Entertainment For Lively Minds
It's Wilko's world - we just live in it
I saw Doctor Feelgood in 1975. They were one of three acts on the Naughty Rhythms Tour, along with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers and Kokomo. Holloway Poly, as it was at the time. They were good, of course, and great theatre but musically they weren't as snappy as Wilko Johnson and his band were last night at our Word In Your Ear gig at the Lexington, which is thirty-six years later. Mind you, anyone would gain something from having Norman Watt-Roy doing the heavy lifting on bass guitar and Dylan Howe (I'm sorry but I have to mention he's the son of Steve Howe) hitting the drums very hard indeed. I was lucky enough to be in the DJ booth where you get a privileged view of how they work: the space that's cleared along the front of the stage so that Wilko can do his clockwork mouse routine, the fact that Norman never comes more than a foot towards centre stage for fear that he'll deck the leader with his instrument and the fact that the relatively young Dylan Howe wears ear plugs whereas the other two have clearly been deaf since Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister. I couldn't see any set list which seems to suggest that the other two were just taking their cues from Wilko's guitar intros, most of which - young musicians of Britain, take note - came about one and a half seconds after the final notes of the one before. Attack-attack-attack, as they say. Wonderful. You should have been there.
If you weren't, here's some other things you missed:
The baroque stylings of A Genuine Freakshow.
From Essex, AlicebanD, featuring the songs of Alice Walker.
Mark Ellen and Kate Mossman giving away a pineapple to the winner of the raffle. (Thanks to Alison Clarke for the pictures.)
- More from David Hepworth.
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I really needed that
In the most shambolic WORD raffle since the last one, all of the prizes, bar one, seemed to have either been purloined from donations to a harvest festival food drive, or themed around things that old people eat. Lemon curd, Scotch Broth and Eccles Cakes all made their way into the crowd. As an act of charity a leftover pineapple was given to an audience member who had come from Slough and presumably had to go back there after the show was over.
Wilko Johnson is the model of an Essex gentleman, capable of incredible bursts of speed; fixing the audience with his incredible thousand yard stare while darting sideways the entire length of the stage. It happens so fast that your mind can’t quite process how he got there. 30 seconds later when he repeats the move it’s still a surprise.
His rock and roll power trio turned a trendy pub Islington into a Thames estuary boozer. Virtuoso bass player, Norman Watt-Roy, is a Dickensian figure; balding with long grey hair, the joints in his elbows and wrists seem to have shifted a few inches giving him better mastery of his instrument. I have never seen anyone express as much genuine joy as he does while playing his bass guitar, cradling it in his arms like it’s a living thing, beaming down at the fret board and nodding encouragingly as if he’s coaxing the music out of it. Next to him Dylan Howe wallops his drum kit. Wilko’s machine-guns the crowd with his guitar and later makes-out with it (the guitar, not the audience).
There is no let up or awkward pauses. As soon as one song ends another starts. The band got tighter as the evening progressed. I knew none of the songs, bar She Does It Right and Bye Bye Johnny. When music is played with this level of conviction it doesn’t matter. I looked down on a sea of heads, all leaning into the music. When it was over I felt completely drained of energy.
Great Review
This captured the evening very nicely.
Wilko's band are great and they were terrific last night. I mentioned the other week that Norman Watt-Roy was a mesmerising bassist and we saw this last night. He works like a Trojan and with the greatest expression of pleasure and contentment on his face as he thunders out those wonderful bass-lines. Is was a genuine pleasure to be in the room.
"clockwork mouse routine"
I was struggling to think of a way to describe it, but that's perfect.
Jealous, me?
Glad the night went well. A pity that old Londinium town is so far away on a school night.
I saw Wilko back in 1970-something whilst at Uni. He was playing the Student Union and, coincidentally, the now Wilko-free Feelgoods were playing in town on the same night.
I feel I made the right choice. The fact that he is defying the years and still careering around the stage like some sort of demented, out of control beserker is just awesome. I feel exhausted just thinking about that.
Gah...
... I so wish I had been there. And I can't make the next massive mingle either.
*gazes at tumbleweed blowing*
*rips up tumbleweed*
We're missing you!
