overlap

Last week I had the great joy of going to see Jake Shillingford, a gig I nearly missed and only found out about due to the previously mentioned use of my pics elsewhere on the web. It did initially seem a good opportunity for Going Out (capital letters, handbag, pretty shoes, etc) and I gave it some thought before deciding that the combination of a new venue in a town I know offers certain difficulties in finding somewhere sensible to park added up to too many different new variables, and you may imagine that in such circumstances just driving in the first place comes with a slightly heightened state of paranoia anyway. Which is how I ended up especially grateful that I hadn't when I was on the receiving end of the most concerted bit of road rage behaviour I've had in ages. Quite why my doing 60mph is such an affront to someone's impatience that it's more important to get close enough behind me that the number plate is no longer visible than it is to use the motorway's two empty lanes outside me to overtake is anyone's guess. Turning up in a city centre on a thursday night before the easter weekend, full of pretty young early twenty-somethings, I was only a tiny bit jealous of those milling around doorways in a state lubricated/liberated from the self-possession that, er, anyway, moving swiftly on. A free gig is always going to be a bit of a lottery. It was this that convinced me to go for that show rather than the one a little further away, but I didn't know quite what to expect. This was perhaps the first gig I've been to in ages where I've been so acutely aware of being roughly twice the age of half the crowd, and as you might expect, there was a lot of people chatting with their mates while some guy with a guitar (and an omnichord) played in the background rather than an audience that might properly be described as fans. I caught the last song or two of the support act, who may or may not have had a load of mates crammed into the pub basement, but it was really nothing special. Jake hasn't toured in eight years, according to his own website, which was another reason I didn't want to miss a chance to not have to go all the way to London to see him. This was largely the same set as in December, some solo songs and some My Life Story songs ably accompanied by Toni Krause on the keyboard. Despite the frustrations of the collectively shouty indifference around the room, and I imagine the slight nerves of this being the first show of a tour, there must have been a dozen or so people who were actually there specifically to see Jake rather than there because they happened to be drinking and chatting there. In the circumstances it was a very good show rather than a great one, but especially good for getting thirty seconds to have a brief chat and shake hands with the man himself, get a CD signed and so on. And being heavily influenced by the fan gene, I'll almost always prefer that bit of personal contact to being able to wear something slightly prettier. There's some stuff I've put on youtube added below, so you can see for yourself exactly what it was like but seeing Jake doing some of those songs is always going to be a pleasure, and being part of even a handful of people straining to sing the ba bu-bahbu-bah-bah-bu-bu-bah brass lines on Strumpet is always an uplifting experience. If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet? Sparkle - Jake (and flaming crowd!) * from Written Large – Jake Shillingford

Labels: gigs, Jake Shillingford, My Life Story