It’s December which means that Christmas pretty much dominates. Shops play nauseating Christmas songs endlessly, Television adverts compete to liberate viewers from their hard earned cash and electricity bills are boosted by decorative lights everywhere. This year will be especially tough for many. Liz Truss’ short but disastrous reign as British Prime Minister has tanked the economy and forced another punishing spell of austerity. This is coupled with spiralling inflation and eye watering increases in domestic fuel bills. The Tory government blame the war in Ukraine for all these ills. Neither of the main political parties is prepared to admit that Brexit has been the disaster that most experts predicted. The right wing press similarly refuses to acknowledge the harm that Brexit has done. It’s difficult to see things improving next year; it’s far more likely that things will get considerably worse. Sunak may be forced to call a General election earlier than 2024 which will see the Labour party take over. There is no magic wand; whoever is the next PM will inherit a crock of shit with little hope of improving things quickly. Sunak will lose a confidence vote by his own party and riding over the hill on a white stallion will be…………………..Boris Johnson. Aaaarrgh!!!
Enough of this negativity, time for some much needed cheer. November was a month for music. As we sat on a plane waiting to fly to the USA in September, I was frantically scrambling to order tickets to see Bob Dylan before I had to switch my phone to airplane mode! On November 6th I got to see him for the first time. Over the years I have had many friends come back from Dylan shows distinctly underwhelmed. One friend, a lifelong Dylan fan, had walked out of a gig halfway through. He said it finished him with Dylan. I love Bob’s latest album Rough and Rowdy ways. Reviews from shows on his latest tour have been universally positive yet I still felt a sense of trepidation as we queued outside Manchester Apollo on a wet Wednesday evening. It had taken three and a half hours to get to Manchester (it shouldn’t take more than two). Traffic in the city was horrendous. I really can’t take to the place.
I felt nervous when Bob took to the stage. He started with “watching the River Flow” followed by “Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine”. I thought he was off key, the band was not in sync and the sound was bad. By the third song, “I contain multitudes”, Bob and the band had hit their stride and the sound was bang on. What followed was a truly spiritual experience. Most of the songs came from Rough and Rowdy ways with the highlights being “Crossing the Rubicon” and set closer “Goodbye Jimmy Reed”. The best songs of the night were from Bob’s Christian albums. “Gotta serve somebody” was majestic as was the encore “Every grain of sand”. Bob Dylan is 82 so it is unlikely that I will get to see him again. I’m so glad I got to see him live. I thought Pat would hate it as she is not a fan. She thought it was a great show. I think we both realised we had been in the presence of a genius, someone who has changed the world.
This was the set list from the show :
Watching the River Flow
Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine
I Contain Multitudes
False Prophet
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Black Rider
My Own Version of You
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Crossing the Rubicon
To Be Alone With You
Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
Gotta Serve Somebody
I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
That Old Black Magic
Mother of Muses
Goodbye Jimmy Reed
Every Grain of Sand
How do you follow Bob Dylan? I don’t suppose you do. Thankfully we had a few weeks off before our next gigs. I listened to The Stones and started a good Twitter debate on whether “Some Girls” was their last classic album. I got over 750 replies with most people concurring. “Tattoo you” was a close second so I had to go out and buy it (again). It is a great album but not as good as “Some girls”. I also bought “Black and Blue” which got many positive comments. It’s a decent album but it does have some classic tracks – “Hand of fate” and “Fool to cry” are standouts.
On the last weekend in November we headed to London. For the second time this year a rail strike was called on the day we were due to travel so it was a long car journey. We parked in Camden. £12/day in a secure car park is a bargain. It would cost double that in Manchester or Liverpool. We paid a staggering £25 in York in September. The first gig of the weekend was Mary Gauthier at the Union Chapel in Islington. This was our first visit to the venue. I have read many positive reviews of the place and I’m glad to say they are well deserved. Union Chapel is a church, live entertainment venue and charity drop-in centre for the homeless. The building is in the gothic style and is grade 1 listed
We went for a pre-show drink in the bar. The staff were lovely, really friendly and seemed sincere when saying that they hoped I enjoyed the show. We sat at a table in the bar and had a conversation with a really nice guy called Chris. When we told him where we were from he said that, in the eighties, he had protested outside the Shipyard where I work! We talked about music, politics and life and put us in a good mood for the show. Back in the venue, we were sat next to a guy and his son who were from Hackney. He worked for Social Services as Pat does so we struck up an easy conversation. He is a fan of small venues like ourselves and has given us a place in Camden to visit called the Green Note. I look forward to it.
The show started with a solo spot from Jaimee Harris. I’m afraid I’m going to sound uncharitable. Ms Harris is a good singer and a more than competent guitarist. She has some decent songs with “Boomerang town” a particular standout. She finished with a version of Bob Neuwirth’s “Beyond the Blues”, the song he co-wrote with Peter Case and Tom Russell. Jaimee’s onstage patter went on too long, she needs to study her partners stagecraft to see how to put over a songs backstory. Sadly, Jaimee Harris is a long way behind her peers from the Nashville scene. She is not in the same league as Margo Price or Kacey Musgraves. I will buy her new album when it’s released in February 2023 and I hope the songs will standout more when heard without the commentary.
