'Confessions of an Awe Struck
Loudo fan.'
- Loudon Wainwright
III at Ronnie Scott's, London
- (Sunday 13th June
'99)
It's exactly 20 years since my
first LWIII concert, in Belfast's Whitla Hall. Since then, I've
seen him about 10 - 15 times approx, though I never met the man.
On the tickets, it said doors
open 7pm, so I was there at 5.40, half expecting the queue to
have started already. Just one guy standing there, chatted to
him, he was waiting to get a CD signed, though he wasn't going
to the concert. Loudon hadn't arrived yet, and I just assumed
that he'd arrive in a car (limosine??) and dash in without a
word.
 Then
he appeared!!! I had been chatting to this guy, when I happened
to glance up the street, and casually strolling down, was none
other than Loudon Wainwright III himself. (Clothes report - dark
trousers, finely checked blue/white shirt, light brown jacket,
glasses, a grey hat, and wearing his guitar like a backpack).
I was gobsmacked (as they say in the UK), but I shook his hand
and said "Hi Loudon." He signed the guy's CD, then
the guy took a photo of me with Loudo. I told Loudon I'd come
from Belfast to see him, and he said he thought he recognised
the accent. Then Debbie (from the list) and her daughter Megan
appeared, and he came back out for a picture with them.
Off went Loudon, and the three
of us sat on the steps and chatted, and about ten minutes later,
we heard Loudon doing his 'soundcheck' (the doors were open because
of the heat). He played short snatches of songs - 'What Gives?',
'Living Alone' and 'One Man Guy.' By 6.30pm, the queue was beginning
to form, and we were joined by Caesar.
7pm, and we were the first four people to get in. We had our
choice of table, front row, just left of centre, less than 10
feet away from when Loudon would stand. Kevin Harrison ('So Many
Fabulous Songs' booklet) called over, as he had recognised me.
He had only heard about the gig after the credit card bookings
had sold out, but I arranged for him to get a ticket. Strangely
enough, he had never met Loudon either, and he had been a fan
since 1971. Caesar (generous to a fault) insisted in getting
in the drinks. Since it was a Loudon concert, it had to be white
wine ('White Winos' for the night ;-)))
At 8.30, Loudon weaved his way
through the crowd towards the stage, and started with:
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* 'What Gives?' - a great opener,
lots of chuckles amongst the crowd to the various jokes and puns
packed into the lyrics ('Gerry has a Pacemaker' etc). Loudon
said this was a special concert to promote the new album 'Social
Studies' (I've asterixed the songs from the new CD), but that
he also gonna mix in a few other songs as well.
'Valentine's Day' - one of his
newest songs, a quiet reflective song about Valentine Day, gently
ridiculing the way British people don't sign their name on the
cards and gifts they send.
* 'Tonya's Twirls' - said Tonya
was his favourite girl at the 1994 Olympics, and |
- Above picture copyright,
- by Caesar Glebbeek
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how appropriate the name
of the venue was (lille*hammer*). (In case anyone doesn't remember,
that year Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were deadly rivals
to win the gold medal. Whilst practising one evening, Kerrigan
was attacked and hit on the knee with a hammer. Tonya and her
bodyguard were later charged with the attack).
'Prince Of Wales' - an extremely
rare treat. I knew he'd written a song with this title, but had
never heard it before. A quiet song, asking people not to be
too hard on him, referring to him having his problems too, mentioning
his broken marriage, etc.
* 'New Street People' - about
smokers struggling for their rights to smoke, having been banned
from their offices.
* 'Leap of Faith' - a beautiful
reflective song about picking political leaders to run for office,
* 'Conspiracies' - the 'contraversial'
spoken piece from last Christmas,
* 'Christmas Morning' - an absolutely
stunning song, even though it was mid-June,
* 'Inaugural Blues' - about Bill
Clinton's Inauguration Night. Loudon mentioned how Fleetwood
Mac reformed for the night - yet all arrived in seperate limosines!!!
* 'Bad Man' - about Saddam Hussein
and the Gulf War, - then it was back to his "cheesy little
life."
'Between' - as always, was followed
by . . .
'The Picture' - the much mentioned
girl who kept yelling out things throughout the concert (sitting
at the next table to our right -directly in front of Loudon)
went crazy at the intro to this one, and Loudon played on it.
He stopped the intro and said, "what about that, she's going
crazy and I'm doing nothing", then played the intro a bit
faster, saying, "faster, faster", slowed it down, and
said, "no honey, I like to take my time." (dunno what
that was all about ;-)) Maybe he regretted this teasing later,
as this was the same girl who caused so much disruption that
he had to sternly give the 'two minute warning' to later on.
