A Gig of Two Halves and a Tale of Two Singers

A reminder of how things should be...

A matter of days after the experience of high security at Brixton Academy we simply stroll into Union Chapel, although there is an embarrassing moment when we pause, offering ourselves to be searched, and the people on the door just look at us! It somehow feels good to be entering a building on trust; a reminder of how things should be!

It also feels good to be heading into a wonderful venue with an old friend from back up north. We claim a space on a pew with our coats and head to the bar. After picking my mate up off the floor  - he has paid for a couple of drinks what we used to pay in our local for a round of 5 drinks - we find a space and catch up.

Like some modern day Rapunzel...

The last gig we went to together I went to hear the support band (British Sea Power) and he went to hear the headliners (Manic Street Preachers). Tonight is only slightly different. True, this time we are both here for the headline act (Billy Bragg) but although I am looking forward to seeing him again, I still can’t wait to hear the support, Duke Special.

He does not disappoint. Behind his keyboard on a table are old gramophones. As the lights dim a gentleman walks majestically on stage and, with white-gloved hands, places a disc on a turntable, carefully positioning the stylus and lowering it. Towards the end of the track Duke Special appears and standing behind his keyboard leans forward to play, like some modern day Rapunzel, with his dreadlocked-hair falling far below the instrument.

The support set is beautiful and theatrical. Discs and cylinders are changed and played as introductions and backing tracks. Yes, he could programme the same effects into a MacBook (ubiquitous at gigs nowadays) and achieve the same audio effect, but the theatre of the assistant and the live nature of the engagement between artist and recording lifts the performance. A performance, which ends with a fantastic rendition of Salvation Tambourine, and we are glad he has come to London!

Time for another round…

A fresh cup of Bovril - so rock ‘n’ roll...

We return to our seats just as Billy Bragg walks out and launches into ‘A Lover Sings’. For all Duke Special’s theatre, Bragg is the stripped back rebel with a chord. Both approaches suit the individual artists - neither could pull off what the other does. For this reason this is a gig of two halves and a tale of two singers but it works as a whole.

The exceptionally talented CJ Hillman, who adds finesse to the raw nature of Bragg’s songs, joins Bragg for part of the set. But this does not take away from the power of Bragg’s songs and his presence as the voice of the people’s protest. Neither does the sight of his guitar roadie boiling the kettle and brewing up and mixing a fresh cup of Bovril - so rock ‘n’ roll!

Five days ago Brittany Howard, of Alabama Shakes, had thanked the Brixton Academy for coming out and braving a gig. Bragg, by contrast, uses the recent events in Paris, firstly to promote the collection he is taking for the family of the ‘merch guy’ who was first to be killed at the Bataclan, and then to push home the point about what it is like to live in fear for your life and that of your family. ‘Imagine if what happened in Paris happened in London, imagine if it happened regularly, imagine if it was a daily occurrence – its no wonder those who experience such violence and bloodshed in Syria want to seek safety for their family.’ As ever Bragg shows the bigger picture to us.

We’re a bit late to the party...

In between the political commentary Bragg returns to cheap and easy jokes about playing in a Church. I have seen Bragg a few times before and one of the best of his concerts I have been to was at Greenbelt (a Christian Arts Festival) in 2003 - his encore rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ was one of the most moving musical moments I have experienced. So I find his throwaway humour about church and faith annoying. It’s not that I have a problem laughing at faith, but  in front of that audience at Greenbelt he had said: ‘I’ll work with anyone who wants a compassionate society – you guys have been working on that for 2000 years – we’re a bit late to the party’. It would have been good to hear the same sentiment in amongst the jokes at the Churches’ expense. I’m sure I am not the only one in the audience who has faith, both  in God and  in the protest of artists like Bragg, believing together we can change this flawed society.

As he returns for the encore a member of the crowd heckles – calling for

‘Waiting for the Great Leap Forward’ by asking whether is Jeremy Corbyn the Great Leap Forward? Without even a thoughtful pause Bragg explains that no one person is that Great Leap forward but rather all those who joined the Labour Party to be part of the movement, all of us who call for a different, fairer society. Leaders will come and go, he tells us, but if we continue to stand together then we are the Great Leap Forward.

It has been a fabulous evening of music with bits of theatre and comedy thrown in. It has been an evening of friendship and beer. It has been an evening that fires the spirit to believe once again that this world doesn’t have to be like it is.  It has been an evening to be reminded of how things should be!

Gig: 36 of 50

Date of Gig: Mon. 23rd November 2015

Venue

Union Chapel

Artists 

Duke Special

Billy Bragg

Running total of artists seen 75

Foliage and Favours in Beetroot Fields

Cocktail of excitement

I have seen British Sea Power five or six times before and in a number of venues. The first time I saw them was in quite possibly the worst venue in Manchester, with no clear line of sight and horrendous sound. Warwick Arts Centre was the last venue I saw them in, complete with its comfy seats and half time ice creams served by cinema style attendants! I have seen them as a support act, at a whisky festival and sharing the stage with a Brass Band!

