It should come as no surprise that John Mayer loves the Royal Albert Hall. If any musician embodies the spirit of Eric Clapton circa 461 Ocean Boulevard
then he does. Few musicians have such a remarkable take on the blues and his abilites have taken his current record Continuum to close on two million sales in America. Now it is Britain's opportunity to witness what all the fuss is about and we are treated to a virtuoso performance.
From the moment John walks on to the stage the crowd are carrying him forward. In contrast to the early reticence of last night everyone here is up for a good time from the get go and is clapping along to his forthcoming single "Waiting for the World". The playing is one thing, but it is the songwriting that so deeply roots tonight's show. Be it "Gravity" in which the audience sing pretty much the whole song or on the beautiful "Dreaming of a broken Heart" with its soulfull echos of Marvyn Gaye, rarely do we witness such accomplishment.
I can't believe its been over ten years since Errol started spinning the records at this cornerstone of the London underground scene. The clientele don't get any yonger, it's just us that's getting older he tells me over a wonky Talking Heads rhythm. I am down to catch the last of Brooklyn based Free Blood's four London shows. Featuring the powerhouse behind !!! this was never going to be a straightforward show. The boy girl two piece perform over jackhammer rhythms diving across the stage throwing mildly disaffected shapes, messing around with feedback. Sometimes it is sparse, sometimes playfull and melodic, always it is compelling. And then when that bass guitar is feeding back it is pushing it into another level that only Kevin Shields normally fucks with. Fabulous.
We don’t stay long as we are off to a venue called “the Cake Factory” down on Ludlow Street when MGMT are playing. I am delighted I am going to get a chance to see them . The venue is beneath a cake shop in a very hot basement. I stand on a bench to get a better view of the band. The singer appears to be behind the drum kit and then he swaps. A guy with a mass of ginger hair is doing a lot of the singing in a Neil Young fashion. Behind him is an unfeasibly tall bassist with a Rickenbacker and a cool looking keyboard player. It is all very hip and they have a great following. The last song “Feted to Pretend is really good. The sound is shocking and they nearly lose the keyboard riff in the process but it all comes together by the end. The singer is back behind the kit, he looks good, really cute, a proper star.
I find myself heading downtown, looking out for The Kiss mural on East Houston where opposite I will find The Mercury Lounge.
Sure enough there is a big queue outside and there is Mark Gillespie chatting to Calvin’s sound engineer and Davey Planecrash his bassist. They had a big first night out in New York last night ending up in a karaoke bar where much to their delight they actually found a version of “The Girls” on the jukebox. We pile inside and head down to the basement to catch up with Calvin and the band. It is good to see Calvin in a positive mood. In America they have had a chance to do the groundwork, he is seen as a cool underground act.
Calvin comes on stage and launches into “Disco Heat” , just him and the guitar before the rhythm track kicks in and suddenly the whole room is jumping. It is going to be alright. The set feels spot on now, a great run of hit singles from “Acceptable…” to “the Girls” to “Merrymaking” He is an entirely amusing raconteur between the songs and there is always a pounding sub base rhythm coming along to drive the show back onto the tracks and everyone is off again. It is entertaining and everyone has a great time.
We head over to Eamon Dorans, a basement venue that has been going for years; it used to be on the gig circuit a lot back in the early nineties. There used to be a café opposite where Sinead O’Conner worked back in the eighties I think. Paddy Casey is doing the second of a week of Dublin shows here tonight. He used to play here years ago. He would busk out on Temple Bar and if the main band didn’t have a support then Eamon would pull him in give him some food and £100 to play to the crowd and warm them up. No need to worry about that tonight. It is so hot in the basement that you can barely breathe and the audience is in raptures over Paddy and his band from the moment they hit the stage. It’s a big band, Susan Hunter tells me he has this trio of string players, “beautiful girls we call them the Bond girls”. He is possessed of a beautiful voice and the crowd know the words to every song. From the current album “Addicted to company” is a good first single.
Paddy is famous for his long shows, pulling out long lost B-sides to keep us all entertained. The temperature is soarng throughout the nght. I have stripped down as much as I dare, they have these huge fans all over the place, all dusted up through lack of use and you could fry bacon on most of the crowd. The show definitely picks up during the second half. He plays this great tune “Sweet Suburban Skies” which really gets everyone going. Then for an encore he gets this little kid up on stage, mixed race kid with an Afro “he’s not mine, despite the hair!” Paddy assures us. They sing “Saints and Sinners” and everyone goes mad. Two hours he has been onstage, finally at midnight he calls it a day before he turns into a pumpkin.
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