'Bein' A Dad'
'Be Careful There's A Baby In
The House' - "a song from 1971"
'Rufus Is A Tit Man' - "a
song from 1975, about my son Rufus, which I wrote so it would
come back and haunt him"
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'Your Mother And I' - Syd
Straw was called up to do a number with Loudon. Someone
yelled for One Man Guy, Loudon replied that there was "a
charge of 50 pounds for that one." In the blink of
an eye, someone was at the side of the stage, holding out the
money. As Syd went to take it, he kept pulling his hand away,
Loudon said, "forget it Syd, times are hard but not that
bad yet." Loudon forgot a lot of the words to 'Your Mother
and I'.
'When I'm At Your House' - no
problems with this song, then it was |
- Above picture copyright,
- by Caesar Glebbeek
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back to Loudon alone for a brand
new song called . . . |
'White Winos' - an extremely
beautiful song, and the highlight of the night for me. Loudon
at his absolute best!!!
* 'Jesse Don't Like It' - Loudon
did a detailed explanation of who Jessie was, talked about 'art'
being privately funded in the states, -he seemed a bit perturbed
when someone drunkenly yelled out about the same thing happening
here, interrupting him.
* 'Y2K' - the last song of the
set was what Loudon said will be his new single. He made it into
a rousing sing-a-long, getting the audience to punch the air,
chanting "Y - 2 - K" everytime he finished the chorus.
He returned for a four song encore.
* 'Pretty Good Day So Far' -
an anti-war song, another very moving song, but very badly marred
by the Scottish couple who three or four times tried to drunkenly
chat during it, each time being fiercely shushed by everyone
around them.
'Hard Day On The Planet' - a
surprise choice, probably because of the world events. He was
about to walk offstage again, but the cheering and clapping made
his change his mind - "aw, what the hell, it's Sunday night,
what am I gonna do." As always, someone yelled for . .
'The Man Who Couldn't Cry' -
I must say that I really don't like this song very much, it's
slow and overlong, and as it's like a 'story song' rather than
a melodic tune, once you've heard it, you don't really want to
hear it again, or too often. I would have much preferred something
like 'Tip That Waitress', as this was the classic setting for
this song, since there were waitresses weaving around the circular
tables throughout the evening.
'Bed' - a very unusual song with
which to finish the concert.
 And
so it was time for us (Caesar, Debbie, Megan, Kevin Harrison
and myself) to head 'backstage.' Sounds very glamourous, - it
was actually a room in the basement, next to the toilets. Loudon
was there, with various people (mainly women), chatting and drinking
from a can of Holsten Pils. Caesar talked to him for a few minutes,
so I suggested a picture of him with Loudon, then I took Debbie
and Megan's pic, and finally Caesar took one of me with Loudon
(see above).
Loudon mentioned recording six
songs for the Andy Kershaw show that afternoon, Caesar asked
for titles, and 'White Winos' was mentioned (then someone changed
the subject). Andy (Kershaw) wasn't there at the time, so they
were gonna record an interview later, and splice it all together
for broadcast later, though no-one knew when (It was actually
broadcast the following Thursday night)..
It was only after the photograph,
that I realised I hadn't passed on Linda's message to him, so
I patiently waited to get back to him. The promoter was talking
to him, and handing Loudon his fee in cash, a bulging envelope
of 10 and 20 pound notes, then Pat (the nice lady from Rykodisc)
chatted to him about his schedule for Monday, mentioning the
various interviews he was lined up to do.
Back I went, and said to him,
"Linda says hi. She's over in America at present, - but
she said she'll see you in Los Angelos next month." There
was a pause, so I said, "do you know Linda?", and Loudon
said, "Oh yes, I know Linda. She wants me to learn a song
for her - Come a long way so far . . . " (I think that's
what the words were - Linda??). Feeling daring (or drunk?), I
said that she often writes to me, saying "I need a Loudon
fix", and at this, Loudon grinned, and said, "how about
that, I'm an addiction."
Other people were trying to talk
to him, so I just said "goodbye, great concert", and
left it at that. After waiting 20 years to meet him, all those
profound comments and all those questions I wanted to ask him
went out of my head, (must be the drink ;-))
Caesar, Kevin Harrison and I
headed for Tottenham Court Road tube station, and then went our
separate ways. By chance, on the Central Line, I met Pat again
(from Rykodisc) and chatted to her for a few stations (even though
it was taking me out of my way). Over the noise of the train,
she told me the list of magazines / newspapers which were featuring
Loudon during his visit (details which I sent to the list).
She said it was the first time she'd seen Loudon, and that originally
the gig was going to be press and special guests only, but then
they decided to let some fans in too. I said that I was surprised
there were no CDs on sale that night, - I didn't even see adverts
or publicity material. She said that the final cover design had
not been decided on yet, - apparently it's going to be a cartoon-like
design.
The main publicity push is planned
for July. The Social Studies CD will be released, there'll
be reviews of it in the magazines, and the interviews in Folk
Roots and Mojo Magazine will be published, Loudon will be doing
the Trowbridge and Cambridge festivals, and there'll very likely
be radio and TV appearances then. |
