I’m reaching the age when the prospect of standing upon sticky carpet in a packed crowd, waiting for a band to come on at 11 o’clock, is decidedly unattractive. The ‘snivelling organism,’ as William Trevor (writing as Adam Hall) used to call it, wants ease not strain. But in the spirit of Damon Young’s Distraction, to give in to this impulse would mean surrendering one of life’s sweet pleasures. For I know that when the intercom music suddenly cuts out and the crowd pauses, then roars, I’ll be suffused with the wonder of live music.
On Saturday night my son and I witnessed a rare, wonderful display of harmonising, melodic, literate rock. We saw the former Jayhawks, Gary Louris and Mark Olson, sing and strum and pluck, just the two of them, for ninety minutes. Their pleasure in their performance – Olson said ‘We do this for fun, it’s the only reason to do it’ – was more than matched by mine. After the gig, I bought their new CD Waiting for the Flood.
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[...] two of them have reformed, at least temporarily, and in May I witnessed a spellbinding concert (see my brief report). I bought their Ready for the Flood at the show and can report that it’s every bit as [...]