Norman
What a character. What an inspiration. I'd seen him once before when he stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the Blockheads in stage presence (ID included in my book).
It was a great venue in which to appreciate him up close.
Many thanks to Word for arranging this. (The support acts were good too by the way.)
It was as you say
wonderful. I like David saw the Feelgoods on the Naughty Rhythm Tour & it changed my whole musical outlook. The fact that Wilko's still at shows the lasting appeal of this gutsy R&B. Lots of you looked a bit younger than me & maybe had never seen Canvy's finest before but you sure looked to be enjoying it. Great to meet some of the Massive at last!
I loved that
I found myself in the front row, the first time in years I've been close enough to smell the band, with Wilko's machine gun blazing over my head. I've tried to play guitar like him since I was a kid - like him I'm a natural lefty who plays right handed and can't hold a pick - but where his right hand is a precision tool, sometimes playing with a flailing thumb, sometimes the nail of his index finger and on occasion some surprisingly delicate finger picking, mine looks like I've been grating cheese in the dark.
When he launches a solo his whole body spasms taut and he feints right before lurching off across the stage to his left; it's a huge jolt of energy for a teenager, let alone a gentleman in his sixties. As for Norman, there's something feral about him, like he's been let out of his cage for the show. He can navigate previously unchartered routes around a 12-bar pattern, sometimes wandering so far from both the root and the rhythm that you fear he'll never get back - and once or twice, with a snarl from those destroyed teeth, which Dylan Howe clearly recognises as a smile, he doesn't.
There's not much subtlety or variation in the hour-long set, but who needs that? No pedals, no guitar changes, no retuning, no introductions. You wonder if young Howe is doing this just to annoy his widdle-tastic dad. 10 3-minute 3-piece 12-bars is exactly what you want to hear in a steamy upstairs room in a pub, with a pint pot pressed to your chest and one of your all-time favourite guitar players doing that stare inches from your face.
Oh and Wilko: You've lost a decade, mate. It's been a few more than 32 years since you wrote Back in the NIght. Time flies when you're having fun, right?
A strummers question
One of the drawbacks of attending a gig stone cold sober (chubby checker withdrawal) is that I end up focusing on details that would otherwise pass me by.
I too was fascinated by Wilko's guitar style but I wasn't close enough to get a clear view of the right hand. I did notice that most (if not all) of the songs were in the key of G. (OK it wasn't me who noticed, it was my son).
Is he using a special tuning, unique to that key to enable him to double up on chords and riffs in the manner that he does?
Did anyone notice, or were you all to busy enjoying the gig to worry about such details?
Interesting question
I don't think he does use a special tuning - no specific basis for that other than Open-G (which is the obvious selection) sounds different in chord voicings. It's the one that Keith Richards uses. So I think Wilko uses crafty string damping and careful string selection.
Me neither.
He seemed to be using some standard chord shapes - I saw a good few F-shapes, which certainly wouldn't work the way they seemed to if he'd been tuned to open G.
No, I think he's using standard tuning, or at least something not far from standard. I suppose he *might* have had his high E tuned down a tone to D (which might make sense if he plays in G a lot) but definitely not his low E: his chords weren't voicing like double drop-D.
It's bloody hard to tell, though: even when he was just playing chords, he was shifting out of them so quickly to different voicings and inversions (not to mention tricky little fills, executed completely nonchalantly!)that I honestly couldn't keep up. So I gave up and enjoyed myself. :-D
Open F-shapes
but with a sneaky thumb over the top of the neck (see pic above).
A few tips..
....from the man himself (from the much derided Rockschool).
Plus an intriguing insight for us gearheads on the great man's tele'. Just look at that wear and tear!
Sounds like a sweaty night of fun...
I have great memories of going to see Wilko Johnson at the Half Moon in Putney... I probably saw him there three or four times and he was always electrifying. And quite possibly electrified, to judge from his onstage mannerisms.
Wish I'd been There.
I took a group of American High School Kids to see Wilco at the Half Moon (In the eighties you could get away with it). Just before the end, their teacher said: "Okay, time to go" Wha?!!! Every time I think about it, I'm still can't get my head around it. I know I should have forgiven her by now, but...
A great night, thanks team...
