleans."
This unique Blu-ray sees Laurie depart the sounds of New Orleans as he follows the trajectory of the blues upstream and into the American heartland. It includes songs dating back to early pioneers such as Jelly Roll Morton ("I Hate A Man Like You") to more recent artists such as Dr. John ("Wild Honey") and Alan Price of The Animals ("Changes").
Hugh said of the set list "I have resolved to forge on, deeper into the forest of American music that has enchanted me since I was a small boy, and the further I go, the more bewitched I become – both by the songs and by the people I have been lucky enough to play them with."
Tracklisting
1) Hamp's Hump
2) Junco Partner
3) Evenin'
4) Kiss of Fire
5) Staggerlee
6) Day And Night
7) The Weed Smoker's Dream
8) Didn't It Rain
9) Winin' Boy Blues
10) Louisiana Blues
11) Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair
12) Wild Honey
13) Careless Love
14) Swanee River
15) I Hate A Man Like You
16) Tipitina
17) Go to the Mardi Gras
18) Changes