A
Beautiful Day Out
Levellers.
The Waterboys. Billy Bragg. Dreadzone. Beoga
Manchester,
Castlefield Bowl
Sunday
July 2nd 2017
A Beautiful Day Out – you couldn’t wish to find a more
aptly named gig. Five quality bands on a glorious sunny afternoon in the best
outdoor venue I’ve ever witnessed.
Irish folk quintet and Grammy nominated Beoga start
proceedings, fresh from playing with Ed Sheeran at Glastonbury. As bodhran
player Eamon Murray says, they like to give these upcoming artists a start.
It’s a perfect start to the day as the lively (I believe Beoga means lively in
Gaelic) foot tapping reels echo across the bowl.
The venue is starting to fill up as Dreadzone take the
stage, a band who inexplicably have passed me by all these years. Forerunners
of dub and bass but I have to confess ‘Little Britain’ was the only tune I
really knew prior to the gig. What a tune though! MC Spee walks with a cane and
sits on a high stool throughout following knee ligament surgery some years ago
yet is still more animated than many a singer you will see, conducting the
crowd with his cane when not using it as percussion. Their electro reggae is
infectious. This is a band who fully love what they do and they do it so well. Us newcomers are firmly welcomed into the “Dreadzone
Family” after an outstanding set.
You can’t discuss Billy Bragg without mentioning
politics. As someone growing up in a mining town in the ‘80s The Bard Of
Barking has always been relevant to me. In the current political climate he is
more relevant than ever. (Even if you don’t agree with the message you can’t,
and shouldn’t, ignore him). He starts with a reworking of Dylan’s ‘The Times
They Are A-Changin’’, brought up to date for the Trump era ending with the
announcement that Downing Street have invited Trump over. The crowd boo. “Don’t
boo. Buy a f***ing ticket. He won’t come to you”. Every track comes with a
story and/or dedication. “In 2017 I can’t believe I’m having to dedicate
Sexuality to Arlene bloody Foster”. We get a snippet of White Stripes 7 Nation
Army with the anticipated ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ chant. “What was that you said about
Jeremy Clarkson?” The police, firefighters and nurses get ‘Power In A Union’
dedicated to them. Before ‘Between The Wars’ we get an impassioned plea, “The war on empathy, accusations of
political correctness, virtue signalling, are attempts to stop two forces
coming together – empathy and activism. Put empathy and activism together and
you get solidarity, the key driver to social change”. It is truly moving. ‘Handyman Blues’ goes out to “all those men
who have to accept that they will never be as good at DIY as their fathers”.
You forget sometimes just how much fun Billy Bragg is,
the political tirades go hand in hand with his humorous, often self-deprecating
speeches. You can never accuse Mr. Bragg of fence sitting. I love, and have
always loved, him dearly for it. “Never had you down as folky singalong crowd.
Let’s do some singalongs’ – cue ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’ and ‘Greetings To The New
Brunette’. It’s a truly joyous set,
ending with ‘A New England’. The extra verse from Kirsty MacColl’s version is
dedicated to the brilliant and much missed Kirsty. To a person the crowd roar
the chorus back as we’re asked to “sing for your Uncle Bill”.
Some 34 years ago (give or take) a friend lent me a
tape of an album he thought I might like. I have absolutely no recollection of
what it was. Can’t have been that memorable. On the other side was a band I’d
never heard of. I flipped the tape over out of interest and listened to The
Waterboys for the first time. I fell instantly and head over heels in love, a
love that still burns strong to this day. I went out the next day and bought
everything I could by my new (and still) favourite band and have continued to
do so ever since.
Mike Scott has always been something of a maverick. On
the back of third album ‘This Is The Sea’ and a tour that blew the roof of
every venue it visited the musical world was at his feet. A similar follow up
would have guaranteed U2 status. The story goes that rather than promote ‘Whole
Of The Moon’ on Top Of The Pops Scott was in his flat jamming with Bob Dylan.
Bemoaning the fact that he was down to three chords he upped sticks and headed
to Galway, coming back 4 years later with the folk tinged ‘Fisherman’s Blues’.
He has always done things his way.