Arrived too late to see the first support (sorry, Alice), but A Genuine Freakshow were stupendous. We feared the worst as they took to the stage, as my companion noted how they as if like all his friends' children had formed a band, but God, what a noise, easily the best new band I've seen in an age, really looking forward to playing the CD I bought afterwards... I'm sure they won't thank me for a ham-fisted comparison, but any Arcade Fire fans should lend them an ear.
Wilko was Wilko of course... only more so. It's all been said above, but seeing this kind of no-nonsense/no-frills R & B in its natural habitat is just a great treat, and the bonus of witnessing Norman Watt-Roy in apparent immoral congress with his bass just added to the experience. All this plus a rubbish raffle and the friendliest crowd around, what's not to like? Thanks a lot Wordsters, awaiting the next event in breathless anticipation!
Maximum R&B
I'm a huge Divine Comedy fan and I thought that nothing could beat the last Word gig, but this was spectacularly good. Like the good Captain, I was quite near the front and I was stunned by Wilko's playing. He makes the noise of two guitars. Both of them shit hot. And if there's a better bassist than Norman Watt-Roy, I've yet to see him (or her). These two were so good that it took my eye away from young Mr Howe who would give a crab's arse a run for it's money in a 'who is the tightest' competition.
You'll do well to top this, Word HQ. Thanks for a great evening.
Sounds great
Sorry I missed it.
What I really, really want the Word to throw is a pub quiz...
First Prize: One Large Pineapple
Given last night's raffle (and I suspect that some sweet Islington OAP is now missing her box of groceries), I've been pondering how one might, with any semblance of dignity, carry a large pineapple home on a late night train?
Luckily me and dignity
don't often walk hand in hand...
Which was why I didn't claim it, even though I'd come up from
Cornwall
Great evening.
Lovely company, fabulous music. What more could I have asked for, apart from having to sneak off to catch my train about halfway through Wilko.
He's really, truly an astonishing guitar player. Even though his right hand is a sight to see, flapping and jerking around seemingly uncontrolled, but still producing incredibly precise and rhythmic playing, it was his left that amazed me: it was so relaxed, so completely sure of itself. It was a nonchalant hand. I could hardly tell what chords it was fretting. And yeah - a lesson for underachieving gearheads everywhere: a Strat into a tweed Fender. Reissued, not vintage. And that was it. You could give me all the swankiest vintage gear money can buy, pedals coming out of my ears, but could I ever produce as joyful or insistent or downright GROOVING a noise as Wilko Johnson, in a million years? Christ no.
Oh, and let me say one more time: A Genuine Freakshow were fabulous. I missed the first support act, and when AGF came on I expected not much. Bloody hell: a huge, shiny, mournful-tuneful racket of strings, brass and guitar, and a drummer of such tightness and creativity that I was actually a bit open-mouthed. Lovely, lovely stuff.
A Genuine Freakshow & Wilko
I was very impressed by AGF. A very dense melodic but percussive sound, at full bore they reminded me often of Jaga Jazzist and in quieter moments of O.K. Computer-era Radiohead, once or twice. A few horrid indie-gloom-typical lyrical cliches (and two songs with handclaps where one would have sufficed) were the only blemishes on a sterling performance.
Mr Hepworth noted above that Dylan Howe was wearing earplugs while Wilko and Norman were seemingly not. Noting AGF's two stringsection ladies were positioned directly in front of the trumpeter onstage did cause me to hope they were wearing good earplugs, because being about a metre directly in front of a trumpet is a -very- loud experience and cannot be good for you on a regular basis.
Due to slightly late arrival and the horrendous queue at the bottom of the stairs I missed the first support performance entirely, which was a shame.
Wilko was magical, Norman incredible and Dylan phenomenal. Raw power playing and they really sparked off each other and were obviously enjoying themselves doing it. Norman Watt-Roy must surely be our greatest national exponent of the noble art of funky bass and he's as entertaining to watch as Wilko, in my opinion. For a jazz drummer, Dylan Howe doesn't half clatter 'em hard!
Kudos are also due to Mr Hepworth on his wheels of steel, for playing the mighty Arthur Alexander, purveyor of classic songs such as "Anna" to the early HJHMs and "You'd Better Move On" to the early Strolling Bones. Mr Alexander's own renditions of both of those are very well worth a listen.
