Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon...

Just got back from Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon which, despite being a day of grey and rain (and the rail line being down meaning 2 trains and a bus each way), was very enjoyable, really great. Ever the entertainer, Martin came out and played some songs, switching between guitar and piano, before bringing on the 2 acts he chose to play, then he came back for some poetry (one poem pointed out that if you were born in '45, when you were 33, it was '78) and an incredibly funny story about a dog, then the bands played again, and he finished off with some more songs, including a new one on the mandolin which shows much promise for the new record (I'm Moving On, which can be heard here after a really good interview with Fixe mag). The show started at 2 PM and the whole thing was over by 5, very civilized. Checking the setlist when it was over, after the 3rd song he seemed to abandon sticking to it and even threw in an amazing cover of Life On Mars? and Matt Monro's Walk Away (which I'd never heard before and is lovely).  Both are now up here under the name Duvet Covers, as well as The World Strikes One and a clip of Stella & Charlie Got Married.


The second song of the set was Speed Of A Train from his Songs From The Station Hotel, which I love. A killer tune, if you like Guided By Voices I highly recommend listening to this, a shame I can't find it anywhere to play on the internet. An excellent song that had passed me by is Grenadine And Blue from The Light Programme and the live version today really sold it to me. The World Strikes One was also excellent this afternoon. Here it is (with Victoria Grey following!) from the first Golden Afternoon in 2003:




I was very excited that he played The Greatest Living Englishman:



The other two acts were Girl Du Bois who were very good, playing 30s French songs and Franglaisized versions of English pop songs such as Road To Nowhere and People Are Strange. They even ended with a Boris Vian cover. Check Boris Vian out, a very clever and entertaining figure (I mean to do a post on his music soon). And The Corner Laughers from California, who play very cute, melodic indiepop.