Second Jason Isbell gig for me in 3 nights - tonight it’s the Boogaloo in Highgate, following on from a show at the Slaughtered Lamb on Sunday, and his support slots on the current Ryan Adams tour. So Jason has been a busy man.  

We got there in time for the doors opening and grabbed a table near the stage. Full marks to the Boogaloo for having decent beer on tap and charging sensible prices for it (including real ale - London Pride last night).

The intimate venue was packed, but not uncomfortably so, for Jason Isbell and his opener, James Walbourne. Walbourne provided an excellent opening set, indicating that highly accomplished, bluesy fretwork was a good way to beat his hangover.  It helped with mine… 

Jason was relaxed, but compelling, as he played an hour and a half set, mixing songs from all stages of his career.  The audience was highly appreciative and many seemed to be mouthing the words to Jason's songs.  A touching moment came at the end of the set with the dedication of the Isbell-penned Drive By Trucker’s song, ‘Danko/Manuel’ to Levon Helm. 

“Can you hear that singing?  Sounds like gold”. It sure does! 

Photo by joshua black wilkins

Band Website

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 A lovely venue is the Bush Hall in London. Small, carpeted floor, chandeliers and nice enough sound.

Tonight is another in the long line of Simone Felice gigs we have attended over the past few years and, as usual the man does not disappoint. The first impression is Simone’s rather stark and serve appearance as he steps onto the stage with the other members of the band, on his new ‘solo’ tour.

Slicked back hair, long black overcoat and pale complexion. He gives the look of a troubled soul. ‘New York Times’ kicks off the set and the intensity of the performance strikes a cord immediately.  Beautiful voice, stained facial expressions as the lyrics are delivered. The intensity in the eyes is almost frightening. ‘U&I Belong’ follows and by the time of ‘Summer Rain’ the smile was on everyone’s faces; band and audience alike and an intimate atmosphere had been created and was not broken during the entire length of the set.

Searching for the 'first dance' song at my wedding….. 

Here I sit with a blank sheet of paper twelve hours after the gig, still trying to suppress the urge to gush. I’ll try my best but it may be difficult. This was a truly wonderful show.

The venue was perfect, sound magnificent, audience respectful (no cameras, only a handful of shouts towards the end). Two men, three guitars and a piano and what looked like two or three cups of tea.

A healthy attentive crowd in for ex Drive By Truckers (sans The 400 Unit) Jason Isbell. One man, one guitar and, a canon of songs that other artists can just dream of creating. I saw a full band show in London last year and it was enlightening to see the other, acoustic, side of the man last night. Songs stripped bare and with such a range in his voice, the songs took on a whole new clarity. 

Jason plays a couple of solo shows in London next week; the Slaughtered Lamb this Sunday,  and at the Boogaloo on Tuesday 01 May. If you are in town, don’t miss them!

A short interval and the clock strikes 8.50pm as Ryan, one man, two guitars and a piano, strolls on stage to a rapturous reception. As he strikes the opening cords to ‘Sweet Carolina’ hush descends on the audience to the extent that you could hear a pin drop, (well, I couldn’t after forty years of gigs, but you know what I mean) followed quickly by ‘Ashes and Fire’. The audience are hooked and in a rhythm: quiet, thunderous applause, quiet, thunderous applause for the rest of the evening.

At this point something has to be said about the quality of the sound, which is crystal clear all night long. As the saying goes ‘Don’t piss off the sound guy’. He or she or they did an excellent job last night.

As the set continues, I start thinking about which Ryan song would be perfect for the first dance at my upcoming wedding. Ryan’s music has meant a lot to us both over the past decade. Answers on a postcard to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Thank You.

Ryan makes a comment early on I think along the lines of wishing he had some cough sweets to offer to a section of the audience, but really the crowd were attentive and restrained for pretty much the entire gig, from where I was sitting.

Ryan’s chat is very limited all night meaning that the songs flow quickly on the heels of each other. ‘ Ashes and Fire’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ are the touchstones for the night’s set, although other songs stand out too, including ’The End’ which is preceded by a comment about the song’s inspiration. The song for me then takes on a whole new light and is delivered with fire.

A slow paced piano rendition of ‘Rescue Blues’ is superb, Whiskeytown’s ‘Sixteen Days’ and ‘English Girls Approximately’ all stand out, but to be honest so does the entire set.

Encore is Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’ and then it’s lights up. As we leave the hall to Whitney Houston blasting out of the speakers there is many a beaming face among the punters.

Pete

Ryan Adams itunes session

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My first ever trip to The Wilmington Arms (great little pub and music venue with a fine selection of beers) was on Thursday (19 Apr) for the launch event of Fence Records latest EP.

This being the endearingly haphazard Fence, neither, the EP nor the album that they were also launching were actually available (due to the rush of vinyl being created for Record Store Day apparently).

First on the bill was The Pictish Trail with an acoustic set featuring a new song which apparently comes free with a new t-shirt (!). Between song banter about the price of 1st class rail tickets and the aforementioned vinyl issues warmed the crowd up nicely for Delifinger. I guess you'd call them 'folktronica' if you're into labels. They were pretty good, for me the tracks with the more electronic stuff going on, were the most interesting. 

Headliner for the night was Seamus Fogarty, promoting his new album 'God Damn You Mountain'. Since I last saw him at The Shacklewell Arms he's added a laptop to his onstage set-up, allowing him to start and end the show with some effects and loops alongside his acoustic guitar (he still doesn't seem to have bought a guitar tuner though!).

Backed on and off throughout the show by a string duo he played a great set. The highlight for me was his song about being a builder and going to Mexico - which I'd requested when I spoke to him in the bar earlier on.

All in all it was a great night out for a fiver - I've ordered the Seamus Fogarty album so I'll post a review when it arrives.

Russell Barton

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