So, on Saturday I went to London's Kentish Town Forum to see English blues rock guitarist Wilko Johnson. This has been a name that ive heard time and time again when discussions of great, or influential, guitarists has cropped up over the years but I hate to admit that ive never really taken the time to get to know his music.
When the chance to see him perform live cropped up, especially after what was thought to be a terminal battle with cancer a few years back, I jumped at the opportunity to see a man who is a part of English rock history. The few (mainly Dr Feelgood) tracks that I did know did turn up in the set, and I got to see Wilko's interesting playing style of the choppy machine gunning of his guitar first hand, and the strange walking across stage almost as if on roller skates. The whole show was pretty to the point with minimal interaction with the crowd from Wilko, but this seemed almost part of the raw dirty style of the music played by the band. Even so, the whole band seemed happy to be on stage throughout the entire set, which bought a great atmosphere to Bye Bye Johnny playing out the show with the whole crowd singing along.
An unexpected pleasure for me, was also the choice of support. I initially went to see a band I knew little about but they came with a well respected heritage, which is what I went to see. The support came in the form of Joanne Shaw Taylor, who I knew nothing about. Joanne is an English blues guitarist and singer, apparently she's been around for a number of years with a few albums to her name and found at a young age as an aspiring blues player. Well, her performance was nothing short of fantastic. Joanne's set was complete with traditional deep soulful blues, all the way to the hard blues rock, familiar territory with the likes of SRV, full with ripping blues solos which kept both her and the crowd smiling throughout. Not that I want to compare, but Joanne's set was probably the highlight of the night for me.
Go to www.joanneshawtaylor.com for more info and check out her great live performance of Watch Em' Burn
