The Jam 6/11/1980

Although not a fan of punk, a la Sex pistols, I was enjoying The Jam singles in 1979/1980 and so I decided to check out The Jam when they played at Brighton Centre. Support was the local band The Piranhas who played sort of punky ska including a sax player. I really enjoyed their set - it was certainly out of the ordinary for me. The Jam were also surprisingly good - I was expecting to enjoy their songs but I hadn't realised how good a guitar player Paul Weller was. I wasn't much impressed with the bassist Paul Foxton but Weller's skill and focus stood out. I can't say I remember what they played except I remember 'Eton Rifles' which was a particular favourite of mine.

Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joan Armatrading - 15/7/1978

I normally avoid festivals but EC and Dylan appearing at Blackbushe Airport together was too much to resist. Both were in great form in 1978 before inevitable decline set in over the decades. The day was warm and dry, the crowds were HUGE but despite that it was an enjoyable gig. I remember being surprised that EC came on relatively early to be followed by Joan Armatrading and then Dylan did the last set. The sound was not brilliant but all three artists overcame that and Dylan played for a long time including loads of his classic stuff plus songs from 'Street Legal' which had been released recently. I imagine I can remember 'Key to the Highway' from EC and 'Changing of the Guard' from Dylan as they are both particular favourites of mine but that might well be false memory syndrome. I certainly remember the litter devastation at the end as we dispersed.

Beth Nielsen Chapman & Robert Vincent - 30/ 3/2018

I include the support act in the gig title as he was the reason I bought tickets after seeing him perform a couple of tracks on TV. It was a shame he only had 30 minutes to share his songs which he delivered with a strong distinctive singing voice and accompanied by his own guitar and fiddle/banjo/mandolin from Robbie Taylor. They were two Liverpudlians but the music was pretty much Americana with some blues and country influences there. They played mostly tracks from his new album 'I'll Make the Most of my Sins'. Beth Nielsen Chapman is one of what seems to be a very long list of Southern US singer songwriters that can also be loosely included under the label of Americana. She reminded me a bit of Linda Rondstatt in her singing style and the songs were strong and interesting. She did a lot of stuff from her new album ('Heart of Glass') which has consistently good songs. I remember 'Come to Mine', 'Epitaph for Love', 'Rage on Rage', 'You're Still My Valentine' and 'If My World Didn't Have you'. For an encore they did 'All you need is Love' The band included Robert Vincent, Robbie Taylor and a pianist/bassist/keyboards player called Ruth Trimble who got to do one track of her own. In between songs she chatted about the source of the songs and the state of politics (no friend of Trump). A nice evening and St Georges should have been sold out.