We adjourned to the bar during the interval and carried on the conversation with the guys who were sat next to us, Chris also joined the conversation and it was clear we were five kindred spirits. As we returned to the church for the second set I told Chris how I had taken up blogging and he told me that he had written a book a couple of years ago.
I must confess that I struggle a little with Mary Gauthier’s latest album “Dark enough to see the stars”. This is because she sounds too happy! Many of the songs are clearly about her relationship with Jaimee Harris and the happiness it has brought her. Selfishly, my favourite Mary Gauthier songs are the ones that have emanated from her own difficult life as a gay adoptee who sought solace wherever she could and had issues with alcohol and substance abuse. Clearly I am not the only one who has struggled with the new album as Gauthier joked “Lots of people don’t like it when I write a happy song”, having sung “Thank God for You”. I’m delighted to say that all the new songs came across really well in a live setting with “Amsterdam”, “Dark enough to see the stars”, “The Meadow” and the aforementioned “Thank God for you” being highlights of the material she played from her latest album. Mary was augmented onstage by Jaimee Harris on guitar and backing vocals and the excellent Michele Gazich on Piano and Violin.
There were also songs from Trouble and Love and Rifles and Rosary beads, her two most recent albums. It’s the old stuff for me though. Mary began with I drink and also played my personal favourite “Last of the Hobo kings”. The set was punctuated by Mary reading passages from her book “Saved by a song”. I can’t recommend this book enough. She tells her life story and how key events inspired some of the songs she has written. Graciously thanking everyone for buying a ticket in “these difficult economic times”, Gauthier closed with “Till I See You Again”, co-written with Ben Glover for John Prine, and “Mercy Now”. She spoke approvingly of Boy George’s version – though not of his jungle sojourn. I really enjoyed the gig but it was not the best Mary Gauthier show I have seen. We will definitely return to the Union Chapel, one of the best venues we have ever been to. Post gig we got the tube back to Kings Cross and went for a curry. A perfect end to a great night.
We had breakfast and headed out on a wet Sunday morning. We caught the Thameslink train to Greenwich. The train was spotlessly clean and had free wifi. The views over London were excellent and we arrived feeling relaxed. Our first stop was Greenwich indoor market which is well worth a visit. It is an upmarket market (sorry!) with many interesting stalls. I spoke to a few of the vendors who were really friendly. We walked down to the harbour where the Cutty Sark is now berthed. I enjoyed looking over the Thames and imagining how nice the view would be on a sunny day. We would have liked to visit the Observatory but neither of us fancied the long walk in the rain. After a productive visit to the Music and Video exchange we caught the train back to Liverpool street and headed for Old Spitalfields Market. We were only there for an hour but managed to spend a fortune. Shopped out, we adjourned to Dirty Dick’s opposite Liverpool street station for a well deserved pint. We caught the train back to Kings Cross and headed for Mabels Tavern just off Euston Road. This is an excellent pub which serves a great selection of beers and is refreshingly nobhead free.
In the evening we headed for the Royal Festival Hall to see the Cowboy Junkies. We stopped off at the bar where two small cans of Peroni cost £12. The Cowboy Junkies played two sets. The first consisted of songs from their recent album of cover versions “Songs of the recollection”. They kicked off with an awesome version of David Bowie’s ”Five years” which was followed by Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”. If the show had ended then I would have left a happy man. Fortunately, it carried on with a great version of The Stones “No expectations” which is surely where Led Zeppelin appropriated Houses of the holy from. The covers set finished with an awesome version of fellow Cannuck Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down”. We adjourned to the bar in the interval for a couple more ludicrously expensive Peroni’s which were trumped by two glasses of red wine which cost an eye watering £19.50!
The second set started with my favourite Cowboy Junkies song “All That Reckoning (Part 1)”. There were many highlights which included a short acoustic set which featured Townes Van Zandt’s “Rake” and Neil Young’s “Powderfinger”. They finished with “Blue Moon Revisited”. There were two encores the last was a fantastic performance of “Murder, Tonight in the Trailer Park”. A great show at a great venue.
It was great to be back in London again; hopefully we will be back again next year. I was telling Pat about my conversation with Chris at the Mary Gauthier gig and my regret about not asking him the title of his book. She encouraged me to try a Google search. When we got home I did a Google search – ‘Chris, Peace protestor, book’. Remarkably, I found it straight away – “Confessions Of A Non-Violent Revolutionary: Bean Stew, Blisters, Blockades and Benders – The True Story of a Peace Activist in Thatcher’s Britain” by Chris Savory. I ordered a copy and can’t wait to read it.
We live in troubled times. Families are struggling to survive. Parents are going without food to make sure their children eat. Britain has the sixth largest economy in the world but U.K. living standards and wages have fallen significantly behind those of Western Europe. By some measures, in fact, real wages in the U.K. are lower than they were 15 years ago, and will likely be even lower next year. I find it obscene that Conservative politicians celebrate the opening of new Food banks when they are a symbol of failure. I despair when I hear people defending the record of the Conservative party who are responsible for this shit show. Many Tory gammons would welcome back the appalling Boris Johnson. Similarly, commentators believe that Donald Trump has a strong chance of regaining the Presidency of the USA. Does the West still retain the moral high ground?