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. I will keep this going until I can attend my first gig again in person so hopefully this also brings back memories for my gig going chums who have joined me on this great musical journey down the years.
It’s the end of June and of course its Glasto time. Day two from 2017 along with an excellent Ryan Bingham gig for my trip along memory lane for you down the years.
2011, Ryan Bingham, Islington Academy, London
This would have been the ‘Junky Star’ tour and its full electric tonight. Like my other favourite Ryan (Adams) Bingham is equally effective with either an acoustic guitar solo or an electric guitar with a full band.
It’s a full on rock show and the set draws from all three of his albums. Its quality stuff and I am biased as I think he can do no wrong musically. A superior songwriter, of course no set would now be complete without his Oscar and Grammy winning song ‘The Weary Kind’. It’s a beautiful song but I think it might have been eclipsed by ‘Hallelujah’ tonight.
2017 Glastonbury, England
I reviewed the weekend in detail here at the time on the blog but I have revisited this and will add a few more observations on what was a much nicer experience than the soggy 2016.
It’s the usual suspects this year with Julian and Graham sharing my tent. Upgraded to a four man tent for the three of us essentially gives us a room each. We are joined by Julian’s brother Simon in the Campervan field with his wife and boys who we later saw perform at Strummerville. Also here was my son and heir and it was particularly nice to share the Glasto experience with him as we took in Margo Price, First Aid Kit and Mark Lanegan together.
The beautiful weather meant that there was far more energy to explore the site and I made a conscious decision to see new areas and bands this year and I think I achieved that with 26 bands seen and 19 of them new live to me. From The Pretenders opening up the weekend on the Other Stage to the Hackney Colliery band closing it the smile did not leave my face.
Glastonbury is a truly magical place like no other. It’s a bubble of people just there to have a good time, forget about the troubles in the world and reset yourself for the reminder of the year with a renewed positive outlook on things. Its sound a bit hippy dippy but I am always surprised about how I feel about myself and life after Glastonbury. My friends all know my life philosophy is work to live and experience as much as you can for the short time we are on this planet. I am very lucky that I can afford to do a lot of these things and blessed that I can share a lot of these things with the people that are special in my life, wife, kids and good friends. My only regret with Glastonbury is that it took my so long to finally go.
So those who have never been, get registered, take your chance in the ballot and come on down to the farm for a truly life changing experience.
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.