Wilko Johnson, ABC2 Friday night

Wilko Johnson. One of the great rhythm guitarists, pub rock icon of the London scene and the manic element of Dr Feelgood at their peak.



Last night at ABC2 was nostalgia night as much as anything else. In December 1974 three of us 14 year olds turned up in suits and what we thought were gangster shirts to see Canvey Islands own, the Feelgoods. Their first album was just out and, because there were on the same label, they were touring as support to....Hawkwind (surely one of the most bizarre tour pairings of all time). We stood out among the dope smoking long haired hippies that were the Hawkwind crowd because of our age, our hair and our attire. Fuck it, the Feelgoods were great though. Lee Brilleaux in a white suit blasting on the harp, Wilko in a black pinstripe, shirt and tie, strutting the stage like a psycho while playing that deceptively simple chop-chop-chop guitar.

Less than a year later they were back at the Apollo, headlining. The Malpractice tour came as the Feelgoods were - briefly - the top band in the UK, bar none. They were dubbed "the best local band in the world". The live album from that tour, Stupidity, remains a classic of the genre.

Anyway, Friday night in Glasgow. A few years back me and a mate tried to bring Wilko Johnson north for a gig. As we racked our brains working out whether we could make the whole thing pay, Wilko's wife died and he stopped playing for a while. Project shelved, never to be revived.

Spool forward to 2010 and the release of the instant classic rock music documentary, Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential. Suddenly people are talking about Wilko again.....watch this doc, even if you've never heard of the band:



Anyway last night brought out a lot of old rockers on a nostalgia kick. We were treated to Wilko's usual repertoire, punctuated by the manic strut across the tiny stage, the machine-gun impressions using the trusty old black-and-red Tele.



His bass player these days is Chaz Jankel, with whom he played in the Blockheads after splitting from the Feelgoods.



Great stuff, marred only by the PA system in ABC2, which seemed to drop a lot of the middle and has left me deaf today. Pity, as ABC1 has a great system - maybe O2 could spend a few quid on the smaller room.

I went home glad that Wilko is still alive and rocking out with the same enthusiasm as we witnessed, 36 years ago.

And glad that I'm still alive to enjoy it too.

OK, as a catch-up here's a few other recent gigs and events from the Supermo repertoire (the outtakes, the previously unreleased, exclusively now availabe only on Stennymad)

Michael Rather - one half of the original Neu and one of the senior figures of what the English press dubbed "krautrock" - played the HMV Picture House in Edinburgh a few weeks back. Played the whole of the first Neu album, which is btw a fukkin classic:

Here's Michael the headbanging lunatic getting down and dirty with, er his guitar, keyboards and MacBook Pro.....suspect he retired later with a peppermint tea and a physics text book but what the fukk, music was great. Somebody handed me an eccie as we leant on the stage barrier, long time since that ever happened.



Then there was Gong. Now this was fukkin madness. Gong were weird 35 years back, and they're even weirder now. And not in a good way. When a man in his 70s comes on stage wearing a wizard outfit and with a huge cod-piece, singing about pixies, normally this would be my cue to make an excuse and leave. In fact, forget the excuse, just leave!



However, Gong also feature Steve Hillage, once dubbed the best guitar player in England and worth the trip really. Hillage plays alongside his partner, Miquette Giraudy (that's them below), in System 7 usually. Why they have chosen to re-unite with the rest of Gong is anybody's guess, but this was the best way to see what the pair of them were up to, and it was worth it, in a kinda weird way....



Now the Magic Numbers are great song craftsmen. Lovely stuff at the ABC from them. They're playing like a band who've been touring and recording for ages (they have) and it's slick, tight and tuneful. Here's Romeo:



I've decided I really like the Numbers now. I even fancy Michelle the bass player, even though she has rock chick thighs and would probably crush my spine.



Then back in Edinburgh was Yann Tiersen, French musical genius, with an eclectic set of instrumentals, songs, hard rock and near-folk. This was an interesting show, with a much younger crowd than he attracted to a similar gig in Glasgow a couple of years back.



Then there was Amsterdam, home of liberal sexual values, legal brothels and all sorts of hanky panky. Here's some hard-core porn just for Crown....



And finally, some actual visual art. Take Off Your Shoes and Wash Your Hands is an installation by Subodh Gupta, still running at the Tramway.

Here's some eggs Gupta fashioned from various kitchen utensils, including tiffin tins, pots and pans. You really have to see it to appreciate.



Plus there's a very good video installation next door to Gupta's show by Artur Zmijewski, called "Democracies".

That's your cultural update. None of you deserve this, you're all cunts

Glad you realised a long held desire to see Wilko Johnson play again Mo, as for the other bands you don't half go and see some shite

JimmyMcGrory wrote:Glad you realised a long held desire to see Wilko Johnson play again Mo, as for the other bands you don't half go and see some shite

I'll concede Gong was way out there off the Planet Credibility, but Michael Rother and the Numbers certainly weren't shite, Jimmy.

I can see my mission to educate, entertain and inform the hordes of Stennymad has some distance to go

(Please don't tell me you got a semi looking at the bikes)

Top review Mo.

Wilko's gig sounds like it was a keeper - Neu gig sounds interesting an'all

Through at The Arches next weekend to see The Skatalites will deffo try and check out the Subodh Gupta exhibition. I can double it up as a nostalgic journey - stayed in a few streets off Albert Drive over the years.

Immo wrote:Top review Mo.

Wilko's gig sounds like it was a keeper - Neu gig sounds interesting an'all

Through at The Arches next weekend to see The Skatalites will deffo try and check out the Subodh Gupta exhibition. I can double it up as a nostalgic journey - stayed in a few streets off Albert Drive over the years.

Attaboy Immo, knew you'd appreciate some culture. Think a mate of mine is going to the Arches next weekend too. If you get to Tramway the Democracies video project is there too. Well worth some time there

Immo, here's a trailer for the Democracies show when it was in London a while back. Worth the trip (albeit a return rail ticket one stop from Central to Pollokshields East)

Fantastic reviews, mo.

He's my hero, you know.