Barack Obama campaign rally or live music show? Hmm, hard to tell. On the other hand, anyone who expects a Billy Bragg show to be just music without any social or political commentary has found themselves a nice, isolated cave to live in.
Billy was on a west coast tour swing in support of his new album, Love and Justice. He played 4 (by my count) songs from the new album and the rest of the show was a variety of tunes from various bits of his catalog. I think “Farm Boy” was my favorite from the new one, but “You Almost Killed Me” stuck it pretty well, too. One thing that became really clear to me was how much of an impact the Mermaid Avenue project and working with Woody Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, going through his archives had on him musically. There were a number of references Billy made to songs and lyrics from Woody, and he played a couple of lesser known Guthrie compositions in addition to the well-known cuts.
Highlights for me were “Way Over Yonder In a Minor Key”, one of my personal favorites from Mermaid Avenue, and a mashup of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” done in a Johnny Cash-style arrangement. Yep, you read that right.
Oh, and one last thing. This tour, at least this show, is just Billy and his Stratocaster. Part of it is the acoustics in the Fillmore, which are above average. But I have to say, if the Telecaster is the Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods, then the Strat is the Wrecking Bar of Rock and Roll. Man, there were more than a couple of songs where Billy just tore it up. No guitar god stuff, but I remember now that garage band sound that corrupted me for life.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.