Despite a new bass player, Aongus Ralston, this seems
to be the most settled Waterboys line up for some time and with long time
cohort, fiddle player, The Wick - Steve Wickham, Scott appears to be enjoying
his music more than ever. Live they are still as spectacular. As if to
emphasise Mike Scott’s eclectic career they start with ‘Still A Freak’ from
2015’s ‘Modern Blues’. The pounding, fiddle driven ‘Medicine Bow’ follows and
the crowd are lapping it up. Two songs in and we are fully aware this is a band
truly on fire. Mike Scott saunters over to his piano to hammer out the opening
of first single ‘A Girl Called Johnny’, his tribute to Patti Smith. There has
been some criticism levelled the bands way at The Wick’s fiddle taking over the
sax parts from the early songs. “Play that sax Brother Steve” Mike shouts
during Wickham’s fiddle solo. Brilliant.
Fisherman’s Blue’s epic ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’
follows next (first time I saw it live it was dedicated to Thatcher – showing
our respective ages now). On record it’s 7 minutes long. Live it’s even longer
with Scott and Wickham head to head like rutting stags. It is frankly awesome.
We get all eras Waterboys with ‘Nashville, Tennessee’ from upcoming album ‘Out
Of All This Blue’ next. I think (I may be wrong) it’s a tribute to keyboard
player ‘Brother’ Paul Brown. It seems to be since Brother Paul joined the band
that the band have really took off again. The man is a force of nature, with a
staggering career behind him.
It’s a 75 minute 12 song set that is over far too
soon. ‘Whole Of The Moon’, which for years they were reluctant to play is a
massive singalong with the band milking the ending for all they’re worth. Steve
Wickham’s fiddle as the song reaches its climatic ending may well be my
favourite snippet of music ever. Another mass singalong of ‘Fisherman’s Blues’
ends the show. I get the feeling they had more for us but extending some of the
songs due to the pure enjoyment of playing may have curtailed the set. Today
they reminded me once again why I fell so much in love all those years ago.
Waterboys
Set List
Still a Freak
Medicine Bow
A Girl Called Johnny
We Will Not Be Lovers
Nashville, Tennessee
Glastonbury Song
Rosalind (You Married the Wrong Guy)
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Stopping By The Woods
The Whole Of The Moon
Celebrate
Fisherman's Blues
The Levellers have matured into one of this country’s
most popular, and best, live acts. On the back of last years ‘Levelling The
Land’ 25th anniversary tour they are still
playing their 2nd
seminal album in full. It means we kick off with ‘One Way’ complete with some
seriously energetic confetti cannons. We’re half way through the song before I
can see the stage again. The crowd front and centre already pogoing and crowd
surfing. I’ve seen bands do full albums live before and often they seem to race
through the tracks, almost forgetting they’re gigging. Not so The Levellers. Both
Mark Chadwick and Simon Friend always find time for a chat with the crowd in
their casual, laid back manner. I’ve always found it very endearing. It’s the
perfect foil for bassist Jeremy Cunningham and fiddle player Jon Sevink who
whirl around constantly, often swapping sides of the stages, never once missing
a beat. ‘Fifteen Years’, ‘The Boatman’, ‘Liberty Song’, ‘The Riverflow’ et al. The
album finishes with the beating folk/punk of ‘Battle Of The Beanfield’
reminding us what an inspiring and important album it is before Mark introduces
didgeridoo player Stephen Boakes with “Well that was ‘Levelling The Land’, this
is a man dressed as a girl’.
2012’s ‘Truth Is’, a personal favourite, fires across
the packed Castlefield Bowl as dusk falls, an impressive light show in full
effect now. Looking down on the crowd is like looking down on a sea of
rainbows, a vivid moving throng. All across the venue people are dancing. It
truly is a beautiful sight.
We’re asked to demonstrate our singing voices. A loud
cheer erupts. “Well that was your hello how are you voices, now let’s hear your
singing voices” demands Chadwick and receives an even louder cheer before
leading the band far back into the midst of time with debut single ‘Carry Me’,
the crowd given full lead vocal duties for most of the song. Charlie Heather
(drums) and Matt Savage (keyboards, percussion, great shirt) tap out the intro
to ‘The Cholera Well’ before Jon Sevink’s fiddle kicks in and it feels like the
whole site itself is reeling as every single person there (literally from 7 to
70) give it their all. Naturally ‘What A Beautiful Day’ closes proceedings,
another mass of confetti fills the air. It is the perfect and only way to close
such a show.
We all have a list of our top five gigs and naturally
it is forever changing. This one is firmly planted in the top five. Was it the
best gig I’ve ever been to? Five acts at the top of their game giving it
everything. A superb venue with excellent sound. A crowd up for it right from
the off without ever becoming rowdy. Yes, this was the best gig I’ve ever been
to. A truly Beautiful Day Out.
