About time. "A question of space, a matter of time", you might say. I thought I'd have developed my photos by now (my phone conked out so I had to buy a disposable camera) but I think I only took about ten photos throughout entire day.
So yeah - this gig had been a long time coming considering I'd had a ticket for ages. I decided, as I have Fridays off, that I'd make a long day of it in London, which meant a 7:45am Megabus, incl. rowdy stag do. Great start. The Natural History Museum was my first destination as I'd never been before - I spent a good two hours furreeaking out at massive scorpions and gargantuan plastic foetuses. I had lunch and a little look in Camden, followed by Rough Trade just off Brick Lane where I died and went to heaven, subsequently followed by the tragic death of my bank account. Six records later, a rather depressing amount of money gone, and a belly full of katsu curry - I'd worked up the appetite for Dallas Green and Co. I waited something like an hour in the pissing London rain in a pair of black cords and holey Vans so here was hoping I was in for a treat - boy, was I!
I've just managed to find my scribblings of the gig (rather professionally done on the back of my Megabus printout) and it's completely illegible. Surprisingly though, not tear-stained!
Now, if I had developed the photos you'd have a good idea of my seating. Up I was in the circle right in the middle, seated next to a guy who was terribly interested in the records I'd bought and liked to frequent the loo during C&C's set. Apart from that, the audience was a sea of sickly sweet couples whom I imagined would have their fucking tongues down each other's necks for the inevitable performance of "The Girl".
Haaanyway, support for the evening was Hannah Georgas, fellow Canadian and Dine Alone signee, whose vocals incorporate the deep tones of Daughter, with a poppy upbeat sound. Georgas was subject to her share of wolf-whistles which just makes me feel nauseous. I'd go on about how women's musical abilities are overshadowed by their looks or the mere fact they're women (shock horror, women don't just have babies!) but that's not the subject of this post. (If you want more on the subject of women's objectification in the alternative scene, read this brilliant article criticising this sexist piece of shit). But yeah - Georgas' sound wasn't entirely my cup of tea and reminded me of perhaps The Magic Numbers - I felt her songs to be slightly samey on the whole but I enjoyed "Elephant", the first track from her S/T.
As Georgas was the only support act, presumably C&C would be doing a two hour set. YEAH COULDN'T WAIT. Rather strangely, an a cappella version of Soul II Soul's "Back To Life" began playing over the PA and given the key and rhythm, I had a feeling this would flow into "Thirst" or something, but it ended abruptly and DALLAS MY LOVER graced the stage in his cowboy ensemble (I like to call it that - the hat he was wearing wasn't even one of the cowboy variety) and the band kicked off with "Of Space and Time". I've found that for live performances of this song, C&C favour more of the old slide guitar as opposed to the church organ and it totally works in a country sort of way. This led into "The Lonely Life", one of my The Hurry and the Harm faves. Dallas proved he's still got rock'n'roll left in him with this vamped up version, accompanied by the ever-present terrific lighting. Honestly, whoever does C&C's lighting needs to win an some kind of award, because it's always just so dramatic and in time. The organ was back for "The Grand Optimist", which really helped this song as it's not a favourite of mine.
Okay - a break was needed in the text here, as this marks where I got a bit emo. I always always hope D.Green plays "As Much As I Ever Could" and I'm always tremendously lucky. I've heard this song acoustically, deep and dark, high voltage... but this time it was slow and jazzy feat. brassy guitars. Totally appropriate, and yep, I was moved to tears. How lovely it was to hear a gorgeous three-part harmony at the end, including a reprise! Following this were electric versions of "Silver and Gold" and "Ladies and Gentlemen", proving thus far to be a set comprising mainly of songs from his last two albums. I was more than happy with this because there's only so much screaming for "Comin' Home" I can bear. Even though he played that.
Here comes the bit that everyone's waiting for. 'OMGZ HE'S ON HIS OWN HE IS SOOOO DOIN "THE GIRL" OMG', when the band leaves the stage and it's solely D. Green. Dallas and his voice so pure. Newly handed guitar in place, he test-strummed to reveal a gorgeous tuning to which he played the Alexis classic, "Boiled Frogs" - one of my ultimate favourites, especially when stripped down. I've got to work out that tuning - I tweeted him but he didn't reply. We can forgive and forget, though. Dallas then told everyone to put their phones away, definitely a cue for "Body in a Box". Some douche obviously still had his phone out but apart from that, BIAB always goes down so well when Dallas makes this request. It's a reminder that we're too busy trying to capture the moment rather than experience it, and that's so important. The acoustic sesh finished with "Comin' Home" with predicted screams for 'I've seen a palace in London', followed by "Little Hell" - à mon avis the best track of the evening. Completely and utterly gorgeous. On came the band to finish off the song - I couldn't decide whether it was better acoustic or electric but either way, there I was at the edge of my seat with my jaw in the palms of my hands with tears rolling down my cheeks. This guy, man.
Electric versions of "Sleeping Sickness" and "Waiting..." came next - which is always refreshing. Dallas likes to mix up his songs - rocking up the gems of Sometimes and Bring Me Your Love and stripping everything else down. I love it when a band gives you something completely different live - I can after all listen to a studio version in my own bed. After a couple more electric songs from Little Hell and THATH came an aggressive, emotional and intimidating version of "Sorrowing Man" - the instrumental interlude lasting a good few minutes. D.Green has something to prove and it's that he's not just a love song writer. But just to please those who think so, he ended, in his encore with "The Girl" - surprisingly to some, my least favourite C&C song. I couldn't help clapping along to the reprise though!
As is always with a half 11 National Express home, I had to leave before the end. I figured they wouldn't do "Day Old Hate", my old time favourite, and it didn't matter - I'd had a fantastic time. For a while prior to the gig I'd been skipping C&C songs if they came up on shuffle and I have no idea why; I'm back to totally embracing them.
Sorry it's long and I didn't proofread properly. Pics will be up when they're developed!
