I was back at the Barrymore last night for the Mekons... another seminal punk band from the late seventies. Once again, a group of pot-bellied, sagging, balding, fogies my parents age took to the stage, and once again I was blown away by their talent and exuberance. I only own three Mekons albums, I love Fear and Whiskey, like Oooh! a lot, and Natural, their latest, has been growing on me, but I didn't love it until last night. They mostly stuck to the new stuff and I was delighted to discover that the songs which sound ok through my headphones are phenomenal live. Sally Timms' voice, perfect for their Gram Parsons-inspired acoustic folk, took on an entirely new beauty, and I'm always a sucker for a fiddle and some pedal steel guitar. Plus, they were hilarious between songs- bawdy and irreverent, joking about how old they were, constantly chaffing each other, yet always speaking with prim British accents that made the whole thing feel like a Monty Python sketch. The one downside was that their set only lasted a little over an hour.
Next up: Jens Lekman on Sunday. But before that, Sadie's got three appointments with potential adopters. Fingers crossed...
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