Looking Back At Me

At short notice Debbie and I have a free night and decide to venture north of the river to an old stomping ground from back in the day. Mind you back then the fabulous Wilko Johnson wasn't packing out the Town & Country. Not that he shouldn't've been. He was more likely to be have playing The Torrington or suchlike. And with space to dance. Tonight the Forum (renamed T&C, in fact the O2 branded Forum) is rammed. With mainly men of a certain age. An age more than mine. Where were all these fans back in the day? So we've missed the support, well caught the last number and it sounded bluesy enough for an opening act. We squish our way towards the front ish and soon enough the band are on. The songs to be honest haven't changed a great deal since I used to go see The Wilko Johnson band but they are brilliant and he is so tonight. The main man's been through a lot recently and maybe that and Oil City Confidential have led to his current fame. Hard core old school R&B with Wilko's particularly innovative slant on how to play guitar. If you haven't seen him it's hard to explain but he can make the thing sing. And machine gun. And steam train. And whatever else he wants even when behind his head. Wilko can leave breaks in his playing as the magnificent Block Head (as in band, not personality) Norman Watt-Roy runs his fingers up and down the bass like he's playing bass and lead at the same time. Which I guess he is. If I could play a quarter of the notes that he does I'd be over the moon. The drummer Dylan Howe holds it all together most competently. Most tunes are straight up good time rock n roll with Wilko and Norman's extraordinary take on the genre. At times Wilko goes off on one and goes off into something else other than R&B. At time we melt into a reggae beat which really suits Wilko's chunky up strumming guitar work and Norman's funky plucking bass with the drum back beating. Other times we're morphing into a hard Country and Eastern vibe. That's country from the east of England. Yeah it's difficult to describe. Just go experience it yourself if you've not seen him. A highlight is Dr Dupree which I never tire of hearing. Slow ponderous drum running bass and cracks of guitar lightning through the tense atmosphere until it ends in a downpour of crashing guitar releasing the pressure. Man it's good. The encore is a long long version of Johnny B Goode which dances around the basic tune until it eventually climaxes. We're privileged to be able to see the great man and after so many recent famous deaths it's fantastic that Wilko's still with us. Long may it last and I look forward to the next time see him and the band. I still think he'd go down a storm at the Park Stage at Glastonbury. The place would go mental. Yay! After we're out we go for a quick G&T at the old Bull and Gate which has turned into a gastro pub but it don't seem so much like that filled with Wilko fans. I was thinking that I've probably seen Wilko more times than anyone. Good times.

Wilko. Sorry Dylan.