There Is Only This One Moment & You've Got To Make It Last

Kimberley and Robyn on stage in Cambridge last week

I've just finished a lengthy uninterrupted run of holiday cover shifts. There have been a few long stretches of late, thanks largely to Covid sweeping through the store, though it's usually a mixture of earlies and lates. This time it was all earlies, meaning 5am alarm calls every day. It's not too much of a chore getting out of bed at this time of year though to be honest, the sun is already up and the loud birdsong eases me into my first coffee of the morning. My problems start at the other end of the day. I get home by 5.30pm and after a shower and a meal am struggling to keep my eyes open by 7.30. I'm usually in the land of nod by 8. What a lightweight I've become!

You can count the number of gigs I've been to since lockdown on the fingers of one hand, but, much like buses, two rolled up together right in the middle of this intense period of work - neither of them local. First I undertook an 80 mile round trip to catch Modern Nature in Ipswich. 'Island of Noise' was one of my favourite albums of 2021 and I was thrilled to learn that the band would be venturing out East during their tour. The Smokehouse is a standing venue and Modern Nature's music can be quite subtle, not an ideal combination when it's way past your bedtime! It was a terrifically engaging performance though, the sort of show one felt privileged to be in the audience for. Highlights included the epic, Spiritulized-esque 'Build', which concluded the set in magnificent fashion and the Sea and Cake meets Neu! bliss of 'Performance'.

Modern Nature - Performance

A couple of evenings later I took my weary bones over to Cambridge for the final date of Robyn Hitchcock's UK tour. As I've mentioned many times recently, Robyn has been elevated from mere musical hero to a somewhat mythical status in my affections, thanks to the ongoing series of streamed gigs he's performed with his wife Emma since the very start of the pandemic in March 2020 - now in excess of 200 shows! Emma has often spoken about how much these weekly shows have helped them cope over the past couple of years, but I only wish I could adequately express to her just how much they've helped me (and no doubt many others) cope too. In Cambridge Robyn played solo at first, then with assorted guests, including Emma and fellow former Soft Boy legend Kimberley Rew. For the 'Brenda's Iron Sledge' / 'Queen of Eyes' finale he fronted a unique three electric guitar/two basses line-up - and what a glorious racket they made! I drove the 70 miles home still buzzing and caught just four hours sleep before my alarm roused me for another early start, but I would've quite happily done it all over again the following day given the chance.

Robyn Hitchcock - Glass Hotel

Marisa Anderson

Marisa Anderson onstage at the Colchester Arts Centre

My days of making regular 100+ mile round trips for gigs are largely a thing of the past. If a band isn't playing fairly locally, or at least somewhere near a convenient place where I can get my head down for the night, I tend to pass. There are exceptions though and one evening early last week I made the hour and a half drive to see Marisa Anderson play at the Colchester Arts Centre.

Anderson's timeless music draws from Gospel, Delta blues, rustic American country, Saharan drones and even, in the case of her interpretation of 'The Daemon Lover', the British folk tradition. She finished her main set with a mesmerising reading of 'Sant Feliu de Guíxols', my favourite tune from her latest LP 'Cloud Corner'. It remained firmly lodged in my noggin for the entire hour and a half drive home.

Teleman

I saw Teleman play in a small sweaty club the other evening, where they offered up a faultless set that blended selections from their 2014 début LP 'Breakfast' with the brand spanking new 'Brilliant Sanity'. Now there's a bunch of lads who know a good hook when they write one - and it seems that they just can't help themselves. I grabbed a printed set-list on the way out, complete with additional informative handwritten prompts - 'Rock Flashy' anyone? Here's a bit of 'Fast', some 'Pop Med' and a portion of 'Jammy'.

Live and Direct - This Is The Kit

Monitor problems. Mysterious and elusive crackling guitar cables. Another guitar requiring retuning mid-song. The drummer's phone briefly interrupting proceedings. A bass guitar that decided to separate from its strap, again in mid-song. All this before the end of the gig's third number. A lesser band might have crumbled at this point, but This is the Kit are made of sterner stuff, overcoming these trifling hurdles to play a joyful, spellbinding concert in the unique environs of the 18th century Octagon Chapel in Norwich.

Unsurprisingly, the set drew heavily from last year's excellent 'Bashed Out' LP, though for me, the absolute highlight of the evening was one of a brace of fine new songs we were treated to, which, judging by the quick inter-bandmember conflab before its performance, is currently being road-tested in more than one arrangement. I didn't catch the title, but hopefully they'll give it another airing when they play at the 6Music Festival in the middle of February.