Before flying out to Portugal I found I had filled the two intervening nights with gigs I had long booked. The first was to see the Specials with two of my colleagues. Sadly one got stuck with work in the office (although he did apparently have the benefit of watching two of the office cleaners having a stand-up fight using the only implements available, buckets. Lucky it wasn't the Tower of London.)
But the remaining two of our little band headed out to Brixton in good time and found a Thai restaurant bar that served surprisingly good food in a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere. But we still got to the Academy early enough to get down the front and enjoy an excellent set from this aging ska band, but a band aging well I feel. Good young support act, By the Rivers, playing the sort of music that would now seem so old-fashioned that you wouldn't expect youngsters to do it any more. But they were great and enthusiastic. Perfect "greatest hits" session from the Specials, including a stonking version of Ghost Town in the first encore, with full brass and string accompaniment.
Band of my boyhood, home-town band indeed, in the company of my best mate, with a couple of pints at my favourite venue; life can be good.
Next night, One Night Only at XOYO, a small venue I had not been to before. Small and trendy it may be, but grotty would be more my description. And without wishing to be cruel, their lead singer could really do with a disfiguring car accident. A pleasant enough band, a sort of poor man's Kooks, but the lead singer has shall we say a young female following. While I know 16 year old boys who might like to be surrounded by teenage girls, I just felt very out of place. And can you imagine the decibel level that a phalanx of adolescent girls can produce when shrieking in unison? I rest my case. Not as good a night as the Specials.
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