An intimate three hander of singer songwriters was in store for us at the tiny Green Note in deepest Camden. I’ll be honest I did not know any of James Grant’s material before the show and was here primarily off the back of seeing Norman play in this type of environment after seeing the Fannies many times down the years. I was never the biggest Suede fan either but have loved Bernard Butler’s work with David McAlmont and more recently Jesse Buckley.
So given my unfamiliarity of the non Fanclub tracks, tonight was a revelation with these three guys alternating songs between themselves and the banter between covering such wide ranging topics as intimate body piercing and which famous stars have you pished next to with names dropped such as Tom Jones, Steve Cropper, Lemmy, Arthur Mullard and Irene Handel to name a few although I won’t reveal the context of those names being mentioned for legal reasons.
It’s a super relaxed atmosphere and the guys seems at ease with their self-deprecating asides and their efforts to record a live album from these shows. It could be a challenge with broken strings and unconnected guitars to add to the charming nature of the show.
The two sets tonight were first class and while I naturally enjoyed the Fanclub standards more through familiarity the tracks from Grant and Butler will encourage me to check out more of their own material. It was nice to hear the likes of 'Everything Flows' and 'The Concept' in that environment and there was a great cover of the Ben Gibbard penned tune ‘Me and Magdalena’ written for the Monkees and it was all topped off with a bit of Neil Young’s ‘Cinnamon Girl’ to close the show.
A top evening with three men and their guitars, no frills, just good tunes, good songs and a bit of laugh to boot.
Keep on intimately rockin’ y’all