With the country still in the midst of lockdown and no sign of any live music in the foreseeable future if at all this year I thought I would take the opportunity to look back in the archives, sounds posh I know but it’s just an spreadsheet, and revisit gigs I attended on this day down the years.
May is typically a very busy month for gigs being part of the usual album release cycle and today is no exception with four for my trip down memory lane for you down the years.
1999, Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band, Royal Festival Hall, London
We go back over twenty years today for the first one up. Joined as usual by my trusted lieutenants John and Graham. We have seen Steve Earle many times down the years and his shows at this time were epic affairs regularly coming in well over two hours. Tonight is no exception as he is over here promoting his album with the Del McCoury band. Indeed it’s a game of two halves with the first half of the show focusing on that album ’The Mountain’ and the remaining show, Steve Earle originals taking in all of his nineties back catalogue. Looking at the set lists around this time the show, as below, they have around thirty songs on each. Epic stuff.
It’s a sit down show which is unusual for an Earle gig but given the more acoustic country tone of the album it suits the set perfectly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad Earle show and indeed this one is right up with his very best. Country music at its finest
2000 Neal Casal, the Borderline, London
A sad review this for me given Casal’s unfortunate death last year at a time when he was arguably at his most creative and certainly in demand appearing in multiple bands.
This was the first time the three amigos had seen Neal and I would guess it was solo acoustic and he was probably over here supporting arguably his finest work ‘Basement Dreams’. A superior songwriter, a great singer and a massively underrated guitarist. I think that later quality was finally being recognised as he was part of Ryan Adam’s band for some time and more recently a stalwart of the Chris Robinson (Black Crowes) Brotherhood, Gospelbeach and Hard Working Americans to name a few.
A true talent sadly missed. RIP Neal.
2002 Chuck Prophet, the Borderline, London
Well it wouldn’t be a look back in May without another Chuck gig. This one was probably the ‘No Other love’ tour which has some very fine moments. I may have got this wrong but this could have been the show where his effects pedal gave up the ghost and so we had just Chuck and his raw Telecaster blasting out ninety minutes of pure unfiltered, unenhanced, full on rock n roll. One of his best shows.
2013, Allah-Las, Dingwalls, London
We saw the Allah-Las twice in quick succession. The first time was a sweaty night in the tiny Shacklewell Arms. Tonight though it’s the more spacious and salubrious surroundings of the Borderline. This band are firmly set in the Californian seventies rock genre and they do it so well. It’s a trippy night as they rattle through their short set covering their debut album plus a couple of tracks from their yet to be released second.
You can’t help yourself just drifting under the rhythm of this music with its hypnotic beats. It’s good to see that they have backed up their great debut with some fine albums afterwards and they are always a good show even though you know that you haven’t taken anything like whatever the band has.
That’s it for today’s trip down memory lane. Here’s hoping we can get to some form of normality soon. Support your small local venues and smaller artists in these difficult times, stay safe and keep on rockin y’all.