November’s going to be a busy month for me, music wise. On Wednesday 2nd it’s Roger McGuinn at The Sage Hall 2, Friday 4th is The Fall at Riverside (sic), Monday 7th may be Magazine at the 02 Academy, while Monday 14th is definitely Veronica Falls at The Cluny and Wire at the Academy on November 19th round off a hectic couple of weeks. There’s plenty of football on as well of course, so I’ll probably not get to blog about the music. This is a shame as Hazel Plater’s marvellous book about Riverside includes a couple of my old gig reviews (EMF from January 1991 and Sugar from October 1993). As a kind of consolation, here are a few words I scribbed in May 2009 after seeing Maximo Park at the Academy and February 2010 when I saw Billy Bragg at the Tyneside Cinema. Hope you disagree with me….
The first gig I ever went to was a homecoming as well; Lindisfarne at the City Hall in December 1976. Well, the second gig actually, after I got taken to see The Clancy Brothers in 1968. Basically, I've seen a lot of gigs; brilliant ones, average ones and absolutely terrible ones. I've been at gigs so drunk I've almost fallen asleep and stone cold sober. Recently, I've been to two gigs in the space of 5 days with my 13 year old son, both of his choosing.
Last Sunday we saw Cage the Elephant at the Academy 2; now I'm no fan of Rage Against The Machine, but these lads, who also reminded me a bit of Beefheart were fabulous. Young enough to care and loud enough to impose. In a couple of years they'll degenerate in to woeful funk rock plodding like RHCP always did, but right now they are hot stuff.
Now I wasn't keen on seeing Maximo Park; I'd done my time with them in 2003 at the Cumberland and the Cluny in 2004. Not the 100 Club Punk Festival I’ll grant you, but I'd gone the distance with them. Frankly, I'd not heard anything since "Our Velocity" either. Young Ben wanted to go with his mates, so I paid for the tickets, with him promising to reimburse. Surprise, surprise, his mates didn't get tickets before it sold out, so I was left playing the role of Indie Dad.
I think there comes a time when gigs need an age limit; I say this as someone whose idea of heaven is Teenage Fanclub & The Wedding Present playing a 400 capacity room that's about two thirds full, with nobody under 30 present. Maximo Park should have had an upper age limit of 43, keeping me out. I didn't know how to conduct myself; sober, I whinged at the £2.50 pint of flat pop I bought, lost the bairn in purchasing it, complained about the beer showers ("at £3.50 a pint, how can they afford to throw it away?"), enjoyed the lightshow, didn't know any of the words & felt my feet ache after a long day at graft.
I did enjoy seeing two 30 something women have a punch up when one danced in to the other, as their husbands cringed and I felt the singer, who probably thought he looked like Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange" actually reminded me of Freddy Parrot Face Davies.
Actually, it wasn’t a bad gig, though I think I'll give the Evolution Festival with The Wombats, The Maccabees & Mystery Jets a miss. The bairn is going with 14 of his mates, who he plays rugby with. Work that one out......
Very earnest, very worthy, in a patrician Social Democratic, Fabian sort of way. Billy could be the Sidney & Beatrice Webb of the 21st Century. He hosted a screening of the documentary about his sterling work in the Jail Guitar Doors project, followed by an excruciating Q&A session, when I lost the nerve about asking should he sponsor an Ex Con Factor talent show. Then 2 of the JGD "graduates," Leon Walker, who was the Jamie T it's ok to like & Jonny Neeson, who was Leo Kottke meets The Streets - both intriguing talents – did a few numbers. Then Billy did "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley, "April Fool's Day," written in conjunction with prisoners in Walton Jail, "I Keep Faith" and "Last Flight To Abu Dhabi," about the RBS bonus situation.
All in all, a very worthy cause. Glad I was there, but it had more than a whiff of the primary school end of term concert than I had been prepared for……
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