The rumours of Wilko’s impending death were, thank goodness, totally premature. It was such a joy to see him strut his stuff (a)live. The guy’s a trooper!
Support tonight was from the songsmith extraordinaire, Glen Tilbrook. He showed what a fantastic guitarist he is with a solo set of Squeeze numbers (Pulling mussels from a shell, Tempted…etc.) and tunes by who ever else he spontaneously fancied singing – we even got the beginning of ‘Rebel Rebel’ but alas no more……
Wilko came on and, as you might imagine, was straight at it – 100 miles an hour – hard driving Rock’n’Roll with his Bass wizard partner in crime Norman Watt-Roy who does more notes per minute than 10 other bass players put together. His angular style, shooting the crowd with his guitar whilst shimmying across the stage…. ‘Going Back Home’ made it worth the entrance fee alone but having ‘Back in the night’ too – Fantastic!
If you having seen ‘Oil City Confidential‘ or ‘The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson‘ – do yourself a favour…..amongst the best music documentaries out there.
Bob the Chiropodist