Double
Post.
Sounds fantastic
Wish I'd been there, but it's a long way on a Tues night. Hope everyone had fun (:-)
A word for Alice Band
A great night, three top bands. Just thought I would put in a word for Alice Walker and her band. I really enjoyed their set! Lovely melodies and captivating lyrics, delivered to our ears via a Pukka Pad. Wonderful. My heart wanted to dance, but luckily my head wouldn't let me. Thank you to all at The Word.
Norman, take a bow
Norman Watt-Roy, we salute you. His bass solo was my highlight of the evening, impossible not to smile dementedly through the wonderful contortions of music and gesture. A three piece band, no frills, a crowded pub with flock wallpaper - why, it was just like the good old punk days, although sadly lacking the mental crowd who are now rather more sedate, if just as enthusiastic. Combine that with the Word ambience of a village fete, home-made chutney and all, and you have a rather unique and ahem 'feelgood' evening. There is a Word community and I have witnessed its good hearted rebuke to this wicked world of insanity, I mean what's so funny about .... etc
Great evening, Wilko
is a real one-off, fabulous - just what you want from a gig; leaving a little light-headed with a warm glow and then wake up the neighbours by possibly playing recorded Wilko a little too loud. I am no nearer understanding how the hell Wilko plays though. A Genuine Freakshow were also a damn pleasant surprise. Thanks to the Word team for organising this.
A thing of joy
I've barely stopped smiling since and I'm now getting suspicious looks. To be so close was a privilege and an education.
Thanks again to Word HQ and I look forward to the next gig.
Great night
How lovely to walk into a gig on your own and get a chorus of hellos from people you've only met once or not at all.
Hadn't seen Wilko since I was a child, and it was just so much bloody fun. The three of them just looked like they were having a bloody great time.
Norm is just the most fantastic presence, and I found myself looking at him as much as Wilko. And Dylan Howe was a fantastic drummer (although I was relieved the drum solo was fairly short. I have a limited tolerance* for drum solos).
Missed the first support band, but really liked A Genuine Freakshow, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
Special thanks to Bob for being my personal shopper; thanks to El Hombre for the CD; thanks to Rich for the walk to KX, and thanks to Carl Parker with whom I shared the short bus journey home.
In short, I had a good night.
*none at all
It was ...
all right.
Had a great night!
It was lovely to meet some of you at last. Hannah, I will do my best to make it to the next London drinks (although there's a Thames Valley Mingle before that, are you coming to that?) and I'd love to take you up on your kind offer of a Julie London CD. KatyG, I didn't get to ask you which gallery you and Rachel went to in the end but I hope you enjoyed it!
Blimey that Amstel slips down a treat...
A lot of fun
I thought Wilko took a bit of time to warm up, but once he had he was incandescent.
As they took the stage Richie and I had fears that A Genuine Freakshow might be a 21st ELO, but instead found they were musically excellent and original. They disappeared, taking CD stocks with them, before I could buy one. Currently listening to them on Spotify.
splendid
Raced back from Paris specially for this always wonderful gig, like many others missed Alice which was a great shame as she is very very splendid, enjoyed Freakshow and was knocked bandy by the awesomeness of Wilko. What an amazing performance loved it.
Reflecting on the 3 Word in Your Ears to date, imagine supping an ale in a sun drenched field listening to Wutars, Duncan Maitland, Pugwash, Lula + Lampshades, Divine Comedy, Aliceband, A Genuine Freakshow and Wilko... bring on the first Word in Your Ear alldayer!
Even the gridlocked North Circ could not bring me down last night, a splendid event, Well Done!
For such a splendid evening...
...I thank everyone who came.
We were given a choice of sandwiches, and fizzy drinks, and beers, and even the provision of a kettle and PG tips, all in a proper green room, with the compulsory knob drawings on the walls.
It was such a pleasure to sing to an audience who were listening, and had obviously come to the event because they enjoy listening to live music. It has become a very rare practice.
So thanks for having us, listening to us and encouraging us.
*Bows*
Lovely old 1980 video with Wilko and Norman together....
Great staring and clockwork mouse, plus heavy lifting: