So we have a date 21st June. That means another ten or so gigs that will either be cancelled or postponed some for the third time. So cautious optimism is the watch word here. Given that the summer months are usually a little quieter the autumn could be crazy for gigs if things get back to normal. So with everything crossed let’s hope there is real light at the end of this horribly long tunnel.
When I first started this little exercise we were a month into lockdown on the 24th April. Like most of you I expected this to last a month or two. The reality now is clear and sadly it will be a full twelve months and probably a lot more between my last gig and the next one. We go again and hopefully this brings back memories for my gig going chums who have joined me on this great musical journey down the years.
Two goodies today for my look back down memory lane.
2002, Josh Rouse, Dingwalls, London
Rouse was in the middle of a red hot creative streak which to be fair started with his debut ‘Dressed up like Nebraska’ right through to arguably his pinnacle the year after this show ‘1972’.
This one was the ‘Under Cold Blue Stars’ tour but the set is evenly spread from across his catalogue at that time. We have seen Josh a fair few times and this show is up there with his very best but doesn’t knock the ‘1972’ album tour a year or so later as outstanding.
1992, Little Village, Hammersmith Odeon, London
This is, I think, the one and only gig I have been to where there was paparazzi outside the venue. Whats more astonishing is that this wasn’t a teen pop act but the band are made up of middle aged men, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and the legend Jim Keltner on drums. A supergroup of sorts who had produced one of the finest albums ever made ‘Bring the Family’ notionally a Hiatt album. So a few years later they thought they would do it again. Sadly the album doesn’t reach the same heights but of course it has its moments when the credentials of the four protagonists cannot be faulted. But as Billy Joel once said ‘The King and the Queen went back to the green but you can never go back there again’.
Onto the show though and after dodging the flashlights outside we fail to spot any celebrities but take our seats for a musical masterclass from these maestros. You can’t fault the set apart from them not playing the whole of ‘Bring the Family’ but there’s enough there to support most of the self-titled band album plus some covers of Lowe, Cooder and Presley tracks.
A joy to watch and listen. Chalk this up as a goodie.
That’s it for today so don’t forget, support your small local venues and smaller artists in these difficult times, stay safe and keep on rockin y’all.