overlap

In the last couple of weeks I've been to two gigs where I also saw the artist in question around this time last year. Between them they've reminded me how two nights are rarely the same. Last year I'd never previously seen Robyn Hitchcock, despite first being stunned by the tuneful pop simplicity of So You Think You're In Love in, I think, 1992, so finally making it to a show was always going to be special. This time around I perhaps had higher expectations, and it wasn't quite as memorable, though I still had a far, far better time than if I had just been sat in front of the telly. On the other hand, when I saw Eugene Kelly (of Vaselines/Eugenius fame) filling in for Mark Lanegan's parts on ML and Isobel Campbell's Ballad Of The Broken Seas material last year, it was clear that with a stand-in there was always something of a compromise going on. To get to see Isobel and Mark do a rare show together wasn't really expected to be a highlight of the year, but there was definitely a different chemistry with those two and the band. It's fair to say that confetti cannons, pyrotechnics and trapeze artistry is not Isobel's style, but all the same it was a great gig, and a much more relaxed cast on stage this time around. So I guess the moral of the tale is that expectations can end up not coming through. On which note, I'm very pleased to see the Great British Public doing the right thing and rejecting certain values, and voting in favour of tolerance and graciousness. We could all do with a bit more of that some times.