The
4th of 4 in 7 hectic gig days, this; following this one, I can wind
down and reflect on a quite stellar 51-gig 2019. So it seems only fitting that
my host/s for my final scheduled gig of this year are Gaz Brookfield And The
Company Of Thieves, Gaz in 2019 becoming my most-seen “live” act and further
extending his leading tally to 25 with a trio of autumn gigs, this being the
final one. And well anticipated too; as soon as I heard Gaz’ best-yet new album
“Lostfolk”, I realised I had to hear this excellent, superbly catchy and (dare
I say it) mature material being given the full band treatment, so I passed on
the clashing “12 Bands Of Christmas” event at the Vic in favour of this, Gaz’
traditional big Christmas headlining hometown show. The only downside was that,
with Gaz having outgrown the Fleece and moving his “works Christmas party” to
the bigger but sadly 14+ SWX, I couldn’t take my son and rabid Gaz fan Logan
along… still, we’ll always have Salisbury (gig 1,166, barely 2 weeks ago)…!
Ady
however was up for it – and old enough! – so, anticipating another early one (3
acts with a 10 pm curfew, yikes!) and mindful of Chrimbo shopping traffic
around Cabot Circus, we left at 5.30, a swifter than feared entry into Brizzle
pitching us up at SWX just before 6.30 doors. Nice! Grabbed a spot house left near
the front as the place quickly filled, most folks aware of the early start. And
quite so; a shade after 6.45, opener Jake Martin joined us to avail the crowd
of a set of his raggedy-arsed, reactionary and joyfully profane sloganeering
punk-folk. Wishing us a, “Merry Christmas you sexy sons of bitches!” he was the
perfect opener for this evening, his half hour set being replete with beery
sway-alongs and rousing singalong hooks, the crowd raising the roof with “For
Fuck’s Sake Jake”’s rejoinder of “you’re an asshole!” A later number featured a
la la la singalong, apparently an “up yours” to, “that lanky tattooed prick”
Gaz, who’d been “talking smack” throughout the tour about Jake’s height and frequent
woah-oh hooks. “We Sing The Words All Wrong” was another huge extended sing/swayalong,
Jake leaving us with fulsome compliments and a huge burp (!) after a typically
bolshy and ebullient set. Good start!
Met
up with Matt and his lovely wife Liz at the back, before I popped back in,
going house right this time to try to avoid a slew of big bald bearded blokes
who’d stood directly in front of us for Jake (cheers guys…). B Sydes was next
up, fully banded up albeit with a debut drummer (!), and kicked in with a
devastatingly anthemic “Crutches”, the soaring best number from splendid new
album “Self Sabotage”. A similarly hooky and heavy-rocking “Good Times” was
next up, Ben pointedly referring to the disastrous election result with, “good
times are coming – hard to believe after the last 48 hours…” This was a quite
remarkably superb set, the material sounding tough and robust and really taking
flight given the full band treatment, answering that burning question as to what
dark and angst-ridden emo Goth folk would sound like…! “All At Sea” recalled
the shuddering riff-heavy dynamics of Boston emo rockers Cave In, and
“Verbatim” the yearning angst of Dashboard Confessional, Gaz sneaking onstage
to play the final note (not as well as Logan did at Salisbury, though!). A
buoyant Ben remarked, “touring with Gaz has been the best 2½ months of my
life!” before set closer, the singalong “Desperate Dance”, rounded off a
brilliant dark rock set, the only sour note being that I had to deal with a(nother)
massive bald bearded bloke repeatedly backing into me towards the end! Still,
one shout of, “mate, have some respect for those around you,” seemed to do the
trick…
Thus
irked, I headed back to Matt and Liz’ position, staying there for the first few
numbers of Gaz’ set. On at 8.15 prompt and with none of this acoustic mucking
about, he and the band were straight in with a groovy, catchy “Lostfolk” and
excellently singalong “Gunner Haines”, before Gaz gave a big up for his tour
banner again, leading into a quite deliciously harmonic “IOU”, with Chris Webb
and co. giving the song extra layers with that Teenage Fanclub-esque harmony-laden
chorus. Ady wandered down the front for a venomously-delivered “Black Dog Day”,
and I joined him shortly after, this time pitching up next to a bloke who
immediately apologised in advance for elbowing me during the set, as he was
protecting his girlfriend, who’d cracked her ribs but still wanted to see the
show. See, that I don’t mind at all…!
Given
the full band treatment – sadly minus the mandolin of the otherwise engaged
Nick Parker – the new material sounded as mellifluous and melodic as hoped,
occasionally almost veering into amped-up US college/ powerpop territory (viz.
a rampant “Snakes And Ladders”, my set highlight). However, a folkier number
was never too far away, as Jake joined Gaz onstage (Gaz introducing him with,
“earlier there was a tiny little man onstage…!” and adjusting Jake’s mic stand
down a few feet, to the rejoinder of, “wanker cunt!” from Jake) for a
fiddle-powered, raggedy-arsed and supersonic “Aged Revolt”. “Uneducated Guess”
was a superb punkish rant, and “Land Pirate’s Life” even descended into samba
rhythms from Chris and the band! Mindful of the strict curfew, perhaps, Gaz
didn’t pause for the “encores”, powering through instead with roof-raising singalong
renditions of “The West Country Song”, “Diabetes Blues” and closer “Great Minds
Drink Alike”, Jake and Ben both joining Gaz onstage for a rousing finale. “This
has been a mind-blowing evening!” Gaz remarked, thanking one and all at the end
of a splendid 1½ hours.
The
usual slow SWX egress and a quick blast home still got us back in the ‘don for
11 (!), after another great Gaz Brookfield evening. “The AGM of lovely people,”
Gaz put it, and, with a couple of knuckle-headed exceptions, I’m inclined to
agree. 25 down, and no doubt many more to come from Mr. Brookfield!
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