The reason I am so looking forward to tonight is three fold.

Firstly, they are celebrating 12 years since the release of their first album. The album that I bought on spec after reading an article on the band in a discarded paper on the train on my way to work - an album I ultimately fell in love with. Few things in life are more rewarding than taking a musical risk and it paying off! Tonight they will play this first album in its entirety. The fact that they are celebrating 12 years, when most other bands wait until 15 or 20, is a little glimpse into the maverick mentality of Cumbria’s finest! Further glimpses can be found in the album’s title ‘The Decline of British Sea Power’ - surely not the name of a debut album - and in the track names ‘Apologies to Insect Life’ and ‘Favours in the Beetroot Fields’! This is British Sea Power and we have got used to it.

The second ingredient in the cocktail of excitement is that this is my first visit to the Roundhouse. I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog the joy of going to venues that had hitherto only ever been a name on the back of a tour T-shirt. The moment I walk into Stephenson’s old engine shed I sense history, as the modern stage lights illuminate the old iron pillars. The dry-ice is a nod back to the golden years of steam, and out of the ether it is possible to hear the magnificent music of brilliant bands who have graced (and disgraced) the Roundhouse stage in decades past. I sense it’s the perfect setting for tonight’s gig.

The umbrella in the cocktail is that my gig-buddy from Malt‘n’Music is down south for the gig. The first time we met - over a whisky and darts in the Moulton local - he was wearing one of his many British Sea Power T-shirts. To make conversation I said something inane like ‘So you like British Sea Power’ and I saw different emotions sweep across his face. Firstly disbelief, that someone else had actually heard of them. Secondly joy, that here may be a kindred spirit. Thirdly uncertainty, that I may just be taking the mick. And finally, a realisation that no longer would he have to go to see them on his own! Finding a new gig-buddy is always a very special moment.

Bo Ningen are at full throttle when we walk in. I don’t think I have ever seen as much energy or hair from a support band before and I have been to a fair few heavy rock gigs in my time! But this is Japanese Acid Punk and they power through their set, which turns out to be the perfect opener to the gig.

Blank looks on work-mates faces

Once the Bo Ningen gear is cleared off the stage the usual activity of roadies continues - tuning guitars, adjusting mic stands, tuning the same guitars and adjusting the same mic stands again. All this along with the lesser seen activity of adding even more foliage to a stage already adorned with half a forest, two herons, a couple of owls and a kestrel! There is a wonderful moment as one roadie adjusts Hamilton’s mic stand and dislodges the branch of a local tree. In one swift movement he tears a length of tape with his teeth and reattaches the leaves with a look that says ‘Why can’t they just smash up guitars like they used to in the good old days of rock?’

But this is a Sea Power gig and the fans, all 1700 of them, have paid to see one of the most original, freethinking, non-conformist bands in the industry today. This means wildlife on stage and an expected glimpse of Ursine Ultra (she’s an 8 foot bear to the uninitiated) but no hope of mega-stardom. A very good friend said to me this week ‘They must be big to play the roundhouse’. They are not massive, but they are the sort of band who elicit a tremendous loyalty from their fans. Once you are hooked you remain hooked despite the derision of friends or the blank looks on work-mates faces when you talk of your plans for the weekend… This gig is full of real fans who know every word of every song and who recognise that greatness is not the same as popularity.

As the band take the stage and from the opening strains of ‘Men Together Today’ to the last chords of ‘Lately’ I’m reminded of hearing this album for the first time.  I listened to it again and again because I knew I loved it. I also knew that I didn’t really get it all - but thirsted to. I am reminded how I wanted to devour more of this strange, weird but ultimately delightful band. 

  
Hung like a wooden horse

12 years on and the album hasn’t aged – they have played for 50 minutes and it seems like five as they go off before the second set. The final ‘Decline’ song - ‘A Wooden Horse’ – is not played the absence is not explained it is just left hanging. The second set is classic Sea Power. There is crowd surfing from the drum-beating Eamon. Ursine Ultra appears on the stage only to reappear in the audience. The crowd are chanting ‘Easy, Easy’ as the intro to ‘No Lucifer.’ And there is the wonderful natural sense of humour between the brothers Yan and Hamilton when Yan’s guitar falls silent. All this leads in a crescendo to the stirringly triumphant ‘Waving Flags’ and the beautiful power of ‘The Great Skua’

Returning for the encore, Yan declares, ‘This is the one we forgot’ and the concert finishes as the album does with ‘A Wooden Horse’. The truth is that there has been no decline of British Sea Power. They have built on their first album and generated an impressive body of music and a dedicated fan base. They have developed a flair for the bizarre, and a tight and explosive stage show.  They continue to produce strange and wonderful lyrics. Tonight is a joyous celebration of all of that. A celebration of their capacity to do things differently.  I only hope I can be there when they celebrate the album’s 23rd anniversary!

Gig: 12 of 50

Date of Gig: Sat. 13th June 2015

Venue
The Roundhouse

Artists
Bo Ningen

British Sea Power

Running total of artists seen 31