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 gig being part of the usual album release cycle and today has been another busy day with four for my trip down memory lane for you down the years
2002, Wilco, Astoria, London
No London Wilco gig review can be complete without reference to the infamous 1997 gig at Shepherds Bush. We were there that night and after complaining about the lack of responsiveness of the audience Jeff Tweedy jumps into the crowd and confronts anyone who stood before him.
Fast forward five years and John, Graham and I are in attendance not without some trepidation although we did seem them in 99 without incident. Wilco are over here for their ‘experimental’ album ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ and the set seems to split into three sections. The new stuff, woody Guthrie’s country stuff and then the rock finale of five tracks from their classic album ‘Being There’. All work well but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that classics like ‘Misunderstood’ and ‘Outtasite’ don’t stand out.
Smalls steps for London redemption was successfully achieved with Tweedy keeping his audience interaction to a minimum.
2014 Drive by Truckers, Shepherds Bush Empire, London
We have seen the truckers many times down the years and after a myriad of line-up changes this times it’s without Shonna Tucker on bass. This was one of my early reviews. Looking back the show was definitely a grower, bad sound being the main reason for this. I spotted Isbell in the audience but he couldn’t be cajoled into coming down to join the boys on stage. Not one of their shows that lived long in the memory and certainly no one near the best we have seen them.
2015 Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires, Oslo, London
My lasting memory of this gig was the poor turnout as referenced in my review at the time. As I wrote at the time I am hoping that this was just poor promoting rather than a shift away from guitar based rock. Graham and I in attendance tonight as we love a bit of Southern rock and there’s also a good Dexateens connection who we loved. It was a raucous rowdy show of heavy rock and the small crowd did not diminish the performance of the band. As a side note I bumped into the band at Sun Studios in Memphis last year and they couldn’t have been nicer.
2019 Cassadee Pope, Islington Academy, London
Just a quick reminiscence from a year ago fully reviewed here. A nice triple hitter and for Cassadee it was her first headline gig in London for eleven years. Here’s hoping she doesn’t wait another eleven although with an English boyfriend you think that’s unlikely. It’s a polished performance in front of her excellent band with no frills, just top quality country music. Whats especially nice about this is that I find the venue much hit and miss but tonight was definitely a hit.
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