[Rai]

I started writing a review of the gig I attended, then my browser crashed and I went to Spain. Now i'll try again.


In short, it was AWESOME.

Went there a bit earlier, and a wee bit scarily, there were only two other people at the door. But, there was also one member of the band, Jeff Prystowsky, sitting on a bench with a beer, looking at the river, playing the banjo. He seemed to have been doing it all for himself, so I didn't try to bother him (later some people made an attempt and they managed to get one single word out of him, followed by mild awkwardness). Meanwhile, two members of The Head and the Heart, the support band, were skateboarding a little bit down the road, but at that time I had no clue who they were.

So, we went in, I headed towards the selling dude to get me some merchandise. I got a T-shirt and asked for Jocie's solo album, which I couldn't see. The dude went in to ask her if she had some. Then she came out, we had a wee chat and agreed to meet up after the gig to sort things out.

The Head and the Heart were pretty solid, but not much more than that. Interestingly they had some Viennese fans around. I knew that music stopped at the border, but the existence of fans over there of a band that's so tiny that it's supporting an already tiny other band seemed a little bit too much.

Then, for the main attraction. ****loads of instruments, saws, pump organ, horn, trumpet weird cymbal-thingie, guitars, fiddles, clarinets go leor, etc.... In some songs they had a dude who looked like Sean Lennon come on stage, much like their own Spike Edney, to play some stuff. It all sounded pretty damn great, but this is the band's trademark. Simple songs, great harmonies.

They went through most of their songs, including their usual covers (Evangeline, Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild, Wild, Women, plus another that I couldn't recognise), the majority of quiet ones nicely emphasising the loud songs. By Jove, Boeing 737 can tear an unwary listener's head off if nestled in the right place. What a brilliant song. The standing around the microphone moments were plentiful and always amazing, and I 'discovered' how great Maybe So is, after not paying attention to it for a while.

The audience was pretty good, and we did fill up the place in the end. No obnoxious shouting and ample jumping around when needed.

Afterwards Jocie came looking for me (and another dude) with CDs, and we had some more conversation. She's seriously one of the nicest people in showbiz. She thanked me at least five times for buying her record. I also suggested listening to Vyv to her, based on the similarities between Mary Mary and our favourite cellist's style. So now I'm a proud owner of the signed copy No. 144 (of 1000) of Bed of Notions, which is a pretty damn good album in its own right.

One more thing: the sound guy of Low Anthem is seriously badass. He's like Billy Connolly from Still Crazy, or even surpassing that. Hair, beard and moustache straight from a Rembrandt painting. I want to be like him when I grow up.