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
