LIVE REVIEW : RON SEXSMITH AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL 07/03/2013

I first Ron Sexsmith in 2008 in a really small venue called "La Maroquinerie" (he seems to be playing there every time in Paris). At the time he was touring his "Exit Strategy of Soul" album and due to lack of funds he was touring in a 3 piece format without a drummer. The gig was good but you couldn't help feeling that he seemed to look a bit flustered by his lack of commercial success. Fast forward four years and here I am in the Royal Albert Hall to see the last night of the UK tour that has seen Sexsmith promote his latest release "Forever Endeavour". That show was first advertised almost one year ago but without the rising record sales that Sexsmith enjoyed with his previous effort "Long Player, Late Bloomer" he never would have been able to dream of playing in such a place.

There were quite a few empty seats at the top level of the Arena but the venue was more full than what I expected it to be. This time Sexsmith was playing with a full band (with long-time drummer Don Kerr present contrary to the Paris show in 2008). Set list relied heavily on material from "Forever Endeavour" and "Long Player, Late Bloomer" (half of the almost thirty songs came from these two records). Particular highlights were an extended version of "Snake Road" with nice guitar work from Sexsmith and "Believe it when I see it" (my favourite song on LPLB). We got a sprinkling of songs from the back catalogue which included the usual staples "Secret Heart", "Strawberry Blonde" and "Whatever it takes" (covered recently by Michael Bubble which brought a few welcomed pennies to our friend Ron). It was nice to hear "Lemonade Stand" off the "Destination Unknown" collaborative LP that Sexsmith put out in 2005 with drummer Don Kerr, a good song that brought a much needed up-tempo rhythm to an set list rather heavily reliant on ballads.

I'm a big fan of the "Time Being" and "Whereabouts" albums so I was a bit disappointed that only one song from these 2 records was aired that night ("Not about to loose"). Apart from these couple of minor gripes the gig was really good with immaculate musicianship from the band and nice interaction between Sexsmith and the audience (one reviewer said that he answered every heckle from the crowd which is not far from the truth).

LIVE REVIEW : ROBYN HITCHCOCK AT THE VILLAGE UNDERGROUND 28/02/2013

This was second time I'd seen Robyn Hitchcock live. First time being in Aberdeen 3 years ago when he was touring on the back of his then current release "Propellor Time". The venue was so empty that they had to put tables in front of the stage to populate the place !!! Despite this rather slight turnout, Robyn and his band had put on a good show and he seemed pleased to have his childhood hero Mike Heron from The Incredible String Band opening for him.

Fast forward 3 years and things couldn't have been more different, the Village Underground was packed and there was no opening act due to the particular nature of the show. The gig was billed as a celebration of Hitchcock's 60th year on planet earth and a launch night for his latest LP "Love from London". Hitchcock was planning on playing one song from every album he has put out and the basic guitar-drums-bass line-up was "beefed up" with a cellist, 2 back-up singers and a keyboard player. While working his way anti clockwise through his back-catalogue, he was joined by some musician friends, the most well known being Nick Lowe. Though being nice in a kind of "pat in the back" way, the guests didn't bring much to the proceedings. The gig would have been as good without them but maybe they brought extra people through the door.

The set was divided in two halves, first one going from 2013 to 1991, ending with Nick Lowe's appearance on two songs (one of them described by Hitchcock as "a Beatles song I wrote in 1990") and the second one ending with a track from the first Soft Boys album. I'm not familiar with Hitchcock's catalogue but I managed to find a couple of songs on the web afterwards that. There was a really good version of "Ordinary Millionaire" from the "Propellor Time" album. My favourite performance of the night was a song written about his wife called "Queen Jane Approximately" which featured a nice coda with Hitchcock duelling with former Soft Boys guitar player Kimberley Rew. Most of the songs where introduced with with a short speech, "Brenda Iron Sledge" from his first solo album was described as having been written after seiing Captain Beefheart's last London gig in Victoria.

BERT JANSCH / ACOUSTIC ROUTES AT THE ICA LONDON 01/03/2012

It will be 2 years next October since Folk Singer Songwriter (and masterful guitar player) Bert Jansch has passed away. This documentary first shown on British Television in 1992 is being re-released this year in DVD in a remastered version with extra footage. Prior to the DVD release, the new version is being shown in cinemas all around the UK and I managed to catch it at the Institute of Comtemporary Arts last Friday. Far from being a movie centered round Jansch's life, it is more about his peers and the way he was perceived by them. Almost all of the protagonists in the movie get a small humourous introduction by the narrator of the documentary : scottish comedian and musician Billy Connolly. Interviews are intersped with musical performances, either by Jansch just by himself or duetting with other musicians. The range of interviewees covers pretty much every period of Jansch's carreer. We get Jansch duetting with his teenage hero Brownie Mcghee, playing "Blackwater Side" with Ann Briggs while reminiscing his days at the Howff Folk in Edinburgh, writing songs with John Renbourn in his own kitchen... and the list goes on. The highlight for me was the visit of the former site of The Howff folk club in Edinburgh where Jansch first learned to play guitar. Overall a very good documentary with just the right amount of talking, playing and humour.